Top 5 - 79 Overall - Kobi Conner HB – Miami Dolphins – 2nd Round, 3rd Pick
77 Overall – Taj Beverly WR – San Francisco 49ers – 1st Round, 6th Pick
76 Overall – Alani Bassey DT – Miami Dolphins – 1st Round, 22nd Pick
76 Overall – Eddie Palmer LT – Green Bay Packers – 1st Round, 18th Pick
76 Overall – Marquise Williams CB – New York Giants – 1st Round, 2nd Pick
Best Draft - Miami Dolphins
Drafted all 22 or 21 year olds
11 Rookies on the roster
5 Mystery Dev Players
3 players drafted above a 70
Strongest – Alex Benedict LG – Los Angeles Rams – 71 Overall – 93 Strength – 1st Round, 24th Pick
Kaseem Myers RT – Los Angeles Rams – 70 Overall – 93 Strength – 2nd Round, 11th Pick
Fastest - Lincoln Fox CB – Cincinatti Bengals – 70 Overall – 95 Speed – 1st Round, 29th Pick
Quickest - Marquise Williams CB – New York Giants – 76 Overall – 96 Accel – 1st Round, 2nd Pick
Offseason PSA.
I am sure this is uncommon, but I dont do things the normal way. Offseason is the best part of the year for me as trading and drafting are my favorite things in madden. Away we go
Looking ahead into the offseason Seattle is set at key positions. Positions that are highly valued in the league that we don't need to focus on in the draft. It is both a blessing and a curse as Sanchez Del Pendayho still wants to get better on Defense.
"We just aren't getting to the QB enough with the talent that we have!" he recently snapped while ranting about all of the reasons they should be in the playoffs but aren't.
"We brought in 96, and in a contract year he cant get to the QB more than 5 times in twice as many games? I have 14 million George Washingtons that keep me up at night whispering. They repeat "Overrated" in my nightmares." continued SDP about his newly acquired DE Darius Leonard who is also in a contract year.
"Maybe we should let Ansah, Leonard, and Reed all go and see what some of these other guys can do. Their contracts are bloated, and once 98 and 90 got paid this season, they decided to sit at home, eat cheddar goblin macaroni and cheese, and stopped competing on Sundays." he finished.
" . . . and don't me started on my OLine. You want a dumpster fire? go visit my Right Tackle" at this point we just couldnt get SDP to shutup.
Now it has been known that SDP has done an incredible job of acquiring and building their talent outside of the trenchesecondary and offensive weaponry. Without names, our standout players on Offense and Defense are as follows.
WR - 78 Overall - 21 years old
FS - 72 Overall - 21 yeras old
LB - 77 Overall - 21 years old
HB - 79 Overall - 23 years old
CB - 79 Overall - 24 years old
CB - 82 Overall - 24 years old
HB - 87 Overall - 24 years old
WR - 88 Overall - 26 years old
LB - 99 Overall - 29 years old
The Seahawks are young.
With youth at all key "agility" positions Seattle is set to have continuity until contract time a few years down the road. with 37 million in cap space looking forward we are potentially seeing some key departures coming up. Remember there is a Leonard Williams contract looming. . Barkevious Mingo has not been offered another contract and neither has talented TE Nick Vannett. In addition with the aformentioned troubles along the defensive line we may tak a "Bonus Bullet" and eat cap space in order to move on from an underperforming unit. We also have the franchize tag available if we need to tag Williams and look for a new home for him in 2020.
All that being said, our season has not gone the way we wanted it to, and with a handful of games left we are currently staring down a top 10 pick. Our front office has been scratching their heads over projecting our win total the rest of the year but we know the LA Ram's game is an easy check mark in the Win column and the other divisional games are winable. We project to win 3 of the last 5 and end up with a top 15 pick, but here in lies the problem. We don't need speed, and are all but set in our secondary.
Early rumblings are for us to trade back in the first to attempt to get back into the second round, and acquire future assets. We dont have a need at WR or HB and understand that the combine could produce a myriad of young speedy talent that the XCFL seems to love more than anything this early in the cycle. We are willing to move back but additional picks are necessary.
One player that has been added to contract talks recently is 6'3" CB Tre Flowers. with 2 years left after this season on his rookie deal he has been a cheap get, and a quality starter for us. With more youth in the ranks Flowers becomes expendable. 90 spd/90 accl make him dangerous coupled with his man and zone attributes and an 83 play recognition.
Another interesting prospect is DK Metcalf. Although we have no plans on moving him, there has been alot of offers coming our way that will only get more drool worthy as we get closer to the draft. at 21 years old standing 6'3" DK boasts a 95 spd/93 accel accompanied with 89 catch in traffic and 89 spectacular catch. He has 6 touchdowns on the year and in the right hands could see all of his statistics double.
Is there an offer out there that is impossible to say no to? We don't think so but if you are listening, feel free to take this as a challenge.
