Tier 1: Long Form Tasks (800+ words)
#5
I have just joined the league, well technically I haven’t yet, since I have yet to be drafted by a DFSL team. I created a player last week, this is the second simulation league that I have ever done, the first being the SHL, which is also the reason I am here. I’ve been a fan of football for my whole like and I was on the fence about creating a player for a while, but I finally pulled the trigger.
With the actual draft still a while away, I’m left to wonder where my player, linebacker Vincent Jones Jr., may end up, and what the starting point of their career will be. I am and hopefully always will be a big fan of being a team player. I don’t really care how my individual player does, as long as the team is winning. But let’s not kid ourselves, everyone wants their player to be the best they can be, so I wanted to see what the upper echelon of linebackers in the league were. Who is the best right now? Who will be the best soon? And who is the best of all time.
Doing this I’m hoping to get a better understanding of the league and hopefully get some ideas on how to make my player the best he can be, to help whichever team I end up on win as much as possible. First I looked at the top LB’s in the IFSL. At the end of this season (S24) there are 6 LBs in the top ten for tackles. Baltimore’s D. Kennedy leads the way with 158, and Chicago’s M. Hockhertz is right behind with 148. Edmond, Arianlacher, Bode and Virtanen are the other linebackers in the top ten. When I look at tackles for loss, only two LBs are in the top 10, Suzuki and Zelos. For sacks, Arizona’s LB G. Wilf led the league with 14, followed by Baltimore’s D. De Ville with 13. Two other LBs were in the top ten, T. Brackenridge and H. Mango-Panda. In interceptions, only one LB was in the top ten, Arianlacher with 3 picks. So, by my crude methodology of looking at the top ten LBs in the stats that I selected, and not knowing any of this players or teams, this seasons best linebacker in my eyes was HONs M. Arianlacher, with 128 tackles, 3 of which were for a loss, 3 sacks and 3 interceptions.
Now, to look at the DFSL, with the same categories that I looked at for the big leagues. When I look at the top tackle getters, every single player in the top ten is a linebacker. Leading the pack and the league is Tijuana’s A. Schell with 123. Dallas’ G. Fields is just behind Schell with 120 tackles on the season. When looking at tackles for loss, just like tackles, this stat is dominated by one position, but not by LBs, defensive ends are all you see until number 18, LBer J. Domine with 6 and then A. Schell is two spots after with 5. For sacks, J. Domine led the league with 12, linebackers A. Schell and R. Leaking both had 9 and 4 other LBs, A. Chainbreaker, T. Tate, R. Rucker and B. Light, rounded out the top ten. For INTs only only LB made the top ten, KCs G. Goodman with 3. So again, using my terrible method of just looking at numbers, A. Schell would be the top LB in the DFSL, with 123 tackles, 5 for a loss, 9 sacks and zero sacks.
Now to look at the best of the best. I had a look at the Hall of Fame inductees, and out of the 40 listed on the wiki, 11 of them played as a linebacker at one point in their careers. That is 28% of the HOF. That is a pretty impressive number of LBs to get this top honour. I wanted to look a bit further to see how was really the tops, so I looked at career leaders in the stats I used for current players. LN Alex Selich leads all players with 1275 tackles, 9 out of the top ten tacklers are LBs. In the tackles for loss category, only one LB had the top ten, Kurt Hendrix who also spent time as a defensive end, with 72. In sacks, Angus Winchester has recorded the most for LBs with 114. Four other LBs made the top ten here as well. And in interceptions, no linebacker made the top ten, which isn’t overly surprising. With this info, I wanted to see if any of the all time leaders for LBs were also inducted into the HOF. Angus Winchester and Kurt Hendrix both are members of the HoF, so my totally flawed conclusion is that these two players Angus Winchester and Kurt Hendrix are the two top LBs to play in the IFSL.
Well, there we have it, with my very imperfect system I’ve found that the best LB playing right now is M. Arainlacher, the best up and coming LB is A. Schell and the best LBs to play so far are Winchester and Hendrix. I have no idea where my player will pan out, but these are the targets that I have if I want him to be a great linebacker in the league.
