Going through the stats I am going to rank all the safeties from first to last in each category based on performance in that area. The only rule is that they had to have played 1000 snaps at minimum which seems to be the cutoff for not having skewed results in favor of those with less snaps. Each aspect of their play will be covered, from penalties to mistake Percentage. Nothing will be over-looked, and nothing will be left out. After this I will be discussing a few safeties and what they did good or bad at and my personal selection for Safety of the Year and Pro bowls.
Starting things off with penalties.
PENALTIES : (Tie breaker for all ties in this category is mistake percentage)
DB Jadakiss - 0 - 0 yds
Prince Vegeta - 0 - 0 yds
Brendan Lanier - 0 - 0 yds
Cuco Clemente - 0 - 0 yds
Damian Blackfyre – 1 - 0 yds
Hamish MacAndrew - 1 - 0 yds
Joel Drake – 1 – 4 yds
IHeart Syracuse – 1 – 5 yds
Mason Blaylock – 1 – 15 yds
Shawn Dawkins – 1 – 15 yds
Matt Cross – 2 – 0 yds
Tony Yeboah – 2 – 0 yds
Maverick Bowie – 2 – 10 yds
Wesley Erikson – 2 – 10 yds
Gregor Macgregor – 2 – 15 yds
Bob Roberts – 2 – 15 yds
Eugene Smoothie – 2 – 20 yds
Philip Stein – 2 – 20 yds
Jamie Nkiah – 2 – 22 yds
Magnus Valdyr – 3 – 5 yds
Thor Kirby – 3 – 15 yds
Davril Lavigne – 3 – 15 yds
Jonny Helzapoppin – 3 – 20 yds
Derek Wildstar – 4 – 20 yds
Teddy Utterstruzen – 4 – 25 yds
National Simulation Football League – 4 – 30 yds
Tyrone Biggums – 4 – 35 yds
Jeremiah Zelos – 5 – 15 yds
Steven Wadham – 6 – 35 yds
TARGETS:
1. Tyrone Biggums – 98
2. Tony Yeboah – 102
3. Jonny Helzapoppin – 112
4. Gregor Macgregor – 114
5. Magnus Valdyr – 118
6. Brendan Lanier - 128
7. Cuco Clemente – 128
8. Maverick Bowie – 129
9. Eugene Smoothie - 129
10. Davril Lavigne – 129
11. Jeremiah Zelos - 129
12. Bob Roberts - 130
13. Derek Wildstar – 131
14. Matt Cross – 134
15. Steven Wadham – 134
16. DB Jadakiss – 135
17. IHeart Syracuse – 140
18. NationalSimulation Footballleague – 141
19. Hamish MacAndrew – 142
20. Mason Blaylock - 145
21. Damian Blackfyre – 145
22. Philip Stein - 145
23. Thor Kirby – 146
24. Prince Vegeta - 147
25. Jamie Nkiah - 147
26. Shawn Dawkins – 147
27. Teddy Utterstruzen – 151
28. Joel Drake – 157
29. Wesley Eriksen – 165
CATCHES ALLOWED:
1. Tyrone Biggums – 63
2. Gregor Macgregor – 69
3. Tony Yeboah – 70
4. Jonny Helzapoppin – 79
5. Matt Cross – 79
6. Cuco Clemente – 80
7. Maverick Bowie – 82
8. Teddy Utterstruzen – 84
9. Derek Wildstar – 85
10. Eugene Smoothie – 86
11. Bob Roberts – 86
12. Mason Blaylock – 87
13. Magnus Valdyr – 87
14. Jeremiah Zelos – 88
15. DB Jadakiss – 89
16. Jamie Nkiah – 90
17. Brendan Lanier – 91
18. Davril Lavigne – 92
19. Prince Vegeta – 95
20. Philip Stein – 96
21. Damian Blackfyre – 97
22. IHeart Syracuse – 97
23. Thor Kirby – 98
24. Shawn Dawkins – 98
25. NationalSimulation FootballLeague – 99
26. Hamish MacAndrew – 100
27. Steven Wadham – 100
28. Joel Drake – 102
29. Wesley Erikson – 109
CATCH ALLOWED PERCENTAGE
1. Teddy Utterstruzen – 55.6%
2. Matt Cross – 59.0%
3. Mason Blaylock – 60.0%
4. Gregor Macgregor – 60.5%
5. Jamie Nkiah – 61.2%
6. Cuco Clemente – 62.5%
7. Maverick Bowie – 63.6%
8. Tyrone Biggums – 64.3%
9. Prince Vegeta – 64.6%
10. Derek Wildstar – 64.9%
11. Joel Drake – 65.0%
12. DB Jadakiss – 65.9%
13. Wesley Erikson – 66.1%
14. Philip Stein – 66.2%
15. Bob Roberts – 66.2%
16. Eugene Smoothie – 66.7%
17. Shawn Dawkins – 66,7%
18. Damian Blackfyre – 66.9%
19. Thor Kirby – 67.1%
20. Jeremiah Zelos – 68.2%
21. Tony Yeboah – 68.6%
22. IHeart Syracuse – 69.3%
23. NationalSimulation FL – 70.2%
24. Hamish MacAndrew – 70.4%
25. Jonny Helzapoppin – 70.5%
26. Brendan Lanier – 71.1%
27. Davriel Lavigne – 71.3%
28. Magnus Valdyr – 73.7%
29. Steven Wadham – 74.6%
TACKLES (nobody got 69 so shame on us all)
1. Eugene Smoothie – 75
2. Damian Blackfyre – 70
3. Shawn Dawkins – 67
4. Cuco Clemente – 67
5. Mason Blaylock – 66
6. IHeart Syracuse – 66
7. Hamish MacAndrew – 65
