(S24) - Ultimus Week

[Crodyman]

I'll be doing tier 2, two topics for 5 TPE each:

13) This task is exclusive to non-recreate rookies of the S24 class and later. In 400 words or more, how has your experience been in the league? Who have you met that has made your time here more fun, friendly, and exciting? Have you been satisfied with your player’s early start? What was it like being drafted for the first time? Do you have any comments or suggestions for the entire league that you think should be implemented?


   Joining the league is definitely one of my highlights of 2020. If you had asked me three months ago what Simulation Football was, I’d have had no idea what you’d be talking about. Now, however, I’m so happy to have clicked on that little link on r/NFL. I didn’t know what to expect when I started, but I never thought I’d be spending two hours making a podcast for the league, or writing several thousand words about teams and players that until recently I never knew about. I’ve honestly enjoyed everything about this league from soup to nuts. It all starts with the people you meet:
    The Minnesota locker room has been such a bright spot in my daily routine, weaving in and out to see the boyz chatting about their players or talking about how CC can’t ride a mountain bike without causing grievous bodily harm to himself, it’s truly been wonderful getting to know my teammates. Mag has definitely been there as a resource/mentor, even though I didn’t end up in London. But man, TWITTER is where it’s at. I’ve met so many players (a lot of veterans, which has been awesome) on Twitter, and it is truly a cornerstone of the simulation experience.
  I’m so thoroughly impressed with Wasrabi’s rookie season. I truly believe he’s one of the top linebackers in a rookie class brimming with talent. I wish the team had found more success, but there is always next season. I remember being drafted, watching the stream and hearing my name called, and at that moment I knew I was going to be a Grey Duck through-and-through. Loyalty to the end! Draft night was definitely one of the most exciting parts of my experience thus far.
The only suggesting I have for the league is a humble one: If I make a podcast episode that is under the 15 minutes (thus ineligible for payout), but I post the episode transcript (i.e. the script of the episode) I think that the transcript should be graded like written media so that you could still make some cash. My episodes aren’t generally very long because I put in a lot of work to edit them and make them concise, and I stick to a script instead of speaking off the cuff. I think this makes for a quality podcast, but it’s a bummer if it’s ineligible for cash because it’s brief. Thanks!

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8) It’s always important to look forward to the future. Examine your team, and in 400 words or more, talk about how they can improve themselves to get a stab at trophy contention next year. Are you loaded with draft capital for the next draft? Do you have plenty of cap space to sign free agents? Go through the roster and note the different strengths and weaknesses, and how you think those will change over the next few seasons. How should your team adapt?


The Minnesota Grey Ducks have to be optimistic going into next season. While this season has been a disappointment, the rookie class has done an excellent job of earning, and there will be more than a couple capped rookies returning as veterans next season. The glaring issue in Minnesota is the QB position. This season saw a quarterback by committee set-up with Sim Snowbow and Matt Peterson both sharing the snap count. Earlier in the season, Snowbow was getting the lion’s share of the snaps, however as the season progressed and his stats became worse and worse, more of the snaps went to Peterson, who is the only QB in the DSFL to not throw an INT this season. With Snowbow being fairly inactive, and wholly ineffective, I think it’s time for Minnesota to move on and either give Peterson the QB1 role, or take a strong QB prospect with their first pick--potentially THE first pick of the draft.

The rest of the offense is going to be very stalwart next season with the two headed monster RB duo in Mike Rotchburns and Jameson Vermillion. The Wide Recievers will be much more developed at the start of next season as well, thus giving the QB more polished targets to throw to. People may forget just how young this Minnesota team was this season, but almost the entire offense was run by rookies. This hampered the team early on, but will pay big dividends next season.

The defense was one of the better units in the DSFL this season, but there is a strong chance that the Linebacker duo of Alejandro Chainbreaker and Wasrabi Gleel will be split when Chainbreaker is inevitably called up by the Wraiths. I expect the Grey Ducks to target another LB early in the draft to pair with Gleel for next season in the event Chainbreaker is gone. The secondary will be in a better position with Gath being capped, and Blackfyre likely capping early next season. We could use a strong interior pass rusher a la Goat Tank, so it wouldn't surprise me to see a DT prospect picked up as high as the 4th round.

Finally, the way the team is going to have to adapt is unknown to me. It will depend on the QB situation. If Peterson stays, look for a more balanced offense, but if there is a rookie QB manning the helm next season then I would expect the Grey Ducks offense to look very similar to this year: Run early, and run often. Their RB tandem will be especially successful early in the season before rookie prospects have time to develop.


