1961 NAAF Draft

1961 NAAF Draft - 1st Round 

1 - Providence Gold Stars - DB Neville Falkner - Pittsburgh, PA
The Gold Stars would open the draft with the obvious pick. Falkner looks to be a generational talent entering the league, with a chance to be Providence’s top DB for next season. Falkner only strengthens the swiftly rebuilt Gold Stars' defence and sets them up for the future.  

Brad Cumberland’s Scouting Report
Falkner is a stellar all-around athlete. He’s got speed and agility that makes him tough to escape in coverage. On top of that, he also has a high football IQ. He also played quarterback when he was younger and had a really good grasp of how the game flows. He switched to solely DB because he didn’t quite have the arm to be a pro-level quarterback. However, his smarts around the game allow him to see things coming before they happen and he can stop big plays from happening. 

2 - Indiana Victors - LB Terrence Patton - Hamilton, ON
The Victors would decide to pass on both DB Dean Hawkins and OL Taylor Forbes and go for LB Terrence Patton. The Victors have lacked almost any stability in the middle of the defence and are hoping that Patton can become their top LB for the future.  

Lawrence Gainsborough’s Scouting Report
Patton is a field general that is a true leader on the defence. The intelligent LB is able to see where plays develop and find a way to get into the right spot on the field. He isn’t much of a risk-taker, but his conservative positioning usually leads to him being able to stop plays after only short gains. Add a strong tackling ability and you got a really strong base for a great LB. 

3 - Buffalo Blue Wings - DB Dean Hawkins - New Haven, CT
The Blue Wings were able to grab their next young DB with Dean Hawkins at #3. They were one pick away from DB Joe Robinson last season, but Worcester took him before they had the chance. With Buffalo losing DB Jared Francis to the Gold Stars, they get a strong replacement with Hawkins. 

Johnny Singleton’s Scouting Report
Growing up in a tough situation has made Dean Hawkins a resilient player. He has been through a lot which has strengthened his ability to handle a lot of adversity which makes him a great leader, especially in tough situations. As for his playstyle, he is not an unbelievable athlete, but he is stellar when it comes to sticking to his man. Probably your primary player when it comes to defending players in the red zone, with his ability to position himself in the best position to make a play. He needs to work on his athleticism if he wants to be a true superstar, but he certainly isn’t far off from meeting that goal. 

4 - Louisville Thunder - DL Bjorn Sigmarsson - Jemtland, ME
The Thunder would end up passing on the last of the prospects considered in the top 4, OL Taylor Forbes, and would draft DL Bjorn Sigmarsson. Sigmarsson allows the Thunder to continue to build their defence and hopefully continue to make their case for being competitive next season.  

George Stefanakis’ Scouting Report
Sigmarsson, of Icelantic descent, looks to be a force on the D-line. His superhuman like strength and ability to plow through a single blocker makes him a threat on every play. It was typical in college to have several offensive linemen on him. He should make for a great run stopper up the middle and nuisance to offensive lines to deal with. 

TRADE ALERT
With OL Taylor Forbes sliding out of the top 5, it seemed like someone might be willing to make a deal to move up and select the top tier OL. Right after Louisville selected it was announced that someone had moved up. The Boston Independents would swap picks with the Worcester Athletics in the first round. Boston would get the 5th overall pick in exchange for the 7th overall pick, 1960 4th Round Pick, DB Georges Martel, and undrafted TE Bob Friesen. Both Martel and Friesen were very expendable and were thrown in for compensation for the move down to 7 for the Athletics.

5 - Boston Independents (via Worcester Athletics) - DB Lawrence Ralph - Grand Rapids, MI
After making the trade up, Boston doesn’t even select Taylor Forbes as some may have suspected. Instead, they go for a major need at DB. Ralph is the last of the top DB’s and Boston feared Montreal might take him with the 6th pick, so they made the swap with the Athletics.  

Roger Roy’s Scouting Report
Ralph has a tendency to be a bit of a showman. He loves the spotlight and with all the talk about the NAAF, he figured that’s where he’s got to be. The performer's personality is backed up by immense skill. “Jump high, run fast, hit hard, look good”, seems to be the motto for the young Ralph who has shown all of that on the field leading his school in interceptions and pass deflections in his senior year.  

6 - Montreal Rouge - WR Taylor Karis - Provincetown, MA
The Rouge would be up next and Virgil Gross was not keen on settling for an OL, so he went with the top offensive weapon in Taylor Karis. With QB Gene Bishop coming to town, it is only fitting that the team aims to bring in young weapons for the QB.  

