The Developmental Sim Football league just had the largest draft in history with 270 prospects finding new homes. However, throughout the proceedings, there was an eyebrow raising moment which made people question it at the time but has been forgotten in the aftermath.
At around the middle of the draft, the Portland Pythons made a trade with the expansion team, Dallas Birddogs. An image of the trade can be seen below. It involved the trading of a round nineteen, twenty, twenty one, twenty two, twenty three and twenty four pick and in return they received a pick in round 25. Another part of the trade involved an inactive cult icon in the league Quarterback Gimmy Jarrapolo.
The Dallas Birddogs use the picks on the following:
Pick 147 – Colt Mendoza – Active CB
Pick 155 – Big Edd – Active DT
Pick 163 – Tom Thorne – Was Active LB [Last seen the 8th]
Pick 171 – Desean Hill – IA WR
Pick 179 – Henry Sigurdsson – IA TE
Pick 187 – Malcolm Jenkins – Was Active CB [Last seen the 8th]
Gimmy Jarrapolo – IA QB
This trade has potentially provided Dallas up to four active members of the defence that the expansion team is greatly striving to achieve. Although they are currently sitting at 5th in the points allowed column through the opening two weeks of the season, they were able to hold the current Ultimini champions to just 10 points in a 31-10 point victory. Two of the players they drafted through picks in the trade played in the victory. With Edd picking up 6 tackles and Mendoza grabbing 2 tackles.
Alternatively, there is the Portland Pythons who sent their picks away and who are currently winless through two games. They have given up the most points through two games and have scored the least as well. This gives them the worst point differential in the league. The problem with this trade from the Portland point of view is that there were several active players that could have been drafted which would have benefited the Pythons such as Mendoza, Edd, Waters, Sofa or Tirtawidjaja. Those players may not have been in positions of need at draft time, but they are active players who may have changed positions to fill gaps in the Pythons depth chart. However, the decision was made to trade all their picks away.
When this decision was made, there was only a single member of the Portland war room around. There are also reports of mixed emotions regarding the trade within the war room with comments being made to this reporter and in the draft stream as well. Asking Gregor McGregor [Kanako], one of the general managers for the Portland Pythons specifically mentioned to me that he was not around and was not responsible for making that trade.
This trade has highly benefitted the Dallas Birddogs as they were able to draft several active members for their first ever defence fielded in the DSFL. It also impacted Portland as they were then unable to draft these active players which may be evident in their winless record and that they are potentially unable to improve on their 2-12 record from last season. It looks probable that they may be on the way to the #1 pick in the next draft.
As the season goes on, the impacts from this draft trade may be even more impactful. Only time will tell what the full benefits from the trade may be or the negatives.