05-22-2023, 03:17 PM
(This post was last modified: 05-23-2023, 10:33 AM by Aneeqs. Edited 1 time in total.)
I don't think I've seen an ISFL team try this strategy before. It's happened multiple times in other sports; the Oklahoma City Thunder have been stockpiling picks for a while, the most infamous trade in NFL history was built on exploiting this exact idea, and franchises have been made or broken on the outcome of the High Draft Pick. But I don't think I've ever seen someone go all in on draft picks like this in the ISFL before; I've never seen such a rainbow of draft picks in the top 4 rounds as the Second Line has access to in the upcoming draft.
All in all, New Orleans has, in the first 4 rounds of the S42 draft:
The first pick in each round, from themselves (1. 1, 2. 15, 3. 29, 4. 43
Pick 1. 4, and pick 4. 46, from Baltimore
Pick 4. 45, from Colorado
Pick 3. 35, from Austin
Pick 1. ? from Arizona and the Crash
Pick 2. ? from Arizona
and Pick 4. ? from Arizona and Honolulu. All the question marks are because those teams are in the playoffs and are thus variable; Arizona could be the 10th pick of the round or anything from 12th to 14th, the Crash will be anything from 12th to 14th, and Honolulu could theoretically find themselves anywhere from 11th to 14th in the draft.
Quite a lot of picks in the first 56 of the draft, 13 in total, almost 1/4th of the entire draft. How important some of these picks are, well, they could turn out to be quite unimportant, but even then NOLA still has 4 first round picks even if 2 of them are slotted into the latter 3rd of the draft.
New Orleans also has a ton of cap space for the upcoming season: 45 million dollars in cap room is a full 8 million higher than Chicago at the next highest for S43. This is what NOLA has to look forward to. But what does NOLA have now?
We begin the roster breakdown on a sour note, as was probably expected. Mith is taking a step back from the league, and has not updated in a month. But even if he were max earning right now, this is just not a strong enough situation for Jones or the team as a whole; every single team right now has a younger QB than Jones, who is now entering his second season of regression, and only 2 teams in the league will not have a better QB rostered than Jones going into next season; Donovan Winters and Blaine Falco are almost certain to pass Mith in the offseason, Willie Miller will not but will pass him partway into the season, leaving only the Colorado Yeti as a team that might bite on a trade for Jones, maybe for two seasons before Wolfie surpasses him. As a player in his own right, Jones is a piece that could have fit this season on a team like the Outlaws, the Yeti, or the Butchers, but the time frame and the skill level is just completely off for anything beyond that.
RB: Rab TheCrab, S35 player, 504 TPE (23rd among RBs, going into 1st regression with an effective 404 TPE) (IA)
DSFL RB: Kyle Crane, S41 player, 428 TPE (25th among RBs)
With Regression included, Rab TheCrab is 26th and below multiple DSFL RBs, including his heir apparent in Kyle Crane. Technically the team has 2 other RBs rostered, but one is Jay Cue Jr, who has retired and is thus not on the team next year, and the other is an inactive player with 100 TPE total, which is less TPE than I had after my first update. Suffice to say that if Blibby Shpooply is an important roster spot and contributor for whatever reason, there are multiple running backs that could be immediately picked up to replace him. There's not much to say about this spot, so far Crane is a max earner and could easily be part of a strong team in a few seasons, whether as part of NOLA, or elsewhere if he was used as tradebait. And as an S41 player, if S42's class leads to a NOLA dynasty, then he'll certainly be great when the rest of the team hits their peak.