Cameron Taylor’s Scouting Report
One of the best route runners to play the game, Karis is perfect on almost every route he runs which allows him to get open constantly. On top of that, Karis is extremely intelligent both on and off the field. He uses his head to be a great improviser. If a play looks to be broken he will find ways to break free. He has even shown the ability to break free from double coverage with ease. Karis is a true threat, and will only get better if he develops his speed and catching ability in tight coverage.  

7 - Worcester Athletics (via Boston Independents) - OL Flint Boyer - Hamilton, ON
While Boston and Montreal passing on Taylor Forbes made sense based on their needs, the Athletics selecting a different OL was...well... puzzling. Flint Boyer came in ranked 3rd among OL in the draft, but the Athletics seemed content with taking him. This might be why they desired to move down the order so that they could grab Boyer. 

Cameron Taylor’s Scouting Report
Boyer is a typical OL, good at holding blocks for passing plays and is solid when it comes to blocking for run plays. He is quite athletic some might say a slightly bigger tight end in some cases. That may explain why he had 2 touchdowns in his senior year as an OL. Boyer should be a solid piece for any building team. 

TRADE ALERT
Following Worcester’s shocking decision, the Long Island table was a busy one as several teams were looking to make a deal with the team to move up and grab OL Taylor Forbes. The Raiders used a timeout (each team has one to use during the draft which adds an additional 5 minutes for their pick) in order to add an extra few minutes to the clock. Finally, a deal had been struck and it was a big one.

The Raiders would send the 8th overall pick, DL Tyrone Affalo, and a 1962 3rd Round Pick to the Louisville Thunder for the 14th overall pick, DL Dale Rothery, and WR Tony Albano. 

The Thunder made the move up and grabbed a star veteran for the defensive line in addition to the 1st rounder. Tyrone Affalo has been one of the best DL on the Raiders over the past few seasons, but with his big contract and the Raiders' salary crunch, they needed to move on from him and did that here. Affalo adds leadership and experience to the line and should help Louisville take a step forward. 

As for the Raiders, they get two younger and cheaper pieces. DL Dale Rothery was the 5th overall pick in last year’s draft, and it was kinda shocking to see him get moved here. The Raiders were aiming for a DL to draft, but there wasn’t much available at their pick so they ended up getting that prospect with this trade. Albano as well will be a solid fill for the Raiders' 3rd WR.  

8 - Louisville Thunder (via Long Island Raiders) - OL Taylor Forbes - Utica, NY
The Thunder would take the pick they got and finally draft Taylor Forbes. Many are quickly jumping to the conclusion that Louisville just got the steal of the draft with Forbes, who was ranked 3rd, fell all the way to 8th overall.  

Johnny Singleton’s Scouting Report
A complete gym rat, Forbes is an unreal athlete that is honestly a brick wall on the offensive line. He works for both run and pass defence, especially on the interior. Forbes should be a great piece for any team’s offensive line and should be a franchise piece for the long run in Louisville.  

9 - Ottawa Royals - OL Peter Kingsley - Napoleon, OH
The Royals would grab the third straight OL with Peter Kingsley. They have needed some help on the line for the past couple of seasons, and Kingsley should be a great piece to keep the line intact.  

Allen Cohn’s Scouting Report
Kingsley is an easy-going player. He never is in the middle of any conflicts, but also never really making a huge name for himself. He’s there and ready to play. The upside is Kingsley is a quick OL which allows him to adjust quickly and create holes for the run game. 

10 - London Tigers - LB Red Clarkson - Baltimore, MD
With the last pick of the first round, the Tigers would take a linebacker to continue to add depth to their team. The Tigers are sitting in a good spot after winning the title and decided to go with the best available at this point. 

Lawrence Gainsborough’s Scouting Report
Another gym rat, Red Clarkson is a strong tackler in the middle of the field, but his greatest strength is in pass coverage. He’s excellent at stopping passes over the top and keeping up with slower WRs. He’s pretty solid all around, but he still needs to work on a lot of things, so likely a bit of a project player for the Tigers. 

1961 NAAF Draft - Rounds 2-4

2nd Round 
The second round of the draft would kick off with the Providence Gold Stars grabbing a potential future RB in Rashad Smith. Some were a bit skeptical about his commitment to the game, but his skills were too good to pass up for Providence. Indiana would look to add on the DL with Fred Webster at 12, and then Buffalo would take OL Elmer Tanev with the 13th pick. The Raiders would finally make their first pick of the draft taking DB Rutherford Winters, a smart but sometimes hot-headed defender. The Athletics would follow up by taking a less puzzling player in S Eric Willis to replace the loss of S Shawn Jensen.  

In the second half of the draft, Montreal would take DL Lucas Kipling, which was a bit of a reach, but could be a solid pick for them in the end. Boston would aim to add to their receiving core with WR Otto Washington to add some depth behind the ageing Ellis Lindholm and Clyde McIntosh. The Raiders would then add DL Pionk Bjorkkstrand to add to the younger DL they are developing.  

