*S41 ISFL Draft Preview: Mock Draft

[Memento Mori]

Three years ago, one man had a mission. Having joined the league as a member of the Season 22 draft class, he aimed to write a mock draft and accompanying articles worthy of previewing the biggest class in league history. He wrote 10987 words across three articles: Writing a mock draft after the announcement of two expansion teams, and then a second edition after the expansion teams were announced. Finally, as draft night neared he wrote a big board ranking the top 50 players in that class. I like to think that that was a big part of me climbing team's draft boards.

Three years on, that same individual had a new unprecedently-large draft class to preview. I’ve really enjoyed writing almost 20,000 words about this class, but sadly that means this mock draft isn’t as long as I wanted! Below is the first two rounds, submitted at the buzzer before the draft actually starts and New York are on the clock.

Some disclaimers: the below is what I think will happen, rather than what I think should happen. I might think player X is a great prospect who will be drafted lower than I should due to team needs, positional value or even a particular bias that I think the drafting team has. If you or another player is further down the order than you think you or they should be, that’s not necessarily representative of what I think about them as a prospect.

In every scouting conversation I’ve had, I’ve tried to learn what the GM I’m talking to wants from this draft, and with some of the more open GMs I’ve asked them what specific prospects they like or directly who they’re drafting.

Round 1

1. New York Silverbacks select Dub Redd, Defensive Tackle (@wizard_literal) 

I will eventually talk about Wiz and his player, but first I’ll address the elephant in the room that this pick is not Mary Marie. For the past few weeks, like everyone else I’d been working under the assumption that aeonsjenni (who at every point other than when listing her draft position at the next pick, will be referred to as Jenni) would be selected first overall by whatever team ended up picking there. Since we all made that assumption, New York has become the owner of the top pick and I’ve spoken a bit both to Jenni and to New York about the upcoming draft. Both parties suggested that New York would not select Jenni at 1, and so I’m mocking Wiz there. Now, to talk about Wiz: from a player/bank perspective, he has everything you want from a first overall pick. He’s “only” joint-7th in the class in TPE, but five of the six players ahead of him benefitted from creating earlier than him and taking advantage of additional opportunities to earn TPE. In the less-than-two-months since creating his player, he’s posted an astonishing 16 media articles – so there’s an average of between three and four days between his posts in the media forum, and that doesn’t even include the six-part series he and Jenni co-wrote about this draft class, as she published those. This has all contributed to him building up a very impressive bank balance of over $50m already.

He’s also been really active generally: he has more than 2000 discord messages across ISFL gen chat and the rookie discord, and he’s regularly on the forum replying to other people’s media articles. He’s also recently been named as one of the new General Managers of the Tijuana Luchadores. The positional value of a defensive tackle is one of the few questions I’d have, but New York has a need there and while I’ve not asked Wiz directly I’m advised by one of the users I spoke to that he’s open to switching positions. I’m told he and long-time Silverbacks GM Zayn have struck up a good connection, and that’s part of why the team is leaning towards Wiz over other options.

My final indication that Wiz is going first overall is that in his mock draft he mocks himself first overall, says words to the effect of ‘lol jk’ and then leaves himself out of the mock entirely. I think New York have confirmed to him that if they pick at 1, they’ll take him. In my previous drafts with Jenni being taken first overall, I couldn’t find an obvious landing spot for Wiz in the top few picks so I think New York could also consider trading down and picking up assets from a team that wants to draft Jenni.

2. Colorado Yeti select Mary Marie, Safety (@aeonsjenni) (from Baltimore)

My first draft of this actually involved the same top four as Twenty6, in which Colorado picked Wolfie McDummy Jr. second overall after Mary Marie was drafted with the top pick. Alas, in this universe Wiz is drafted first overall and so many people’s top prospect falls to Colorado at 2. The Yeti are actually one of the few teams that I don’t think need a safety, and when speaking with Jenni about a position change she told me that while she’s open to playing out of position, she’d rather not use her position switch. As I mentioned in my NSFC draft needs article, the Colorado secondary is pretty old though. Mary Marie could see some time at nickelback, or even be sent down for Season 42 as this pick is very much for the user rather than her player. She’s a user that stood out immediately, resulting in Bondi Beach selecting her first overall in the DSFL, and someone Buccaneers GM identified as a potential future GM and ISFL first overall pick when selecting her. She’s written an incredible amount of media too, including the series co-written with Wiz mentioned in his write-up – so has a very respectable bank balance of over $34m herself. She’s level with Wiz on 249 TPE, so again there’s only one non-trade deadline create ahead of her.

