03-21-2023, 07:07 PM
(This post was last modified: 03-23-2023, 10:26 PM by shanghai_kid. Edited 1 time in total.)
This started out as a mock draft, but I realised what I really enjoyed was diving deep into each team’s current roster, their drafting wants and needs, and how they relate to the current class. I ended up writing around 1,000 words about New York, the team that had the worst record at the time, and realised that a mock draft with this much detail would be horribly unwieldy. It eventually progressed into an ASFC draft needs article. I started this before various trades and retirements, and trying to put together a 14-team version while rosters changed was difficult so I've moved the NSFC teams into a second article. For a look into how this article progressed as rosters changed I’ve left some previous parts in with disclaimers and additions based on in-season moves.
I’d still like to write my own mock draft before the big day in April, so I’ll look to finish the NSFC version as soon as I can and get working on the mock draft following that. Hope you enjoy! <3
New York Silverbacks (7th place, 4-10)
Needs: DL, WR, S
Wants: CB, LB, RB
Top 5 picks: S41 R1, S41 R2, S41 R3 (from New Orleans), S41 R4, S41 R6
New York find themselves in a transitional period. Quarterback Malcolm Savage is the league’s lowest-TPE starter (though Yellowknife’s Absolute Unit has less applied TPE), and following Savage’s retirement at the end of this season the team will be calling up Minnesota quarterback Blaine Falco, who they selected 17th overall in S39.
The focus for New York is therefore to build a team around Falco that can compete for a championship in a few seasons time. Starting on the offensive side of the ball, Michaelangelo McTurtle will remain a fantastic player after he regresses for the first time this offseason, but Falco will eventually need a younger running back to hand the ball off to. McTurtle will get worse as Falco gets better, so as someone who places more importance on offensive play I’d look to select a running back in this draft so that their peak will broadly overlap with Falco’s and help enable Falco to one day pilot a dominant offence. Season 37 draftee Michael Touchback is a serviceable RB2 but hasn’t demonstrated the level of earning required to become one of the league’s premier feature backs.
Falco will be throwing to two 1000+ TPE wide receivers in Mandrews McHollywood and Matthew Mara, who are two and three seasons away from regression respectively and are under contract for a long time. They have another retiring player at WR3 in Return Specialist Swantavius Torch, with last season’s 50th overall pick, Keno Akara of the Kansas City Coyotes, potentially in line to replace him. Akara has just 131 TPE at the time of writing though, and so this is a position where an S41 draftee could be immediately called up as this class boasts twelve prospects at the position who already have more TPE.
I don’t expect New York to take a tight end this draft, as while their present starter Siegmeyer OfCatarina is currently inactive they spent their other fourth round pick last season on Tijuana’s Anthony Simmons II. At 214 TPE the Possession TE won’t set the world alight, but would be a serviceable safety blanket on an offence where McHollywood, Mara and McTurtle can expect the mammoth’s share of targets. No tight end group in the league has caught fewer passes than the Silverbacks’ total of 26, so I expect the talented tight ends in this class to be selected by one of the league’s needier teams unless New York really falls in love with one of this class’ prospects at the position.
Despite there being some interesting offensive line prospects, I don’t consider New York to be likely to select an offensive lineman in this class. In Pan Cakes and Donatello McTurtle they have two human offensive lineman providing cap relief and were able to afford three Tier 4 OL bots this season, so I expect them to focus on adding talent at positions that provide more immediate impact.
Moving onto the defensive side of the ball, I have some questions about New York’s defensive scheme that are worth mentioning first. With two talented Pass Rusher linebackers in Teemo Swift and Bay Webb, you’d expect them to want to play a 3-4 base defence that puts them in a position to succeed. With five defensive linemen and three linebackers on the roster, though, the team is currently a little imbalanced. One player guaranteed to be leaving the Silverbacks this offseason is another retirement, defensive tackle Lennay Kekua. Defensive ends Rocco Blade and Arnie Rufus are both around 400 TPE and were drafted in Seasons 30 and 32 respectively, and another hit of regression will potentially see them both leaving the team this offseason and New York calling up last season’s second round pick in defensive end James Batista to join their first round pick, Lionel Scrimmage on the line. 203 TPE defensive tackle Sexy Wilfork is inactive, so I expect New York to exercise their mutual option. This would leave New York with two defensive linemen and three linebackers, so I expect New York to draft at least one front seven player and possibly look to the free agent market for a stopgap, including potentially bringing back one of the regressing defensive ends mentioned above. While the Silverbacks can get by with only three linebackers, they cannot run out just two defensive linemen and so I’d say defensive line is a priority and then acquiring a linebacker to enable a switch to 3-4 is desirable. This is a hard position to cover as I expect New York to make moves at this position between now and the draft, and some of their draft strategy to be influenced by what’s available in free agency at these positions.
Their defensive backfield is easier to provide an overview of, with the team fielding two GM players (Dax Dangerfield and Bonzi Buddy) at cornerback and a top-five free safety in Regina Ferraro, who’s not due to regress until after next season. Their strong safety and nickelback are both IA players, so selecting a defensive back would help make this unit a lot less top-heavy as well as begin preparations for life after Dax Dangerfield, the oldest of the three players mentioned above. Both IA players are on expiring contracts and so are easy to replace, meaning a top-earning safety could start in Week 1 for New York next season and an S41 cornerback could see time in the slot next season. I think the safety position is more impactful than nickelback and so New York might prefer a safety, but they’d be happy to address either defensive back position in a class with several good corners and safeties.
New York’s kicker is Ian Cole III, who I recognise as the user behind my fellow Season 22 rookie, Sean Snyder. Snyder spent much of his career with the Silverbacks and so I anticipate New York being a little sentimental here despite Cole III being potentially the league’s lowest TPE kicker following regression. There are a couple of options in this class if they want to invest a flyer into the position later in the draft, though.
Honolulu Hahulua (6th place, 4-10)
Needs: S, LB
Wants: OL, WR, K
Top 5 picks: S41 R1, S41 R2, S41 R4, S41 R5, S41 R5 (from Arizona)
Honolulu are settled at the quarterback position, with second-year starter Nova Montagne sat around the top of their draft class in TPE and enjoying a solid sophomore season in the ISFL. The Hahalua are also set a running back, as starting running back Bean Delphine Jr. is also well over 1000 TPE and provides Montagne with a safe pair of hands in the running and passing game. The team selected Alita Battle Angel at the start of the third round in last season’s draft, and I expect Battle Angel to be called up next season to serve as RB2 behind Bean. With Delphine Jr. having been drafted in S36 there’s no urgency in drafting another running back, so I’d be surprised to see Honolulu take a running back early.
Leek Mai-Heinous, Honolulu’s WR1, was drafted in S35 and so there’s some nice synergy in that Honolulu’s QB1, RB1 and WR1 are all within two seasons of each other and so will peak at similar times. This draft class is a good time to add another body to the wide receiver room with twelve over 150 TPE at the position so far, and I expect Honolulu to look to do that. Rockbot Rockbo is the team’s second-highest TPE wide receiver, and sadly hasn’t posted since December. Rockbo will remain serviceable for a while yet at 808 TPE, but with Mai-Heinous beginning regression next offseason Honolulu will want to ensure that Montagne has high-quality weapons to throw to. Last season’s 14th overall pick Florida Man, one of Honolulu’s two first-round selections, will be called up next season as the team’s third option at the position. In two seasons’ time Honolulu will have two regressing (with one being inactive) receivers so while I don’t expect them to take a receiver early, there will be value at the position in the middle rounds.
Honolulu’s starting tight end is the curiously named Waluigi Gronkowski, and the relative dearth of talent at the position at the ISFL level is such that he’s the sixth-ranked TE by TPE at 679. rickymartin, the user behind Gronkowski, doesn’t do every PT but Honolulu have more to gain at almost every other position covered here.
As one of the few ISFL teams without a human offensive lineman, I expect Honolulu to consider taking one in this draft if they’re able to fill their positions of need. A lot of their roster is concentrated in the S39 and S40 classes, so while they were able to afford five Tier 4 OL bots this season there will come a time when this isn’t practical and the salary cap becomes a bigger consideration for them. Their roster is young but it appears to be promising, and so I think they can consider a pick here in the middle rounds.
Honolulu overhauled their defensive line in the S40 draft, with first overall pick Liv Elsathelookout along with the 28th and 29th overall picks Raya Ho’opa’i and Lenny Longpipe respectively making up the new look Hahalua defensive line. Behind the young trio they have three relatively young linebackers in S37’s Monty Ward, S38’s Caleb Hayden and S39’s Maxwell Jacob Friedman, who the team drafted tenth overall. Ward is now inactive but Hayden and Friedman are both in the top 8 of their class by TPE. Like New York, they could construct a 3-4 or a 4-3 defence given the players currently on the roster, but either way I’d expect them to pick a linebacker as Ward has just 170 applied TPE and so there are a number of DSFL players and prospects who would likely perform better than him. This class has a number of good prospects at both defensive line and linebacker, but having four defensive linemen selected within a season of one another feels like a future teambuilding issue waiting to happen and so I expect a linebacker to be the preferred pick.
The tenth overall pick in S39 was mentioned last paragraph, and the first overall pick in that draft is the star of Honolulu’s secondary. Seth Leavitt remains top of his class in TPE, and GM pick Luigi Lanikai (who I imagine has some tense run-ins with the tight end opposite him in practice) was the only other active defensive back on the roster prior to Theo Lariat, acquired in a trade last season, returning from a long period of inactivity. Lariat regresses this offseason though, so he’ll only be a stopgap despite this.
Lariat can hold down the nickelback position for a couple of seasons, but the Hahalua need safety help now. Tom Taylor and Talen Farrens have less than 500 applied TPE between them, and to make matters worse both regress this offseason. I expect Honolulu to start two rookies next season, possibly dependant on the earning of S40 53rd overall pick Matthew Fryars. The Kansas City safety is currently at 160 TPE and is earning, but slowly, so I expect one safety spot to be manned by an S41 draftee and the second spot to be a free agent, another prospect or Fryars. Honolulu selecting two safeties is absolutely possible.
