The Internet Football League (Team Summaries)
Athens Odyssey
The Athens Odyssey took quarterback Kenneth Cerda with
the top overall pick in the dispersal draft, and in Week 1, he did not
disappoint, leading the Odyssey to a 41-38 victory in the first-ever regular
season game in league history. However, that game served as one of the few
highlights on the year as Cerda struggled to stay healthy the rest of the way,
finishing just 7th in the IFL in passing yards with 2,506, to go
along with 16 TD and 7 interceptions on the year. The Odyssey struggled to just
a 4-10 overall record, ranking them third in the International Conference.
Heading into the 2019 season, they sit on the #2 overall pick. With Cerda
locked up and only 26-years-old, they seemingly have their franchise QB.
However, few teams in the IFL are lacking in the wide receiver department quite
like the Odyssey, so look for them to try to find some outside targets moving
forward. On defense, defensive end Sean Dickey overachieved on his way to
leading the IFL in sacks with 12.0; however, the second line of defense
struggled to make plays, so LB is also a need heading into the offseason. Itll
be interesting to see how they kick off the rebuild.
Chicago
Chicago came into the year with what looked to be one
of the top offenses on paper in the league, led by the two-headed monster of QB
Richard Ackerman and RB Jeremy Huff. And they more than lived up to the hype,
as the team finished with the #1 offense in the league both in terms of yardage
and scoring on their way to winning the American Conference. The dynamic Huff
became a workhorse for Chicago, rushing for 1,328 yards and 12 TD on 256
carries while also catching 50 balls for another 492 yards and 4 TDs on his way
to being named the leagues Most Valuable Player. Ackerman, in earning an
All-Star nod of his own, racked up 3,227 yards through the air, led the league
with a 71.3 completion percentage, and threw 28 TDs to just 7 Interceptions,
despite missing two games in the middle of the season. To cap it off, Chicago
was the only team in the league who had two receivers go for over a thousand
yards, and David Mendenhalls 19 receiving TDs is a record that may not be
broken unless the league decides to move to 16 games at some point. Chicago was
able to reach the IFL Cup, eventually losing to Innsbruck-Vienna as the defense
was lit up for 53 points on the biggest stage. The defensive letdown was a
common theme for Chicago, as they ranked dead last in the IFL in yardage
allowed. They now head into the offseason coming off the disappointment of
being blown out, but with a bright future. Look for them to dedicate both their
draft and cash resources to improving on the defensive side of the ball,
particularly in the secondary.
Detroit Demons
Finishing just one game behind Chicago in the American
Conference, the Detroit Demons were a well-balanced team that continually found
ways to outlast opponents on their way to an 8-6 record in 2018. QB Paul Rios
is arguably the most talented passer in the IFL, and approaches the game with
an old school gunslinger mentality that saw him pass for 3,677 yards and 30 TD,
both good enough for second in the league. Hes joined in the backfield by a
pair of running backs who split duties in Fernando Herrera and Raymond Torrance,
each of whom crossed the 800 rushing yard and 10 rushing TD thresholds in 2018.
On defense, they are led by DE Kevin Krebs (9 sacks) and LB Doyle Gagnon, but
desperately need help in the secondary this offseason.
Hartford
Looking at Hartford on paper, they looked to be one of
the bottom teams in the league this year, as they lacked at both the QB and WR
position. In the end, they did finish tied for last in the American Conference.
However, they were still just one game out of playoff contention, as head coach
Earl Vaughn relied heavily on a trio of young running backs and a strong run
defense to dominate the time of possession and win games. Rookie backs Brent
Moore and Thomas Daly both look to have the potential to be stars in this
league while LB Von Mosby (86 tackles, 4 sacks, 1 Int) is the type of leader
that GMs dream about and is joined at LB by Defensive Rookie of the Year George
Whitson who racked up 81 tackles (a league-leading 23 for loss), 7 sacks, a
safety, and a forced fumble in his first year out of BYU. It remains to be seen
whether Ernest Woodard is the answer at QB. He looked great at times in 2018,
but struggled to stay on the field, missing five games due to injury. If he can
stay healthy and Hartford can add a receiver, they could be on their way to
contention.
Indianapolis
Indianapolis featured a high-flying team in 2018, as
they finished with a 7-7 record on the arm of QB Robert Mcdonough,
who led the IFL in both yardage (3,919) and TDs (32) through the air on his way
to the starting gig in the Pro Bowl for the American Conference. Indy was also
one of only two teams (Chicago) who had both a 3,000-yard passer and 1,000-yard
rusher as Arthur Darnell racked up 1,163 yards and 6 TD while leading the IFL
in carries. The defense was anchored by LB Mathew Hanson who earned a Pro Bowl
nod after being one of just five players to accumulate 100+ tackles while also
racking up 9 tackles for loss, 2 forced fumbles, an interception, and a sack.
