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In joining the IFL one of the things that I was keen to do was to become a bit more active on the posting front. I'm more a reader than a writer and I really don't have the huge amount of experience in FOF of many others but, having said that, we have a bunch of even newer owners in the league so I figured that sharing what little I do know may be of use.
I really enjoyed the draft recaps that Iceman and Hoosier did so I thought I'd have a crack at doing one for Little Rock and in doing so share some of my thinking behind the draft with the newer owners.
Background
Little Rock was coming off a 4-12 season but the previous GM, RedZone, had been in rebuilding mode for a couple of seasons. He'd jettisoned past-their-prime vets and traded some in-their-prime stars, managing the cap extremely well and accumulating additional draft picks over the last two years. In my opinion he had done a fantastic job in managing this team.
I'm playing in three other MP leagues at the moment and in all of the them the teams that I had inherited were in pretty poor shape. Seeing the Little Rock roster with a loaded O-Line and defensive front seven made signing up for this team a no-brainer. The fact that they had four picks in the first two rounds didn't hurt either :-)
Even though Little Rock was over the cap limit we weren't in any real trouble going into the draft. A couple of trades, renegotiating the more expensive players and cutting some of the players that I felt would be on the fringe got us under the cap and ready for the draft.
So on that, here's how my draft played out:
1.2 CB Pedro Franz (Draft Grade: 7.4)
A trade with St Louis (1.5 + 2.6 for 1.2) moved me up for what I felt was a difference maker on the field. The fact that he played CB only made me more excited because, given how many times I play the nickel, I consider three better than average CBs to be the minimum requirement to play good defense consistently.
Combine scores that were red across the board, a 7.4 grade and bars all hugging the right hand side made selecting Franz an easy choice in spite of the fact that he is only 5'7". As well as his role on defense I needed a return man and his high KR/PR coupled with high ST made him my number one choice hands down. If I had 1.1 I would have taken him at that spot as well. Has started every game for me and has 29 total tackles, 1 pick, 4 defended passes, 1 fumble recovery and a PR TD. My man-crush is unabated.
1.32 DE Vernon O'Neill (Draft Grade: 6.1)
The Thunder have a beast at LDE in Mickey O'Donnell but there was very little else at the position on the roster. In the 34 the RDE plays like a DT and while it would be great to have found another O'Donnell what I was really looking for here was an inside pass-rusher. My scouts had O'Neill's Pass Rush Strength bar at 75+ and with otherwise decent combine scores and a 6.4 grade I felt that he was my best available option at the position. Post TC2 I was disappointed that his Run Defense is at the low end (in spite of putting him in for weight training he still undersized for a 34 end) but he may be a creeper there and so far this year he has been a useful contributor on the defensive line and I'm hopeful that his productivity will improve as my game-planning skills develop.
2.24 S Clyde Hicks (Draft Grade: 5.0)
A no combine guy with a 5.0 Draft Grade I had my coaches interview him and he came back as underrated which typically means that some of his bars will be higher than they appear. I really needed a FS with big red bars in Zone and Interceptions and post interview Hicks was showing 75+ in both of these areas as well as 75+ in both Run Defense Special Teams. I was in love (again). Like O'Neill at 1.24 Hicks was a bit of post TC2 disappointment but the great thing about the draft is you get what you get in spite of all the preparation. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. I have my suspicions that this guy will be a creeper as well but then again who knows. Has played in every game and started twice.
3.5 DE Shannon Grier (Draft Grade: 5.4)
Still looking for DL depth but this time for a run stopper that could spell O'Donnell at LDE, play goal line or start at RDE if we were playing a run-heavy offense. Once again I had selected this player to be interviewed and once again he came back as underrated and his RD bar came in at about 75. Not as good as hoped for in that area post TC2 but still a future 50+ rated player and happy to get him in the third round. Has played in every game and started once.