Finally, Honolulu has the second-worst starting kicker in the ISFL. Two DSFL kickers, Kansas City’s Ray Baker and Minnesota’s Jayme Jayne Jay-Jaymison have more TPE than the man who currently kicks for the Hahalua, Ikick Ballz. If one of this class’ three active kickers are on the board and Honolulu has satisfied their other needs, this is a natural landing spot for one of them.
San Jose Sabercats (5th place, 5-9)
Needs: WR, LB, S
Wants: CB, TE, DL
Top 5 picks: S41 R2, S41 R2 (from Baltimore), S41 R2 (from Orange County), S41 R3, S41 R3 (from Austin)
San Jose are a relatively easy team to cover, in that they have just one prospect in the DSFL. When you look at the San Jose roster, what you see is what you get. San Jose is without a first-round pick in S41, but has three second rounders with which to select some impact players.
For the first team on this list, one place they might look is quarterback. I ultimately expect them to pass on taking one this season, but current starter Owen Farrell was drafted in S35 and conventional wisdom is that you want 6-8 draft classes between quarterbacks. The only quarterbacks in this class are Tijuana’s Lloyd Bannings and Kansas City’s Jake Jefferson though, so I ultimately expect one of the other quarterback-needy teams to select those two and San Jose to wait until next draft.
San Jose has undergone the most roster change in the time I’ve been working on this article, so I’ve included my initial thoughts below, and then (here’s the second time I’ve edited this sentence), I’ve included a third version of the wide receiver section after their trade with Sarasota, which I’ll discuss in more detail below.
Then, here’s version 2:
At the buzzer, after I thought it was safe to rewrite the above section, San Jose made another trade! San Jose traded the retiring Cornelius King III to Sarasota along with their S42 second round pick for Sconnie McSix. McSix is one of the league’s better receivers, who ranks 5th in his class in TPE despite being a member of the giant S36 class. McSix improves the team right away, giving them a new WR1, one who I think is likely to stick around longer than the regressing President Camacho. They didn’t have to give up a pick in this draft to make the move, and it means that the team has a very competent WR1 until the receiver(s) San Jose select in this draft get up to speed. With the Sabercats seemingly committed to a rebuild, McSix will be in regression before this team is likely to contend so it doesn’t make San Jose much stronger in the long-term but it makes this roster much better in the short-to-medium term, and makes the consequences of not nailing the receiver pick(s) in this draft a lot less severe.
Finally, San Jose go from having one of the league’s best tight ends to having no tight end on the roster. I think the other needs are bigger, due to the position’s relative value compared to wide receiver, linebacker and defensive back – but I’ve added it to the ‘wants’ list as a result.
This also changed how I felt about San Jose and this class’ offensive line prospects. See the original text below:
I initially wrote that the trade and retirement basically meant San Jose would need two additional players, but only gained enough picks (an S41 3rd) to draft one additional player. The McSix trade changes the dynamics a bit though, but regardless the salary cap shouldn’t be an issue for the Sabercats in the short-term and with plenty of holes to fill I think an offensive lineman slips down their priority list and I’ve removed it from the ‘wants’ list.
Turning to the front seven, the Sabercats have three defensive linemen and three non-retiring linebackers on the roster – of which one lineman and one linebacker are under contract for S41. I’m going to assume that both defensive tackle Fat Jack and defensive end Mike Scott are retained, as AW13 (Jack) is a long-time servant of the team and despite Scott’s user being inactive his player remains at a serviceable TPE level for the position. Last season’s first round pick, Alex Armstrong, should be a future star at DE.
Linebacker is a little murkier, as Nick Flint and Ioe Torrent will be regressing for the second and fifth times respectively. Flint has been inactive for a while now, and so both players will need to be replaced in the coming seasons. This makes a linebacker a priority over a defensive lineman given the choice, and another position where a rookie could earn an immediate call-up. With the two regressing players, I wouldn’t be surprised if the Sabercats looked to take two linebackers, or a lineman and a linebacker during this draft. That’s assuming Cruella de Ville, the team’s sack leader, signs an extension – if they don’t then this need gets a whole lot worse.
Like New York, this team has two GM players in the secondary in cornerback Brooks Piggott and safety Russet Buster. Piggott is the only active, non-retiring player at corner though and so San Jose will consider investing draft capital to strengthen here. Inactive Will Nightingale is a passable option at 526 TPE, and he can hold down the position while a rookie develops, but it’s a position that the Sabercats will have to address in this draft or next if they don’t want to be hamstrung by the corner playing opposite Piggott.
At safety, the aforementioned Russet Buster is approaching his first dose of the toxic regression drug. At 1509 TPE he won’t be slowing down any time soon, but I think with Owen Farrell approaching regression that Russ could consider retiring his player and creating the team’s next quarterback seeing as ckroyal’s player is much younger than Buster. Even if we discount this possibility though, San Jose still need a replacement for the inactive Ja’uan Holland. Holland has 552 TPE and won’t regress until after S42, but waiting to address this position limits Russ’ recreation options and opens up the possibility of San Jose fielding multiple regressing safeties. As a result I’m classing safety as a need and cornerback as a want, but I think San Jose will feel content as long as at least one is addressed regardless of which defensive back position their selection plays.
Finally, San Jose’s kicker Booter McGavin is young and one of the league’s better kickers. If San Jose select a kicker in this draft, they’ll probably switch positions or be traded.
New Orleans Second Line (4th place, 5-9)
Needs: RB, TE, LB
Wants: CB, S, DL, QB
Top 5 picks: S41 R1 (from Berlin), S41 R1, S41 R2, S41 R4, S41 R5 (from New York)
This is our first team that definitely needs a quarterback rather than will-take-one-in-the-next-few-drafts. New Orleans has had a habit of trading away all their draft picks recently, meaning they only made one selection in S38 (Armor Queen at 8th overall), one in S39 (Lenny Lyons Jr. At 34th overall) and one in S40 (Eli Prince at 39th overall). Only Eli Prince is still contracted to the team, and the cumulative effect of that is that this team is old and there aren’t young players ready to replace them. This draft could be make-or-break for NOLA.
Signal-caller Elessar Jones is an S34 player and according to the 6-8 season rule I mentioned previously, now is the perfect time to take a quarterback. Unfortunately for the Second Line, there’s only two in this class and one is heavily linked with another ASFC team. This feels like a team that could take this class’ other passer, Jake Jefferson. Jefferson’s player isn’t max-earning and they’ve said in rookie chat they don’t plan on switching, so I could see New Orleans taking thecanadiancanuck’s player in the mid-to-late rounds this draft in the knowledge that they can take another swing next offseason if they don’t look like a future starter.
New Orleans recently traded their young running back Armor Queen to Berlin for a pair of backs and a pick swap (in their favour) in the upcoming draft, probably because they looked at this roster and thought this team wasn’t old enough already. Jay Cue Jr. is considered one of the best running backs of all-time, but he’ll enter S41 with less than 300 TPE. The other back they acquired, Rab Thecrab, has long been inactive and so getting a player at this position is a priority. In my experience, low TPE running backs are really bad in this sim and getting a strong earner at this position will be crucial for NOLA.
Jones has two competent targets to throw to in Ttollem Mada and the questionably-named PeePee Poop-Eater Sr., who I can only assume lost a bet with someone. The pair were drafted in S35 and S36 and aren’t max earners, but they’re good players who aren’t facing regression. Their WR3 is Dick Grayson, and while he doesn’t have a lot of TPE he is active and I know he contributes to their war room as he recently scouted me. Despite the notable clause in send-down wide receiver Eli Prince’s contract (implying he’ll stay in the DSFL as long as possible), New Orleans can probably prioritise other positions in this class as they’ve lots of other needs.
New Orleans doesn’t have a tight end on the roster following the Armor Queen trade. They could play someone out of position there, but only Ttollem Mada looks well-suited to the position and he’s the team’s best receiver. The smoother option is to draft one of this class’ four tight ends over 150 TPE, and run them out as a true rookie in Week 1 next season. The Armor Queen trade gives them some extra capital to do that.
New Orleans has three (count them, three!) human offensive linemen, but they’re all being hit by regression. Franz Udo Culman-Kaiser is regressing for the first time and will surely suit up again for the Second Line next season, but Beniri T’Chawama and Dallas Fort-Worth will regress to uncomfortable TPE levels. T’Chawama is probably on this roster this time next season as they’re under contract and have more TPE, but this is likely to be Fort-Worth’s first and last season with the team. The team isn’t blessed with a huge amount of cap space, but luckily(???) for them they have some regressing players to help with that. With plenty of other holes on the roster, I expect New Orleans to punt on this class’ offensive line talent.
In terms of TPE, New Orleans have one of the league’s best front sevens. Defensive tackle Charles Chapman and end JR Frankenstero are both in the top 10 for defensive line TPE league-wide, and as weak spots go, Morpheus Czargyros is one of the stronger ones. Czargyros has 499 TPE, but will be losing a big chunk of that to regression and so this is an area where New Orleans could look to upgrade.
The Second Line boasts two top 10 linebackers as well, in Solace Avenger and Carissa van Campen. The pair have 1456 and 1080 TPE respectively, so while Avenger will regress for the first time this offseason and van Campen will follow him next season they’ll remain two of the better players at their position for the foreseeable future. Another S34 LB, the mononymous Ganyu, stopped earning TPE last season but logged in last week, which for me is a sign that the user is considering a recreate when the user has an older player that is in regression or approaching it. If Ganyu sticks around, they’ll remain a solid contributor for a few more seasons. The odd man out is Sheriff Woody, an inactive on an expiring contract who’ll regress to a very low TPE level this offseason. Here’s yet another team that could be starting a rookie linebacker, unless they switch to a 4-3 base.
Some say it took me until I wrote this article to understand SomeSay’s username, after we drafted as part of the same class over three years ago. All we know is: his player is New Orleans’ only good cornerback. Current CB2 De’Aaron Harper II will regress to around 400 TPE this offseason, resulting in a heated battle for the job with fellow inactive c. 400 TPE corner Jason Oexius. Their fourth corner, Adam Rage, actually looks to have earned about 50 TPE he’s not added to his update thread yet so could pass them – but his overall earning still leaves much to be desired. If The Stig was still earning steadily and looked like playing well into his twilight years, I’d say that NOLA needs to look for a more reliable option at CB2. The bad news is that last sentence isn’t true and SomeSay’s only done one PT this season. New Orleans probably wants to select a corner in this draft and then another in the next draft. The needs at other positions are such that I can still only class this as a ‘want’.