Indy has one of the more well-balanced teams in the league heading into the
offseason but could definitely use help in the trenches on both sides of the
ball, so look for the front office to focus on those areas in the draft and
free agency.
Innsbruck-Vienna
Innsbruck-Vienna was far and away the most dominant
team in the IFLs first year. After starting the season with a 38-21 victory
over the Detroit Demons, Austrias team never looked back, putting up
dominating performance after dominating performance all year round behind the
#1 rushing attack and scoring defense en route to a
12-2 regular season record. Their season culminated in an absolutely dominant
53-27 victory over Chicago in the IFL Cup, where QB Barry Davis had his best
performance of the season on his way to being named the Playoff MVP. He exploded
for 270 yards and 5 TDs in the game. After entering the 4th quarter leading
just 30-27, the team closed out the game and the season strong.
Innsbruck-Vienna is led by Defensive Player of the Year Chester Moore who led
the league with 119 tackles (9 for loss) as well as fumbles forced (4) and
recovered (2). The top rushing attack in the game was spearheaded by a thunder
and lightning duo, both of whom are former Georgia Bulldogs in John Smyth
(1,255 yards, 3 TD) and rookie Christopher Hogan (515 yards, 5 TD), who both
made the Pro Bowl. The scary thing about this team is that their 23 Pro Bowlers
(in large part because of the small league size) led the league, and the oldest
of those players was just 28 Theyre positioned to dominate the league for
years to come. Theyre great from top-to-bottom, offense, defense, and even
special teams.
Perth
The SFLs only Australian team, the season could not
have gone much worse for Perth and the boys down under. Thanks to a barrage of
injuries and an inconsistent team, they finished dead last in the league in
both scoring offense (18.9 ppg) and defense (32.6 ppg allowed), giving them nowhere to go but up from their
3-11 record. They tried to rely heavily on rookie QB William Ramos, but he
couldnt deliver on his potential leading the league in interceptions thrown
and finishing last in the league with a 71.0 QB rating. It was not without
silver linings though, as the team got very good performances from LB Mark
Gross (107 tck, 18 tfl, 2 sck, 1 Int) and has two of the most talented defensive
backs in the league in FS Daniel Fife and SS Phillip Gross. They also have one
of the better offensive lines in the league, anchored by LT Valentin Halstead
(59 pancake blocks, 0 sacks allowed). With Perth holding the #1 overall pick in
2019, it will be interesting to see whether they stick with Ramos and live with
his rookie struggles, maybe targeting him a top receiver. There are needs
across the board, so look for the team to get a lot of snaps from rookies in
2019.
Rome Gladiators
Rounding out the 2018 teams are Italys lone
franchise, gli Gladiatori
Romanithe Rome Gladiators. Despite going just 6-8 and losing their last four
games of the season, Rome was able to coast into the playoffs thanks to the
weak International Conference. They were led by probably the leagues most
talented receiving corps in the trio of Stephen Haskell, Howard Powers, and
Robert Barr who provide a diverse and complementary skillset that allows the
Gladiators to run a variety of offensive sets and route combinations. Haskell
in particular was perhaps the most dynamic receiver in the league in 2018,
leading the league in both receiving yards (1,403) and average (21.3) while
catching 66 balls and scoring 11 TDs. This made QB William Dials job easy as
the Offensive Rookie of the Year finished 3rd in passing yards
(3,670) and posted at 27:12 TD:Int ratio. With a ton
of offensive talent already in place in the passing game and RB Whitney Bryson
(997 rush yards, 4.9 avg, 8 TD) already in place as well, look for Rome to turn
their heads to the defensive side of the ball where the team desperately needs
to add talent to safeties Paul Wagoner and Richard Hawkins.
2019 DRAFT ORDER
1.
Perth
2.
Athens Odyssey
3.
Hartford
4.
Indianapolis
5.
Roma
6.
Detroit Demons
7.
Chicago
8.