(442 words)

[BenDover]

T2 Task 7: In order for a football team to succeed, you need good Quarterback play, and the Sabercats had great QB play to get to the #1 seed in a loaded conference, and hopefully an Ultimus appearance after tonight. Monty Jack evolved his game immensely in the past season, after it being thrown around that he was a bust at the position after an interception rattled season in S23, one in which the passing game seemed stagnant, and the running game was overused, getting Lackson the OROTY, but leaving the Sabercats with the #2 in the draft. Jack worked immensely to improve his throwing mechanics, and it had seemed during training camp that his throwing talents had finally come to fruition, along with the recieving talents of vetran wide reciever Deondre Thomas Fox and 2nd year WR Tychondrius Hood being at the top of their pass catching abilities, this was poised to be a great season for the Sabercats and Monty Jack. And a great season it would be, finishing off the year with 3708 passing yards, becoming the first 3000+ yard passer on the team since hall of famer Joliet L Christ had the quarter back mantle, and that enough is almost enough in my mind to give the Offensive Breakout Player of the Year honors, but there are many other metrics to look at. Going from 15 interceptions last season to 8 is another amazing improvement for Jack, along with his Touchdown Passes skyrocketing from 8 to 21!!! Touchdowns on the season, an amazing ammount, especially when looking at the Points For for the Sabercats going from 236 points in S23 to a whopping 342 points in S24. If Monty Jack doesnt win this award, the league might be crazy. The next award I am going to argue for is the Defensive Performance of the year award, which has to go to Philip Stein, in the Week 9 win over the Hawks, it was a close game in the 4th quarter, then first he intercepts a checkdown pass to Rick Skuff, in which the offense punts the ball back, Stein wanted to secure the Win, so on the next drive he reads a Fujiwara pass to Quinn on the Outside and returns it for a TD by himself, and then after all that he still wasn't finished, intercepting a 3rd pass in 3 mminutes, a feat unheard of in my time watching the sim league, and that deserves DPEROTY more than any other performance. Sabercats should take home a couple of awards this season, and Jack san Stein are very deserving of these awards.


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Tier 3 Task 26: I'm going to take this question as the back half of actives, as this player is in the S22 class which has 250+ people, 150 of which are inactive. This player somehow slipped to the 11th round, 126 Overall, in a sea of inactive players, the Butchers found a Gem. That player is Tyron Shields, CB and he is the self-proclaimed biggest steal of the draft. After being sent down to the Ducks for another season to develop, he was strangely never given playing time although he was set to play in the depth chart, despite this, he never stopped working to justify his draft position, and the next season he was called up to play Nickel Back for the Butchers. This was an amazing rookie season for Shields, finishing 3rd in tackles with 139, while racking up 15 pass deflections, a forced fumble, a TFL and 2 Interceptions. This preformance got him nominated for Defensive Rookie of the year, and although he didnt win, this was an amazing feat for someone selected in the balk half of the draf. That's the player, but the user is spectacular as well, serving as the Minnesota Head Scout last season, we felt that we were able to have a largely successful draft because of him, and because of this, we now serve as co-GMs of the Grey Ducks, and I couldnt think of anyone better suited for the job.



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T3 Task: PBE Affiliate CW

[zeagle1]

12)
New York Silverbacks. Berlin Fire Salamanders. Two creative names, one creative location. This might have been my first season in the league, but one of my biggest takeaways is how controversial the expansion process was. First off, I am not entirely convinced that any expansion was necessary. While there is a bit of a logjam at some of the positions with one spot per team, like QB or K/P, I do not believe that there is a player base big enough to fully support two more teams. Most ISFL teams have 15-20 Active players on them, so there still were plenty of “open” positional spaces on each team. If anything, there should be a DSFL expansion or stricter inactive player rules, to give rookies a bigger chance at playing time and to try and capture their interest with the league.

I just want to put it out there: I have some problems with the concept of holding a logo contest in the league to determine an expansion team’s logo. This undermines the effort that every other expansion bid took to create, many of which had users commission a logo for their hypothetical team, using their own IRL money. Allowing this once leads to a slippery slope where this idea could become commonplace in future expansion bids, decreasing the overall quality of the bids.

As for the impact of the new teams on the ISFL landscape, there will have to be many changes. 14 total teams mean that the ISFL schedule is going to continue to get longer than the DSFL schedule, further increasing the “nothing” time that DSFL players have while the ISFL season is happening and the DSFL season is not. For a league that is trying to grow it’s player base, potentially having an even longer DSFL offseason could cause more players to go inactive in the time period, whereas if the DSFL had started sooner, they would’ve gotten drawn into the happenings around the league.

For playoffs, I could see the expansion of the wildcard game, having the top five teams in each conference make the playoffs, with 4 vs 5 a play-in game, and then 1 vs 4/5 and 2 vs 3 as the “first” round of playoff games. There could also be a 4-team tournament with the teams that didn’t make the playoffs for the #1 overall pick, but that could further punish the worst teams.

Overall, I am not sold on the timing and location of the expansion teams, but if the league continues to grow, they could be a positive impact on the league for many seasons to come.