8. Tony Yeboah – 63
9. Bob Roberts – 61
10. DB Jadakiss – 60
11. Jonny Hellzapoppin – 60
12. Philip Stein – 59
13. Brendan Lanier – 58
14. Prince Vegeta – 57
15. Steven Wadham – 57
16. Maverick Bowie – 56
17. NationalSimulation FL – 56
18. Wesley Eriksen – 55
19. Jeremiah Zelos – 55
20. Joel Drake – 54
21. Davriel Lavigne – 54
22. Gregor Macgregor – 52
23. Tyrone Biggums – 50
24. Magnus Valdyr – 50
25. Matt Cross – 48
26. Teddy Utterstruzen – 47
27. Jamie Nkiah – 46
28. Thor Kirby – 46
29. Derek Wildstar – 46
TACKLES FOR LOSS
1. Cuco Clemente – 5
2. Bob Roberts – 2
3. Teddy Utterstruzen – 2
4. Damian Blackfyre – 1
5. Magnus Valdyr – 1
No one else recorded a TFL
SACKS
Tyrone Biggums – 10
Gregor Macgregor – 8
Davriel Lavigne – 8
Cuco Clemente - 7
Brendan Lanier - 7
Bob Roberts - 7
NationalSimulation FL – 6
Derek Wildstar – 6
Damian Blackfyre – 5
Teddy Utterstruzen – 5
Steven Wadham – 5
DB Jadakiss - 4
Mason Blaylock – 4
Shawn Dawkins - 4
Hamish MacAndrew – 4
Jamie Nkiah – 3
Jonny Helzapoppin – 3
Philip Stein – 3
Prince Vegeta – 2
Thor Kirby – 2
Magnus Valdyr – 2
Tony Yeboah – 2
Joel Drake – 1
Eugene Smoothie – 1
IHeart Syracuse – 1
Everyone else had zero sacks
SAFETIES - tie breaker is mistake %
Damian Blackfyre - 1
Tyrone Biggums 1
Derek Wildstar - 1
No one else recorded a safety
MISSED TACKLES - tie breaker is mistake %
DB Jadakiss – 0
Maverick Bowie - 0
Jamie Nkiah - 0
Thor Kirby – 0
Prince Vegeta – 1
Mason Blaylock – 1
Eugene Smoothie – 1
NationalSimulation FootballLeague – 1
Tyrone Biggums – 1
Brendan Lanier – 2
Joel Drake – 2
Damian Blackfyre – 2
Wesley Eriksen – 2
Johnny Helzapoppin – 2
Davriel Lavigne – 2
Teddy Utterstruzen – 2
Jeremiah Zelos – 2
Shawn Dawkins – 3
Hamish MacAndrew – 3
IHeart Syracuse – 3
Gregor Macgregor – 3
Steven Wadham – 3
Cuco Clemente – 4
Philip Stein – 4
Matt Cross – 4
Bob Roberts – 4
Magnus Valdyr – 4
Derek Wildstar - 4
Tony Yeboah - 6
FORCED FUMBLES
Brendan Lanier – 3
Philip Stein – 2
Davriel Lavigne – 2
Matt Cross – 2
Magnus Valdyr – 2
Derek Wildstar - 2
DB Jadakiss – 1
Prince Vegeta – 1
Mason Blaylock – 1
Eugene Smoothie – 1
Thor Kirby – 1
Shawn Dawkins – 1
Cuco Clemente – 1
Johnny Helzapoppin – 1
Nationalsimulation Footballleague – 1
Gregor Macgregor – 1
Bob Roberts – 1
Teddy Utterstruzen -1
Tyrone Biggums – 1
Steven Wadham - 1
Everyone else did not force a fumble
FUMBLE RECOVERIES
Magnus Valdyr – 2
Prince Vegeta – 1
Mason Blaylock – 1
Brendan Lanier – 1
Thor Kirby – 1
Damian Blackfyre – 1
Philip Stein – 1
Davriel Lavigne – 1
Tony Yeboah – 1
Steven Wadham - 1
No one else recovered a fumble
INTERCEPTIONS - tie breaker is int yards
Joel Drake - 6
Maverick Bowie – 5
Prince Vegeta – 3
Shawn Dawkins – 3
Eugene Smoothie – 3
Matt Cross – 3
Magnus Valdyr – 2
Wesley Eriksen – 2
NationalSimulation FL – 2
Hamish MacAndrew - 2
Davriel Lavigne – 2
IHeart Syracuse – 2
Teddy Utterstruzen – 2
Tony yeboah - 2
Brendan Lanier – 2
Jeremiah Zelos - 1
Cuco Clemente - 1
Bob Roberts - 1
Steven Wadham - 1
Gregor Macgregor - 1
Mason Blaylock - 1
Johnny Helzapoppin - 1
Jamie Nkiah - 1
DB Jadakiss - 1
Philip Stein - 1
No one else recorded a pick
PASS DEFLECTIONS - tie breaker is catch allowed %
Teddy Utterstruzen – 20
Maverick Bowie – 18
Prince Vegeta – 16
Cuco Clemente – 15
IHeart Syracuse – 14
Shawn Dawkins – 12
Wesley Eriksen – 11
Matt Cross - 10
Joel Drake – 10
Eugene Smoothie – 10
Davriel Lavigne – 10
Jamie Nkiah – 9
Derek Wildstar – 9
Bob Roberts – 9
Philip Stein – 9
Nationalsimulation footballLeague – 9
Johnny Hellzapoppin – 9
DB Jadakiss – 8
Hamish MacAndrew – 8
Tony Yeboah – 8
Gregor Macgregor – 7
Tyrone Biggums – 7
Damian Blackfyre – 7
Thor Kirby – 7
Jeremiah Zelos – 7
Brendan Lanier – 7
Mason Blaylock – 6
Magnus Valdyr – 6
Steven Wadham - 3
DEFENSIVE TOUCHDOWNS - tie breaker is mistake %
Joel Drake – 1
Shawn Dawkins - 1
Cuco Clemente - 1
Wesley Erikson - 1
NationalSimulation FL - 1
Magnus Valdyr - 1
No one else scored a TD so will all receive an 11.