WR: Pee Pee Poop Eater Sr, S36 player, 924 TPE (18th among WRs) (has not updated since March); Dick Grayson, S39 player, 362 TPE (42nd among WRs) (has not updated since March)
DSFL WR: Eli Prince, S40 player, 460 TPE (35th among WRs); Forozka Duanai, S41 player, 301 TPE (47th among WRs)
Eli and Forozka are possible pieces for a future team, Prince especially. That being said, neither Wide Receiver currently on the roster is great, as either a player, a piece of a dynasty, or a piece of trade bait. Two players who haven't updated in multiple months at this point, a player with one season before regression at less than 1000 TPE, it's possible that NOLA could get something out of shipping Poop Eater out, but probably not anywhere near as much as the players the team already sent to greener pastures. And Dick is basically nothing as an S39 player who has not updated and is under 400 TPE; he is at most a decent 3rd Wide Receiver.
TE: Turt Golem, S36 player, 305 TPE (17th among TEs) (IA)
DSFL TE: Not even listed on the TPE Tracker
Almost nothing to say whatsoever about this, most teams don't care heavily about TEs, and even among them Turt Golem is not a trade piece or dynasty piece at TPE lower than multiple DSFL players and in his final season before regression.
OL: Franz Udo Culman-Kaiser, S34 player, 856 TPE (7th among OLs, going into 2nd regression with an effective 642 TPE); Dallas Fort-Worth, S32 player, 233 TPE (28th among OLs, going into 4th regression with an effective 140 TPE) (IA)
Franz is, so far, the best piece that I've seen that this team has to offer in terms of possible selling. Maybe Poop Eater as well as a short term option, but I find more teams are fine with long term lower TPE OL options than long term lower TPE WR options. Even as far as lower TPE options go, though, Fort Worth is a bit beyond the pale. He's effectively lower than 4 different players in the S42 ISFL draft, and is almost definitely not going to be used by anyone in the upcoming season, unless they are explicitly tanking or REALLY didn't use their cap space well. I would not be surprised to see Culman-Kaiser get traded over the upcoming season, though; he'll be usable as an OL for a couple seasons after that point. I'm not sure he'd be usable by the time all the S42 players are at their own peaks, though.
DT: EffOff IamYeti, S36 player, 218 TPE (27th among DTs) (IA)
DSFL DT: Not even listed on the TPE Tracker
Might as well not exist besides the novelty of a player named "I am a Colorado Player for Life" being on a team other than Colorado. Again, a player listed on the budget sheet but not on the TPE tracker.
DE: Jean-Ralphio Saperstein, S36 player, 589 TPE (14th among DEs) (has not updated since September); Bruce White, S41 player, 430 TPE (21st among DEs); Morpheus Czargyros, S31 player, 300 TPE (26th among DEs, going into 5th regression with an effective 150 TPE)
Bruce White is the second S41 player that we've looked at that seems to be in a strong position to max earn and be a great piece for a future New Orleans squad. The other two are next to nothing, or in Morpheus' case, less than a max DSFL player.
LB: Solace Avenger, S34 player, 1257 TPE (6th among LBs, going into 2nd regression with an effective 943 TPE); Ignatius Reilly, S36 player, 679 TPE (25th among LBs) (IA); Lukas Van Ness, S41 player, 362 TPE (44th among LBs); Rodney Rosadino, S41 player, 266 TPE (55th among LBs); Sheriff Woody, S30 player, 200 TPE (61st among LBs, going into 6th regression with an effective 80 TPE) (IA)
Solace Avenger marks the second player who I think could make for great trade bait, in this case for a team who needs another strong Linebacker. I'm conflicted on Lukas a bit, though, and less conflicted on Rodney in a completely negative fashion. Lukas is active and updating, but has fallen well off the max earning curve, and is only something like the 5th best Linebacker from S41 in particular. Rodney hasn't visited the site since April, and at this point is being crept up on by the top S42 linebacker. And I'm not sure how many teams would get that much usage out of picking up Reilly with one season before regression. Although perhaps I am underestimating how useful a middling TPE Linebacker would be as a 3rd option or a 4th in a 3-4; there's probably a team who would pick him up though I don't think the bidding war would be exactly fierce. Woody on the other hand needs almost no comment whatsoever; he'd be less useful to a DSFL team than a GM bot.
