Tier 1 #5
Something that I have been curious about for the longest time (but never bothered to look up) is how does the ISFL compare to the NFL. How do our players compare to there? To find the answer I will be comparing the stats of the S23 ISFL players to the stats of the players from the 2019 NFL season. I will be using the index from S23 and profootballreference.com as my resources and I will specifically be looking at players passing, rushing, receiving, and defensive stats.
Our first category is passing and we will start by looking at total passing yards. In the ISFL the QB with the least total passing yards was San Jose Sabercats QB the rookie Monty Jack with 2715 yards if we took Jack and placed him in the NFL that would place him at 29th just behind Ryan Tannehill and above an injured Matthew Stafford. Looking at the ISFL QB with the most yards at 3944 Arizona’s Jay Cue ranks in at 13th when compared to his NFL counterparts. He did better than Deshaun Watson and Baker Mayfield and he is in the same general area as superstars like Aaron Rodgers and Patrick Mahomes. For our next stat we will be looking at interceptions. Now the NFL’s leader in interceptions was famously Jameis Winston with 30 in the ISFL our interception leader was Monty Jack with 15. By NFL standards Jack would have been placed at 6th most that year just better than Kyle Allen and just worse than Matt Ryan. The best ISFL QB when it came to INT’s was OCO’s Franklin Armstrong with a measly 8. That's about as many as Tom Brady had and puts him in the upper echelons of ball safety among starting quarterbacks. Finally we will look at everyone’s favorite stat touchdowns. Our top QB in that category was Jay Cue his 27 would see him ranked at 5th overall in a four way tie with Jimmy Garaoppolo, Carson Wentz, and Drew Brees and a full 9 touchdowns away from Lamar Jackson’s hi-score of 36.
Next up we have rushing stats specifically total yards and touchdowns. The ISFL leader in yards was Tatsu Nakamura from OCO. At 1437 rushing yards he performed better than guys like Christan McCaffery and Ezekiel Elliott. However it’s still only good enough for 3rd in the NFL behind Nick Chubb and Derrick Henry. Also worth mentioning is that while the ISFL had 10 Rbs with 1000+ rushing yards the NFL had 16. In the TD category Derrick Henry led the NFL with 16. His closest ISFL counterpart was the Wraiths RB Mathias Hanyadi with 13 good enough to tie with Dalvin Cook for 4th best.
Next on our list is the receiving category. Now the funny thing is that the ISFL index does not track targets so we will be looking at receptions, total yards and touchdowns. Receptions is the first stat on this list where the NFL significantly outperformed the ISFL. Michael Thomas set a league record in the NFL with an impressive 149 catches. The ISFL’s league leader was Net Gaines with 81. Even if you ignore the outliers Michael Thomas and RB Christain McCafferey than Net Gaines is still more then 20 receptions away from the next highest receivers Keenan Allen and DeAndre Hopkins. Moving on to total receiving yards things get a bit more even. Again Michael Thomas outperforms everyone with a grand total of 1725 yards but take him out of the equation and the ISFL actually leads this one. Arizona Outlaws WR Saba Donut leads both leagues with 1420 yards. His closest peer is Julio Jones with 1394 yards. Moving on to touchdowns and Saba Donut leads both leagues in this category as well. His 12 TDs narrowly edges out Kenny Golladay’s 11 which ties him with Sarasota Sailfish WR Rayne Gordan.
Finally we will be looking at our defensive players. The categories we will examine will be tackles, Sacks, and Interceptions. Starting with total tackles The NFL total tackle leader was Seattle Seahawks Bobby Wagner with 159 tackles. In the ISFL the Tackle leader was New Orleans Linebacker Quenton Bode with 154 tackles, good enough for 3rd in the NFL. Looking at Sacks the ISFL sack leader was Arizona LB Galf Wilf with16. That places him only 3.5 sacks away from the NFL sack leader Shaquil Barret. Building on this we can see that 18 NFL players finished their season with 10 or more sacks. In the ISFL 11 players finished with double digit sacks. Finishing up with defensive players we take a look at interceptions and this is our closest stat yet. OCO’s Prince Vegeta would be in a four way tie for most INTs with 6 if he played in the NFL. He shares this honor with Anthony Harris, Tre’Davious White, and Stephan Gilmore.