MISTAKE PERCENTAGE
DB Jadakiss – 0%
Prince Vegeta – 0.7%
Maverick Bowie – 0.13%
Mason Blaylock – 0.14%
Jamie Nkiah – 0.14%
Brendan Lanier – 0.14%
Joel Drake – 0.19%
Eugene Smoothie – 0.21%
Thor Kirby – 0.24%
Damian Blackfyre – 0.25%
Shawn Dawkins – 0.26%
Cuco Clemente – 0.28%
Hamish MacAndrew – 0.29%
IHeart Syracuse – 0.30%
Wesley Eriksen – 0.32%
Johnny Helzapoppin – 0.33%
NationalSimulation FL – 0.35%
Philip Stein – 0.39%
Gregor Macgregor – 0.40%
Davriel Lavigne – 0.41
Matt Cross – 0.41%
Bob Roberts – 0.43%
Teddy Utterstruzen – 0.47%
Magnus Valdyr – 0.48%
Tyrone Biggums – 0.50%
Jeremiah Zelos – 0.60%
Tony Yeboah – 0.62%
Derek Wildstar – 0.66%
Steven Wadham – 0.72%
I made a little list here, not really in any order its just for me to quickly reference names so skip this
Cuco Clemente
Prince Vegeta
Maverick Bowie
DB Jadakiss
Mason Blaylock
Brendan Lanier
Eugene Smoothie
Shawn Dawkins
Gregor Macgregor
Matt Cross
Damian Blackfyre
Davriel Lavigne
Bob Roberts
Joel Drake
Tyrone Biggums
Teddy Utterstruzen
Johnny Helzapoppin
Nationalsimulation FootballLeague
Jamie Nkiah
IHeart Syracuse
Tony Yeboah
Philip Stein
Hamish MacAndrew
Magnus Valdyr
Derek Wildstar
Wesley Eriksen
Thor Kirby
Jeremiah Zelos
Steven Wadham
This little list isn’t accurate to who is the best safety, especially because every player had different roles. For example Joel Drake was one of the best play makers deep in coverage, but was not as good as others in the tackle area. He was also targeted more often than many others. That doesn’t mean he isn’t one of the best safeties in the league this season. Now I will be breaking down each safety and giving my thoughts and opinion on their performance. I’m going to use that above list as the order that I am going in down the list.
First of all Cuco Clemente was an animal. Truly an enforcer. Now I don’t know if Clemente was playing strong safety or not but the stats he has make me believe he was a strong safety. A damn good one at that. He was good in coverage as well, top ten in targets and catches allowed, while allowing only 62% of passes to be caught. But I would say he had bricks for hands, with a tremendous amount of pass deflections (14) but only 1 interception. You could bet he would slap the ball down, but don’t count on it being caught. That one interception he had though was returned for a touchdown. This dude I mean...just a stud. He had a lot of tackles, with 67 and led the position group in tackles for loss with 5, and brought the QB down 7 times. Overall this player is just a beast. Big tackler, good coverage, and a general playmaker. Clemente would be my first choice for safety of the year.
Prince Vegeta. This superstar showed us he still had some gas in the tank. Unlike Clemente he had the pass deflections, AND the interceptions. However he did not do much by way of sacks with only 2, or tackles for loss with none. He did have 57 tackles which is very good, but pretty middle of the road for safeties this season. Other than the solid pass deflection and interception numbers, his pass coverage was pretty average as far as targets and catches allowed. But he still made plays and was a constant thorn in the side of every offense. Overall Hell of a season for Vegeta.
Maverick Bowie was an absolute showstopper this season. Lockdown coverage, second in pass deflection and interceptions, and top ten in targets, catches allowed and catch%. You just couldnt throw his direction. He did not get much blitzing opportunity, and had a pretty average 57 tackles, however he was a monster when roaming the secondary. A phenomenal season for Bowie that should be locked in for an award in my opinion.
DB Jadakiss had a solid season overall. He was pretty average in almost every area, finishing about 15th in each pass defense category. A solid 4 sacks was good for middle of the pack. He was 10th in tackles with 60 which is a very respectable number. His 8 pass deflections were solid but not exceptional, and while he was solid all around, he failed make many big splash splays evidenced by his lone interception. Overall Jadakiss was a very VERY consistent safety, and was slightly better than average in most areas of the field.