Innsbruck-Vienna
TOP 10 DRAFT PROSPECTS
OT Jerome Sauer (Louisville) | Ht:
6-3 | Wt: 294
LB Marcus Lavigne (Duke) | Ht:
6-5 | Wt: 246
OT Jesse French (Tennessee)| Ht:
6-3 | Wt: 319
OT Alan Archuleta (Georgia) | Ht:
6-3 | Wt: 313
DE Mark Plunkett (LSU)| Ht:
6-5 | Wt: 295
DT Cory Cobbs (Oregon) | Ht:
6-4 | Wt: 276
OT Lyndon Bryan (Florida International) | Ht: 6-1 | Wt: 290
CB Jonathan Covington (Alabama) | Ht:
6-2 | Wt: 209
LB Robert Clark (Oregon) | Ht:
6-5 | Wt: 271
DE Edward Chalmers (Penn State) | Ht:
6-7 | Wt: 295
The Simulation
Football League (Team Summaries)
Atlanta
Atlanta finished the 2018 season at 6-8 as they
struggled to find a rhythm behind multiple quarterbacks despite having one of
the best running backs in the game. Ronald Folse was
one of five running backs in the SFL to eclipse 1,000 rushing yards in 2018 as
the 29-year-old racked up 1,018 yards and 4 TD despite missing two games due to
injury. The real franchise player on this team though is the man who paved the
way for Folse and protected the quarterbacks blind
side. OT Jeff Dunham was the class of the league in 2018, serving up 77 pancake
blocks without allowing a single sack. Atlanta also surprisingly had the top
defense in the league in 2018, despite not having a single player in the
secondary who jumps off the screen as a superstar. In addition to their QB of
the future, the team must also find a way to keep pressure on the other team
next year, as they racked up just 10 sacks total in 14 games during the 2018
season. Good enough for dead last in the league.
Las Vegas Aces
The Las Vegas Aces were the class of the league from
opening kickoff when they defeated the Washington Guardians 45-27 on the arm of
eventual SFL Playoff MVP Arthur Brenner. Brenner, despite missing two games,
led the entire SFL in Passing TD (32) and QB Rating (118.8) as he threw for
3,235 yards (4th) and led the league in yards per completion as
well. Its almost unfair, as in addition to Brenner, the Aces have the leagues
best running back in Martin Mayer who led the league with 1,476 rushing yards
and 8 TDs in 2018. But wait, theres more! Second year wideout Steven Cowan was
the most explosive WR in the SFL, leading the league in receiving average while
finishing 2nd with 1,164 yards and 10 TDs. But wait, theres more!
LB Barry Keys led the league with 9 sacks, finished third with 4 interceptions,
and tallied 77 tackles, 18 of which were for loss on his way to winning the
Defensive Player of the Year Award. This team has very few weaknesses, but the
priority for the Aces has to be improving up front, as Brenner was sacked 51
times in 12 games. As long as hes healthy, theyll be in the championship
hunt. They have to invest to keep him healthy.
Los Angeles
To begin the year, Los Angeles looked like a
formidable division rival, and like they were set to make a run at the SFL
Championship. Rookie QB Roy Padilla commanded the offense to 71 points in the
first 7 quarters of the season and was coasting to a 2-0 start when disaster
struck and he went down, forcing him to miss 6 games, as Los Angeles fell out
of the playoff picture. He was able to come back after they went 2-4 without
him and save the year though, putting up huge numbers (2,356 yards, 21 TD, 4
Int) as they pushed themselves into the playoffs despite him playing through an
injury. Padilla could very well emerge as the face of the league in the coming
years, and is joined by a great group of players including Reinaldo Varney (3rd
with 1237 rushing yards) and a defense anchored in the middle by LB Stephen
Newman (73 tackles, 8 tfl, 1 sack despite missing 4
games) and in the secondary by CB Donald Jones (65 tackles, 4 Int, 12 PD, 1
TD). They are the best bet to knock off Las Vegas next season, but like Vegas,
need to find a way to keep their stars healthy.
New Orleans
Disaster is the only way to sum up the 2018 season for
New Orleans, who featured perhaps the most porous defense in football history
ranking last in points allowed, yards allowed, pass yards allowed, and
interceptions. Quite frankly, when beginning to look at where to begin with
this defense its almost impossible as they will need a complete reboot. New
Orleans does have the foundation of an absolute elite offensive line featuring
the likes of John Gooding (71 pancakes, 1 sack allowed) at LT and Charles Johnson
(31 pancakes, 0 sacks allowed) at LG, but they need some talent to block for.
QB James Delarosa (3,273 yards, 17 TD, 12 Int) has all the tools and talent to
be a great QB, but may not have the grit or position-specific talent to be a
franchise QB. They need to focus first on defense, but should probably look for
some outside threats and give Delarosa a little more time before moving on.
Orlando Sharks
In both the IFL and SFL combined, you wont find a
bigger prototype for the term gunslinger than Orlando Sharks QB Dale
Schindler. The 28-year-old SMU product threw for a league-high 3,438 yards and
was third in TDs with 29 while also completing nearly 67 percent of his passes.
Thats the good. The bad? Schindler also led the SFL in interceptions with 18.
The issue seemed to be that he may believe a little too much in his arm,
resulting in a lot of risky throws. The Sharks were able to go 8-6 during the
regular season as he developed incredible chemistry with Stacey Darby who
finished with a league-leading 1,291 receiving yards on 79 catches.