The situation at safety is similar in that 1360 TPE safety Chim Rickles, despite impending regression, will remain a very good player in the short-to-medium term. Regression will hit S31’s Orpheus Czargyros much harder, though. The second Czargyros will fall below 400 TPE after regression, so NOLA will be hoping to replace him with a rookie in this season’s draft or next. As mentioned throughout this article, it seems like every team needs a safety and there are only so many good ones – so unless New Orleans takes one with one of their first rounders they’ll likely wait until S42 to do so.
I feel like I’ve been very harsh about NOLA’s team, so I’ll take this opportunity to say that in Alfonso Dos Santos, the Second Line have one of the league’s better kickers and he’ll be good well into regression. From a draft perspective, the team can forget about this position for the time being.
Orange County Otters (3rd place, 7-6-1)
Needs: S, LB
Wants: WR, CB
Top 5 picks: S41 R1 (from San Jose), S41 R3, S41 R4, S41 R4 (from Colorado), S41 R4 (from Arizona)
Next up is my former team, the Orange County Otters. Starting at quarterback: Matty the user appears to be around the league, but their player Kaguya Shinomiya is considered inactive per the rulebook definition. Orange County drafted GM Beck’s player, Smokin’ Jay, in S39 and Jay will have more TPE than Shinomiya post-regression so it would appear that Jay will take over as quarterback in S41.
For full disclosure, I was still in the Orange County war room until after I recreated and so I may know more or less than I am letting on in this paragraph. Former GM and OCO lifer bowl0 recreated as a quarterback this past offseason, but drafting an S41 quarterback looks awkward to me. If the team were to draft bowl0’s player, Lloyd Bannings, to play QB then OCO will field a 666 TPE Shinomiya in S41, before calling up bowl0’s player at around 500 TPE at the start of S42. Drafting an S41 quarterback commits OCO to two seasons of bottom-of-the-barrel quarterback play, and means OCO’s highest TPE players (RB Leandre Diarra, WR Thomas Robinson and CB Ace McAlister) will all regress at least once before Banning comes good. This is a longwinded way of saying that while Orange County might draft Bannings due to the user behind the player, I still expect Jay to be slinging the ball for the Otters next season instead of Shinomiya or Bannings.
Turning to the running back position, the league’s only max earning fullback Leandre Diarra lead blocks for veteran running back Zane Cold. Cold will eventually pass the reigns over to S40 34th overall pick Tyler One, who is earning reasonably well and will likely step into the RB2 role next season. A running back in this draft would be a luxury given the Otters’ defensive needs.
Shinomiya’s favourite target in the passing game is the aforementioned WR1 Thomas Robinson. Robinson is one of the top earners from a giant S36 class and will be a great player for seasons to come. Teenie Hodges, drafted ninth overall in S38, is a young, solid WR2. There are no other receivers on the roster or in the DSFL though, so I expect Orange County to select one in the middle rounds of this draft to play in the slot.
The team has three tight ends currently under contract, though two are inactive. Molki Koivu, the team’s current TE1, has been inactive for some time and will regress to around 400 TPE, a mark that will mean he remains a good TE2 behind current-send down Big McLarge Huge. McLarge Huge was drafted eighth overall last season, and is the top earning player in his class at the position. Zero Gibson II is inactive, and will be allowed to reach free agency this offseason. There’s no need for Orange County to invest further at this position unless they intend to build the offence around a 2TE system, which is rare in the ISFL but the Otters offence is pretty funky already with Shinomiya and the league's best FB.
Fantasy players will be familiar with Walrus Jones, the team’s human offensive lineman. Caravaggio is the highest-earning user from the S38 class, and as the team ranked 13th of 14 in TPE Orange County aren’t in desperate need of cap space – they have four Tier 4 offensive linemen alongside Jones and still have plenty of cap left over. Offensive line would be another luxury pick.
Things get interesting when we turn to the front seven. Orange County have selected four defensive linemen in the past three drafts, with defensive tackle Johnson Lovehammer the biggest name (and body) on the line. Good Player and Iosefa Fuamatu-Ma'afala, two defensive ends drafted in the second rounds of S39 and S40, will join Lovehammer on the line with defensive tackle Twerky Dingleberry’s future less clear. Dingleberry is currently considered inactive, but logged in a few days ago and has returned from inactivity previously. At 245 TPE, he’s potentially important to OCO due to the linebacker situation behind him. Orange County can let him go if they address the linebacker position, otherwise there will still be a place for Dingleberry or a rookie DL.
The Otters have had a lot of high draft picks recently, and their linebacker core is led by Sim Sunigh, who was drafted third overall two drafts ago. Alongside him is Bender Rodriguez, a player so old that I was one of the GMs who drafted him back in S28. Shrub’s player will soon be claimed by Father Time, and the team’s third linebacker is the inactive So-Much Jazz. Orange County need another body here, and a high-earning rookie would surpass Jazz’s TPE by early in the season. Orange County are another team that could double-dip at this position, as having fewer than three linebackers seems unwise and So-Much Jazz will need replacing next offseason if you can’t replace him this time around.
Ace McAlister is the team’s only defensive player above 600 TPE, meaning he has more than double (1378) the TPE of the team’s second-most talented defender. Orange County gave McAlister some help when they selected Jamdrian LeBayers third overall last offseason, and kenvald’s player remains #1 in TPE among the S40 class. Dragazor Blaze is the team’s current nickelback, and an S32 player with 282 TPE is not someone you want to rely on. McAlister regresses for the first time next offseason, and Orange County need a short-term option to replace Dragazor as well as a long-term option to play across from LeBayers once McAlister finds himself deep in regression. Drafting a corner in S41 gives you both, but the team could opt to field an inactive at this position again next season in order to prioritise filling other holes.
Orange County have a safety duo that rivals Honolulu’s in terms of TPE, and that’s not a compliment. S29’s Rean Schwarzer is another of my many incredible draft picks, but as mentioned earlier in the article bowl0 has retired and recreated so this will be Schwarzer’s last season with the Otters. His partner Kyzir Washington is only 260 TPE and hasn’t completed a TPE task in over 6 months, so this is another team that could start a brand new safety pairing in S41. With only four safeties over 150 TPE at the time of writing and other teams with needs at safety, Orange County and Honolulu could find themselves competing for the top players at the position or asking a rookie at another position to switch positions.
OCO aren’t an obvious candidate to take a kicker, as current kicker Jeremy Crouse Jr. is a slightly-below-average starter (TPE-wise, his kicking has been terrible in S40), and won’t regress for a few more seasons.
Austin Copperheads (2nd place, 8-6)
Needs: WR, LB
Wants: S, CB, DL, K
Top 5 picks: S41 R1, S41 R2, S41 R4, S41 R5, S41 R6
As always, we start at quarterback, where Great Britain’s longest-serving monarch looks to conquer the ISFL in the same way that her predecessors conquered much of the globe. Her Majesty was drafted in S35, and the quarterback conversation is a little more interesting here than it was with San Jose’s quarterback drafted in the same class. Owen Farrell is more than 170 TPE ahead of her, which is almost a whole season of earning - though frazzle hasn’t updated in a while and has some to claim. I think this is another team that could consider Jake Jefferson knowing that if frazzle doesn’t fancy going the distance and Jefferson earns well, Her Majesty could hand over the reigns in a few seasons time – while likely not having to spend a high draft pick to do it. Once again, it’s no real concern if Bannings and Jefferson are drafted elsewhere instead.
The Copperheads temporarily improved their backfield in the trade for DeAndre King mentioned previously, and when King retires this offseason they’ll hand over many of their carries to Howard Coward, the team’s first-round pick in S40. The move’s primary effect on Austin’s future is that it deprives them of a S41 third rounder, and there should be some good players at that spot.
At receiver, the team boasts one of the league’s better outside duos in Zaphod Beeblebrox and Delores Bickerman. The pair were drafted in S36 and S37 respectively, and are both top-10 in TPE in their class. The team could invest some of their remaining draft capital into the position, though, as WR3 Johnny Patey will lose another chunk of TPE to regression and could be playing their last season with the team. I think it makes more sense to add a receiver than a tight end due to the relative value of the two positions and the strength of the receiver class, so I definitely expect Austin to take one of this class’ many options.
I imagine the recently acquired Deshawn Penne will see some time at receiver as well as tight end, but having been drafted the season after Patey he’s no spring chicken either. The team selected tight end Pegme Amidala (yes, that is their name) in the second round of last season’s draft, and despite Amidala only having 226 TPE I think this is fine as long as they add a receiver.
In Jimmy Holding and Brandon Mason, the team has one of the league’s better tackle pairings. They were drafted in S36 and S37 and both are solid, but not max-earning players. They provide some valuable cap relief, are safe from regression for a couple more seasons, and help enable the team to afford three Tier 4 bots. This position is one of the team’s strengths, and an offensive lineman would be a luxury pick in my opinion.
Austin also has a very competent defensive line – funnily enough, the team’s with better records seem to have fewer positional needs. Defensive end Joey Din is the unit’s highest-TPE player, an S34 draftee who will peak around 1300 TPE before he regresses for the first time this offseason. A successor to him would be nice, but it’s a want rather than a need given Din’s ability to continue playing at a high level for several seasons if Mattyoce desires. GM player Carly Rae Jensen and S36’s Jean-Ralphio Saperstein provide solid starting play and similarly, Austin could afford to wait a couple of seasons to address this position unless they fall in love with a prospect.
The linebacker position is more interesting, as there’s some older and lower-TPE players there. Spicy Ron is the leading LB by TPE, but was drafted all the way back in S32 so will lose a chunk of TPE to regression. Joe Smokes was drafted a season later, but is currently considered inactive and he’s due to regress from a starting point of less than 600 TPE. Austin has selected a linebacker in the first round of two of the last three drafts, though, and as a result they can call on S38 first overall pick Tank McGibbons as well as S39 rookie Mario Moloka'i. Numbers’ earning with Moloka'i hasn’t been stellar recently, but at 507 TPE most teams are running worse players at the third or fourth linebacker spot. Nevertheless, the respective ages and pending declines of Ron and Smokes means that the team should look to address this position.
