Warrior General Games

Allow me to shed some light on an error I see get made in roster design.

There are only two times it's worthwhile to take a S* kicker on your roster.

A) You have a full 43 man roster, and only 1 spot for a kicker. Might as well make him a S* kicker.

B) You have less than a 43 man roster, and are taking 2 kickers, but want your FG specialist to be really, really good. Then you make him a S*.

In every other situation, it's always better to simply take two regular kickers, and make one a kickoff specialist, and the other a FG specialist. It's cheaper than taking a single superstar kicker, and you will have higher skill investment in each job. Quite simply, if you've got an available roster spot, and you took a S* kicker instead of two regular kickers, you're doing it wrong.

The kick-off specialist is more valuable than most teams realize. If you're kicking off 50-55 yards, you're letting the other team start with average field position somewhere between the 35-50 yard line. Even decent returns can put them on your side of the field with regularity. You're also giving your blocked coverage guys less time to break blocks and break free to pursue the returner. Which means if your first guys through don't get him, it's more often a big return coming. A kick-off specialist with 90+ kicking power is forcing touchbacks over 25% of the time. Even when it gets fielded, You're still more commonly tackling them around the 25 yard line on good coverage plays. There's few things a Defensive Coordinator will appreciate more than 15-25 yards of extra field to work with after every kickoff.

So, in a nutshell, if you've got an open roster spot, and you don't have a kickoff specialist, you're probably doing it wrong. Even if you're a higher level team, sign a rookie kickoff specialist. He can be getting you 10 more yards on kick-offs almost immediately, and doesn't cost anything signficant. By the end of the season, with around 70 kickoff power, he'll be regularly having the other team return from the endzone or 5 yard line, and will even occasionally get a touchback.

Good read and this leaves some food for thought.

Opportunity cost is too high to take a kickoff specialist, regardless of how impactful you feel they'd be.

I kind of agree. Everything you say makes sense and sounds great....but when I think "how would I get the roster spot?" I come up blank

Originally posted by TxSteve
I kind of agree. Everything you say makes sense and sounds great....but when I think "how would I get the roster spot?" I come up blank


Most teams that invest in more than few superstars are typically short-handed. Then, even if you can't squeeze in the kick-off specialist rookie season due to salary constraints, you can sign a rookie kick-off specialist sophomore or seasoned season when 65-80k salary is a drop in the bucket.

That's the thing. By the end of sophomore season, you can have 90+ kicking power easily with investment in a few other skills to modest levels even. That kind of kickoff specialist will be a huge benefit, even underleveled. You could even argue against ever boosting him or even paying him at level 25. Just start another one on a CPU team to bring in to replace him around sophomore or seasoned. The salary will be negligible when they're lower level.

Obviously, most of the current first season teams can't do this because they're full 43 men rosters. The rookie/sophomore teams carrying superstars can absolutely do this though. If you're sophomore team today with less than 43 men, could you create a rookie and fit them on your roster for 65-70k? Maybe so. If not, I bet you're even more likely to be able to do it next season when 65-70k is a miniscule amount of salary for a seasoned team. There's no reason to be trotting out your FG kicker to kick it 50 yards and get pummeled by some Offensive tackle and getting their morale and energy bars nuked by a pancake.

more good points (you are correct - I was really just looking from a rookie standpoint)

Honestly, your most interesting concept is to bring on a rookie KO specialist at more senior levels.

Originally posted by Cuivienen
Honestly, your most interesting concept is to bring on a rookie KO specialist at more senior levels.

I've advocated the usefulness of the kickoff specialist in my private forums for a bit now. Any roster short of 43 men should look into whether they can add one. The fact they're useful even at lower levels and cheaper prices didn't occur to me until recently.

Beyond that though, 2 regular kickers, one focused on field goals and one focused on kickoffs are better and cheaper than a single S* kicker trying to do both jobs.

This is probably the simplest way a team can tweak the roster and get a big benefit. My kickoff specialist has kicked off 100 times in 13 league games this season already. In our league, he's averaging anywhere from 15-20 yards better on kickoffs than the teams that don't also kick-off specialists. That means he's given us 1500-2000 yards worth of an advantage in field position this season alone.

A new breed of kicker.

Kickoff specialist built to force ST fumbles with their 3* Monster Hit.

The dream is real.

Originally posted by Justiciable
A new breed of kicker.

Kickoff specialist built to force ST fumbles with their 3* Monster Hit.

The dream is real.

http://glb2.warriorgeneral.com/game/replay/45287/1333560?player_id=55420

haha, no monster hit or relevant tackling skills investment though. Pure luck.

http://glb2.warriorgeneral.com/game/player/37640

Guess what I'll be using my cap boosters on?

Originally posted by DeeVee8
http://glb2.warriorgeneral.com/game/player/37640

Guess what I'll be using my cap boosters on?

yup. Btw, is folks up firing for you even when your not the FG kicker?

Originally posted by Galithor
yup. Btw, is folks up firing for you even when your not the FG kicker?


Nope

I guess when I first read it I didn't consider that he had to be the FG kicker. Must have not looked for it the first season. Oh well, fml and all. I wish it was MH.

I had to replace Lost Lounge's inactive kicker. I went with a pair of rookies that I made who cost a combined $170k of salary cap, much cheaper than an actual sophomore kicker.

And my rookie kickoff specialist kickers very firstest ever kickoff...

http://glb2.warriorgeneral.com/game/replay/52765/3070314?player_id=71124