Welcome one and welcome all. My character's name is Zamir Kehla and I am a CB in the massive S22 draft class. As one of the top earners of the class, I have a lot of TPE stacked up and I constantly ask myself what ways would be be best to apply this TPE. Early on I got a strong vibe to spend all my TPE on speed, but where's the fun in that? I figured I won't do much just going fast, but hey, sim's gonna sim. The purpose of this article is to figure out if speed is really worth all that hype. I will be going through a shit ton of stats on sim-football.com so you don't have to . I will be going through the league leaders in interceptions the past couple of years and look at the attributes they had and the production they got from it. I'll also be creating graphs for you to look at which correlate the speed and interceptions and passes deflected for CBs. Hehe I hope this counts for 1.5x draft media because it relates to the upcoming draft class and it gives advice to those people.
S19
So, the league leader in interceptions in S19 was none other than the legend himself, Kacey Dream. He finished with 59 tackles, 2 forced fumbles, 1 fumble recovery, 0 sacks, 8 interceptions, 22 passes deflected, 0 safeties and 3 TDs. These are outrageous numbers and the main reason he ended up winning DSFL MVP. This is the kind of production I plan to get in the DSFL. We do need to look at his stats though to see how he did it.
Kacey Dream's key stats (End of season, all are found on sim-football.com)
Strength: 48
Agility: 70
Intelligence: 50
Tackle: 50
Speed: 94
Hands: 54
Endurance: 59
So, what are some takeaways from this? He only poured his TPE into speed it seems, and it worked. He invested some into strength and endurance and little into hands but the majority of his TPE went into speed. What surprised me was his lack of endurance and hands. If 54 hands can get you 8 INTs and 22 PDs, then sign me up.
Here is a chart that depicts the relationship between speed and # of INTs for the S19 DSFL season. This does not includes safeties and linebackers. CB's only. Also sorry for the shitty lines, idk why the intervals aren't in whole numbers, just round up.
So, what can we figure out from this? Absolutely nothing. Just kidding, but not rlly. Kacey had the highest speed out of all CBs and I believe safeties too, so he got the most INTs. Behind him it's kind of a mess with no real star there. It seems like speed and INTs are positively correlated, but not a very strong correlation. Let's move onto our next category and see if there is a stronger correlation there.
Here is a chart that depicts the relationship between speed and # of PDs (Passes deflected) for the S19 DSFL season. This does not includes safeties and linebackers. CB's only.
So, what can we figure out from this? Get good speed for more PDs. The positive correlation is definitively more present compared to # of INTs. At least once you get to 80+ speed. No one at or above 85 speed had less than 10 PDs. There seems to be a much stronger correlation between speed and pass deflections than there was with speed and interceptions. Going through a lot of these players stats it seemed like the ones with more interceptions just got lucky. The sims gonna sim. I could test for hands and intelligence but we'll see. I'm kinda lazy.
Now, let's move on to a more recent season.
S20
One season wouldn't be enough, now would it? I want a larger sample size that isn't completely dominated by Kacey Dream, so here we are. In regards to what I typed earlier,
In S19 we had a clear league leader for INTs that was a CB, his name was, dun dun dun, you guessed it, Kacey Dream. Or maybe you just read the beginning of the article. Anyways, we had a 3 way tie for interceptions in S20 for CBs. Yes, Murphy had 7 interceptions but he was a free safety so I don't want to hear it lmao.
Here is a chart that depicts the relationship between speed and interceptions along with passes deflected for the S20 DSFL season. This does not includes safeties and linebackers. CB's only.
The lines of best fit are flatter than... anyways, there seems to be barely any correlation tbh. Sure, people had more interceptions with more speed, but the correlations aren't there like they were with S19. It can't just be RNG, can it? Can it? the guy with the most deflections in the class was someone with 73 speed but I dunno, let's check out other stats than just speed.
Here is a chart that depicts the relationship between hands and interceptions along with passes deflected for the S20 DSFL season. This does not includes safeties and linebackers. CB's only.
Ok, this is kind of what I was looking for. We can see clear positive correlations between hands and PDs & INTs. But then again, there is that 73 Speed, 58 Hands guy who popped off. So, what's the "moral" of the story? Hands are important, possibly just, if not more, than speed. But, we do be needing more stats to come to a final conclusion tho.
Here is a chart that depicts the relationship between intelligence and interceptions along with passes deflected for the S20 DSFL season. This does not includes safeties and linebackers. CB's only.
That's a strong line of best fit for passes deflected. It does seem like there is a much stronger correlation between intelligence and success in the DSFL.
Final Thoughts
After sifting through all this data, I'm honestly surprised at these correlations. Sure, the faster guys always have the most interceptions, but the correlation isn't that strong. Intelligence seems to be more important than speed, but both are equally needed. You can't succeed with just one. You need one or the other. But let's not forget about hands. You would have thought more hands = more INTs, but not according to the sim. There is a positive correlation, but not as much as it is with intelligence. I would say try and get to 85+ speed in the DSFL, 65+ intelligence, 65+ hands. I don't even know if you can get all these stats but it should be possible. A really high intelligence attribute, like 70 (which was HeHateMe PickSix), will guarantee success. Just make sure you have the speed to go with it.
Prioritize the following
1. Speed (9/10)
2. Intelligence (8/10)
3. Hands (7/10)
4. Endurance (6.5/10)
5. Tackling (5/10)
6. Strength (4.5/10)
7. Agility (4/10)
So, remember the data I analyzed was only from cornerbacks, so safeties are all out of luck for now. S22 CBs, don't go spend all your TPE on useless things! I should have kept this data to myself for an advantage over y'all, but I'll be nice and cash in on it.