(Word count - 895)
#5
I have just joined the league, well technically I haven’t yet, since I have yet to be drafted by a DFSL team. I created a player last week, this is the second simulation league that I have ever done, the first being the SHL, which is also the reason I am here. I’ve been a fan of football for my whole like and I was on the fence about creating a player for a while, but I finally pulled the trigger.
With the actual draft still a while away, I’m left to wonder where my player, linebacker Vincent Jones Jr., may end up, and what the starting point of their career will be. I am and hopefully always will be a big fan of being a team player. I don’t really care how my individual player does, as long as the team is winning. But let’s not kid ourselves, everyone wants their player to be the best they can be, so I wanted to see what the upper echelon of linebackers in the league were. Who is the best right now? Who will be the best soon? And who is the best of all time.
Doing this I’m hoping to get a better understanding of the league and hopefully get some ideas on how to make my player the best he can be, to help whichever team I end up on win as much as possible. First I looked at the top LB’s in the IFSL. At the end of this season (S24) there are 6 LBs in the top ten for tackles. Baltimore’s D. Kennedy leads the way with 158, and Chicago’s M. Hockhertz is right behind with 148. Edmond, Arianlacher, Bode and Virtanen are the other linebackers in the top ten. When I look at tackles for loss, only two LBs are in the top 10, Suzuki and Zelos. For sacks, Arizona’s LB G. Wilf led the league with 14, followed by Baltimore’s D. De Ville with 13. Two other LBs were in the top ten, T. Brackenridge and H. Mango-Panda. In interceptions, only one LB was in the top ten, Arianlacher with 3 picks. So, by my crude methodology of looking at the top ten LBs in the stats that I selected, and not knowing any of this players or teams, this seasons best linebacker in my eyes was HONs M. Arianlacher, with 128 tackles, 3 of which were for a loss, 3 sacks and 3 interceptions.
Now, to look at the DFSL, with the same categories that I looked at for the big leagues. When I look at the top tackle getters, every single player in the top ten is a linebacker. Leading the pack and the league is Tijuana’s A. Schell with 123. Dallas’ G. Fields is just behind Schell with 120 tackles on the season. When looking at tackles for loss, just like tackles, this stat is dominated by one position, but not by LBs, defensive ends are all you see until number 18, LBer J. Domine with 6 and then A. Schell is two spots after with 5. For sacks, J. Domine led the league with 12, linebackers A. Schell and R. Leaking both had 9 and 4 other LBs, A. Chainbreaker, T. Tate, R. Rucker and B. Light, rounded out the top ten. For INTs only only LB made the top ten, KCs G. Goodman with 3. So again, using my terrible method of just looking at numbers, A. Schell would be the top LB in the DFSL, with 123 tackles, 5 for a loss, 9 sacks and zero sacks.
Now to look at the best of the best. I had a look at the Hall of Fame inductees, and out of the 40 listed on the wiki, 11 of them played as a linebacker at one point in their careers. That is 28% of the HOF. That is a pretty impressive number of LBs to get this top honour. I wanted to look a bit further to see how was really the tops, so I looked at career leaders in the stats I used for current players. LN Alex Selich leads all players with 1275 tackles, 9 out of the top ten tacklers are LBs. In the tackles for loss category, only one LB had the top ten, Kurt Hendrix who also spent time as a defensive end, with 72. In sacks, Angus Winchester has recorded the most for LBs with 114. Four other LBs made the top ten here as well. And in interceptions, no linebacker made the top ten, which isn’t overly surprising. With this info, I wanted to see if any of the all time leaders for LBs were also inducted into the HOF. Angus Winchester and Kurt Hendrix both are members of the HoF, so my totally flawed conclusion is that these two players Angus Winchester and Kurt Hendrix are the two top LBs to play in the IFSL.
Well, there we have it, with my very imperfect system I’ve found that the best LB playing right now is M. Arainlacher, the best up and coming LB is A. Schell and the best LBs to play so far are Winchester and Hendrix. I have no idea where my player will pan out, but these are the targets that I have if I want him to be a great linebacker in the league.
(Word count - 895)