Austin can boast possibly the best cornerback duo in the league, as Draft Steal (1375 TPE) defends one half of the field and Zamir Kehla Jr. (1099 TPE, and with a name I was very surprised to read after I recreated) defends the other. Raffaele Tommasi appears to be playing the nickel, and has sadly long been inactive. Unlike in DDSPF16, the nickelback position doesn’t seem to be particularly involved and so I don’t think this position is a high priority to address - but taking a future nickelback and stashing them in the DSFL in S41 makes sense if the right player falls to them.
Austin currently has six defensive backs on the roster, likely due to the regression that S32 draftee Tobias Worthington III is about to suffer. Worthington III will regress below 400 TPE, so depending on their earning and desire to continue playing, KC15 may cede his starting safety spot to 415 TPE inactive Roma Amir-Kani. Obviously, neither of those options are great and so the Copperheads would appreciate a max-earning safety to fall to their pick to partner Geralt, Laser’s player. If you don’t know who Laser is then I have serious concerns about your decision to read 7,000 words about the upcoming ISFL draft and I’m not going to bother introducing you to him. The problem, as always, is that I’ve already said that 4 teams need a safety and the other wants one. I can count the number of active safeties in this draft on one hand if I count two of my fingers twice, and so unless Austin is willing to take one in Round 1 they won’t get one of the good ones. There will likely be some position switches, whether that’s for Austin or another team.
Austin are another team that could thrill kicker enthusiasts everywhere, as starting kicker Levy Tate will be autoretired this offseason after experiencing a fatal case of Old. Former GM Kyle has a kicker in the DSFL, but they’re inactive at a lower TPE level than multiple kicking prospects in this class. If the team calls up Kyle they’ll be fine, but if one of the kickers is available later on then Austin could replace the ISFL’s least-efficient field goal kicker this season with an active, and more prolific one.
Arizona Outlaws (1st place, 12-2)
Needs: S
Wants: Best users available (see my closing rant)
Top 5 picks: S41 R1, S41 R2, S41 R3, S41 R6, S41 R7
Arizona’s quarterback situation is easy. Right now, two-time MVP Wendell Sailor slings the ball for this offence. When he retires, Donovan Winters III will pick up where he left off and probably win a couple of MVPs himself. Next position.
Per the TPE tracker, the average ISFL running back has 717 TPE. In Danny Nedelko and Sherwin Blue Jr., the team has two backs with more TPE than this, both are in the top-5 for TPE in their class, and they’re both young and a long way away from regression. In case of emergency, they can call up S39 draftee Gucci Gurley to back up Nedelko or Blue Jr. Next position.
I had some fun with the first two paragraphs, but this roster is really, really good. One position where I think they’ll draft someone is wide receiver. The team has the league’s two best receivers by TPE (Louis Blondin and “Captain” Billy Stinkwater), who will both peak at over 1500 TPE. They each regress for the first time this offseason, so I think this is more about maintaining their strength at the position rather than addressing a need. Their WR3 is Kotoni Staggs, who is considered inactive and will regress for a fourth time this offseason. The team could leave this position alone and still have one of the league’s best receiving trios in S41, but I think it makes sense to pick one of this class’ many receiving options and stash them in the DSFL along with last season’s fourth round pick Don Tollibeo to eventually replace the aging players the Outlaws have been throwing the ball to.
The team is currently due to enter S41 without a tight end on the roster, as Herc Kirkby has announced his retirement. As I’ve spoken to more GMs about scouting during this article, I’ve found that they place even less value on the tight end position than I thought and so I think Arizona will run one of the backs or receivers at TE1 next season unless they find one they really like. Nick Williams and Otto the Orange are the two highest-TPE candidates if they look to address this position directly.
Turning to the offensive line, there’s three mid-earning human players here. The team was able to afford two Tier 4 bots this season and is due to have sufficient cap space to do so again. You don’t love the fact that D'Nickashaw Mangoldson will regress for the second time this offseason though, so you could protect the team’s ability to afford to retain the rest of the roster by adding more humans at the position in this draft. Spoiler alert: I think this team only has one need, so if you can grab one of the max-earning offensive linemen in Round 2 or 3, that seems like a great add.
Arizona’s front seven is a front six, as there’s 3 defensive linemen and 3 linebackers on the team and one of the DBs plays ILB in the base package. The stars on the defensive line are double-digit sack man Raphael McTurtle, and last season’s 27th overall pick Sir Tywrell Xah'Aawrone. One represents the present, and one the future. Emerson Quinn is also there. It’s fine, I can say that because they’re inactive and will never read this. I’m considering this to be a want rather than a need, as the Outlaws have so much TPE on the roster that the cap is a real concern. Defensive line is one of the positions where I think you’d probably prefer to spend less, so I wouldn’t prioritise replacing Quinn with another player who would also be on a $1m contract and so wouldn't be any cheaper.
The team’s highest TPE linebacker is another of the McTurtle brothers, Leonardo. Leo has 90 career sacks and peaked at almost 1600 TPE prior to regressing for the first time last offseason. He’s capable of providing great play for a few more seasons and passable play for even longer. Akaki Akayre, his younger counterpart, leads the team in sacks and leads all LBs his-age-or-younger in TPE. Drafted in S36, Akayre won’t regress until the end of S42. The unit’s final player is the inactive Ignatius Reilly, who is a better candidate to replace than Emerson Quinn due to his cap hit being $3m rather than $1m. Like every position so far, Arizona could ignore this position in S41 and be fine though.
Every team has holes though, and for Arizona that’s cornerback. lol jk, this team’s starting CB duo has more TPE than every team not named the Austin Copperheads. Spottie O'Dopaliscious and Outlaw Mode Sicko were drafted in S34 and S35 respectively, but S31’s Mark Goodhead plays in the nickel role and he’ll take a tougher beating from Mooty when he posts this offseason’s regression post. Goodhead will start S41 with more TPE than any rookie could hope to reach, but they’d like to replace him in S42 so should select someone in this draft or next.
At safety, the team finally has a legitimate need. Last season’s first round pick Notso Smart looks a wise pick despite the obvious joke, and will start at one spot. The other is currently slated to be Amari Springer, but they’re a 518 TPE inactive S31 player so could be replaced by a rookie who’s earned well or a stopgap free agency signing. This is yet another example of horrible roster management by Arizona, and I think that they should be embarrassed of their “achievements” in constructing this team. The team is doomed if they don’t select a safety, and if they don’t select a good one then I imagine HO will have to intervene in order to ensure this team is led more competently in future. This team has one need and then can add their favourite users available at any other position. That’s not good enough, and Simo's mum told me that she considers her son a failure as a GM.
Anyway, thank you for reading this part-rigorous ISFL draft analysis, part-sprawling descent into madness as I wrote and re-wrote this piece. When I created the first time round back in S22, I really boosted my draft stock by releasing a 6,000+ word article previewing the S22 Draft, so I have a message for ISFL GMs: how do you like this 8,000+ word one???
If anyone was able to make it through the entire article, thank you very much! I hope mock drafters, wannabe GMs and other interested parties enjoy this deep dive and that my hours spent in the budget sheet save you some time researching your own articles. As mentioned in the intro, I’ll be working on the NSFC side of things next and hope to publish that next week! See you then.
I’d still like to write my own mock draft before the big day in April, so I’ll look to finish the NSFC version as soon as I can and get working on the mock draft following that. Hope you enjoy! <3
New York Silverbacks (7th place, 4-10)
Needs: DL, WR, S
Wants: CB, LB, RB
Top 5 picks: S41 R1, S41 R2, S41 R3 (from New Orleans), S41 R4, S41 R6
New York find themselves in a transitional period. Quarterback Malcolm Savage is the league’s lowest-TPE starter (though Yellowknife’s Absolute Unit has less applied TPE), and following Savage’s retirement at the end of this season the team will be calling up Minnesota quarterback Blaine Falco, who they selected 17th overall in S39.
The focus for New York is therefore to build a team around Falco that can compete for a championship in a few seasons time. Starting on the offensive side of the ball, Michaelangelo McTurtle will remain a fantastic player after he regresses for the first time this offseason, but Falco will eventually need a younger running back to hand the ball off to. McTurtle will get worse as Falco gets better, so as someone who places more importance on offensive play I’d look to select a running back in this draft so that their peak will broadly overlap with Falco’s and help enable Falco to one day pilot a dominant offence. Season 37 draftee Michael Touchback is a serviceable RB2 but hasn’t demonstrated the level of earning required to become one of the league’s premier feature backs.
Falco will be throwing to two 1000+ TPE wide receivers in Mandrews McHollywood and Matthew Mara, who are two and three seasons away from regression respectively and are under contract for a long time. They have another retiring player at WR3 in Return Specialist Swantavius Torch, with last season’s 50th overall pick, Keno Akara of the Kansas City Coyotes, potentially in line to replace him. Akara has just 131 TPE at the time of writing though, and so this is a position where an S41 draftee could be immediately called up as this class boasts twelve prospects at the position who already have more TPE.
I don’t expect New York to take a tight end this draft, as while their present starter Siegmeyer OfCatarina is currently inactive they spent their other fourth round pick last season on Tijuana’s Anthony Simmons II. At 214 TPE the Possession TE won’t set the world alight, but would be a serviceable safety blanket on an offence where McHollywood, Mara and McTurtle can expect the mammoth’s share of targets. No tight end group in the league has caught fewer passes than the Silverbacks’ total of 26, so I expect the talented tight ends in this class to be selected by one of the league’s needier teams unless New York really falls in love with one of this class’ prospects at the position.
Despite there being some interesting offensive line prospects, I don’t consider New York to be likely to select an offensive lineman in this class. In Pan Cakes and Donatello McTurtle they have two human offensive lineman providing cap relief and were able to afford three Tier 4 OL bots this season, so I expect them to focus on adding talent at positions that provide more immediate impact.