Something that I have been curious about for the longest time (but never bothered to look up) is how does the ISFL compare to the NFL. How do our players compare to there? To find the answer I will be comparing the stats of the S23 ISFL players to the stats of the players from the 2019 NFL season. I will be using the index from S23 and profootballreference.com as my resources and I will specifically be looking at players passing, rushing, receiving, and defensive stats.
Our first category is passing and we will start by looking at total passing yards. In the ISFL the QB with the least total passing yards was San Jose Sabercats QB the rookie Monty Jack with 2715 yards if we took Jack and placed him in the NFL that would place him at 29th just behind Ryan Tannehill and above an injured Matthew Stafford. Looking at the ISFL QB with the most yards at 3944 Arizona’s Jay Cue ranks in at 13th when compared to his NFL counterparts. He did better than Deshaun Watson and Baker Mayfield and he is in the same general area as superstars like Aaron Rodgers and Patrick Mahomes. For our next stat we will be looking at interceptions. Now the NFL’s leader in interceptions was famously Jameis Winston with 30 in the ISFL our interception leader was Monty Jack with 15. By NFL standards Jack would have been placed at 6th most that year just better than Kyle Allen and just worse than Matt Ryan. The best ISFL QB when it came to INT’s was OCO’s Franklin Armstrong with a measly 8. That's about as many as Tom Brady had and puts him in the upper echelons of ball safety among starting quarterbacks. Finally we will look at everyone’s favorite stat touchdowns. Our top QB in that category was Jay Cue his 27 would see him ranked at 5th overall in a four way tie with Jimmy Garaoppolo, Carson Wentz, and Drew Brees and a full 9 touchdowns away from Lamar Jackson’s hi-score of 36.
Next up we have rushing stats specifically total yards and touchdowns. The ISFL leader in yards was Tatsu Nakamura from OCO. At 1437 rushing yards he performed better than guys like Christan McCaffery and Ezekiel Elliott. However it’s still only good enough for 3rd in the NFL behind Nick Chubb and Derrick Henry. Also worth mentioning is that while the ISFL had 10 Rbs with 1000+ rushing yards the NFL had 16. In the TD category Derrick Henry led the NFL with 16. His closest ISFL counterpart was the Wraiths RB Mathias Hanyadi with 13 good enough to tie with Dalvin Cook for 4th best.
Next on our list is the receiving category. Now the funny thing is that the ISFL index does not track targets so we will be looking at receptions, total yards and touchdowns. Receptions is the first stat on this list where the NFL significantly outperformed the ISFL. Michael Thomas set a league record in the NFL with an impressive 149 catches. The ISFL’s league leader was Net Gaines with 81. Even if you ignore the outliers Michael Thomas and RB Christain McCafferey than Net Gaines is still more then 20 receptions away from the next highest receivers Keenan Allen and DeAndre Hopkins. Moving on to total receiving yards things get a bit more even. Again Michael Thomas outperforms everyone with a grand total of 1725 yards but take him out of the equation and the ISFL actually leads this one. Arizona Outlaws WR Saba Donut leads both leagues with 1420 yards. His closest peer is Julio Jones with 1394 yards. Moving on to touchdowns and Saba Donut leads both leagues in this category as well. His 12 TDs narrowly edges out Kenny Golladay’s 11 which ties him with Sarasota Sailfish WR Rayne Gordan.
Finally we will be looking at our defensive players. The categories we will examine will be tackles, Sacks, and Interceptions. Starting with total tackles The NFL total tackle leader was Seattle Seahawks Bobby Wagner with 159 tackles. In the ISFL the Tackle leader was New Orleans Linebacker Quenton Bode with 154 tackles, good enough for 3rd in the NFL. Looking at Sacks the ISFL sack leader was Arizona LB Galf Wilf with16. That places him only 3.5 sacks away from the NFL sack leader Shaquil Barret. Building on this we can see that 18 NFL players finished their season with 10 or more sacks. In the ISFL 11 players finished with double digit sacks. Finishing up with defensive players we take a look at interceptions and this is our closest stat yet. OCO’s Prince Vegeta would be in a four way tie for most INTs with 6 if he played in the NFL. He shares this honor with Anthony Harris, Tre’Davious White, and Stephan Gilmore.