Hi everyone. It ya boi, Ben.
Normally when I write articles for the NSFL I like to do them in character or in like a press release sort of format but for this one I’m just gunna talk to you as me as Ben the real Ben the official Ben not fake follow me on twitter @NSFL_Ben.
It’s been a wild few days. Payton and I pulled off a couple of upsets to take home another Ultimini for Tijuana (ok honestly it was all Payton, but I was along for the ride and provided valuable moral support).
I don’t know if you noticed but there has also been a couple new people join the league as well. As a rookie mentor that means a lot of work but for once being on the opposite side of the world worked in my favour as I was either asleep or at work when most people created their players. Shout out to Beaver for carrying me and the rest of the mentor team. Also shout out to nunc for handling it all as mentor head and slm for recruiting them in the first place. It’s been great fun getting to know the new faces and there is definitely going to be some prospects I am sad to miss out on in the upcoming DSFL draft.
That brings me to the next lot of work that results from lots of new players. Payton and I will have our hands full scouting for the next DSFL draft and ensuring that Tijuana remains on top where they belong. We have some extra competition this year as well with the bot teams being taken over by one of the best DSFL GMs to ever do it and another extremely accomplished GM across multiple leagues in PDX and slm respectively. Because of this extra work my decision in free agency is going to take a while.
There lies the main reason for this article. I’m a free agent for the first time ever.
My first player Ardie Savea was actually on three different teams in total (four if you count when Vegas relocated and rebranded). He played a couple games for San Jose in S1 after getting picked up on waivers. He was then drafted by Orange County but traded to Las Vegas before S2 started for the opportunity to be a workhorse back at the expansion team. I’ve had a player at Las Vegas/New Orleans every season since, with Savea retiring in S10 and Tana Keita getting drafted in S11. But now Tana’s rookie contract is up and for the first time I’m actually considering leaving home.
The best times I have experienced in sim leagues have happened because of active and fun locker rooms, and the golden standard for locker rooms would be the S7/8 NOLA discord. As you might remember we didn’t actually win a title until S9 but that highlights my point; winning is less important than having fun. Although I am of the opinion that having a fun locker room will lead to winning, it was definitely just the cherry on top for us.
I’m appreciative of the teams that have allowed me to check out their locker rooms and get a feel for how things are there, and it’s cool to talk with GMs and players to better understand what they have in mind for their team and what plans they may have.
So the quality of the locker room is the most important factor in my decision, keeping in mind I have an affinity for the one I’m already in. But if I go anywhere else I’m not leaving without NOLA getting something in return, it will be a sign and trade type of deal. Get at me with the best you can offer, this will help your pitch.
Due to my interactions around the league in the nearly two years I’ve been here (seriously I joined in June 2017 that’s actually kinda crazy to think about) as well as my involvement in other sim leagues, I have friends in every single team in the league. This is a blessing and a curse because no matter what decision I make there is going to be a massive opportunity cost and I’m going to be letting down some of my friends. I can only hope that they understand and respect my decision whatever it may be.
I’ve had some initial talks with every team so far but a few in particular have really stood out. Like I said initially though I’m not going to rush my decision, so the opportunity to impress me is there if a team is interested in signing me. There isn’t a team in the league that I’m opposed to playing for and I’ve seen different benefits in every team if I were to sign there.
Nunc and iseedoug teaming back up is huge. I would absolutely love to play for my Tijuana GMs again as I know how dedicated they are. Baltimore has some great memers as well.
I’ve also always wanted to play for spec since we lost him from NOLA. I even thought Tana was going to be drafted by Orange County and was excited at the prospect.
As I mentioned earlier San Jose was the very first team I was a part of in the NSFL and I had always seen myself returning at some stage.
The Arizona and Colorado GMs exceeded my (already pretty high) expectations. If any rookies are reading this I would feel pretty confident about the rebuilds happening at those teams if you are lucky enough to be a young player drafted there.
So yeah, it’s been kinda fun experiencing free agency for the first time. I got to see how Beaver feels waking up to 20+ discord notifications. But I do feel a bit sad that I can’t join every team and there is going to be a hard decision to make at the end of all this. I am also conscious of how my decision may affect parity or what it might look like to others in the league (especially the rookies) but at the end of the day I wanna choose something that will be the most fun for me.
