THE GREATEST ROOKIE SEASON ANY SAFETY HAS EVER HAD.
Well, probably. I honestly haven’t checked the rookie seasons of other safeties. It’d be cool if WolfieBot had an option for rookie season stats.
Hey Infi, get on it.
Anyways let’s get into the specifics.
Caleb TheGEICOCamel was shockingly called up right after the offseason started for the Minnesota Grey Ducks at the end of season forty-seven. The third string cornerback was asked to change to free safety right away and spent the offseason learning both the new Hahalua defensive playbook and the new position. One year after barely seeing the field with Minnesota, and hardly even touching the stat book, the season forty-eight first round draftee is well on his way to bringing home multiple awards.
On the season with, at the time of writing, one game left to go Caleb has amassed an impressive 5 interceptions to go with 4 forced fumbles all of which he recovered, as well as 2 sacks. His interceptions are tied for 6th best among all players, and is tied for 2nd best among safeties behind only San Jose’s The Red Panda. His 4 fumble recoveries are tied for the best with quite a few players, but his 4 forced fumbles are best amongst all safeties.
Defensive rookie of the year is almost certainly his. The next best competitor is likely either Willeh Strong and Speed Hawk at linebacker for the Colorado Yeti and the New York Silverbacks respectively, or Lasse Zeigler at safety for the Orange County Otters. None of these listed players have been at the level that Caleb has but they are likely to be the fellow nominees.
Defensive player of the year will, in all likelihood, be given to Yellowknife Wraiths cornerback Kadarius Claypool II. With a near record-setting 9 interceptions, just one shy of the record of 10 in a single season, as well as 2 touchdowns, it’s hard to see anyone else other than Jake Williams having a shot at the trophy with just one week left. Unless something crazy happens on the field against New York in week 16, Caleb will have to be just content with a nomination.
Finally, defensive performance of the year is possibly the hardest call to make of all. Obviously all defensive awards lean towards the linebacker position. This has been, and likely always will be the case. With that being said, I think that performances from the safety position, where stats are much rarer, should be treated with more weight than at linebacker, where stats are much easier to come by.
With that said, I then think that either Caleb’s week 4 performance against Arizona with 1 interception, 2 forced fumbles and 2 fumble recoveries and 1 sack, or Marty Crane’s week 13 game with an interception returned for a touchdown, and a forced fumble he then recovered should be picked to win. There are other performances ranked higher by the sim itself, most notably Ignacious Cleetington’s week one game with 2 sacks, 2 forced fumbles and 2 fumble recoveries-one returned for a score. This performance, while strong, doesn’t outpace other strong linebacker performances enough to overshadow greater performances by lesser positions in my mind, so it will all come down to how strongly the voting committee weighs defensive touchdowns and position strength.
Ultimately coming into the season at 280 TPE, barely above the DSFL cap, expectations for Caleb’s rookie year were extremely low. Safeties with 5 times that will go a whole season without making any plays of significants, so for Caleb to not just outperform his own expectations, but to beat out every other safety in the league is extraordinarily encouraging. With only 1 season under his belt and many more to come, it will be exciting to see just how far his career could go.
Well, probably. I honestly haven’t checked the rookie seasons of other safeties. It’d be cool if WolfieBot had an option for rookie season stats.
Hey Infi, get on it.
Anyways let’s get into the specifics.
Caleb TheGEICOCamel was shockingly called up right after the offseason started for the Minnesota Grey Ducks at the end of season forty-seven. The third string cornerback was asked to change to free safety right away and spent the offseason learning both the new Hahalua defensive playbook and the new position. One year after barely seeing the field with Minnesota, and hardly even touching the stat book, the season forty-eight first round draftee is well on his way to bringing home multiple awards.
On the season with, at the time of writing, one game left to go Caleb has amassed an impressive 5 interceptions to go with 4 forced fumbles all of which he recovered, as well as 2 sacks. His interceptions are tied for 6th best among all players, and is tied for 2nd best among safeties behind only San Jose’s The Red Panda. His 4 fumble recoveries are tied for the best with quite a few players, but his 4 forced fumbles are best amongst all safeties.
Defensive rookie of the year is almost certainly his. The next best competitor is likely either Willeh Strong and Speed Hawk at linebacker for the Colorado Yeti and the New York Silverbacks respectively, or Lasse Zeigler at safety for the Orange County Otters. None of these listed players have been at the level that Caleb has but they are likely to be the fellow nominees.
Defensive player of the year will, in all likelihood, be given to Yellowknife Wraiths cornerback Kadarius Claypool II. With a near record-setting 9 interceptions, just one shy of the record of 10 in a single season, as well as 2 touchdowns, it’s hard to see anyone else other than Jake Williams having a shot at the trophy with just one week left. Unless something crazy happens on the field against New York in week 16, Caleb will have to be just content with a nomination.
Finally, defensive performance of the year is possibly the hardest call to make of all. Obviously all defensive awards lean towards the linebacker position. This has been, and likely always will be the case. With that being said, I think that performances from the safety position, where stats are much rarer, should be treated with more weight than at linebacker, where stats are much easier to come by.
With that said, I then think that either Caleb’s week 4 performance against Arizona with 1 interception, 2 forced fumbles and 2 fumble recoveries and 1 sack, or Marty Crane’s week 13 game with an interception returned for a touchdown, and a forced fumble he then recovered should be picked to win. There are other performances ranked higher by the sim itself, most notably Ignacious Cleetington’s week one game with 2 sacks, 2 forced fumbles and 2 fumble recoveries-one returned for a score. This performance, while strong, doesn’t outpace other strong linebacker performances enough to overshadow greater performances by lesser positions in my mind, so it will all come down to how strongly the voting committee weighs defensive touchdowns and position strength.
Ultimately coming into the season at 280 TPE, barely above the DSFL cap, expectations for Caleb’s rookie year were extremely low. Safeties with 5 times that will go a whole season without making any plays of significants, so for Caleb to not just outperform his own expectations, but to beat out every other safety in the league is extraordinarily encouraging. With only 1 season under his belt and many more to come, it will be exciting to see just how far his career could go.