I'll always remember my first NSFL Draft all the way back in Season 18. Nearly a year ago, I heard my name get called for the big leagues and I had my chance to become a star. After some research before the draft and an article I had written, I narrowed it down to 3 potential locations I could get picked to. San Jose, Arizona or Yellowknife. I thought Arizona and Yellowknife were the most likely, since I figured San Jose would pick up either Toriki or Ruff. Once they were gone, It was a toss-up between Arizona and Yellowknife. I had a lot of great conversations with then-GM of Yellowknife, BigRed, so I would be really excited to head there.
Sure enough, San Jose went with Toriki, Arizona went with Ruff so I fell into Yellowknife's lap. Hindsight is 20/20 of course, but looking back on this draft, that draft pick was highway robbery. It gave me a great situation, as I had a second season of development to prepare for the NSFL and get my feet wet in the league. It's also paid off big time for Yellowknife, with me being the best running back in the league as of right now. Would I be in the same spot with SJS or Arizona? Maybe, but I like to think it all worked out for me in the end. (230 Words)
06-22-2020, 11:38 AM
(This post was last modified: 06-22-2020, 11:49 AM by Jangorhino.)
The S23 DSFL draft was cool for me. That was my first experience in the warm room for the draft. It was a lot of fun to see everyone interacting and exchanging ideas in the war room. Before the draft, there was a lot of debate about where to pick players based on team need and also beat overall value available. In that draft, we were able to land some amazing talent! We ended up with CKRoyal and Tylus and Darkness Rising and 24Redcrayons as well as a bunch of other great players!! Before the draft, I’d interacted with Tylus and Darkness Rising quite a bit had really let the war room know how much I thought of those guys! One player I’d interacted this some before the draft is Wildfire Micro. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to draft him, but now Wildfire Micro and I are teammates for the Butchers! So that worked out pretty cool in the long run. The steal of the draft that year has to be 24Redcrayons. The Ducks were able to draft him in the 7th round of the draft. 24 wound up being the best offensive lineman in the league that year and won the award for offensive lineman of the year!! That draft was a great learning experience for me and wound up being a damn good draft for the Ducks!! I’ll remember that experience and the amount of work it took everyone to be successful going forward! Hopefully one day I’ll be able to join another war room and take part in another draft.
I’ll reflect on the S22 NSFL Draft, where my player was drafted. I looked back at a media piece written by iStegosauruz prior to writing this, where he analysed the Mock Draft Point Task. 195 users completed the point task, and 103 of them projected my player, Brandon Booker, to be drafted in Round 1. Personally I knew from conversations I’d had with teams that I’d go in the first round, but I was unsure where in the first round and which team would be the one to take me.
Prior to the draft, I did something a little sneaky. I told Arizona, Austin, Philadelphia and Sarasota that they were in my top three draft destinations. I knew all four teams were interested in me, and while I hoped I ended up in Philadelphia, I would have been happy to be drafted by any of them. Arizona and Philadelphia both had high first-round picks (3rd, 4th, and 6th overall) while Sarasota had traded out of the first round and Austin had traded up to 1st – it being an open secret that they’d draft Steg’s player, Colt Mendoza. I was quietly confident that I’d go 3rd, 4th or 6th unless Sarasota or Austin engineered a trade back into the first round to draft me. When Philadelphia picked Matt Cross 3rd overall, a part of me was worried that I’d be drafted before Philadelphia’s next pick. Thankfully for me, they won the bidding war for 4th overall and made me a Liberty player. Jumping from 35th overall in the DSFL draft (where I was the ninth cornerback taken) to 4th overall in the NSFL draft (where I was the second cornerback taken) was a nice feeling too. (285 words) [OPTION]S24 (PHI): 16 GP, 73 tackles, 1 TFL, 2 FF, 3 sacks, 5 INTs, 10 PDs, 2 TDs
[OPTION]S25 (PHI): 16 GP, 67 tackles, 4 INTs, 13 PDs, 1 TD [OPTION]S26 (OCO): 16 GP, 68 tackles, 1 TFL, 1 sack, 2 INTs, 10 PDs [OPTION]S27 (OCO): 16 GP, 116 tackles, 4 INTs, 23 PDs, 1 TD [OPTION]S28 (OCO): 16 GP, 84 tackles, 1 FF, 1 FR, 3 INTs, 20 PDs, 1 TD [OPTION]S29 (OCO): 16 GP, 99 tackles, 3 FF, 1 FR, 5 INTs, 23 PDs, 1 TD [OPTION]============================================================= [OPTION]ISFL Playoff Stats: [OPTION]S23 (PHI): 1 GP, 2 tackles [OPTION]S26 (OCO): 1 GP, 5 tackles, 2 PDs [OPTION]============================================================= [OPTION]Trophies and Achievements: [OPTION]Drafted 35th Overall by Myrtle Beach in the S21 DSFL Draft [OPTION]S21 Ultimini Champion [OPTION]S21 DSFL Pro Bowl Selection [OPTION]S21 DSFL Defensive Back of the Year Nominee [OPTION]Drafted 4th Overall by Philadelphia in the S22 ISFL Draft [OPTION]S23 ISFL Pro Bowl Selection [OPTION]S23 ISFL Cornerback of the Year Nominee [OPTION]S23 ISFL Defensive Performance of the Year Nominee [OPTION]S24 ISFL Pro Bowl Selection [OPTION]S24 ISFL Cornerback of the Year Nominee [OPTION]S26 ISFL Pro Bowl Selection
[OPTION]S26 ISFL Returner of the Year Nominee [OPTION]S29 ISFL Pro Bowl Selection [OPTION]S29 ISFL Cornerback of the Year Nominee [OPTION]============================================================= Player | Update | Wiki | Twitter
The DSFL draft was a bit tense for me. A few teams had reached out, but I really didn't have much of an inkling as to where I'd go. The Grey Ducks and I had talked during my waiver period, and even though that didn't work out, they seemed like a good fit. After the mess that was my tenure with the Myrtle Beach Buccaneers, I was pretty confident they wouldn't draft me, but that was no guarantee - some people just can't read a situation.