Additionally, the Sharks were able to get huge production from RB Billy Jackson
who finished 2nd in rushing yards with 1,433 while leading the
league in rushing TD (12) by a large margin. In the playoffs, the Sharks were
able to go in and upset the Washington Guardians in a shoot-out on the road,
positioning themselves for a championship featuring the two top offenses in the
league. The game lived up to the hype, becoming an instant 38-31 classic as Las
Vegas scored the go-ahead TD with just 1:08 to play. Orlando is stacked on both
offense and defense (where their leaders are LB Michael Devlin, CB Thomas
Flora, and SS Johnny Bennett) so will just need to find complementary pieces
this offseason. If they can get Schindler to play within himself, theyll make
a run at the title next year.
San Francisco Mustangs
The San Francisco Mustangs are to the offense what New Orleans is to defense, ranking last in the league in points, total yardage, passing yardage, rushing yardage, and rushing average in 2018. They were able to ride on the back of Luis Tuggle as he eclipsed 1,068 yards, and did a great job of avoiding turnovers, so things werent as dire as they were for New Orleans defense, but the Mustangs are severely lacking in the playmaking department, unable to create very many big plays through the passing or rushing attack in 2018. They also had little depth, so Tuggle (despite being durable) found himself overworked an ineffective late in games. San Francisco did go 6-8, and their problems are fixable to get them into the playoff picture, but its going to take some work, and likely a change in the coaching staff to do it.
Tampa Bay
Tampa Bay QB James Woods was selected with the #1
overall pick in the dispersal draft and looked like every bit of the franchise
player he was supposed to be as the 24-year-old rookie from South Carolina came
out and threw for 3,402 yards, 30 TD, 14 Int, and led the SFL with a 70.8
completion percentage on his way to being named the Offensive Rookie of the
Year. Woods has all of the tools to be an elite QB in this league for the next
decade or more: hes strong-armed, smart, accurate, and has solid speed and
pocket presence that led to him being sacked only 16 times on the season as Tampa
finished at 8-6, and just outside the playoffs thanks to tiebreakers. Woods
found chemistry with wide receiver John Halsey (1,029 yards) in particular as
the duo connected for a league-leading 12 TDs on the year. While the future on
offense looks bright for Tampa Bay, on defense the future is now as they led
the league in points, rush yardage, and total yardage allowed while also finishing
second in passing yardage allowed. The leader of the defense is versatile LB Fredrick
Phillips who was in the running for Defensive Player of the Year after amassing
101 tackles, 15 tackles for loss, 2 forced fumbled, 3 fumbles recovered, 3
interceptions and 10 pass deflections. He plays all over the field with his athleticism
and size allowing him to move around and fit into any scheme. The big area of
need for Tampa Bay moving forward is going to be finding a consistent rushing
attack. There were high hopes for John Roche, but a dislocated knee and
inconsistent production before that have insiders wondering whether he can ever
show explosion again.
Washington Guardians
Closing out the 2018 are the Washington Guardians, who
won the Eastern Conference with a 9-5 record in 2018. They were led by
dual-threat QB Lawrence Finch who won both the MVP and Offensive Player of the
Year awards after throwing for 3,108 yards and 24 TDs with only 7 Int in the
air, and also amassing another 438 yards and 9 TDs on the ground. The
26-year-old found early chemistry with wide receiver Craig Swisher who caught
63 balls for 989 yards and 7 TD, but struggled with drop and fumble injuries
throughout the year. Defensively, the team was anchored by Defensive Rookie of
the Year Hubert Milner. In his first year from Penn State, Milner finished tied
for the league lead with 5 Interceptions, three of which he returned for
touchdowns. A great tackler for the position, he also picked up 70 tackles and
forced two fumbles, recovering one more and also blocking a punt. Milner has
the tools and size to be a shutdown corner in this league for the next 10-15
years.
2019 DRAFT ORDER
1.
New Orleans
2.
Atlanta
3.
San Francisco
Mustangs
4.
Tampa Bay
5.
Los Angeles
6.
Washington
Guardians
7.
Orlando Sharks
8.
Las Vegas Aces
TOP 10 DRAFT PROSPECTS
LB Robert Archer (California) | Ht:
6-2 | Wt: 225
DT Abel Swearingen (Texas-San Antonio) | Ht: 6-2 | Wt: 301
C Jerome Holland (TCU)| Ht:
6-3 | Wt: 271
LB Jessie Goforth (Washington) | Ht:
6-4 | Wt: 224
DT Zachary Rector (Lehigh) | Ht:
6-2 | Wt: 320
DE Charles Tyree (Notre Dame) | Ht:
6-2 | Wt: 292
G Douglas Silva (San Jose State) | Ht:
6-3 | Wt: 306
DT Dario Harrison (Washington State) | Ht: 6-2 | Wt: 304
DE Albert Anderson (LSU) | Ht:
6-2 | Wt: 300
G Robert Julian (Montana) | Ht:
6-5 | Wt: 324