Blaylock is another player similar to DB Jadakiss who had a really great season, but didnt stand out too much. Extremely consistent, didnt make a lot of mistakes, made plays when possible, but overall was really good, not exceptional. Above average in most areas, but really great in pass coverage as only 60% of passes were caught in Blaylocks coverage. Not a lot of pds however with only 6, and only a single interception. Still a really solid season from Blaylock.
Brendan Lanier had a really good season overall. Though not really standing out in any one area, Lanier did have 2 interceptions and was quite literally a walking hit stick as the only safety to force 3 fumbles. His defense in the pass game was left wanting though as he allowed 70% of targets to be caught, one of the worst percentages in the league. In all Lanier was a solid run support option and didnt make many mistakes. But if a qb went over the top odds are they would connect for a big pass.
Eugene Smoothie is another Safety that had a really great season, although didnt stand out much in a single area. An expert tackler however leading all safeties with 75. He was lacking in sacks and interceptions but was above the average in almost all of the categories. Helluva season for smoothie.
Dawkins is another of the safeties in this group was better than the average in just about every single area, but not quite good enough in all of them to be among the top safeties. Consistent throughout, great coverage, and solid pass rush. 3 interceptions and 4 sacks was nothing to scoff at in any way. Great season for Dawkins and id be suprised if he was left off the safety of the year ballot.
Gregor Macgregor was a sack machine. Recording 8 sacks was good enough for second among safeties. He was absolute lockdown in coverage as well. Didnt do much by way of turnovers but he did enough in every category to have a really really good season overall.
Matt Cross suprised me when i gathered the final stats I didnt remember seeing him very often during the list gathering so it was a little shock. But man what a good season. Pretty pure coverage safety with the second lowest catch allowed percentage and 3 interceptions you had better think twice about throwing his way. Pretty low on the scale in tackles though and no sacks recorded hurt his chances, but what a lockdown performance in the passing game.
The prodigal son returns. Just kidding its just me. Man what a letdown of a season. I was really disappointed with my performance at first, especially compared to last season when i was on 3 seperate ballots. Boy this one was disappointing in comparison. But then i did this article and realized i wasnt bad. Just average. The averages in many of areas meant I was better than average or at average while slightly lower in some others.. And thats true to a degree, i was at the top of most of the tackling categories and middle of the road in sacks, and in the middle of the pack in terms of pass defense. Had i gotten a couple interceptions my season would have been seen much higher. So in all my performance in the tackling/sacks/TFL/safety area was fantastic, but my performance in the pass coverage realm was dreadfully average. But it wasnt BAD so i have that going for me.
Davriel Lavigne had an overall good season, but in this area of the list we are in average territory. Many of the players on this section had really good seasons but lost tie breakers because they were a little mistake prone, but Lavigne had a great season in most respects although allowing an abysmal 70% of passes his direction to be caught hurts his score, but he had a fairly solid season. With a couple improvements he could well have be one of the better safeties in the league. But for now like myself hes stuck in averageville.
Bob Roberts was in many aspects one of the better run stopping safeties. He was however average or better than average in targets and catches allowed. Where Roberts excelled however was tackles, tackles for loss and sacks. He was a force of nature at the line of scrimmage. If he can improve upon already solid pass defense he will be a true threat for all quarterbacks to look out for next season.
Joel Drakes name should speak for itself. What a season. Leading all safeties with 6 interceptions he was a turnover machine. The thing that hurts Drake for me after this article is that he was one of the most targeted safeties. He still had a very solid catch allowed percentage though which saves it. The high targets skew the interception results a little i think, but it is very impressive nonetheless. He is about the polar opposite of Clemente and the safety of the year award should be close between the two.
In an effort to get this out before awards I will end it here for now, if i didnt get to your player i will do another article later on. BUT we still have my awards choices to go over.
Safety of the Year
Cuco Clemente should win a tight race here. He just had such great numbers in too many areas. He lost to Drake in the interception category but beat him in almost every other area. To me that would be enough. It is close but i value overall volume in all areas of the field more than high numbers in one spot.
Maverick Bowie - had very impressive numbers, and was EASILY one of the best pass defense safeties when you take into account catches allowed and targets. But his lack of production at the line of scrimmage hurts his chances. I think he barely beats drake, who despite having 6 interceptions was pretty average in most other areas. Bowie had one less interception and much more impressive pass defense numbers.
Joel Drake - a really great season with 6 interceptions. He just didnt have the edge in the other important areas like sacks or tackles for loss. Another thing is that he was targeted more than every other safety in contention here, possibly skewing results of the interceptions.I do think Drake should win defensive performance of the year though.
Prince Vegeta - overall had a really fantastic season and was close behind the other two in most areas, even beating them in a few. I just dont think it was quite good enough to overcome the big numbers put up by the other saferies on this list. He was great in many areas but didnt have any real standout stats in one specific area.
Shawn Dawkins - very similar to Bowie and Vegeta, I think all 3 make a very strong case and could win the award, but it was too level across the board without really standing out in a specific area.
Pro Bowl -
Cuco Clemente - you could not find a better run stopping safety this season, especially considering he was also good in the pass game with an INT and 15 PDs. The sacks, tackles for loss and tackles really drive home his role here on my list. Just a really great season all around.