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13)
My experience in the league has been awesome! I joined last season just looking to kill some time and maybe meet some people to talk sports with, but my expectations have been blown out of the water in every way. The people who have had the most impact on my time here are RDBSouthPaw, Arkz, and qWest. South scouted me for Kansas City and somehow had me hoping to be drafted there. That really shows how great of a scout he is. Alas I ended up a snek in Portland, but then South was traded to Portland! Portland seems way cooler than Kansas City, so it’s a win-win for both of us. South was the person who explained the league to me and motivated me to be a max earner; without him, I probably would’ve gone inactive before the draft. Now he’s going to be the GM of Portland, and as a war room member, I am excited to be working with him in the future.

qWest has had the next biggest impact on my time in the league, as he is the GM who drafted me. I had barely been scouted by Portland, so I was not expecting to get drafted there at all. After I fell in the draft, all the way to the fifth round, 41st overall, he took a flyer on me and I will forever be grateful for that, because I love being in Portland. Later on, he posted a slightly ominously worded message in our locker room about the trade deadline coming up and seeing if anyone wanted to join the war room. I interpreted this message as saying he was looking to trade people, so I immediately sent him a PM and joined the war room so I would not be traded. I was then introduced to the torture that is sim testing, which is simultaneously my favorite and least favorite part of the league. Without qWest and my misunderstanding of his post, I would have just been another high earned that rarely posted in the locker room.

My final positive influence is Arkz, another war room member in Portland. I thought he was a recreate for a while because he knew the league so well. I consider myself to be in the upper echelon of max earners, and he has 10+ more TPE than me. I owe him a great deal of TPE because I often talk predictions with him, and he’s almost always right.

There are plenty other great individuals who have made the league fun, but these guys are the first three that popped into my mind, and I am extremely thankful that I ended up getting to know them.

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[Crunk]

Tier 1, Task 3

Mount Rushmore is an American landmark, so it's slightly odd to consider it for the London Royals. I don't really know much about the big hill heady things except that those guys were important presidents, so please excuse me if I have somehow missed the point. Anyway, four names, four explanations, lots of mad war room members in London:

DeadlyPlayer (user)

The first name on the list is the easiest choice. Deadly is the founder of the London Royals, the user behind their current starting tight end Frank Michell and the beating heart of the (absolutely fantastic) Royals locker room to this day.

Deadly is, to put it mildly, not unfamiliar to controversy. He is the only ISFL user I have met to tell me to fuck myself and then declare his undying love for me in the space of about 3 minutes. As a rookie who knew nothing, when he first referred to his colossal $8 million fine, I found myself incapable of the smallest amount of surprise. This, however, is the charm of Deadly. You really don't know what you are getting from minute to minute, and that makes him so much fun to have on your team. It would be easy to use the incredibly English idiom "he's not everybody's cup of tea", but that's flat out wrong. If you don't love Deadly, you haven't been in the locker room with him enough.

Being the team founder alone isn't why he's here. It's the fact that he is the absolute epitome of a locker room guy who lives and dies the games like the proud father of many mischievous dots. I guess we are all, in a way, his children.

Every team deserves to have a DeadlyPlayer, but unfortunately the rest of you can't have him. He's ours.

Sylphreni (user)

Syl took over the co-General Manager spot when Deadly stepped down, in the most like-for-like swap that you could possibly imagine...

...God I'm funny. Syl couldn't be much more different from Deadly if he tried, but what a job he did in London. His fingerprints were all over the Season 23 DSFL Draft, where London managed to select three true rookie players who would go on to be taken in the top six picks of the Season 24 ISFL Draft, two of whom would go on to be General Managers themselves.

Sylphreni's recruitment nous, people skills and easy professionalism (even his avatar is a suit) provided a yin to the prominent DeadlyPlayer yang and helped create the culture of learning over winning, rookies over recreates and - ultimately - increased engagement that is at the heart of the current London Royals team. He also drafted a great crop of rookies in the Season 24 DSFL draft to contribute to this culture, but there'll be more on that soon. His idea of a sim school (I assume this is true, he mentions it enough) was a masterstroke in user development, and will no doubt continue for many seasons to come.

His player, Greedy Sly, was a two year starter for London and selected first overall by the Colorado Yeti, a great achievement in itself, but sadly the lure of the Yeti was to prove too much, as Syl stepped down to take over the co-GM role there.

Though he may have left us for the big leagues, if the London Royals achieve success this season nobody will deserve more credit than Sylphreni.

Maglubiyet (user) / Juan Domine (player)

To start with - Juan Domine. In his time in London he has managed 248 tackles, 9 tackles for loss, 2 forced fumbles, 14 sacks, 2 interceptions and 14 passes defended - those are just regular season stats, and he hasn't even finished his second season on the Royals yet. When the Chicago Butchers drafted him first overall, they knew exactly what they were getting - a defensive machine.

Let's just consider that word for a moment - "machine". As a user, Mag has a reputation for being productive to the point that people question whether he's actually human. The General Manager spot was a natural fit for him when Sylphreni left, and he took it. As a teammate/fellow war room member/underling of Mag, I feel about 80% confident that he does actually breathe and dream like the rest of us, but in a way that streamlines processes beyond the powers of our comprehension.

Legend has it that Mag tackled the task of scouting Season 24 DSFL draft class almost single-handedly, a superhuman feat of dedication and patience. The fruit of his labour was a class of Season 25 rookies with five members who will hit the 250 TPE DSFL cap by their ISFL draft date, the last of whom was drafted in the tenth round. While this wasn't entirely his work, he had a disproportionately large hand in it, and he deserves a lot of recognition when two Royals (possibly more, we shall see) are selected in the first round of the upcoming ISFL draft.