As the second round came to a close the Victors would grab another pick from the Ottawa Royals. They would send WR Angus Stevenson to Ottawa for the 19th overall pick. Stevenson only signed with the Victors last offseason, but with the younger WR core developing, he became expendable. He will slot in as the Royal’s new #3 WR to replace Truman Harry.  

With the selection, the Victors would take RB Ronald Kociba as they look to build for the future with him. The Tigers would follow suit, grabbing a RB with Lukas Ivarrsson with the 20th pick. The player nicknamed ”Boneless” seems to be able to bend in order to get through players as if he has no bones.  

2nd Round Picks
11 - PRO - RB Rashad Smith - Brooklyn, NY - Wallflower
12 - IND - DL Fred Webster - York, PA - Captain Mort 3D
13 - BUF - OL Elmer Tanev - St. Mary’s, PA - JamHeronArk
14 - LI (via LOU) - DB Rutherford Winters - Salem, MA - Stickman
15 - WOR - S Eric Willis - Baltimore, MD - Captain Mort 3D
16 - MTL - DL Lucas Kipling - Dale, IN - DireBear
17 - BOS - WR Otto Washington - Albany, NY - Kingsfan11
18 - LI - DL Pionk Bjorkkstrand - Wooster, OH - QCS
19 - IND (via OTT) - RB Ronald Kociba - Detroit, MI - TigerFan93
20 - LDN - RB Lukas Ivarsson - Barre, ON - Darknes 
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3rd Round
The third round would have a pair of trades starting off with the Indiana Victors grabbing OL Nazario Baldassare and the 35th pick from the Worcester Athletics for the 22nd overall pick. Indiana is looking to improve their O-line with a veteran in Baldassare and see their desired draft picks falling later in the draft. As for Worcester, they jump up to select LB Pepper Burress. The Athletics would also go on to grab the first QB off the draft in Buck Murphy a couple of picks later.  

The other trade had zero picks from this draft involved. The London Tigers would send QB Christian Stewart to the Louisville Thunder in order to clear off his $26,000 cap hit. In return, they would bring in QB Ollie Rogers and a 1962 4th round pick. With the move the Thunder look to add some more stability behind QB Leonidas Dumont for next season.

Both Montreal and Boston would take back-to-back DBs and the Royals and Tigers would take back-to-back WRs. 

3rd Round Picks
21 - PRO - OL Herman Mecklenburg - Morgantown, WV - JamHeronArk
22 - WOR (via IND) - LB Pepper Burress - Tuckerton, NJ - Dan O’Mac
23 - BUF - WR Stuart Smalls - Florida, MA - ItDoesntMatter
24 - LOU - OL Nicolas-Charles Richard - Montreal, QC - Kingsfan11
25 - WOR - QB Buck Murphy - Uniontown, PA - QCS
26 - MTL - DB Wesley Nires - Cincinnati, OH - Sevsdast
27 - BOS - DB Mordecai King - Hartford, CT - Darknes
28 - BUF (via LI) - DL Ilya Mikaelov - Syracuse, NY - Darknes
29 - OTT - WR Carter Henderson - Peterborough, ON - Darknes
30 - LDN - WR Wade Pence - Saginaw, MI - Allen Cohn 

4th Round
The Providence Gold Stars would pick S Ronnie Kirkpatrick with the first pick of the round, which some might think is a strong pick for that spot. The Victors would grab two OL with their 4th round picks. Benedict Benedicto and Terrence Patterson will hopefully continue to add depth to the Victors' OL.

The Tigers would take the only other QB of the draft in Erik Mikaelsson and then they would also take DL Chuck Charleston III as the last pick of the draft. 

4th Round Picks
31 - PRO - S Ronnie Kirkpatrick - Buffalo, NY - NeoPrankster
32 - IND - OL Benedict Benedicto - Bangor, ME - Dan O’Mac
33 - BUF - LB Linus Kinjerski - Buffalo, NY - Dan O’Mac
34 - LOU - RB Ren Grander - Fort Wayne, IN - Sevsdast
35 - IND (via WOR) - OL Terrence Patterson - New York City, NY - Wallflower
36 - LDN (via MTL) - QB Erik Mikaelsson - Lexington, KY - Darknes
37 - BOS - LB Bob Walton - Cleveland, OH - JamHeronArk
38 - LI - OL Rodger Coleman - Dayton, OH - Dan O’Mac
39 - OTT - DB Michael Cornell III - Louisville, KY - Stickman
40 - LDN - DL Chuck Charleston III - West Warwick, RI - JamHeronArk 

Feel free to share your thoughts on the draft! The rest of free agency should be coming next!