04-05-2022, 04:11 PM
(This post was last modified: 04-09-2022, 01:05 PM by Asked Madden. Edited 2 times in total.)
The Giving Tree
Chasing the ISFL’s Longest Running Trade
Introduction: From You, 34 Seasons Ago
What is the impact of a single decision? Sometimes, the consequences of an action fade away with little impact at all - small decisions with small results affecting only their immediate surroundings. But sometimes the ripple effects from one decision can be momentous.
There is no clearer example of obvious decision points involving multiple teams in a sim league than a trade. Two or more teams coming together and swapping assets, gathering ammunition for a rebuild or a title run, or perhaps just getting some salary cap relief by offloading a depth player – there have been 469 such trades in the history of the league, 470 if you count one vetoed exchange. Each trade had drastically varying impacts on the teams they involved and the league as a whole, ranging from blockbuster exchanges of Hall of Fame players to late-round pick swaps.
But many trades involve teams trading away assets that they did not originally own, picks and players that had themselves been traded to that team earlier. This begs the question: if we trace back every trade piece to the source, if we view the history of trades as a garden of trees with varying shapes and sizes, which trade has the biggest tree of them all?
To accomplish this, I undertook the most extensive research effort I have attempted in my time in the league, compiling every trade in league existence and recording where those assets had previously been traded. To make things much more difficult, not every trade is written down in the trade forum; of those that are, many are written down unclearly or contain information that is contradictory or straight-up incorrect. I had to pull and cross-check information from a variety of secondary sources, including:
- Forum drafts
- YouTube draft stream archives
- The one Twitch draft that is still up
- The wiki
- The index
- Media posts
- Punishment posts
- Years-old conversations in the Discord server
- Draft graphic spreadsheets
- Second-hand requests for information from ISFL GMs
On that note, I’d like to thank @Pat, @TheCC, @Z-Whiz, @Tesla, @RussDrivesTheBus, and most especially @infinitempg for volunteering their own time and effort to help answer my questions, or at least let me know that the answers weren’t in their war room. I want to acknowledge infinite in particular, without whom two entire drafts worth of trades would be lost and this project would have remained in limbo. There are a small number of trades with looming questions that may never be answered; from what I have figured out, they thankfully do not change the shape of this trade tree in any significant way. I will include them regardless in an appendix at the end of the article in the hopes that some reader may know their answer.
The following trades are numbered according to their overall chronological order as pieced together during my research. Since not every trade in league history is part of this tree, the numbers are not all consecutive.
Note that this article has been split up into volumes because of the forum’s restrictions on post length. You can access the other volumes in the navigation bar above.
Now get ready. Here we go.
June 12, 2017: Week 1, Season 1
#5: Las Vegas Legion and Yellowknife Wraiths, 7/7/17
receives:
OL D'Brickashaw Ferguson
LB Sinjin Flimjollywop
WR Alexandre LeClair
DT Mark Ramrio
Yellowknife S2 6th Round
receives:
Las Vegas S2 1st Round
Las Vegas S2 2nd Round
Las Vegas S2 4th Round (S Marcus Kane)
Las Vegas S3 2nd Round (OL Francois Lamoreux)
Future considerations
–> WR Jonathan Shaloiko
The trade that started it all. The Las Vegas Legion, having just been established alongside the Philadelphia Liberty as the league’s first expansion teams, pushed their chips in from the jump and traded away immense draft capital to secure more established players. Ferguson and Flimjollywop, the former of whom made the S1 Pro Bowl, both went inactive soon afterwards. Alexandre LeClair was more successful, amassing 2,682 receiving yards and 18 touchdowns plus a Pro Bowl nod over three seasons on the Legion. Similarly, Mark Ramrio also garnered a S2 Pro Bowl selection playing in the Vegas trenches and racked up 17 sacks.
On the other side of the equation were the Yellowknife Wraiths, who used two of the four picks acquired to draft safety Marcus Kane and lineman Francois Lamoreux. Kane was consistently solid for Yellowknife, although unspectacular, and Lamoreux burned out of the league after only a season. Jonathan Shaloiko, acquired under a future consideratons clause, was already inactive by the time of trading, and never played a down for Yellowknife.
Of the ten assets that changed hands in this trade, only Sinjin Flimjollywop would not be traded again.
#12: Las Vegas Legion and San Jose Sabercats, 7/10/17
receives:
OL Tim Tebow
receives:
Yellowknife S2 6th Round [#5]
Las Vegas S2 7th Round
San Jose received the first second-hand goods of the trade tree with Yellowknife’s S2 sixth, although it would be far from the last. In fact, neither of the two picks that San Jose received in this trade with the Legion would actually be used by the Sabercats. Meanwhile, Las Vegas acquired Tim Tebow, who was a Pro Bowler the season prior. He proceeded to allow 10 and 13 sacks in his two starting seasons for the Legion before spending the rest of his professional life in the new DSFL.
#14: Philadelphia Liberty and Yellowknife Wraiths, 7/11/17
receives:
Las Vegas S2 1st Round [#5]
Yellowknife S2 3rd Round (TE Perry Tucker)
Yellowknife S2 5th Round
receives:
Philadelphia S2 1st Round (CB Dermot Lavelle)
In the Season 2 NSFL Draft, Philadelphia and Las Vegas held the first and second overall picks, respectively. Holding the second one, Yellowknife moved it and two other picks in the draft to move up one spot for highly coveted CB Dermot Lavelle. The 13-time Pro Bowler and Hall of Famer was almost certainly worth the price paid to get him. Meanwhile, the Liberty would end up dealing two of the three draft picks away before draft time but did use Yellowknife’s third to take Perry Tucker, who converted from tight end to linebacker. Tucker stuck around for a couple seasons and earned a Pro Bowl in S4 before going inactive.