Maverick Bowie - one less interception than Drake and 8 more PDs is the primary reason for this. He just had better coverage numbers, allowing less targets, catches and had better catch allowed percentage. It was a tough choice here but I think he should barely get the edge.
Starting things off with penalties.
PENALTIES : (Tie breaker for all ties in this category is mistake percentage)
DB Jadakiss - 0 - 0 yds
Prince Vegeta - 0 - 0 yds
Brendan Lanier - 0 - 0 yds
Cuco Clemente - 0 - 0 yds
Damian Blackfyre – 1 - 0 yds
Hamish MacAndrew - 1 - 0 yds
Joel Drake – 1 – 4 yds
IHeart Syracuse – 1 – 5 yds
Mason Blaylock – 1 – 15 yds
Shawn Dawkins – 1 – 15 yds
Matt Cross – 2 – 0 yds
Tony Yeboah – 2 – 0 yds
Maverick Bowie – 2 – 10 yds
Wesley Erikson – 2 – 10 yds
Gregor Macgregor – 2 – 15 yds
Bob Roberts – 2 – 15 yds
Eugene Smoothie – 2 – 20 yds
Philip Stein – 2 – 20 yds
Jamie Nkiah – 2 – 22 yds
Magnus Valdyr – 3 – 5 yds
Thor Kirby – 3 – 15 yds
Davril Lavigne – 3 – 15 yds
Jonny Helzapoppin – 3 – 20 yds
Derek Wildstar – 4 – 20 yds
Teddy Utterstruzen – 4 – 25 yds
National Simulation Football League – 4 – 30 yds
Tyrone Biggums – 4 – 35 yds
Jeremiah Zelos – 5 – 15 yds
Steven Wadham – 6 – 35 yds
TARGETS:
1. Tyrone Biggums – 98
2. Tony Yeboah – 102
3. Jonny Helzapoppin – 112
4. Gregor Macgregor – 114
5. Magnus Valdyr – 118
6. Brendan Lanier - 128
7. Cuco Clemente – 128
8. Maverick Bowie – 129
9. Eugene Smoothie - 129
10. Davril Lavigne – 129
11. Jeremiah Zelos - 129
12. Bob Roberts - 130
13. Derek Wildstar – 131
14. Matt Cross – 134
15. Steven Wadham – 134
16. DB Jadakiss – 135
17. IHeart Syracuse – 140
18. NationalSimulation Footballleague – 141
19. Hamish MacAndrew – 142
20. Mason Blaylock - 145
21. Damian Blackfyre – 145
22. Philip Stein - 145
23. Thor Kirby – 146
24. Prince Vegeta - 147
25. Jamie Nkiah - 147
26. Shawn Dawkins – 147
27. Teddy Utterstruzen – 151
28. Joel Drake – 157
29. Wesley Eriksen – 165
CATCHES ALLOWED:
1. Tyrone Biggums – 63
2. Gregor Macgregor – 69
3. Tony Yeboah – 70
4. Jonny Helzapoppin – 79
5. Matt Cross – 79
6. Cuco Clemente – 80
7. Maverick Bowie – 82
8. Teddy Utterstruzen – 84
9. Derek Wildstar – 85
10. Eugene Smoothie – 86
11. Bob Roberts – 86
12. Mason Blaylock – 87
13. Magnus Valdyr – 87
14. Jeremiah Zelos – 88
15. DB Jadakiss – 89
16. Jamie Nkiah – 90
17. Brendan Lanier – 91
18. Davril Lavigne – 92
19. Prince Vegeta – 95
20. Philip Stein – 96
21. Damian Blackfyre – 97
22. IHeart Syracuse – 97
23. Thor Kirby – 98
24. Shawn Dawkins – 98
25. NationalSimulation FootballLeague – 99
26. Hamish MacAndrew – 100
27. Steven Wadham – 100
28. Joel Drake – 102
29. Wesley Erikson – 109
CATCH ALLOWED PERCENTAGE
1. Teddy Utterstruzen – 55.6%
2. Matt Cross – 59.0%
3. Mason Blaylock – 60.0%
4. Gregor Macgregor – 60.5%
5. Jamie Nkiah – 61.2%
6. Cuco Clemente – 62.5%
7. Maverick Bowie – 63.6%
8. Tyrone Biggums – 64.3%
9. Prince Vegeta – 64.6%
10. Derek Wildstar – 64.9%
11. Joel Drake – 65.0%
12. DB Jadakiss – 65.9%
13. Wesley Erikson – 66.1%
14. Philip Stein – 66.2%
15. Bob Roberts – 66.2%
16. Eugene Smoothie – 66.7%
17. Shawn Dawkins – 66,7%
18. Damian Blackfyre – 66.9%
19. Thor Kirby – 67.1%
20. Jeremiah Zelos – 68.2%
21. Tony Yeboah – 68.6%
22. IHeart Syracuse – 69.3%
23. NationalSimulation FL – 70.2%
24. Hamish MacAndrew – 70.4%
25. Jonny Helzapoppin – 70.5%
26. Brendan Lanier – 71.1%
27. Davriel Lavigne – 71.3%
28. Magnus Valdyr – 73.7%
29. Steven Wadham – 74.6%
TACKLES (nobody got 69 so shame on us all)
1. Eugene Smoothie – 75
2. Damian Blackfyre – 70
3. Shawn Dawkins – 67
4. Cuco Clemente – 67
5. Mason Blaylock – 66
6. IHeart Syracuse – 66
7. Hamish MacAndrew – 65
8. Tony Yeboah – 63
9. Bob Roberts – 61
10. DB Jadakiss – 60
11. Jonny Hellzapoppin – 60
12. Philip Stein – 59
13. Brendan Lanier – 58
14. Prince Vegeta – 57
