Warren Stephens

Warren Stephens

No. 18 – Philadelphia Liberty
Position:	Linebacker
Personal information
Born:	Waco, Texas
Height:	6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)
Weight:	188 lb (85 kg)
Career information
College:	Baylor University
ISFL Draft:	S20 / Round: 2 / Pick: 3
Career history
Myrtle Beach Myrtle Beach Buccaneers (2021 (S19 - 13)-2019 (S19-15))
Roster status:	Active
Career DSFL statistics
Total tackles: 127 Pass deflections: 14 Sacks: 12 TFL: 1 Defensive touchdowns: 0

"Warren Stephens (born August 4, 1997) is an American football safety for the Myrtle Beach Buccaneers of the Developmental Simulation Football League (DSFL). He played college football for Baylor University (BU)."

Early years

Warren Stephens was born in Hillcrest Hospital on August 4, 1997 to Ronald and Kassidy Stephens. The weather that afternoon was unusually hot, even for a summer day in central Texas. Stephens grew up enjoying playing outside, especially in the mud following rain storms, with his younger brother and border collie (who was disappointingly not fluffy but still dearly loved). It was in these muddy play times that Stephens discovered his love for football. One of his fondest early memories was receiving a Troy Aikman jersey for Christmas, then immediately staining it when he "tackled" the candle on top of the coffee table, spilling red ink all over the brand new jersey. He was immensely disappointed when he discovered that he did not possess Aikman's ability to throw the football. He did, though, discover an innate ability to be in the way. In time, he learned to use this awkward superpower to deflect and disrupt passes instead of throwing them himself. This ability would eventually lead to a record setting high school season that earned him a scholarship at his hometown college, Baylor University.

College career

At Baylor, Stephens initially struggled to learn the defense of Phil Snow and Coach Matt Rhule. The voodie that Rhule wore was especially confusing to the young Warren and lead to many profound revalations on the sideline that grew Stephens into the defensive guru he is today. After red-shirting his freshman year to learn the system, Stephens took to the field in his college debut against SMU and recorded his first interception. He promptly lost the game ball the same evening after being introduced to rum at a frat party the same night and consuming it by the bottle. He was eventually thrown out of the party for drinking literally all of the rum and depriving everyone else of the sacred beverage. Warren barely remembers the rest of his college career, likely due to his newfound enjoyment of rum. We're told, though, that he had a prolific senior campaign that garnered interest in the NSFL and that scouts were willing to look past some of his drunken antics from the interviews.

College career statistics

Come back to this bit. Not sure how to generate the table yet

Professional career

DSFL career

Warren was undrafted, but claimed on waivers by Myrtle Beach immediately following the draft. He was immediately made the starting Strong Safety in Myrtle Beach's second campaign. Through his first 12 games, he has recorded 48 tackles, forced and recovered a fumble, recorded four sacks, and picked off one pass. In one author's opinion, he was projected to go as high as 17th in the upcoming draft and was described as "quietly doing his job." Whoever the author was has clearly never seen Warren actually doing his job, as he is usually very loud and boisterous due to the fact that a bottle of rum is never far from his reach. In fact, the bottle is usually in his hands. Following his rookie season, Warren Stephens was drafted in the second round by the Philadelphia Liberty.

Warren had a breakout second season in the DSFL, partly due to his transition to the linebacker position. He finished tied for second in the league in sacks and had the most pass deflections of any DSFL linebacker. The Myrtle Beach defense in season 20 recorded a historically dominant season, breaking several DSFL records. The most notable record broken was fewest points allowed per game. The team continued to dominate through the first round of the playoffs, but ultimately fell short of a title, losing 28-3 to the Grey Ducks. In the championship game, Myrtle Beach incurred 15 penalties for 156 yards, drawing wide criticism of the officials when a holding penalty was called on the Myrtle Beach hurler. Following the loss, Warren apologized to fans for being too sober during the game. “I honestly messed up pretty badly tonight. You’re never supposed to change your approach, no matter how big the game. But tonight, I decided to play sober because I wanted to be present in the moment. And honestly I think that’s the reason we lost tonight, so to all the Buccs out there who are heartbroken tonight, I’m sorry…Have a drink for me.” Stephens spent the rest of the interview sobbing and rummaging through his locker for the half-empty bottle of rum he swore was in there somewhere and refusing to answer any more questions. He never did find it. The next day, he announced his plans to play linebacker in the NSFL for The Philadelphia Liberty, effectively ending his DSFL career.

Pre-draft measurables

Ht	Wt	40‑yd dash	20‑ss	3‑cone	Vert jump	Broad
6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)	188 lb (85 kg)

Rookie Season

Stephens made his debut with the Philadelphia Liberty following a second season in the DSFL and a position switch to linebacker in week one of the 2036 season in their week one win against the Yeti. That would be one of only three wins Stephens would get to enjoy in his rookie campaign, as the Liberty struggled to a 3-10 record and missed the playoffs. Stephens did, however, report enjoying his time with the Liberty, suggesting that running a minibar out of his locker after practices had become one of his favorite time passing activities.

In his rookie campaign, Stephens tackled 112 players, making him one of fifteen players to record over 100 tackles on the season. Only six had more than Stephens. He managed to hit two of those players hard enough to knock the ball out of their hands. He did not manage to recover either of those fumbles, though. He did, however, manage to intercept one pass during the season and prevented seven more from being caught. His goals for the future involve getting into the backfield more, as he recorded no tackles for a loss.

At the end of the season, Stephens opted out of the third year of his rookie contract and tested free agency for the first time. He quickly resigned a newly structured deal with the Liberty that is nearly identical to the first, including three years with a mutual option on the third, an average salary just under three million per year, and a no-trade clause to Chicago that was accidentally left in from early negotiations before a GM change occurred in Chicago.

Sophomore Campaign

Stephens entered his second season in the NSFL on a new contract and cemented at the middle linebacker position in a defense that had many unproven players. Stephens was elected as one of the team captains for the defense and set out to make sure he proved those who voted for him right, a process that began with putting work into refining and improving the minibar being run out of his locker.

Following their disappointing 3-10 season the year before, Stephens and the defense entered the new season eager to improve and feeling they had made the necessary steps to be a serious playoff contender in the NSFC. Some extra motivation was granted by the fact that this was the 20th season of the Liberty’s existence. The team opened the season with a resounding win over Chicago before stumbling on to a losing season where they finished 6-7, missing the playoffs by a tiebreaker with one of the two expansion teams, Sarasota. Despite the disappointing season, the team’s spirits remained high and many players feel the window for competing for a division title is just beginning to open as the team’s young core performed spectacularly throughout the season.

Stephens had an impressive season, racking up 134 tackles. That tally was good for a top-10 season all time and for snatching the Philadelphia Liberty single season record and finishing one behind league leader Honda Edmonds. Stephens ended the season by publicly expressing outrage at Edmond being left off the awards ballot entirely, despite the fact that he had the highest tackle total since the league decreased the number of games played to 13.

During the offseason, Stephens was selected to be an intern for the DSFL Head Office.

Professional career statistics

NSFLcareer statistics

Career statistics			Defense
Season	Team	Games	Tackles	TFL	FF/FR	PD	Sacks	Interceptions
2036 (S21)	PHI	13	112	0	2/0	7	2	1
2037 (S22)	PHI	13	134	2	1/2	2	0	0
2038 (S23)	PHI	7	55	1	0/0	4	2	0
Total		33	301	3	3/2	13	4	1

Achievements and records

Come back to this later

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