#15: Colorado Yeti and Philadelphia Liberty, 7/12/17
receives:
Las Vegas S2 1st Round (DE Blaster Blade) [#5, #14]
receives:
Colorado S2 1st Round (WR Fox North)
Colorado S2 3rd Round (TE Paul DiMirio)
Finally, teams using their draft capital! Colorado traded up for that second overall pick from Philadelphia for Blaster Blade, who played all of a season for them in his short career. The two players Philly traded down for combined for 17 Pro Bowls between them. Paul DiMirio, who is second all-time in number of Pro Bowls with 12 and who earned seven consecutive Tight End of the Year awards on his way to the Hall of Fame, was an incredible steal for the Liberty, especially considering the value they gained by trading down.
#20: Philadelphia Liberty and Yellowknife Wraiths, 7/16/17
receives:
Las Vegas S2 2nd Round [#5]
receives:
Philadelphia S3 1st Round (CB Brice Boggs)
Philadelphia S3 6th Round
Having traded down from the Legion’s first in the S2 draft, the Liberty traded back up for the Legion’s second by giving up two picks in the next draft. The Wraiths would use Philly’s first to draft cornerback Brice Boggs. Boggs had spent his shortened Season 2 on the Yellowknife roster – since the DSFL wasn’t established until the season afterwards – and the Wraiths picked him back up in the draft at third overall and as the first cornerback off the board. Hall of Fame cornerback Benson Bayley went to the Sabercats one pick later.
#22: Baltimore Hawks and San Jose Sabercats, 7/17/17
receives:
Arizona S2 1st Round
San Jose S2 4th Round (OL Dieter Koch)
Yellowknife S2 6th Round (LB James Wright) [#5, #12]
receives:
Baltimore S2 1st Round (OL Vincent Sharpei)
Here we see the first evidence of our trade tree interacting with another. Baltimore swapped their first round pick with Arizona’s (courtesy of an earlier trade between Arizona and San Jose) and added in an extra fourth and sixth for their troubles. With their new pick at fourth overall, San Jose took Vincent Sharpei, who played two years at offensive lineman before switching to linebacker for another three seasons. He earned three Pro Bowls and a Linebacker of the Year award. Meanwhile, Baltimore used two of their three picks and took Dieter Koch and James Wright. The former made the S2 Pro Bowl, but otherwise neither Koch nor Wright made too much of an impact in their limited seasons in Baltimore.
#23: Baltimore Hawks and Philadelphia Liberty, 7/19/17
receives:
Las Vegas S2 2nd Round (CB Darnell Turner) [#5, #20]
Philadelphia S2 2nd Round (OL Brokk Lee)
Philadelphia S2 4th Round (OL Alonzo Charles)
receives:
Arizona S2 1st Round (OL Micah Hendrix) [#22]
Baltimore S2 2nd Round (CB Tyler Oles)
Las Vegas S2 5th Round (LB Luke Washington)
The first draft day trade on the tree saw the Hawks and Liberty swap a trio of picks with each other. With the ninth overall pick, Baltimore took Darnell Turner, a four-time Pro Bowler who spent all nine seasons of his career with the Hawks and ranks second all-time in franchise records for interceptions. Brokk Lee and Alonzo Charles both had much shorter tenures since the latter was an inactive and the former was an ErMurazor multi. On the other side of the trade, Philadelphia traded up to the back end of the first round for Micah Hendrix, who snagged two pairs of Pro Bowls as both an offensive lineman and a linebacker in six seasons for the Liberty. Just as notable was their second round draftee, Tyler Oles, who spent all seven of his seasons in the league on the team and split his career between cornerback and quarterback. Finally, linebacker Luke Washington saw three seasons of action in the Liberty defense.
#24: Philadelphia Liberty and San Jose Sabercats, 7/19/17
receives:
Baltimore S2 6th Round (OL Brett Dodggy)
San Jose S2 7th Round (WR Damien Kroetch)
receives:
Yellowknife S2 5th Round (CB Xavier Newman) [#14]
Our last trade involving the Season 2 Draft, this one involved movement of some later round picks between San Jose and Philadelphia. San Jose gave up a sixth and a seventh to grab Xavier Newman in the fifth, who played a total of two seasons in green and spent the rest of his time in the DSFL. In return, Philly snagged another ErMurazor multi in Brett Dodggy and a semi-active receiver turned running back and kick returner in Damien Kroetch, who actually passed 1,000 yards from scrimmage in three of his seasons in Philadelphia and had 15 combined rushing and receiving touchdowns in Season 6.
#26: Las Vegas Legion and Orange County Otters, 7/20/17
receives:
RB Ardie Savea
receives:
OL D’Brickashaw Ferguson [#5]
Las Vegas S3 4th Round (DE J.D. Boom)
We have reached the first leaves of the tree. None of the assets from this trade will be traded again before each player’s retirement. Ardie Savea, who the Otters had just drafted in the second round, was dealt to Vegas in exchange for the inactive Ferguson and an S3 fourth rounder that turned into J.D. Boom. Boom retired after Season 4. Meanwhile, Savea was a loyal member of the Las Vegas Legion and New Orleans Second Line up until retirement after Season 10, accumulating seven Pro Bowls as both running back and a late-career tight end.
#28: Baltimore Hawks and Yellowknife Wraiths, 7/23/17
receives:
CB Rafael Rayes
WR Jonathan Shaloiko [#5]
receives:
WR Damian West
RB Levon Novel
Shaloiko didn’t play a down for Yellowknife, but he did rack up crazy numbers for Baltimore with a blistering five catches, 58 yards, and a touchdown in one season of ISFL action. Rayes was similarly short-lived, accumulating only two seasons of work in the Hawks backfield. In exchange for those players, the Wraiths received Damian West and Leven Novel. West played a single season in Yellowknife, getting 776 yards and three touchdowns in a statline almost as good as Jonathan Shaloiko’s. Novel became a safety in his single season as a Wraith, but more impressively flexed his incredibly efficient receiving skills by catching a single pass for ten yards and a touchdown. Shaloiko could only dream of such numbers.