15. Steven Wadham – 57
16. Maverick Bowie – 56
17. NationalSimulation FL – 56
18. Wesley Eriksen – 55
19. Jeremiah Zelos – 55
20. Joel Drake – 54
21. Davriel Lavigne – 54
22. Gregor Macgregor – 52
23. Tyrone Biggums – 50
24. Magnus Valdyr – 50
25. Matt Cross – 48
26. Teddy Utterstruzen – 47
27. Jamie Nkiah – 46
28. Thor Kirby – 46
29. Derek Wildstar – 46
TACKLES FOR LOSS
1. Cuco Clemente – 5
2. Bob Roberts – 2
3. Teddy Utterstruzen – 2
4. Damian Blackfyre – 1
5. Magnus Valdyr – 1
No one else recorded a TFL
SACKS
Tyrone Biggums – 10
Gregor Macgregor – 8
Davriel Lavigne – 8
Cuco Clemente - 7
Brendan Lanier - 7
Bob Roberts - 7
NationalSimulation FL – 6
Derek Wildstar – 6
Damian Blackfyre – 5
Teddy Utterstruzen – 5
Steven Wadham – 5
DB Jadakiss - 4
Mason Blaylock – 4
Shawn Dawkins - 4
Hamish MacAndrew – 4
Jamie Nkiah – 3
Jonny Helzapoppin – 3
Philip Stein – 3
Prince Vegeta – 2
Thor Kirby – 2
Magnus Valdyr – 2
Tony Yeboah – 2
Joel Drake – 1
Eugene Smoothie – 1
IHeart Syracuse – 1
Everyone else had zero sacks
SAFETIES - tie breaker is mistake %
Damian Blackfyre - 1
Tyrone Biggums 1
Derek Wildstar - 1
No one else recorded a safety
MISSED TACKLES - tie breaker is mistake %
DB Jadakiss – 0
Maverick Bowie - 0
Jamie Nkiah - 0
Thor Kirby – 0
Prince Vegeta – 1
Mason Blaylock – 1
Eugene Smoothie – 1
NationalSimulation FootballLeague – 1
Tyrone Biggums – 1
Brendan Lanier – 2
Joel Drake – 2
Damian Blackfyre – 2
Wesley Eriksen – 2
Johnny Helzapoppin – 2
Davriel Lavigne – 2
Teddy Utterstruzen – 2
Jeremiah Zelos – 2
Shawn Dawkins – 3
Hamish MacAndrew – 3
IHeart Syracuse – 3
Gregor Macgregor – 3
Steven Wadham – 3
Cuco Clemente – 4
Philip Stein – 4
Matt Cross – 4
Bob Roberts – 4
Magnus Valdyr – 4
Derek Wildstar - 4
Tony Yeboah - 6
FORCED FUMBLES
Brendan Lanier – 3
Philip Stein – 2
Davriel Lavigne – 2
Matt Cross – 2
Magnus Valdyr – 2
Derek Wildstar - 2
DB Jadakiss – 1
Prince Vegeta – 1
Mason Blaylock – 1
Eugene Smoothie – 1
Thor Kirby – 1
Shawn Dawkins – 1
Cuco Clemente – 1
Johnny Helzapoppin – 1
Nationalsimulation Footballleague – 1
Gregor Macgregor – 1
Bob Roberts – 1
Teddy Utterstruzen -1
Tyrone Biggums – 1
Steven Wadham - 1
Everyone else did not force a fumble
FUMBLE RECOVERIES
Magnus Valdyr – 2
Prince Vegeta – 1
Mason Blaylock – 1
Brendan Lanier – 1
Thor Kirby – 1
Damian Blackfyre – 1
Philip Stein – 1
Davriel Lavigne – 1
Tony Yeboah – 1
Steven Wadham - 1
No one else recovered a fumble
INTERCEPTIONS - tie breaker is int yards
Joel Drake - 6
Maverick Bowie – 5
Prince Vegeta – 3
Shawn Dawkins – 3
Eugene Smoothie – 3
Matt Cross – 3
Magnus Valdyr – 2
Wesley Eriksen – 2
NationalSimulation FL – 2
Hamish MacAndrew - 2
Davriel Lavigne – 2
IHeart Syracuse – 2
Teddy Utterstruzen – 2
Tony yeboah - 2
Brendan Lanier – 2
Jeremiah Zelos - 1
Cuco Clemente - 1
Bob Roberts - 1
Steven Wadham - 1
Gregor Macgregor - 1
Mason Blaylock - 1
Johnny Helzapoppin - 1
Jamie Nkiah - 1
DB Jadakiss - 1
Philip Stein - 1
No one else recorded a pick
PASS DEFLECTIONS - tie breaker is catch allowed %
Teddy Utterstruzen – 20
Maverick Bowie – 18
Prince Vegeta – 16
Cuco Clemente – 15
IHeart Syracuse – 14
Shawn Dawkins – 12
Wesley Eriksen – 11
Matt Cross - 10
Joel Drake – 10
Eugene Smoothie – 10
Davriel Lavigne – 10
Jamie Nkiah – 9
Derek Wildstar – 9
Bob Roberts – 9
Philip Stein – 9
Nationalsimulation footballLeague – 9
Johnny Hellzapoppin – 9
DB Jadakiss – 8
Hamish MacAndrew – 8
Tony Yeboah – 8
Gregor Macgregor – 7
Tyrone Biggums – 7
Damian Blackfyre – 7
Thor Kirby – 7
Jeremiah Zelos – 7
Brendan Lanier – 7
Mason Blaylock – 6
Magnus Valdyr – 6
Steven Wadham - 3
DEFENSIVE TOUCHDOWNS - tie breaker is mistake %
Joel Drake – 1
Shawn Dawkins - 1
Cuco Clemente - 1
Wesley Erikson - 1
NationalSimulation FL - 1
Magnus Valdyr - 1
No one else scored a TD so will all receive an 11.
