*The Giving Tree III

[Baron1898]

The Giving Tree

Chasing the ISFL’s Longest Running Trade

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Volume I | Volume II | Volume III

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July 8, 2019: Week 1, Season 16

#204: Colorado Yeti and Yellowknife Wraiths, 8/15/19
receives:
WR Brad Pennington [#132]
K Stephen Harris Jr. [#156]
Yellowknife S18 5th Round

receives:
S18 500 thousand cap space
Colorado S18 6th Round (WR Jesse Jackson)

The final Pennington left the Wraiths. Brad delivered an underwhelming encore over two final career years, giving the Yeti only 327 total receiving yards. Harris Jr. also stuck around for a pair of seasons and had himself some rather mediocre and inefficient kicking and punting outputs before he was kicked off the team and punted out of the league. Giving up those two old players and trading down a round in the S18 Draft netted half a million of money for the start of the Wraiths’ championship appearance streak. Yellowknife’s pick became noted civil rights leader and unnoted NSFL player Jesse Jackson.

#206: Arizona Outlaws and Colorado Yeti, 8/19/19
receives:
Higher of Arizona/Yellowknife S18 5th Round
–> Invalidates trade by moving Arizona pick later
S18 500 thousand cap space

receives:
Lower of Arizona/Yellowknife S18 5th Round
–> Kept original pick
S Jonathan Towers [#142, #148, #172]

The most interesting section of this trade was invalidated when Arizona moved one of the draft picks involved in the conditional clauses in a different trade. With that part out of the way, this became an exchange of 500,000 in cap money for the services of Jonathan Towers. Towers put up 61 tackles and three deflections during his retirement season in Colorado.

#207: Arizona Outlaws and Chicago Butchers, 8/25/19
receives:
Chicago S18 9th Round (WR Jim Bob Cooter)

receives:
DE Cole Walker [#149]

Sometimes one can wonder why the trading teams even bother. Chicago got the last year of Cole Walker’s short career, getting nineteen tackles, six for a loss, and three sacks before they lost him to the sands of time. Meanwhile, the Outlaws got a ninth that became DSFL mainstay Jim Bob Cooter.

August 26, 2019: Week 1, Season 17

#210: Baltimore Hawks and Orange County Otters, 9/12/19
receives:
WR Sunnycursed
Orange County S18 3rd Round (CB Juan Marston)
S18 2 million cap (if Trevor is on Orange County in S18)

receives:
WR Yulic Nagasawa
RB Corey Trevor [#160]
Baltimore S18 1st Round (CB Korrin Abernathy)

Baltimore gave Orange County a significant package to grab Sunnycursed, including two players and a trade-down of two rounds in the rather deep S18 Draft. Sunnycursed passed 1,000 receiving yards both years he was a Hawk and was rewarded with two Pro Bowl selections. Their third-round pick from the draft gave the Hawks Juan Marston. After recording a single tackle and deflection in Season 18 and staying in the DSFL the year after, Marston moved up to Baltimore’s roster for four years of starting play, recording nearly half of his career tackles in his last year of play in Season 23. Going the other way, Nagasawa was less than an ideal replacement for Sunnycursed’s production and retired with a whimper after a trio of backup-level seasons. Corey Trevor had his best career year with 523 rushing yards but immediately bolted back to Baltimore at season’s end, as can be seen from the failed conditional on the exchanged cap space. However, the prize of the trade for Orange County was clearly the first rounder. Korrin Abernathy was the reward and probably matched his draft value, becoming a nine-year starter and Otters lifer but only meriting a single Pro Bowl-worthy season.

#212: Arizona Outlaws and Colorado Yeti, 9/13/19
receives:
CB Beau Montgomery

receives:
S Martavius Mack [#181, #185]
Arizona S18 3rd Round
Arizona S18 5th Round

Colorado’s usage of Martavius Mack plummeted after his first season on the team, having found replacements for his production on the field. Mack saw only five and one tackle respectively in the last two years of his time as a Yeti. Colorado scooped up two depth picks in the S18 Draft to pair with Mack, neither of which they actually used to draft. The Outlaws exchanged three assets for one, acquiring Beau Montgomery. Five seasons of play and one Pro Bowl berth followed, the latter of which came from sixteen deflections and three interceptions put up in Season 19.

#215: Baltimore Hawks and Orange County Otters, 9/27/19
receives:
Orange County S19 50th Round (not enough picks)

receives:
RB Corey Trevor [#160, #210]

There can be no more transparent way to essentially send over a player for free than to demand a 50th round pick in return. The Otters shipped Corey Trevor over the Baltimore out of the kindness of their hearts, where he played rather unexceptionally as a depth rusher before retiring after Season 19. He did have three fumble recoveries during his time there, which presumably came on special teams work.

#216: Arizona Outlaws and Yellowknife Wraiths, 10/1/19
receives:
WR Josh Parker [#123]

receives:
WR Roger Batoff
DT Thomas Clark

Playing seven years in the wintery cold of Yellowknife had gotten Josh Parker tantalizingly close to the four-digit mark. As soon as he was traded down south, the sun warmed his frozen bones and allowed him to truly flourish… for his next team, since he didn’t escape the offseason without being traded again. The Wraiths pawned him off for two replacements: Roger Batoff, who was traded in the middle of an average statistical season, and Thomas Clark, who earned an astonishing ten tackles and one sack as a rotational piece before retiring.

#218: Arizona Outlaws and Colorado Yeti, 10/4/19
receives:
Colorado S18 2nd Round (RB Ruff Ruff)
Arizona S18 3rd Round (OL Samuel Bakhtiari) [#212]

receives:
Arizona S18 1st Round (S Pete Parker)

This trade saw the Yeti hop up into the first round, specifically to eighth overall. There they selected two-time Pro Bowler and eight-season safety Pete Parker. Parker was a Colorado mainstay in the backfield for the better part of a decade, received Defensive Rookie of the Year in Season 18, and ranks fifth all-time for the franchise in interceptions with nineteen. For their part, the Outlaws got a second and a third in the same draft. The second they used on Ruff Ruff, a running back who stayed down in the minor leagues for a season and then played three years up top with pretty good results and a Pro Bowl at offensive flex. Ruff presumably might have stayed longer if he had been protected from the S22 Expansion Draft; he wasn’t, and he played two final years as a lead rusher for the Honolulu Hahalua. Samuel Bakhtiari, chosen with the third rounder, was not quite as exemplary as similarly named offensive linemen in other football leagues. He allowed ten sacks with 45 pancakes in Season 20, his only season in the desert.