My original selection at this pick, infinitempg should also be mentioned here. Infinite GM’d the team for eight seasons between Season 10 and 17, playing for the team on two of his three previous players. He quarterbacked the team twice, and both his quarterbacks Micycle McCormick and Wolfie McDummy have been inducted into the Hall of Fame as Colorado Yeti players. His third player was selected second overall by Baltimore (who had the top two picks, so essentially selected him 1b) and then spent his whole career with the Hawks, and nothing’s really changed since then: he’s still very rich, very active, one of the top earners in this class and one of the league’s most-respected users. This class is just a bit bigger than that one. It does feel like a risk to let Infinite slip past the team’s pick and hope he’s there to take at 7, but I feel like it’s a risk that Colorado would take with Jenni still on the board. I wouldn’t rule them trading up somewhere in the next few picks to guarantee they bring back Infinite though.

Final word on Jenni: :kiwi: ?

3. Honolulu Hahalua select Rico Savage, Safety (@TheRake)

At third overall, I think Honolulu takes the best safety available. That means there’s a bit of a caveat to this pick and a bit of (MM)flexibility in whether not I’ll claim to have gotten this right. Flex was very clear when scouting me that they wanted to pick a safety, and as mentioned in my ASFC draft needs article (don’t worry, I’ll stop linking them now) there’s no team that has a bigger need at safety. If Honolulu has had a great scouting conversation with someone like baz or Uptown then I’m sure they could go at this spot, especially if they’re willing to switch to safety, but I’m advised that at least one of them isn’t too keen on switching. I’m mocking TheRake here, as even if there are prospects somewhat willing to switch, I think he makes a lot of sense for Honolulu. He’s 11th in the class with 246 TPE as of his last update, which is only three behind Wiz and Jenni, and only six behind the top non-trade deadline create. I’m advised that TheRake is considered a good fit for the Hahalua locker room, he’s very active on discord and I’m sure he’d get on great with IceBear’s mum.

4. Orange County Otters select Loose Cannon, Linebacker (@Jumbo) (from San Jose)

This feels like a Slate pick to me. While former Orange County GM Memento Mori, who is incredibly handsome and beloved in the Otters locker room is available in this draft I think all other considerations align here. The team is in desperate need of a linebacker with Bender Rodriguez retiring and Sim Sunigh the only other active linebacker contracted to the team, and Jumbo has the most TPE in this class as well as $90m in the bank. And he plays linebacker! He’s not so active in public discord servers or on the forum, but I’m told he’s active in the London locker room, in which Slate is present. His profile as a prospect reminds me a bit of kenvald, who Orange County selected with the third overall pick in last season’s draft, in that he’s very active in other leagues but has demonstrated what’s required to build a successful player in this league too.

There’s been discussion about drafting my recreate in OCO since before I’d decided to recreate, but I don’t think my player is selected at 4 with the team needing a number of defensive players and my player playing wide receiver. I think it’s more likely to happen if the Otters trade down, or trade up from one of their other selections.

5. New Orleans Second Line select John Stark VIII, Linebacker (@UptownCord) (from Berlin)

The league’s worst-kept secret is that fellow Portland Python furiousPanda will be named New Orleans GM as long as he’s not drafted by another team in this draft, and I think the Second Line will select one of Panda’s current GMs in Uptown. Uptown was named Portland GM early this season after CptGoosar left his post as Pythons co-GM at the end of S39, impressing the Pythons management immediately after being drafted by the team. Uptown is 5th in the class in TPE, ranking ahead of everyone except four of the filthy tryhards who created around the trade deadline with 252 TPE as of his last update. With the recent turnover at GM and apparent struggle to fill the open spots, I think New Orleans will be looking for other future GMs in this draft and as a DSFL GM already, Uptown fits that profile. The team also badly needs a linebacker, so John Stark VIII can help the team on the field immediately.