July 31, 2017: Week 1, Season 2
#29: Las Vegas Legion and San Jose Sabercats, 8/8/17
receives:
Las Vegas S3 7th Round (OL Crith Coalrange) [#12]
San Jose S4 2nd Round (TE JR Vance)
receives:
CB Matthew Peterson
Thankfully this is another dead end, because that San Jose second rounder was never traded. The Sabercats pulled the heist of the century, trading for Matthew Peterson in exchange for a late round S3 pick and an early S4 pick that they never actually traded. What were the fruits of their devious labor? Matthew Peterson played one season for San Jose and proceeded to retire. Tight end JR Vance, the stolen draft pick, was in such a famously talent-depleted draft that his user posted all of three times on the forum and never proceeded past the DSFL. On the other hand, Crith Coalrange went inactive soon after the draft and only suited up for a single season of action.
#34: Las Vegas Legion and Philadelphia Liberty, 9/2/17
receives:
Philadelphia S3 3rd Round
Philadelphia S4 1st Round
Philadelphia S5 1st Round
receives:
DT Mark Ramrio [#5]
As the Season 3 Draft rolled closer, the 3-11 Legion realized that they were quite a terrible team and had a desperate need for young draft talent. To this end, they traded away Mark Ramrio in the offseason to the Philadelphia Liberty for three high future picks. Ramrio, who was coming off two consecutive Pro Bowl seasons, was not nearly as effective in two consecutive non-Pro Bowl seasons playing in Philadelphia. The user behind Ramrio, who had been incredibly active in seasons prior, fell off the face of the Earth and very abruptly stopped posting only a few weeks after this trade. Meanwhile, the Legion added three selections to their war chest, all of which they traded away before their respective drafts.
#35: Las Vegas Legion and Yellowknife Wraiths, 9/5/17
receives:
San Jose S3 6th Round (CB Tyler Grant)
Yellowknife S4 1st Round (TE Steven O’Sullivan)
Yellowknife S4 2nd Round (LB Den Bavis)
receives:
Philadelphia S3 3rd Round [#34]
Arizona S3 3rd Round (LB James Warner)
Las Vegas S4 2nd Round (forfeited)
Another triple pick swap, with the Yellowknife Wraiths trading draft position in Season 4 for better picks in Season 3. The pick they ended up using turned into linebacker James Warner, who never escaped the DSFL. One of Yellowknife’s S4 picks was forfeited because of a tampering punishment, which in the abysmal S4 Draft was perhaps more of a blessing than a punishment. The Legion’s remaining S3 pick turned into Tyler Grant, who actually did play two seasons as a cornerback for Las Vegas and acquired an astonishing 48 tackles and 4 pass deflections. Neither of their two Season 4 picks would match Grant’s value on the field, because neither made it onto the field for the Legion – the first because he was traded, the second because he was inactive.
#39: Philadelphia Liberty and Yellowknife Wraiths, 9/6/17
receives:
Philadelphia S3 3rd Round (LB William Ridley) [#34, #35]
Philadelphia S3 6th Round (QB Budda Browning) [#20]
receives:
Philadelphia S3 4th Round (DT Ryan Fitzfatrick)
Orange County S3 4th Round (TE Joseph Askins)
The Liberty vaulted up into the third round, and back into possession of their original pick, to take William Ridley, whose 17 sacks ranked fifth in the league and first among linebackers during his one season tenure in the City of Brotherly Love. Budda Browning transitioned to wide receiver after the draft and served as a depth option for two years, posting 311 and 820 receiving yards. In return, the Wraiths gathered a duo of fourth rounders that turned to Fitzfatrick and Askins, who served three and two years respectively as unexemplary roster pieces.
#42: Colorado Yeti and Yellowknife Wraiths, 9/11/17
receives:
CB Brice Boggs [#20]
Yellowknife S4 3rd Round (not enough picks)
Yellowknife S4 5th Round (not enough picks)
receives:
LB Wyatt Fulton
Colorado S4 2nd Round
Arizona S4 2nd Round (QB Mitchell Stars)
After being drafted for the black and silver, Brice Boggs went over to Colorado, where he spent the remaining three years of his career before retiring after Season 5. More interestingly, Boggs would spend Season 4 as the NSFL’s resident (first? only? I’m too tired to research this fully) dual-position threat, rocking snaps at both cornerback and wide receiver like it was the 1930s. Colorado also garnered two later round picks in the Season 4 draft, whose value turned out to be less than worthless in a draft that barely entered the third round. In exchange for their first-round pick, Yellowknife received two nearly-as-worthless second round selections in that same draft, one of which was used on DSFL lifer Mitchell Stars. They also received what would end up being a single season of Wyatt Fulton’s services, one where he earned a Pro Bowl nod and Linebacker of the Year.
#43: Colorado Yeti and Las Vegas Legion, 9/12/17
receives:
Philadelphia S4 1st Round [#34]
Las Vegas S4 4th Round (not enough picks)
Las Vegas S5 5th Round (skipped)
DE Bisquiteen Crockner
receives:
DE Blaster Blade [#5, #14, #15]
WR Jon Ross
Again in the business of dealing away picks, Las Vegas gave Colorado three of them and Bisquiteen Crockner, a long-inactive player who contributed only one season of playing time. The Yeti ended up discarding the two of those picks whose value was worthless or nonexistent and traded the only valuable one away. In return, the Legion acquired journeyman defensive end Blaster Blade, who earned a Pro Bowl in Season 3, and receiver Jon Ross, who did not.
#45: Colorado Yeti and Yellowknife Wraiths, 9/16/17
receives:
QB Nicholas Pierno
Colorado S4 2nd Round (WR Tommy Brown) [#42]
Yellowknife S5 5th Round
receives:
LB Luke Tiernan
Not satisfied with just Wyatt Fulton, the Wraiths swung another trade for a linebacker, bringing over Luke Tiernan from the Yeti. He spent five seasons in Yellowknife with double digit tackles in all but one of them and a Pro Bowl nod in Season 3. The Yeti received a small haul in return, of which the primary compensation was Nicholas Pierno, a replacement at quarterback for the infamous Logan Noble. Pierno played four seasons at quarterback and a further seven as a defensive tackle in his long career for the Yeti, accumulating five Pro Bowls and even getting a vote for the Hall of Fame. Tommy Brown played as many snaps for Colorado as he earned in TPE over his career (0).
