*Are Defensive Line Bots in the NSFL's Future?

[HENDRIX]

This media will try to look at whether or not there will be a defensive line shortage in the future. For a young league like the NSFL, you could expect the first few drafts in its history to have good depth and quality. And that's what we have seen. The S1 through S3 drafts were big, then we dropped off in a huge way for S4, and since S5 the drafts have seemed to have about a round and a half of quality prospects. Since the S3 draft, there have only been 7 defensive line creates that have made it beyond 160 TPE. See chart below:







The S7 draft currently has zero active defensive line prospects. How many defensive linemen do we need to fill starting roles in the NSFL? Well if half the teams use a 4 DL front and the other half uses a 3 DL front, that means there are 28 starting spots in the league. We have that number right now, cool. But what about 3+ seasons from now? Are second generation players going to be creating enough DL? Are drafts going to improve from the norm?

**Also keep in mind players are going to be auto retired when they regress below 150 TPE.**

I think there's a pretty good chance in the future fielding a competent DL to battle the offensive line bots will be an issue.

Idea:
DL bots available for cap purchase

Necessary testing would obviously have to be done. But having something like a top tier DL bot with 350 TPE could be an idea. Maybe the lowest, cheapest bot could be a 200 TPE version. They can't be overpowered and they can't get completely dominated by their offensive counterparts, somewhere in between. And it's important to keep the DE/DT position accessible to newly created players. Because unlike OL, DL is actually pretty fun to play. Within a season or two an active young player could become a better option than a bot. So an active DL prospect would still be coveted by GMs. And if we cap the bots at say 350 TPE, teams that have DL with significantly more TPE than that will still have the advantage they earned through hard work.

(372 words)

[timeconsumer]

DL also still has a couple more bugs to iron out. I've been working pretty hard to balance DT and DE the past few seasons and I like where the archetypes are now. Next up is trying to balance the sack/TFL production between DT and DE to get them a little closer together, and I have an idea on how to do that. I really hope we don't have to implement something like this because DL is really a big impact position right now.

[iamslm22]

I feel like people enjoy playing Defensive Line too so I'm a bit surprised at the lack of DL prospects.

My hope is that semi-active active recreates make a DL because it's one of the easier positions to become decent at.

[TheMemeMaestro]

DL is fun but also the worst

[37thchamber]

DL is fun but also the worst

Ahem... at least your position is fun.

[Ben]

My hope is that semi-active active recreates make a DL because it's one of the easier positions to become decent at.

:agree: