(S2) - Weekend PT #1 - Draft Prep

[AsylumParty]

A cacophony of shouting is heard from behind the door that dons an NSFL logo as the front office seeks to restore order before calling in their pick.

There's no such thing as showing up prepared for draft day, unless you've accepted the futility of the pundit's predictions, the expert analyses, and the media's mocks. Are there safe bets, sure, we can all say with certainty where Fox North is going, and we basically know that Dermot Lavelle is headed to Yellowknife, but just take a look at the variation of names and the positions of such when browsing the players' mock drafts and you'll get a taste of how many possible situations can arise during the draft.

In the weeks heading up to draft day, I'm not trying to prepare myself or my team for every single possibility. That's crazy. What I'm doing is making sure that draft board has enough players on it to last me every single round. I'm making tiers on that board as well. You set a tier number one filled with the best guys, the must haves for your team. Follow that up the next best group of guys and you make sure you choose the best player available from the highest tier still available. It's a simple enough strategy, but it's the best way to prepare yourself for the uncertainty and the ambiguity of draft day.

235 words

[124715]

Draft day approaches fast, and GMs need this draft to elevate their team from last year, whether it's filling out the bots on the line or adding receiving targets for their new QB. For the expansion teams, it's an especially huge day. They need to build most of their team from this draft. For the Las Vegas Legion, they went with an unconventional approach to expansion - trading away picks for S1 players with high upside. The Philadelphia Liberty took a more conventional approach, trading away high picks like #1 overall for more picks: quantity over quality. In their war room, Lincoln Jefferson and Fox North have likely the hardest job of all GMs: building their team from the ground with very few vets. Their team's future rests on the shoulders of July 19th. They'll need to rank their prospects. At this moment, they need to rank their prospects. Activity is more important than skill or TPE. They also need to plan their strategies for next year. Other teams, who have plenty of S1 veterans, have it easier. THey already have a few core pieces to build the team around: Garden and Orosz in Yellowknife; Jenkins in Orange County, etc. They need to pick carefully since the draft is only 11 rounds. All teams will be looking to fill out their rosters with quality rookies who can make an impact right off the bat.

TL;DR: Draft Day is important.

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238 words

[CubsFan19]

The draft is less than a week away. More and more rookies are declaring for the draft every day...every hour it seems. I've already got a headache. I mean, yeah, it's fantastic we've got this many guys coming in, but it's becoming so stressful for my war room associates and myself. This league is blowing up with every day we continue it. Hopefully this means stability for the NSFL. It's been a long time since we've seen a successful football league like this stay open for a long time.

It is amazing, though. Regardless of what positions we need this year, it doesn't really matter. There is depth at every position here. Sure, I'd love to grab the 5 star prospect everyone has been drooling over in the first round with our first selection. But the good thing is, even if we don't, there are still so many other choices. We could end up drafting some no name corner back in the 6th round and it could end up turning into gold. That's what we have this year: any single draft pick could turn into a key piece to our team, making us a dynasty for years to come. A perfect example is Tom Brady: a sixth round quarterback to replace an older, broken down face of the franchise turning the Patriots into the best team in the league for years to come after years of mediocrity.

The headache will be worth it once this is all said and done.

(250 words)

[Muford]

“Get the coffee ready, it’s going to be another long night.” GM Sharpei states. He is sitting in the room, surrounded by his scouts, and coaches about figuring out who they are going to draft. It is a long, drawn out process but it is necessary to make sure you get the right player for your team. Groans of replies come from everyone else in the room, and even Sharpei is feeling the pressure, and the long nights taking a toll on his body as well. But, this is more important than all of that. Some GMs draft on pure skill, and don’t worry about anything else.

Not Sharpei. With a few days left before the Season 2 NSFL Draft, he is hard at work, not just going over college player’s tapes, but going through their files as well, seeing if they would be detrimental to the team. You need to have good character as well, Sharpei doesn’t care only about stats. How much time is being put into the gym, are you having off-field troubles? If you are, have you move passed them? Are you still stuck in the same world you were before? These are just some of the questions that this team’s staff goes through, for the hundreds of prospects they have, and will continue to go through them up until draft night.

(226 Words)

[Deusolis]

In keeping with Silicon Valley tradition, the San Jose SaberCats war-room is a high-tech display of cutting-edge draft software. "Intangibles" are usually the name of the game in scouting, after all, if we drafted on measurable there'd be no need for scouts. But the goal of the SaberCats tech is to make everything measurable so that it can then be ranked. Motor? We prefer the term "variance in power" (which is measurable" All of the mystical "scout-speak" is quantified and put into algorithms developed by content-creators with input from coaches. Even work ethic is measured, although it requires a combination of self-reporting and interviewing observers, which means the input data may be flawed.