Spot #4 - Blank

No, this isn't a cop-out. Let me explain my reasoning.

At least three users currently have a claim to this spot. Modern Duke (founder, former GM, savant on all things sim), Highhaschdi (former GM) and abh89 (current GM) all have, or will soon undoubtedly have, great cases to make.

A number of players currently have good cases to make, Colby Jack and Acura Skyline being two of them.

It feels like London's Rushmore should be balanced out by one more player up there. Here's the thing though - London haven't won an Ultimini yet. A player can't be up there on regular season stats alone, that just feels wrong to me. Also, the Royals currently have arguably the best team they have ever assembled, and a great shot to make the postseason.

So let's just keep all that lovely mountainside scaffolding in place and see what pans out over the course of the playoffs. The beauty of the current London team is that it doesn't rely too much on one individual, so I won't even bother listing potential candidates here. Just check our roster page - an iconic playoff moment could come from anybody there...

...and if it does, everyone involved in the London Royals organisation will happily help carve that head.

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1040

[SchwarzNarr]

7) Awards season is a big part of the offseason festivities. Take the stand, in 400 words or more, for one or more players that are not your own, and argue why they should receive awards glory. They can be your teammates or anyone in the league. How did their stats and on the field contribution contribute to their case this year?

I want to spend this talking about the GM of the Year award, particularly for the DSFL. I know that there are a lot of incredible GMs in this league, but I 100% have to share why J0EB and Blasoon deserve to be the GMs of the year. Throughout my tenure in Norfolk they have done absolutely everything they can to make my time (and my teammates time) in the league more fun. Whether it has been adding silly bots that users may have wanted (Yay Jeopardy Bot!) or adding special tags, allowing us to create and participate in DSFL Fantasy (complete with new roles!) you name it, they were all for it. They want to create engagement, they encourage the random routes the team decides to go (S23 was Boop, S24 was Beans), and they are without a doubt dedicated to everything within the league.

Additionally, after joining the war room in this past season, I have realized how in tune they are with their players and the team, and in trying to keep users active. There were constant discussions about who was almost IA, was IA, and it was always the conversation of “Okay, I’m gonna reach out to him and see if I can’t get him to join us, or at least check in.” It wasn’t just that they wanted a user, but they care. When I was trying to help scout, while also dealing with the sudden insanity of my life it became “Hey, take care of you, and if you don’t get it no worries, we’ll take care of it.”. These are two GMs who not only care about their players deeply, and throughout the seasons, but they pass that trait along to everyone in the locker room.

Continuing with this, they’ve encouraged our rookies in such a way where they have them assisting with the sim testing, they’ve involved and encouraged their sig shops, their graphics work, media writing, and more. J0EB has always offered to rookies to share and write a media post to help generate some extra money for them. Blasoon has always offered reminders about getting predictions in, job opportunities and more. Now there is a lot that they do that is just listed in the job description of GM, but J0EB and Blasoon are more than that. Blas made sure to stay awake to the wee hours of the night to give a personalized pun for every single player in the draft, and J0EB reads through all of the chat, even if it takes him forever to catch up, so he knows what is happening in the locker room and with his players and the team. They work to make every single player feel special and included, and if you want a job, they are more than willing to give you one. If there were rewards for retention rates, I’m positive that they would receive it regularly.

Sometimes it’s hard for an outsider to know what Norfolk is really like, because we’re closed, but J0EB and Blasoon have worked to make sure that the closed environment is family and safe. I know that they have my back, no matter what I might have needed as a rookie, as a player, and as a soon to be alum. That’s why they deserve GM of the Year.

13) This task is exclusive to non-recreate rookies of the S24 class and later. In 400 words or more, how has your experience been in the league? Who have you met that has made your time here more fun, friendly, and exciting? Have you been satisfied with your player’s early start? What was it like being drafted for the first time? Do you have any comments or suggestions for the entire league that you think should be implemented?

This league has been an interesting and for the most part, fabulous to be a part of. It’s 100% clear that there are a lot of dedicated and hardworking individuals keeping the moving parts lubricated and moving. While I joined this league for Isa, it’s been a league that I have stayed in because of the friends I have made and the people I have met in Norfolk, and now in Yeti chat. As I already wrote about in a media article, Tesla makes absolutely ever user feel warm and fuzzy and cared about in chat. J0EB and Blasoon have always worked to make their players feel cared about, implementing new ideas and memes within our chat and our locker room as we continue to grow and change organically with the new recruits and people. Other members of the team from last season and this one have made me feel as though I’m a part of something bigger than myself, and it really makes it clear that the locker rooms make this league. They are what bring members together, and they are what create big moments.