TLDR: I probably won't sign anywhere until after DSFL draft. Fun locker room is most important. Doot doot
Normally when I write articles for the NSFL I like to do them in character or in like a press release sort of format but for this one I’m just gunna talk to you as me as Ben the real Ben the official Ben not fake follow me on twitter @NSFL_Ben.
It’s been a wild few days. Payton and I pulled off a couple of upsets to take home another Ultimini for Tijuana (ok honestly it was all Payton, but I was along for the ride and provided valuable moral support).
I don’t know if you noticed but there has also been a couple new people join the league as well. As a rookie mentor that means a lot of work but for once being on the opposite side of the world worked in my favour as I was either asleep or at work when most people created their players. Shout out to Beaver for carrying me and the rest of the mentor team. Also shout out to nunc for handling it all as mentor head and slm for recruiting them in the first place. It’s been great fun getting to know the new faces and there is definitely going to be some prospects I am sad to miss out on in the upcoming DSFL draft.
That brings me to the next lot of work that results from lots of new players. Payton and I will have our hands full scouting for the next DSFL draft and ensuring that Tijuana remains on top where they belong. We have some extra competition this year as well with the bot teams being taken over by one of the best DSFL GMs to ever do it and another extremely accomplished GM across multiple leagues in PDX and slm respectively. Because of this extra work my decision in free agency is going to take a while.
There lies the main reason for this article. I’m a free agent for the first time ever.
My first player Ardie Savea was actually on three different teams in total (four if you count when Vegas relocated and rebranded). He played a couple games for San Jose in S1 after getting picked up on waivers. He was then drafted by Orange County but traded to Las Vegas before S2 started for the opportunity to be a workhorse back at the expansion team. I’ve had a player at Las Vegas/New Orleans every season since, with Savea retiring in S10 and Tana Keita getting drafted in S11. But now Tana’s rookie contract is up and for the first time I’m actually considering leaving home.
The best times I have experienced in sim leagues have happened because of active and fun locker rooms, and the golden standard for locker rooms would be the S7/8 NOLA discord. As you might remember we didn’t actually win a title until S9 but that highlights my point; winning is less important than having fun. Although I am of the opinion that having a fun locker room will lead to winning, it was definitely just the cherry on top for us.
I’m appreciative of the teams that have allowed me to check out their locker rooms and get a feel for how things are there, and it’s cool to talk with GMs and players to better understand what they have in mind for their team and what plans they may have.
So the quality of the locker room is the most important factor in my decision, keeping in mind I have an affinity for the one I’m already in. But if I go anywhere else I’m not leaving without NOLA getting something in return, it will be a sign and trade type of deal. Get at me with the best you can offer, this will help your pitch.
Due to my interactions around the league in the nearly two years I’ve been here (seriously I joined in June 2017 that’s actually kinda crazy to think about) as well as my involvement in other sim leagues, I have friends in every single team in the league. This is a blessing and a curse because no matter what decision I make there is going to be a massive opportunity cost and I’m going to be letting down some of my friends. I can only hope that they understand and respect my decision whatever it may be.
I’ve had some initial talks with every team so far but a few in particular have really stood out. Like I said initially though I’m not going to rush my decision, so the opportunity to impress me is there if a team is interested in signing me. There isn’t a team in the league that I’m opposed to playing for and I’ve seen different benefits in every team if I were to sign there.
Nunc and iseedoug teaming back up is huge. I would absolutely love to play for my Tijuana GMs again as I know how dedicated they are. Baltimore has some great memers as well.
I’ve also always wanted to play for spec since we lost him from NOLA. I even thought Tana was going to be drafted by Orange County and was excited at the prospect.
As I mentioned earlier San Jose was the very first team I was a part of in the NSFL and I had always seen myself returning at some stage.
The Arizona and Colorado GMs exceeded my (already pretty high) expectations. If any rookies are reading this I would feel pretty confident about the rebuilds happening at those teams if you are lucky enough to be a young player drafted there.
So yeah, it’s been kinda fun experiencing free agency for the first time. I got to see how Beaver feels waking up to 20+ discord notifications. But I do feel a bit sad that I can’t join every team and there is going to be a hard decision to make at the end of all this. I am also conscious of how my decision may affect parity or what it might look like to others in the league (especially the rookies) but at the end of the day I wanna choose something that will be the most fun for me.
TLDR: I probably won't sign anywhere until after DSFL draft. Fun locker room is most important. Doot doot
![[Image: TSKa9dQ.png]](https://i.imgur.com/TSKa9dQ.png)
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