*Thoughts on the NSFL S5 Draft Class

[timeconsumer]

After the conclusion of two great drafts for both the NSFL and DSFL I thought I would take a moment to share some of my thoughts and scouting notes I had for each of the NSFL draftees that I looked at for the S5 season. I'm not going to be sharing my board or the PMs we exchanged, but there is plenty of good stuff in there

Since the Otters only had 2 picks and both were in round 1 we didn't scout very deep, only about 2 rounds worth. And since I transitioned into a new job IRL during all this I didn't have much time to scout very deep anyway.

Some people I knew we wouldn't be drafting anyway, so I didn't even bother PMing them, keep that in mind. And I wrote this quick so there's probably errors, deal with it.

I have these guys in tiers but within each tier there is no particular order.

Tier 1 Prospects

Carlito Crush - Balanced TE. This guy shot up my draft board after receiving his PMs. We all knew he was a hard working player with unlimited potential, but by his responses to my questions you could tell he was just a cool guy that would be easy to get along with and good to talk with in the LR. I knew we wouldn't have a shot at him drafting #7 but the Yeti definitely scored a good one here. I expect he will entertain the idea of switching to a pure WR soon.

Cameron Taylor - All-Around Safety. This is a guy who was always high on my draft board, even before he responded to my scouting message. He put in the work, he had a good build and a very nice choice of position and archetype. This was the kind of player the Otters like, someone who could easily be molded into the system they run on defense. Sadly, I also figured he wouldn't make it to us, but I had to at least put in the work and message him in case.

John Wachter - Possession WR. Okay, so I'll admit I kind of hyped up that the Otters were going to be drafting him at #5 (before we traded down) just to annoy the rest of the league. The Otters with two of the best receivers already taking a third superstar? Yeah, that would have ruffled some feathers. But again I figured he wouldn't make it to us, especially after we traded to #7. Still I really loved his response to my scouting PM and he seemed like another awesome guy who would be a great teammate.

Andre Bly Jr. - Considering he was selected as a GM we knew this wasn't happening so I didn't really scout him or PM him. But he was obviously a top-tier prospect.

Tier 2 Prospects

Ryan Sierra - OL. Here was a guy I unfortunately didn't get off a scouting message to until very late. Well, really I didn't get off my scouting messages to most guys until very late. I'm a busy man these days. And he didn't respond for a few days until the morning of the draft. But an exchange of a couple of PMs was enough for me to realize that 1) He was a nice guy and seemed smart and 2) would be willing to swap out of OL and into something like DL. Done. Solid dude and really happy to have him as an Otter.

Michael Tillman - Playmaker Safety. I really liked this guy a lot. Passing on him with our two picks was a hard, hard decision. We had exchanged PMs and talked about moving positions to something else, how he could fit on our team, etc. I messaged his old DSFL GM to get a little more insight on him. He was one of the faster players in the league, he's well spoken, he does graphics work. Really a top-tier prospect that shouldn't have made it out of round 1.

Tegan Atwell - Man-to-Man Corner. I mean, it's Jiggly. We've been teammates since the very beginning. Sure he can be lax and skip PTs and such, but he has shown the Otters a lot of loyalty and I feel that loyalty should be met in kind. So we couldn't leave our friend hung out to dry here. We just have to keep on him about doing the PTs and we're set for many more years of fun and championships. I love Tegan's build too, it works.

Gregory Fletcher - Man-to-Man corner. I like this guy a lot too. Another draftee from the Marshals who I had talked to their GM about. But I had a feeling he wouldn't escape the Hawks in round 1 and make it to us. I liked his responses, he seemed interested and engaged, and his build was definitely something we could work with.

Dean Jackson - Kicker of some type. Another player I didn't scout. Even though he is a Turk Turkleton level kicker the Otters have Madlad who is active enough for our needs. We might have drafted him if there were no tier 2 players left somehow, but only to trade him. A good pickup for the Outlaws.

Tier 3

Fresh Booter - Red Zone WR. Everybody knows Booter. I had talked with him plenty in the past so my scouting messages with him were pretty brief and to the point. He would have filled a nice niche for us, but we also knew what his activity level was going to be which we felt just wasn't quite round 1 material. Still, a good guy who will fill a great role as a TE/WR for his team for many seasons.

Conall O'Sullivan - Receiving Back. Apparently everyone thought the Otters we gunning for the O'Sullivan trifecta and were going to draft Kristy95 round 1. But I honestly didn't even message her - to be fair her sister Juosu kind of answered all my questions. I liked K95 but it just wasn't a great fit for our offense so we figured we'd do better looking elsewhere. Still a great steal where she was drafted and fell too far.

Terrell Brister - Man-to-Man corner. I didn't really scout him much either. We knew he was LVL's co-GM so what's the point. I like Tbone though and I hope he brings some spark to the Legion.

Tier 4

Egor Medved - Nose Tackle. He never answered my PMs. And that's fine, he wasn't high on my board anyway. He's a minimum activity player with just activity checks. 16 TPE a season is better than nothing, but not worth drafting at #7 or #8. I hope his activity levels improve as he could be a good addition to a league starving for more DTs.