Outside of the locker room, I was very fortunate in my rookie season. I went from being a nobody to an Ultimini, award winning, pro bowl Kicker. Talk about riding the high in that moment. While I hoped that I would do things for Norfolk that would have been better than the bot kicker, it was incredible to see how much of a contribution my player made that season. My first draft experience, though, wasn’t with the DSFL and to have the ISFL draft where it was really a ‘I don’t know who really needs a kicker, but man, I know where I would love to go,’ type situation. I had had so many conversations with Woelkers, TVC, Sylphreni, and Frick talking about the Yeti and what life might be like with them. The thing about those conversations though, is they quickly turned into not just league conversations, and we talked about other things > my crocheted Wolfie plushie, barbeque, dungeons and dragons. Again, it became a locker room of people that just fit, so being drafted by them so early was a shock, and one of those situations that prompted happy tears (because seriously, you used your first pick on me? OH MY GOSH)

I think that the league has a lot of pieces that the community as a whole loves. One thing I wish would change is the focus of point tasks being just about what has existed in the league or stats focused. I miss the idea of point tasks being a way to develop who your player is as a person, and to share some insights into their daily lives, how they might handle absurd situations (“You are the reason your team lost, discuss what happens at the press conference after,” or, “What teammate would your player choose as their best man/maid of honor in their wedding? What has happened this season that bonded them so closely”). For me, I care so much more about the extra life of Melvin and Daria than I have ever cared about the stats and the numbers. I’d love to have more league opportunities to see that side of other players too. Additionally, I would love the ability to pay for a predictions pass. I would gladly pay $32m a season for the opportunity to collect mode on every prediction opportunity that opened up. That would be $2m per game.

[Forty Jordy]

Task 8
Orange County Otters have always seemed to strike the right balance between looking toward the future and staying competitive. Maybe it is a bit too simplistic, but I like to frame my team eras around Quarterbacks. Obviously Quarterbacks play a huge role in how well a team stands to compete. I don't believe a team with a 600 TPE Quarterback has a shot at the Ultimus. Perhaps at making the playoffs, but not the Ultimus. Even when Quarterbacks have transitioned for the Otters, the Otters have been able to turn things around quickly. This is happening next season. Our favorite S15 quarterback has finally hung up the reigns and it will be time move on to the next quarterback. Luckily we were able to make a trade for Suleiman Ramza a season or two ago. At least I think it was a trade. Either way Ramza will likely be entering his first season under if not at 800 TPE points. Which will still be difficult for us to compete, but I believe after next season he will be a top tier quarterback. There are a lot of young quarterbacks such as the Jack brothers and Sloth. So perhaps it will not be too much of a disadvantage.

Other than quarterback some of our other needs are still up in the air, because of the expansion draft. We will likely lose 3 active players, but definitely 2 at a minimum. Let's look at who we will be keeping for certain.
QB - Sulieman Ramza
CB - Korrin Abernathy
S - Prince Vegeta
S - Tyrone Biggums
S - Bob Bob
LB - Deshun Jones
WR - Future Trunks
RB - Tatsu Nakamura

The Otters will still be stacked at defense next season with a lot of high value talent being protected on D. I expect OCO will lose Lord Beerus and Jeffrey Phillips. These loses are not highly impactful and not by any merit of the players, but because Otters will still have 4 active defensive backs and another active tight end who is automatically protected as an S24 player, I believe. However, Otters are likely to lose another player on the front seven of the defense. Carl Wheezer, DT, may be a target from expansions teams and I can see OCO losing him. Looking at all of this Otters will likely need to focus number one on Wide Receiver. And in subsequent rounds, Orange County can look to fill in positions on the defensive line and line backers. Depending on the upcoming talent, OCO would be useful to also draft a WR or another running if available.

Task 26
I am going to talk about the player Colt Mendoza. Mendoza was drafted at either pick 141 or 142 out of a draft of 271 players in season 22. Unbelievably pick 141 is just barely the back half of the that draft. That's how big the draft was. Without looking at stats or his performance in general, I don't know how well the player has played as I assume he is playing at the level of someone of his TPE level. By the nature of the league, it is very difficult to stand out as a singular superstar as all you can do is max out your player and there will be many other players doing that as well. And in this draft class their are probably 50 max earners. So it is difficult to stand out. But as a user of this forum I think it is worthwhile to consider how well the player has integrated into the league based off of his draft position. IStegosauruz, Mendoza's user, has probably been the most active first time player int he S22 class. Not only has he max earned, but he has written many articles to get him to like top 5 bank account, became GM, joined PBE, SCFSL as GM, job in PBE, large contributor to the casino, and last but not least became an HO intern. I think I have said enough. There is no one who has been this active in this draft nor many other drafts as well.

Last Task
PBE Affiliate PT

[slothfacekilla]

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12) It’s once again expansion season in the ISFL. Reflect on the additions of the New York Silverbacks and Berlin Fire Salamanders and discuss how these teams will affect the league. How do you see scheduling or playoff seeding potentially changing? How will these teams change the power balances in their respective conferences? How do you think each team should go about building their roster, whether it’s through the expansion draft, regular draft, or many seasons down the line? Tier 2: Short Form Tasks (400+ words) 5 TPE

I believe that there will be a huge league impact with the two additions of the New York Silverbacks and Berlin Fire Salamanders as the ISFL's newest expansion teams.  Any time that a league has to go through expansion, there is ultimately an expansion draft, and existing teams will have to give up players that they want to keep.  It is an unfortunate byproduct of our league growing as it has.  So just in terms of existing teams' rosters, it will have a big effect on the league.  I know in New Orleans we are going to be losing a couple players, which is rough.  I know some players that will be exposed on other teams are not happy too, so if they get chosen that could affect league morale.  But overall I think it will just be ripping a bandaid off to get the new teams their new players.