#220: Arizona Outlaws and Colorado Yeti, 10/4/19
receives:
Yellowknife S18 5th Round (K Diego Espinosa) [#204]
Arizona S18 5th Round [#212]

receives:
Arizona S18 4th Round (RB Michael Vincent)

Here go the Yeti trading up again. With their shiny new pick in the fourth, Colorado took Michael Vincent, who played promising snaps at RB2 in his rookie season and nearly led the team in rushing yards before regressing over five further years. Vincent never reached 713 yards again, stuck on the depth chart behind star rusher Ashley Owens. Arizona used one of the two fifth round picks they received here on kicker Diego Espinosa. After two years in the DSFL, Espinosa spent his final season on his rookie contract as an Outlaw before moving on to a different team.

#221: Austin Copperheads and Chicago Butchers, 10/4/19
receives:
OL Footballer Blockerman

receives:
Philadelphia S18 5th Round (RB Jake Utler)
Austin S18 5th Round (TE Scott Brewer)
DE Joseph Henry [#160] *
CB Spencer Castle [#158, #163, #167]

Usually, when four assets are sent away in exchange for only one, that singular asset is either a very high draft pick or a star player worth the price tag. This is a case of neither. Having just been drafted by Chicago in the fourth, Blockerman was sent away for two fifths and two depth pieces to Austin. There he converted to wide receiver and lit up the league, if lighting up the league can be interpreted as 46 catches, 335 yards, and two touchdowns in his only season there. To be fair, it wasn’t like the bundle handed over to Chicago was terribly valuable either. Jake Ulter played four years as an occasional rusher and receiver. Scott Brewer didn’t play at all. Joseph Henry stuck around for two years, getting a decent number of tackles for loss and more than doubling his previous career high tackle count with 73 in Season 19. Spencer Castle stayed for a single year, went to Baltimore for another, and then found his way back to Chicago for another two years, which happened to be his final tour of duty before retirement. RIP to Spencer Castle’s decently long and strange career.

* Joseph Henry went from Baltimore to Austin via expansion.

October 14, 2019: Week 1, Season 18

#233: Arizona Outlaws and Chicago Butchers, 10/18/19
receives:
WR Kazimir Oles [#129]

receives:
Arizona S19 1st Round
CB Josh Parker [#123, #216]
Higher of Arizona/Chicago S20 2nd Round
–> Kept original pick
Arizona S20 3rd Round (K Vince Hammerson)

Always fun to see a trade that you are already well acquainted with, although this is far from the only noteworthy trade from this era of the Butchers to make an appearance on the tree. Star receiver Kazimir Oles, coming off his lowest yardage season since his rookie campaign, was dealt to Arizona. He rewarded his new team with a single season of play, complete with a Pro Bowl, before he was again traded. The sticker price of Oles’ contributions was high. Aside from a first in the S19 Draft, the Butchers also received the final three years of Josh Parker, whose yardage finally broke into the thousands for two straight years and who retired after Season 20. Vince Hammerson, the best kicker available in the S20 Draft, also ended up being involved in this trade but never actually took the field professionally.

#235: New Orleans Second Line and Philadelphia Liberty, 10/26/19
receives:
WR Jordan von Matt [#116]
LB Gekyume Stokeley
Philadelphia S19 1st Round (LB Mack Arianlacher)

receives:
LB Thudd Kassel

With the sixth overall pick in the S18 Draft, the New Orleans Second Line selected Thudd Kassel. Then they sent him the Liberty’s way in exchange for two old players and another try at a first rounder in the next year’s draft. They even spent the pick on the same position, linebacker. Mack Arianlacher stayed in New Orleans for the duration of his rookie contract, winning Defensive Rookie of the Year and getting 37 tackles and thirteen tackles for loss in his best season there. Jordan von Matt had a pretty good retirement party in New Orleans, putting up 839 yards and five scores in Season 18, while Gekyume Stokeley also took the opportunity to bow out of the league after a single season there. Meanwhile, Thudd Kassel wasn’t quite worth it for Philadelphia. He played his rookie seasons out and managed to get some good tackle and deflection numbers but stopped playing entirely once his contract was up.

#236: Chicago Butchers and New Orleans Second Line, 10/26/19
receives:
WR Action Jackson

receives:
Arizona S19 1st Round (S Mason Blaylock) [#233]

Not satisfied with only trading away one player for the day, the Second Line gave away their S17 receiver Action Jackson to the Butchers in exchange for one of the Butchers’ (many) stockpiled S19 first rounders. Jackson stayed in Chicago for only one season and found the endzone one time on decent depth yardage. New Orleans filled his roster spot with their selection, safety Mason Blaylock. Blaylock was a loyal part of the Second Line as both safety and kick returner for an entire decade of play, making four Pro Bowls and earning two consecutive Safety of the Year awards. Blaylock also made an impact on the New Orleans record books, ranking first in sacks (54) and kick return touchdowns (2), second in forced fumbles (13), third in kick return yards (5,130), and fourth in tackles (737).

#238: San Jose Sabercats and Yellowknife Wraiths, 10/30/19
receives:
WR Roger Batoff [#216]
Yellowknife S20 2nd Round (RB Ricardo Rose)

receives:
WR Xavier Flash

Xavier Flash migrated to the tundras of Yellowknife for one final season and a chance at winning the Ultimus. He contributed 633 yards and five touchdowns catching passes from Cooter Bigsby and then retired once the season met its end. Yellowknife sent San Jose a player and a pick as recompense for Flash’s departure. The player, Roger Batoff, saw decent snaps at wideout in Season 18 rivaling Flash’s production and then quickly sank to the bottom of the depth chart the year after, wrapping up his career with a whimper. The pick, a second rounder in the S20 Draft, rewarded San Jose with a running back who never suited up in the big leagues.

