Welcome to the 1986 season of USFL/WFL football. If there are any free agents you like, make your best offer now. With only 3 free agency sims, free agents often sign right away and the make a lowball offer then go over the top negotiations often fail.

The draft class as a whole doesn't look particularly strong. According to my weights, our draft class consists of:

1986 USFL Draft Class *Non Kickers

90+ 3
80-89 20
70-79 49
60-69 69

Basically, most playoff teams won't be able to draft an 80+ rated player in the first round, yuck. We're left to make lemonade out of lemon rinds.

Best of luck to everyone during this offseason as we all try to chase down the Houston Gamblers.

Is this a free agency class or a list of retiring players? Average season for free agents....10th season? Maybe 11th?

Speaks to the owners in this league that nothing good is hitting free agency except aging talent.

I envision some real bad contracts being handed out with plenty of future dead cap involved

That's why I let Elvis Presley hit the streets. Last year he was 10% to retire and wanted like $20 million in bonus money that I wasn't willing to give him.

Had to let go of Dustin Nichols :'(
*Edit - Got him back :D

First Round By Posotion

QB 2
RB 1
TE 2
WR 2
OL 2
DL 5
LB 10
DB 8

This could change based on where each owner puts their draftees, as Florida's TE Forester would be a RB already if he was drafted by the Generals. I am not at all surprised by how many LB/DB's are off the board.

The first 9 picks were defensive players, the latest we've ever drafted the first offensive player in league history.

I can't really quibble with the first 12 picks, though there were a couple I wouldn't have drafted that high picking 13th. WLB Donald Guo was on my list, but down further than 12th. Guo has the speed/accel/strength combo we all like and he will be pretty good in pass coverage but I didn't like his low tackle ability/run defense. Those attributes do not matter much for Memphis and I'm sure Guo will fit in nicely.

The other one I wouldn't have picked that high was QB James James, mainly because I'm happy with Ric Flair. Had I needed a QB, James would be under consideration, though that high volatility would have me nervous heading into training camp. His accuracy is a bit low for my liking but I could live with 80 so long as his eyes boom. Right now his ceiling is 94 look off defense and 86 field of vision, and if those figures hold, James will be a fine starter. With 86 volatility, those numbers could plummet, leaving trslick with Mr. Magoo/Andy Dalton at QB.

My Generals needed a DE really bad after letting Screech(Dustin Diamond) and Roy Sullivan walk in free agency. We even hired a new head coach so we could switch from a 4-3 defense to a 3-4. We had 2 first round picks but I didn't feel I'd get a DE I wanted picking that low, so I sent out trade offers to move up. Boston obliged and we took LDE Eric Corbin (name will change later). Had I actually been awake when my pick was due, I may have taken a LB and moved Hanneman to DE, but I didn't have that luxury. I'm happy with the choice but not the price I paid to move up and I have to hope that 64 volatility doesn't kill his pass rush in camp.

The only real curious pick to me was my original pick that was traded to Boston. I really like the Breakers pick at 1.31, Brad Avery was someone I would have taken at 1.25 if I didn't trade up. TE Roy Hance though? I have him rated 70 as a TE, not hateful but not first round material imo. He is slow, 53 max speed and his low volatility means he won't improve his mediocre pass catching and route running. He looks to be a good blocker, so perhaps a move to center isn't out of the question.

I don't know how much I'll hang around the draft room today with no picks and work at 530 pm, but happy drafting everyone.

The LB was a bit of a reach, even for me, but I was desperate. I should have taken the trade offer to move down.

So, is this draft the new norm? I know the talent has been in the process of being scaled back - but this draft seems awfully dry. I've had a couple drafts in other leagues recently, and I don't think it was quite this slim of pickings. Curious to what others are noticing.

I don't think anything has changed since the current code was put in place, but it certainly had an effect on the top-end talent.

I'm actually OK with making 90+ players extraordinarily rare. But I wish the tradeoff was an abundance of guys who deserve a spot at the bottom of the roster.

I've had a few like this lately, JDB addressed this somewhere and it is the new norm. This one may be below average but generally drafts are weaker. It is what it is. I'm not a fan, but I'll adjust.