LRK 2032 Offseason & Draft Thread

[FootballAUS]

DRAFT PICKS


7.2 RB Jacob Harris, Oregon State
5-10, 210lbs
Draft Grade: 4.10

Jacob Harris.jpg

With a potent but ageing backfield (456 carries and 2000 yards from Dave Cassidy and Jeff Meyer in 2031) the Thunder is in need of an injection of youth at the RB position. Harris may be a nifty inside runner but has some gaping flaws in his combine numbers and may wash out but hey by the time you get to the 7th round every player has some flaws. We like the possibility that his Hole Recognition/Elusiveness promises and hopefully he can be a serviceable stop-gap player until we can find a better long-term prospect at the position.


7.18 CB Shovel Forbes, Florida
5-10, 183lbs
Draft Grade: 4.30

Shovel Forbes.jpg

At this point in the draft we're all looking for rough diamonds and while cornerback is not a position of need for Little Rock we couldn't resist the prospect of re-uniting CB Shovel Forbes with his former Gator team mate (and last year's 1st round pick) Pedro Franz. We are under no illusions about what Forbes might offer us this year. Alae jacta est to quote Julius Caesar, it's a dice roll and we'll see soon enough what we have.

Besides, how can you pass up a guy called "Shovel"?

[iceman99]

SHOVEL!!! ROFL... Priceless name...

[FootballAUS]

UPDATE:

Pre-season has come and gone so here's a second look at this year's Little Rock rookie class and how they performed.


1.10 FS Cole Connell
239 PLAYS
3 Catches 4 Passes Defended 4 INT (2TD) 120 pass plays
13 TKL 4 ASST
4PR 42 YDS
Verdict: A monster pre-season by our top pick that augers well for the season ahead. Can't wait to see if his form carries over to the regular season.


1.24 ILB Gabriel Donaldson
144 PLAYS
10 TKL 5 ASST
3 Catches 66 pass plays
Verdict: Played just over half the defensive snaps in pre-season and not a lot of production. Obviously he'll be starting in Week 1 but I'm wondering if I should make the move to a 4-3 to take advantage of his talents.


2.16 DE Stanley Gitler
85 PLAYS
0.5 SACK 1 BLOCK
2 TKL 1 ASST
Verdict: Limited pre-season and modest production hasn't diminished our enthusiasm about Gitler's ability to contribute this season.


3.16 TE Parker Patterson
132 PLAYS
8 Receptions (10 Targets) 68 YDS (8.5 Ave)
1/2 KRB/KRBO
Verdict: Not great but good enough to unseat our incumbent starter


7.2 RB Jacob Harris
47 PLAYS
11 carries 15 yards (1.36 Ave)
1 FUM
1 Reception (1 Target) 28 yards
1 ST Tackle
Verdict: Bye bye Jacob...released in final roster cut in favour of undrafted RB Holgate (see below)


7.18 CB Shovel Forbes
17 Plays
1 Tackle
1 Catch 5 pass plays
Verdict: Not a great prospect and only limited snaps in pre-season but has enough to survive for now


Undrafted RB Shane Holdgate
98 PLAYS
32 Carries 148 YDS (4.63 Ave)
3 Receptions (3 Targets) 43 yds (14.33 Ave)
1 ST TKL
Verdict: A pleasant surprise and has made the team as our 3rd RB and will see some action this year.


Undrafted FB Ricardo Hankins
21 Plays
1 Reception (1 Target) 4 yards
1/1 KRB/KRBO
Verdict: Interesting prospect that we signed towards the end of pre-season and will make the team.


Undrafted WR Russell Burnett
160 PLAYS
8 Receptions (16 Targets) 117 YDS (14.63 Ave)
1 Drop
1 ST TKL
Verdict: We didn't draft any depth at this position and Burnett did enough to make the roster as our 5th WR


Undrafted DE Rickey King
56 PLAYS
2 Sacks 1 Hurry
3 TKL 2 ASST
1 FF
Verdict: A raw an undeveloped talent that flashes some potential and will survive our final cuts. Excited to see if he can develop into a viable pass rusher for us.

[Beast]

Love the break down and the thought behind your cuts. Quick question. How do you see everyone's total stats from the pre-season?

[FootballAUS]

Love the break down and the thought behind your cuts. Quick question. How do you see everyone's total stats from the pre-season?

Thanks Beast, I appreciate the kind words :-)

On the stats front I did it the old fashioned way: just went to the box scores from each of my games and manually added them up. I didn't bother doing this for my vets just looked at all the rookies and tallied up their performances form each game.

The great thing about the IFL is that with just 2 sims a week there's enough time available to look at the team and write some stuff up. I'm in two other leagues (one sims 6 games a week, the other 3 times) and I am more passionate about this Thunder team because I spend more time looking at this squad and I feel more emotionally invested in their performance.

[Beast]

Artie, thanks for letting me know how you get the stats! That's the only way I could find, but I didn't know if there was some other way that was better. Guess not!