How London was built

When GM Johns took over London in Season 15 he wanted to start from the ground up, London were coming off a 9-5 playoff year in Season 14 in Jason Comptons last year but with a new GM taking over he wanted to get the players he needed for a successful team and many winning years.

In Season 14 QB Matt Lytle was the starter, he had a good year with over 3,500 yards and 14 td's however he set an FWL record for fumbles with an incredible 26 ! Lytle was to blame by most of the fans but the offense line was also weak which didnt help Lytle as he was under pressure on a lot of plays.

Johns was helped by the 'trade' of players from Sacramento his former team to London. However 3 seasons later only 2 of those players remain, DE Mark Word and LB Kinnon Tatum, two veterans who may be backups on other teams but Johns has a history of starting veterans and theyre still starting and having good seasons now.

Johns new that Payton their star rookie RB who as a backup in his rookie year scored 12 td's should be traded in a 'Herschel Walker' style deal. Payton was traded to Ohio for a 2nd round pick and talented RB Jamal Robertson. Another major trade was for WR Damon Savage, Savage a former 1000 yard WR with Raleigh was now a backup with the Skyhawks and came to London after being promised to be the starter. In Season 14 the leading WR for the Monarchs was actually a TE, WR Latef Frim led all WR's but averaged just 12.5 yards and was demoted.

Savage had a huge first year in London with 94 catches and over 1200 yards. New HB Jamal Robertson played well and QB Todd Bouman had a good comeback year. However the Monarchs fell from 9-5 to 5-9, Johns knew his team would lose more games but the structure of the team would be stronger.

The major move that year was to get a QB, they did have talented young BJ Symons but Johns wanted a figurehead for the franchise and traded up with Orlando for the top pick. He selected QB Drew Henson and announced Henson would be the starter from day 1. He also selected two DB's who would start for London in later years and traded up to get K Tyler Jones in the 3rd round. Jones after a poor rookie year has developed into a great kicker.

One thing London was lacking was trading. In Season 15 he traded with Amsterdam for young backup WR Triandos Luke who would develop into Londons number 2 WR. He sent a 2nd round draft pick to Sacramento for two of his former players, huge T John Feugill who would man the left side and HB Ben Miller who Johns liked as a future FB. DE Randy Garner was traded to Amsterdam for G Dustin Keith giving London two new offensive linemen.

Season 16 saw more huge trades, they traded for one of the fastest CB's in the league, CB Jeremy LaSeur. Traded 3 backup players to Paris for a 1st round pick used to move up to get Henson. The huge trade was with New York, they received young FB Joe Hall (who they converted to HB and was named their starter) , talented LB Issac Keys and a WR. Keys was later traded to Birmingham for two draft picks, one a 1st rounder.

With Joe Hall on board as the new HB they traded Jamal Robertson to Barcelona for a 2nd round draft pick and picked up another two former NY Knights in DE Eric Powell (a project) and veteran speedy LB Brian Rogers. T Scott Huff was another key signing as he was picked up from San Antonio, Huff a former 1st round pick didnt pan out in San Antonio but became the third new offensive linemen for London. To avoid any QB controversy the Monarchs traded backup QB BJ Symons for two 3rd round picks.

London fell from 5-9 to 3-8-1 the following season but two late wins in the final two weeks gave them hope for the future. The London defense jumped up to 8th but the offense fell to 14th thanks mainly to a poor rushing attack. QB Drew Henson had a great rookie year in Season 16 and was named Rookie of the Year, RB Joe Hall had a terrible average (2. Cool

but scored 10 td's on the ground and caught 94 passes for another 6 td's and showed potential. WR Damon Savage had another 1000 yard season and WR Triandos Luke had a breakthrough year. TE Jeff Nicholson regained his starting job back from Ryan Prince and also had a superb season. The offense still allowed a lot of sacks however but the 3 new starters started to gell the following year. On defense the team played much better, they had a new starter in S Richard Yancey who gave htem speed, CB Jeremy LeSeur had blazing speed at CB1 and the LB's were much stronger. LB Brian Rogers was an instant hit with 7 sacks, John Leake a great Compton draft pick had a great year with 6 sacks and many teams were offering high draft picks for him, veteran Kinnon Tatum also played well and rookie S Eric Hill Jnr had over 60 tackles. The d-line was improving all the time.

The draft after Season 16 was key, they picked up a 1st round WR in Kassim Osgood and a talented young CB in Evan Oglesby. Their big trade was to get huge DT Jake Sparks from Amsterdam but they had to send talented young LB Derrick Ford and a draft pick. DE Nick Burley was picked up from Orlando for two veterans. A major trade was with Barcelona in the offseason, they sent their leading WR Damon Savage to the Dragons, huge T John Feugill and picked up one of the most talented offensive linemen in T Todd Wike which was key. They also picked up talented CB Erwin Swiney from Austria and a bargain was had with two rookie LB's who have great skills and are ones to watch for the future. They traded with Birmingham and picked up DE Danny Watts a former Monarch and more importantly LB Bobby Brooks, a talented all rounder. It was a risk but they traded DE Charles Hill who had 10+ sacks as a rookie to Sacramento and got their big name WR in Travis Anglin who led the league in Season 16. With the Anglin trade they felt comfortable sending Savage later to Barcelona

London started with a bang in Week 1 of Season 17 with a thrashing over Montreal. 6 weeks later at the halfway point of the year they were 7-0 ! How did London change in a few short seasons ?

They picked up a great WR in Travis Anglin who gelled with Drew Henson very well, HB Joe Hall who did have troubles at times was running better behind a new rebuilt offensive line. The defense featured much faster LB's than previous years, the defensive line featured huge DT's and quick DE's. The secondary featured a lot of speed and also a lot of strength with their safeties.

In 3 short seasons the Monarchs were transformed into a more youthful team, they rebuilt their offensive line which was key to the offense, young QB Drew Henson had new targets to throw to and the defense was generally much quicker.

Will London continue winning ? Who knows. They start a good mix of young and veteran players, DE Mark Word and LB Kinnon Tatum are two of the oldest players in the league but both are starting and the defense is number 1 in the league. "Too many teams dismiss veteran players because of their age, if they can play then play them, forget their age" said the Monarchs GM. K Tyler Jones somehow went from a dire rookie season to an All-FWL season in his second year and London are full of confidence.

"It takes time but with the right trades/drafting any team can go from 5-9 to 7-0 a few seasons later. Dont be afraid to make trades, if its not working then change it, get some youth, get some quality veterans and your team will slowly improve" said the Monarchs GM