Over the years, there have been plenty of NSFL draft picks that have went on to become nothing more than disappointing busts. One that stands out to me as maybe the biggest draft bust of all time, is 6th overall pick in the S16 NSFL Draft, defensive lineman Chad Maulolo. After a solid season in the DSFL where Maulolo finished top 5 in the league in tackles for loss and was a consistently solid earner, it was clear that Maulolo was a top prospect in the S16 NSFL Draft. In the end, Maulolo was taken 6th overall by the Yellowknife Wraiths. Maulolo had a fairly quiet start to his NSFL career, finishing his rookie season without a sack and with just 3 tackles for loss. To make matters worse for the Wraiths, Maulolo went inactive in his rookie season, never even reaching the 250 TPE threshold. This resulted in Maulolo not playing a single snap in the NSFL for the next 3 seasons. By S20, the Wraiths defensive line was a weak point on their team, and they were forced to play Maulolo for the next two seasons, with middling results. You could argue that this wasted draft pick hasn’t hurt the Wraiths all that much, as they have made the playoffs every season since drafting Maulolo, including 5 straight Ultimus appearances. However, the Wraiths have failed to win a single Ultimus in that stretch. There were some fantastic players taken after Maulolo in the S16 NSFL Draft, including Mako Mendonca, Wolfie McDummy, and Hugh Mongo to name a few. It’s not hard to imagine that if Yellowknife had added one of these players instead of Maulolo, that they would have found some different results in their 5 Ultimus appearances.

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