3.24 OLB Cesar Greer (Draft Grade: 4.8)
I was desperate for a young ILB and by now many of the top prospects were gone. Solid but unspectacular combine numbers but with his size (6'1" and 235lbs) projecting him as an ILB radically changed my view of his combine numbers. The FOFC boards have a thread where they list the key combine scores for each position (http://www.operationsports.com/fofc/...ad.php?t=89290). For LB the most important combine score is Agility which has an ideal minimum of 7.4 for OLB and 7.6 for ILB. So while Greer's agility was at the cut-off for an OLB it was vastly better as an ILB. For an ILB it's Agility first then Bench and Long Jump and even though his Bench was a bit low his Broad Jump of 9'11" was way up there and in the words of Meatloaf "two out of three ain't bad". Post draft when I was moving him to ILB I got the pop-up message that said "there's good reason to believe that he will have higher ratings at his new position" and for all of those reasons he was my favourite pick of the draft. Currently appearing as a future 50+ player he's started every game and has 34 tackles (13.1%) and 2 passes defended.
4.6 ILB Perry Fitzgerald (Draft Grade: 4.8)
Still chasing LB depth Fitzgerald was the best option on the board for me at this pick. With the LBs that I have and the amount of nickel that I have played in the first five games he's only played 30 snaps so far but has done his job so far with a 20.0 Tackle percentage. Let's see how he develops over time.
5.QB Carlton Yachera (Draft Grade: 5.4)
Little Rock needs a QB of the future and for the future but this year's QB class looked underwhelming. I felt like I needed to select someone at this point because, well, Tom Brady. You never know, right? Anyway so far this guy looks more like Tom Arnold so I'll be back at the table in next year's draft looking for my QB.
We are now at the bottom of the draft and from here it's rolling the dice on the basis of individual combine results we like, gut feeling and something that our scouts see that the others don't.
6.1 WR Perry Clinton (Draft Grade: 5.0) - has played every game and has 5 catches for 63 yards and 2TDs as well as 2 KRs for 29 yards. 0 Endurance hurts his future prospects though but he'll be around for at least another year or two.
6.6 ILB Gavin Marshall (Draft Grade 4.5) - hasn't played this year but may or may not develop into a backup at some point.
6.21 CB Tom Hartman (Draft Grade 4.2) - Selected because of his high ST bar which never materialised post TC2. No longer on the team and is still out there unsigned for anyone to claim.
So for better or worse there you have it, inside the mind of FootballAUS at the 2031 IFL Draft.
Fire away with any comments and questions but keep your criticisms to yourself :-)
I really enjoyed the draft recaps that Iceman and Hoosier did so I thought I'd have a crack at doing one for Little Rock and in doing so share some of my thinking behind the draft with the newer owners.
Background
Little Rock was coming off a 4-12 season but the previous GM, RedZone, had been in rebuilding mode for a couple of seasons. He'd jettisoned past-their-prime vets and traded some in-their-prime stars, managing the cap extremely well and accumulating additional draft picks over the last two years. In my opinion he had done a fantastic job in managing this team.
I'm playing in three other MP leagues at the moment and in all of the them the teams that I had inherited were in pretty poor shape. Seeing the Little Rock roster with a loaded O-Line and defensive front seven made signing up for this team a no-brainer. The fact that they had four picks in the first two rounds didn't hurt either :-)
Even though Little Rock was over the cap limit we weren't in any real trouble going into the draft. A couple of trades, renegotiating the more expensive players and cutting some of the players that I felt would be on the fringe got us under the cap and ready for the draft.
So on that, here's how my draft played out:
1.2 CB Pedro Franz (Draft Grade: 7.4)
A trade with St Louis (1.5 + 2.6 for 1.2) moved me up for what I felt was a difference maker on the field. The fact that he played CB only made me more excited because, given how many times I play the nickel, I consider three better than average CBs to be the minimum requirement to play good defense consistently.
Combine scores that were red across the board, a 7.4 grade and bars all hugging the right hand side made selecting Franz an easy choice in spite of the fact that he is only 5'7". As well as his role on defense I needed a return man and his high KR/PR coupled with high ST made him my number one choice hands down. If I had 1.1 I would have taken him at that spot as well. Has started every game for me and has 29 total tackles, 1 pick, 4 defended passes, 1 fumble recovery and a PR TD. My man-crush is unabated.
