(S22) - PT3 - Boom or Bust

[Colabear]

The first name read out by the commissioner in the Season 15 draft was Brock Landers, Wide Receiver from the Norfolk Seawolves. It didn't seem a bad choice at the time, indeed for a few seasons after it seemed pretty reasonable, but now 7 seasons on, when Brock should be in his prime, at his peak before regression touches him, he is instead retired.

79 games isn't a bad total of course. He peaked at 631 TPE. But indulge me in letting my inner game show host out and as the saying goes "let's see what you could of won"...

The next two picks went to the New Orleans Second line who selected 2 linebackers, Quenton Bode and Johnny Slothface, both stalwarts of that team who have peaked at 1257 and 1021 TPE respectively.

Next up the Yellowknife Wraiths selected Nero Alexander still active and peaking at a whopping 1426 TPE.

Next along we have Chase Jensen, a weaker selection but still topping Brock Landers topping out at 893 TPE. Then Lightsout Lewis who reacked 1124 TPE. Finally we reach the only first rounder comparable at Ricardo Morris topping out at 606 TPE - but then he's still playing for Philadelphia, the team who drafted him. Then we get back on track with AJ Lattimer at 1101. Richard D’Attoria V at 1181. And to round out the first round, Ahri Espeeyeeseetee, who got to 1014.

To highlight a few names from the later rounds... Mo Berry, Forrest Gump, RodTidwell, FRANKLIN ARMSTRONG, Nacho Varga, Walt Green, Ryan Leaf Jr. An obscene depth of talent.

There are in fact 42 players from that draft class still active in the league. The few retirees we've seen are typically recreates destined to be long term starting quarterbacks. Of those 28 reached higher TPE totals than the First overall pick.

[Jangorhino]

I’m gonna make my case for the worst draft pick of all time. My pick is Rickey Ramero. He was selected 1OA by theYeti in the season 8 draft. Rickey Ramero never even made it to a pro bowl. Rickey Ramero is the only player eligible to be discussed in this PT drafter 1OA who never made at least a pro bowl. From what I can tell, Ramero played only 1 season in the NSFL. This guy is the definition of bust.

This draft pick set the Yeti back big time. Into season 9 the Yeti had very high hopes and did quite well. The next two years they were over .500 as well. The wheels came off fast though and after season eleven the Yeti only had one winning season until season 19. This terrible stretch was marked with consistently being in the bottom of their division as well as the league. The Yeti has 6 straight losing seasons from season 13 to season 18.


There were much better options further down the draft. Directly being Ramero in the draft were five pro bowlers and 1 Hall of Famer. Childish Gambino was drafted 4OA in the season 8 draft.

There may be some other bad busts, but there can’t be a bust worse than this guy. It doesn’t seem like there could possibly be a worse bust than a 1OA that only plays one season.

[Memento Mori]

The worst draft pick of all time was Sweet James-Jones, drafted sixth overall by the Chicago Butchers in the S19 NSFL Draft. Everything about this pick was a disaster. The S19 draft was in November, and Sweet James-Jones stopped updating regularly in December. He was the fourth option in Chicago's offense in S19 and S20 before retiring. In terms of his on-field production, this was a bad pick. A bad pick made worse by the fact that the seventh overall pick was wide receiver Rayne Gordon, drafted by the Yellowknife Wraiths. RainDelay has been on the site since Season 1 and is in the top five of his class for TPE, but Chicago chose Sweet James-Jones instead.

But the worst part about this pick was his off-field... 'issues'. James-Jones was writing articles criticising other players and users almost from the day he joined the league, and would regularly pick fights on the forum and on twitter. A quick look through his profile shows that some of his media articles were swiftly locked, as they were particularly incendiary. Sweet James-Jones' retirement post was edited by a moderator, but the replies indicate that in the post James-Jones told another user to swallow a knife. And, additionally, that this was not the first time he'd done this. Sweet James-Jones was banned indefinitely later that day, with the HO member who posted the punishment thread stating that SJJ had incited violence against multiple users and harassed people in private messages. Sweet James-Jones epitomises the spectacularly terrible draft bust, as someone with little on-field production who had their career cut short by off-field issues in a predictable fashion given his history. Capping it off, as with many stories like this, there was a much better player picked just after him.