September 18, 2017: Week 1, Season 3
#49: Colorado Yeti and Yellowknife Wraiths, 10/1/17
receives:
WR Damian West [#28]
S Levon Novel [#28]
LB Reginald Hampshireton
OL Tyron Smith
Yellowknife S5 5th Round (K John Mueller)
receives:
WR D.J. Law
OL Bender Rodriguez
S4 1.5 million cap space
S5 1.5 million cap space
S6 1 million cap space
Yes, that’s the same Yellowknife S5 5th rounder from trade #45. The pick was so nice, Yellowknife sent it over twice. The Yeti used it to draft a kicker in John Mueller that never played. Thankfully, that wasn’t the only asset swapped in this trade. Colorado also acquired four additional players from the Wraiths: Damian West, who put up nearly identical 48/645/3 and 48/605/3 statlines in his two years on the team; Levon Novel, still a safety and a three-year contributor to the Yeti before his retirement; Reginald Hampshireton, an inactive linebacker who played two years and then disappeared from active duty; and Tyron Smith, an ErMurazor multi. These four players and the repeat pick were given up by Yellowknife in exchange for three seasons of cap relief and two players, of which only Bender Rodriguez would play even a single season for them.
#51: Arizona Outlaws and Las Vegas Legion, 10/22/17
receives:
DE Blaster Blade [#5, #14, #15, #43]
receives:
DE Big Bot
Arizona S4 1st Round (RB Shawn Ariel)
Poor Blaster Blade just can’t get a break. The Brandin Cooks of defensive linemen, now playing for his fourth team in four seasons if you include his waiver stint for the Outlaws in Season 1, put up a bit of a down year statistically, registering a career low three sacks. His former team in Las Vegas replaced him with Big Bot, who led Las Vegas’s defensive linemen in tackles with 36 in his one-year tenure. As a cherry on top, they acquired a pick at the bottom of the S4 Draft’s first round and took Shawn Ariel, who never escaped the DSFL. It would be beating a dead horse to reiterate how bad that draft was.
#52: Colorado Yeti and Las Vegas Legion, 10/24/17
receives:
Las Vegas S5 1st Round (CB Andre Bly Jr.)
S4 2 million cap space
receives:
Colorado S4 1st Round (S Blackford Oakes)
Philadelphia S4 1st Round (CB Trey Lonzac) [#34, #43]
Speaking of the S4 Draft, the Colorado Yeti decided to punt on that draft, giving up two of their first rounders in exchange for the Legion’s first a year later and some cap space. The Legion, with picks #2 and #6, selected Blackford Oakes and Trey Lonzac to bolster their secondary. Oakes was Season 4’s co-Defensive Rookie of the Year, Season 8’s Defensive Back of the Year, and a five-time Pro Bowler at defensive back while serving out his eight years as a player for the Legion and subsequently the Second Line. Trey Lonzac never played an NSFL game, which is almost as impressive a resume. With what turned out to be the second overall selection in the S5 Draft, Colorado picked up their own star with Andre Bly Jr., Season 10’s co-Defensive Back of the Year and a six-time Pro Bowler at defensive back while serving out his six years as a Yeti.
#55: Las Vegas Legion and Orange County Otters, 10/26/17
receives:
WR William Sean
receives:
TE Steven O’Sullivan [#35]
A straight-up swap of two players is an uncommon occurrence. The Legion walked away with William Sean, the fifth overall pick of the S4 Draft and a DSFL lifer. The Otters walked away with Steven O’Sullivan, the fourth overall pick of the S4 Draft who also went inactive but managed to snag Offensive Rookie of the Year and two Pro Bowls in three years of service to Orange County.
#57: Las Vegas Legion and Orange County Otters, 10/28/17
receives:
DE Jimmy Cox
Orange County S5 1st Round
receives:
Philadelphia S5 1st Round [#34]
Las Vegas S5 4th Round
S4 1.5 million cap space
The Legion and Otters traded again, this time to exchange first rounders and swap some other capital as well. Orange County got an additional pick and some cap room, while Las Vegas got Jimmy Cox, who stayed with them for two years and even led the entire league in tackles for loss in Season 5 with 16. None of the picks exchanged here were actually used by the Otters or Legion.
November 6, 2017: Week 1, Season 4
#61: Baltimore Hawks and Las Vegas Legion, 12/11/17
receives:
WR Alexandre LeClair [#5]
Orange County S5 1st Round [#57]
receives:
DT Ricardo Sandoval
WR Brian Wheat
Baltimore S5 2nd Round (WR Fresh Booter)
Baltimore S5 5th Round (skipped)
Baltimore stole away LeClair from the Legion and got a 1st rounder to boot. In five seasons, LeClair posted four digit receiving yardage in all but one of them and made four Pro Bowls. Las Vegas came away with a haul of two players and two picks, of which one had to be discarded for a lack of desirable prospects and two were traded again only a few days later in the offseason. Only Fresh Booter gave Vegas/New Orleans results on the field, playing two years and serving as a decent, if unexceptional, complementary option behind Dustin Evans.
#62: Arizona Outlaws and Philadelphia Liberty, 12/12/17
receives:
S Lincoln Jefferson
DT Mark Ramrio [#5, #34]
receives:
S Ryan Flock
DT Godfrey King
Arizona S5 3rd Round (RB Sydney Spinelli)
The twice-traded and now inactive Mark Ramrio was dealt a third and final time here, serving out the rest of his career in the Arizona desert. He was joined in the trade by Lincoln Jefferson, who had been a Pro Bowl selection once for the Liberty. In exchange for their safety and defensive tackle, Philadelphia received their replacements in Ryan Flock and Godfrey King. Flock made the Pro Bowl twice over five years in Philly and even tied for second in the league in sacks with 19 in Season 7, while King stayed only for three years. The Liberty also received a draft selection used to take Sydney Spinelli, who never suited up for them.