#244: Arizona Outlaws and Chicago Butchers, 11/25/19
receives:
LB Willie B. Hardagain

receives:
DT Beat
LB Allen Josh [#183]
QB Zack Vega

This trade is brought to you courtesy of the antics of one Sweet James-Jones. After spending his rookie season down in the minor league, Hardagain fled the scene of Chicago and morphed into the role of a decidedly unexceptional receiver. His two seasons in Arizona were largely buried on the depth chart, with his production decreasing from his first to his second year there. The Butchers similarly got two seasons of play from Beat, who averaged 60 tackles a year before being snatched up by the Sarasota Sailfish and spending the rest of his career there. Zack Vega became Chicago’s heir apparent at quarterback behind Rose Jenkins but never actually took up the mantle for various on-field and off-field reasons. Allen Josh technically changed team allegiance too, which amounted to nothing in the end.

December 2, 2019: Week 1, Season 19

#246: Arizona Outlaws and Orange County Otters, 12/18/19
receives:
LB Marlo Smart

receives:
WR Kazimir Oles [#129, #233]

A one-for-one swap! Kazimir Oles was by now starting to get seriously hit by the effects of regression, but that didn’t prevent him from crossing 1,000 yards again as an Otter with eight touchdowns and one final career Pro Bowl. His last year in the league followed with a much less notable 271 yards, sending Oles off to the retirement home and eventually to get a bust made for the Hall of Fame. Marlo Smart was younger but also much less talented than Oles. It took two years, but Smart finally made Arizona’s roster in Season 21 and contributed 108 tackles and eight pass deflections.

#247: Austin Copperheads and San Jose Sabercats, 1/5/20
receives:
S22 1 dollar cap space

receives:
WR Footballer Blockerman [#221]

Austin offloaded Blockerman to the Sabercats and received a cool million in Season 22 in exchange. Even this meager return might have been an overpay by San Jose. Blockerman’s short career careened to a halt here, catching only ten passes and never seeing the field again in later seasons. He did put in a single rush for one yard, which puts Blockerman 282nd all-time in the league for rushing yards.

#253: Arizona Outlaws and Baltimore Hawks, 1/9/20
receives:
Baltimore S21 3rd Round
S Dorfus Jimbo [#163]

receives:
WR Brock Landers
Yellowknife S21 5th Round (RB Rick Skuff)
S21 500 thousand cap space

Former number one selection in the S15 Draft Brock Landers started off strong but never quite lived up to his draft pedigree, and his truncated career ended with one final season in Baltimore before retirement. With him traveled a fifth-round pick used on Rick Skuff, who surprisingly played on the Hawks for three years; less surprising is that he peaked at just 119 yards and declined even from that mark. The Outlaws received two assets with legendary safety Dorfus Jimbo and a third-round selection with which to trade later.

January 20, 2020: Week 1, Season 20

#255: Chicago Butchers and Colorado Yeti, 1/22/20
receives:
S Martavius Mack [#181, #185, #212]
DE Antonio Sandoval Jr.
Colorado S22 5th Round

receives:
Chicago S21 4th Round (DT John Smirh)

Martavius Mack basically disappeared from Colorado’s starting roster over the last two years of his tenure there. Chicago breathed new life into the twilight of his career, giving Mack two seasons of starting snaps at safety (and one season in the middle with no snaps at all). Sandoval Jr. wasn’t quite as helpful, never playing a single down. The Butchers picked up the duo as part of a package to trade down a round and back a draft, leaving the Yeti with a mid-round pick in the S21 Draft. With it they got John Smirh, who got 31 tackles and five sacks as a rookie and then got carted off to a different team.

#257: Chicago Butchers and Philadelphia Liberty, 1/22/20
receives:
LB Guy Nikko
Philadelphia S21 3rd Round

receives:
Chicago S21 3rd Round (DE Jeff Personsacker)
Chicago S22 3rd Round
Colorado S22 5th Round (QB Tom Sofa) [#255]

The Liberty traded up a whole two picks to reach the top of the third round in the S21 Draft, where they took Jeff Personsacker. He never made much of an impact in two seasons in play, contributing only 24 tackles his rookie year and then fading away rather quickly from the league. They also got two mid-range picks in the enormous draft the year afterwards. The fifth was spent on forever-DSFL prospect Tom Sofa. The Butchers traded down a whole two picks and gave away those two Season 22 draft selections to get a third they wouldn’t use and a player, Guy Nikko, they wouldn’t play.

#258: Chicago Butchers and Orange County Otters, 2/4/20
receives:
DT Thorian Skarsgard
Orange County S21 1st Round (TE Osiris Firestorm-Fjord)
Orange County S21 2nd Round
S21 2 million cap space

receives:
DT Curtis Saul [#123, #134] *
Chicago S21 1st Round (S Prince Vegeta)
Philadelphia S21 3rd Round (WR Remon Kurisuto) [#257]

Thorian Skarsgard won six Pro Bowls and two Defensive Lineman of the Year awards. None of those accolades came during his two year stint in Chicago, where he generally played well despite the beginning of a decline in sack production from his younger days. The Butchers came away with a pretty substantive haul in this trade, claiming Skarsgard and two high picks in the S21 Draft. In the first round, Chicago took promising prospect Osiris Firestorm-Fjord. Firestorm-Fjord stayed in the Windy City all ten years of his career, most of which were spent at cornerback and three of which merited Pro Bowls. Orange County received a league veteran of their own with Curtis Saul, who gave his new team one season of play in the trenches before heading off to retirement. Like Chicago, however, the real treasure of the trade was a first-rounder in the S21 Draft, although this one happened to be first overall. Again just like Chicago, Orange County received a ten-year, three-time Pro Bowl career from safety Prince Vegeta, although Vegeta added on a Safety of the Year in Season 25. Third round pick Remon Kurisoto never broke it big.

* Curtis Saul went from Philadelphia to Chicago via expansion.