1.32 DE Vernon O'Neill (Draft Grade: 6.1)
The Thunder have a beast at LDE in Mickey O'Donnell but there was very little else at the position on the roster. In the 34 the RDE plays like a DT and while it would be great to have found another O'Donnell what I was really looking for here was an inside pass-rusher. My scouts had O'Neill's Pass Rush Strength bar at 75+ and with otherwise decent combine scores and a 6.4 grade I felt that he was my best available option at the position. Post TC2 I was disappointed that his Run Defense is at the low end (in spite of putting him in for weight training he still undersized for a 34 end) but he may be a creeper there and so far this year he has been a useful contributor on the defensive line and I'm hopeful that his productivity will improve as my game-planning skills develop.
2.24 S Clyde Hicks (Draft Grade: 5.0)
A no combine guy with a 5.0 Draft Grade I had my coaches interview him and he came back as underrated which typically means that some of his bars will be higher than they appear. I really needed a FS with big red bars in Zone and Interceptions and post interview Hicks was showing 75+ in both of these areas as well as 75+ in both Run Defense Special Teams. I was in love (again). Like O'Neill at 1.24 Hicks was a bit of post TC2 disappointment but the great thing about the draft is you get what you get in spite of all the preparation. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. I have my suspicions that this guy will be a creeper as well but then again who knows. Has played in every game and started twice.
3.5 DE Shannon Grier (Draft Grade: 5.4)
Still looking for DL depth but this time for a run stopper that could spell O'Donnell at LDE, play goal line or start at RDE if we were playing a run-heavy offense. Once again I had selected this player to be interviewed and once again he came back as underrated and his RD bar came in at about 75. Not as good as hoped for in that area post TC2 but still a future 50+ rated player and happy to get him in the third round. Has played in every game and started once.
3.24 OLB Cesar Greer (Draft Grade: 4.8)
I was desperate for a young ILB and by now many of the top prospects were gone. Solid but unspectacular combine numbers but with his size (6'1" and 235lbs) projecting him as an ILB radically changed my view of his combine numbers. The FOFC boards have a thread where they list the key combine scores for each position (http://www.operationsports.com/fofc/...ad.php?t=89290). For LB the most important combine score is Agility which has an ideal minimum of 7.4 for OLB and 7.6 for ILB. So while Greer's agility was at the cut-off for an OLB it was vastly better as an ILB. For an ILB it's Agility first then Bench and Long Jump and even though his Bench was a bit low his Broad Jump of 9'11" was way up there and in the words of Meatloaf "two out of three ain't bad". Post draft when I was moving him to ILB I got the pop-up message that said "there's good reason to believe that he will have higher ratings at his new position" and for all of those reasons he was my favourite pick of the draft. Currently appearing as a future 50+ player he's started every game and has 34 tackles (13.1%) and 2 passes defended.
4.6 ILB Perry Fitzgerald (Draft Grade: 4.8)
Still chasing LB depth Fitzgerald was the best option on the board for me at this pick. With the LBs that I have and the amount of nickel that I have played in the first five games he's only played 30 snaps so far but has done his job so far with a 20.0 Tackle percentage. Let's see how he develops over time.
5.QB Carlton Yachera (Draft Grade: 5.4)
Little Rock needs a QB of the future and for the future but this year's QB class looked underwhelming. I felt like I needed to select someone at this point because, well, Tom Brady. You never know, right? Anyway so far this guy looks more like Tom Arnold so I'll be back at the table in next year's draft looking for my QB.
We are now at the bottom of the draft and from here it's rolling the dice on the basis of individual combine results we like, gut feeling and something that our scouts see that the others don't.
6.1 WR Perry Clinton (Draft Grade: 5.0) - has played every game and has 5 catches for 63 yards and 2TDs as well as 2 KRs for 29 yards. 0 Endurance hurts his future prospects though but he'll be around for at least another year or two.
6.6 ILB Gavin Marshall (Draft Grade 4.5) - hasn't played this year but may or may not develop into a backup at some point.
6.21 CB Tom Hartman (Draft Grade 4.2) - Selected because of his high ST bar which never materialised post TC2. No longer on the team and is still out there unsigned for anyone to claim.
So for better or worse there you have it, inside the mind of FootballAUS at the 2031 IFL Draft.
Fire away with any comments and questions but keep your criticisms to yourself :-)
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