#63: Las Vegas Legion and Yellowknife Wraiths, 12/12/17
receives:
TE Joseph Askins [#39]
OL Francois LaMoreux [#5]
receives:
CB Philippe Carter
Las Vegas S6 2nd Round (TE Glenn McPoyal)
Las Vegas acquired their defensive tackle of the future with Joseph Askins, who converted over from tight end as the team converted over to New Orleans and played all the way until retirement after Season 11. They also acquired an inactive lineman in LaMoreux who didn’t ever see the field. Yellowknife, meanwhile, got the final four years of Philippe Carter to anchor their secondary, gathering two more Pro Bowls for his career, and came into possession of a second-round pick in the S6 Draft that they used on Glenn McPoyal. In seven years as a Wraith, McPoyal came away with seven consecutive Pro Bowls and even won Tight End of the Year in Season 10.
#64: Arizona Outlaws, Colorado Yeti, and Las Vegas Legion, 12/14/17
receives:
CB Alex Hayden
DE Fuego Wozy
WR Damian West
receives:
DT Ricardo Sandoval [#61]
WR Brian Wheat [#61]
DE Eidur Gustavsson
receives:
WR Dustin Evans
Arizona S5 2nd Round (RB Conall O’Sullivan)
Baltimore S5 4th Round (OL Jett Winter)
The first, and only, three-way trade to be included in this trade tree saw each participating team come away with three assets. Arizona’s three players, all coming from the Yeti, had variable success – Fuego Wozy lasted less than a season, Damian West had one season of his lowest career yardage to that point but almost doubling his career high touchdown count, and Alex Hayden played three seasons at cornerback and a part-time returner/trick play receiver. Colorado received two cast-offs from the Legion, with Sandoval earning Pro Bowls both years as a Yeti and Wheat staying seven more years as a receiving depth option (and getting a forced fumble on defense). Gustavsson, an arrival from the desert, spent his four seasons putting up serviceable at best numbers. Meanwhile, the Las Vegas Legion acquired their WR1 for the next five years with Dustin Evans, who earned a Pro Bowl in Season 5 and 7, and snagged two additional picks courtesy of Arizona that turned into essentially nothing (O’Sullivan) and literally nothing (Winter) of value.
#65: Arizona Outlaws and Baltimore Hawks, 12/14/17
receives:
Orange County S5 1st Round [#57, #61]
San Jose S5 3rd Round (LB Ben Urlacher)
receives:
Arizona S5 1st Round (CB Gregory Fletcher)
The Hawks traded up two spots to secure Arizona’s selection at sixth overall, where they took Gregory Fletcher, who racked up the third most interceptions and fourth most pass deflections in team history during a nine-year long career spent entirely in Baltimore. Trading down moved the Outlaws down two spots to the bottom of the first and added a mid-third round pick to their stockpile, which they used on a DSFL lifer in Ben Urlacher.
#66: Arizona Outlaws and Orange County Otters, 12/15/17
receives:
Philadelphia S5 1st Round (K Dean Jackson) [#34, #57]
Orange County S5 2nd Round (DE Bastion Barnhardt)
Orange County S5 3rd Round (CB Eric Forman)
Orange County S5 4th Round
Las Vegas S5 4th Round (OL Ray Riemann) [#57]
Orange County S5 5th Round
receives:
Yellowknife S5 1st Round (DT Ryan Sierra)
Orange County S5 1st Round (CB Tegan Atwell) [#57, #61, #65]
Orange County, which held the fifth overall pick in the S5 Draft courtesy of prior trades, gave up that first rounder and the entirety of their remaining draft capital that season to acquire the seventh and eighth overall picks, the latter of which was actually their own. Ryan Sierra was a two-time Pro Bowler and one-time Defensive Lineman of the Year who played his entire career as an Otter. Tegan Atwell, one pick later, was a two-time Pro Bowler in Orange County and cornerback turned wide receiver who played her entire career as an Otter, except one year mid-career as a Yellowknife Wraith. With six draft picks in their toolbelt, Arizona used four of them, the crown jewel among them being Hall of Fame kicker Dean Jackson. It was not difficult for Jackson to outshine his draft classmates, since Barnhardt, Forman, and Riemann never made it onto the field as Outlaws (and only Barnhardt ever made it at all).
#70: Arizona Outlaws and Yellowknife Wraiths, 12/17/17
receives:
Yellowknife S5 2nd Round (S Jacob Lattimore)
receives:
Orange County S5 4th Round (skipped) [#66]
Orange County S5 5th Round (skipped) [#66]
Arizona S6 2nd Round (LB Jack Dwyer)
Here Arizona swapped a second in Season 6 for a second in Season 5 and threw in some bonus late picks on top. Yellowknife found them as useless as Arizona did since they decided to pass on selecting players with either of them. With the second from S5, the Outlaws drafted Jacob Lattimore, who played his rookie season in Kansas City and then retired. He somehow registered two tackles for Arizona. Yellowknife used the second they had gotten to secure Jack Dwyer, who somehow lasted even less time than Lattimore because he was traded away before the draft was even over.
#72: Las Vegas Legion and Philadelphia Liberty, 12/19/17
receives:
LB Luke Washington [#23]
receives:
WR Jon Ross [#43]
DE Big Bot [#51]
After only a year in Sin City, Big Bot lumbered over to Philadelphia, where he lived out his final season coming last on the team in recorded tackles. He was joined by receiver Jon Ross, who also saw his career come to a close after one final season as a depth option. In return for these two imminent retirees, Philly sent over Luke Washington, whose two years in Vegas and New Orleans were around as average as his prior experience in the league. He did manage to rank fourth in the league in Season 5 in tackles, so there’s that.