Moving onto the defensive side of the ball, I have some questions about New York’s defensive scheme that are worth mentioning first. With two talented Pass Rusher linebackers in Teemo Swift and Bay Webb, you’d expect them to want to play a 3-4 base defence that puts them in a position to succeed. With five defensive linemen and three linebackers on the roster, though, the team is currently a little imbalanced. One player guaranteed to be leaving the Silverbacks this offseason is another retirement, defensive tackle Lennay Kekua. Defensive ends Rocco Blade and Arnie Rufus are both around 400 TPE and were drafted in Seasons 30 and 32 respectively, and another hit of regression will potentially see them both leaving the team this offseason and New York calling up last season’s second round pick in defensive end James Batista to join their first round pick, Lionel Scrimmage on the line. 203 TPE defensive tackle Sexy Wilfork is inactive, so I expect New York to exercise their mutual option. This would leave New York with two defensive linemen and three linebackers, so I expect New York to draft at least one front seven player and possibly look to the free agent market for a stopgap, including potentially bringing back one of the regressing defensive ends mentioned above. While the Silverbacks can get by with only three linebackers, they cannot run out just two defensive linemen and so I’d say defensive line is a priority and then acquiring a linebacker to enable a switch to 3-4 is desirable. This is a hard position to cover as I expect New York to make moves at this position between now and the draft, and some of their draft strategy to be influenced by what’s available in free agency at these positions.
Their defensive backfield is easier to provide an overview of, with the team fielding two GM players (Dax Dangerfield and Bonzi Buddy) at cornerback and a top-five free safety in Regina Ferraro, who’s not due to regress until after next season. Their strong safety and nickelback are both IA players, so selecting a defensive back would help make this unit a lot less top-heavy as well as begin preparations for life after Dax Dangerfield, the oldest of the three players mentioned above. Both IA players are on expiring contracts and so are easy to replace, meaning a top-earning safety could start in Week 1 for New York next season and an S41 cornerback could see time in the slot next season. I think the safety position is more impactful than nickelback and so New York might prefer a safety, but they’d be happy to address either defensive back position in a class with several good corners and safeties.
New York’s kicker is Ian Cole III, who I recognise as the user behind my fellow Season 22 rookie, Sean Snyder. Snyder spent much of his career with the Silverbacks and so I anticipate New York being a little sentimental here despite Cole III being potentially the league’s lowest TPE kicker following regression. There are a couple of options in this class if they want to invest a flyer into the position later in the draft, though.
Honolulu Hahulua (6th place, 4-10)
Needs: S, LB
Wants: OL, WR, K
Top 5 picks: S41 R1, S41 R2, S41 R4, S41 R5, S41 R5 (from Arizona)
Honolulu are settled at the quarterback position, with second-year starter Nova Montagne sat around the top of their draft class in TPE and enjoying a solid sophomore season in the ISFL. The Hahalua are also set a running back, as starting running back Bean Delphine Jr. is also well over 1000 TPE and provides Montagne with a safe pair of hands in the running and passing game. The team selected Alita Battle Angel at the start of the third round in last season’s draft, and I expect Battle Angel to be called up next season to serve as RB2 behind Bean. With Delphine Jr. having been drafted in S36 there’s no urgency in drafting another running back, so I’d be surprised to see Honolulu take a running back early.
Leek Mai-Heinous, Honolulu’s WR1, was drafted in S35 and so there’s some nice synergy in that Honolulu’s QB1, RB1 and WR1 are all within two seasons of each other and so will peak at similar times. This draft class is a good time to add another body to the wide receiver room with twelve over 150 TPE at the position so far, and I expect Honolulu to look to do that. Rockbot Rockbo is the team’s second-highest TPE wide receiver, and sadly hasn’t posted since December. Rockbo will remain serviceable for a while yet at 808 TPE, but with Mai-Heinous beginning regression next offseason Honolulu will want to ensure that Montagne has high-quality weapons to throw to. Last season’s 14th overall pick Florida Man, one of Honolulu’s two first-round selections, will be called up next season as the team’s third option at the position. In two seasons’ time Honolulu will have two regressing (with one being inactive) receivers so while I don’t expect them to take a receiver early, there will be value at the position in the middle rounds.
Honolulu’s starting tight end is the curiously named Waluigi Gronkowski, and the relative dearth of talent at the position at the ISFL level is such that he’s the sixth-ranked TE by TPE at 679. rickymartin, the user behind Gronkowski, doesn’t do every PT but Honolulu have more to gain at almost every other position covered here.
As one of the few ISFL teams without a human offensive lineman, I expect Honolulu to consider taking one in this draft if they’re able to fill their positions of need. A lot of their roster is concentrated in the S39 and S40 classes, so while they were able to afford five Tier 4 OL bots this season there will come a time when this isn’t practical and the salary cap becomes a bigger consideration for them. Their roster is young but it appears to be promising, and so I think they can consider a pick here in the middle rounds.
Honolulu overhauled their defensive line in the S40 draft, with first overall pick Liv Elsathelookout along with the 28th and 29th overall picks Raya Ho’opa’i and Lenny Longpipe respectively making up the new look Hahalua defensive line. Behind the young trio they have three relatively young linebackers in S37’s Monty Ward, S38’s Caleb Hayden and S39’s Maxwell Jacob Friedman, who the team drafted tenth overall. Ward is now inactive but Hayden and Friedman are both in the top 8 of their class by TPE. Like New York, they could construct a 3-4 or a 4-3 defence given the players currently on the roster, but either way I’d expect them to pick a linebacker as Ward has just 170 applied TPE and so there are a number of DSFL players and prospects who would likely perform better than him. This class has a number of good prospects at both defensive line and linebacker, but having four defensive linemen selected within a season of one another feels like a future teambuilding issue waiting to happen and so I expect a linebacker to be the preferred pick.
The tenth overall pick in S39 was mentioned last paragraph, and the first overall pick in that draft is the star of Honolulu’s secondary. Seth Leavitt remains top of his class in TPE, and GM pick Luigi Lanikai (who I imagine has some tense run-ins with the tight end opposite him in practice) was the only other active defensive back on the roster prior to Theo Lariat, acquired in a trade last season, returning from a long period of inactivity. Lariat regresses this offseason though, so he’ll only be a stopgap despite this.
Lariat can hold down the nickelback position for a couple of seasons, but the Hahalua need safety help now. Tom Taylor and Talen Farrens have less than 500 applied TPE between them, and to make matters worse both regress this offseason. I expect Honolulu to start two rookies next season, possibly dependant on the earning of S40 53rd overall pick Matthew Fryars. The Kansas City safety is currently at 160 TPE and is earning, but slowly, so I expect one safety spot to be manned by an S41 draftee and the second spot to be a free agent, another prospect or Fryars. Honolulu selecting two safeties is absolutely possible.
Finally, Honolulu has the second-worst starting kicker in the ISFL. Two DSFL kickers, Kansas City’s Ray Baker and Minnesota’s Jayme Jayne Jay-Jaymison have more TPE than the man who currently kicks for the Hahalua, Ikick Ballz. If one of this class’ three active kickers are on the board and Honolulu has satisfied their other needs, this is a natural landing spot for one of them.
San Jose Sabercats (5th place, 5-9)
Needs: WR, LB, S
Wants: CB, TE, DL
Top 5 picks: S41 R2, S41 R2 (from Baltimore), S41 R2 (from Orange County), S41 R3, S41 R3 (from Austin)
San Jose are a relatively easy team to cover, in that they have just one prospect in the DSFL. When you look at the San Jose roster, what you see is what you get. San Jose is without a first-round pick in S41, but has three second rounders with which to select some impact players.
For the first team on this list, one place they might look is quarterback. I ultimately expect them to pass on taking one this season, but current starter Owen Farrell was drafted in S35 and conventional wisdom is that you want 6-8 draft classes between quarterbacks. The only quarterbacks in this class are Tijuana’s Lloyd Bannings and Kansas City’s Jake Jefferson though, so I ultimately expect one of the other quarterback-needy teams to select those two and San Jose to wait until next draft.
San Jose has undergone the most roster change in the time I’ve been working on this article, so I’ve included my initial thoughts below, and then (here’s the second time I’ve edited this sentence), I’ve included a third version of the wide receiver section after their trade with Sarasota, which I’ll discuss in more detail below.
Code:
Starting running back DeAndre King recently announced his retirement, so the San Jose backfield in S41 will be C.G. Breezy and Lord Farquaads, who the Sabercats selected in Round 2 of last season’s draft. Breezy is behind most of his class in TPE, but he is serviceable and Farquaads has the potential to be San Jose’s feature back in a couple of seasons.
In such a stacked receiver class, I’d be willing to bet that San Jose takes one early. Their receiver group consists of two regressing players and Season 37 draftee Cornelius King III, who at the time of writing is a day away from being considered inactive. Their WR1, President Camacho, was acquired in a trade with Orange County and hasn’t earned since prior to the trade. This offseason he’ll regress into the 600s, and I consider them more likely to retire than keep earning if they return to the league. WR3 Jaycee Higgins will regress to around the level of a high-earning S41 prospect, and so this is a destination where wide receivers could expect an instant call-up. I also wouldn’t rule out San Jose doubling up at the position, giving them a second receiver to replace Camacho or King III when that’s required.
Tight end Deshawn Penne will remain one of the highest TPE players at his position after regression, so while I’m sure Owen Farrell (or more likely, his eventual replacement) would appreciate a young tight end I think there’s two or three teams that could start a true rookie in Week 1 of S41 and so I don’t expect San Jose to look here until the middle rounds, if at all.
Then, here’s version 2:
Code:
There’s obviously been some change at these positions. This week, San Jose traded DeAndre King and Deshawn Penne to Austin for an S41 3rd round pick, and Ozamataz Buckshank. Moving King has no effect on next season’s roster, as he was already retiring, but adding Buckshank introduces another body to the running back group – granted, one that’s only got a modest amount of TPE and is regressing this offseason. Buckshank is likely to be the team’s RB1 for the remainder of this season before settling into a secondary role. With Lord Farquaads looking prime to be called up next season, this gives San Jose a third back heading into the offseason.
Cornelius King III is no longer inactive, or about to be, but he has announced his retirement. At 548 TPE he was a below-average WR2, but as an S37 player he would’ve been an acceptable WR3 until he hit regression. King III’s retirement adds a layer of urgency to the wide receiver need, and will force the Sabercats to take another pass catcher. As stated in the initial version, I only consider President Camacho to be a short-term option at the position so San Jose go from a team that should definitely draft a receiver, to a team that should definitely draft two.