MISTAKE PERCENTAGE
DB Jadakiss – 0%
Prince Vegeta – 0.7%
Maverick Bowie – 0.13%
Mason Blaylock – 0.14%
Jamie Nkiah – 0.14%
Brendan Lanier – 0.14%
Joel Drake – 0.19%
Eugene Smoothie – 0.21%
Thor Kirby – 0.24%
Damian Blackfyre – 0.25%
Shawn Dawkins – 0.26%
Cuco Clemente – 0.28%
Hamish MacAndrew – 0.29%
IHeart Syracuse – 0.30%
Wesley Eriksen – 0.32%
Johnny Helzapoppin – 0.33%
NationalSimulation FL – 0.35%
Philip Stein – 0.39%
Gregor Macgregor – 0.40%
Davriel Lavigne – 0.41
Matt Cross – 0.41%
Bob Roberts – 0.43%
Teddy Utterstruzen – 0.47%
Magnus Valdyr – 0.48%
Tyrone Biggums – 0.50%
Jeremiah Zelos – 0.60%
Tony Yeboah – 0.62%
Derek Wildstar – 0.66%
Steven Wadham – 0.72%
I made a little list here, not really in any order its just for me to quickly reference names so skip this
Cuco Clemente
Prince Vegeta
Maverick Bowie
DB Jadakiss
Mason Blaylock
Brendan Lanier
Eugene Smoothie
Shawn Dawkins
Gregor Macgregor
Matt Cross
Damian Blackfyre
Davriel Lavigne
Bob Roberts
Joel Drake
Tyrone Biggums
Teddy Utterstruzen
Johnny Helzapoppin
Nationalsimulation FootballLeague
Jamie Nkiah
IHeart Syracuse
Tony Yeboah
Philip Stein
Hamish MacAndrew
Magnus Valdyr
Derek Wildstar
Wesley Eriksen
Thor Kirby
Jeremiah Zelos
Steven Wadham
This little list isn’t accurate to who is the best safety, especially because every player had different roles. For example Joel Drake was one of the best play makers deep in coverage, but was not as good as others in the tackle area. He was also targeted more often than many others. That doesn’t mean he isn’t one of the best safeties in the league this season. Now I will be breaking down each safety and giving my thoughts and opinion on their performance. I’m going to use that above list as the order that I am going in down the list.
First of all Cuco Clemente was an animal. Truly an enforcer. Now I don’t know if Clemente was playing strong safety or not but the stats he has make me believe he was a strong safety. A damn good one at that. He was good in coverage as well, top ten in targets and catches allowed, while allowing only 62% of passes to be caught. But I would say he had bricks for hands, with a tremendous amount of pass deflections (14) but only 1 interception. You could bet he would slap the ball down, but don’t count on it being caught. That one interception he had though was returned for a touchdown. This dude I mean...just a stud. He had a lot of tackles, with 67 and led the position group in tackles for loss with 5, and brought the QB down 7 times. Overall this player is just a beast. Big tackler, good coverage, and a general playmaker. Clemente would be my first choice for safety of the year.
Prince Vegeta. This superstar showed us he still had some gas in the tank. Unlike Clemente he had the pass deflections, AND the interceptions. However he did not do much by way of sacks with only 2, or tackles for loss with none. He did have 57 tackles which is very good, but pretty middle of the road for safeties this season. Other than the solid pass deflection and interception numbers, his pass coverage was pretty average as far as targets and catches allowed. But he still made plays and was a constant thorn in the side of every offense. Overall Hell of a season for Vegeta.
Maverick Bowie was an absolute showstopper this season. Lockdown coverage, second in pass deflection and interceptions, and top ten in targets, catches allowed and catch%. You just couldnt throw his direction. He did not get much blitzing opportunity, and had a pretty average 57 tackles, however he was a monster when roaming the secondary. A phenomenal season for Bowie that should be locked in for an award in my opinion.
DB Jadakiss had a solid season overall. He was pretty average in almost every area, finishing about 15th in each pass defense category. A solid 4 sacks was good for middle of the pack. He was 10th in tackles with 60 which is a very respectable number. His 8 pass deflections were solid but not exceptional, and while he was solid all around, he failed make many big splash splays evidenced by his lone interception. Overall Jadakiss was a very VERY consistent safety, and was slightly better than average in most areas of the field.