6. New Orleans Second Line select Bruce White, Defensive End (@toofpete)

I’ll be up-front and say that New Orleans is one of the teams I have a poor read on, in part because I’ve not spoken to their GMs (I was scouted by another member of the war room) about the upcoming draft and so I’m not sure how the decision-making process will go with one of the GMs not on the team yet and possibly having limited input. Other users have identified a Portland to New Orleans pipeline more generally, and with the team hiring Panda and drafting Uptown with the pick before, I see no reason for them to pass on a great prospect who could contribute to the team on day one. The Second Line roster is really old and they only have one send down contracted to them, so I think they’d be wise to trade down for more picks if they can get them. They have needs all over the roster due to the number of regressing players, including on defensive line, so if they stay at 6 and the board looks like this they could go pretty much anywhere. Bruce White makes at least as much sense as anyone else here.

7. Colorado Yeti select Wolfie McDummy Jr., Wide Receiver (@infinitempg)

I spoke about Infinite when covering the Yeti’s previous pick, so there’s no need to introduce him here. Due to most teams from 3-6 having needs on defence, if there are no trades then I could see Infinite falling to 7 and Colorado’s gamble paying off. I still think this is really risky, though, as Infinite would go first overall in almost any class. If I was Colorado GM I’d be trying to trade up to around the 4th pick and I’d select Infinite there, but in my mock draft universe the Yeti get him at 7.

8. Sarasota Sailfish select Ezra Azazel, Cornerback (@baz1757)

Not to make this article all about me, but we’ve reached the point in the first round where the GMs I was talking to suggested I could be their pick when I asked who they were drafting in round one, meaning I no longer have a good read on who each team’s respective GMs like. What I do know, is that getting baz at this pick is a steal and he should really go higher than this, the board just didn’t fall that way in my eyes. He’s the second-highest TPE player on the board, and plays a coveted position in CB. He’s already built up a bank balance of over $46m, and will be co-GMing Tijuana alongside Wiz. Sarasota’s cornerbacks are old or poor earners, so Azazel can start at CB3 in Week 1 before eventually taking over the CB2 role across from King Zeus as the King ages. Ultimately, there’s just more good wide receiver prospects for the Sailfish to fill that need later with.

9. Austin Copperheads select Oliver Tolliver, Wide Receiver (@Memento Mori)

Mocking my player at any spot fills me with a deep sense of dread and awkwardness, but I’m placing myself at this spot because if the board fell like this, and I put myself in the shoes of the Austin war room, I’d be advocating drafting my player. There are lots of users on this team that I like, and who I hope like me, and this team doesn’t have a lot of needs (or they probably wouldn’t be the 2nd seed in the ASFC) so they don’t have to chase after one of the remaining defensive players here and can select the player with the most-non-rookie-tasks-inflated TPE – I’m coming for you, Jumbo.

10. Cape Town Crash select Kadarius Claypool ll, Cornerback (@Weaves)

For over twenty seasons now, every Philadelphia (now Cape Town) GM has asked, ‘does Norfolk have anyone good this season?’ when they’re on the clock – just ask @Hallmonitor_20. As I told negs when he scouted me, I think this is one of the league’s best-constructed rosters taking into account the amount of young talent this team has stashed in the DSFL. I had LB and CB as the team’s biggest needs prior to the Kenny McCormick trade, and that does open up the possibility of them picking a linebacker at this spot, but I think they’d feel great about addressing one of the CB spots here as they want more than one corner in the next couple of drafts.

11. Colorado Yeti select Craig Brand, Linebacker (@ElMerchanto) (from Orange County)

In my previous draft, I had Craig Brand to the Yeti at 7 and I feel like he’s a good fit for their locker room. Colorado only has one linebacker they can rely on long-term in Waylen Greene, and by using their three first round picks on Jenni, Infinite and Merchant they address their two biggest needs (wide receiver and linebacker) as well as draft most people’s favourite user in the class.

12. Chicago Butchers select Max Honestly, Linebacker (@"LeSizz")

Does two in a row count as a run on linebackers? Chicago has three regressing linebackers, and one inactive linebacker. Unless the cupboard is absolutely bare, I think the Butchers will take an LB with their first pick and while he’s the second on the board by TPE, LeSizz has already banked more than $42m and so I think Chicago go for Max Honestly rather than Liath Squirrel.

