Tier 2 - 400+ words – #8
Okay this is a bit of an interesting one for me, but I am going to take on two different choices here as I cannot successfully argue the one without arguing the other for something else. My initial argument is that Mason Blaylock of the New Orleans Second Line is deserving of Safety of the Year. This is admittedly biased as Blaylock is on my team, however despite this I do believe I can make a good case for them.
Now Blaylock's stat line on the season is 87 tackles, 3 forced fumbles, 3 fumble recoveries, 7 sacks, 5 interceptions, and 11 passes defended. That by itself means nothing other than eight takeaways being terrific by any metric. However those 87 tackles are good for 10th among safeties, and despite having no tackles for loss Blaylock is tied for tenth there given the rarity of the stat. Blaylock is second in forced fumbles, tied for first in fumble recoveries, tied for fifth in sacks, tied for first in interceptions, and tied for fourth in passes defended. The only area Blaylock is outside the top ten in fact is in touchdowns as his zero touchdown returns is only good for eleventh among safeties.
That leads me to Blaylock's greatest competition for Safety of the Year this season Prince Vegeta of the Orange County Otters. Their stat line on the season is 79 tackles, 1 forced fumble, 4 sacks, 5 interceptions, 9 passes defended, and 3 defensive touchdowns. Vegeta's ranks are twenty-first in tackles, tied for tenth in tackles for loss with zero, eight in forced fumbles, fifteenth in fumble recoveries with zero, tied for nineteenth in sacks, tied for first in interceptions, tied for eighth in passes defended, but with a strong lead of first overall in defensive touchdowns.
Personally I value extra takeaways more than return touchdowns, however I know I am a bit unusual in that regard so voters would probably lean Vegeta. That said I think that would be a mistake as Prince Vegeta deserves to run away with one hundred percent of the vote for Defensive Performance of the Year for their performance in week four against the Arizona Outlaws. Their stat line for that one game 8 tackles, 3 passes defended, 3 interceptions, and 2 defensive touchdowns. Undeniably the best defensive performance of the year with three takeaways when two of them were returned for touchdowns. However that heavily hinders his Safety of the Year argument in my eyes as that means in the other fifteen games his stat line was only 71 tackles, 1 forced fumble, 4 sacks, 2 interceptions, 6 passes defended, and 1 defensive touchdown.
Now to just take away his would be unfair and so Mason Blaylock's best performance as well which came in week ten against the Orange County Otters where he accounted for 5 tackles, 1 sack, 1 forced fumble, 1 fumble recovery, 2 passes defended, and 1 interception. That would still mean he had 82 tackles, 2 forced fumbles, 2 fumble recoveries, 6 sacks, 4 interceptions, and 9 passes defended. That would drop his tackles rank down to seventeenth, but nothing else drops out of the top ten with the next largest drop being to ninth in sacks. Still going up against Vegeta's full season stats removing Blaylock's best game only makes him worse in comparison in terms of interceptions and defensive touchdowns. Since so many of Prince Vegeta's came in one game I make the case that Blaylock was the more valuable throughout the season and deserving of Safety of the Year.
Tier 2 – 400+ Words – #14
This is an easy one for me actually as I realize looking at it that one of the two teams that I have belonged to would qualify. So I am going to write about the Norfolk Seawolves who had the worst DSFL season of all time in S19 where they won zero games, lost fourteen games, and were outscored three to one. In fairness that was a contracted team and so were there no humans attached to it. However I believe that it still counts as a comeback when the team came back from nonexistence into a meaningful place in the DSFL.
This started in S20 as Scorp was allowed to bring the team back and did so quite well if I do say so myself. That draft would get key contributors Dorfus Jimbo Jr, Ryan Scott, Atlas Quin, Juniped Catfish (Now known as Flash Panda), Tequila Sunrise, Jeff Personsacker, and Remon Kurisito (Now known as Future Trunks). That season the Norfolk Seawolves would turn around from their zero win record to a six win record and a playoff berth for the first time since S14 back when they were also a human team. First year back from contraction and they started their comeback strong.