At the buzzer, after I thought it was safe to rewrite the above section, San Jose made another trade! San Jose traded the retiring Cornelius King III to Sarasota along with their S42 second round pick for Sconnie McSix. McSix is one of the league’s better receivers, who ranks 5th in his class in TPE despite being a member of the giant S36 class. McSix improves the team right away, giving them a new WR1, one who I think is likely to stick around longer than the regressing President Camacho. They didn’t have to give up a pick in this draft to make the move, and it means that the team has a very competent WR1 until the receiver(s) San Jose select in this draft get up to speed. With the Sabercats seemingly committed to a rebuild, McSix will be in regression before this team is likely to contend so it doesn’t make San Jose much stronger in the long-term but it makes this roster much better in the short-to-medium term, and makes the consequences of not nailing the receiver pick(s) in this draft a lot less severe.
Finally, San Jose go from having one of the league’s best tight ends to having no tight end on the roster. I think the other needs are bigger, due to the position’s relative value compared to wide receiver, linebacker and defensive back – but I’ve added it to the ‘wants’ list as a result.
This also changed how I felt about San Jose and this class’ offensive line prospects. See the original text below:
Code:
San Jose has one human offensive lineman on the roster, S34 draftee Larry Jenkins. Jenkins will regress for the first time this offseason and as an IA player with 242 TPE, he’ll regress down to below 200. With retirements resulting in a few salaries coming off the books, I expect San Jose to contract the services of another bot rather than retain Jenkins. With this in mind I think that San Jose would be happy to see an offensive lineman fall to them, but with multiple positions where a rookie could expect to be called up immediately I imagine the best offensive linemen in this class will be off the board by the time San Jose would consider selecting one.
I initially wrote that the trade and retirement basically meant San Jose would need two additional players, but only gained enough picks (an S41 3rd) to draft one additional player. The McSix trade changes the dynamics a bit though, but regardless the salary cap shouldn’t be an issue for the Sabercats in the short-term and with plenty of holes to fill I think an offensive lineman slips down their priority list and I’ve removed it from the ‘wants’ list.
Turning to the front seven, the Sabercats have three defensive linemen and three non-retiring linebackers on the roster – of which one lineman and one linebacker are under contract for S41. I’m going to assume that both defensive tackle Fat Jack and defensive end Mike Scott are retained, as AW13 (Jack) is a long-time servant of the team and despite Scott’s user being inactive his player remains at a serviceable TPE level for the position. Last season’s first round pick, Alex Armstrong, should be a future star at DE.
Linebacker is a little murkier, as Nick Flint and Ioe Torrent will be regressing for the second and fifth times respectively. Flint has been inactive for a while now, and so both players will need to be replaced in the coming seasons. This makes a linebacker a priority over a defensive lineman given the choice, and another position where a rookie could earn an immediate call-up. With the two regressing players, I wouldn’t be surprised if the Sabercats looked to take two linebackers, or a lineman and a linebacker during this draft. That’s assuming Cruella de Ville, the team’s sack leader, signs an extension – if they don’t then this need gets a whole lot worse.
Like New York, this team has two GM players in the secondary in cornerback Brooks Piggott and safety Russet Buster. Piggott is the only active, non-retiring player at corner though and so San Jose will consider investing draft capital to strengthen here. Inactive Will Nightingale is a passable option at 526 TPE, and he can hold down the position while a rookie develops, but it’s a position that the Sabercats will have to address in this draft or next if they don’t want to be hamstrung by the corner playing opposite Piggott.
At safety, the aforementioned Russet Buster is approaching his first dose of the toxic regression drug. At 1509 TPE he won’t be slowing down any time soon, but I think with Owen Farrell approaching regression that Russ could consider retiring his player and creating the team’s next quarterback seeing as ckroyal’s player is much younger than Buster. Even if we discount this possibility though, San Jose still need a replacement for the inactive Ja’uan Holland. Holland has 552 TPE and won’t regress until after S42, but waiting to address this position limits Russ’ recreation options and opens up the possibility of San Jose fielding multiple regressing safeties. As a result I’m classing safety as a need and cornerback as a want, but I think San Jose will feel content as long as at least one is addressed regardless of which defensive back position their selection plays.
Finally, San Jose’s kicker Booter McGavin is young and one of the league’s better kickers. If San Jose select a kicker in this draft, they’ll probably switch positions or be traded.
New Orleans Second Line (4th place, 5-9)
Needs: RB, TE, LB
Wants: CB, S, DL, QB
Top 5 picks: S41 R1 (from Berlin), S41 R1, S41 R2, S41 R4, S41 R5 (from New York)
This is our first team that definitely needs a quarterback rather than will-take-one-in-the-next-few-drafts. New Orleans has had a habit of trading away all their draft picks recently, meaning they only made one selection in S38 (Armor Queen at 8th overall), one in S39 (Lenny Lyons Jr. At 34th overall) and one in S40 (Eli Prince at 39th overall). Only Eli Prince is still contracted to the team, and the cumulative effect of that is that this team is old and there aren’t young players ready to replace them. This draft could be make-or-break for NOLA.
Signal-caller Elessar Jones is an S34 player and according to the 6-8 season rule I mentioned previously, now is the perfect time to take a quarterback. Unfortunately for the Second Line, there’s only two in this class and one is heavily linked with another ASFC team. This feels like a team that could take this class’ other passer, Jake Jefferson. Jefferson’s player isn’t max-earning and they’ve said in rookie chat they don’t plan on switching, so I could see New Orleans taking thecanadiancanuck’s player in the mid-to-late rounds this draft in the knowledge that they can take another swing next offseason if they don’t look like a future starter.
New Orleans recently traded their young running back Armor Queen to Berlin for a pair of backs and a pick swap (in their favour) in the upcoming draft, probably because they looked at this roster and thought this team wasn’t old enough already. Jay Cue Jr. is considered one of the best running backs of all-time, but he’ll enter S41 with less than 300 TPE. The other back they acquired, Rab Thecrab, has long been inactive and so getting a player at this position is a priority. In my experience, low TPE running backs are really bad in this sim and getting a strong earner at this position will be crucial for NOLA.
Jones has two competent targets to throw to in Ttollem Mada and the questionably-named PeePee Poop-Eater Sr., who I can only assume lost a bet with someone. The pair were drafted in S35 and S36 and aren’t max earners, but they’re good players who aren’t facing regression. Their WR3 is Dick Grayson, and while he doesn’t have a lot of TPE he is active and I know he contributes to their war room as he recently scouted me. Despite the notable clause in send-down wide receiver Eli Prince’s contract (implying he’ll stay in the DSFL as long as possible), New Orleans can probably prioritise other positions in this class as they’ve lots of other needs.
New Orleans doesn’t have a tight end on the roster following the Armor Queen trade. They could play someone out of position there, but only Ttollem Mada looks well-suited to the position and he’s the team’s best receiver. The smoother option is to draft one of this class’ four tight ends over 150 TPE, and run them out as a true rookie in Week 1 next season. The Armor Queen trade gives them some extra capital to do that.
New Orleans has three (count them, three!) human offensive linemen, but they’re all being hit by regression. Franz Udo Culman-Kaiser is regressing for the first time and will surely suit up again for the Second Line next season, but Beniri T’Chawama and Dallas Fort-Worth will regress to uncomfortable TPE levels. T’Chawama is probably on this roster this time next season as they’re under contract and have more TPE, but this is likely to be Fort-Worth’s first and last season with the team. The team isn’t blessed with a huge amount of cap space, but luckily(???) for them they have some regressing players to help with that. With plenty of other holes on the roster, I expect New Orleans to punt on this class’ offensive line talent.
In terms of TPE, New Orleans have one of the league’s best front sevens. Defensive tackle Charles Chapman and end JR Frankenstero are both in the top 10 for defensive line TPE league-wide, and as weak spots go, Morpheus Czargyros is one of the stronger ones. Czargyros has 499 TPE, but will be losing a big chunk of that to regression and so this is an area where New Orleans could look to upgrade.
The Second Line boasts two top 10 linebackers as well, in Solace Avenger and Carissa van Campen. The pair have 1456 and 1080 TPE respectively, so while Avenger will regress for the first time this offseason and van Campen will follow him next season they’ll remain two of the better players at their position for the foreseeable future. Another S34 LB, the mononymous Ganyu, stopped earning TPE last season but logged in last week, which for me is a sign that the user is considering a recreate when the user has an older player that is in regression or approaching it. If Ganyu sticks around, they’ll remain a solid contributor for a few more seasons. The odd man out is Sheriff Woody, an inactive on an expiring contract who’ll regress to a very low TPE level this offseason. Here’s yet another team that could be starting a rookie linebacker, unless they switch to a 4-3 base.
Some say it took me until I wrote this article to understand SomeSay’s username, after we drafted as part of the same class over three years ago. All we know is: his player is New Orleans’ only good cornerback. Current CB2 De’Aaron Harper II will regress to around 400 TPE this offseason, resulting in a heated battle for the job with fellow inactive c. 400 TPE corner Jason Oexius. Their fourth corner, Adam Rage, actually looks to have earned about 50 TPE he’s not added to his update thread yet so could pass them – but his overall earning still leaves much to be desired. If The Stig was still earning steadily and looked like playing well into his twilight years, I’d say that NOLA needs to look for a more reliable option at CB2. The bad news is that last sentence isn’t true and SomeSay’s only done one PT this season. New Orleans probably wants to select a corner in this draft and then another in the next draft. The needs at other positions are such that I can still only class this as a ‘want’.
The situation at safety is similar in that 1360 TPE safety Chim Rickles, despite impending regression, will remain a very good player in the short-to-medium term. Regression will hit S31’s Orpheus Czargyros much harder, though. The second Czargyros will fall below 400 TPE after regression, so NOLA will be hoping to replace him with a rookie in this season’s draft or next. As mentioned throughout this article, it seems like every team needs a safety and there are only so many good ones – so unless New Orleans takes one with one of their first rounders they’ll likely wait until S42 to do so.
I feel like I’ve been very harsh about NOLA’s team, so I’ll take this opportunity to say that in Alfonso Dos Santos, the Second Line have one of the league’s better kickers and he’ll be good well into regression. From a draft perspective, the team can forget about this position for the time being.