The algorithms develop their own big board, which is then compared to the big board developed by the scouts using more traditional methods. While that's probably not the most effective usage of analytics software, as it sets the scouts and data in opposition, it's what the Cats have decided to do. Come draft-day, the GMs do their best to combine the information presented to them in the two big boards while simultaneously working the phones in order to move up or down a spot. On a team with as many needs as the Cats, the draft is vital to plugging the holes and ensuring competitive success in the future.

Word count: 222 Words

[Zoone16]

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228 words

The pre-draft preparations for Las Vegas aren’t as stressful as other teams as the Legion has traded a lot of their picks away to acquire players from multiple teams. Selecting for the first time in the 6th round at 41st overall, the Legion will look to acquire an active talent to fill immediate roster needs. Looking at the current Legion roster, there are plenty of opportunities on the Offensive Line for a player to slot in. There are also a few spots open in the backfield in Defense, as the team could do with another CB. On the offense, the WR slots are full but a 3rd receiver could always give the Legion more options on plays. Las Vegas also does not currently have a QB and perhaps could go for one, but more realistically would look to grab a better-known name during Free Agency to fill that spot.

The Legion will most definitely be on the lookout for any names that drop during the draft but don’t expect them to trade any more than they have done already. Their remaining selections are at 66th, 73rd and 82nd. And as we saw with the inaugural draft, there is plenty of space for major steals during the draft. Overall, the situation is fine and relaxed. Preparations have been made, lists have been drafted. We’re ready for the draft.

[fish]

Word count:209

It's that time of year again. A time of year that can effect the future of both prospect and General Manager. The time of year that can make or break a team. A GM has to do their due diligence in order to make a pick that can both help the team on the field as well as off of it. A GM needs to know if that specific players attributes can propel that position from a weakness into a strength. Is that player going to improve throughout the season? Or will he disappear halfway down the stretch? Is that player even going to be available when it's come their time to pick? So many questions yet so little real answers. General managers do not have the luxury of time to draft sure fire prospects as many upcoming rookies have one to two weeks of info on them at best. But what happens if they do get the man they want? Is it going to be all rainbows and sunshine? What if that player is nothing but drama that forces many players to seek a trade or release? These general managers of the NSFL have a tough job ahead o them on Wednesday. Not one I would take likely.

[jparks98]

[Saliva^]

The draft day is one of the most exciting days for players, but also it's one of the most tough days for the GM's. But that doesn't matches with preparing for the draft - that's a hell on earth. I mean, it's always nice to see much active, talented and hungry young players, but Jameis Christ, there are a lot of them so it's a very tough job to pick the besy of them.

This is exactly what happens in our war room. We are analyzing every goddamn prospects and it's not only about their activity. Their playing style, positional needs - these things are also important for us to not make a bad mistake. So far we have a couple prospects on our minds already, but it's not over yet. The draft happening on Wednesday, so we will have some time left for making more analysis as our bad first season makes us more careful. As I said already, we can't make another mistake. Otherwise, we will have a hard time to recover so we need to chose wisely. But no matter how hard this period is, we definitly will be ready for the draft. There's just no other options for us. Work hard play hard.

[Player1]

If I were the Otters GM, I'd spend my days prepping for the draft by looking not just at the film reel but the young men behind the plays as well. Everyone gets a fair chance to pile on impressive stats during the regular season, but a successful franchise in the long run is one that finds quality teammates and engaged players who will bring loyalty to their team and put winning above their own accolades. This is a difficult proposal, we saw the media's post-season player rankings and all-pro awards reveal the ugly side of players that felt they deserved better, and dramatic statements by S2 prospects like Clegane and Pest showed that players may put their own preferences ahead of their careers. Some GMs may be impressed by a player's motivation to be elite or their fierce loyalty to their teammates, but with all the positives you also need to see the character negatives. Self-centered or egotistic players will hurt more in the long run if they abandon the team or sabotage the GM's plans for their own benefit.

Beyond that, the Otters have plenty of holes to fill and no shortage of ways to fill them. The expansion draft set them back even farther with the loss of several key players and trades that may not benefit the Otters in the end. The risk of losing Clegane due to his sky-high draft stock may put their run first offense back on the drawing board, so my top priority would be finding a way to get him in the first round, or find a suitable replacement to keep the Otters elite O-line in shape.