Year two was even better for Scorp's Seawolves as he was joined by Juni to help the team through the largest draft class in DSFL history. This massive draft class was of immense help to the Norfolk Seawolves as they were able to draft about a dozen decent or better players. Starting with Thubba Bumper in the first and all the way through Suleiman Ramza in the fifteenth round. Suleiman would be the absolute steal of the draft as a future MVP at the DSFL level and a player who would go on to be arguably the greatest Seawolf of all time. This roster proved its worth quickly as they would be the first Seawolves team to reach eight wins in a season as they continued their climb. That would be good enough to make the playoffs again, however they were knocked out in the first round as they were in their first season back.
The following draft class was much smaller by comparison, but would bring in solid replacements for those that got called up. Including de Pengu and Jadakiss who would stand in for the greatest DSFL safety duo of all time Cross & Eriksen. Braxton Sinclair who filled the shoes of Magnus Rikiya quite well, and Dre Matthews who would become a super star in the receiving corps. This team tied the team record of eight wins in a single season, although was also a first round exit come the playoffs.
Now the season that makes me comfortable saying the Seawolves made a true comeback from their zero win season started with a decent draft getting Quentin Button to bolster the secondary, Captain Rogers who would prove to be a reliable running back, and a couple of offensive line players in Rickie Vaughne (Now a cornerback) and Thad Pennington Jr. What really made this class though was the acquisition of Daria Guava-Fresca off of waivers as she would go on to have a terrific season kicking as the team got to a ten win record good for best in the league. The reason I say kicker Daria Guava-Fresca was the most important acquisition is she would go on to win player of the game for their first playoff win since the inaugural season of the DSFL off of a perfect performance of one for one on extra points and four for four on field goals. She would also win player of the game for the next game as two for two on extra points, four for four on field goals, and outscored the opposition more than two to one on their way to a twenty-six to six win for their first Ultimini win in team history.
This is a team that came back from nonexistence and had five consecutive playoff appearances. Two Ultimini appearances with one win which would be their first win in franchise history. I consider that a comeback of the highest order. Scorp bringing the team back, Juni stepping up to be a superb CoGM, J0EB and Blasoon being part of the S21 draft and eventually taking over as general managers, and the waiver wire pickup of perfect kicker Daria Guava-Fresca. There were a bunch of other terrific moves made during this stretch, however from zero wins to ten wins and an Ultimini I think speaks for itself fairly well.
Okay this is a bit of an interesting one for me, but I am going to take on two different choices here as I cannot successfully argue the one without arguing the other for something else. My initial argument is that Mason Blaylock of the New Orleans Second Line is deserving of Safety of the Year. This is admittedly biased as Blaylock is on my team, however despite this I do believe I can make a good case for them.
Now Blaylock's stat line on the season is 87 tackles, 3 forced fumbles, 3 fumble recoveries, 7 sacks, 5 interceptions, and 11 passes defended. That by itself means nothing other than eight takeaways being terrific by any metric. However those 87 tackles are good for 10th among safeties, and despite having no tackles for loss Blaylock is tied for tenth there given the rarity of the stat. Blaylock is second in forced fumbles, tied for first in fumble recoveries, tied for fifth in sacks, tied for first in interceptions, and tied for fourth in passes defended. The only area Blaylock is outside the top ten in fact is in touchdowns as his zero touchdown returns is only good for eleventh among safeties.
That leads me to Blaylock's greatest competition for Safety of the Year this season Prince Vegeta of the Orange County Otters. Their stat line on the season is 79 tackles, 1 forced fumble, 4 sacks, 5 interceptions, 9 passes defended, and 3 defensive touchdowns. Vegeta's ranks are twenty-first in tackles, tied for tenth in tackles for loss with zero, eight in forced fumbles, fifteenth in fumble recoveries with zero, tied for nineteenth in sacks, tied for first in interceptions, tied for eighth in passes defended, but with a strong lead of first overall in defensive touchdowns.
Personally I value extra takeaways more than return touchdowns, however I know I am a bit unusual in that regard so voters would probably lean Vegeta. That said I think that would be a mistake as Prince Vegeta deserves to run away with one hundred percent of the vote for Defensive Performance of the Year for their performance in week four against the Arizona Outlaws. Their stat line for that one game 8 tackles, 3 passes defended, 3 interceptions, and 2 defensive touchdowns. Undeniably the best defensive performance of the year with three takeaways when two of them were returned for touchdowns. However that heavily hinders his Safety of the Year argument in my eyes as that means in the other fifteen games his stat line was only 71 tackles, 1 forced fumble, 4 sacks, 2 interceptions, 6 passes defended, and 1 defensive touchdown.
