Draft Steal

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Draft Steal
Image of Draft Steal
Steal after being claimed by Dallas on waivers during S33
No. 96 – Austin Copperheads
Position:Cornerback
Personal information
Born: (2026-09-06)September 6, 2026 (aged 34)
Barstow, California, U.S.
Height:6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)
Weight:215 lb (98 kg)
Username:Troen
Career information
High school:Barstow High School
College:Fresno State
ISFL Draft:2050 (S35) / Round: 1 / Pick: 6
DSFL Draft:2049 (S34) / Round: 1 / Pick: 4
Career history
Roster status:Retired
Career highlights and awards
Career ISFL statistics as of Week 16, 2060
Total tackles:936
Pass Deflections:244
Interceptions:35
Sacks:3
Fumbles:19 (forced) / 6 (recovered)
Defensive touchdowns:6
Safeties:1
Career DSFL statistics
Total tackles:44
Tackles for loss:6
Sacks:11
Fumbles:5 (forced) / 3 (recovered)

Draft Steal (born September 6, 2026) is a retired American football corner back who played for the Austin Copperheads of the International Simulation Football League (ISFL).

Early years

Draft Steal is an American football player. Born in Irvine, California, Steal moved to Barstow at the age of 12. Steal had no experience in playing football before this move, though remarked in an interview about growing up as a fan of the local Otters. After moving, Steal attended Barstow High School and became interested in playing football due to the then-NSFL career of alum Troen Egghands. Following in Egghands' steps, Steal played defensive end in his 4 years at Barstow High, leading the Aztecs to three district championships and setting the school career record for sacks. Steal was a four-star recruit our of college and had scholarship offers from several schools, including Oregon State and UCLA. After discussion with family and several campus tour, Steal ended up declining those offers in order to attend the closer Fresno State in Fresno, California. Steal cited that being able to try to match Egghands' career was also a factor, with the ISFL player's Ultimini and 2 pro bowls serving as great milestones to try and beat.

High school career statistics

High school statistics Tackles Sacks Interceptions Other
Season Team Games Reg TFL Total Sack Int IntTD DefTD FFum FRec PD Safety
2041 Barstow Aztecs 12 48 11 59 8 0 0 0 7 2 0 0
2042 Barstow Aztecs 12 52 12 64 13 0 0 0 8 6 0 0
2043 Barstow Aztecs 12 65 9 74 17 0 0 2 9 5 0 2
2044 Barstow Aztecs 12 62 14 76 21 0 0 1 11 4 0 1

College career

With high expectations resulting from a strong high school career, Steal was a starter for the Bulldogs from day one. Steal's first year was decent, but showed struggles against top offensive lines and double teams. Steal performed well as a run-stopper but had few impact plays outside of a 3 sack game against the wildly outmatched San Jose State Spartans. The Bulldogs had a good season, going 11-2 and winning the Hawai'i Bowl against Kentucky State, Steal remarked at the end of the season, "I'm really glad that we did well. Sure, it was much more due to [senior linebacker] Watts and [junior defensive tackle] Howell, but I think this was a great starting point and I'm looking forward to helping out more next year!" Steal succeeded with that goal with a sophomore year that some writers thought might warrant consideration for the Ted Hendricks award, though tailing off at the end of the season seemed to curtail those hopes. Steal had sacks in the Bulldogs' first 6 games of the season along with 4 forced fumbles but drew more double teams and produced less through the second half of the season. That was still enough for the Bulldogs to make it to the Orange Bowl, though they lost in a not very close game to the eventual champion Clemson Tigers. Steal's third year was arguably the best for personal stats. The Bulldogs, however, suffered from a loss of talented seniors after the previous season and only managed an 8-6 record. Despite beating the UCLA Bruins in the Las Vegas Bowl, Steal stated the intention to enter the DSFL waivers and forego a fourth year of college eligibility due to finishing a degree in computational accounting.

