Okay, here it is.

I'm building a 3-4 that wants basically 3 Space Eating DL up front, and 8 Speed Demons everywhere else. Of course an emphasis on Pass Rush/Run Stop + Tackle Speed Demons at LB and Coverage Speed Demons in the Secondary.

On Offense I'm almost to the point of saying Run Only, but my OL isn't good enough yet so I've added Play Action and a few passes that have seemed to worked for some reason or another.

I have a 1st, 3rd, 4th, 4th, 5th, 6th and 7th this year (my 2nd was sent off to get my DT, so I could move my 2 DT's out to LDE and RDE).

There are no great DL in this Draft, and to be honest I'm rather happy with my DL. Powell and Sexton will be Stars, and while I could upgrade the other DE he's more than serviceable.

I hurt my Safeties because I wanted to add more Speed to LB and my Corp of LB was really just 1 guy. My Safeties are still 70, so they are okay but just nothing special like they were. My leading Tackler is a LB... but he got most of those playing Safety before being moved to mix things up. Also, the OLB that was a S doesn't grade well, moving him back to S would be a good move but I need a LB to do that.

My CBs are not very spectacular. In fact they both got the most targets, allowed the most catches, and had a ton of Tackles because people would end up air raiding on me and attack the CBs even after I down graded the Safeties.

So, to this 2023 Draft in MFN-7.

On Offense, the Pick would simply have to be an OL, and I don't have a 2nd Rounder. I'll be picking in the Top 7. The benefit of a Top 7 OL is that the 3 I am seeing will Max STR, RB and PB. The PB is important if I want to continue Play Action and a small few other passes that have worked. My real focus in on STR and Run Blocking, but if you can add a 5-Tool (baseball expression) guy, you do it. I also have two light-weights at RG and RT who have great STR and RB, but are RB/WR moved to those spots. They are the best options FOR NOW, but I'd love to move them out to TE/WR as I get enough Quality OL with STR/RB to replace them.

But that leads to the question of how much impact will 1 OL make.

I could get the CB, he's really good... but CBs tend to go higher. He also has the benefit of being a Return Man, which could help me in Punt Return where people have problems (but my RB, a Converted TE, did house a Punt in limited Returns, he's a 99 Speed/99 STR/99 ACC kind of guy, I moved him to RB because he just wasn't getting the Targets nor Breaking Tackles despite being High Break Tackle as a TE).

I could take the All-World TE like I did last Season, which WOULD improve blocking. But I'm 3 Deep at Good Run Blocking TE. None are special like this guy, but I had a Special TE last Season that I moved because he wasn't getting Targets despite me making the entire Play Book TE1 First Options, and he wasn't breaking tackles after Catches either. So I'm worried another Great TE will just turn into another Great RB instead, and that doesn't help improve Blocking.

In the 3rd and Later I can simply Target the STR/Run Block guys that **** at PB and won't be generally targeted... but the 1st Pick MUST be a Splash Pick.

So there is Defense. Where 2 Safeties and 3 LBs stand above the rest. Any of the LBs can move to the OLB spot, moving one of my Old Safeties who isn't grading well at LB back to S. Fix 2 Positions at once.

All of the Defenders, except for the CB who is 92 SPD/92 ACC, are 100/100 guys.

Of course, picking 6th in this Draft will absolutely nail me ONE of the guys on my Short List... so there is that. But it's the Order I put them in that will matter... in case some one falls unexpectedly.

Also I know all these 100's won't stay there, my TE lost some once I got him, but he's got enough 99-100 Abilities that it doesn't matter, he's still a Great Player.

There are 8 Players I am looking at Targetting with my First Pick, which should be somewhere between 4th and 6th.