#260: Baltimore Hawks and Chicago Butchers, 2/6/20
receives:
LB Guy Nikko [#257]
Chicago S21 5th Round (QB Chika Fujiwara)

receives:
DE Stevie Vassallo
Baltimore S22 6th Round

Baltimore facilitated a trade up and forward a draft by swapping Stevie Vassallo with the Butchers for Guy Nikko. Nikko played out the second half of his career in Baltimore, putting up wildly variable statlines like a 110 tackle, two sack, two interception, six deflection effort in his best year (Season 21) and a seventeen tackle, three deflection, one pick effort in his worst (Season 23). Vassallo similarly stayed for four seasons on his new team and did an average job on the edge before being booted off the roster. With the pick they had traded for, Baltimore secured their future quarterback with Chika Fujiwara. Fujiwara took up the reigns to the franchise by the end of her sophomore campaign and played around as average as one could hope for. The Hawks ran with her at the helm until the end of Season 26.

#261: Arizona Outlaws and Chicago Butchers, 2/6/20
receives:
Orange County S21 2nd Round (LB Trevor Mouseman) [#258]
Chicago S22 5th Round (CB Zamir Kehla)

receives:
LB Leighton Lee [#169]
S21 1 million cap space

Who needs picks? Definitely not the Chicago Butchers, who were at this time well into their “we can still compete” phase and giving away two decent picks for one player and some cap space. Leighton Lee stuck with the Butchers for the rest of his career, although that ended up only being two years total, and performed pretty well both in tackle count and in pass defense. The earlier of the two picks was the lesser of the two, since Mouseman never made the active roster. Arizona got comparatively more value from fifth-round selection Zamir Kehla. Kehla was a rising star in the backfield and earned two Pro Bowls in four seasons of play but had his career cut short by some allegations of foul play via multi shenanigans.

#262: Baltimore Hawks and Orange County Otters, 2/6/20
receives:
RB Apollo Reed [#169, #183]
Lower of Baltimore/Orange County S21 4th Round
–> Orange County S21 4th Round (LB Gregor MacGregor)

receives:
RB Ludicolo Bigby
Higher of Baltimore/Orange County S21 4th Round
–> Baltimore S21 4th Round (LB Ryan Scott)

Apollo Reed is in the Hall of Fame as an Otter, but it can be reasonably argued that some of the best seasons of his career were played in Baltimore, where he crossed 1,000 yards on the ground all but one of his four years. In particular, Reed earned his only career Running Back of the Year award and one of two Pro Bowls as a Hawk for his Season 21 campaign, where he totaled a career-high 1,642 yards from scrimmage and nine touchdowns. The Otters replaced Reed with S15 classmate Ludicolo Bigby, who similarly lasted four years but didn’t reach quite the same level of production. The Otters and Hawks also swapped picks from a conditional clause and spent them on players they never rostered, either because they got traded away later (MacGregor) or because they just didn’t make it (Scott).

#263: Arizona Outlaws and Orange County Otters, 2/7/20
receives:
Orange County S22 8th Round

receives:
S Dorfus Jimbo [#163, #253]

Speaking of Season 15 running backs, former running back Dorfus Jimbo finally called it quits on his career after one final season playing for Orange County. His stats at corner were nothing noteworthy and a small decline from his time in Baltimore. The Outlaws received only a pittance for the trouble of housing Jimbo for the offseason, an eighth rounder that would be practically worthless were it not for the S22 Draft’s exceptional volume.

#265: Baltimore Hawks and Colorado Yeti, 2/26/20
receives:
DE Terry Taffy [#180]

receives:
S21 1 million cap space
S22 1 million cap space

Speaking of Season 15 running backs, former running back Terry Taffy played pretty well over three final career years as a Hawk. Taffy became one of only 193 players in league history to record a safety and came decently close to the league lead in tackles for loss with 13 and 17 in Seasons 22 and 23, respectively. Colorado grabbed two years of a million cap dollars in return.

#267: Arizona Outlaws and Philadelphia Liberty, 2/28/20
receives:
Philadelphia S22 2nd Round (TE Heath Evans)

receives:
Baltimore S21 3rd Round (OL Simon Tremblay) [#253]
Arizona S22 8th Round
Orange County S22 8th Round (QB Suleiman Ramza) [#263]

The Outlaws gave up a trio of picks to move up a round and back into the S22 Draft. At their pick, which ended up being fifteenth overall, they took Heath Evans, whose disappointing four years in Arizona ended with only five rushes for five yards. He also happened to win two Pro Bowls and Season 24’s Tight End of the Year for two consecutive 1,000-yard seasons. Meanwhile, Philadelphia’s only decently high pick of the bunch was used to take Simon Tremblay, whose disappointing eight-year career ended with only three catches for fourteen yards. He also happened to win five Pro Bowls and holds the Liberty franchise record for pancakes (233) by more than double the second-place player. Suleiman Ramza, one of my favorite player names of all-time and a pretty good player to boot, became the franchise quarterback for a different team.

#270: Austin Copperheads and Baltimore Hawks, 2/29/20
receives:
LB Gregor MacGregor [#262]

receives:
LB Sandip Bakshi [#153] *
Austin S22 6th Round (DT Nuniq Annastesia)

MacGregor’s first stint on the Copperheads lasted two seasons. He put up remarkably diversified stat lines in both, including a tackle for loss, three sacks, three deflections, two interceptions, two forced fumbles, and a fumble recovery to pair with 80 tackles in Season 23. Giving up on their recently drafted linebacker gave the Hawks a much older replacement with Sandip Bakshi, who hit regression and played only one season in Baltimore before being snatched in expansion for the second time in his career. They also drafted Nuniq Annastesia, a defensive tackle for the Hawks for seven years and a consistent if unnoteworthy presence.

* Sandip Bakshi went from Yellowknife to Austin via expansion.