College career statistics

College statistics Tackles Sacks Interceptions Other
Season Team Games Reg TFL Total Sack Int IntTD DefTD FFum FRec PD Safety
2045 Fresno Bulldogs 14 34 7 41 8 0 0 0 3 1 1 0
2046 Fresno Bulldogs 13 68 4 72 15 0 0 1 6 4 0 1
2047 Fresno Bulldogs 14 81 2 83 19 0 0 2 9 4 0 0

Professional career

DSFL

Dallas Birddogs (2048 (S33))

Steal was claimed by Dallas on waivers after the trade deadline to play in their final 4 games of the season prior to entering the DSFL draft. That looked like an amazing plan in week 11 as Steal managed 6 tackles, a TFL, a sack, and a forced/recovered fumble. That pace didn't hold up for the remainder of the Birddogs' games as Steal only managed to get one more tackle in the team's 3 final games. With 3 losses, Dallas' slim playoff hopes didn't pan out. Steal, per DSFL rules, was remanded back to the prospect pool in preparation for the 2049 (S34) DSFL draft. When asked about future hopes, Steal replied "I enjoyed my time in Dallas, even though it was short. However, I'm absolutely fine with the prospect of going to any of the DSFL teams. I know I need to spend my time here learning and training if I want to achieve my goal of being the best ISFL player I can be, and part of being a great player is being professional in any circumstances." Steal was last known to be training in facilities near Fresno.

Bondi Beach Buccaneers (2049 (S34))

Steal was picked 4th overall by the Bondi Beach Buccaneers in the 2049 (S34) draft. While Bondi Beach already had a skilled DE with Able Archer, they hoped that Steal would be a key element in creating a ferocious pass rush for the upcoming season. The Buccaneers' defense overall, however, didn't improve much over the previous year and the team finished in third place again with the defense allowing the same points per game. The finish was especially disappointing due to Bondi Beach losing their last game when winning it would have taken the lead over the second place Birddogs. With the season completed, Steal public announced a plan to focus efforts on interviewing with ISFL teams and training for the draft with the express goal of being worth an immediate callup to the ISFL. While decried by a number of Buccaneer fans, Steal's statement matched most pundits' expectations and Steal was a consensus projection as a first round talent in the ISFL draft with one prediction of being selected first overall, so Steal's time in Bondi Beach was expected to be over.

Pre-draft measurables
Ht Wt 40‑yd dash 20‑ss 3‑cone Vert jump Broad
6 ft 3 in
(1.91 m)
290 lb
(132 kg)

DSFL career statistics

DSFL regular season Tackles Coverage Safeties Touchdowns Blocks
Season Team Games Tck TFL FF/FR Sck Int PD Sfty TD Blk P/XP/FG
2048 (S33) Dallas Birddogs 4 7 1 1/1 1 0 0 0 0 0
2049 (S34) Bondi Beach Buccaneers 14 37 5 4/2 10 0 0 0 0 0
Career 18 44 6 5/3 11 0 0 0 0 0

ISFL

Austin Copperheads (2050 (S35)-2060 (S45))

2050 (S35)

Steal was picked 6th in the first round by the Austin Copperheads to the surprise of several draft analysts - Austin didn't have a strong need at DE as compared to several other positions. Their selection's logic was made more obvious after they announced in the offseason that Steal would be converting to cornerback, an area of need as the team needed to deal with an aging secondary. Steal didn't have the most impressive rookie year on an Austin team that went 5-11 and finished last in the ASFC, but was a factor in helping pull the team's passing defense from 6th in the conference to 4th. Steal did lead rookies with 18 defensed passes but was a clear weakness vs. the more experienced Siege Cameron that teams exploited. Steal did seem upbeat about the season, saying in an interview, "Cornerback's been really different than DE so far with respect to how I'm thinking about each play, what kinds of players and actions I'm keying on. And naturally there's more emphasis on positioning and interaction with the rest of the backfield rather than rush technique... [the season's] been a lot of work with all the learning, but at the same time it's been a lot of fun." With the learning curve of the new position somewhat in the rear view mirror, Copperheads fans are eager to see how Steal can improve through the offseason training camp and into the 2051 (S36) season. There is concern that the team may still be in rebuilding mode for another year or two, but the team does have a trio of strong DSFL players from Steal's class that may be able to help jump start the team next year along with several high picks in the upcoming draft.

2051 (S36)

After a rookie year where Austin finished last in the conference, the Copperheads had a much more solid sophomore run. The team was in a 3-way tie for 4th/5th/6th place at 7-9 but last an overtime game in week 14 against the third place Arizona Outlaws which could have resulted in a playoff berth with luck in tiebreakers. Steal, too, improved personally, with improvements in tackles, fumbles, sacks, interceptions, and pass deflections. Steal also had a career-first defensive TD (through both ISFL and DSFL careers) and managed to make it to the Pro Bowl as the ASFC's third selection.

