(S28) PT 3 - What If?

[StadiumGambler]

For the DSFL, a moment that could potentially change the course of Dallas Birddogs history came in the Season 27 DSFL Draft. With the 4th overall pick in the draft, Dallas selected Wide Receiver Chunt The Badger. Chunt was a worthy choice in a lot of ways, and was said to bring a lot of character and good morale to the Dallas LR, as well as an eye popping, record setting season where Chunt caught 111 passes for 1405 yards, both totals setting new DSFL records. With hype behind Chunt, the 0-16 Baltimore Hawks sought Chunt out on the draft, and picked her 14th overall with a late first round pick. Chunt made the final round of cuts from training camp, and has gone on to be a serviceable receiving option on a rebuilding team trying to get out of the doldrums.

For Dallas, who spent a 1st rounder on a one and done, the what ifs might crop up. Sure, they won the Ultimini Trophy at the end of the season, but what if they drafted the physical possession wideout Saleem Spence? Spence made a post-draft, pre-season verbal commitment to his DSFL GM to stay down for a 2nd season. If Dallas picked Spence instead of Chunt, they'd have 2 seasons of dominance, helping Dallas in this Season 28 campaign where they're struggling a bit at 4-3, tied with the Bondi Beach Buccaneers atop the South Division. Joliet Christ Jr's 64.5% completion percentage could be augmented with a strong 1-2 receviing punch of Spence + Bayley Cowabunga, as opposed to Cowabunga and a rookie, and a draft spot used to take a WR could be used instead to take an Offensive Lineman to help with pass protection and the running game, or a defensive player to add extra help for the defense, who did give up 31 to Norfolk in the season opener and 35 to Kansas City in Week 7. This also aids next year's roster too, getting an extra impact player at a position of need that you wouldn't have otherwise.

Overall, while Chunt was a good pick with sound logic at the time, Spence could've been a dynastic one for Dallas. Or maybe they'll just win it all again this year anyways and we're all doomed

[Evok]

@bex

[Troen]

There have been many moments in league history where a single decision (e.g., a draft choice, a GM’s promotion or retirement, a trade, a player’s movement in free agency) may have changed the course of the ISFL. Describe a decision that was made, how you imagined it going differently, and what might the league look like now if it had gone the way you imagined. For rookies that are still learning about the league history, write about what would be different about your current season if you had been drafted one place earlier or later, as in what team you would be on, and what your new role would be, etc.

An obvious way to change history is to have picked different expansion teams at different points in the league's history. Beyond the obvious 'different team name/location/mascot' parts, selecting different GMs to start a team would result in a different draft strategy and therefore could easily change how the league looks wildly in later years. From what I've read about myself, I think the clear option for a major disruption is if the Chicago Butchers had not been awarded in advance of the 2030 season.
From what I've read (mostly around GM turmoil and critiquing of trades in the S23-S25 range), the Butchers went with a 'win now' kind of apporach to their expansion draft and reinforced that via trading future draft picks for players. That ended up not working out so well in practice and after a first two seasons with winning records they were under .500 for many future seasons. So, if the franchise had instead been awarded to a GM group more inclined to build to compete in a couple of years rather than immediately, the league would have changed a ton. Regardless of if the other strategy would have worked or not, a focus on drafting rather than trading for stars would have got a lot of players on different teams. The same can be said about most expansion teams over the course of history, but the amount of trading of picks that Chicago did seems like the specific expansion choice that would have changed the most of future events.
(As an honorary runner up, not discovering the early seasons multi abuse by whoever it was would have been an interesting difference in the league. Or, choosing to punish the people involved in a different way could have potentially led to the league dissolving out of a lack of confidence, or being remade, or something like that)

[Oles]

One of the biggest what ifs that directly involves me would have to be when I was a GM with the Philadelphia Liberty. There were a few seasons where critical decisions were made that shaped the team as activity dwindled among the team, and it was clear that the team would be headed towards a nasty rebuild. It was all or nothing, and the biggest moment of this would have to be when I switched to QB. The Josh Garden trade was a major trade that helped the team take the leap necessary to be a true contender, but without Tyler Oles at QB, we probably would have never made the Ultimus as much as we did and would have been a fringe playoff team. Back then, when there were only 8 teams, there were 2 teams per conference that could make the playoffs, and for those seasons Philadelphia always had a chance at the playoffs, especially when I made the switch. If we stick with Rove at QB, I’m most likely burning the team down and starting a painstaking rebuild during a time where recruitment was not doing well. This change took the team from a fringe playoff team to a championship contender, and if that doesn’t happen then well Philadelphia may never win a title, and I believe Philadelphia would have rebranded. They’ve been close a few times, but if you remove the only time Philadelphia won that magic would fade and I think it’d be hard for them to stay as a serious team, especially after Legion changed to the Second Line after a few terrible seasons. (270 words)

[Philliesphan96]

What if is the question I will be answering today, but what "what if" are we answering? Tomage McGullager has had a long enough career and been a part of a couple key moves that there are a number of what ifs that could be. What if Tomage McGullager never switched to cornerback and had stayed a tight end? What if Tomage McGullager had been drafted to a team that was not the Austin Copperheads? What if Tomage McGullager did not get taken in the expansion draft? What if Tomage McGullager went to the Berlin Fire Salamanders instead of the New York Silverbacks? What if Tomage McGullager did not get traded back to the Austin Copperheads? All of these moves and key points in Tomage McGullager's career led him to the point he is at right now. Not to mention from a less in character perspective and a more meta perspective, what if Philliesphan96 did not end up in Dallas and in Austin? Would that effect the career of Kyle Salchicha in the PBE? Would the Rougarous have not let Oakwood Stud go in expansion in hopes of signing Victor Herrera meaning Naz Hamed would never have joined the team and the Rougarous would have a number of picks still available to them as 2 firsts, 3 thirds and at least a third have all been given away in attempts to solidify 3B. Would the Rougarous still have been champions? This question is a very fun thought exercise that has effects that ripple through multiple leagues.