[stupiduglyidiot]

Considering the amount of drafts there have been, it's tough to pick only one bust. However, one notable bust has to be Willie Woodson. The cornerback from UCLA was drafted to the New Orleans Second Line in S17 after having played for the San Antonio Marshalls. He was selected 4th in the second round, or 14th overall, and was selected ahead of notable NSFL pro bowlers such as Kicky Bobby and Ronald Watkins. Interestingly, the New Orleans Second Line also had the 13th overall pick, in which they selected the pro bowler wide receiver out of UGA, Action Jackson.

Willie Woodson was selected early in the draft and was considered to be one of the best cornerback prospects in 2032. However, his career quickly took a downturn as he made no notable impact and found himself out of the league. Currently he is a free agent, but can almost be considered to be retired and unlikely to play in the NSFL again. He has never given a clear cut answer to why he decided to phase out of the NSFL. The talent and potential were certainly there, but unfortunately Woodson never lived up to the expectations that come with being a top 15 pick amongst pro bowlers and future hall of famers. The New Orleans Second Line however managed to find success without him anyway, as they are the reigning Ultimus champions.

WC: 232

[Billybolo53]

PBE PT

[BRNXB0MBERS]

After going beaver free in hopes of becoming the number one overall draft pick, the biggest bust in the history of the NSFL is Thad Castle of S14.

After fleeing from war torn Bosnia, the 6-foot-five, 255 pound linebacker walked on at the University of Florida. He became a star in his junior year, but elected to return for his senior season in order to obtain his degree – something he had promised his father on his deathbed. Despite a less than stellar senior campaign, he was projected to be an impact player at the next level. Known as a power rusher, he was often compared to James Harrison and Terrell Suggs.

The hype was overwhelming. One rookie mentor, nunccoepi, was so excited that he commended Thad Castle the same day he joined the league. Likewise, Raven was so excited that he immediately started doing cocaine.

His motto, courtesy of his college coach Marty Daniels, added to the excitement: Once upon a time, some weak, pathetic [person] coined the phrase “winning isn’t everything”. But, for most people in most situations, he was right. But I’m not one of those people and this is not one of those situations.

Unfortunately, the hype never came to fruition, and Thad Castle ended his career with 55 TPE and only four posts on the forum.

Code:

220 words

[Leafs4ever]

The worst draft pick in NSFL history has to be the Orange County Otters selecting quarterback Brock Phoenix with the 20th overall pick in the Season 19 Draft.

First of all, the Otters didn't even need a quarterback with perennial MVP candidate Franklin Armstrong behind centre, but still used a second round pick to take Phoenix. Second of all, he wasn't all that great in the DSFL so I'm not sure what they thought they were getting with that pick. Finally, Phoenix never even played a snap for the Otters. He was unceremoniously traded to his current team, the Philadelphia Liberty, for a Season 21 second round pick, effectively recouping what they wasted to draft Brock Phoenix.

As for his current team, the Liberty haven't gained anything by having Phoenix play quarterback for them. He's put up some mediocre numbers in his two seasons under centre. He's only thrown 37 touchdowns in 2 and a half seasons, but has thrown a whopping 27 interceptions. He's led the Liberty to a 12-22 record while he's been the quarterback, with zero playoff appearances. He has a tremendous defense and all-star weapons at every offensive position, but still hasn't put anything together.

Phoenix has been a disappointment to two franchises in just 4 seasons. This is precisely why he is the worst draft pick in NSFL history.

(224 words)

[yonggarius]

PBE PT

[24redcrayons]

PBE Affiliate PT

[HENDRIX 2.0]

The worst NSFL draft pick of all time is one that I take full responsibility for. Back in season 5 the Baltimore Hawks needed some more pass catching weapons for our QB. We had the young Trey Willie at WR and literally nothing else. We had the third pick in the draft that year. The Yeti had the 1st two picks, but we knew one of them was going to be a GM selection. At the time everybody was in love with the potential of Portland Pythons prospects TE Carlito Crush and WR John Wachter. Like the Seattle Supersonics in the 2007 NBA draft, we were just going to sit and take whichever one of those offensive weapons fell to three. Unfortunately for the Hawks, we got the Greg Oden of the duo. I enjoyed my brief chats with both prospects prior to the draft, especially Wachter. He was a prolific writer and a real life Baltimore native. It seemed like a perfect fit. We picked him and he put in an update or two before vanishing from the league about a month after we drafted him. That pick was one of the many little things that made me peace out on the league for a while, but like drafts in real life, there are no guarantees when it comes to prospects. (222 words)