2. Tell us about your draft class. Is there anything that makes it special in comparison to other classes? Where did your fellow draftees land, how are they doing? Did anyone turn out to be an unexpected steal of that draft based on what you know today? Do you think anyone in your draft class will become a hall of famer? If you’re new to the league, how do you think your class will do? Where do you think people will get drafted to?
Those who know me shouldn’t be surprised that I picked the draft prompt. I often talk about sim league drafts as being my favorite part of leagues, and now as the S29 class prepares themselves to be drafted into the big leagues next week it’s been two seasons since my draft class was drafted. And, not to be overly harsh or anything, but my draft class was pretty bad. Teams were lucky to get even two good starters from the draft.
First overall was me, Eleven Kendrick-Watts at WR. The Honolulu Hahalua’s main need was DL, but WR was a bit of a sneaky need for the future. I haven’t actually come up yet, though, meaning the Hahalua probably could have afforded to wait on WR.
TPE rank in class: 2
TPE rank in position: 1
Redraft pick: Marlon Brando, DE
Brando is the highest TPE DL in this class as well as a universally beloved user - Honolulu needed both. A fairly easy pick.
After me was the first somewhat surprising pick of the round, CB Lawrence Miller to Baltimore. Baltimore’s needs could be described more or less as “yes”, and the ideal strategy here would have been BPA. At the time, it was a good pick - with overdoo being a GM in another league he’d be expected to care less about the long strings of losses Baltimore surely had in its future. His earning hasn’t been up to par, but he’s been a starter for Baltimore this season.
TPE rank in class: 15
TPE rank in position: 2
Redraft pick: Eleven Kendrick-Watts, WR
Kendrick-Watts has as much TPE as every current Baltimore WR combined. With him, Baltimore could have gotten a headstart on the rebuild of their offense instead of relying on all players from one draft class to form a core.
Third pick was our first true bust, RB Xander Creed. It sucks because Bandit was one of the best users in the class and a complete joy to share a team with in Kansas City, but I understand some real life issues prevented him from sticking around. Hope to see him back someday.
TPE rank in class: 27
TPE rank in position: 7
Redraft pick: SparkySparky Boom-man
It’s easy to just take Madison Hayes, the best hindsight RB, here. But holy cow have you seen the state of that defense? Massive holes at every position. Only Matt Cross is actually a defensive star. Boom-man is the best remaining defender and fills a position of need as it becomes a position of need.
After Creed came the original draft position of DT-turned-DE Marlon Brando. Berlin is surely very happy with this pick, and with Brando on the defense they’ve turned into one of the ISFL’s premier squads. There’s not much to say here - they’d pick him again if they could.
TPE rank in class: 6
TPE rank in position: 1
Redraft pick: Maui Waialiki, DE
Unfortunately, they can’t. Brando went off the board first overall in this re-draft, meaning Berlin has to look elsewhere. Fortunately for them, there’s not very far to look. Just two TPE down the board is Maui Waialiki, whose user is a HO intern.
Right after Brando was the original spot for SparkySparky Boom-man, who’s been a good earner so far as well as a Yeti legend and well-loved presence in the LR. He’s also been a great earner.
TPE rank in class: 5
TPE rank in position: 1
Redraft pick: James Wilkinson, TE
The Yeti don’t really have many holes on their roster. They often prefer to draft by user rather than need, and snagging the class’ top earner fifth overall is pretty good in that department. They could switch either him or Michell, or just run with two TEs.
Duke Cheeks went off the board sixth overall, which was widely mocked in point tasks and articles if I recall correctly. The pick looked good at the time and looks just as good now, though if the complexion of this draft’s WR class were different that could have been a smart choice.
TPE rank in class: 9
TPE rank in position: 1
Redraft pick: Duke Cheeks, LB
I don’t want to change picks just for the sake of changing them, and I don’t see why San Jose would either. With Cheeks and Trop, they knew exactly what they were going to get and that’s always going to be good value at the 6th overall pick.
The seventh overall pick was Bean Beanman. He’s had a great rookie season, racking up double-digit sacks and being a true contender for the prestigious DRotY award. He also fills a need on Orange County’s talented but struggling defense.
TPE rank in class: 12
TPE rank in position: 3
Redraft pick: Bean Beanman, DE
While putting the 3rd highest TPE DE at 7th overall feels rich, it truly is the best pick the Otters could have made. There are 13 top earners in this class, followed by a precipitous 60 TPE drop into the vague “casual earner” group, and Beanman is the last DE in the top group. A good pick.
