New Orleans Second Line

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New Orleans Second Line
Current season
Established 2017
First season: 2017
Play in and headquartered in The House of the Rising Sun
New Orleans, Louisiana
New Orleans Second Line logo
Logo
League/conference affiliations

NSFL (2017–present)

Current uniform
Team colorsPurple, Teal, Gold[1]               
MascotMax
Personnel
General managerDrectors Cut
Team history
  • New Orleans Second Line (2017–present)
Championships
League championships (3)
Conference championships (5)
Division championships (3)
Playoff appearances (10)
Home fields

The New Orleans Second Line is a professional American football franchise based in New Orleans, Louisiana. The Second Line currently compete in the International Simulation Football League (ISFL) as a member club of the league's American Simulation Football Conference (ASFC) which currently only has one division. The franchise was established in 2017 (S2) in the league's first expansion as the Las Vegas Legion before relocating for 2021 (S6).

After a mass retirement scandal led to the team's relocation and a change in management, the team became the New Orleans Second Line. They have since worked to be more competitive after managing at most four wins in a season over the course of the first six seasons of the franchise's existence. The 2023 (S8) season marked a turning point for the franchise though as they were able to string together four consecutive seasons of at least nine wins. This success continued in the postseason where they were able to make it to the Ultimus all four seasons and were able to win two of those contests.

In the history of the Las Vegas Legion/New Orleans Second Line, the team has made nine playoff appearances, won five ASFC Championship titles, and has hoisted three Ultimus trophies.

History

2017-2021: Early Era

After being awarded an expansion team after the league's inaugural season, Las Vegas GM RFFO saw an opportunity to be a playoff competitor immediately. He dealt most of the team's draft picks and pursued free agents aggressively, highlighted by signing quarterback Josh Bercovici to a 5-year, $33 million contract. This bold strategy backfired quickly and the franchise has been bad ever since. A few weeks before the 2019 NSFL Draft the GM notified the head office that he would be stepping down effective immediately, tapping his co-GM Ben to replace him, which the league agreed to. Ben hired Keygan as his co-GM just in time for the 2019 Offseason to begin.

The new duo dedicated the team to build through the draft but unfortunately, the timing could not have been any worse. With the establishment of the Developmental Simulation Football League for new prospects, the 2019 draft was the smallest and worst in league history. The Legion went into the draft with 5 of the 8 first round picks, the first 5 picks in the franchise's history and just the second time the franchise would pick in the top 40. In particular, Ben and Keygan targeted well-known and reliable-earning players from the SHL to create a cohesive, active locker room and discord. The actually worked out pretty well. Even though the NSFL was, at best, second priority for most of the team the discord was very active and Keygan spent the entire season pointing out how Las Vegas had more users online in the main NSFL discord than any other team.[2] After that season, though, a culmination of events led to many of those SHL users getting fed up with the league which eventually led to Keygan posting a retirement thread for 7 players on the team, including himself.[3] Only 6 of those players actually retired - Wallace Stone did not intend on retiring[4] - but 2 other players posted separate topics. This mass retirement sent shockwaves through the league and the head office scrambled to deal with the fallout since Ben, the head GM, was on vacation in Europe at the time and while aware of the developments, in general, he was in no position to take action.

However, as the head office found during their deliberations, this wasn't as bad as it appeared initially. Only one of the retiring players had updated regularly that season and by waiting to post the topic after the offseason began, this gave Las Vegas a bunch of expiring contract that they could trade for assets to build the team. A few days after the topic the head office announced the cosbornballboy would take over as GM of the team. In one of his first acts as GM, he traded for a quarterback without consulting the team's current quarterback, Wallace Stone, about a position change which caused a falling-out between the two. After a couple days of similar missteps that grew from that initial mistake, Cosborn stepped down as GM and was replaced by Bovo.