March 9, 2020: Week 1, Season 21

#274: Arizona Outlaws and Philadelphia Liberty, 3/18/20
receives:
Philadelphia S22 4th Round (OL Bruce Buckley)
Philadelphia S22 5th Round
Philadelphia S22 8th Round (RB Jacoby Batista)
Arizona S22 8th Round (WR Taylor Cooper) [#267]
S21 1 million cap space

receives:
DT Ricardo Morris [#179, #180]
S Lamont McKinnie [#181]

Arizona saw an opportunity for a roster refresh, snagging four selections in the S22 Draft by trading away two mid-tier veterans close to hit regression to the Liberty. Both Ricardo Morris and Lamont McKinnie stuck around for a pair of seasons before retirement and got starting snaps on defense. The first of the draft picks used by Arizona became the first player on this tree to have played as recently as Season 34: Bruce Buckley, possibly the greatest offensive lineman of all time, who started off his thirteen-year long career with three straight Pro Bowl seasons and an Offensive Lineman of the Year award in Season 23. The other three draft picks were subsequently traded, spent on a player who never made the ISFL, and spent on a player who didn’t play on the Outlaws.

#277: Baltimore Hawks and Chicago Butchers, 3/30/20
receives:
Philadelphia S22 3rd Round (CB Eldrick Avery)
Baltimore S22 6th Round (LB Dex Kennedy) [#260]

receives:
Baltimore S22 2nd Round (LB Benson Bayley Jr.)

Chicago spent a third and sixth to move up to the second round. Benson Bayley Jr. lasted a single year at linebacker before converting to the offensive line for five more seasons and getting a Pro Bowl selection. Picked one round down, Eldrick Avery had a similar level of success in Baltimore, playing six years with consistently high deflection numbers. Linebacker Dex Kennedy stayed down in the DSFL before coming up his sophomore season to play four seasons, accumulating ten sacks and ten deflections in Season 25.

#279: Chicago Butchers and Colorado Yeti, 4/8/20
receives:
DT John Smirh [#255]

receives:
Chicago S23 1st Round (S Greedy Sly)

The Yeti only had “Tripod” for a single season of play before he was traded to the Butchers in exchange for a first-round selection. Seven years of steady service, six of them in a starting role, followed. Greedy Sly, the Yeti’s pick with that shiny new first rounder, didn’t last quite as long. He was a five-year starter, two at strong safety and the other three at offensive lineman. Sly, unlike Smirh, did get two Pro Bowls to his name, both at his second position.

#283: Arizona Outlaws and Philadelphia Liberty, 4/17/20
receives:
Chicago S22 1st Round (LB Stanislaw Koniecpolski)
Chicago S22 3rd Round (S Quinn Hughes) [#257]

receives:
Arizona S22 1st Round (CB Brandon Booker)

Philadelphia sent over sixth overall and a third-round selection to Arizona in order to move up two spots for cornerback Brandon Booker. Booker is the second almost-still-active player on this tree, another S22 draftee with a thirteen-season career. His time in Philadelphia lasted for only four of those, in which time he earned two Pro Bowls at cornerback and returned one kick for negative one yards. Unlike him, who spent the remainder of his career with the Otters, Stanislaw Koniecpolski remained loyal to the team who drafted him his entire career. He never won a Pro Bowl and saw his usage steadily decline as he got older, but Koniecpolski ended up only 39 tackles away from the Outlaw franchise record. Safety Quinn Hughes was pretty highly drafted in such a deep class but didn’t make much of a splash in only two seasons of play.

#286: Arizona Outlaws and Colorado Yeti, 4/17/20
receives:
Colorado S22 4th Round (WR Thomas Passmann)

receives:
Philadelphia S22 5th Round (DE Ismael Sanchez) [#274]
Arizona S22 7th Round (RB Richard Gilbert)

Thomas Passman was more of a catching man than a passing man for the Outlaws. He stayed in Arizona for his entire career, although his last two seasons were spent only as depth fodder, crossing four-digit receiving yardage three times and double-digit touchdowns twice with a Pro Bowl berth. Passing up on him meant that the Colorado Yeti got two more chances further down the board to pick up new players. First was Ismael Sanchez, a defensive end for four seasons who peaked in the high 30s for tackles. Second was Richard Gilbert, a running back and occasional receiving back with 1,000+ yards from scrimmage in six consecutive seasons before his retirement. For a seventh-round selection, three Pro Bowls and a 22-touchdown campaign in Season 29 is nothing to sneeze at.

April 27, 2020: Week 1, Season 22

#305: Baltimore Hawks and Colorado Yeti, 5/1/20
receives:
S Quentin Sinclair [#180]
Colorado S23 2nd Round

receives:
S Logan Uchiha
Baltimore S23 3rd Round (WR Jackson Kingston)

Don’t look now, but we have reached the first living fruit of the tree. For a swap of safeties, Baltimore was able to exchange a third for a second with which to trade later. The safety they received, Quentin Sinclair, turned out to have two years remaining in his career, of which only one was spent in a starting role on the defense and even then fell short of the statistical output he had had on the Yeti. The safety they gave away, Logan Uchiha, had an even shorter road ahead of him. Uchiha’s last season in the league was a career low tackle mark paired with a pretty normal tally of secondary statistics for a safety just hitting regression. Colorado found a gem in the third round when they took Jackson Kingston, who happens to be the first player on this tree who is not already retired or knocking on death’s door in Season 34. Kingston has accumulated seven Pro Bowls, Season 25’s Offensive Breakout Player of the Year, Season 27’s Returner of the Year, and nine* straight years of 1,000+ receiving yards; unfortunately for Colorado, all of these came after Kingston switched teams to the Silverbacks and later to the Sailfish.

*at the time of writing.

#308: Chicago Butchers and Orange County Otters, 5/14/20
receives:
Orange County S24 3rd Round

receives:
DT Thorian Skarsgard [#258]

Orange County got Thorian Skarsgard back from his two-year vacation on the Butchers for the price of a third-round pick. Skarsgard stayed with the team who drafted him for two final career years and contributed around as well as he had been doing in Chicago statistically speaking. Chicago, for their part, didn’t use that third to pick someone.