CB: Johnny Delusional, S35 player, 770 TPE (20th among CBs, going into 1st regression with an effective 616 TPE); Ezra Azazel, S41 player, 453 TPE (34th among CBs); De'aaron Harper II, S32 player, 395 TPE (42nd among CBs, going into 4th regression with an effective 237 TPE) (IA); Adam Rage, S37 player, 281 TPE (48th among CBs) (has not updated since January)
Ezra Azazel is the latest in a line of S41 players who, if they continue to max earn, could be part of an amazing Second Line squad if put together with the upcoming draft picks. However, he is the only player among this squad who even qualifies as a piece in my mind; Johnny Delusional is still active and updating, but he's got his back against regression already, and the other two are not useful to anyone.
S: Chim Rickles, S34 player, 1155 TPE (6th among S, going into 2nd regression with an effective 867 TPE); Orpheus Czargyros, S31 player, 341 TPE (29th among S, going into 5th regression with an effective 171 TPE); Ryan Murray, S37 player, 240 TPE (42nd among S) (IA)
Chim could make for decent trade bait. That's all I have to say about this otherwise mess of a position. Neither Czargyros nor Ryan Murray should see the field next year unless Czargyros can earn himself back above the DSFL TPE cap.
K/P: Alfonso Dos Santos, S35 player, 1120 TPE (2nd among K/Ps, going into 1st regression with an effective 896 TPE)
There is one area where the Second Line are legitimately elite in; Dos Santos is the 2nd best kicker in the league currently, and at a position where you can be effective for a long time, there's absolutely no reason to replace him for at least 3 more seasons, especially considering he's still active.
So, what does New Orleans need to draft?
Team Needs: QB, WR, TE, OL, DT, DE, LB, CB, S
Every bolded position with the exception of QB is a position that I think this team needs more than one player at; I could have bolded OL but I don't think it's anywhere near as strong a need as the other positions.
Funnily enough, I came up with 13 draft needs when you count the double or more dose of DT, DE, LB, and CB, the exact amount of draft picks that New Orleans has in the first 4 rounds of the upcoming draft. We'll see how those draft picks pan out.
All in all, New Orleans has, in the first 4 rounds of the S42 draft:
The first pick in each round, from themselves (1. 1, 2. 15, 3. 29, 4. 43
Pick 1. 4, and pick 4. 46, from Baltimore
Pick 4. 45, from Colorado
Pick 3. 35, from Austin
Pick 1. ? from Arizona and the Crash
Pick 2. ? from Arizona
and Pick 4. ? from Arizona and Honolulu. All the question marks are because those teams are in the playoffs and are thus variable; Arizona could be the 10th pick of the round or anything from 12th to 14th, the Crash will be anything from 12th to 14th, and Honolulu could theoretically find themselves anywhere from 11th to 14th in the draft.
Quite a lot of picks in the first 56 of the draft, 13 in total, almost 1/4th of the entire draft. How important some of these picks are, well, they could turn out to be quite unimportant, but even then NOLA still has 4 first round picks even if 2 of them are slotted into the latter 3rd of the draft.
New Orleans also has a ton of cap space for the upcoming season: 45 million dollars in cap room is a full 8 million higher than Chicago at the next highest for S43. This is what NOLA has to look forward to. But what does NOLA have now?
The Roster
QB: Elessar Jones, S34 player, 1098 TPE (9th among QBs, going into 2nd regression with an effective 824 TPE)
No backup in the DSFL
No backup in the DSFL
We begin the roster breakdown on a sour note, as was probably expected. Mith is taking a step back from the league, and has not updated in a month. But even if he were max earning right now, this is just not a strong enough situation for Jones or the team as a whole; every single team right now has a younger QB than Jones, who is now entering his second season of regression, and only 2 teams in the league will not have a better QB rostered than Jones going into next season; Donovan Winters and Blaine Falco are almost certain to pass Mith in the offseason, Willie Miller will not but will pass him partway into the season, leaving only the Colorado Yeti as a team that might bite on a trade for Jones, maybe for two seasons before Wolfie surpasses him. As a player in his own right, Jones is a piece that could have fit this season on a team like the Outlaws, the Yeti, or the Butchers, but the time frame and the skill level is just completely off for anything beyond that.