Now to just take away his would be unfair and so Mason Blaylock's best performance as well which came in week ten against the Orange County Otters where he accounted for 5 tackles, 1 sack, 1 forced fumble, 1 fumble recovery, 2 passes defended, and 1 interception. That would still mean he had 82 tackles, 2 forced fumbles, 2 fumble recoveries, 6 sacks, 4 interceptions, and 9 passes defended. That would drop his tackles rank down to seventeenth, but nothing else drops out of the top ten with the next largest drop being to ninth in sacks. Still going up against Vegeta's full season stats removing Blaylock's best game only makes him worse in comparison in terms of interceptions and defensive touchdowns. Since so many of Prince Vegeta's came in one game I make the case that Blaylock was the more valuable throughout the season and deserving of Safety of the Year.
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Word Count: 594Tier 2 – 400+ Words – #14
This is an easy one for me actually as I realize looking at it that one of the two teams that I have belonged to would qualify. So I am going to write about the Norfolk Seawolves who had the worst DSFL season of all time in S19 where they won zero games, lost fourteen games, and were outscored three to one. In fairness that was a contracted team and so were there no humans attached to it. However I believe that it still counts as a comeback when the team came back from nonexistence into a meaningful place in the DSFL.
This started in S20 as Scorp was allowed to bring the team back and did so quite well if I do say so myself. That draft would get key contributors Dorfus Jimbo Jr, Ryan Scott, Atlas Quin, Juniped Catfish (Now known as Flash Panda), Tequila Sunrise, Jeff Personsacker, and Remon Kurisito (Now known as Future Trunks). That season the Norfolk Seawolves would turn around from their zero win record to a six win record and a playoff berth for the first time since S14 back when they were also a human team. First year back from contraction and they started their comeback strong.
Year two was even better for Scorp's Seawolves as he was joined by Juni to help the team through the largest draft class in DSFL history. This massive draft class was of immense help to the Norfolk Seawolves as they were able to draft about a dozen decent or better players. Starting with Thubba Bumper in the first and all the way through Suleiman Ramza in the fifteenth round. Suleiman would be the absolute steal of the draft as a future MVP at the DSFL level and a player who would go on to be arguably the greatest Seawolf of all time. This roster proved its worth quickly as they would be the first Seawolves team to reach eight wins in a season as they continued their climb. That would be good enough to make the playoffs again, however they were knocked out in the first round as they were in their first season back.
The following draft class was much smaller by comparison, but would bring in solid replacements for those that got called up. Including de Pengu and Jadakiss who would stand in for the greatest DSFL safety duo of all time Cross & Eriksen. Braxton Sinclair who filled the shoes of Magnus Rikiya quite well, and Dre Matthews who would become a super star in the receiving corps. This team tied the team record of eight wins in a single season, although was also a first round exit come the playoffs.
Now the season that makes me comfortable saying the Seawolves made a true comeback from their zero win season started with a decent draft getting Quentin Button to bolster the secondary, Captain Rogers who would prove to be a reliable running back, and a couple of offensive line players in Rickie Vaughne (Now a cornerback) and Thad Pennington Jr. What really made this class though was the acquisition of Daria Guava-Fresca off of waivers as she would go on to have a terrific season kicking as the team got to a ten win record good for best in the league. The reason I say kicker Daria Guava-Fresca was the most important acquisition is she would go on to win player of the game for their first playoff win since the inaugural season of the DSFL off of a perfect performance of one for one on extra points and four for four on field goals. She would also win player of the game for the next game as two for two on extra points, four for four on field goals, and outscored the opposition more than two to one on their way to a twenty-six to six win for their first Ultimini win in team history.
This is a team that came back from nonexistence and had five consecutive playoff appearances. Two Ultimini appearances with one win which would be their first win in franchise history. I consider that a comeback of the highest order. Scorp bringing the team back, Juni stepping up to be a superb CoGM, J0EB and Blasoon being part of the S21 draft and eventually taking over as general managers, and the waiver wire pickup of perfect kicker Daria Guava-Fresca. There were a bunch of other terrific moves made during this stretch, however from zero wins to ten wins and an Ultimini I think speaks for itself fairly well.
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Word Count: 761