I am not really sure how this is going to affect scheduling or the playoffs.  I know with the sim engine in the SHL league there are constrictions on what type of playoff setup we can have, and since this sim isn't the best I imagine it might be the same?  Maybe we will add a new wildcard game on either side of the bracket to get more teams involved in the playoffs?  I imagine that could be a positive for getting more players involved and excited about the playoffs.  I don't know if we want to cheap playoffs by letting more teams in too (also opens up more room for chaos, you decide if that's good).

I imagine this will also dilute the ISFL rosters a bit just for the mere fact that there are two new teams.  Players will be called up from the DSFL faster because there will be more starting spots available.  This could also lead to some more parity in the league, which I guess you could say is a good thing.  So how teams build their rosters and what pieces are available are going to drastically change with two new players in the field.  I think each team should really focus on the drafts the next couple of seasons and build their team that way.  I imagine it is tough to build a roster to win now without compromising your future a few seasons down the line, so the draft and waiting seems key.  This probably means the expansion teams don't compete super hard right away, but it could be the right call to build an entire franchise.

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14) Create an argument for your own player, or for someone else on your team, as to why they should be nominated for awards. Lay out their stats or compare them to other contenders. Make a convincing case.
Tier 3: Written/Graphics Tasks 2.5 TPE

I am going to be selfish here and argue that my player, Ben Slothlisberger, should be nominated for Offensive Rookie of the Year in the ISFL.  A lot of rookies had great years, and it is going to be a tough decision for the voters.  The other rookie QB's had great seasons for sure.  Skywalker had the best completion percentage of any of us with 57.5, but I wasn't far off with 56%.  My team did trust me to throw the ball more times than Skywalker, so who knows if he would have kept up his efficiency.  Colby Jack wasn't bad, but he had 53%.  Jack did lead us in touchdowns with 25 on the year.  That was 3 ahead of Slothlisberger, but unfortunately for Jack and the Wraiths he dished out 16 interceptions while I only threw 8.  I don't think the extra 3 TD's are worth those turnovers.  Then you get to to total passing yards, and I have the most with 3605, then Jack has 3524, and Skywalker lags behind at 3077.  I think taking all of this into account, especially with my highest QB rating of the bunch,  I'm the top QB in this conversation.  Ayers would be the top threat at RB for the award.  While he had a solid season, he didn't manage to hit 1000 yards rushing and his yards per carry weren't out of this world.  His 10 touchdowns could sway voters though.  Sakura looks like the threat at WR for the award, though we'll see if he did enough to earn the win.

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Code:

Some positions are still under appreciated. Talk about the offensive linemen and/or special teamers on your squad. Show how they have contributed to the team, both on and off the field, and why they deserve recognition.
Tier 3: Written/Graphics Tasks 2.5 TPE

The New Orleans Second Line definitely believes in fair rubs for offensive linemen in the league.  The leader of this movement is on our squad (G. Rubbe) and he leads our offensive line as a 100 overall rated tackle.  That really says all you need to know, but I'll go on too.  He really is the cream of the crop of offensive linemen in the ISFL.  In fact, Rubbe did not allow a sack on the season while compiling 94 pancakes which was just one behind the league leader (who happened to give up 9 sacks, ouch).  This should give Rubbe the win for offensive lineman of the year for sure.  Alongside Rubbe on our offensive line is Dorfus Jimbo Jr.  He transitioned to offensive line, and has ups and downs so far.  He managed 53 pancakes while giving up 4 sacks on the season, which was a really strong campaign.  These two linemen helped keep Ben Slothlisberger upright and allowed our running backs to have efficient seasons.  On top of their on the field contributions, both users are great people to have in our locker room as well.  I would not want to see either of these players on other teams and I hope we can keep them around through expansion.  I know that both will be desirable to the new teams as they are great offensive linemen which everyone always needs.  I would love if they were both protecting Slothlisberger next season.

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[ZootTX]

Using 1 tier 2 prompt and 2 tier 3 prompts:

8) It’s always important to look forward to the future. Examine your team, and in 400 words or more, talk about how they can improve themselves to get a stab at trophy contention next year. Are you loaded with draft capital for the next draft? Do you have plenty of cap space to sign free agents? Go through the roster and note the different strengths and weaknesses, and how you think those will change over the next few seasons. How should your team adapt?.