RB: Rab TheCrab, S35 player, 504 TPE (23rd among RBs, going into 1st regression with an effective 404 TPE) (IA)
DSFL RB: Kyle Crane, S41 player, 428 TPE (25th among RBs)
With Regression included, Rab TheCrab is 26th and below multiple DSFL RBs, including his heir apparent in Kyle Crane. Technically the team has 2 other RBs rostered, but one is Jay Cue Jr, who has retired and is thus not on the team next year, and the other is an inactive player with 100 TPE total, which is less TPE than I had after my first update. Suffice to say that if Blibby Shpooply is an important roster spot and contributor for whatever reason, there are multiple running backs that could be immediately picked up to replace him. There's not much to say about this spot, so far Crane is a max earner and could easily be part of a strong team in a few seasons, whether as part of NOLA, or elsewhere if he was used as tradebait. And as an S41 player, if S42's class leads to a NOLA dynasty, then he'll certainly be great when the rest of the team hits their peak.
WR: Pee Pee Poop Eater Sr, S36 player, 924 TPE (18th among WRs) (has not updated since March); Dick Grayson, S39 player, 362 TPE (42nd among WRs) (has not updated since March)
DSFL WR: Eli Prince, S40 player, 460 TPE (35th among WRs); Forozka Duanai, S41 player, 301 TPE (47th among WRs)
Eli and Forozka are possible pieces for a future team, Prince especially. That being said, neither Wide Receiver currently on the roster is great, as either a player, a piece of a dynasty, or a piece of trade bait. Two players who haven't updated in multiple months at this point, a player with one season before regression at less than 1000 TPE, it's possible that NOLA could get something out of shipping Poop Eater out, but probably not anywhere near as much as the players the team already sent to greener pastures. And Dick is basically nothing as an S39 player who has not updated and is under 400 TPE; he is at most a decent 3rd Wide Receiver.
TE: Turt Golem, S36 player, 305 TPE (17th among TEs) (IA)
DSFL TE: Not even listed on the TPE Tracker
Almost nothing to say whatsoever about this, most teams don't care heavily about TEs, and even among them Turt Golem is not a trade piece or dynasty piece at TPE lower than multiple DSFL players and in his final season before regression.
OL: Franz Udo Culman-Kaiser, S34 player, 856 TPE (7th among OLs, going into 2nd regression with an effective 642 TPE); Dallas Fort-Worth, S32 player, 233 TPE (28th among OLs, going into 4th regression with an effective 140 TPE) (IA)
Franz is, so far, the best piece that I've seen that this team has to offer in terms of possible selling. Maybe Poop Eater as well as a short term option, but I find more teams are fine with long term lower TPE OL options than long term lower TPE WR options. Even as far as lower TPE options go, though, Fort Worth is a bit beyond the pale. He's effectively lower than 4 different players in the S42 ISFL draft, and is almost definitely not going to be used by anyone in the upcoming season, unless they are explicitly tanking or REALLY didn't use their cap space well. I would not be surprised to see Culman-Kaiser get traded over the upcoming season, though; he'll be usable as an OL for a couple seasons after that point. I'm not sure he'd be usable by the time all the S42 players are at their own peaks, though.
DT: EffOff IamYeti, S36 player, 218 TPE (27th among DTs) (IA)
DSFL DT: Not even listed on the TPE Tracker
Might as well not exist besides the novelty of a player named "I am a Colorado Player for Life" being on a team other than Colorado. Again, a player listed on the budget sheet but not on the TPE tracker.