Of course, all these charts and data is up to you to determine the best course of action. If I made a mistake please tell me, if you have any extra info you would like me to know/add, please tell me below.
S19
So, the league leader in interceptions in S19 was none other than the legend himself, Kacey Dream. He finished with 59 tackles, 2 forced fumbles, 1 fumble recovery, 0 sacks, 8 interceptions, 22 passes deflected, 0 safeties and 3 TDs. These are outrageous numbers and the main reason he ended up winning DSFL MVP. This is the kind of production I plan to get in the DSFL. We do need to look at his stats though to see how he did it.
Kacey Dream's key stats (End of season, all are found on sim-football.com)
Strength: 48
Agility: 70
Intelligence: 50
Tackle: 50
Speed: 94
Hands: 54
Endurance: 59
So, what are some takeaways from this? He only poured his TPE into speed it seems, and it worked. He invested some into strength and endurance and little into hands but the majority of his TPE went into speed. What surprised me was his lack of endurance and hands. If 54 hands can get you 8 INTs and 22 PDs, then sign me up.
Here is a chart that depicts the relationship between speed and # of INTs for the S19 DSFL season. This does not includes safeties and linebackers. CB's only. Also sorry for the shitty lines, idk why the intervals aren't in whole numbers, just round up.
So, what can we figure out from this? Absolutely nothing. Just kidding, but not rlly. Kacey had the highest speed out of all CBs and I believe safeties too, so he got the most INTs. Behind him it's kind of a mess with no real star there. It seems like speed and INTs are positively correlated, but not a very strong correlation. Let's move onto our next category and see if there is a stronger correlation there.
Here is a chart that depicts the relationship between speed and # of PDs (Passes deflected) for the S19 DSFL season. This does not includes safeties and linebackers. CB's only.
So, what can we figure out from this? Get good speed for more PDs. The positive correlation is definitively more present compared to # of INTs. At least once you get to 80+ speed. No one at or above 85 speed had less than 10 PDs. There seems to be a much stronger correlation between speed and pass deflections than there was with speed and interceptions. Going through a lot of these players stats it seemed like the ones with more interceptions just got lucky. The sims gonna sim. I could test for hands and intelligence but we'll see. I'm kinda lazy.
Now, let's move on to a more recent season.
S20
One season wouldn't be enough, now would it? I want a larger sample size that isn't completely dominated by Kacey Dream, so here we are. In regards to what I typed earlier,
Quote:I could test for hands and intelligence but we'll see. I'm kinda lazy.I'm gonna follow up on this and actually test for different attributes and their relation to PDs and interceptions. It's going to be a lot of graphs and I'm already dreading it and the software I used to make my previous graphs are garbage so I'm going to make it again on a different website sorry for your eyes hehe. I'm also too lazy to go back and delete my statement about testing for hands and intelligence but I'm not too lazy to go on a rant about this which is completely unrelated. Anyways, time to explore S20.
In S19 we had a clear league leader for INTs that was a CB, his name was, dun dun dun, you guessed it, Kacey Dream. Or maybe you just read the beginning of the article. Anyways, we had a 3 way tie for interceptions in S20 for CBs. Yes, Murphy had 7 interceptions but he was a free safety so I don't want to hear it lmao.
Here is a chart that depicts the relationship between speed and interceptions along with passes deflected for the S20 DSFL season. This does not includes safeties and linebackers. CB's only.
The lines of best fit are flatter than... anyways, there seems to be barely any correlation tbh. Sure, people had more interceptions with more speed, but the correlations aren't there like they were with S19. It can't just be RNG, can it? Can it? the guy with the most deflections in the class was someone with 73 speed but I dunno, let's check out other stats than just speed.
Here is a chart that depicts the relationship between hands and interceptions along with passes deflected for the S20 DSFL season. This does not includes safeties and linebackers. CB's only.
Ok, this is kind of what I was looking for. We can see clear positive correlations between hands and PDs & INTs. But then again, there is that 73 Speed, 58 Hands guy who popped off. So, what's the "moral" of the story? Hands are important, possibly just, if not more, than speed. But, we do be needing more stats to come to a final conclusion tho.
Here is a chart that depicts the relationship between intelligence and interceptions along with passes deflected for the S20 DSFL season. This does not includes safeties and linebackers. CB's only.
That's a strong line of best fit for passes deflected. It does seem like there is a much stronger correlation between intelligence and success in the DSFL.
Final Thoughts
After sifting through all this data, I'm honestly surprised at these correlations. Sure, the faster guys always have the most interceptions, but the correlation isn't that strong. Intelligence seems to be more important than speed, but both are equally needed. You can't succeed with just one. You need one or the other. But let's not forget about hands. You would have thought more hands = more INTs, but not according to the sim. There is a positive correlation, but not as much as it is with intelligence. I would say try and get to 85+ speed in the DSFL, 65+ intelligence, 65+ hands. I don't even know if you can get all these stats but it should be possible. A really high intelligence attribute, like 70 (which was HeHateMe PickSix), will guarantee success. Just make sure you have the speed to go with it.
Prioritize the following
1. Speed (9/10)
2. Intelligence (8/10)
3. Hands (7/10)
4. Endurance (6.5/10)
5. Tackling (5/10)
6. Strength (4.5/10)
7. Agility (4/10)
So, remember the data I analyzed was only from cornerbacks, so safeties are all out of luck for now. S22 CBs, don't go spend all your TPE on useless things! I should have kept this data to myself for an advantage over y'all, but I'll be nice and cash in on it.
Of course, all these charts and data is up to you to determine the best course of action. If I made a mistake please tell me, if you have any extra info you would like me to know/add, please tell me below.