#73: Colorado Yeti and Las Vegas Legion, 12/21/17
receives:
CB Tyler Grant [#35]
K Peg Leg
RB Shawn Ariel [#51]
receives:
S LaMarcus Mills
QB Isaac Brown
Colorado S6 4th Round
Having taken a year off from playing professional football, Tyler Grant returned to action after being traded to Colorado and registered an astonishing three tackles in four years of service to the Yeti. Alongside this shutdown corner, Colorado also pilfered two other players from the Legion: Peg Leg, a recently drafted kicker who played a pretty average season, and Shawn Ariel, who as previously established only ever played in the DSFL. Going the other way was Isaac Brown, a convert to defensive end that lasted one season, and LaMarcus Mills, a safety who lasted no seasons. Las Vegas also received a draft pick for the S6 Draft that they would exchange later.
#74: Arizona Outlaws and San Jose Sabercats, 12/24/17
receives:
San Jose S6 4th Round (DE Vernon Collins)
San Jose S7 4th Round (skipped)
receives:
S Lincoln Jefferson [#62]
Lincoln Jefferson, an Outlaw for all of twelve days, found his final home in San Jose with this trade. Jefferson was a serviceable safety in his last professional season and racked up 77 tackles and two interceptions. In order to secure him, the Sabercats gave the Outlaws two fourth rounders in consecutive drafts. The pick that wasn’t skipped turned into Vernon Collins, who didn’t end up on the field until Season 10 but played the most efficient season of all time when he did – two tackles total, one of which was a tackle for a loss and one of which was a sack.
#75: Arizona Outlaws and Philadelphia Liberty, 12/26/17
receives:
WR Budda Browning [#20, #39]
RB Omar Wright
Philadelphia S6 3rd Round
Philadelphia S7 2nd Round
receives:
WR Josh Garden
Undisclosed value
Philly traded a relative farm to swipe Josh Garden, one of the league’s premier wide receivers, away from Arizona. In Garden’s eleven year career, one that ended up garnering him nine Pro Bowls, two Wide Receiver of the Year awards, and a Hall of Fame jacket, five of those years and four of those Pro Bowls came as a member of the Liberty, including consecutive 1,587 and 1,593 yard campaigns. They also received what was written in the trade as “undisclosed value” and never actually revealed; this was most likely cap relief. Arizona received a bevy of benefits, most notably including a more than adequate replacement for Garden in Hall of Very Good receiver Budda Browning. His three Pro Bowls in three years were joined by a backup rusher in Omar Wright and two future draft picks.
#77: Arizona Outlaws and Yellowknife Wraiths, 1/2/18
receives:
San Jose S6 2nd Round (QB Arbin Asipi Jr.)
–> Yellowknife S6 3rd Round
receives:
Right to swap Yellowknife’s worst S6 3rd Round for Arizona’s best S6 3rd Round
–> Philadelphia S6 3rd Round (RB Willy Nyquist) [#75]
Higher of Arizona/Philadelphia S7 2nd Round
–> Philadelphia S7 2nd Round (DE Zach Skiinner) [#75]
Both of those draft picks were pretty rapidly sent Yellowknife’s way, courtesy of some successful conditional requirements. They were less successful in yielding players that would contribute any playing time for the black and silver. Meanwhile, Arizona got a second and a lower third courtesy of Yellowknife’s conditional swap. The second turned into Arbin Asipi Jr., who converted to defensive end and gave Arizona one season of value before he was flipped to another team (spoiler: it’ll be the Wraiths).
January 3, 2018: Week 1, Season 5
#79: Arizona Outlaws and Yellowknife Wraiths, 1/13/18
receives:
S Jogn Floggity
Yellowknife S7 3rd Round (conditional on Wozy being on Yellowknife in S6)
receives:
DE Fuego Wozy [#64]
Fuego Wozy’s journey to an eventual berth in the Hall of Fame continued here, when the Outlaws who had not too recently traded for his help decided to flip him to Yellowknife. He earned one Pro Bowl in two seasons and put up a combined 20 tackles for loss and ten sacks. Jogn Floggity was a much longer term investment for the Outlaws, with six seasons as a safety and one final career Pro Bowl as he played through Season 10 in Arizona. The Outlaws also received a conditional draft selection since Wozy stuck around as a Wraith for Season 6.
#84: Arizona Outlaws and Yellowknife Wraiths, 2/9/18
receives:
LB Jack Dwyer [#70]
Las Vegas S6 3rd Round (LB Rob Anderson)
receives:
Yellowknife S6 3rd Round (DT Gustav Rodriguez) [#77]
Arizona S7 1st Round
Arizona S8 1st Round (LB Chad Pennington)
RB Robby Rainey
Before the draft was through, the Wraiths dealt away their second-round selection, Jack Dwyer, to the Outlaws along with a third round swap in exchange for two future firsts and running back Robby Rainey. He never made a Pro Bowl, but Dwyer was an anchor in Arizona’s defense through the first seven years of his career. Anderson was his teammate for a single year in Season 6. The third linebacker traded here was Robby Rainey, who made the switch after four years as a Wraiths running back and played there for his final two career years; he earned one Pro Bowl apiece at each position. The fourth linebacker was Chad Pennington, whose first four seasons were spent in Yellowknife making two Pro Bowls and racking up a crazy twelve sacks and 20 pass deflections in Season 11. Pennington actually made it onto the field before S6 draftee Gustav Rodriguez, whose two season, one Pro Bowl career only began in Season 9.
#85: Colorado Yeti and New Orleans Second Line, 2/9/18
receives:
Colorado S6 4th Round (WR Grey Slax) [#73]
receives:
Colorado S7 4th Round (WR Jake Gore)
A swap of fourth rounders in separate drafts ended up with both participating teams taking a wide receiver. Going first, the Yeti took Grey Slax, who caught one pass for a whole seven yards in an inspiring effort. Not wanting to be outdone, the recently rebranded Second Line took Jake Gore, who caught zero passes for a whole zero yards in an effort nearly as inspiring.
