(S25) - PT 1 - Opening Statements

[deadlunatic]

I think player agent rules should either be loosened or remove the option entirely. As it sits, there is no real reason to be an agent, considering it near impossible to be one. You have to pay a crazy high amount of money to even be one, also you can't have an active player while doing it, which removes a lot of interest for a lot of people. But if it were somehow a way for people to make money, during a season they wanted to sit out of, as far as having an active player, then it could be a way to keep someone involved in the league. 

Some players do not want to have to negotiate their own contracts, some players truly do not know what they should or should not be asking for. If there were a knowledgeable agent, who for a small fee would get a better contract for those players, I don't see how this would hurt the league. Plus some people really enjoy that side of what the league offers. As it stands they have only their own contracts they can take care of. 

Either way, the rules need to change. If you are going to make it possible, then just remove the ability to be an agent completely. That way people can't argue about them existing, but not actually a usable feature of the league. 

I vote for changing the rules enough to make it possible to be an agent if one desires to do that.

[Gwdjohnson]

SHL Affiliation

[Forty Jordy]

The Otters will indeed win the Ultimus this year. However, you may be thinking to yourself how will a team with a first year quarterback have a chance to win? Well let's look at all of the quarterbacks in the league. Obviously, Jay Cue and Brock Phoenix are the top-tier quarterbacks this year being the only ones over 1000 TPE. Let's first look at Liberty, they do not have any top tier targets for Phoenix. They have two receivers in the 800s, but no running backs for support. It will be at least another season before they compete.

Arizona might be in more trouble with only one receiver in 800, Saba Donut, and their only running back has barely gotten above 500 TPE.

In Baltimore, Fujiwara is nearing 1000 TPE, but also has no targets nor top tier running backs for offensive production.

That means the teams with the best offensive production this year will be the ones with quaterbacks still in the 800s. This brings us to Orange County. The Otters have Ramza who is comparable, TPE-wise, to the rest of the league, but has loads of targets. While Ramza's receiving core is still fairly young and barely breaking 800, there are three of them, Trunks, Despacito, and Phillips. But Otters also have Nakamura in the back-field who will allow the Otters to round out their offense for a chance for the Ultimus. This is why we will win, and I didn't even mention our outstanding defense.

[Bayley]

SHL PT - Panda

[Gravtx]

Reginald Covington III is an enigma. He reminds me of the Jameis Winston of NFL lore. Despite a 0.9:1 touchdown to interception ratio, Covington led the DSFL in passing yards and carried the Kansas City Coyotes to an Ultimini appearance in Season 23. The following season, Covington broke the DSFL record for touchdown passes in a season. He improved his touchdown to interception ratio from a 0.9:1 to a 2.1:1. Part of this improvement can also be attributed to improvement by the offensive line. In season 23, the Kansas City offensive line had a collective 235 pancakes and 16 sacks allowed. In season 24 Kansas City had 263 pancakes and 18 sacks allowed. 28 more pancakes for 2 more sacks is a great ratio of improvement. Despite this improvement in both QB and offensive line play, Kansas City lost 1 more game and missed the playoffs entirely. On defense, they moved up from last in the league to sixth. While not as impressive as other improvements, this is still a direct improvement over the previous season. How Kansas City did not translate these statistical improvements into better performance on the field is beyond my comprehension.

[jzajenius36]

I think something that could help benefit the league and keep things a bit fresh would be supporting and encouraging members that create a bit of a unique personas, and maybe extend that a bit to builds as well. When I first created my player, I had gone all in on his southern, country-boy background. But as time has gone on I’ve found that it’s a lot easier to pump out articles on mock drafts and player TPE/overall stat grades. While there are terrific media pieces on these subjects, after a while they all start to blend. Meanwhile, player ‘pressers’ are moved to a separate place where they don’t get a ton of traction, and there is less encouragement to step into the mind of your own player and divulge more of a backstory, a rivalry, an achievement, ect. Most of that stuff is limited to these 200 word point tasks.

I guess I don’t really have a great suggestion on how to accomplish this, but between all of the compiled player stats and wiki articles, it seems like there are a lot more achievements and intriguing storylines that perhaps are flying under the radar. Maybe it would be more effort than it’s worth for people to dig thru all that data just for a somewhat relevant news snippet, but a start may be awarding TPE or money to players for developing unique personas or rivalries, as well as maybe forming a group to flesh out some of this stuff (i.e. guys that went to the same college, a linebacker who has sacked or intercepted a certain quarterback an unusually high number of times, an offensive lineman who has committed a number of personal fouls and what his deal is, ect).

[xTri]

PBE PT

[C9Van]

SHL Affiliate

[snazzlepuss22]

Brick Van Sanzo will have the most tackles for loss in the DSFL this year. 

Brick Van Sanzo was able to put up 16 tackles for loss last year which was good enough for third in the league. With Brick now having reached the DSFL TPE cap of 250, he is much stronger and his speed is capped at 80. With the upgrade in strength I believe he will be able to overcome even more double teams this year and have a much more successful time getting into the backfield and sealing the edge, which should both lead to more sacks, more pressures and overall more tackles for loss. 

More supporting evidence for this comes with many of The Minnesota Grey Ducks Secodary being capped and 2 linebackers are also capped. Meaning that the secondary will be able to cover even more effectively, which will lead to opposing quarterbacks holding onto the ball longer, giving Brick more time to get loose and make a tackle. With the opposing quarterback having less options in the passing game teams will need to try and establish their run game more, which will give Brick plenty of opportunity to stop runningbacks behind the line of scrimmage, which will lead to more tackles for loss.

[ztarwarz]

Well, the Pythons got hit decently hard with callups, not as bad as some others (RIP London and Norfolk) but hard enough to put a dent in their title ambitions after losing the DSFL MVP, along most of their top picks from the S25 class. That being said, the fact that they almost inarguably drafted the best in the deep S25 class is likely to help. Even with the top of that class being called up, they still have some strengths left that they'll have to rely on to get the Ultimini. Chief among these is one of the best defensive cores in the league. With a capped DT and DE in Chuck Roth and Etrigan T. Slayer, as well as a second DT that's near the cap, a great set of linebackers, and a group of players near the cap from those remaining, the Pythons are a force to be reckoned with on the defensive side of the ball. If their QB and their other S26 draftees can quickly get to or near the cap, and the sim decides to be kinder than having them lose 3 >70% chance to win games in a row, the Pythons should at least have a shot at the Ultimini.