*S21 NSFL Draft Grades

[.Laser]

Orange County Otters (B-): 

It’s not often that you have the first OA pick and draft as poorly as the Otters have here. I gave them a B-, because the amount of talent they did manage to add to their team. However, if I were Otters management, I see this nothing more than an F.

Hi! I am one of the Otters GMs. Allow me to tell you why we had an A+ draft.

First of all, I really like the way you wrote this and how you took into account team needs. Very well researched and put together. This is a really good article overall.

At number 1 Overall of the S21 NSFL draft, the Orange County Otters take Prince Vegeta. He was my #1 player coming into the draft, and it’s gratifying to see him taken at that, if nothing just for the honour of it. However, in terms of fit, I think this wasn’t the one. Prince Vegeta is a great run tracking safety, and very good at hitting very hard. However, what the Otters needed is a safety that could stop the pass as well as the run. While Vegeta is capable of it, it would actively take away from his skillset to play him in a role that forces him into a pass coverage role more often than not.
With Doofus Jimbo “retiring”, and Gary Lazer-Eyes moving into the defensive end position, Tyrone Biggums will have to slide into the Free Safety role to accommodate Vegeta, or he will have to play that role himself. Either way, it doesn’t match. Great player, bad pick.

We traded up in this draft to acquire No. 1 overall, packaging our first and second round selections (6 and 16), 2m in S21 cap space, and legendary defensive tackle Thorian Skarsgard to receive 1oa, Cyrus Saul (to replace the hole that Skarsgard left) and Philly's 3rd (23). Cyrus Saul was auto retired at the end of the season, so we had an instant hole there. Skarsgard was going to leave us in FA regardless, and we knew that. So that we were able to get 1oa for him and switch some picks around is an absolute win. We asked Gary Lazer-Eyes, who is inactive, to switch positions. At 250 TPE, he was never going to get any better and was going to be a weak spot on the team if we continued to start him. By having him switch to DL, we opened up a spot for Vegeta, who is hyperactive and already nearly double Lazer-Eyes' TPE, and we added a locker room presence that is damn near unrivaled in the league. We feel like this was a slam-dunk pick because it's an immediate and tangible upgrade at safety that will make a huge difference down the road. I'll address the DL later on when you do.

With the 13th pick of the draft, the Otters took defensive tackle Rapid Eagle. This is one the pick that I did like. Eagle is a very hard-working player, and he will be a starter on week one.

I agree. We were shocked that Eagle fell to us at 13 (which we acquired by sending Philly Brock Phoenix) and we absolutely love him, so it was a no brainer for us. It fills the hole left by Saul/Skarsgard with an active player who is invested in the league.

With the 23rd pick, the Otters would end up taking Wide Reciever Remon Kurisuto. They lost Tyler Oles to retirement this offseason, and Kurisuto will make a great 3rd receiver. My main gripe is that Jerome Davis was taken only four picks higher than this. With two picks in the 3rd round, if I see Davis hanging around 18, 19, 20, I’d trade up and get him. The margin between the two is quite high in Davis’ favour, and having him taken 4 picks before is a little more salt in the wound.

I see your logic here, but there are always behind the scenes things going on. This was a pick that we debated on for an hour and a half. There were so many good prospects left on the board here that we wanted to make sure we were certain of our decision. As for the trading up piece: we rarely trade up in a draft. This draft was the only exception in my memory, and as explained above we feel it was justified. To us, with so many good players on the board, Jeff was the only player we felt comfortable trading up to get, and when coupled with getting a return for Skarsgard rather than nothing was an excellent trade. For us to give up two picks in order to get one receiver that we personally viewed equal to Kuristuo made no sense for us. At the time, we had multiple GMs asking about trading for this pick as well, so we preferred to, if we did trade it, get more out of it rather than give up more to move up.