Darren Morris - Playmaker Safety. He started out at around #2 on my draft board and fell so far. I liked Roly and I don't know if being simmer burned him out or what. But it's sad to see him go inactive. I hope he comes back, was a good member in the league.

Tier 5

Peg Leg - Kicker. Didn't scout him. Was at least active until end of regular season unlike most of the rest of this list.

Wolverine Justice - Pocket Passer QB. Didn't scout him. Retired anyway.

Isaac Brown - QB. Didn't scout him. Looks like a good pick.

Jacob Lattimore - Safety. Didn't scout him, he looked inactive. Glad to see he came back after the draft. Good pick by Outlaws.

Bastian Barnhart - DE. Messaged him a while back as he was someone I had my eye on all during the regular season, but unfortunately he had gone inactive a few days before that. It's too bad, he had potential to be a round 1 pick.

Kenny Omega - WR. Another guy I didn't scout due to inactivity.

And that's it. That's my thoughts on most of the active draftees from the S5 NSFL draft and who the Otters wanted. Sure we didn't get any of our 1st tier prospects but picking at 7 and 8 that's no surprise. I'm still very happy with having Jiggly and Battleborn and wouldn't change a thing. I also think after talking to some of these draftees that the league landed a bunch of good people who I look forward to playing with and against for many more seasons.


GRADED

[DeathOnReddit]

Knew I was gonna draft a dean jackson with our first pick around a day or two before the draft. I took a chance on morris, because I didnt know whether or not he was gonna come back, and lattimore is active again so Im really happy with that back. Hopefully roly comes back, that would make this a great draft for the outlaws

[timeconsumer]

Knew I was gonna draft a dean jackson with our first pick around a day or two before the draft. I took a chance on morris, because I didnt know whether or not he was gonna come back, and lattimore is active again so Im really happy with that back. Hopefully roly comes back, that would make this a great draft for the outlaws

Our pick trade worked out well for both sides. You guys got to use the shotgun approach and draft some inactives that if they come back would be a huge win for you. We got to get a couple of select guys that filled the few holes we had.

[SwagSloth]

Nice read. It's always interesting to see other POVs on things like this. I agree a lot with your tiers. We're especially excited to have Taylor on the Wraiths and it's good to see him get that recognition from someone else.

I think we had a really solid group going in, but it got more top-heavy over the last few weeks as a few people started to go inactive. I'm really hoping that moving the DSFL to 4 player-based teams instead of 6 will help keep interest up for the S6 draft. The DSFL is a great concept for integrating new players into the league, but like most new things, it'll take some tweaking to get it just right.

[iamslm22]

I just want to throw in @Dahorner who is a TE for Baltimore that also came back after getting drafted. Hopefully he sticks around, he's a really good dude.

[SwagSloth]

Knew I was gonna draft a dean jackson with our first pick around a day or two before the draft. I took a chance on morris, because I didnt know whether or not he was gonna come back, and lattimore is active again so Im really happy with that back. Hopefully roly comes back, that would make this a great draft for the outlaws

I think Dean Jackson has crazy potential. Well worth a first round pick.

I am glad to see Lattimore come back and hope Roly returns as well. Hopefully, he just needed a break and gives the league another try. I don't think it helps any of us when players who put that much work in suddenly go inactive. Competition aside, I think we all want this league to thrive.

[ItsJustBarry]

This is a very accurate analysis. I have almost identical interactions with these players. I will say I was one that thought K95 would be an Otter but that was based on the loyalty/family aspect more than a position of need. So, I applied the logic you used for selecting Tegan Atwell to Conall O'Sullivan and was wrong.

We managed to get 2 studs in John Wachter and Gregory Fletcher. They are both day 1 starters and should help propel us back into the Ultimus.

You got a steal with Ryan Sierra. He was amazing through all the conversations and should be an immediate impact player. As for Terrell Brister, I think he lost interest in the site for a little bit before coming back with a huge resurgence. He should probably be in Tier 2 and I wouldn't have questioned anyone taking him in the 1st round. All in all, a solid read ,but I wouldn't expect anything less from you.

[SwagSloth]

I just want to throw in @Dahorner who is a TE for Baltimore that also came back after getting drafted. Hopefully he sticks around, he's a really good dude.

For sure. I believe there are a lot of teams that still need a TE. He's a player worth investing in for that alone. I hope he has a great experience with the Hawks.

[timeconsumer]

You got a steal with Ryan Sierra.  He was amazing through all the conversations and should be an immediate impact player.  As for Terrell Brister, I think he lost interest in the site for a little bit before coming back with a huge resurgence. He should probably be in Tier 2 and I wouldn't have questioned anyone taking him in the 1st round.  All in all, a solid read ,but I wouldn't expect anything less from you.

Yeah, you're right he should be tier 2. I guess I forgot that I put the other GM in tier 1 so for consistencies sake he should be where he would be if he wasn't going to be a GM.

[Jiggly_333]

Tegan Atwell - Man-to-Man Corner. I mean, it's Jiggly.

I think you could've ended your analysis here and it would've been just as true.