Bovo oversaw the selling-off of the assets that hadn't yet been traded and soon hired tbone as his co-GM. The team headed into the 2020 NSFL Draft with a decent amount of mid-round picks to start the rebuild anew. To complete the fresh start they desired for the team they also began exploring relocation options and the following offseason the team, after much consulting with the team, announced it would become the New Orleans Second Line starting in 2021 (S6). Like Ben and Keygan, Bovo and tbone put an emphasis on building through the draft and strove to have the best scouting in the league by targeting DSFL GMs. As a testament to this strategy the franchise has seen its players win 3 consecutive rookies of the year. In last year as Las Vegas Legion, they won one game, against San Jose SaberCats in Week 7 with a score of 37-19.

The single most important event in franchise turnaround was the 2021 NSFL Draft, where General Managers were able to draft three franchise calibre players: Brian Mills with 1st Overall Pick, Jaylon Broxton with 5th Overall Pick (via Outlaws, acquired in the trade for Wyatt Fulton and Andreas Waiters[5]) and their Quarterback ever since Borkus Maximus III. In the first season as Second Line, they achieved the 2-11-1 record, with both wins coming against winless in the 2021 (S6) Colorado Yeti team. With the team still far away from contention the priority was set on developing young players and acquiring further assets using the vast cap space team head.

2022-2025: Bork Borkington Era

Ahead of the 2022 NSFL Draft mentality changed and GM Bovo decided to start trading for established players - starting with Julian O'Sullivan [6]. Due to overall lack of quality picks (they sent away their 1st rounder in O'Sullivan trade) and shallowness of the talent pool of the draft New Orleans didn't gain any memorable players in the 2022 (S7) draft. Team visibly improved to a 4-10, but still was placed last in the very competitive ASFC.

2023 (S8) marked possibly single biggest positive franchise turnarounds in NSFL history. To make it possible two big deals were made before the season start. First they traded for established star linebacker Vincent Sharpei[7] to create most dangerous defensive trio alongside drafted in 2021 (S6) Brian Mills and acquired a season before Julian O'Sullivan. Just before 2022 NSFL Draft, their young star demanded trade to the Orange County Otters that resulted in a defensive backs swap of Jaylen Broxton and Vladimir Fyodorovich[8]. In the draft with the second overall pick, Second Line Management was able to solidify their secondary picking Safety William Harrison. This year for the first time franchise in franchise history team was able to qualify for the playoffs and played in the ASFC Championship Game winning against Orange County Otters 20-17 on 46 yard field goal by Peg Leg with 0:10 remaining on the clock. Next, they travelled to the Ultimus Bowl VIII game to the Yellownife, where they lost 24-13 to the Wraiths.

With team clearly being ready to contend further moves were made to strengthen both secondary - trade for franchise Cornerback Benson Bayley[9] - and offensive firepower acquiring multiple NSFL Tight End of the Year award winner Paul Di Mirio[10]. These acquisitions combined with the internal growth was enough to secure best record, 12-2, in the league. In the playoffs they defeated Otter County Otters 39-21 and Baltimore Hawks 37-24 en-route to their first Ultimus title in the 2024 (S9).

Following their Ultimas victory, the 2025 (S10) season was going to prove a challenge with star receiver Dustin Evans retiring along with Vincent Sharpei and Fuego Wozy, and running back Smallwood on his last leg. In an effort to minimize the falloff from losing Evans, the Second Line would make a move and sign Alexander LeClair, who was a reliable second option in Baltimore. Despite seemingly getting older the Second Line would manage to put together one of the best offenses the NSFL has seen with Maximus III throwing for over 5K yards and 40 TDs, while Smallwood would rush for over 1200 yards and 15 touchdowns himself. Despite being well on their way to the top spot in the ASFC, New Orleans wanted to get every advantage they could going into the playoffs and such as the trade deadline was drawing near they managed to pull off a trade for Carlito Crush. WIth their high powered offense the Second Line cruised to an 11-3 record, however, struggled in the first round against the Orange County Otters, barely escaping 10-3. They would go on to face the Baltimore Hawks for the second straight year in the Ultimas, however, this time they would not come out on top losing 29-23.

