Fantasy World League Forum

London Monarchs Season 16 Preview

Offense

9th rushing, 13th passing, 15th overall

Defense

13th rushing, 5th passing, 5th overall[/b]

Offense

Last year the offense spluttered all year long and finished just 15th overall.  The team seemed to lack a passing game but ran the ball well at times.  This year features several new players on offense.

QB's

Number 1 overall pick Drew Henson has the job and a lot of security.  The team could have gone with BJ Symons but the team wanted a fresh new start with Henson who will start from day 1.  Henson has a strong arm, needs to learn the game more but should have some decent games this year.  Backup is Kevin Daft, the most intelligent QB in the league and someone who should do well if he has to come in.

HB's

Since coming over early last season Jamal Robertson played very well for London, he rushed for nearly 800 yards and caught over 70 passes for nearly 700 yards and scored 12 total touchdowns.  Robertson is a great dual purpose threat and should have a good year after being in camp with the Monarchs.  The backup is veteran Rashon Spikes a former starter who is a valuable #2.  At FB it will be a battle between young Ben Miller and Kevin Clemons.  Clemons with his great ST will probably win the battle but Miller is a future starter.

WR's

Damon Savage came over to London in the offseason and was their teams best WR.  Savage caught a huge 94 passes for over 1,200 yards and 5 touchdowns.  The WR2 job is up for grabs.  LC Stevens showed no speed last year at WR2 but has a lot of talent and should do better.  Triandos Luke is a speedster and might win the WR2 job over Stevens, the young WR has a lot of talent.  At WR4 and the main kick return job is Scottie Vines, another speedster but with his low strength he is mostly used as a return man.

TE's

Ryan Prince reunites with GM Johns as he was an on/off starter in Sacramento.  Prince was All-FWL two years ago but was benched last year and didnt have a great season.  The player who started ahead of him in that All-FWL game was ironically Jeff Nicholson.  Nicholson had a great year two years ago and last season played well but on paper appears to be slow and has poor hands.  All he does though is catch passes in games but the Monarchs wanted someone else to be the starter.  Look for Nicholson to get some playing time though.  Prince on paper looks a great TE but needs to have a big year.

OL

The team need this unit to play well this season.  At C veteran Garry Sawatzky will probably win the job over the huge slow Tupe Peke.  Young backup Michael Mabry is a future starter.  At G the team feel confident in Dustin Keith and Ulish Booker, two young players who should start for the next 5 seasons.  The tackle positions at the moment belong to John Feugill and Tyler Lenda.  Lenda is a huge strong player who will probably start at T1.  John Garrison lacks acceleration but is a very strong player.

Defense

The defense surprisingly ranked high last year but with the retirement of All-FWL S Earl Riley and two rookies possibly starting in the secondary they may have a few bumps this season.

D-Line

At DE the team are settled on Mark Word who should set the all time sack record this year and Charles Hill.  The team paid a lot to trade for Hill from Rhein and Hill didnt disappoint with a team leading 14 sacks, not bad for a rookie.  At DT Junior Ioane is a load in the middle and Danny Watts will play next to him instead of being a DE.  Ioane had a solid year and Watts played well in limited appearances as a DE.  Backups are Omari Hand who has potential and FA acquisition Sandi Solakovic.  More depth is needed here.

LB's

There will be some change with the LB's with some young players pushing for playing time.  Veteran Kinnon Tatum is after the tackle career record and will start again at LB1, Tatum had less than 70 tackles last year and not enough sacks but should play better.  Keith Miller may be a surprise to be benched, he was the teams best LB last year with 77 tackles and 5 sacks, look for him to battle the youngsters in camp.  John Leake a talented 2nd year LB is pencilled in at LB2, he showed potential last year with 33 tackles and 3 sacks and should improve his speed this year.  Derrick Ford arrives from Amsterdam where he hardly played last year but the Monarchs are very high on him and want to give him playing time.  Backups will include promising young Ben Mahdavi and veteran Keith Miller.  The team appear to be talented at LB with 5 very good players.

Secondary

This is where the huge question marks are.  At the moment rookies Eric Hill and Antwaun Rodgers are the starting safeties, Hill has graet hitting ability but is quite slow.  The team may look for more speed at safety and convert some of their CB's if the two rookies struggle.  At CB Devon Harper comes over from Amsterdam and starts immediately, Harper has great speed and hands and should make plays.  The young CB pairing of Mark Estelle and Marcell Almond have talent but are both very small CB's with not great speed.  They need to have a big year.  Former starting safety Ray Perryman had over 50 tackles, an int and a fumble last year but may lose out to the rookies. 

Special Teams

The team are very confident with young Brian Simjanovski who has started since he was a rookie and if he carries on like this may set all time league records when he retires.  The team feel they have a punter for the next 10+ seasons.  After some nightmares last year with veteran Izzy Phillips and young Seth Marler the team drafted Tyler Jones in the 3rd round who was the top rated kicker who should start forever.  Johns previously had David Akers as his kicker throughout his Surge career and Jones will be the lifelong kicker for London also

Outlook

On paper the team seem to be improved but have a lot of young players starting.  The team needs some quality depth at WR and on the d-line and the young secondary has to come through which could be a gamble.  Probably a rebuilding year for the Monarchs, no one is expecting a playoff push and Henson will have a lot of tough times to get through but slowly the team are trying to build a contender.  They are a way off yet and paid an expensive price in the draft this year after trading several picks but Symons brought in two 3rd round picks.  Look for the team to make some more trades to get a 2nd round pick back