Orange County Otters (3rd place, 7-6-1)
Needs: S, LB
Wants: WR, CB
Top 5 picks: S41 R1 (from San Jose), S41 R3, S41 R4, S41 R4 (from Colorado), S41 R4 (from Arizona)
Next up is my former team, the Orange County Otters. Starting at quarterback: Matty the user appears to be around the league, but their player Kaguya Shinomiya is considered inactive per the rulebook definition. Orange County drafted GM Beck’s player, Smokin’ Jay, in S39 and Jay will have more TPE than Shinomiya post-regression so it would appear that Jay will take over as quarterback in S41.
For full disclosure, I was still in the Orange County war room until after I recreated and so I may know more or less than I am letting on in this paragraph. Former GM and OCO lifer bowl0 recreated as a quarterback this past offseason, but drafting an S41 quarterback looks awkward to me. If the team were to draft bowl0’s player, Lloyd Bannings, to play QB then OCO will field a 666 TPE Shinomiya in S41, before calling up bowl0’s player at around 500 TPE at the start of S42. Drafting an S41 quarterback commits OCO to two seasons of bottom-of-the-barrel quarterback play, and means OCO’s highest TPE players (RB Leandre Diarra, WR Thomas Robinson and CB Ace McAlister) will all regress at least once before Banning comes good. This is a longwinded way of saying that while Orange County might draft Bannings due to the user behind the player, I still expect Jay to be slinging the ball for the Otters next season instead of Shinomiya or Bannings.
Turning to the running back position, the league’s only max earning fullback Leandre Diarra lead blocks for veteran running back Zane Cold. Cold will eventually pass the reigns over to S40 34th overall pick Tyler One, who is earning reasonably well and will likely step into the RB2 role next season. A running back in this draft would be a luxury given the Otters’ defensive needs.
Shinomiya’s favourite target in the passing game is the aforementioned WR1 Thomas Robinson. Robinson is one of the top earners from a giant S36 class and will be a great player for seasons to come. Teenie Hodges, drafted ninth overall in S38, is a young, solid WR2. There are no other receivers on the roster or in the DSFL though, so I expect Orange County to select one in the middle rounds of this draft to play in the slot.
The team has three tight ends currently under contract, though two are inactive. Molki Koivu, the team’s current TE1, has been inactive for some time and will regress to around 400 TPE, a mark that will mean he remains a good TE2 behind current-send down Big McLarge Huge. McLarge Huge was drafted eighth overall last season, and is the top earning player in his class at the position. Zero Gibson II is inactive, and will be allowed to reach free agency this offseason. There’s no need for Orange County to invest further at this position unless they intend to build the offence around a 2TE system, which is rare in the ISFL but the Otters offence is pretty funky already with Shinomiya and the league's best FB.
Fantasy players will be familiar with Walrus Jones, the team’s human offensive lineman. Caravaggio is the highest-earning user from the S38 class, and as the team ranked 13th of 14 in TPE Orange County aren’t in desperate need of cap space – they have four Tier 4 offensive linemen alongside Jones and still have plenty of cap left over. Offensive line would be another luxury pick.
Things get interesting when we turn to the front seven. Orange County have selected four defensive linemen in the past three drafts, with defensive tackle Johnson Lovehammer the biggest name (and body) on the line. Good Player and Iosefa Fuamatu-Ma'afala, two defensive ends drafted in the second rounds of S39 and S40, will join Lovehammer on the line with defensive tackle Twerky Dingleberry’s future less clear. Dingleberry is currently considered inactive, but logged in a few days ago and has returned from inactivity previously. At 245 TPE, he’s potentially important to OCO due to the linebacker situation behind him. Orange County can let him go if they address the linebacker position, otherwise there will still be a place for Dingleberry or a rookie DL.
The Otters have had a lot of high draft picks recently, and their linebacker core is led by Sim Sunigh, who was drafted third overall two drafts ago. Alongside him is Bender Rodriguez, a player so old that I was one of the GMs who drafted him back in S28. Shrub’s player will soon be claimed by Father Time, and the team’s third linebacker is the inactive So-Much Jazz. Orange County need another body here, and a high-earning rookie would surpass Jazz’s TPE by early in the season. Orange County are another team that could double-dip at this position, as having fewer than three linebackers seems unwise and So-Much Jazz will need replacing next offseason if you can’t replace him this time around.
Ace McAlister is the team’s only defensive player above 600 TPE, meaning he has more than double (1378) the TPE of the team’s second-most talented defender. Orange County gave McAlister some help when they selected Jamdrian LeBayers third overall last offseason, and kenvald’s player remains #1 in TPE among the S40 class. Dragazor Blaze is the team’s current nickelback, and an S32 player with 282 TPE is not someone you want to rely on. McAlister regresses for the first time next offseason, and Orange County need a short-term option to replace Dragazor as well as a long-term option to play across from LeBayers once McAlister finds himself deep in regression. Drafting a corner in S41 gives you both, but the team could opt to field an inactive at this position again next season in order to prioritise filling other holes.
Orange County have a safety duo that rivals Honolulu’s in terms of TPE, and that’s not a compliment. S29’s Rean Schwarzer is another of my many incredible draft picks, but as mentioned earlier in the article bowl0 has retired and recreated so this will be Schwarzer’s last season with the Otters. His partner Kyzir Washington is only 260 TPE and hasn’t completed a TPE task in over 6 months, so this is another team that could start a brand new safety pairing in S41. With only four safeties over 150 TPE at the time of writing and other teams with needs at safety, Orange County and Honolulu could find themselves competing for the top players at the position or asking a rookie at another position to switch positions.
OCO aren’t an obvious candidate to take a kicker, as current kicker Jeremy Crouse Jr. is a slightly-below-average starter (TPE-wise, his kicking has been terrible in S40), and won’t regress for a few more seasons.
Austin Copperheads (2nd place, 8-6)
Needs: WR, LB
Wants: S, CB, DL, K
Top 5 picks: S41 R1, S41 R2, S41 R4, S41 R5, S41 R6
As always, we start at quarterback, where Great Britain’s longest-serving monarch looks to conquer the ISFL in the same way that her predecessors conquered much of the globe. Her Majesty was drafted in S35, and the quarterback conversation is a little more interesting here than it was with San Jose’s quarterback drafted in the same class. Owen Farrell is more than 170 TPE ahead of her, which is almost a whole season of earning - though frazzle hasn’t updated in a while and has some to claim. I think this is another team that could consider Jake Jefferson knowing that if frazzle doesn’t fancy going the distance and Jefferson earns well, Her Majesty could hand over the reigns in a few seasons time – while likely not having to spend a high draft pick to do it. Once again, it’s no real concern if Bannings and Jefferson are drafted elsewhere instead.
The Copperheads temporarily improved their backfield in the trade for DeAndre King mentioned previously, and when King retires this offseason they’ll hand over many of their carries to Howard Coward, the team’s first-round pick in S40. The move’s primary effect on Austin’s future is that it deprives them of a S41 third rounder, and there should be some good players at that spot.
At receiver, the team boasts one of the league’s better outside duos in Zaphod Beeblebrox and Delores Bickerman. The pair were drafted in S36 and S37 respectively, and are both top-10 in TPE in their class. The team could invest some of their remaining draft capital into the position, though, as WR3 Johnny Patey will lose another chunk of TPE to regression and could be playing their last season with the team. I think it makes more sense to add a receiver than a tight end due to the relative value of the two positions and the strength of the receiver class, so I definitely expect Austin to take one of this class’ many options.
I imagine the recently acquired Deshawn Penne will see some time at receiver as well as tight end, but having been drafted the season after Patey he’s no spring chicken either. The team selected tight end Pegme Amidala (yes, that is their name) in the second round of last season’s draft, and despite Amidala only having 226 TPE I think this is fine as long as they add a receiver.
In Jimmy Holding and Brandon Mason, the team has one of the league’s better tackle pairings. They were drafted in S36 and S37 and both are solid, but not max-earning players. They provide some valuable cap relief, are safe from regression for a couple more seasons, and help enable the team to afford three Tier 4 bots. This position is one of the team’s strengths, and an offensive lineman would be a luxury pick in my opinion.
Austin also has a very competent defensive line – funnily enough, the team’s with better records seem to have fewer positional needs. Defensive end Joey Din is the unit’s highest-TPE player, an S34 draftee who will peak around 1300 TPE before he regresses for the first time this offseason. A successor to him would be nice, but it’s a want rather than a need given Din’s ability to continue playing at a high level for several seasons if Mattyoce desires. GM player Carly Rae Jensen and S36’s Jean-Ralphio Saperstein provide solid starting play and similarly, Austin could afford to wait a couple of seasons to address this position unless they fall in love with a prospect.
The linebacker position is more interesting, as there’s some older and lower-TPE players there. Spicy Ron is the leading LB by TPE, but was drafted all the way back in S32 so will lose a chunk of TPE to regression. Joe Smokes was drafted a season later, but is currently considered inactive and he’s due to regress from a starting point of less than 600 TPE. Austin has selected a linebacker in the first round of two of the last three drafts, though, and as a result they can call on S38 first overall pick Tank McGibbons as well as S39 rookie Mario Moloka'i. Numbers’ earning with Moloka'i hasn’t been stellar recently, but at 507 TPE most teams are running worse players at the third or fourth linebacker spot. Nevertheless, the respective ages and pending declines of Ron and Smokes means that the team should look to address this position.
Austin can boast possibly the best cornerback duo in the league, as Draft Steal (1375 TPE) defends one half of the field and Zamir Kehla Jr. (1099 TPE, and with a name I was very surprised to read after I recreated) defends the other. Raffaele Tommasi appears to be playing the nickel, and has sadly long been inactive. Unlike in DDSPF16, the nickelback position doesn’t seem to be particularly involved and so I don’t think this position is a high priority to address - but taking a future nickelback and stashing them in the DSFL in S41 makes sense if the right player falls to them.
Austin currently has six defensive backs on the roster, likely due to the regression that S32 draftee Tobias Worthington III is about to suffer. Worthington III will regress below 400 TPE, so depending on their earning and desire to continue playing, KC15 may cede his starting safety spot to 415 TPE inactive Roma Amir-Kani. Obviously, neither of those options are great and so the Copperheads would appreciate a max-earning safety to fall to their pick to partner Geralt, Laser’s player. If you don’t know who Laser is then I have serious concerns about your decision to read 7,000 words about the upcoming ISFL draft and I’m not going to bother introducing you to him. The problem, as always, is that I’ve already said that 4 teams need a safety and the other wants one. I can count the number of active safeties in this draft on one hand if I count two of my fingers twice, and so unless Austin is willing to take one in Round 1 they won’t get one of the good ones. There will likely be some position switches, whether that’s for Austin or another team.
