*Dexter Zaylren Career Retrospective

.Laser

What feels like ages upon ages ago at this point, way back on December 25th, 2020, I created a quarterback with the name Dexter Zaylren. His number was and still is 6, and his name has become one of the most difficult to pronounce, as most of my sim league players unintentionally end up.

I created a QB because I had put in a ton of time and effort into earning TPE on my original player Korrin Abernathy, a CB for the Orange County Otters. He was drafted with the 16th pick in the S17 DSFL draft, and was taken at the 9th overall pick in the S18 ISFL draft. Korrin stayed with the Otters for his entire career, retiring at the trade deadline of S26 and never having any kind of spectacular career numbers despite one season that won him Cornerback of the Year when that was still a thing. As the career with Abernathy was drawing to a close, I knew that I had at most 3 seasons left with Abernathy and that based on the upcoming sim switch it would be useless to continue to earn on that player. He had zero chance at the Hall (received 0 votes when eligible) despite his two Ultimus trophies, and more importantly, my morale as the GM of the Otters was shot. I had put far too much stress on myself to win games and get the Otters to the Ultimus and had put the entire team (past, present, and future) on my back. I felt like I was letting the team down, and as someone with an at that time unresolved fear of not living up to expectations (not to mention the various and numerous other irl issues I was having at the time such as moving back in with my parents and wasting time trying to be an insurance agent) I just could not mentally handle yet another first round playoff exit. So, I killed Abernathy a season early and moved on to the QB that I was dead set on creating.

You might think that it's quite ironic that I would create a QB after bellyaching about the sim and the rigors of all that went on with it, and you'd be correct. Looking back I don't know what I was thinking, but I do remember being fully infatuated with the idea of some kind of personal success and/or award, and knowing that with a large number of teams needing QBs in the future and being a known commodity and member, that I would be able to find a starting spot somewhere. And after all, QB was the primo spot to have your TPE earning truly matter and have a decent amount of control as to how effective you were as a player. These days TPE means much more in this new sim, and traits have a significant impact on performance as well. Team composition also means far more than what it did in the old sim. Which is part of why I ended up being traded from Berlin to Honolulu, but that's later down the line.

To start my journey, I waited from trade deadline until the DSFL draft to join a team, as when we switched sims waivers were canceled for that season and we were allowed to just go ahead and create with the new builds a bit early. I ended up being taken by the Bondi Beach Buccaneers with the 8th overall pick in the DSFL draft. That first season in the DSFL I wasn't too terrible, and ended up making a DSFL pro bowl but missing the playoffs. My second season we did make the playoffs, but lost in the opening round. I got another pro bowl that season before doing quite poorly and missing the playoffs in S29. Then in S30, I had my best season so far, and while we didn't make the playoffs, it gave me hope for my player. I ended up with the following totals for my 4-season DSFL career:

1117/1980 (56.4%)
13,406 yards
97 TD
56 INT
81.9 QBR

Very meh but it's hard to have good stats with 250 TPE.

In the S28 ISFL draft, I was selected by Dewalt and High in the second round at 19th overall, 5th pick of the second round. I had a great conversation with them leading up to the draft and they or Chicago were two of the teams I expected to be drafted by. I spent more time down in the DSFL than usual as High's player was still useful for quite some time after they drafted one, but this allowed me to be called up with more TPE than a normal player. Looking back at my update thread, I started my first ISFL season with 906 TPE. This was enough to give me a solid build, and I finished that first season with a Rookie of the Year award. We finished that season with a 9-7 record, one game out of the playoffs and above expectations that were had for us that season. I was happy with my performance that season, as I didn't hurt the team with my performances and a stacked NSFC was the only reason we missed the playoffs. My second season, the season that I started with 1080 TPE, I had one of the best single season QB performances efficiency-wise in ISFL history. Only 5 interceptions the entire season, and 2 of them in the week 16 game against Chicago. 4228 passing yards, a little over 260 per game, along with 35 TDs and an 11-5 record were enough to get the Fire Salamanders to the second seed in the NSFC. We won our first game against the Sailfish, then squeaked past the first seed Liberty 16-12. In Ultimus 32, Dexter wasn't able to lead Berlin to the cup, and lost against New York 27-24. However, in that season, he won nearly every possible award, including the Quarterback of the Year, Most Valuable Player and Most Outstanding Player, made the Pro Bowl as a unanimous selection, and was a unanimous first-team All-Pro selection. In S33, we went 9-7 in a stacked NSFC and unfortunately missed the playoffs by one game. Dex only threw for 219 yards per game, and while we had an excellent rushing attack as Goat Tank scored 21 touchdowns that season, it just was not quite enough on Dex's part.