I waited all day, but missed the draft stream. That's nothing really remarkable, mind you. Early evening can be ground zero, when you're a parent. You get used to watching things after they've happened - or not at all. Later that evening, a message arrived in my Discord. Well, actually, two messages, simultaneously arrived, from Scorp and J0EB. The Norfolk Seawolves? They'd reached out to me, but the conversation had been fairly brief. I didn't think I'd been very high on their board, so that was an interesting surprise. I joined the team Discord. Seemed pleasant enough. But, then I saw the counting. At first, it was strange. Then, it was pointless. But now, it is all. I'm very happy to be a Norfolk CounterSeawolf.
Written Option: There’s no time like the draft, both for the exciting build up beforehand and for the gamut of emotions afterwards. Reflect back on a previous DSFL or NSFL draft of your choice. In 200 words or more, go through your own experience that day. Were you expecting to go high, or to any particular team? Did you end up shocked by your draft position, good or bad? Tell us how that draft has impacted your player. If you haven’t been drafted, reflect instead on your college choices.
O man, draft day. What a experience. I guess I'll start off with expectations. I had every expectations of going late. I didn't really prefer any team as well, I knew very little about them. I fucked up my update sheet and if I remember right my TPE at draft time was actually higher than what was perceived. So I definitely deserved to be in the later rounds. I hadn't sold my self enough or venture outside of the Minnesota LR. So when I was the first pick of the eighth round. I was just happy someone took a chance one me. From that point on I had didn't want to let them down and I haven't missed a beat. I don't think I was shocked necessarily. I just felt like I had answered the pre draft questions good enough. My GMs told people how well I got along in the LR. But I definitely didn't help my cause by not tooting my own horn or putting myself out there more. It took me a bit to settle in to the league. If I could go back knowing what I know now, I would be a early pick, but I'm ok with being a late round pick and proving my worth to SJS and the entire league. Draft was motivating to say the least. I thought I was doing well as a first time sim league player and really had no fuckin clue what was going on. But, in the end I wasn't doing enough. And I'm a proud person to begin with so getting drafted in the 8th round really put a stain on what I thought was a good work ethic. From then on I vowed to max earn, do media, take on any role if I could get hired! Looking at you people who've passed over me. But yes the draft really has turned me into a great player and I plan to continue that and let it take me as far as possible.
Probably the NSFL draft stood out to me more than the DSFL one as I got to be more invested into the league and my player. Not to mention, there was some uncertainty about whether or not I would be staying at the safety position. Seemed like it was likely to remain a defensive back one way or another given the general demand for it but no guarantees with all teams asking about positional swaps.
I had some hopes of landing in the 1st round, most likely to teams like Yellowknife, Colorado or the Otters. Two of them inevitably took safeties but instead I ended up falling to the 2nd round. I have no regrets on that part because as soon as there was a trade up to the 2nd pick in the 2nd round by Philadelphia, I knew that was going to be for me given the great conversations I've had with them leading up to the draft. They were easily the top if not top two in terms of teams I was interested in going to. Most of all, they were a place that I was actively wanting to end up at considering some of the other potential teams instead. With being the 2nd pick of the 2nd round, I kind of dig where I ended up. The only thing I hate is if people end up only doing a first round draft review, then I'll get to miss out on being part of the media but that's more for my own selfish desire more than anything else. Having low expectations and coming into exceed them is always a great feeling.
I've only been drafted the once so far, so that's a pretty clear choice - S23 DSFL Draft. I was selected 16th overall by the Tijuana Luchadores, which to be honest was around where I had expected to go. I was not (and still am not) by any means an expert in simulation sports, but I do have a way of tricking people into believing that they want me to be a part of their organization...I mean making a good impression! I really enjoyed the experience of being reached out to by scouts, GMs and getting a little taste of teams and what they were about before being selected.
I was a little bit surprised that London passed on me a couple of picks before I was selected, as I had good experiences with their locker room and GMs, but I think the biggest thing that played into my being drafted by the Luchadores was that my life long pal Mithrandir is their co-GM. It was well known that we are buddies in real life as that's how I came to be a part of this league and this group seems to have a respect for letting friends and relatives play together if at all possible, so I was really happy with where I fell. Now comes the fun part - being a part of a really cool group in the locker room as well as getting to compete on the field while having a good relationship with GMs and learning what this league is all about. I know I had an awesome class and there are some studs above me, but I'm hoping that I can move up the ranks and top my 16th overall pick when the time comes to go to the NSFL. Watch out for me when that draft comes around!! |
|