February 21, 2018: Week 1, Season 6
#94: Colorado Yeti and New Orleans Second Line, 2/28/18
receives:
New Orleans S8 4th Round (skipped)
receives:
K Peg Leg [#73]
Having drafted eventual Hall of Fame kicker/quarterback Micycle McCormick in the S6 Draft, Colorado sent previous starter Peg Leg over to the Second Line for essentially no compensation. Peg Leg played a total of four seasons in New Orleans, although he inexplicably lost the job to Iyah Blewitt in Season 9 before he retook it the next year, and he earned a Pro Bowl apiece at punter and at kicker over his tenure.
#95: Arizona Outlaws and New Orleans Second Line, 3/22/18
receives:
LB Wallace Stone
WR Fresh Booter [#61]
New Orleans S7 2nd Round
receives:
WR Charlie Law
CB Samuel Zhang II
After a four-season campaign in Las Vegas and New Orleans, Wallace Stone moved over to Arizona for two seasons of a slight downgrade in production, although he manage a career year in sacks in Season 7 with eleven. He was accompanied in the trade by Fresh Booter, whose numbers and snaps swiftly declined to a depth option at best, and a second rounder in the S7 Draft. New Orleans replaced Booter quite adequately with Charlie Law, who broke out for five consecutive thousand-yard seasons and four consecutive Pro Bowls at wide receiver to close out his career. Samuel Zhang only stayed around in New Orleans for a single season at corner.
#96: Arizona Outlaws and Colorado Yeti, 3/24/18
receives:
LB AC Hackett
receives:
LB Rob Anderson [#84]
New Orleans S7 2nd Round [#95]
Yellowknife S7 3rd Round (WR DeAndre Green) [#79]
Arizona S8 3rd Round
The Outlaws sent over a wagon load of draft picks and Rob Anderson to upgrade at linebacker with AC Hackett. His first year in Arizona, Hackett had a career year with six tackles for loss, sixteen sacks, thirteen pass deflections, and a safety. Perhaps upset at not earning a Pro Bowl nod for his efforts, Hackett never again got close to those numbers and retired after Season 10. In an interesting inversion, Rob Anderson actually improved his numbers every year he played for the Yeti, going from four tackles in Season 7 to 71 tackles, seven sacks, sixteen deflections, and a pick six in his final career year of Season 11 (although he didn’t play at all in Season 10, so who knows honestly). The third-round pick in the S7 Draft was used to take a receiver who never suited up for the Yeti.
#97: Colorado Yeti and Yellowknife Wraiths, 3/25/18
receives:
RB Bubba Nuck
Arizona S7 1st Round (WR Mark Grau) [#84]
Yellowknife S7 1st Round (LB Ryan Lefevre)
Yellowknife S7 2nd Round (TE Alvin Chipmunk)
receives:
RB Boss Tweed
New Orleans S7 2nd Round (WR Footballer Catcherman) [#95, #96]
Arizona S8 3rd Round [#95]
Having just gone winless in Season 6, the Yeti traded for three premium picks in the S7 Draft to help restock their roster in addition to a complementary running back in Bubba Nuck. Nuck only stayed in Colorado for a single season and reached 651 yards and three touchdowns. He wasn’t the only running back addition for the Yeti; Grau transitioned from receiver to rusher after the draft, and in his nine-year career for Colorado accumulated 4,053 yards and 26 touchdowns, a disappointing tally for a first-round pick but still fourth and fifth in Yeti team records respectively. Ryan Lefevre was much more disappointing, putting forth a promising rookie season before two more non-consecutive years as a rotational piece. Alvin Chipmunk was the third and final pick for Colorado, and although he also spent his whole six-year career with the team who drafted him, he never got more than 530 yards in a season. The price paid for all of these picks was primarily franchise legend and future Hall of Famer Boss Tweed, who switched over to linebacker his final four seasons in Yellowknife and won Pro Bowl all four of those years with two Linebacker of the Year awards. Yellowknife also got two draft picks, one of which they wasted on Footballer Catcherman. Catcherman caught six footballs in Season 9, his only professional season.
April 16, 2018: Week 1, Season 7
#103: Colorado Yeti and San Jose Sabercats, 5/2/18
receives:
DT Dan Miller
receives:
DT Ricardo Sandoval [#61, #64]
Philadelphia S8 2nd Round (RB D.J. Riddick)
Colorado S9 2nd Round (TE Zapp Brannigan)
Two-time Defensive Lineman of the Year and eventual Hall of Famer Dan Miller was swapped over to San Jose for the final third of his year in exchange for a trio of assets. Miller continued his excellent play with three final Pro Bowl slots before his retirement after Season 9. San Jose secured Ricardo Sandoval to fill Miller’s former spot in the trenches. His lone season in green before his own retirement was also a Pro Bowl campaign. Two additional picks were sent over from Colorado as compensation: a second in the S8 Draft, used on four-year backup D.J. Riddick, and a second in the S9 Draft, used on two-time Pro Bowler tight end Zapp Brannigan.
#104: New Orleans Second Line and San Jose Sabercats, 5/2/18
receives:
LB Vincent Sharpei [#22]
receives:
LB Luke Washington [#23, #72]
New Orleans S8 2nd Round
New Orleans S9 2nd Round (LB Barnaby Earl)
Our old friend Vincent Sharpei got in on the “spend your final three years on a different team” train. Sharpei had some of his best years in the New Orleans linebacking corps, earning three straight Pro Bowls to wrap a bow on his career. Going the other way is another familiar name, Luke Washington, who had a bit of a down year statistically in Season 7 but ended up contributing solidly for San Jose all the way through Season 10. San Jose also received two draft picks, of which a S9 Draft second was used on linebacker Barnaby Earl. Earl spent his rookie season playing in the DSFL and spent his later seasons not playing for San Jose.
