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+---- Thread: *New Year, New Me? (/showthread.php?tid=32658)
*New Year, New Me? - Rockiesfan4ever - 05-31-2021
Claim Thread: https://forums.sim-football.com/showthread.php?tid=32156&pid=474239#pid474239
The old saying is “new year, new me”, right? Well that might be 100% bullshit this year for Chathack’rius Smith IV. More like, “new year, same old BS”. At this point I don’t think there is anything more that Smith IV can learn with Bondi Beach and playing against DSFL talent. Plus, it doesn’t appear to even matter to the other teams and general managers in the league. Smith IV was constantly passed up in the DSFL draft to end up with Bondi Beach and even after a couple of great seasons, he has no awards, recognition, Pro Bowls, or call up to show for it.
The first thing we are going to look at today is the S28 DSFL awards, specifically at safety. Chathack’rius Smith IV was not a finalist for the award despite posting the most tackles out of any Free Safety in the DSFL. There were 5 safeties nominated for DSFL Safety of the Year, and we are going to look at 3 of those nominees and see if they truly were a better safety than Chathack’rius Smith was in season 28.
Player 1: 58 tackles, 1 Forced Fumble, 0 sacks, 5 interceptions, 9 pass deflections, and 2 touchdowns
Player 2: 51 tackles, 2 Forced Fumbles, 3 sacks, 3 interceptions, 8 pass deflections, and 0 touchdowns
Player 3: 42 tackles, 1 Forced Fumbles, 1 sack, 2 interceptions, 3 pass deflections, and 0 touchdowns
Player 4: 74 tackles, 1 Forced Fumble, 3 sacks, 0 interceptions, 7 pass deflections, and 0 touchdowns
First off, let’s look at Player 1 vs. Player 4. The big advantage here is the 5 extra interceptions and the 2 extra touchdowns that they produced. Definitely a strong candidate and it would be tough to argue player 4 outperformed them. Player 1 wins
The next matchup looks at Player 2 vs. Player 4 and this is where it starts to get dicey. Sacks and touchdowns are the same so we can disregard those and we are left with tackles, forced fumbles, and pass deflections to compare the 2 players. Player 2 had 1 more forced fumble along with 1 extra pass deflection, but had 23 less tackles. That is 31% less tackles than player 4 had. It’s at this point where it’s hard to make an argument that an impact on 2 more plays (even though one of them is a turnover) outweighs the impact of player 4 on 23 more plays. Player 4 wins
The last comparison we are going to look at is Player 3 vs. Player 4. Again, forced fumbles are even at 1 so we can call that moot and neither player scored a touchdown so we can move on and look at the other stats. Player 3 beat player 4 in interceptions and….oh, wait, that’s the only category that Player 3 put up better stats than player 4 in? Then how did they get nominated? Player 4 had nearly twice as many tackles, 2 more sacks, and 4 more pass deflections than player 3. If you count the number of plays impact by said player then player 3 ends up at 49 and player 4 at 85; player 4 impacted 42% more plays than player 3 and yet the GMs voted player 3 as a Safety of the Year nominee and not player 4. Player 4 wins
At this point you can probably infer that Player 4 is Chathack’rius Smith IV, and an argument could be made that he was the 3rd best safety in the DSFL when looking at the number of plays impacted. However, apparently the general managers in the DSFL do not value having 20 more tackles as much as having a couple of more interceptions. Now, I will not name names for the other players because it is not their fault that they got nominated, but leads to the bigger question. What else can Chathack’rius Smith IV do in the DSFL in order to get attention, recognition, and the reputation that he has earned?
As everyone is aware, training facilities in the DSFL are limited, meaning most players max out their talents there sometime around season 2 and are stuck playing at that same ability level for the rest of that season, and future season(s), if applicable. We seem to have seen Chathack’rius hit that same wall towards the end of season 2, so what good does it do him to play in the DSFL for the 3rd consecutive season? He isn’t going to be able to train to get better, his performance isn’t good enough in the eyes of other teams around the league to garner awards and recognition, and he is spending the peak of his athletic years on a team that isn’t competing for the Ultimus award. Plus, it is another year of his contract with Austin that goes down the drain and he will only have 2 years of control left when he gets called (if that happens after this year). At the end of his contract, he is going to have a decision to make; does he look elsewhere to see if anyone else wants his services, or does he re-up with Austin now that they finally want to play him?
On the topic of looking elsewhere, it doesn’t seem like Chathack’rius Smith’s value for other teams is as high as it possibly should be. We already delved into the issues with awards, pro bowls, and voting, but it’s safe to say other teams haven’t been interested in trying to pluck Smith from Austin to move him to their ISFL team as well, instead they are ok with him being stashed in the DSFL. Obviously, it’s hard for a writer to speculate on talks that go on behind the scenes, but the awards, draft positions, and general feel around the league is that Smith IV isn’t valued nearly as high as he should be. Teams want defensive players that can turn the ball over, not tackle.
So where does that leave Smith IV in regards to the old adage, “new year, new me”? Obviously all he can do is continue to work on his skills outside of the limited facilities of the Bondi Beach Buccaneers to see what he can develop on his own, however, he will need to continue to push himself on the field and start generating more turnovers and game-changing plays especially with stud Linebacker Tre’Mendous Johnson gone after just 1 year in Bondi Beach. This defensive back group for Bondi Beach is experienced and has played together for a couple of seasons now, so the trust and knowledge should be there for them to excel. However, the onus will be on the front 7 for Bondi to force other teams to pass and let that experience play.
One thing that has changed is it appears Chathack’rius Smith IV has talked the coaches into letting him split time returning kicks and maybe that’s where he can generate some extra value, but so far the results are not showing a tremendous amount of value. Based on what we have seen from Smith IV at the end of last year, the pre-season, and the beginning of this year we can expect a similar stat line to last year. Roughly 80 tackles, a forced fumble or tackles, maybe a couple of sacks, minimal interceptions, a good handful of pass deflections, and a blocked punt. The question will be, is that enough to garner the attention and recognition he wants and he deserves?