2026-2028: Tyler Swift Era

After two straight Ultimus appearances, Bork Borkington decided it was time to take a step back and resigned as general manager of the Second Line. It would later be announced that Tyler Swift would be the new general manager starting in 2026 (S11). Coming off an impressive season, but seeing the end was near, Darren Smallwood would come out during the offseason and announce that 2026 (S11) would be his final year playing, which came after Ardie Savea announced his retirement. More changes would come as Crush would go back to Orange County and Vladimir Fyodorovich would convert to a wide receiver, but also still play on defense. With losing many offensive weapons, Maximus III would drop greatly in his production over the previous season, but Smallwood would still be as dominant as ever gaining over 1600 total yards and 21 touchdowns. Despite losing players the Second Line would match their previous season's record at 11-3, handle the otters mightily to a tune of 40-13, and setup New Orleans v Baltimore part 3. This would be a heavyweight bout for the ages as both teams went back and forth and Turk Turkleton would tie the game up with 1:47 left in regulation. The game would go into overtime and like a story book finish, Darren Smallwood would catch a 6 yard pass from Maximus III to earn New Orleans another Ultimas title.

With the 2027 (S12) offseason barely getting started, the writing was already on the walls for New Orleans as Darren Smallwood, Alexander LeClair, Charlie Law, and Joseph Askins all retiring, there was only a shell of last season's Ultimus team. With it so clearly being a rebuilding year the Second Line shipped Benson Bayley off to San Jose and hoped to find their next core in the draft. Two of those future pieces were found with Axel Hornbacher and [Thjalfi Halvorsen]] each looking to help either side of the ball. The final pieces to the puzzle were set once Borro Gore was brought in to take the reigns of the running back room. New Orleans would do just as expected through preseason although winning a game against Yellowknife was a bit surprising to some. Maximus and Gore seemed to make an unlikely duo as well on offense as Gore early on was near the top of the league in rushing, while Maximus still found yards for Fyodorovich through the air. Through the first six games the Second Line actually managed to win every other game leading to a surprising 3-3 record. Despite trading off Blackford Oakes during the season and having a hollowed out roster, New Orleans made an odd end to the season as even though they lost their last five games, all were done so by only one possession, meaning they could have actually gone 9-5, instead they would be 4-10 with a much better draft pick.

2028 (S13) was another season in the rebuilding that started last season, but the team was less competitive than last season, despite winning two more games. Metrics-wise, they were in the middle in almost all categories, both in offence and defence, never managing to win multiple games in a row, apart from weeks 6 and 7, at Baltimore and against Colorado at home respectively. Rightfully, the front office was looking into the next couple of seasons, and with knowing the size of the 2030 (S15) draft class, they were keen on staying in rebuilding mode for the next season as well.

2029-2036: Julian O'Sullivan Era

2029 (S14) was like last season. NOLA was close to rock-bottom in metrics, but they were only looking in the future. Second Line finished the season with a 4-10 record, losing 7 of the last 9 games of the season, allowing more than 30 points in all of those losses. They needed changes everywhere, and the 2030 (S15) draft was the place to focus at. So they did.

2030 (S15) NOLA draft class was enormous. Three linebackers, Quenton Bode. Johnny Slothface, and Marquees Acho, one RB in Forrest Gump and a CB in Deon Taylor were drafted in the first three rounds, and they were all ready to help NOLA right that moment. But they needed time to fit in the roster in the end, and NOLA continued having losing seasons. A 2-12 record, including a 0-10 start to the season, right before the expansion draft. It looked grim, but it wasn't. NOLA was invested in the future. And their future was protected. They only had to be patient.

In 2031 (S16), Stan Francisco switched to QB, and the youngsters had started to improve. The team went from being a laughing stock, to one game out of playoffs. They were into the mix till week 9, when they had a 5-4 record, but they dropped their next 3 games, mostly due to the inexperience of the roster. They won their week 13 matchup against the Chicago Butchers, but it was just for bragging rights, as their 6-7 record was only enough for a 4th place finish in the ASFC. But the future was bright for New Orleans. FO knew they were in the right direction.

2032 (S17) was very unpredictable all over the place, but NOLA kind of underachieved. A losing streak starting in week 2 and ending in week 8 had NOLA with a 1-7 record after 8 games, effectively ending their season. They managed to win three of their last five, but 4 wins were not enough for playoffs. They placed 5th in the ASFC, being close to the bottom in all statistical categories, but they were only two games away from the 3rd place and a playoff spot. They were close, but it wasn't their time yet.