#310: Baltimore Hawks and New Orleans Second Line, 5/28/20
receives:
New Orleans S23 2nd Round (CB Lesean Paris Crooks)
New Orleans S23 3rd Round (WR Doug Howlett)
S23 2 million cap space

receives:
Colorado S23 2nd Round (LB Adelie de Pengu) [#305]
Baltimore S24 2nd Round (LB Busch Light)

New Orleans gave Baltimore some allowance money in Season 23 to facilitate the acquisition of an extra second. De Pengu was a Colorado lifer for all of eight seasons. She was nominated to the Pro Bowl one of those seasons and ranks tenth all-time for the Yeti in career tackles. Busch Light, drafted a year later, did not end up forming a linebacker tandem with de Pengu because he found his way onto the Second Line and played his eight seasons and one Pro Bowl as a linebacker there. On Baltimore’s end, the allowance money was gladly taken, along with an extra third a draft earlier than the second they gave up. Lesean Paris Crooks was redshirted in his rookie year and then appeared as a sophomore to the tune of 116 tackles, twelve deflections, four interceptions, and a Pro Bowl. He then left the team for Austin, something repeated by their second pick from this trade, Doug Howlett. Howlett stayed in the DSFL for a pair of seasons and played a pair more on the Hawks with exceptional back-to-back 1,500+ yard Pro Bowl campaigns, including an eleven touchdown, 1,646-yard performance as a third-year rookie that won both Offensive Rookie of the Year and Wide Receiver of the Year. After these barnburners, Howlett made like his draftmate and joined the Copperheads, although his production never again neared these heights.

#311: Chicago Butchers and Philadelphia Liberty, 5/31/20
receives:
DE Mario VonPebbles

receives:
Orange County S24 3rd Round (LB Thomas Rose) [#308]

A rose by any other name would smell just as sweet, and Thomas Rose was a reasonably sweet deal for the Liberty as a selection from the third round. In six years on the team, Rose played his first four as a starting linebacker and fifth as a backup piece before transitioning to the best position (kicker) his last year there. The Butchers gave up the opportunity to have a second Rose in order to snatch up Mario VonPebbles, a seventh-round pick from the S22 Draft. Mario came second in the league in tackles for loss in Season 24 with 19, for which he earned a Pro Bowl, then bolted to Berlin once his rookie contract was up.

June 15, 2020: Week 1, Season 23 – August 10, 2020: Week 1, Season 24

#334: Austin Copperheads and Baltimore Hawks, 8/27/20
receives:
DT Tyler Montain
Baltimore S25 4th Round (5th Round if MacGregor doesn’t re-sign with Baltimore)
–> Baltimore S25 5th Round (OL Connor Quigley)

receives:
S Gregor MacGregor [#262, #270]
WR Korbin Brown
Austin S25 1st Round (OL Felix Archstone)

Tyler Montain was the second overall pick of the S23 Draft. After spending only a year in Baltimore, he was dealt away with a conditional fifth so that the team who drafted him could grab another first and two players on top. Montain has played for the Austin Copperheads for the rest of his long and still currently ongoing career. He has as many Linebacker of the Year awards as he does Pro Bowls – one – and just recently took the franchise record of tackles away from Honda Edmond. Baltimore’s replacement first became Felix Archstone, a redshirted offensive lineman who won a Pro Bowl when he came up to the roster in Season 26 and then got traded away. Korbin Brown also stuck around only for a single season, notching pretty good numbers for the third wide receiver and fourth receiving target on the depth chart. Gregor MacGregor made it three for three and played a grand total of one year in Baltimore, the team who had originally drafted him and traded him to Austin. Once the season ended, MacGregor went back to the Copperheads, which is why the conditional pick that became Connor Quigley fell to the fifth round. Quigley has stuck around with his team since being called up in Season 26 and boasts of four Pro Bowl selections.

October 5, 2020: Week 1, Season 25

#355: Arizona Outlaws and Yellowknife Wraiths,, 10/13/20
receives:
RB Mathias Hanyadi
OL Bot
Yellowknife S26 2nd Round (TE Tom Teboat)

receives:
OL Bruce Buckley [#274]

Yellowknife dealt away their running back of the past six seasons, Mathias Hanyadi, with an offensive line bot and a second rounder in order to grab Bruce Buckley from the Outlaws. Hanyadi, entering regression for the first time in his career, also dipped below 1,000 rushing yards for the first time since Season 19, although he still reached four digits from scrimmage thanks to his receiving output. Tom Teboat, the product of the second rounder, was a short-lived experiment for the Outlaws and saw no playing time in the league after the conclusion of his rookie contract. The Wraiths’ investment in Bruce Buckley, meanwhile, reaped large benefits. Buckley stayed a Wraith for six seasons, allowing one sack over that entire tenure and grabbing four consecutive Pro Bowls with another Offensive Lineman of the Year award.

#362: Colorado Yeti and Honolulu Hahalua, 11/13/20
receives:
DE Immanuel Blackstone

receives:
DE Ismael Sanchez [#274, #286]

Without any context, this trade makes absolutely no sense. Immanuel Blackstone played an entire thirteen-year career on the Yeti, and was drafted by them back in the Season 21 Draft, so why is he being traded to them from the Hahalua? It makes more sense when you consider a trade one hour earlier, which would have been on the trade tree in this trade’s place if not for one critical typo:

receives:
DT Big Edd

receives:
Colorado S26 3rd Round (DE Pope Francis)
DE Immanuel Blackstone

The Yeti GMs mixed up Ismael, who they meant to trade to Honolulu, and Immanuel, who they most certainly didn’t. This obviously prompted the second trade, where Hahalua legend Immanuel Blackstone migrated back to the Yeti.

Let’s instead analyze what the trade should have been like to begin with: Big Edd to Colorado in exchange for a third in the S26 Draft and Ismael Sanchez. Mr. BigEddi ForeverYeti, despite his name change, only stayed a Yeti for two seasons, the latter of which was Pro Bowl caliber with a career high 74 tackles and seven for loss. Sanchez wasn’t worth much more than the paper this trade was signed on, only getting ten tackles over two rotational seasons in Honolulu. Their draft pick wasn’t much better; Pope Francis was probably too busy with his duties as head of the Catholic Church to focus on the ISFL, appearing in only one season and allowing six sacks to 48 pancakes.