While Steal seems on track to continue improving, the team's overall future is a bit more cloudy. Austin did add the rookie trio of Zaphod Beeblebrox, Jean-Ralphio Saperstein, and Raffaele Tommasi to good effect. However, QB Tight End Eighty-Two announced retirement following the 2052 (S37) season and star LB Ioe Torrent was traded to the Honolulu Hahalua after requesting a trade to a team with better playoff hopes. The Copperheads do have both a number of possible DSFL callups (OL Jimmy Holding, safety duo of Nate Winter and Roma Amir-Kani) as well as all but their 4th round draft pick, but 2052 (S37) looks likely to be another transitional year for the team.

2052 (S37)

With the departure of fellow CBs Siege Cameron to retirement and Owen Reed to free agency, Steal was put into the position of being the CB1 for the Copperheads. This didn't end quite as well as either the team or the player were hoping - Steal kept up an identical tackle and interception rate, but saw an increase in missed tackles, a decrease in passes defensed, and a complete zero in forcing/recovering fumbles. Steal provided a statement on this situation to the press, saying "I definitely haven't played better like I was hoping. I'm not doing worse, but taking over the CB1 position for Siege Cameron after last year has definitely led to more challenging matchups." Steal also mentioned plans to work with other Austin players while aiming to try and gain a competitive edge to better contend against top WRs next year. Steal did give up several large gains to WRs, though the rest of the backfield also had their own share of struggles.

For the Copperheads more broadly, their season ended with the team with a league-worst 2-14 record, finishing last in the conference in both points scored and allowed despite again leading the league in passing yards. With the retirement of QB Tight End Eighty-Two and the presumptive elevation of Queen Elizabeth II to the team next season, most expect to see a change in the offensive approach that Austin takes. The team is also certainly hoping that its defense, with a collection of younger players, is able to improve. Even a resurgent defense probably won't be enough for the team to contend with a rookie QB, but there is hope on the horizon for Austin.

2053 (S38)

Steal's 2053 campaign showed a cleaner defensive performance as the player had mentioned as a goal during the previous offseason. Steal had no missed tackles while increasing the total made and also managed 2 forced fumbles. However, Steal also had no sacks and fewer interceptions and passes defensed. Still, that was a part of the team's greatly improved defense and surprising 6-1 start to the season. The team's scoring defense improved by more than 5 points per game, though that was still only good enough for 5th in the conference. The offense also managed to improve in point scoring despite having a rookie QB, leaning on a WR trio of Beeblebrox, Bickerman, and Patey who each had over 1300 receiving yards. Still, the team did struggle at times to turn yards into points and also had to deal with the defense surrendering 40+ points in 3 of the last 4 games. That last stretch was enough to keep Austin out of the playoffs, but their great early run and 8-8 final record was still a better performance that most expected. Looking ahead to next year, the ASFC's cluster of good team could be a difficult obstacle for the Copperheads to pull ahead of, but the team expects to keep its core players around and so are hopeful.

2054 (S39)

Steal had another good season for Austin. Posting identical tackle numbers while posting a career high in both forced and recovered fumbles and also matching career highs in interceptions and defensive touchdowns resulted in an altogether solid season. Working across from an emerging great CB in Zamir Kehla Jr., the Austin defense ended up as the best scoring defense in the ASFC, a huge improvement from the prior year. Steal looks to have a good chance to make a second Pro Bowl, and the first since 2051. Additionally, the Copperheads signed Steal to a 10 year contract extension, expected to keep the cornerback around Austin for the remainder of Steal's career.

The team also did much better, again managing a 6-1 start to the season. Unlike last year's fall to 8-8, Austin finished 11-5 and second in the conference, losing the tiebreaker to Arizona after splitting the season series. Unfortunately the great record and home field advantage in the first round of the playoffs ended up being insufficient and the team fell to New Orleans 22-21 in the first round. The team is still quite young, though, and so it looks to be in a great position to get back to the playoffs next season and to challenge the Outlaws for first in the conference.

2055 (S40)

To celebrate the new contract, 2055 was another great year for Steal. The growth of fellow CB Zamir Kehla Jr. reduced Steal's tackle count somewhat, but that was offset by a career-high 5 interceptions, 2 defensive TDs, and tying a career high 27 passes defensed. Austin's defense did collectively give up a lot more points than the previous year (24.3/game vs. 19.9) and was a very distant second behind Arizona's league-leading 15.6.