DE: Jean-Ralphio Saperstein, S36 player, 589 TPE (14th among DEs) (has not updated since September); Bruce White, S41 player, 430 TPE (21st among DEs); Morpheus Czargyros, S31 player, 300 TPE (26th among DEs, going into 5th regression with an effective 150 TPE)
Bruce White is the second S41 player that we've looked at that seems to be in a strong position to max earn and be a great piece for a future New Orleans squad. The other two are next to nothing, or in Morpheus' case, less than a max DSFL player.
LB: Solace Avenger, S34 player, 1257 TPE (6th among LBs, going into 2nd regression with an effective 943 TPE); Ignatius Reilly, S36 player, 679 TPE (25th among LBs) (IA); Lukas Van Ness, S41 player, 362 TPE (44th among LBs); Rodney Rosadino, S41 player, 266 TPE (55th among LBs); Sheriff Woody, S30 player, 200 TPE (61st among LBs, going into 6th regression with an effective 80 TPE) (IA)
Solace Avenger marks the second player who I think could make for great trade bait, in this case for a team who needs another strong Linebacker. I'm conflicted on Lukas a bit, though, and less conflicted on Rodney in a completely negative fashion. Lukas is active and updating, but has fallen well off the max earning curve, and is only something like the 5th best Linebacker from S41 in particular. Rodney hasn't visited the site since April, and at this point is being crept up on by the top S42 linebacker. And I'm not sure how many teams would get that much usage out of picking up Reilly with one season before regression. Although perhaps I am underestimating how useful a middling TPE Linebacker would be as a 3rd option or a 4th in a 3-4; there's probably a team who would pick him up though I don't think the bidding war would be exactly fierce. Woody on the other hand needs almost no comment whatsoever; he'd be less useful to a DSFL team than a GM bot.
CB: Johnny Delusional, S35 player, 770 TPE (20th among CBs, going into 1st regression with an effective 616 TPE); Ezra Azazel, S41 player, 453 TPE (34th among CBs); De'aaron Harper II, S32 player, 395 TPE (42nd among CBs, going into 4th regression with an effective 237 TPE) (IA); Adam Rage, S37 player, 281 TPE (48th among CBs) (has not updated since January)
Ezra Azazel is the latest in a line of S41 players who, if they continue to max earn, could be part of an amazing Second Line squad if put together with the upcoming draft picks. However, he is the only player among this squad who even qualifies as a piece in my mind; Johnny Delusional is still active and updating, but he's got his back against regression already, and the other two are not useful to anyone.
S: Chim Rickles, S34 player, 1155 TPE (6th among S, going into 2nd regression with an effective 867 TPE); Orpheus Czargyros, S31 player, 341 TPE (29th among S, going into 5th regression with an effective 171 TPE); Ryan Murray, S37 player, 240 TPE (42nd among S) (IA)
Chim could make for decent trade bait. That's all I have to say about this otherwise mess of a position. Neither Czargyros nor Ryan Murray should see the field next year unless Czargyros can earn himself back above the DSFL TPE cap.
K/P: Alfonso Dos Santos, S35 player, 1120 TPE (2nd among K/Ps, going into 1st regression with an effective 896 TPE)
There is one area where the Second Line are legitimately elite in; Dos Santos is the 2nd best kicker in the league currently, and at a position where you can be effective for a long time, there's absolutely no reason to replace him for at least 3 more seasons, especially considering he's still active.
So, what does New Orleans need to draft?
Team Needs: QB, WR, TE, OL, DT, DE, LB, CB, S
Every bolded position with the exception of QB is a position that I think this team needs more than one player at; I could have bolded OL but I don't think it's anywhere near as strong a need as the other positions.
Funnily enough, I came up with 13 draft needs when you count the double or more dose of DT, DE, LB, and CB, the exact amount of draft picks that New Orleans has in the first 4 rounds of the upcoming draft. We'll see how those draft picks pan out.