November 30, 2020: Week 1, Season 26 – January 27, 2021: Week 1, Season 27

#384: Austin Copperheads and Baltimore Hawks, 2/17/21
receives:
DL Tony Yeboah
OL Felix Archstone [#334]

receives:
Austin S28 1st Round (RB Busch Goose)
Austin S29 1st Round (LB Tre’mendus Johnson)
OL Charlie Adams (Bot)

What could be worth giving up two consecutive first round picks? Certainly not Tony Yeboah, a defensive lineman who never made it to the ISFL. (see edit) Austin’s prize in this trade was Felix Archstone, who like so many Baltimore players of this time seemed to migrate to the Copperheads. The remaining seven seasons of his career transpired there. Archstone got two more Pro Bowls and ended his career with just over 600 pancakes. Baltimore’s end of the bargain involved a pair of firsts, the earlier of which became running back Busch Goose. Goose has been a consistent producer at receiving back and at returner, if not earth-shattering, crossing 1,000+ yards from scrimmage every season except his sophomore year. Tre’mendus Johnson was a tremendous addition (I’m sorry) to the Baltimore defense for his first five years in the league before he moved to Arizona after Season 33.

Edit: I have since learned that this particular Tony Yeboah changed their name to Annie May. Annie May moved to Austin and has spent eight seasons playing there in the backfield, stacking up some incredible seasons of nearly 40 pass deflections and earning two Pro Bowls. My apologies for the mistake.

#385: Baltimore Hawks and Honolulu Hahalua, 2/17/21
receives:
Honolulu S28 4th Round (DT Beefcake Johnson)
QB Luke Skywalker

receives:
QB Chika Fujiwara [#260]

Baltimore and Honolulu decided to casually swap franchise quarterbacks here. Luke Skywalker had his best season by most metrics his first season after the trade and served at quarterback for two more years before being replaced. Chika Fujiwara, who had a bit more tread on the tires than Skywalker did, only lasted two more seasons with slightly more passing yards than Skywalker in each and then retired. As extra compensation, Honolulu gave Baltimore a late round selection that never panned out in the form of Beefcake Johnson.

#395: Baltimore Hawks and Berlin Fire Salamanders, 3/17/21
receives:
Lower of Arizona/Berlin S29 2nd Round
–> Arizona S29 2nd Round (QB Gimmy Jarappolo Jr.)

receives:
CB Eldrick Avery [#277]

Cornerback Eldrick Avery started to near the twilight of his career with the move across the ocean to Berlin. His tackle numbers stayed relatively consistent compared to previous campaigns, but Avery’s deflections took a large dive as he moved to a different role and notched his first career sacks. Berlin paid for his services by giving up the lower of two seconds they owned to Baltimore, which they used to take their replacement to Luke Skywalker. What better way to replace the son of the Chosen One than the son of Lord and Savior Gimmy Jarappolo? Junior has been the franchise quarterback of the Hawks for the past five seasons and is right on the tail of Corvo Havran for the second most passing yards in franchise history.

March 29, 2021: Week 1, Season 28

#405: Baltimore Hawks and Philadelphia Liberty, 5/18/21
receives:
Philadelphia S30 5th Round

receives:
DT Nuniq Annastesia [#270]
Baltimore S30 4th Round

Baltimore traded down a round for the privilege of getting Nuniq Annastesia off their hands. Poor Annastesia didn’t end up doing much in a limited role on the Liberty, spending a single season with only nineteen tackles before bowing out of the league. Neither of the draft selections exchanged here were used by the teams that received them.

May 24, 2021: Week 1, Season 29

#418: Arizona Outlaws and Philadelphia Liberty, 7/8/21
receives:
Baltimore S30 4th Round (K JJ Jay Jay-Jaymison Jr) [#405]

receives:
Arizona S31 3rd Round (K Ikick Ballz)

Kickers! Kickers galore are what came out of this pick swap, where both teams ended up drafting kickers in their new positions. The first one taken, JJ Jay Jay-Jaymison Jr, went to the Outlaws. The son of a similarly named kicker father, Jay-Jaymison Jr transitioned to defensive tackle and has spent two seasons in the Arizona trenches. The second kicker to get drafted, Ikick Ballz, actually stayed at kicker and has played as Philadelphia’s kicker and punter since Season 32. He also won a Pro Bowl and Kicker of the Year.

#422: Baltimore Hawks and Chicago Butchers, 7/8/21
receives:
S30 1 million cap space

receives:
Philadelphia S30 5th Round (WR Tay Swizzle) [#405]

Chicago paid a million to get a late pick in the S30 Draft for the acquisition of receiver turned lineman Tay Swizzle. Swizzle was called up after two seasons spent in the DSFL and has allowed one sack total across three seasons on the Butchers.

July 19, 2021: Week 1, Season 30 – September 13, 2021: Week 1, Season 31

#433: Baltimore Hawks and Yellowknife Wraiths, 10/7/21
receives:
OL Bruce Buckley [#274, #355]

receives:
Baltimore S32 3rd Round (CB Dragazor Blaze)
OL Hawk Red-Shoulrered (Bot)

Bruce Buckley’s final stop on his eventual Hall of Fame career was in Baltimore, where he stayed four seasons and reached a career high 138 tackles in Season 32. Buckley didn’t add any new hardware as a Hawk, but he did solidify his position atop the leaderboards, becoming the ISFL’s all-time leading human offensive lineman in pancakes with 1,327; no other player currently has even broken 1,000. Yellowknife got a robot from Baltimore to replace him and also landed a third from the S32 Draft, which they spent on project cornerback Dragazor Blaze. Blaze took two years to get acclimated to the league and then moved up to the active roster in Season 34.

Conclusion: Unless



The tree is dying. The rate of trades across the league has generally gone down, but the branches of the tree have almost all come to a close with each respective player's retirement. The last trade was made nearly six months ago. There are no more draft picks waiting to blossom. In the tree's current state, once the last of the living players has announced their departure from the league, the story that began so many seasons ago will come to a close.