Austin are another team that could thrill kicker enthusiasts everywhere, as starting kicker Levy Tate will be autoretired this offseason after experiencing a fatal case of Old. Former GM Kyle has a kicker in the DSFL, but they’re inactive at a lower TPE level than multiple kicking prospects in this class. If the team calls up Kyle they’ll be fine, but if one of the kickers is available later on then Austin could replace the ISFL’s least-efficient field goal kicker this season with an active, and more prolific one.
Arizona Outlaws (1st place, 12-2)
Needs: S
Wants: Best users available (see my closing rant)
Top 5 picks: S41 R1, S41 R2, S41 R3, S41 R6, S41 R7
Arizona’s quarterback situation is easy. Right now, two-time MVP Wendell Sailor slings the ball for this offence. When he retires, Donovan Winters III will pick up where he left off and probably win a couple of MVPs himself. Next position.
Per the TPE tracker, the average ISFL running back has 717 TPE. In Danny Nedelko and Sherwin Blue Jr., the team has two backs with more TPE than this, both are in the top-5 for TPE in their class, and they’re both young and a long way away from regression. In case of emergency, they can call up S39 draftee Gucci Gurley to back up Nedelko or Blue Jr. Next position.
I had some fun with the first two paragraphs, but this roster is really, really good. One position where I think they’ll draft someone is wide receiver. The team has the league’s two best receivers by TPE (Louis Blondin and “Captain” Billy Stinkwater), who will both peak at over 1500 TPE. They each regress for the first time this offseason, so I think this is more about maintaining their strength at the position rather than addressing a need. Their WR3 is Kotoni Staggs, who is considered inactive and will regress for a fourth time this offseason. The team could leave this position alone and still have one of the league’s best receiving trios in S41, but I think it makes sense to pick one of this class’ many receiving options and stash them in the DSFL along with last season’s fourth round pick Don Tollibeo to eventually replace the aging players the Outlaws have been throwing the ball to.
The team is currently due to enter S41 without a tight end on the roster, as Herc Kirkby has announced his retirement. As I’ve spoken to more GMs about scouting during this article, I’ve found that they place even less value on the tight end position than I thought and so I think Arizona will run one of the backs or receivers at TE1 next season unless they find one they really like. Nick Williams and Otto the Orange are the two highest-TPE candidates if they look to address this position directly.
Turning to the offensive line, there’s three mid-earning human players here. The team was able to afford two Tier 4 bots this season and is due to have sufficient cap space to do so again. You don’t love the fact that D'Nickashaw Mangoldson will regress for the second time this offseason though, so you could protect the team’s ability to afford to retain the rest of the roster by adding more humans at the position in this draft. Spoiler alert: I think this team only has one need, so if you can grab one of the max-earning offensive linemen in Round 2 or 3, that seems like a great add.
Arizona’s front seven is a front six, as there’s 3 defensive linemen and 3 linebackers on the team and one of the DBs plays ILB in the base package. The stars on the defensive line are double-digit sack man Raphael McTurtle, and last season’s 27th overall pick Sir Tywrell Xah'Aawrone. One represents the present, and one the future. Emerson Quinn is also there. It’s fine, I can say that because they’re inactive and will never read this. I’m considering this to be a want rather than a need, as the Outlaws have so much TPE on the roster that the cap is a real concern. Defensive line is one of the positions where I think you’d probably prefer to spend less, so I wouldn’t prioritise replacing Quinn with another player who would also be on a $1m contract and so wouldn't be any cheaper.
The team’s highest TPE linebacker is another of the McTurtle brothers, Leonardo. Leo has 90 career sacks and peaked at almost 1600 TPE prior to regressing for the first time last offseason. He’s capable of providing great play for a few more seasons and passable play for even longer. Akaki Akayre, his younger counterpart, leads the team in sacks and leads all LBs his-age-or-younger in TPE. Drafted in S36, Akayre won’t regress until the end of S42. The unit’s final player is the inactive Ignatius Reilly, who is a better candidate to replace than Emerson Quinn due to his cap hit being $3m rather than $1m. Like every position so far, Arizona could ignore this position in S41 and be fine though.
Every team has holes though, and for Arizona that’s cornerback. lol jk, this team’s starting CB duo has more TPE than every team not named the Austin Copperheads. Spottie O'Dopaliscious and Outlaw Mode Sicko were drafted in S34 and S35 respectively, but S31’s Mark Goodhead plays in the nickel role and he’ll take a tougher beating from Mooty when he posts this offseason’s regression post. Goodhead will start S41 with more TPE than any rookie could hope to reach, but they’d like to replace him in S42 so should select someone in this draft or next.
At safety, the team finally has a legitimate need. Last season’s first round pick Notso Smart looks a wise pick despite the obvious joke, and will start at one spot. The other is currently slated to be Amari Springer, but they’re a 518 TPE inactive S31 player so could be replaced by a rookie who’s earned well or a stopgap free agency signing. This is yet another example of horrible roster management by Arizona, and I think that they should be embarrassed of their “achievements” in constructing this team. The team is doomed if they don’t select a safety, and if they don’t select a good one then I imagine HO will have to intervene in order to ensure this team is led more competently in future. This team has one need and then can add their favourite users available at any other position. That’s not good enough, and Simo's mum told me that she considers her son a failure as a GM.
Anyway, thank you for reading this part-rigorous ISFL draft analysis, part-sprawling descent into madness as I wrote and re-wrote this piece. When I created the first time round back in S22, I really boosted my draft stock by releasing a 6,000+ word article previewing the S22 Draft, so I have a message for ISFL GMs: how do you like this 8,000+ word one???
If anyone was able to make it through the entire article, thank you very much! I hope mock drafters, wannabe GMs and other interested parties enjoy this deep dive and that my hours spent in the budget sheet save you some time researching your own articles. As mentioned in the intro, I’ll be working on the NSFC side of things next and hope to publish that next week! See you then.
[OPTION]S24 (PHI): 16 GP, 73 tackles, 1 TFL, 2 FF, 3 sacks, 5 INTs, 10 PDs, 2 TDs
[OPTION]S25 (PHI): 16 GP, 67 tackles, 4 INTs, 13 PDs, 1 TD
[OPTION]S26 (OCO): 16 GP, 68 tackles, 1 TFL, 1 sack, 2 INTs, 10 PDs
[OPTION]S27 (OCO): 16 GP, 116 tackles, 4 INTs, 23 PDs, 1 TD
[OPTION]S28 (OCO): 16 GP, 84 tackles, 1 FF, 1 FR, 3 INTs, 20 PDs, 1 TD
[OPTION]S29 (OCO): 16 GP, 99 tackles, 3 FF, 1 FR, 5 INTs, 23 PDs, 1 TD
[OPTION]=============================================================
[OPTION]ISFL Playoff Stats:
[OPTION]S23 (PHI): 1 GP, 2 tackles
[OPTION]S26 (OCO): 1 GP, 5 tackles, 2 PDs
[OPTION]=============================================================
[OPTION]Trophies and Achievements:
[OPTION]Drafted 35th Overall by Myrtle Beach in the S21 DSFL Draft
[OPTION]S21 Ultimini Champion
[OPTION]S21 DSFL Pro Bowl Selection
[OPTION]S21 DSFL Defensive Back of the Year Nominee
[OPTION]Drafted 4th Overall by Philadelphia in the S22 ISFL Draft
[OPTION]S23 ISFL Pro Bowl Selection
[OPTION]S23 ISFL Cornerback of the Year Nominee
[OPTION]S23 ISFL Defensive Performance of the Year Nominee
[OPTION]S24 ISFL Pro Bowl Selection
[OPTION]S24 ISFL Cornerback of the Year Nominee
[OPTION]S25 (PHI): 16 GP, 67 tackles, 4 INTs, 13 PDs, 1 TD
[OPTION]S26 (OCO): 16 GP, 68 tackles, 1 TFL, 1 sack, 2 INTs, 10 PDs
[OPTION]S27 (OCO): 16 GP, 116 tackles, 4 INTs, 23 PDs, 1 TD
[OPTION]S28 (OCO): 16 GP, 84 tackles, 1 FF, 1 FR, 3 INTs, 20 PDs, 1 TD
[OPTION]S29 (OCO): 16 GP, 99 tackles, 3 FF, 1 FR, 5 INTs, 23 PDs, 1 TD
[OPTION]=============================================================
[OPTION]ISFL Playoff Stats:
[OPTION]S23 (PHI): 1 GP, 2 tackles
[OPTION]S26 (OCO): 1 GP, 5 tackles, 2 PDs
[OPTION]=============================================================
[OPTION]Trophies and Achievements:
[OPTION]Drafted 35th Overall by Myrtle Beach in the S21 DSFL Draft
[OPTION]S21 Ultimini Champion
[OPTION]S21 DSFL Pro Bowl Selection
[OPTION]S21 DSFL Defensive Back of the Year Nominee
[OPTION]Drafted 4th Overall by Philadelphia in the S22 ISFL Draft
[OPTION]S23 ISFL Pro Bowl Selection
[OPTION]S23 ISFL Cornerback of the Year Nominee
[OPTION]S23 ISFL Defensive Performance of the Year Nominee
[OPTION]S24 ISFL Pro Bowl Selection
[OPTION]S24 ISFL Cornerback of the Year Nominee
[OPTION]S26 ISFL Pro Bowl Selection
[OPTION]S26 ISFL Returner of the Year Nominee
[OPTION]S29 ISFL Pro Bowl Selection
[OPTION]S29 ISFL Cornerback of the Year Nominee
[OPTION]=============================================================
Player | Update | Wiki | Twitter
[OPTION]S26 ISFL Returner of the Year Nominee
[OPTION]S29 ISFL Pro Bowl Selection
[OPTION]S29 ISFL Cornerback of the Year Nominee
[OPTION]=============================================================
Player | Update | Wiki | Twitter