13. Yellowknife Wraiths select Emile Charles, Wide Receiver (@Number 82)

I’m assuming that Yellowknife lose the Ultimus here because they’re the away team, so sorry I guess? This is a very strong roster without a lot of urgent needs, and so they can pick the best player available here. I want to end the slide of LtHudz and a few other great users, and I probably would if LtHudz played linebacker, but I can’t look past Number 82 here. Good teams stay good by making smart picks like this, and if 82 is there at 13, why not take the user who peaked around 1500 TPE on his last player, is sure to do it again, has over $230m in the bank and is liked by everyone? With only one active wide receiver on the roster, I’d find it very hard not to select 82 here.

14. Arizona Outlaws select Billy Jor-El, Defensive Tackle (@LtHudz)

There’s a few prospects I’d feel really bad about leaving out of Round 1, and LtHudz is one of them. For the reasons I mentioned in the draft needs article, I don’t think Arizona will actually mind too much that their rostering an inactive defensive lineman at the moment. Jor-El would be a great addition though, and if he’s willing to switch to safety then I think Arizona would be very happy to select him here. As a team without many needs, like Yellowknife they can afford to pick their favourite prospect and so I think things are pretty wide-open here. This is essentially a placeholder for whoever the best availabler user at this point is.

Round 2

15. New York Silverbacks select Benji Aguilera, Wide Receiver (@CROney3)

As I noted in my draft needs article, New York’s WR3 is retiring and they have no one to replace him unless they fancy calling up a 133 TPE dude (editor’s note: they don’t). I really wanted to include CROney in Round 1, but three huge recreates decided to be divas and recreate at wide receiver so he falls to the top of the second. I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s off the board by this point, but I think uniting CROney with his current teammate-turned-GM in Wiz, who the Silverbacks selected in Round 1, makes a lot of sense.

16. San Jose Sabercats select Legs McMillion, Wide Receiver (@jollyjiggs) (from Baltimore)

We say hello to the San Jose Sabercats for the first time here, and I honestly can’t remember how they acquired this pick, I’ve lost track of the Baltimore trade web. Urq660’s previous player just finished his career with the Sabercats, and the team had big holes at both wide receiver and linebacker prior to the recent trade to acquire Kenny McCormick from Cape Town. I’m tempted to give the team a second linebacker anyway due to the age of the unit, but jollyjiggs is a user who’s extremely active on discord, has a much bigger bank account and many expect them to go earlier than this. He looks like he has a higher ceiling than Urq so San Jose take the best remaining receiver on my board.

17. Honolulu Hahalua select Ray Baker, Kicker (@jdc4654)

I’m stealing this pick from Wiz’s mock because I really like it. Drafting a kicker this early is objectively silly, and Flex will probably be in his DMs asking if he wants to switch to safety, but there’s not a safety or linebacker I’d be eager to pick here if I was Honolulu. jdc will be another great addition to the team’s locker room and has a huge wad of cash to his name that will fund his earning. The Hahalua have lots of cap space and a horrible kicker so you can maybe kinda justify it from an on-field perspective. This also means every DSFL team has had a player selected, as Kansas City was the final team without one.

18. Cape Town Crash select DJ Maclean, Linebacker (@Urq660) (from San Jose)

We return to the Crash, who acquired this pick in the aforementioned trade that sent Kenny McCormick to San Jose. I feel like Cape Town may have had a player in mind to replace McCormick when they made that trade, but I can’t deduce who that is (if they’re still available in this scenario) and so the team could be looking to solve that hole with a position switch. As a result I’m just going to throw my hands up and give them Urq, who’s sure to be a solid ISFL linebacker.

19. Berlin Fire Salamanders select The Riddler, Wide Receiver (@MattBake12)

Hey, it’s Berlin! He’s not one of the team’s GMs, but Nathan has been very vocal about the team needing an offensive lineman, and Dewalt discussed it with me as well when he scouted me. I think the team will wait and select one of their alumni, crazylemire (Great Khali) in the next round or later, and instead pick another user they have a connection to here. When I was Orange County GM, Eldorian was very vocal in the war room about MattBake being a great draft pick for us (and he was), and guess who’s now in the Berlin war room? With Octavio Pérez being traded to Chicago midseason and Zayne Dangle facing regression, it makes sense to pick up a receiver in this class.