"We will be active this offseason." ~Sanchez Del Pendayho
3 sentences in chat and no on batted an eye.
I like to think that this league holds itself in high regard. League integrity is important and if there are any indiscretions I have happily noticed that punishment is handed down promptly. Funny enough I was a part of the first suspension this year. Also funny is that the direction of this article is pointed at the other party involved in that same suspension. This is what I write this article for. Call it “shade” or call me a “hater” or say that it’s all “smoke” or whatever it is the hip hop cool kids are saying now a days. I just have this weird sense of vigilante justice that doesn’t let me stay quiet. Again, 3 sentences that when put into the correct context may, or may not tell a story. I think they do.
Thursday, August 22nd:
9:23 pm EST - “Get this win new guy”
9:25 pm EST - “Bro tf is you doin” “This isn’t hard”
9:56 pm EST - “Ima enjoy my two top 10 picks lol”
I’m willing to hear from the other side on these statements but let me lay out my own understanding of what these mean. First some context.
He was playing DoubleNutt and the miserable Bengals.
That’s it. That’s really all of the context you need. I see this going 1 of two ways. To provide a counter argument for the sake of good journalism, he may have been uncomfortable losing to the Bengals so turned it into this kind of talk to make himself feel better and save face with the league. . . Or he is kicking around the idea of the big T. Now this is all heresay and not provable in the court of law. At the time of writing this article he did come up with a win against the Steelers which puts a dent in my argument but hear me out.
I have never met a devoted Madden player that likes to lose. Even if I am up multiple scores I HATE to watch a guy even score. In a way it is a small defeat. So it is kind of odd to consider a guy is ok or comfortable with losing. It actually takes away from the other guys win which is cheap and poor sportsmanship
What’s worse than enjoying losing? Goating the other guy into “getting this win.” Anyone else have a small alarm going off at this point?
How about when he started in with “Bro tf you doing, this isn’t hard.” Now sure, he could be talking about 100 things. But if you are following the narrative it seems simple. Again you are goating someone with “this isn’t hard.” I repeat, I don’t want to lose or for someone to have a big game against me, ever. Most of us play to win. What is this shit?
What else would someone use those phrases together for in a madden game? I’ll let you be the judge.
Now the final sentence needs no explanation. You put in quality wins against the Buccs(4-4), the 49ers(6-3), and the Steelers(5-4). Now I get it. You want people to know you’re going to have 2 top 10 picks, but from the previous comments I just saw it as an extra hat tip to the league while he rides off into the sunset to join the German Blitzkrieg in his shiny new, big green tank.
This is just one narrative, and I could be witch hunting. He could be using psychological warfare against Nutt. He could also be tanking since he traded the farm. It smells fishy. I just wanted to make sure this didn’t go unnoticed by management and the league. The rest . . . well . . . I’ll let you decide
“The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn’t exist”
~Verbl Kint/Keyser Soze, The Usual Suspects
Carolina Panthers #1 Overall
Week 9
Record: 7-1
Key Wins: 49ers (6-2) and Texans (7-2)
Offensive Grade: 97.75
Defensive Grade: 83.75
Avail. Salary Cap: 4.95 M
Ground Efficiency: 6.32 Air Efficiency: 17.28
On Field Rushing Efficiency: 7.08 On Field Air Efficiency: 17.27
**Efficiency Metrics are a Yards per catch/carry basis
** On Field Metrics are based on the starters along (2 WR's, 1 TE, 1 QB, 1 RB)
** QB's count towards Rushing On Field Metric
** Offense and Defensive Grades are a simple equation. Its my own. It will change for better or worse. I dont care about your feelings on it. If you dont like it, make your own content :)
Weekly Player Boosts: when player dev becomes more important than the game
I kid you not, through 6 weeks I have had 3 shots at getting the almighty 20k experience points with 3 different players. I have now missed on 2 of those 3. After WR David Moore had a good week early on he was offered a 100+ yard or a 2+ touchdown game. The guy is a slot receiver on a run first team, and I believe I played Regan when I was attempting to get him involved. Needless to say the needle went the other way towards Metcalf in a bloodbath of a game that saw me lose by a handful of scores.
Next up was ILB Ben Burr-Kirven only needing to scoop a fumble, cause a fumble, get two sacks, grab an interception, or hold the opposing team to under 150 total yards. Well when Bobby Wags knocks the ball loose 3 times you could technically call it opportunistic. He saw 20k points, a star dev trait, and an 8 point jump in overall rating lying on the ground in front of him waiting to be picked up and he capitalized. It also led to a big division win so it was a cherry on top.
The surprise came in week 6 when they threw DL Leonard Williams up for an upgrade. I thought to myself this is a bit wild. He’s already an 84 OVR, and I think I could get the 2 sacks or 2 tackles for loss so I got my hopes up a bit. **Note to self, don’t get your hopes up. To keep this bit short Tosh brought me into the world of Madden leagues a few years back and has been somewhat of a leader and helped me out. He has waxed me on a few occasions but nothing that seemed unnecessary. Teacher definitely disappointed the student yesterday; we will leave it at that. 0 sacks for Leonard, opportunity missed to turn him into a monster along the defensive trenches.
