XP Sliders And Where We Are!

Theres been talk about XP Sliders and how they have effected teams and team building. Looking back at draft classes will help clarify this for us. I believe that XP is perfect for our league and the way we progress off the field. It may even need adjusting with the addition of the immersion system. Lets take a look back at the draft classes and debate how player growth has really been.

Pick	Name	College	Drafted By	Drafted Age	Drafted Pos	Drafted OVR	Current OVR	Drafted Dev	Current Dev
	1	Trevor Lawrence	Clemson	JAX	21	QB	78	86	Superstar	Superstar
	2	Zach Wilson	BYU	NYJ	22	QB	75	87	Star	Star
	3	Trey Lance	North Dakota State	SF	21	QB	74	83	Superstar	Superstar
	4	Kyle Pitts	Florida	ATL	20	TE	81	93	X-Factor	X-Factor
	5	Ja’Marr Chase	LSU	CIN	21	WR	75	82	Superstar	Star
	6	Jaylen Waddle	Alabama	MIA	22	WR	76	92	Superstar	X-Factor
	7	Penei Sewell	Oregon	DET	20	LT	75	79	Superstar	Star
	8	Jaycee Horn	South Carolina	CAR	21	CB	74	84	Star	Star
	9	Patrick Surtain II	Alabama	DEN	21	CB	76	90	Superstar	Superstar
	10	DeVonta Smith	Alabama	PHI	22	WR	75	84	Star	Star
	11	Justin Fields	Ohio State	CHI	22	QB	74	83	Star	Star
	12	Micah Parsons	Penn State	DAL	22	ROLB	75	79	Star	Star
	13	Rashawn Slater	Northwestern	LAC	22	LT	73	80	Star	Star
	14	Alijah Vera-Tucker	USC	NYJ	22	LG	72	81	Star	Star
	15	Mac Jones	Alabama	NE	22	QB	71	73	Normal	Normal
	16	Zaven Collins	Tulsa	ARI	22	MLB	73	78	Star	Star
	17	Alex Leatherwood	Alabama	LV	22	RT	70	75	Normal	Normal
	18	Jaelan Phillips	Miami	MIA	22	ROLB	72	82	Star	Star
	19	Jamin Davis	Kentucky	WAS	22	MLB	73	84	Star	Star
	20	Kadarius Toney	Florida	NYG	22	WR	72	80	Star	Normal
	21	Kwity Paye	Michigan	IND	22	LE	73	82	Star	Star
	22	Caleb Farley	Virginia Tech	TEN	22	CB	75	86	Star	Star
	23	Christian Darrisaw	Virginia Tech	MIN	22	LT	71	76	Star	Star
	24	Najee Harris	Alabama	PIT	23	HB	76	91	Superstar	X-Factor
	25	Travis Etienne Jr	Clemson	JAX	22	HB	76	83	Star	Star
	26	Greg Newsome II	Northwestern	CLE	21	CB	76	84	Star	Star
	27	Rashod Bateman	Minnesota	BAL	21	WR	72	84	Star	Star
	28	Payton Turner	Houston	NO	22	LE	68	70	Normal	Normal
	29	Eric Stokes	Georgia	GB	22	CB	71	84	Normal	Star
	30	Gregory Rousseau	Miami	BUF	21	LE	69	72	Normal	Normal
	31	Odafe Oweh	Penn State	BAL	22	LOLB	70	77	Normal	Star
	32	Joe Tryon-Shoyinka	Washington	TB	22	LOLB	69	78	Normal	Star

After 2 and a quarter seasons the 2021 draft class has produced some elite talent. Some have progressed more than others and others have been completely neglected by their team. Just taking a look back players of content driven teams like Najee Harris, Zach Wilson, Rashod Bateman, and Jaylon Waddle have all grown by 10+ overall. Which is specifically impressive by players with only the “Star Dev” trait. They aren’t meant to be great players in the league (85+ overall) based on their dev but content has allowed users to push them beyond their ceiling or max potential. Others with the “Superstar and Superstar X-Factor” traits have pushed beyond and become elite players in this league in only 2 seasons. With more growth to come

On the other hand we have the non-content driven players who have progressed just fine but obviously met their limits. Players like Trevor Lawrence, Trey Lance, Penei Sewell and Ja’Marr Chase have all progressed strictly from in game with minimal content points used to progress them. Even without that those players, besides Sewell, have progressed well but just havent taken the next step because of a lack of content from their owners or even focus training. For some you can even blame performance. Which isn’t a bad thing because not every player can become a top talent in this league. Now lets take a look at the 2022 draft that has only had a season and a quarter of growth.