Merely a year after winning the Ultimus, the Yellowknife Wraiths find themselves in a place they don’t have much experience: out of the playoffs. Not only that, they had their worst showing in recent memory, ending the season an unhappy 6-10. Unfortunately, things are likely to be rough for the Wraiths for the next few seasons, but there are a few bright spots and all hope is not lost.
First, lets talk about  where the Wraiths are likely to struggle for the next few seasons. This season’s transition at QB from likely Hall of Famer Cooter Bigsby to rookie Colby Jack was one area of weakness for this season’s team. As you would expect from a rookie QB, Colby struggled at times. Second, multiple retirements will hit next year’s Wraiths pretty hard. WR Action Jackson, OL legend Laszlo Forty-Two, DT Giannis Kroustis, and CB Johnny Snuggles all played their last season this year, and all played in positions of need for the Wraiths. Finally, and probably most concerning is that most of the Wraith’s DSFL send downs are inactive, with only 3 active players on the list. Right now the Wraiths have only one DT, one CB, and no OL on the active roster or sent down to the DSFL. Further, several other players will be hit with regression this offseason, including RB Mathias Hanyadi, DE Nero Alexander, LB Maurice Virtanen, and the lone CB on the roster Mervin Leonard. Unfortunately lots of TPE will be going away that this team could use. However, there is light at the end of the tunnel. First off, the Wraith’s have a fair amount of cap space due to a number of team friendly deals on the books, so they can be fairly active in free agency to try and fill some of the gaps they currently have. Secondly, they have a young offensive core of active players so the QB, RB, WR, and TE positions are covered for the foreseeable future. The team has good depth at the LB position, as two of the active DSFL send downs play linebacker. It's possible that one may be asked to change positions to DT to fill in the hole on the D-line. Finally, after trading developmental QB Sam Howitzer to the expansion NY Silverbacks, Yellowknife has moved up in rounds 1,2, and 4 of the upcoming draft and added a second 3rd round pick, so they have an outstanding amount of draft capital available to improve the team. So, how can the Wraith’s make another run at the Ultimus next season? Well the sim may be kind to them, but its likely going to be a rebuilding year. However, the team is currently well positioned to have a plethora of young, active players building up a lot of TPE so we’ll be back in the hunt for the Ultimus sooner than you think!

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14) Create an argument for your own player, or for someone else on your team, as to why they should be nominated for awards. Lay out their stats or compare them to other contenders. Make a convincing case.

There is no doubt in my mind that an  ISFL Offensive Rookie of the Year award nomination for S24 should go to the Yellowknife Wraiths wide receiver, Kai Sakura. First off, Kai was clearly the most outstanding rookie wide receiver, posting a 68 reception, 1103 yard, 7 TD stat line for the season. The next closest rookie WR was the Yeti’s Leeroy Jenkins with a comparatively paltry 646 receiving yards. Kai’s 28 yard reception in overtime in the Wraith’s season finale against the Baltimore Hawks set up the game-winning field goal, giving the Wraiths a much needed morale boost and breaking their six game losing streak. Kai’s tendency to rip off long receptions was one of the bright spots of an otherwise disappointing season for Yellowknife. Sakura’s only real competition for the OROTY award is Honolulu running back Nick Ayers who rushed for 993 yards on 242 attempts, scoring 10 touchdowns. While Nick’s season was impressive, in my opinion he did not dominate over the other rookie running backs like Kai did over his fellow rookie wide receivers, as Baltimore’s Mai Fukushū was hot on his heels with a 192/744/6 season performance. There is no doubt that Kai deserves to be nominated for this award, and I believe he is also the strongest contender to win it as well.

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20) Make a scouting report for any of the ISFL or DSFL draftees. Show their stats, abilities, TPE, highlights, or attempted armed robbery. Whatever rookies get up to these days.

Richard Leaking is currently a starting linebacker for the DSFL Dallas Birddogs. In his first season in the DSFL, Dick (as he likes to be called,) had an impressive 97 tackles, 8 sacks, 9 pass deflections, and 1 tackle for loss. This tied him for second among linebackers for sacks, and also second among linebackers for pass deflections. During the S24 season Richard received a team-high 3 defensive game balls for individual game performances, including an 11 tackle, 1 sack, and 3 pass deflection game against the Minnesota Grey Ducks.  Richard is quick to the ball, whether it is in the hands of the quarterback, running back, or in midair. His style of play would be an asset to any ISFL defense, and although he won’t necessarily be the absolute best in any one aspect of his game, he excels in multiple areas and is overall a disruptive force. Although he is a new ISFL player, he earns TPE like a veteran and won’t be the guy who is drafted and immediately goes inactive. Further he is a positive locker room presence and not a drama queen. Richard would be an excellent developmental candidate to send down for a season or two before being called up to the ISFL.