Just three picks later, the Otters take Larry Longshot, defensive end. I can see the logic here. With Mbanefo entering what is likely his last year, the Otters likely wanted to add a developmental prospect to the team and did so with Longshot. I have several gripes with this pick as well. First off, the Otters are NOT short on DE talent. They have depth in the bushels. What they do lack is actual skill in the position. If you ask me whether I’d take 3 back up defensive ends, or 1 starter, I’d pick the starter every time. Perhaps Longshot can be that in time. However, this feels like a reach and a miss. Secondly, if they really wanted a defensive end prospect, Chip Otle was taken 22nd overall by the San Jose Sabrecats. After seeing Jeff Personsacker go off the board at 21, they had to have known Chip Otle wasn’t too far behind. I’m not saying that San Jose would have actually traded them the pick, but you have to think the 23rd and 46th pick likely would have gotten them up one spot to take Chip Otle.

You make very fair points. We do have an abundance of DL players, however as DK is the most difficult position to fill in the league, you can never have too many. Mbafeno and Ginsberg will both be auto retired within the next season or two. Lovote is at 200 TPE and not a great option. So we needed more. Longshot is also active in our locker room and has been a great guy to be around. So when you factor in 3 DL that are either very low TPE or will not be on the team within a couple seasons, this is an excellent pick to allow him time to build himself up while getting the last years out of Mbafeno and Ginsberg. We did like Chip and we would have taken him had he fallen to us at 23. But again, we don't like to give up multiple picks to receive one unless we feel it is justified. We also believed San Jose would take Frost here, so we did not feel a need to trade up. We were obviously wrong, but you have to take chances now and again.

At 35OA, the Otters take Ryan Scott, a linebacker they desperately need to help fill out the secondary. Great pick at face value, but this a straight miss. Perry Tucker Jr went at 30 overall, which they could have taken at 25OA, and Gregor McGregor went 36OA (who was almost immediately flipped to the Yellowknife Wraiths an immense amount of value).

Again, I understand your analysis. You've done a great job with it. I'm just here to give you the behind the scenes info that you couldn't know about. Ryan Scott was one of our top 5 interviewees. We love him as a player and we love the position he plays. Drafting him here allows him some time to progress and he will be perfect to replace Jaylen Storm when he begins regression very soon. He is also active in the locker room, as all our picks so far has been. Perry is a great player and great dude, but again, we don't like to make trades that would lose us picks.

And finally, at 46OA, Orange County take offensive lineman Douglas Quail. While this is a great developmental player, the Otters needed to get good, or at least better soon. Quail wont be an impact player next year, that is certain. Down the line, for sure, but for the Otters who have done nothing but pick subpar? This wasn’t good enough.

Offensive Linemen are typically drafted with the understanding that they will not be immediately competitive. Quail was no different. We are aware that it will be a few seasons before he will see NSFL playing time, but yet again, the locker room presence is huge.

Your drafts only seems to cover the first 5 rounds, but I would like to pinpoint our later picks as well. At 56, we selected Shakir Ahmed. With Johnny Blaze deep into regression, we picked him as the heir to Blaze's throne and he is excited about it and active in the locker room. At 66, we selected Hunter Young. We had a good conversation with him pre-draft, where he said he had been inactive but was planning on coming back soon. He did indeed come back, but retired to start with a new player as he felt he was too far behind and not where he wanted his player to be. At 76, we took Cam'Ron West, a defensive tackle that is inactive. At 86, we selected inactive player Churro Chest. At 96, we selected inactive player Matt Meagher. At 106, we selected active player J Z, safety. He is active in the locker room and behind on TPE but hoping to catch up quickly. At 116 we took Austin Brehio, and at 126 we took Nicolini Domenicolas, both inactive.

My only criticism of the article is to suggest that you look into the locker room presence of players and add that into your analysis. Of our 14 draft picks, 8 are active and one was drafted in round 11. Locker room activity doesn't translate well to actually football, but it is a huge part of this league and cannot be undervalued.

Again, though, excellent read and excellent points! Keep it up!