I’d pay the man that finds the algorithm for these upgrades as it seems like a game changing opportunity while being inconsistent across the league. These are huge opportunities to take multiple year developments and compact them into a single week over a few sacks or touchdowns. In other considerations is it not forcing your hand to play a certain way? Against Tosh I repeatedly blitzed on Leonard’s side to no avail. Could I have been dropping guys in coverage or trying to find a hole in his offensive gameplan? Sure. Would I rather have had Leonard Williams potentially jump from an 84 overall to say 88-92 range? Yes. I would take that development over winning 1 single game ANY day. I am not saying the two are mutually exclusive of one another, But if madden wants to offer 20k in dev points to my kicker? Hell yeah I’m gona pull up on 2nd down to try and kick my 3rd 50+ yard field in the 3rd quarter. I am being facetious here but we all get the point. Once again, Madden throwing in additional content that works against a SIM gameplay environment.
Kayser Soze Says . . .
I’m a Close up Camera Runnin’
Interception Slingin’
Low Middle of the Pack Rockin’
Defense Buildin’
Trade Talk Wieldin’
Defensive Tackle Floppin’
Opinion Havin’ Son of a Gun.
Yep. You heard it right. Want a good laugh? Run a RB Screen against me and watch the DT belly flop competition begin! The X button mash is real in Seattle and is always a staple in my game plan.
I don’t practice. I don’t game plan. I don’t know a whole lot about the X’s and O’s. I was a soccer guy growing up, played futbol most of my life leading up to sophomore year when I put the pads on full time. I was a kicker my freshman year on varsity while playing varsity soccer as well. Safe to say I tried to give Wide Receiver a go and found out I was better at Outside Linebacker. That being said I missed soccer and went back my senior year and dropped football altogether.
Not that you cared, but I needed to drown myself in revelry for a few lines so you know that I was good at something at some point in time. Hey while we are at it I won 2 state championships in lacrosse, 1 while I was captain . . . well that last part was a lie. I WAS a captain during junior season, and then got arrested winter of senior year before our second Ohio State Championship title run. But who cares. We were all somebody once, right?
I won’t bask in it like the Houston boys do *Wink wink.
The point of this is that I don’t have a serious knowledge base when it comes to football. I can’t pre snap read on offense or defense. I don’t understand zone colors. And I don’t know how to stop mashing X with my DT when the ball is snapped. But I have always been a gamer.
Zelda, Twisted Metal, Borderlands 2, Fifa, Halo.
The games that I hold in the highest regards when I consider what gaming has meant to me from the humble Super Nintendo origins, to the Gamecube, through the my Green Halo Edition Xbox 360, to the Xbox One and everything inbetween. Sadly, as the years have gone on my ability to sit down and play an RPG has dwindled and my attention span has held me to FIFA, Apex, Madden, and some Call of Duty on occasion. It’s crazy how 32 managers with vastly different geographical locations, and varying preferences in life all come together under a single goal. That goal is to bring these little digital men running around on the screen glory. What came secondhand, and still interests me to this day, is the comradery. Anyone outside of the community NEVER understands it. Most of us are gamers that have played all of these games I mentioned and more. We still feel connected to our 10 year old selves, and probably still have vivid memories of our first gaming experiences. But again I digress. Someone needs to stop me from hitchhiking down memory lane while writing these things.
Audience: Finally this guy comes around full circle and wraps up
I stepped into this league knowing that there was a lot of content. It’s safe to say it’s overwhelming and also intimidating knowing there is so much. That being said I have always written for myself, and if you guys stumble across and enjoy the content feel free to check in again. If you don’t, go suck an egg. I’m still not sure this style of article has a place here. Statistical and Objective content isn’t always my thing. Subjective and Opinionated content is. I can get preachy, long winded, self-indulgent, and let my narratives wander but ultimately I’ll do my best to keep it madden. If nothing else Sanchez Del Pendayho will have a story to tell that largely includes his affable yet deeply disturbed sidekick Offensive Coordinator Rodrigo Sancho ComerCulo.
So all of that being said thanks for allowing me to be here XCFL. I love what I’m seeing and look forward to running the Seahawks this cycle.
Keaton always said, “I don’t believe in God, but I’m afraid of him.” Well, I believe in God, and the only thing that scares me is Keyser Soze.
~Verbal Kint/Keyser Soze, The Usual Suspcects
DL does not let me post the third party photo in here, keep an eye out on the big board, or check in Groupme for the draft review, or request it from me specifically if it is not posted yet and you would like to see it
-Kayser
Ace tells it better, and its time for me to clock out. Ill be back for more on last weeks 3 minutes to win it. (Insert comment about premature ejaculation here)