Austin struggled a bit more than the previous year, starting off 5-2 but then dropping the next three to make the team's record 5-5. However, the team regrouped and won 5 of the last 7 to solidly clinch the second seed, ahead of the 7-8-1 Otters. A better record and homefield advantage proved insufficient to actually repeat their regular-season home win over Orange County, though, as the Copperheads lost 20-13 in a game where they turned the ball over 5 times against Orange County's 0. Steal was fairly unimpactful in the game, having only 2 tackles and 2 passes broken up. Austin is still a young enough team to be expected to make a playoff run next year, but the track record of recent playoff failures had to be at the forefront of everyone on the team going into the offseason.


2056 (S41)

Steal's 2056 season was in many ways the best yet. With 109 tackles, Steal finally crossed the triple digit threshold that had been so close with the 2053/2054 99 totals. 29 passes defensed was a personal record and 4 forced fumbles tied a personal best from 2054. 3 intereceptions and no defensive touchdowns was a decline, but statistically it was still a good year for the cornerback.

The team collectively regressed a fair amount, though, dropping to 5th in the ASFC in points allowed. This was especially a problem in the 6 game losing streak from weeks 8-13 of the season where the defense allowed 20+ points in every game and the resulting record guaranteeing that the team wasn't going to make the playoffs. The team did finish on a 3 game winning streak, but that was much more due to the offense scoring 24+ than the defense holding other teams in check. With high expectations coming into the season and a team that, on paper, looked improved since 2055, the struggles and failing to make the playoffs were definitely unexpected. Some of the cause was the much-improved Hahalua leading the ASFC in both points scored and points allowed and putting a lot of pressure on the other teams trying to make the playoffs, but that was the team the defense gave up the fewest points to during the losing streak. Instead, the issue seems to have been one of field position. Austin was tied for second-most punts after 1-15 New Orleans while also having the 3rd-worst average punt distance. Seeing as the team's punter was a rookie, there's hope that next year the team will be better able to play the field position game and improve back to their 2055 form.

2057 (S42)

The 2057 season wasn't quite as dominant as the last year, but Steal still was solidly a great cornerback for the league. For the core status of tackles, interceptions, and PDs, Steal was solidly around a typical year as demonstrated so far. Those decreased stats were distributed across the rest of an impressive backfield, featuring arguably the best overall secondary in the league. That helped the team give up the fewest passing yards and 3rd fewest points per game in the conference while finishing with a 10-6 record.

Unfortunately, a 10-6 record was only good enough to tie for third in the conference with the Hahalua, and a split in the season series led Arizona's worse conference record to keep them out of the playoffs for the second straight year. Failing to make the playoffs arguably was still underperforming expectations for what many called a stacked team, but the Copperheads swept their NSFC matches, improved greatly year over year, and were arguably statistically better than the 3rd place Hahalua. Going into 2058, the teams concerns are going to be keeping their older team as healthy as possible, with now veteran players like Steal and QB Queen Elizabeth II entering the beginning of the end of their careers.

2058 (S43)

2058 showed that age was in fact starting to catch up with Steal. Moved to the CB2 position for the Copperheads, Steal managed the same number of tackles as 2057 but had no turnovers and dropped to only 14 passes defensed. Steal also was noticeably beaten in coverage in several critical situations, including giving up a critical first down in the last game of the season. That first down made the subsequent Hahalua field goal attempt a 59 yard attempt rather than a 63, with 59 being Baker's longest of the season. Steal isn't expected to retire yet, though it's certainly possible that Austin might move on - Steal is tied for second-longest tenure on the team with QB Queen Elizabeth II, after DE Joey Din.

While Steal's season was not especially great, the Copperheads' had promise - they got off to a shaky start, being 1-1, 2-2, and 3-3 after 2, 4, and 6 games. They managed to go 3-0-1 in the next 4 games to take a solid second place in the conference at 6-3-1, but a final 1-5 in the last six ended up with them in 4th place and out of the playoffs. The last game in particular was heartbreaking for fans - the team had a 17-3 lead in the third quarter but some terrible clock management and a questionable decision to not go for it on 4th down with under 2 minutes left on the Honolulu 42 gave the Hahalua just enough time to kick a field goal to take the lead and eventually win. With how the other games played out that week, this ended up being a win-and-in, enhancing the heartbreak for the fans and the team.