There are only eleven players from the tree still on a team as of Season 34, two of whom will auto-retire once the season ends:

S22 OL Bruce Buckley
S22 CB Brandon Booker
S23 WR Jackson Kingston
S23 DT Tyler Montain
S25 CB Annie May
S28 RB Busch Goose
S29 LB Tre’mendus Johnson
S29 QB Gimmy Jarappolo Jr.
S30 DT JJ Jay Jay-Jaymison Jr
S31 K Ikick Ballz
S32 CB Dragazor Blaze

Nothing good lasts forever. Barring a large trade of capital involving one of the other eight members of this exclusive club of players, the tree is not self-sustaining. But the footprint of that original trade, the product of the Las Vegas Legion's attempt to compete from the starting gun of expansion, has left an indelible mark on the history of the league. I enjoyed recording it for future observation.

– – – – –

I want to thank once again everyone who helped, in one small way or another, with the creation of this article. I also want to thank the invaluable community-made resources available to me, especially the wiki and the WolfieBot, without which I would have been entirely unable of compiling the sheer amount of information written here without going insane.

Appendix: Where Did They Go?
I doubt these will ever be answered in full. The recording of who drafted where is so thorough, and comes from so many different sources, that the answer to basically all of these inconsistencies is most likely “the teams involved forgot”. Regardless, here they are:

8/8/17. San Jose trades for Matthew Peterson from the Las Vegas Legion, giving the Legion a S3 seventh and an S4 second. However, San Jose still owns that S4 second come the S4 Draft and uses it to draft JR Vance. Why did Las Vegas not get that pick?

9/12/17. Las Vegas trades Colorado, among other things, a fifth-round pick in the S5 Draft. Come draft time, that pick is recorded as being still in Vegas’ possession, where they decided to skip. Why did Colorado not get that pick?

9/16/17. Yellowknife trades Colorado, among other things, a fifth-round pick in the S5 Draft. Interestingly, on 10/1/17, Yellowknife trades again with Colorado and hands over that same fifth for the second time, which the Yeti use to draft John Mueller. Why did Yellowknife trade the same pick twice?

5/2/18. In a trade for Carlito Crush, Orange County includes its S9 third in a package to Colorado. However, on 7/6/18, the Otters give that same pick away to Philadelphia, who uses it on Robert Jordan. Why did Colorado not get that pick?

10/10/18. Arizona trades for Budda Browning from the Hawks and gives over their third in the S13 Draft. On draft day, Arizona still has that pick and drafts Kyle Frost with it. Why did Baltimore not get that pick?

6/28/19. Austin trades for a first in S16 and gives New Orleans a third in the S18 Draft. Later, on 7/8/19, Austin makes a different trade with New Orleans where they give over that same S18 third-round pick, which the Second Line use on Junior Lopez. Why did Austin trade the same pick twice?

10/9/19. In a trade with Arizona, San Jose gives them their S20 third. However, by draft time, this San Jose third is in Chicago’s possession and they use it to draft Kemorian Moore. When did the Butchers and Arizona make a trade for this pick?

[Mooty99]

Amazing read, what a piece, bring back media awards just for this

[infinitempg]

receives:
DT Big Edd

receives:
Colorado S26 3rd Round (DE Pope Francis)
DE Immanuel Blackstone

@nunccoepi

[Starboy]

Damn maybe I can have my 3rd player be a part of this again? Keep the cycle going somehow. Insane level of detail and great follow through with everything. Can tell there was a ton of hard work put into this and always appreciate those that go this far into league history.

[Duilio05]

Great stuff Baron. This is truly unbelievable work. It is a lot of fun reading back through trades that I made as a GM not realizing their importance beyond just the single season/draft that they were made in. I do have a few questions, most of which I'm guessing at answers based on your nice tree graphic. Am hoping you could confirm some of these. If any of the following questions were answered already please let me know and accept my apologies for missing the said details.

1. What is the total number of trades in this tree? I count 139, which would be 29.6% of trades in league history.
2. Which "Living Fruit" as you put it is on the longest branch of this tree? Would that be #395 - Gimmy Jaroppolo Jr.?
3. How many trades comprise that longest branch? If i’m reading the graphic correctly there’s a few different routes to get from #5 to #395. The shortest route being 13 trades and the longest being 15?
4. Did you tally up how many times each team was involved in this tree? I recognize I could do that myself, but figured I'd ask before I start. I’m initially gonna guess #1 is ARI, #2 COL, and #3 BAL.
5. Did you trace the second largest tree? If so, how many trades are in that tree?

[Baron1898]

Great stuff Baron. This is truly unbelievable work. It is a lot of fun reading back through trades that I made as a GM not realizing their importance beyond just the single season/draft that they were made in. I do have a few questions, most of which I'm guessing at answers based on your nice tree graphic. Am hoping you could confirm some of these. If any of the following questions were answered already please let me know and accept my apologies for missing the said details.

1. What is the total number of trades in this tree? I count 139, which would be 29.6% of trades in league history.
2. Which "Living Fruit" as you put it is on the longest branch of this tree? Would that be #395 - Gimmy Jaroppolo Jr.?
3. How many trades comprise that longest branch? If i’m reading the graphic correctly there’s a few different routes to get from #5 to #395. The shortest route being 13 trades and the longest being 15?
4. Did you tally up how many times each team was involved in this tree? I recognize I could do that myself, but figured I'd ask before I start. I’m initially gonna guess #1 is ARI, #2 COL, and #3 BAL.
5. Did you trace the second largest tree? If so, how many trades are in that tree?

I only know the answers to some of these off the top of my head - there are indeed 139 trades here. I would have to figure out 2-4 given time.

I do know that the second largest tree by far is based off of trade #11, which involved WR Stormblessed. I hypothesized when I started the project that either #5 or #11 would have the largest tree, and I was correct since almost every other large tree fed into one of those two, and even they had quite a bit of overlap. I didn’t count out #11’s trade count, but I remember when eliminating duplicate branches in the process of comparing the two that #5 ended up around 30-40ish trades larger.

[Big Edd]

history

[NicholasTheGreat]

I am the end