1	Kayvon Thibodeaux	Oregon	NYG	21	RE	82	89	Normal	X-Factor
	2	Desmond Ridder	Cincinnati	CLE	23	QB	71	79	Normal	Star
	3	Derek Stingley Jr	LSU	NYJ	21	CB	77	85	Normal	Superstar
	4	Jordan Davis	Georgia	PIT	22	DT	73	82	Normal	Superstar
	5	Malik Willis	Liberty	WAS	23	QB	75	82	Normal	Star
	6	Kyle Hamilton	Notre Dame	NYJ	21	FS	78	85	Normal	Normal
	7	Evan Neal	Alabama	ATL	21	LT	79	84	Normal	Superstar
	8	Drake Jackson	USC	HOU	21	LOLB	76	84	Normal	Star
	9	Aidan Hutchinson	Michigan	CHI	22	RE	76	77	Normal	Star
	10	Chris Olave	Ohio State	HOU	22	WR	74	82	Normal	Star
	11	Zach Harrison	Ohio State	CAR	21	LE	72	81	Normal	Superstar
	12	Jalen Wydermyer	Texas A&M	WAS	21	TE	71	77	Normal	Normal
	13	Ahmad Gardner	Cincinnati	PIT	21	CB	73	83	Normal	X-Factor
	14	Ikem Ekwonu	N.C. State	MIN	21	LG	72	79	Normal	Star
	15	Demarvin Leal	Texas A&M	NE	21	DT	77	85	Normal	Superstar
	16	Andrew Booth Jr	Clemson	PHI	21	CB	76	83	Normal	Star
	17	Kenyon Green	Texas A&M	HOU	21	RG	76	82	Normal	Normal
	18	Jahleel Billingsley	Alabama	JAX	21	TE	70	76	Normal	Normal
	19	Spencer Rattler	Oklahoma	NO	21	QB	72	80	Star	Star
	20	Tyler Linderbaum	Iowa	TB	22	C	74	77	Normal	Normal
	21	Jordan Battle	Alabama	KC	21	SS	72	80	Normal	X-Factor
	22	Kaiir Elam	Florida	DAL	21	SS	76	82	Normal	Star
	23	Garrett Wilson	Ohio State	DET	21	WR	74	85	Normal	Star
	24	Christian Harris	Alabama	MIA	21	LOLB	73	78	Normal	Normal
	25	Charles Cross	Mississippi State	LAC	21	RG	71	75	Normal	Normal
	26	Owen Pappoe	Auburn	CAR	21	MLB	68	80	Normal	Star
	27	Jaxson Kirkland	Washington	WAS	23	RT	72	74	Normal	Normal
	28	DeAngelo Malone	W. Kentucky	DEN	23	MLB	57	67	Normal	Normal
	29	Josh Jobe	Alabama	MIA	22	CB	70	85	Normal	Superstar
	30	Tariq Woolen	UTSA	CAR	23	CB	70	75	Normal	Normal
	31	George Karlaftis	Purdue	GB	21	LE	75	82	Normal	Superstar
	32	Rasheed Walker	Penn State	SF	22	RT	70	71	Normal	Star

Taking a look at the 2022 class you can see a lot more “Superstar” and “Superstar X-Factor Dev” trait players from a stronger focus from users in gameplay to their drafted rookies. When you draft the player personally a more emotional attachment and “gotta make it work so I don’t look bad” mentality takes over. Most of these players are already key starters in the league and are going to grow into elite players by season 4 and season 5. Which is amazing based on the fact that most drafted players don’t really make an impact in their careers.

Take the above picture with a “grain of salt” since it is just some “fat man research” that I did while doing this article. XP sliders are perfect so far and we still even make more rookies into players than what actually happens in real life. XP where it is has done many things like bring more value to season’d vets, limited the amount of high speed players just becoming game breakers or “MUT card” type players, and pushed users to do more content that never really have before. Team building and focusing on certain positions while neglecting other has become a thing in this league. After 2 and a quarter seasons I love the XP and I even love the 85 caps on attributes. It’s helped control player growth and made team building fun again. It’s nice to see veterans still viable in the league and less of the no name 95 speed players become elite talents through just gameplay or just content building. The balance has been wonderful and worked with the in game regression (Dev caps) perfectly!
The User everyone hates, Nef