ROSTER CONSTRUCTION

Part of the reason I love MFN besides all the stats and game competition is the roster management aspect of the game. I entered this off-season with a clear mandate to get my roster younger after several seasons of "win now" roster construction where I traded away picks for established vets and my team was aging.

Obviously speed is very important so older players are naturally slower as they begin to lose speed starting as early as year 8. My goal when building a roster is to have depth everywhere and speed all over the field. An older roster means addressing many more issues each season as older players lose speed and subsequently their effectiveness.

Now the rub to all this is that players don't fully develop until year 4 or 5 so a roster without some veteran talent will have serious growing pains so their is definately a balance between having some youth (R-4 season), vets in prime (5-9 seasons) and vested veterans (10+ seasons).

With all that in mind I broke down how all 32 teams are constructed. This is something that interests me so if you fell asleep already then just ignore it, I get it. For those of you still interested, here is how each team is constructed.

In parenthesis next to each teams name is the average age of the players on the roster. Then it's broken down into the 3 age groups followed by percentage of the whole.

The oldest team by far is Buffalo where the average age is nearly 10 seasons (9.82) which is over 1.7 seasons older then the 2nd oldest team Indiana (8.11).

The youngest team ironically is Buffalo's division rival New England (4.04) followed closely by Seattle (4.20) and quite scarily Arizona (4.40) which means they will be around for quite some time.

An interesting fact is 6 of the 8 division leaders have an average season per player at 5.70 or less. Only Buffalo (9.82) & Atlanta (6.38) are the outliers.

New England, New York & Seattle lead the way with 33 players on thier roster between Rookie-4 seasons. Not surprisingly they have a 4-29 record so far this season.

Buffalo (23) & Tampa Bay (21) lead the way with players at 10 seasons or more on the roster. They have a combined 13-9 record but Buffalo is in the weakest division in the XFL while Tampa Bay plays in the same division with Atlanta & Memphis. It shows that older vets still are viable but sooner rather then later the roster will have to change as these players retire or become unusable.

Enough of my rambling so make of it what you will but here is the breakdown.

AXC WEST

VANCOUVER (5.70)
ROSTER SIZE 53
R-4 SEASON PLAYERS 24 (45.3%)
5-9 SEASON PLAYERS 24 (45.3%)
10+ SEASON PLAYERS 5 (9.4%)

KANSAS CITY (6.07)
ROSTER SIZE 53
R-4 SEASON PLAYERS 20 (37.7%)
5-9 SEASON PLAYERS 24 (45.3%)
10+ SEASON PLAYERS 9 (17.0%)

OAKLAND (6.69)
ROSTER SIZE 49
R-4 SEASON PLAYERS 17 (34.7%)
5-9 SEASON PLAYERS 19 (38.8 %)
10+ SEASON PLAYERS 13 (26.5%)

INDIANA (8.11)
ROSTER SIZE 47
R-4 SEASON PLAYERS 10 (21.3%)
5-9 SEASON PLAYERS 19 (40.4%)
10+ SEASON PLAYERS 18 (38.3%)

AXC EAST

BUFFALO (9.82)
ROSTER SIZE 50
R-4 SEASON PLAYERS 1 (2.0%)
5-9 SEASON PLAYERS 26 (52.0%)
10+ SEASON PLAYERS 23 (46.0%)

MIAMI (5.45)
ROSTER SIZE 53
R-4 SEASON PLAYERS 21 (39.6%)
5-9 SEASON PLAYERS 28 (52.8%)
10+ SEASON PLAYERS 4 (7.5%)

NEW ENGLAND (4.04)
ROSTER SIZE 53
R-4 SEASON PLAYERS 33 (62.3%)
5-9 SEASON PLAYERS 19 (35.8%)
10+ SEASON PLAYERS 1 (1.9%)

NEW YORK (4.67)
ROSTER SIZE 54
R-4 SEASON PLAYERS 33 (61.1%)
5-9 SEASON PLAYERS 17 (31.5%)
10+ SEASON PLAYERS 4 (7.4%)

AXC NORTH

PITTSBURGH (5.48)
ROSTER SIZE 52
R-4 SEASON PLAYERS 20 (38.5%)
5-9 SEASON PLAYERS 28 (53.8%)
10+ SEASON PLAYERS 4 (7.7%)

HOUSTON (7.02)
ROSTER SIZE 51
R-4 SEASON PLAYERS 15 (29.4%)
5-9 SEASON PLAYERS 24 (47.1%)
10+ SEASON PLAYERS 12 (23.5%)

CINCINNATI (7.25)
ROSTER SIZE 53
R-4 SEASON PLAYERS 15 (28.3%)
5-9 SEASON PLAYERS 20 (37.7%)
10+ SEASON PLAYERS 18 (34.0%)

TORONTO (5.85)
ROSTER SIZE 53
R-4 SEASON PLAYERS 18 (34.0%)
5-9 SEASON PLAYERS 29 (54.7%)
10+ SEASON PLAYERS 6 (11.3%)

AXC SOUTH

DAKOTA (5.58)
ROSTER SIZE 53
R-4 SEASON PLAYERS 20 (37.7%)
5-9 SEASON PLAYERS 27 (50.9%)
10+ SEASON PLAYERS 6 (11.3%)

TEXAS (5.81)
ROSTER SIZE 53
R-4 SEASON PLAYERS 18 (34.0%)
5-9 SEASON PLAYERS 33 (62.3%)
10+ SEASON PLAYERS 2 (3.8%)

