*It's Time to Accept a Four Team Expansion

[Duilio05]

Enjoyed the read. One of the S22 rookies myself so I don't know all the ins-and-outs of how the sim works, forgive me if I say something dumb.

Is it possible that 20 per team is too little, and the NSFL should be trying to shift to a reality where it's not the case that you have roughly 6/11/1 players on offense, defense and special teams? Could some of the problems be solved by making the bot OL worse players, meaning that if you create an offensive lineman you have a clear pathway to starting in the NSFL sooner than any other position to a) encourage people to create OL b) compensate for it being less 'fun' and c) encourage teams to roster more players?

I'm also surprised to learn that more teams aren't carrying more skill position players, as this would increase the number of defenders that teams need. Why aren't teams rostering 5 WRs so that they can play empty, 5 WR sets and force the defense to play a dime package with 4 CBs? And some extra blocking TEs to play heavy sets and force the defense to stock up on LBs/run-stuffing strong safeties to counter this?

I get that in a sim league people are always going to want to aim higher than a situational role as a third down back etc. but I think there's ways to make the sim more interesting while accommodating more players, which seems like killing two birds with stone.

I'm sure @AdamS love to give a fuller more detailed answer to you, but here's a quick dirty off my mobile. No injuries & horrible Oline retention.

We don't have injuries in the league so needing extra depth isn't necessary. Depth is helpful if your players have low endurance but most players start with enough endurance to stay pretty efficient. The second problem but easier to fix is that quiet frankly the cap would need raised for most teams to bring in 3-5 more skilled players on top of their starting rotation. However I expect the league will expand as much as needed before we drastically alter the cap.

As for Oline our historic numbers say Oline rentention is bad, worse than average and why there is a big red note in the rookie guide basically saying "we only recommend recreates make oline" and so many rules benefit position switching from Oline to other positions. Not to dissuade any current Oline players, just the facts. So while a good number of S22 players will be soaked up cause they'll be drafted to replace Oline bots, most will either go ia(doesn't affect expansion numbers), or position switch(which makes expansion even more necessary).

That said I love the idea of using players situationally based on their archetypes, because when everyone is the same WR or RB archetype is boring. However as GM, strategy game planning is a tad rigid, difficult to do what you're describing. Possible yes, but to an extent.

[siddhus]

I just want 4 expansion teams, so more of a chance to be an expansion GM. Nice article btw really explained some stuff

[Memento Mori]

Will group my replies to @Duilio05 and @37thchamber together.

Do you think there's potential for a small-scale version of what I suggested under the current league structure, or are there teams already using some of these concepts?

Could see a style of teambuilding like Baltimore or Tennessee in the NFL being successful - if everyone in the NSFL is playing nickel as their base defense, why not attract all the best run blockers to your team and play 2 TEs on every down?

The rest of the league then has to get bigger, or roster an extra LB to sub in for a DB in certain matchups. When the league gets heavier and base defense gets used more, someone starts playing spread offense with a back and 4 receivers. The league can either shift back the other way or start acquiring specialist players so they can adapt depending on matchup, etc.

These are pretty macro concepts and I'm aware the DDSPF game has some limitations, but it ties into expansion of the league. More teams is going to lead to more diversity in terms of roster building and ideas, and the more teams there are the more you can benefit from doing something different to the rest of the league.

[RainDelay]

I’m a little confused... why would the teams draft in S22 but not exist in S22? Why would players sit out a season?

[Duilio05]

Will group my replies to @Duilio05 and @37thchamber together.

Do you think there's potential for a small-scale version of what I suggested under the current league structure, or are there teams already using some of these concepts?

Could see a style of teambuilding like Baltimore or Tennessee in the NFL being successful - if everyone in the NSFL is playing nickel as their base defense, why not attract all the best run blockers to your team and play 2 TEs on every down?

The rest of the league then has to get bigger, or roster an extra LB to sub in for a DB in certain matchups. When the league gets heavier and base defense gets used more, someone starts playing spread offense with a back and 4 receivers. The league can either shift back the other way or start acquiring specialist players so they can adapt depending on matchup, etc.

These are pretty macro concepts and I'm aware the DDSPF game has some limitations, but it ties into expansion of the league. More teams is going to lead to more diversity in terms of roster building and ideas, and the more teams there are the more you can benefit from doing something different to the rest of the league.

I think this sort of stuff becomes a lot more likely if we are ever to update to a newer version of DDSPF, but that's a whole other bucket of worms. That said it is certainly possible and is something NOLA is trying given they are the only team to employ two high tpe level user Olinemen at Tackle. I haven't looked at the S20 data, but for S19 NOLA was by far the most run heavy team in the league. If the trend catches on it is possible we can see shift of the current meta away from nickel.

[SabaDonutMan]

I’m a little confused... why would the teams draft in S22 but not exist in S22? Why would players sit out a season?

They send down the players who they draft. This gives them more time to plan, trade, etc...

[RainDelay]

They send down the players who they draft. This gives them more time to plan, trade, etc...

Oh I see. I thought he meant the players would sit out and do nothing which wouldn’t be fair.

[JKortesi81]

I hate that i speak fluid "Adam" now and completely understood his scrambled egg brain.

[Jiggly_333]

Expansion was decided on. We as a league would go from 8 to 10 teams. GMs were announced a month later on April 14th. One of them won an Ultimus. The other defends a state government who tried to steal a private business via passing illegal law giving it to themselves while also using state police to try to force the owners of said business to remain in the state before the blatantly illegible law was even passed. And his response will be that the team was able to get moving trucks there tog et them out really quickly and how shady that is.

I don't understand what this is about.

[gucci]

I don't understand what this is about.

You know...