In order of Highest Potential (based on my current Weights for Balanced Play) they are:

<a class="player_card" rel='{"id":6068}'>Norman Schnieders</a>
<a class="player_card" rel='{"id":5914}'>Richard Bradford</a>
<a class="player_card" rel='{"id":6090}'>Pete Barrick</a>
<a class="player_card" rel='{"id":5825}'>Jody Chapin</a>
<a class="player_card" rel='{"id":6089}'>Phillip Bolden</a>
<a class="player_card" rel='{"id":6092}'>Joshua Velasquez</a>
<a class="player_card" rel='{"id":5905}'>Samuel Shepherd</a>
<a class="player_card" rel='{"id":6034}'>Benjamin Campbell</a>

There is also a Franchise QB as well, but (1) my QB is rather good on the Abilities, but a less than 90 Arm Strength may be hurting him and (2) I'm really Run Focused right now. QB might have the least impact on my upcoming Season of all 24 Starting Positions (including K/P).

<a class="player_card" rel='{"id":5968}'>Edward Reed</a>

Reed is the Rookie QB out there.

Well, this has gotten very long and my internet is starting to act up on other pages, so I'll TL;DR this and hope for some responses.

Upcoming Draft, Most Impact.

Add an OL that is a beast.
Add a TE that is a beast.
Add a S that is a beast.
Add a CB that is a beast.
Add a LB that is a Beast, and moves a Beast S back to S.
Upgrade Franchise QB.

In general in this game, the top impact positions in order imo would be.

Very fast HB - high break tackle, ball carrying and avoid fumble ideally
Elite fast SS or CB - may vary based on scheme
Fast DEs - I also like guys that are good with run defense and strong
after that maybe WRs

Very good WRs can tend to fall in deeper drafts.

Not any stand out RBs (or WR) in this Draft.

We have 1 TE (and then a 2nd Tier TE), a SS, Two MLB, 1 WLB, 1 RG and 1 CB along with 1 QB (and a 2nd Tier QB, the only 2 worth Drafting). There is a 2nd Tier S as well, but he's a bit more fall off than the others.

I moved my Top 10 Pick TE (Leon Arana) to RB around Week 12 or so.
SPD 98 ACC 100 INT 98 DISC 99
STR 99 BRK/T 87/94 BC 79/87 AF 78/89

If I take a LB (or even if I don't, I could take the CB or S and still move Powell back to S) I can move Powell from SLB back to S.

SPD 100 ACC 100 INT 89 DISC 23
STR 79 TKL 65/100 PR 87/98 RD 22/29
PR 29/47 B&R 80/97 ZC 100 M2M 51/58

He lead my Team in Tackles but got most of them at S. He vanished at LB, but it's a small Sample Size. Surprisingly they suggest he's a good Blitz Backer with 87/98 on Pass Rush.

I'm thinking I almost have to go OL, but weighing the Options since I can also go with the Broken OL later that have Good STR/RB but not PB that will be passed on by most.

I'm guessing from your break down you say "Go S, and move SLB to S"?

Also, with that High Pass Rush... could Powell move to DE from SLB?

I've heard Fast but not really good DE's can make a huge impact with Pressure. He's got like 79 STR as well, so not like he'd be some CB moving to DE gimmick.

Do LBs get sacks from 3-4 formation plays?

I don't run a 3-4 but in the 4-3 defense I have run, LBs simply don't get sacks. I had a highly rated SLB and called a lot of plays where he blitzed and I think he got something like 5 sacks over 20 games. Then I traded him, his new owner moved him to DE and he got more than 5 sacks in his first game.

I'm mentioning this, because OP said his plan was to put 3 big space-eaters on the line and I wonder if he's going to be disappointed by the results when he has no pass rush.

Most 3-4 plays have a blitzing linebacker, yes.

I understand that the 3-4 plays have blitzing LBs. My question was do LB blitzes in the 3-4 actually get the LB any sacks? Like I said in my initial post, I call tons of plays with LB Blitzs from my 4-3 defenses...but LBs rarely get sacks (even on teams where they are my best players and pass rushers).

Is this different when 3-4 plays are called?

We had 38 Sacks in our 16 Games, along with 26 INT.