#105: Colorado Yeti and Orange County Otters, 5/2/18
receives:
TE Steven O’Sullivan [#35, #55]
DE Dental Dam
Orange County S8 1st Round (if Crush signs with Orange County for 2+ seasons)
Orange County S9 2nd Round (if Crush wins the Ultimus in Orange County)
Orange County S9 3rd Round
receives:
TE Carlito Crush
There are some shenanigans in this trade – aside from all the conditional picks that didn’t end up being fulfilled, Colorado doesn’t even receive the S9 third from the Otters. One can only assume the pick was forgotten about. Meanwhile, the obvious centerpiece of the trade was Hall of Fame WR/TE Carlito Crush. Having had two very forgettable seasons in Colorado, barely reaching 300 receiving yards in either, Crush moved over to the Evil Empire and spent (most) of the rest of his career there, more than doubling his career yardage in his first season in Orange County and then making the switch to one of the league’s premier wide receivers. All of Crush’s seven Pro Bowl appearances and his S9 Wide Receiver of the Year came after his change in scenery. In return the Yeti received two conditional picks that weren’t fulfilled, another pick that didn’t transfer over for whatever reason, two serviceable years of tight end play from Steven O’Sullivan, and two years of backup level snaps from Dental Dam. Colorado really got their money’s worth with this one.
#106: Arizona Outlaws and Yellowknife Wraiths, 5/2/18
receives:
DT Egor Medved
Arizona S8 3rd Round [#95, #97]
receives:
DE Arbin Asipi Jr. [#77]
Asipi was traded to the Wraiths only a season after the pick he was selected with was traded to Arizona by Yellowknife. The Wraiths would similarly get only a single season of production out of Asipi, one in which he only garnered 23 tackles, five tackles for loss, and one sack for arguably his lowest career production. The Outlaws, meanwhile, made off with Egor Medved, who contributed six years of production before his retirement and even earned a Pro Bowl for a Season 9 campaign where he put up twelve tackles for loss and nine sacks. Arizona also received one of their own picks back from a series of trades; they would naturally shuffle it back along before the draft rolled around.
#108: San Jose Sabercats and Yellowknife Wraiths, 5/17/18
receives:
Yellowknife S8 1st Round (LB Ben Horne)
Yellowknife S8 3rd Round (K Justin Davis)
receives:
New Orleans S8 2nd Round (S Thad Pennington) [#104]
San Jose S8 2nd Round (DT Ramadan Steve)
The Sabercats handed the Wraiths a pair of second rounders in order to move up to Yellowknife’s pick at sixth overall. Linebacker Ben Horne started the first half of his career for San Jose, where he had a few great seasons as a tackling machine and got one Pro Bowl. San Jose also got a third-round pick thrown into the trade for good measure that they spent on a kicker they never played. Yellowknife’s second rounders turned into Thad Pennington and Ramadan Steve. Pennington spent two years as a Wraith, Steve five, with one total Pro Bowl between them to compensate for otherwise unexceptional results.
#109: Arizona Outlaws and Philadelphia Liberty, 5/18/18
receives:
Colorado S8 2nd Round (WR Viggo Squanch)
receives:
Arizona S8 2nd Round (K Beat Meoff)
CB Alex Hayden [#64]
This trade saw the Outlaws trade Alex Hayden to the Liberty in order to move up four spots to the top of the second round. Their reward was Viggo Squanch, a receiver who turned in high production throughout his six years as an Outlaw and had a streak of four consecutive 1,000+ yard Pro Bowl seasons before he left Arizona. Philadelphia used the lower draft pick on a two-year starter at kicker in Beat Meoff and also acquired the last three seasons of Alex Hayden’s career, including a Pro Bowl sendoff in Season 10.
#110: Arizona Outlaws and Baltimore Hawks, 5/23/18
receives:
Baltimore S8 2nd Round (TE Balthazar Crindy)
WR John Wachter
receives:
WR Budda Browning [#20, #39, #75]
S8 8 million cap space
A former star for the Portland Pythons, John Wachter was less prolific in the pros and continued that trend on his second team. Over four years, Wachter contributed as a depth receiving option for Arizona, steadily declining from 802 yards and eight touchdowns in Season 8 to only 148 yards and no scores in Season 11. Balthazar Crindy, the selection made with the second Arizona received in this trade, put up better numbers at a less premium position, never quite exploding vertically in the passing game but consistent enough as a blocker and red zone target to merit three Pro Bowls in six seasons. The Hawks netted significant Season 8 cap relief and oft-traded receiver Budda Browning, who garnered a Pro Bowl once in three seasons as a Hawk for his eleven touchdown Season 9 campaign. More interestingly, Browning also rushed three times for five yards in Season 8, the only snaps he ever received in the backfield in his career.
#112: Arizona Outlaws and Yellowknife Wraiths, 5/29/18
receives:
LB Luke Tiernan [#45]
receives:
S8 1.5 million cap space
Arizona handed Yellowknife some cap space to borrow Luke Tiernan for the twilight of his career. He gave the Outlaws a consistent presence on the defense, racking up just below 100 tackles in each of his final three seasons and averaging three forced fumbles a year.
Continued in Volume II
Transgender lesbian, S15 veteran, and media extraordinaire. Fascists and bigots are welcome to fuck off.
— — —
— — —
For Your Reading Consideration:
Before the Butchers | The Jungle
The Giving Tree | Volume II | Volume III
A Winter of Discontent | Volume II
The Rockiest Road | II | III | IV | V | VI | VII | Finale
Two Essays on Unfree Agency: On Agents | On Contracts
Eclipse of the Honey Moon | Volume II
Gemini Media Awards:
S39 | S40 | S41 | S42 | S43 | S44 | S45 | S46 | S47
All Winners
— — —
— — —
— — —
For Your Reading Consideration:
Before the Butchers | The Jungle
The Giving Tree | Volume II | Volume III
A Winter of Discontent | Volume II
The Rockiest Road | II | III | IV | V | VI | VII | Finale
Two Essays on Unfree Agency: On Agents | On Contracts
Eclipse of the Honey Moon | Volume II
Gemini Media Awards:
S39 | S40 | S41 | S42 | S43 | S44 | S45 | S46 | S47
All Winners
— — —