20. New Orleans Second Line select Jumbo Edward, Defensive Tackle (@furiousPanda)

Finally, I can belatedly cross Panda off my spreadsheet as New Orleans reaches for selects their new GM at 20.

21. Arizona Outlaws select Diego López Alonso, Wide Receiver (@DL14) (from Colorado)

Even though they drafted Don Tollibeo in last season’s draft, with three regressing wide receivers I think Arizona could still do with reinforcing the position. Arizona GM Simo tells me that they’re just drafting based on user though, and DL14 is my favourite user available here so I’m going to be biased and put him at 21.

22. Sarasota Sailfish select Artemis Entreri, Wide Receiver (@entreri)

Evidently, this is the point at which the scales tip and the abundance of wide receivers is outweighed by how good the prospects are. I have entreri a little lower than others due to their bank balance and recent activity – they have less than $4m in the bank and haven’t posted any media or graphics since posting two initial articles at the beginning of February. They remain active on discord and with 244 TPE, have more than anyone else available at this point though so this feels like a good spot for them.

23. Austin Copperheads select Liath Squirrel, Linebacker (@LiathTheSquirrel)

I believe Austin’s biggest needs are wide receiver and linebacker, and after selecting a wide receiver in round one they get a linebacker in round two. Liath’s previous player played for Austin, and even returned to the team in free agency after being traded. I imagine they’d want to return to the team again, and so Austin makes that happen in Round 2.

24. Cape Town Crash select Rolud Onyxgut, Defensive End (@crash1005)

I’ve not had a defensive lineman come off the board for a while (besides New Orleans’ GM pick) as I think there’s a bit of a gap between the defensive linemen who have TPE and cash who went in Round 1, and the second tier. That second tier is led by Rolud Onyxgut, who leads the group in TPE with 237 and has published five media articles so has a bit more in the bank than the others.

25. San Jose Sabercats select Nick Williams, Tight End (@nickWilliams) (from Orange County)

Having acquired a linebacker and a wide receiver by way of a draft selection and a trade, San Jose have a bit more freedom with this pick. nickWilliams has 241 TPE, and over $30m in the bank, but has fallen as he’s a tight end and most teams don’t see them as particularly valuable. Having just traded away their only tight end, this is a good value selection for the Sabercats.

26. Chicago Butchers select Brian Vincent-Vega, Safety (@WrittinDirectino)

I have Chicago as needing a defensive back here, and I think Brian Vincent-Vega will go later than he should on account of not having updated last week. He has more TPE relative to his peers than the tracker suggests, and with $11m in his bank has more cash to spend than the other top remaining DBs. His username is also outstanding.

27. Yellowknife Wraiths select Bill Cravy, Cornerback (@KlausGoatCasinos)

After selecting 82 with their first pick, Yellowknife would probably want to just select the best user available on defence. There’s a number of players I considered for this spot but I eventually went with Cravy, as he’s posted three media articles in the last two weeks so may be becoming more interested in the league than his peers.

28. Arizona Outlaws select Otto The Orange, Tight End (@Greenbaynathan)

Another pick for Arizona, another BPA selection. When I spoke with Simo, he didn’t seem particularly bothered about selecting a true tight end to replace the retiring Herc Kirkby but Otto the Orange is one of the highest-TPE players remaining and he has over $50m in his bank, so he looks set to continue earning well into the future.

Thank you for reading! As I mentioned in the intro, it’s been really fun to re-integrate myself with the league, spend time getting to know all the new rookies in the S42 class and write lots of media again. I hope you’re all looking forward to the draft as much as I am, and you have fun wherever you land.

[juniped]

Weird you forgot me

[wizard_literal]

2000 discord messages!? Yeah that sounds about right, stellar mock draft! Your content accuracy is unrivaled as always. You weren't entirely far off on my lol jk 1OA pick, but I will say NYS gave me no such promise. I'd be very surprised if Jenni isn't 1OA either through New York or a team trading up.