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[xTri]

PBE CW +2.5 TPE

TASK 12 +5 TPE

It is once again expansion time and as a newcomer to ISFL, this is my first expansion experience in this league. Coming from PBE, I've witnessed on how expansion teams did and what strategies are best for creating and developing a new team. Before I get to the strategy part, I will tell you the impact on the teams will have on the league. The New York Silverbacks and the Berlin Fire Salamanders are the 13th/14th team to join the league leading to a relatively 'odd' number of team with 7 teams per division. I don't see the league switching up the league structure with 14. For example, they can't split into 4 divisions as each division will have an odd amount. Once the league expands to 16 though, is where I can see the league splitting in to 4. In terms of scheduling, from my understanding, the teams play each other twice in the same conference and once for each team in the other conference. Now I believe there will be 14 inter-conference games now and only 2 in the outside. So the teams are in almost different competition with each other a lot more. So in terms of power balance, whichever team that always perform better in inter-conference games will have a higher edge. The playoff structure will remain the same with 8 teams making the playoffs.

Now onto strategy. In my PBE experience, the team that focuses on the long-term goal will always perform better. In the recent expansion, the two new teams had very polar strategy where one went all in on their first season and one traded for picks. In the end, despite the first team making the playoffs, they easily got beaten by top teams and have a very dark future ahead. The second team had a strong core to work with and can contend in a couple seasons. I believe the amount of protection slots that the teams have are suffice enough to keep their main core together. So the expansion draft will not be enough for the expansion team to instantly contend. My strategy if I was one would be to use those drafted players as an asset in trades. You can trade them for picks which are more long-term focuses as you can draft well and potentially have a great core in a couple seasons. The regular draft is where expansion teams should focus as well as creating a great locker room atmosphere to help retain your rookies/prospect. So thus, I believe a long-term focus is the only way an expansion team can compete but it requires a GM to think ahead and not be demotivated by losing in the early seasons.

Code:

453 words

[Starboy]

Tier 2 Task 7

Despite the rough season held by the Baltimore Hawks in S24, there are still plenty of bright spots on the team that deserve their recognition in the awards season spotlight. There aren’t a lot of the award ready Hawks just yet but one has risen above the rest and should run away with his respective award by either the seat of his pants or comfortably. The most deserving award for a Hawks player is Linebacker of the Year with the winner that should be Derred de Ville. Derred has been an absolute monster on the defensive front of the ball and has created disruption no matter where he goes. The only place you find him slightly slacking in is his tackle totals but how can you compete with his fellow Hawk linebacker Dex Kennedy who leads the league with 158 total tackles. De Ville sits at ninth in total tackles amongst the linebackers of the league with a whopping 117 total tackles as he patrols the defense. Two tackles for loss throw him in the top of the linebacker totals where he only is behind three positions. In the areas that he lacks, he more than makes up for as a true defensive jack of all trades player that has two forced fumbles by his hands that ties for the most with two other linebackers. His thirteen sacks throw him in second place by only one sack and Derred never got to play against an easy to sack quarterback such as Chika Fujiwara! He had to crush some of the hardest offensive lines to get to even better quarterbacks. However, you should not just think of Derred de Ville as a front man or run stopper because he also has the numbers to shut down the passing game as well. With numbers of pass disruption that would make a cornerback jealous, De Ville has two interceptions from his linebacker spot and twenty-nine passes defended. Those numbers put him on top of the linebackers with how much he has made throwing near him an absolute tragedy for opposing quarterbacks. For reference, his passes defended would top all of the cornerbacks and safeties. His talent on the field helps him put up video game style numbers that are sure to only get better as we might have yet another linebacker that starts to take over the defensive player of the year awards much like Mo Berry once did.

Tier 2 Task 8

As stated by anyone on the discord or in power ranking articles, the Baltimore Hawks were less that spectacular this season despite having more TPE than the season before. There were a lot of high hopes with an early burst out onto the S24 schedule with some great wins and some great performances. However, things quickly turned sour for us as we lost every game after the quick start and fell to a pitiful 3-13 stop with the sim deciding that luck would not be on our side at all this season. There were plenty of people that left due to not getting expansion bids which only hurt the chances of getting lucky even more as new players were coming in to try and right the ship for the end of the season. There were some glimmers of hope here and there but not enough to keep the season from being an overall mark against the best team in the league’s history. However, there are reasons to look forward to S25 as a season where the win column will be higher than the loss column. It is not out of the realm of possibility that the Hawks end up as a top contender in the playoffs and the only sour note would be not making it all the way to the Ultimus. The upstart begins with the quarterback as Chika Fujiwara finally has found the thing that has kept her from maximizing her maxed out passing attributes. The S24 season saw her on a terrible streak of interceptions that ended quickly when she found the issue and in the last five games of the season, she threw for seven touchdowns with only one interception. Imagine that ratio on an entire season and we could see a thirty touchdown season with only three to five interceptions. Next up we go to the offensive weapons around her with Darrel Williams and the incoming wide receivers. Williams has surpassed one thousand TPE over the end of the season with plenty more still being earned. Add that on with the new receivers coming in that are max earning and the offense can very well end up as a nightmare for other teams than for itself. On the defensive side of the ball, the secondary’s max earners have finally started to reach the best range for their TPE level. The added benefit of having some active defensive backs will help the team from the fast-paced passing offenses in the NSFC. Along with all of the current upside, there are some big targets in the draft that allow for the Hawks to get full advantage of who they have now. With all of that in mind, the only thing stopping the Hawks now is how much the sim hates the upgrades.