This was just the first half of the first round of S27, but I thought it was an interesting exercise. Also, just to expand on what I said earlier, there are 13 players above 570 TPE… and 13 players above 520 TPE. Joseph Radetzky is 14th with 516. Definitely one of the shallowest classes in memory.
900+
Those who know me shouldn’t be surprised that I picked the draft prompt. I often talk about sim league drafts as being my favorite part of leagues, and now as the S29 class prepares themselves to be drafted into the big leagues next week it’s been two seasons since my draft class was drafted. And, not to be overly harsh or anything, but my draft class was pretty bad. Teams were lucky to get even two good starters from the draft.
First overall was me, Eleven Kendrick-Watts at WR. The Honolulu Hahalua’s main need was DL, but WR was a bit of a sneaky need for the future. I haven’t actually come up yet, though, meaning the Hahalua probably could have afforded to wait on WR.
TPE rank in class: 2
TPE rank in position: 1
Redraft pick: Marlon Brando, DE
Brando is the highest TPE DL in this class as well as a universally beloved user - Honolulu needed both. A fairly easy pick.
After me was the first somewhat surprising pick of the round, CB Lawrence Miller to Baltimore. Baltimore’s needs could be described more or less as “yes”, and the ideal strategy here would have been BPA. At the time, it was a good pick - with overdoo being a GM in another league he’d be expected to care less about the long strings of losses Baltimore surely had in its future. His earning hasn’t been up to par, but he’s been a starter for Baltimore this season.
TPE rank in class: 15
TPE rank in position: 2
Redraft pick: Eleven Kendrick-Watts, WR
Kendrick-Watts has as much TPE as every current Baltimore WR combined. With him, Baltimore could have gotten a headstart on the rebuild of their offense instead of relying on all players from one draft class to form a core.
Third pick was our first true bust, RB Xander Creed. It sucks because Bandit was one of the best users in the class and a complete joy to share a team with in Kansas City, but I understand some real life issues prevented him from sticking around. Hope to see him back someday.
TPE rank in class: 27
TPE rank in position: 7
Redraft pick: SparkySparky Boom-man
It’s easy to just take Madison Hayes, the best hindsight RB, here. But holy cow have you seen the state of that defense? Massive holes at every position. Only Matt Cross is actually a defensive star. Boom-man is the best remaining defender and fills a position of need as it becomes a position of need.
After Creed came the original draft position of DT-turned-DE Marlon Brando. Berlin is surely very happy with this pick, and with Brando on the defense they’ve turned into one of the ISFL’s premier squads. There’s not much to say here - they’d pick him again if they could.
TPE rank in class: 6
TPE rank in position: 1
Redraft pick: Maui Waialiki, DE
Unfortunately, they can’t. Brando went off the board first overall in this re-draft, meaning Berlin has to look elsewhere. Fortunately for them, there’s not very far to look. Just two TPE down the board is Maui Waialiki, whose user is a HO intern.
Right after Brando was the original spot for SparkySparky Boom-man, who’s been a good earner so far as well as a Yeti legend and well-loved presence in the LR. He’s also been a great earner.
TPE rank in class: 5
TPE rank in position: 1
Redraft pick: James Wilkinson, TE
The Yeti don’t really have many holes on their roster. They often prefer to draft by user rather than need, and snagging the class’ top earner fifth overall is pretty good in that department. They could switch either him or Michell, or just run with two TEs.
Duke Cheeks went off the board sixth overall, which was widely mocked in point tasks and articles if I recall correctly. The pick looked good at the time and looks just as good now, though if the complexion of this draft’s WR class were different that could have been a smart choice.
TPE rank in class: 9
TPE rank in position: 1
Redraft pick: Duke Cheeks, LB
I don’t want to change picks just for the sake of changing them, and I don’t see why San Jose would either. With Cheeks and Trop, they knew exactly what they were going to get and that’s always going to be good value at the 6th overall pick.
The seventh overall pick was Bean Beanman. He’s had a great rookie season, racking up double-digit sacks and being a true contender for the prestigious DRotY award. He also fills a need on Orange County’s talented but struggling defense.
TPE rank in class: 12
TPE rank in position: 3
Redraft pick: Bean Beanman, DE
While putting the 3rd highest TPE DE at 7th overall feels rich, it truly is the best pick the Otters could have made. There are 13 top earners in this class, followed by a precipitous 60 TPE drop into the vague “casual earner” group, and Beanman is the last DE in the top group. A good pick.
This was just the first half of the first round of S27, but I thought it was an interesting exercise. Also, just to expand on what I said earlier, there are 13 players above 570 TPE… and 13 players above 520 TPE. Joseph Radetzky is 14th with 516. Definitely one of the shallowest classes in memory.
900+