Blaylock is another player similar to DB Jadakiss who had a really great season, but didnt stand out too much. Extremely consistent, didnt make a lot of mistakes, made plays when possible, but overall was really good, not exceptional. Above average in most areas, but really great in pass coverage as only 60% of passes were caught in Blaylocks coverage. Not a lot of pds however with only 6, and only a single interception. Still a really solid season from Blaylock.
Brendan Lanier had a really good season overall. Though not really standing out in any one area, Lanier did have 2 interceptions and was quite literally a walking hit stick as the only safety to force 3 fumbles. His defense in the pass game was left wanting though as he allowed 70% of targets to be caught, one of the worst percentages in the league. In all Lanier was a solid run support option and didnt make many mistakes. But if a qb went over the top odds are they would connect for a big pass.
Eugene Smoothie is another Safety that had a really great season, although didnt stand out much in a single area. An expert tackler however leading all safeties with 75. He was lacking in sacks and interceptions but was above the average in almost all of the categories. Helluva season for smoothie.
Dawkins is another of the safeties in this group was better than the average in just about every single area, but not quite good enough in all of them to be among the top safeties. Consistent throughout, great coverage, and solid pass rush. 3 interceptions and 4 sacks was nothing to scoff at in any way. Great season for Dawkins and id be suprised if he was left off the safety of the year ballot.
Gregor Macgregor was a sack machine. Recording 8 sacks was good enough for second among safeties. He was absolute lockdown in coverage as well. Didnt do much by way of turnovers but he did enough in every category to have a really really good season overall.
Matt Cross suprised me when i gathered the final stats I didnt remember seeing him very often during the list gathering so it was a little shock. But man what a good season. Pretty pure coverage safety with the second lowest catch allowed percentage and 3 interceptions you had better think twice about throwing his way. Pretty low on the scale in tackles though and no sacks recorded hurt his chances, but what a lockdown performance in the passing game.
The prodigal son returns. Just kidding its just me. Man what a letdown of a season. I was really disappointed with my performance at first, especially compared to last season when i was on 3 seperate ballots. Boy this one was disappointing in comparison. But then i did this article and realized i wasnt bad. Just average. The averages in many of areas meant I was better than average or at average while slightly lower in some others.. And thats true to a degree, i was at the top of most of the tackling categories and middle of the road in sacks, and in the middle of the pack in terms of pass defense. Had i gotten a couple interceptions my season would have been seen much higher. So in all my performance in the tackling/sacks/TFL/safety area was fantastic, but my performance in the pass coverage realm was dreadfully average. But it wasnt BAD so i have that going for me.
Davriel Lavigne had an overall good season, but in this area of the list we are in average territory. Many of the players on this section had really good seasons but lost tie breakers because they were a little mistake prone, but Lavigne had a great season in most respects although allowing an abysmal 70% of passes his direction to be caught hurts his score, but he had a fairly solid season. With a couple improvements he could well have be one of the better safeties in the league. But for now like myself hes stuck in averageville.
Bob Roberts was in many aspects one of the better run stopping safeties. He was however average or better than average in targets and catches allowed. Where Roberts excelled however was tackles, tackles for loss and sacks. He was a force of nature at the line of scrimmage. If he can improve upon already solid pass defense he will be a true threat for all quarterbacks to look out for next season.
Joel Drakes name should speak for itself. What a season. Leading all safeties with 6 interceptions he was a turnover machine. The thing that hurts Drake for me after this article is that he was one of the most targeted safeties. He still had a very solid catch allowed percentage though which saves it. The high targets skew the interception results a little i think, but it is very impressive nonetheless. He is about the polar opposite of Clemente and the safety of the year award should be close between the two.
In an effort to get this out before awards I will end it here for now, if i didnt get to your player i will do another article later on. BUT we still have my awards choices to go over.
Safety of the Year
Cuco Clemente should win a tight race here. He just had such great numbers in too many areas. He lost to Drake in the interception category but beat him in almost every other area. To me that would be enough. It is close but i value overall volume in all areas of the field more than high numbers in one spot.
Maverick Bowie - had very impressive numbers, and was EASILY one of the best pass defense safeties when you take into account catches allowed and targets. But his lack of production at the line of scrimmage hurts his chances. I think he barely beats drake, who despite having 6 interceptions was pretty average in most other areas. Bowie had one less interception and much more impressive pass defense numbers.
Joel Drake - a really great season with 6 interceptions. He just didnt have the edge in the other important areas like sacks or tackles for loss. Another thing is that he was targeted more than every other safety in contention here, possibly skewing results of the interceptions.I do think Drake should win defensive performance of the year though.
Prince Vegeta - overall had a really fantastic season and was close behind the other two in most areas, even beating them in a few. I just dont think it was quite good enough to overcome the big numbers put up by the other saferies on this list. He was great in many areas but didnt have any real standout stats in one specific area.
Shawn Dawkins - very similar to Bowie and Vegeta, I think all 3 make a very strong case and could win the award, but it was too level across the board without really standing out in a specific area.
Pro Bowl -
Cuco Clemente - you could not find a better run stopping safety this season, especially considering he was also good in the pass game with an INT and 15 PDs. The sacks, tackles for loss and tackles really drive home his role here on my list. Just a really great season all around.
Maverick Bowie - one less interception than Drake and 8 more PDs is the primary reason for this. He just had better coverage numbers, allowing less targets, catches and had better catch allowed percentage. It was a tough choice here but I think he should barely get the edge.