2033 (S18) started with more hopes than ever. After 7 weeks, the Second Line were 5-2, sitting atop the ASFC. They were finally there. All that tanking and losing seasons had finally paid off. That's what they thought at least. The team collapsed in the last 6 games, losing all of them, including a game against the Austin Copperheads, who ended up 3rd in the ASFC, one win ahead of NOLA. Thus, New Orleans missed on a playoff spot out of nowhere, with flashbacks from 2027 (S12) coming back to life. But the breakout was closer than ever.

And it happened. 2034 (S19) was the return to winning ways for NOLA. After a rocky 2-4 start, the team went on to win 6 of the last 7 games, finishing with an 8-5 record, 2nd in the ASFC, one game behind the Orange County Otters, having the right to host the Austin Copperheads in the ASFC Wildcard Game. NOLA beat the Snakes, 28-17, qualifying for the Conference Game, to be held in Orange County the following week. That's where the season stopped for the Second Line. The Otters were too much to handle, as NOLA dropped the game, 28-13. The season was over, but the recipe was there. NOLA looked like a contender after so many years.

The New Orleans Second Line only had two draft picks during the Season 20 NSFL Draft as they headed into the 2035 (S20) season after their best record in eight years. Despite the small number of draft selections the team was ready to make another run after making it to the semifinals the previous season. They started the season off right going 2-2 over the first four weeks including a necessary home win against their conference rival Orange County Otters. Over the middle of the season they maintained the pace going 2-2 with two wins over Arizona, and losses in Orange County and San Jose. Their last leg of the season had them go 3-2 to just take the second seed and make it into the playoffs off the back of three wins against the National Simulation Football Conference. Once in the playoffs they were able to get their revenge by knocking out the Orange County Otters in the quarterfinals after a 23-13 victory. Unfortunately their season ended the next week as they lost to the eventual Ultimus champion Austin Copperheads 26-17, but the two successful seasons showed that the New Orleans Second Line had returned to their dominance of yesteryear.

They were able to scoop up a few more players during the Season 21 NSFL Draft getting thirteen players to bolster their reserves. These thirteen players included pro bowl defensive end Dorfus Jimbo Jr. Along with the 2037 (S22) Template:NSFL Defensive Rookie of the Year and pro bowl linebacker Ugarth the Dissector. Although neither of them were called up immediately it served to reinforce the depth of the team as they made another playoff push after two consecutive seasons making it to the semifinals.

The start of the 2036 (S21) season saw the New Orleans Second Line dominate the rest of the league as they went 4-0 over the first four weeks with each win being by at least eight points. They continued this dominant run as they went 5-0 over the middle of the season, although with two games where their opponents were within five points of them. Their run of dominance ended though after week nine as they went on a four game losing streak to drop to second overall in the league and second overall in their conference. That four game losing streak was snapped though as they overcame the Austin Copperheads 23-17 in the quarterfinals to make it back to the semifinals for the third year in a row. There they broke their streak of semifinal losses by just beating out the Orange County Otters 27-24 in the semifinals of the playoffs. After that exciting semifinals round it was believed that should have been considered the Ultimus as the New Orleans Second Line took the Yellowknife Wraiths out with a devastating 33-13 win in the Ultimus Bowl XXI that would give New Orleans their third Ultimus win and Yellowknife their fourth consecutive Ultimus loss.

