Wrestling skill translates very well to defensive line skill. I know this both intuitively and from experience. While sumo skill does translate well to OL skill, sumo bodies don't translate well at all to the football field.

Ok, yeah. I guess what I meant is NFL players are better suited, physically, to the duties of their positions. But now that I think about it more I could see where if you just came up with a baseline definition of "athletic," this league could beat the NFL.

We'll take Bobby Lashley, DL/OL.





Lashley is basically Brock Lesnar 2.0: an absolute freak of nature who dominated amateur wrestling (three national championships, two armed forces championships) before going to a career in WWE and eventually MMA. He doesn't have the charisma of Lesnar so his WWE career wasn't as noteworthy, but he's continuing to follow the Lesnar path by crossing into MMA where he's 4-0 (albeit against crappy opponents I'm assuming).

Lashley is the type of physical freak that will be very difficult to block at defensive end. He's 6'3 252 of pure muscle and has very good speed/athleticism as evidenced by his sports entertainment days. He also has pure wrestling skills which is useful in getting away from the offensive linemen and tackling the QB/runner. Lashley also probably has the size and strength to play one of our interior line positions, possibly center idk.

Team Vixrat
Joe Mauer - QB
Dwyane Wade - WR
Bobby Lashley - DL/OL

Yeah, I like that guy at DE or MLB. Good pick.

I'm looking to trade up if anyone is interested.

Based on the pictures he seems like a solid pick. I see him as more of a 3-4 end and center then a 4-3 end though. Guys who look like that are generally better in positions where they are often engaging their opponent.

/edit I just realized DWade and Joe Mauer were on the same team. I love it. My favorite passing QB (maybe the only legit pocket QB in the draft?) and my favorite pure WR in the draft. Awesome.

You really need to find a great LT though.

/edit2 I'm so glad this draft is coinciding with me being stuck at home with h1n1.

It's a really good thing that there won't be any steroid testing in this league.

Heh, yeah. We're definitely going to try an aerial circus offense probably.

I just got back, and am wading through the shock and awe of my "steal of the draft" pick, but this has to be a joke. If you really want to get me started on why historical accounts of this stuff are so completely wrong, just say the word.

lol

Spreadsheet updated. If you want to edit it yourself, you have to sign in with a google account, then go to "edit this page" (at the bottom) -> type or paste the guys name -> File -> Save & Close

http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?k...hg&output=html

I for one am very interested in hearing Zugzwang explain how his intuition is more accurate the historical records.

Be my guest. I've read multiple sources that say he was smaller than average sized and we know people were a lot smaller 2300 years ago than they are today.

And yeah, has anyone here watched much (any?) amateur/Olympic wrestling? It is far from being "all on the ground." I think they spend more time on the ground in MMA than they do in wrestling, especially at the heavyweight level.

word

Meh, love Mauer and D-Wade, pretty underwhelmed by Lashley.

There are guys with the same physical size and strength who are dominant athletes in sports that are much more relevant to football.

Admittedly I don't know very much about fighting, but from what I do know about offensive line play, it just seems like a guy like Lennox Lewis is a much, much better fit on the line.

Lashley can play linebacker too for sure. Or tight end. Projected OL/DL at the moment but we could move him later.

Lashley is going to be a defensive end, if he plays on the OL it won't be at left tackle or anything.

Don't see how wrestling and general athleticism doesn't translate to a DE. Brock Lesnar almost made an NFL team with very little football experience and Lashley is very very similar to him.

Paging Dr. 64...

If he's quick, you might want to put him at guard, he looks like he could be a mean blocker pulling around the end or absorbing a bull rush from a DT.

I really think you're going to want to keep Lashley on the line. Guys build like that do much better when engaged then when in space. There is just no way you can look like that and have good (relative to this league) agility acceleration. I think his ideal spot in this league is 3-4 DE but I think he'd make an ok UT in the 4-3 and probably a C offensively.

I think Lesnar weighed like 285+ when he tried out for the Vikings. He has a much bigger frame then Lashley I think. Based on those photos I'm guess Lashley has basically maxed out his body size-wise.

Which sources? I have read as low as 5'4 and as tall as 6'6. Their methods of determining this are so far from accurate (from what I recall). ****, one of those roman emperors was supposedly like 9 feet tall, based on multiple sources. there is no denying that people back then were shorter on average, but as far as the armor goes, that point has been ripped to shreds many times over simply based on the selectivity of the armor that would survive to this day.

In any case, ATG is about as "winner" as it gets, and again all he needs to do is be able to lob the ball 10 yards to Kazaam. Even if we go with 5'6, I know plenty of 5'6 people that can put enough arch on a ball to get over a pass rush. And c'mon. HES THROWING IT TO KAZAAM.

zugzwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaang

One of the Roman emperors was 9 feet tall? This sounds like a reliable source.

The quote part of my post was two of Alexander's contemporaries saying he was of below average size. My googling quickly yielded at least one theory that he was <5'2 (based on some armor that they found that they believed to be his for whatever reason). It seems really really likely that he was less then 5-6 and since you picked someone who died 2300 years ago and have no evidence to say otherwise, that is really how the pick should be judged. I like that you are having fun with this draft, I just don't think you picked the best historical figure. If we were drafting coaches he'd have been an excellent pick.

http://www.pothos.org/content/index....ody-and-height