After this season, Berlin was looking at a very dire situation on defense, and after I had taken over as GM for High in S32, I had pushed to make a lot of trades that made us very win-now and were shortsighted on my part. I didn't make any bad trades in terms of value, but I also failed to hold onto enough assets to make sure that we stayed competitive for a long time. During the S33 season, I continued to realize this and my belief was that we could not compete without a strong defense, and given that our best corner at the time was going to be about 500 TPE, I asked Dewalt if we should consider tearing down and rebuilding. Dewie correctly thought that our window was not quite yet over and that FAs would still be available, but that I was peaking at the wrong time for the team. I suggested we put me on the block after a couple days thinking about this, and while I don't think even I knew it at the time, I think Dewie could tell that I wanted personal success and didn't think that I could get it in Berlin with the team that we would have been fielding. I was all for going out there and doing the best we could with the team we had, but I also knew that I was likely going to end up sacrificing a HOF career if I did that, and I believe this was the driving factor behind my eventual trade to Honolulu during the S34 draft. I vividly remember negotiating and talking with Dewie and Flex a lot in the two days or so leading up to the draft, as Honolulu was also in a position where their QB was not fitting their window and were the only team that reached out to ask about me with any serious interest if I remember correctly. I didn't think a trade was going to happen as we valued my player as worth a first and I was going to have to step down from my GM position once I was traded, but at the last moment the offer was made, Dewie messaged me one more time to make sure I wanted this, and I agreed. And I remember sitting outside at work as the trade was posted and waiving my NTC in the live draft trades channel.

At the end of the day, although I still feel responsible for the length of time Berlin spent as a bad team, I am very glad that the trade was made on that one fateful day in February 7 months ago. Since I left, Dewie has done an absolutely fantastic job at drafting solid max earning players and while Berlin was too young to make a huge difference this season, they are a force to be reckoned with from here on out and I fully expect them to be the team to beat out of the NSFC in the near future. On Honolulu's side, we have made it to four consecutive playoff appearances, the first 3 as the top seed in the ASFC. We have made it to the Ultimus each of those times, losing to Chicago with a few seconds left in overtime in Ultimus XXXIV, winning Ultimus XXXV against Baltimore, and winning a second time in a row against Sarasota in Ultimus XXXVI on a touchdown inside the last minute. (insert s37 playoffs here) Ice and Flex have made some great value trades to get us to the position to make this kind of run. It has certainly not been influenced by me too much, other than me practically begging them for a wide receiver in the S34 campaign that saw me throw 21 interceptions. They've done some incredible GM work to get to this point and I look forward to seeing what they do in the rebuild and how long they take to get back to excellence.

During these seasons, I did have the godawful season with 21 interceptions, which was also my worst season in terms of QBR, but I also had two pro bowl seasons back to back after that. No other awards besides Offensive Performance of the Year, but even then, I'd rather have rings than trophies at the end of the day. I don't think I need to go over those seasons as much since everyone mostly associates Zaylren with the Hahalua, but it has been a wonderful experience in Honolulu and I wouldn't take the trade back for the world.

QB Dexter Zaylren retires with the following career statistics and accolades:
28,255 passing yards (24th all time)
64.976 completion percentage (6th all time, 3rd among retired QBs)
214 TDs (11th all time) (btw I was tied for 10th with Oles Jr. and Boss Jr. after W15 but Oles threw 2 W16 and I threw 1)
76 INT (T-39 all time)
97.552 QBR (4th all-time, 2nd among retired QBs)
202 rushing yards
1 rushing TD
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S31 Offensive Rookie of the Year
1x MVP (S32)
1x MOP (S32)
2x Ultimus Champion (XXXV, XXXVI)
1x QBOTY (S32)
1x 1st team All-Pro (S32)
3x Pro Bowler (S32 (N), S35 (A), S36 (A))

Also worth noting is Dexter's positions on career playoff leaderboards:
3290 yards (4th all time)
63.53 completion percentage (8th all time)
29 TD (1st all time)
7 INT (T-12 all time)
100.8 QBR (2nd all time)

Now, the question: is Zaylren a HOF QB? He certainly was not the best QB of all time, but certainly was one of the best playoff QBs in history. In 5 playoff appearances, Dexter made 4 Ultimus, won 2, and lost in the conference championship his final season. However, it's not about the playoffs in the long run, it's about the career as a whole. He got 2 rings, he got an MVP, he got 3 or 4 Pro Bowls depending on how this season's voting pans out, he got an All-Pro, and has one of the best QBR ratings of all time along with one of the best TD-INT ratios of all-time. However, paired with a measly 24th all time in passing yards, will it be enough? Well, looking at Modern Duke's QB HOF primer from March of this year, I have to consider how many of the QBs that are currently in the Hall and where Dexter fits in with them. And based on overall statistics and awards, I think that Dex is strongly in the middle pack of HOF QBs and should make it. He is pretty much just as good as Matt Akselsen, if not slightly better because of the extra ring and fewer TDs, and Matt Akselsen is the most snubbed QB in Duke's article. So snubbed, in fact, that he was renominated for the Hall and made it into the Hall this past season. It is worth noting that Akselsen has 7 Pro Bowls compared to my 3, but that also comes from a time period where if you were an active QB, you were pretty much guaranteed a Pro Bowl spot.

(note: I requested that Duke run the tool for me and he was kind enough to do so, and I clocked in at a 75.53, solidly top 3/4. Another pro bowl would likely seal the deal, but I think Dex sneaks in with 6 or 7 votes.)

At the end of the day, I created Dexter Zaylren the quarterback because I wanted to have a player that made the Hall of Fame in at least one league. And I truly believe that Dexter should make it, so I consider my mission complete in that regard. Hopefully my next player Geralt won't have a terrible career and will make some pro bowls along the way if nothing else. I enjoyed everything and wouldn't take any of it back, and I look forward to continuing to participate in this wonderful league and community we all have built.