ORLANDO (6.02)
ROSTER SIZE 53
R-4 SEASON PLAYERS 20 (37.7%)
5-9 SEASON PLAYERS 24 (45.3%)
10+ SEASON PLAYERS 9 (17.0%)

DAYTONA (5.96)
ROSTER SIZE 50
R-4 SEASON PLAYERS 19 (38.0%)
5-9 SEASON PLAYERS 23 (46.0%)
10+ SEASON PLAYERS 8 (16.0%)

NXC EAST

PROVIDENCE (4.77)
ROSTER SIZE 53
R-4 SEASON PLAYERS 27 (50.9%)
5-9 SEASON PLAYERS 24 (45.3%)
10+ SEASON PLAYERS 2 (3.8%)

BROOKLYN (4.85)
ROSTER SIZE 53
R-4 SEASON PLAYERS 27 (50.9%)
5-9 SEASON PLAYERS 20 (37.7%)
10+ SEASON PLAYERS 6 (11.3%)

PHILADELPHIA (5.96)
ROSTER SIZE 53
R-4 SEASON PLAYERS 19 (35.i%)
5-9 SEASON PLAYERS 28 (52.8%)
10+ SEASON PLAYERS 6 (11.3%)

WASHINGTON (5.81)
ROSTER SIZE 53
R-4 SEASON PLAYERS 18 (34.0%)
5-9 SEASON PLAYERS 31 (58.5%)
10+ SEASON PLAYERS 4 (7.5%)

NXC WEST

ARIZONA (4.40)
ROSTER SIZE 53
R-4 SEASON PLAYERS 27 (50.9%)
5-9 SEASON PLAYERS 22 (41.5%)
10+ SEASON PLAYERS 4 (7.5%)

LOS ANGELES (6.62)
ROSTER SIZE 53
R-4 SEASON PLAYERS 21 (39.6%)
5-9 SEASON PLAYERS 15 (28.4%)
10+ SEASON PLAYERS 17 (32.1%)

VEGAS (5.69)
ROSTER SIZE 54
R-4 SEASON PLAYERS 24 (44.4%)
5-9 SEASON PLAYERS 24 (44.4%)
10+ SEASON PLAYERS 6 (11.1%)

SEATTLE (4.20)
ROSTER SIZE 51
R-4 SEASON PLAYERS 33 (64.7%)
5-9 SEASON PLAYERS 14 (27.5%)
10+ SEASON PLAYERS 4 (7.8%)

NXC NORTH

MONTANA (5.62)
ROSTER SIZE 53
R-4 SEASON PLAYERS 22 (41.5%)
5-9 SEASON PLAYERS 22 (41.5%)
10+ SEASON PLAYERS 9 (17%)

GEM CITY (5.38)
ROSTER SIZE 53
R-4 SEASON PLAYERS 22 (41.5%)
5-9 SEASON PLAYERS 27 (50.9%)
10+ SEASON PLAYERS 4 (7.5%)

ZEHLENDORF (6.17)
ROSTER SIZE 54
R-4 SEASON PLAYERS 24 (44.4%)
5-9 SEASON PLAYERS 19 (35.2%)
10+ SEASON PLAYERS 11 (20.4%)

SAINT PAUL (4.91)
ROSTER SIZE 53
R-4 SEASON PLAYERS 25 (47.2%)
5-9 SEASON PLAYERS 24 (45.3%)
10+ SEASON PLAYERS 4 (7.5%)

NXC SOUTH

ATLANTA (6.38)
ROSTER SIZE 53
R-4 SEASON PLAYERS 9 (17.0%)
5-9 SEASON PLAYERS 37 (70.0%)
10+ SEASON PLAYERS 7 (13.2%)

MEMPHIS (6.06)
ROSTER SIZE 53
R-4 SEASON PLAYERS 21 (39.6%)
5-9 SEASON PLAYERS 23 (43.4%)
10+ SEASON PLAYERS 9 (17.0%)

TAMPA BAY (4.84)
ROSTER SIZE 50
R-4 SEASON PLAYERS 25 (50.0%)
5-9 SEASON PLAYERS 4 (8.0%)
10+ SEASON PLAYERS 21 (42.0%)

CAROLINA (6.58)
ROSTER SIZE 52
R-4 SEASON PLAYERS 21 (40.4%)
5-9 SEASON PLAYERS 16 (30.8%)
10+ SEASON PLAYERS 15 (28.8%)

I sort of do this for draft prep, I figure out the average experience of position groups so I know where to target. My OL has 12 players with 73 years experience, DL 8 players 55 years, 6 LB have 24 years and 9 DBs combine for 42 years. So next draft I'll be looking to get younger on both lines first, after speedy skill guys of course.

That's interesting, I like hearing how others go about it. Winning Titles is the ultimate goal but it's not something you can achieve consistently based on many factors although Atlanta is proving me wrong on that point.

My goal is and always has been to stay competitive longterm. My proudest accomplishment is my consecutive postseason streaks here, Q&D and the USFL.

Obviously, I don't win the Title every season but I give myself a chance every season by making the postseason. I really over-extended myself in the XFL trading 1st rounders for veteran talent and it led to me barely making the postseason last season as a Wildcard so I went into this off-season with a clear mandate to get much younger while still remaining competitive.

Thanks to what has turned out to be the easiest strength of schedule thus far, I've definately outperformed my own expectations this season. Thankfully I got past the worst of it and after 3 straight drafts without a 1st round pick, I finally have a 1st rounder in the next 3 drafts!!!