2037-2039: Jimmy Dugan Era

Heading into the 2037 (S22) season New Orleans was hit hard in a number of ways as they were hit by the expansion draft as they lost Mack Arianlacher, Jed Podolak, and Jordan Andrews. They were also hit by the losses of Blake Faux to retirement, and Johnny Slothface to a car accident involving the mascot of the New Orleans Second Line. All of that before taking into account Julian O'Sullivan stepping down which led to Jimmy Dugan stepping up as head general manager and the recruitment of former first overall draft pick Bjørn Ironside to be their second in command. Thankfully for the team the Season 22 NSFL Draft would be the largest in league history to date and allowed them a chance to grab a lot of exciting rookies. Including two starters in the first round in the form of defensive tackle Magnus Rikiya who they traded up with the Sarasota Sailfish to get with the second overall selection, and Andrew Witten who they were able to select with the twelfth overall selection. In addition to getting two true rookie starters they were also able to prepare for the future with the selection of quarterback Ben Slothlisberger in the second round thanks to a trade up, safety Literallyjust A. Hexagon in the fourth round, defensive tackle Hank Steel in the sixth round, and Blake Alexander in the eighth round. Combined with the two true rookies the New Orleans Second Line they also had several rookies from the Season 21 NSFL Draft called up; Dorfus Jimbo Jr, Ed Barker, Rainier Wolfcastle, and Ugarth the Dissector to make for one of the youngest rosters in the league.

The season did not get off to the start the Second Line would have liked as they went 2-3 to start the season, however with two true rookies and six rookies overall they were happy to have any wins on the board. A benefit of so much youth was that they got better as the season progressed which allowed them to go on a 4-0 win streak that saw them to a strong record with just four weeks left to play. They managed to go even over the last four weeks with a 2-2 record to just make it into the playoffs despite suffering a brutal week twelve loss at home to the Austin Copperheads. While they were able to do much better in their rematch in Austin in the quarterfinals their season was still cut short as they lost 34-27 to the Copperheads.

Leading up to the 2038 (S23) season the New Orleans Second Line were quite confident in their roster as they had traded quite a few of their picks in the draft to move up in the previous season. That had allowed them to get their quarterback of the future and a key piece of their defensive line, however it also left them with the second fewest selections in the draft. Given their roster was completed before the season though they were able to rely on the roster as it stood and send down the new recruits to the developmental league.

The season started slightly better than the previous with the team going 3-2 over the first five weeks, although with tough road losses at the beginning and end of the stretch. During the middle stretch of the season against the other conference the team went 4-2 once again with road losses sandwiching the wins. It was the last stretch of the season that did the most harm to them though as they went 2-3 over the last five weeks to set them at 9-7 over the first sixteen game season. That was still good enough for second in the conference though and so they were able to host the Austin Copperheads in the first round of the playoffs where they would go on to lose 20-15 after being kept out of the end zone in the fourth quarter by an interception on the one yard line. It was not all bad though as Austin McCormick and Mason Blaylock repeated as tight end of the year and safety of the year respectively.

Heading into the 2039 (S24) season the New Orleans Second Line saw only a few changes, however some significant changes. Second in command Bjørn Ironside would leave as agent of a new player to the Colorado Yeti, veteran quarterback Stan Francisco would retire which would lead to rookie quarterback Ben Slothlisberger taking over, and there was also the return of Jordan Andrews to replace Xavien Adams who left in free agency. Given their aging defensive ends the team drafted almost the entirety of a defensive line over the course of the draft, and also grabbed a young defensive back to shore up the secondary.

Their rookie quarterback played like a veteran out of the gate and led the team to a 3-1 start over the first quarter of the season. They were able to keep up the good work through the first half as they went 3-1 again for a 6-2 record halfway through the season. It was the third quarter of the season that took away the team's hopes of first seed though as they dropped a game to the Orange County Otters during a 1-3 stretch that put them in a tight spot heading into the final stretch. While they were able to keep themselves in it until the last week of the season an unfortunate loss to the San Jose Sabercats to go 2-2 over the last four games dropped the Second Line down to third seed from their potential first seed.

This would see the team make the playoffs for the sixth consecutive season extending their record that they set last season for playoff streaks. However they would fall to the Orange County Otters 31 to 21 in the first round of the playoffs. The end of the season was not all bad though as there were several award nominees for the team including their rookie quarterback, three of four members of the defensive line, starting cornerback Andrew Witten, and the award winners from the last two seasons Austin McCormick and Mason Blaylock. Although the only winner would be the offensive line of the year Givussafare Rubbe it was still considered a successful season.