2059 (S44)

Steal's 2059 was statistically an improvement in nearly all areas, featuring more forced and recovered fumbles, interceptions, and defensed passes. Overall tackle numbers were down to the lowest since Steal's rookie year, though the increase in the higher impact stats was a big improvement. After Austin made it to the playoffs, though, Steal registered no real impact with only 3 tackles. In a close game that the Copperheads only lost by 3 points, nearly anything could have swung the outcome. Despite some statistical recovery, though, Steal is clearly getting older and retirement seems likely in the next couple seasons.

The Copperheads' season fared much better than the past year, though, making the playoffs for the first time since 2055. The team managed to clinch a playoff berth with a week 15 win over Arizona, a team that seems to have had Austin's number in so many recent years. A week 16 loss to Honolulu combined with a win by New York meant that the Copperheads would be on the road against the Silverbacks. The 27-24 loss was the closest of the 3 games the teams played and additionally had the most points scored by the Copperheads in the matches. Inconveniently, however, the defense also gave up more points than the previous 2 games and New York moved on to lose to the eventually Ultimus-winning Hahalua.

2060 (S45)

Despite the looming threat of aging, Steal managed a 2060 season with only a marginal decline. This was most easily noticed when looking at impact plays - Steal had only 1 forced fumble (down from 3) and 2 interceptions (down from 4). The decline was still notable enough that, especially given the Ultimus win, Steal decided to retire after the season.

The Copperheads won one fewer game than in 2059, but in a very tight ASFC playoff race they managed to get the second seed and have a first home playoff team in some time. A first round smashing of Arizona was widely celebrated after the issues Austin had with them in past playoffs. The next round against 11-5 Honolulu was a much tighter affair, with Austin actually losing time of possession and only having its first lead in the third quarter, but that was enough as the team won 42-35. The Ultimus itself was a wild game, with Austin allowing a Sarasota touchdown with 1:10 left in the 4th quarter but then managing to score their own tying TD with 20 seconds left after a huge penalty. That led to the first overtime Ultimus since 2049 (S34) and Austin capitalized, turning a winning coin toss into a field goal and finishing the game off on an interception by LB Wälter_Gunther. With that being Austin's first Ultimus win since 2035 (S20), Steal decided that it was a good time to go out on a high note and retired.

ISFL career statistics

ISFL regular season Tackles Coverage Safeties Touchdowns Blocks
Season Team Games Tck TFL FF/FR Sck Int PD Sfty TD Blk P/XP/FG
2050 (S35) Austin Copperheads 16 61 0 0/0 0 3 18 0 0 0/0/0
2051 (S36) Austin Copperheads 16 83 0 3/1 1 4 27 0 1 0/0/0
2052 (S37) Austin Copperheads 16 83 0 0/0 2 4 22 1 0 0/0/0
2053 (S38) Austin Copperheads 16 99 0 2/0 0 2 18 0 0 0/0/0
2054 (S39) Austin Copperheads 16 99 0 4/2 0 4 23 0 1 0/0/0
2055 (S40) Austin Copperheads 16 86 0 1/1 0 5 27 0 2 0/0/0
2056 (S41) Austin Copperheads 16 109 0 4/1 0 3 29 0 0 0/0/0
2057 (S42) Austin Copperheads 16 87 0 1/0 0 4 25 0 1 0/0/0
2058 (S43) Austin Copperheads 16 87 0 0/0 0 0 14 0 0 0/0/0
2059 (S44) Austin Copperheads 16 69 0 3/1 0 4 21 0 0 0/0/0
2060 (S45) Austin Copperheads 16 73 0 1/0 0 2 20 0 1 0/0/0
Career 176 936 0 19/6 3 33 224 1 6 0/0/0
ISFL playoffs Tackles Coverage Safeties Touchdowns Blocks
Season Team Games Tck TFL FF/FR Sck Int PD Sfty TD Blk P/XP/FG
2054 (S39) Austin Copperheads 1 8 0 0/0 0 1 3 0 0 0/0/0
2055 (S40) Austin Copperheads 1 2 0 0/0 0 0 2 0 0 0/0/0
2059 (S44) Austin Copperheads 1 3 0 0/0 0 0 0 0 0 0/0/0
2060 (S45) Austin Copperheads 3 17 0 0/0 0 1 2 0 0 0/0/0
Career 6 30 0 0/0 0 2 7 0 0 0/0/0

Achievements and records

DSFL

Steal was selected to the DSFL Pro Bowl in 2049 .

ISFL

Steal was selected to the ISFL Pro Bowl in 2051 and 2054 . Steal was selected to the second team All-Pro in the flex position in 2054 (S39).