[Number 82]

Looking back at the Season 19 NSFL Draft, it would seem natural to wonder how things might have been if Rayne Gordon had gone 6th overall to Chicago over fellow wideout Sweet James Jones. Had Rayne been selected with the 6th pick, Yellowknife may have picked up Sweet James Jones which could've been interesting.

At wideout, you're looking at picking up an offensive weapon which both were, unfortunately the bulk of Sweet James Jones' offensive production was done off the field. Sweet James Jones had a short and turbulent career to say the least and was ultimately banned as a result of his conduct in the league. On the other hand you have Rayne Gordon had longer career, enjoyed more on field success and would go on the be one of the founders of the Sarasota Sailfish, one of the Season 22 expansion teams. Although Rayne only spent 2 seasons with Yellowknife, his first two seasons in the league saw him play in the Ultimus and while the stay was short, it only ended in pursuit of starting an expansion team. You had two players who were polar opposites in terms of character and two teams who were on very different paths. Yellowknife were a powerhouse while Chicago was on the outside looking in, unable to make the playoffs and by the end of Season 21 had a less than favourable perception around the league.

Would Rayne Gordon been able to be part of an effort to stabilise Chicago and form potent duo with Sean O'Leary? Proabably. Would Yellowknife been able remain as competitive as they have been while dealing with the SJJ experience? Maybe not. How would the teams be perceived around the league? RainDelay was a GM, showed interest in building a team and had a pretty solid career with Rayne Gordon, which looking back could've been just what Chicago needed. SJJ actions might've taken out the foundation pieces of the team and driven players away from the team, leaving holes in a team pushing them away from being the contending team that they are.

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[MachineEarnedRuns]

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[ReverendOReily]

From what I understand, my former Otter GMs Laser and Jeffie got a few somewhat irked discord messages from other GMs in the league when they traded up to select me at 20 overall in the season 25 ISFL draft. I had gotten to know a lot of people in the league, a good amount of them GMs or ISFL war room members, in a pretty short period of time, thanks in part to that old ISFL social games/among us discord server that some of you might remember from the 500 pings you would receive on a daily basis. Because I was talking to many of these people on a daily basis, my draft stock started to rise, and I went from a 6th round pick in the DSFL to a 2nd round pick in the ISFL. From here, I can take this what-if scenario in two directions:

-What if OCO was unable to make a deal with Austin to trade up for me? I know that Philadelphia and Sarasota were both also trying to trade up to Austin's 2nd round pick, so is it safe to assume I'd be a Bell or a Stonksfish if OCO couldn't get that deal made? Maybe there were other teams trying to trade up that I don't know about! Or maybe I'm flattering myself.

-What if I had never found that gaming discord server that introduced me to so many league bigwigs early on? How much further would I have fallen in the ISFL draft? I believe Honolulu had their eyes on me; would I be a kekwlua today instead of an Otter? Needless to say I'm ecstatic with where I ended up, even though I do still give Frost flak for not getting a deal done to draft me. Poor guy just doesn't know what kind of locker room harassment he's missing.
   

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[nunccoepi]

Well I bet a lot of people would expect me to write about Colorado shipping me off to Honolulu for some spare change. But no, for this one I'm reaching back to my first season in the league. I joined in S6 and at the time there wasn't a lot of growth in the league, and certainly nothing organic. So when a max earning TE showed up out of nowhere, by the time of the S7 draft I had caught the attention of some of the GMs. Being new to the league, I actually didn't know this at all. What I also didn't realize was that Colorado was coming off of two winless seasons in a row in which they stockpiled five out of the eight first round picks in the S7 draft. I honestly don't remember being scouted by Colorado at all. I was scouted by OCO, though, and at the time they were a force in the league as they had just won the last three Ultimuses. So, I was expecting OCO to take me at #3. But instead Baltimore of all teams snagged me at #2. But what about Colorado? Not one of their 5 first round picks made it to the HOF, and only 3 even made a pro bowl. The three players not picks by Colorado? All HOFers. But what if L'Alto had been drafted by Colorado? Well he could turned out a bust like the rest of them. Or, perhaps I could have helped Colorado to have a winning team even sooner. After all, iseedoug and I ended up going to Baltimore and having one of the best win % as GMs--whose to say that we couldn't do the same thing in Colorado?

[KingSean]

Mario Messi was drafted to Pythons in DSFL and Hawks in ISFL in S26. He could have been drafted to other teams in S26, but he was chosen by the Hawks in the second round. Life in Hawks was hard since nearly all the players with more than 1,000 TPEs left the team in the first season Messi joined and the team got all the young but inexperienced players in the next season. Messi tried to contribute to the team's records, but unfortunately, the team just cannot win any game even with the help of sim randomness. This is why Messi changed the team from Hawks to Sailfish, which was the champion in the last season. Had Messi been drafted to Sailfish in the first place, he could have got his first win probably 20 games earlier. He could have enjoyed the game more with his friends, and he might not need to switch the position to TE. He could have got the first championship with Sailfish in the last season. Certainly now he knows that WRs are a highly saturated position in ISFL, so he is happy to switch to TE to help the new team. Had he known this fact earlier, he might have considered other position possibilities as well.

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