2040-present: Current Era

The 2040 (S25) season saw significant changes to the New Orleans Second Line as long time front office member Jimmy Dugan stepped down to have assistant general manager Drectors Cut step up to be general manager, and Sloth step up as second in command. There were several losses on the roster as well with defensive end Ben Tu'inukuafe, defensive end Brave Ulysses, and kicker Herbert Prohaska all retiring. That was before the expansion draft where the team lost defensive tackle Hank Steel and offensive lineman Dorfus Jimbo Jr, however a trade after the fact saw Dorfus Jimbo Jr return it cost them their up and coming wide receiver Sean Snyder. Relying mostly on call ups from previous drafts the team was able to focus primarily on future needs during the draft, although they did have immediate contributors Medicinal Toblerone and Adam Spencer.

Despite going undefeated in preseason the start to the season was not ideal as they went 2-2 over the first quarter of the season. The team went 1-3 over the second quarter of the season and with just two of their wins thus far coming against conference opponents. After a brutal week nine loss to the Colorado Yeti the team made a change at kicker and punter that would help turn things around as they went on to end the Orange County Otters undefeated streak in week ten. Unfortunately it was too little too late as they went 3-3 over the last six weeks for a final record of 7-9 that would see them miss the playoffs for the first time in six seasons.

Season-by-season records

Season Regular Season Record Post Season Record
W L T PCT W L
2017 3 11 0 .214 0 0
2018 2 12 0 .143 0 0
2019 3 11 1 .214 0 0
2020 1 13 0 .071 0 0
2021 2 11 1 .179 0 0
2022 4 10 0 .286 0 0
2023 9 5 0 .643 1 1
2024 12 2 0 .857 2 0
2025 11 3 0 .786 1 1
2026 11 3 0 .786 2 0
2027 4 10 0 .286 0 0
2028 6 8 0 .429 0 0
2029 4 10 0 .286 0 0
2030 2 12 0 .143 0 0
2031 6 7 0 .462 0 0
2032 4 9 0 .308 0 0
2033 5 8 0 .385 0 0
2034 8 5 0 .615 1 1
2035 7 6 0 .538 1 1
2036 9 4 0 .692 3 0
2037 8 5 0 .615 0 1
2038 9 7 0 .562 0 1
2039 9 7 0 .562 0 1
2040 7 9 0 .438 0 0
Total 146 188 1 .437 11 7

Players and Personnel

Current roster


Select Team

New Orleans Second Line roster
Quarterbacks

Running backs

Wide receivers

Tight ends


Offensive linemen

Defensive linemen

Linebackers

Defensive backs

Special teams

Reserve lists

DSFL Send-downs

Rookies in italics

Roster updated January 25th, 2024
  26 Active, 2 Send Downs

ASFC rostersNSFC rosters

Current staff

New Orleans Second Line staff
Front Office
Head Coaches
Offensive Coaches
 
Defensive Coaches
Special Teams Coaches
Strength and Conditioning

References

  1. "New Orleans Second Line Team Info". Official New Orleans Second Line Info Page. National Simulation Football League. February 10, 2018. Retrieved May 4, 2018.
  2. "Discord". Discord. National Simulation Football League. November 3, 2017. Retrieved May 4, 2018.
  3. "Legion retires many!". Legion retires many!. National Simulation Football League. December 8, 2017. Retrieved May 4, 2018.
  4. "Legion retires many!". Legion retires many!. National Simulation Football League. December 8, 2017. Retrieved May 4, 2018.
  5. "AIR/LVL Trade". AIR/LVL Trade. National Simulation Football League. December 16, 2017. Retrieved December 19, 2018.
  6. "NOLA/OCO". NOLA/OCO. National Simulation Football League. March 26, 2017. Retrieved December 19, 2018.
  7. "NOLA/SJS". NOLA/SJS. National Simulation Football League. May 2, 2017. Retrieved December 19, 2018.
  8. "NOLA / OCO, big boy trade". NOLA / OCO, big boy trade. National Simulation Football League. May 17, 2017. Retrieved December 19, 2018.
  9. "SJS/NOLA". SJS/NOLA. National Simulation Football League. June 9, 2017. Retrieved December 19, 2018.
  10. "PHI/NOLA". PHI/NOLA. National Simulation Football League. June 13, 2017. Retrieved December 19, 2018.