In MFN-7, that was good for T-26th at 2.4/Game in Sacks and T-5th at 1.6/Game in INT.

The Leader in Sacks had 6.8/Game and in INT had 2.0/Game.

So I'm 4.4 Sacks a Game off pace, and 0.4 INT a Game off Pace.

I got my sacks from:

LDE Klinger, 8. (He happens to be my 3rd Best Starting DL, behind Powell and Sexton.)
MLB Humphreys, 7. (Dude is a STUD MLB, but only Mid 70s in SPD/ACC.)
DT Baker, 4. Back Up DT.
RDE Sexton, 4. (Beast stats and young, but no speed.)
WLB Kidd, 3. (By far my worst LB in terms of SPD/ACC/PR, yet 2nd among LBs.)
MLB Michaud, 3. (This is my 3rd MLB, who rotates as Back Up at all LB Spots.)
MLB Fletcher, 2. (This is a Stud moved from FS. His Ability is insane, hasn't translated to LB.)
LDE Kingston, 2. (Backs up Klinger, some Starts due to Injury.)
DT Powell, 2. (Amazing DT that does his job, Sacks are a bonus.)
DT Smith, 1. (Not even sure who he is, just a Back Up DT.)
WLB Daniels, 1. (Another no-name Back Up.)
SLB Earnest, 1. (No name back up that is amazingly good in Coverage some how.)

So we see my DL has the 1st and 3rd and even 4th most Sacks, but that MLB can indeed get involved.

I moved Fletcher to MLB to add to better Coverage and Tackles.
SPD 100 ACC 99 INT 95 DISC 94 STR 97 TKL 99 PR 14 RD 100 M2M 99 ZC 100

Obviously his weakness is that 14 Pass Rush, but he's in there as that Run Stopping MLB. I would still think with Ability like this he'd 'accidentally' fall on the QB a few times, since I do have MLB Blitzes.

I moved Powell from my Secondary as well, but he WAS to get Sacks. He really hasn't.
SPD 100 ACC 100 INT 89 DISC 23 STR 79 TKL 66/100 PR 88/98 RD 22/29 M2M 52/58 ZC 80/97

He doesn't Stop the Run, nor does he Cover Man, but he looks like he'd be a great Pass Rusher that can also drop into Zone. Thing is, he's not getting Sacks.

My 3 DL are really designed for 'Coverage Sacks'. Big Strength to keep pushing towards the QB. What's amazing is the 'worst' DL has the Most Sacks, by far. I don't judge my DL in a 34 on Sacks, but it's interesting.

I'm willing to try Powell (the LB, not the DT) at DE, and see if his SPD/ACC/PR might work there, where his Man Coverage isn't a liability (but his Zone Coverage is wasted), and where my stud Fletcher can compensate for Run Stopping by getting there really quick and bringing the ball carrier down.

Powell (DT) and Sexton have super high Run Stop and Pass Rush, just not much Speed. They also have really good Acceleration.

Powell (DT)
SPD 27 ACC 90 INT 100 DISC 99 STR 82 TKL 100 STP 100 PR 100 RD 100

Sexton (RDE)
SPD 24 ACC 100 INT 100 DISC 100 STR 100 TKL 62/100 STP 51/100 PR 77/100 RD 86/100

As you can see, these are the types that have LITERALLY everything, just not speed. Sexton needs about another Off Season Camp and maybe 4 Games to really reach that Potential of being a 'Better Powell' who is super great in everything except STR, which he's fine but not amazing at.

I've seen plenty of LB sacks, high pass rush and speed really seems to be key. It certainly pales in comparison to what DEs do in this game though.

So, Powell (who was a S and now a LB) might be best served moving to DE and just hauling **** at the QB?

The only real Trade Off is that I lose his Zone Coverage, but he's a Liability in M2M so it does hide a weakness as well.

Go for 2 Space Eaters who are insanely good but slow, and make the LDE a Speed Rush to destroy QBs? Instead of 3 Space Eaters of which 2 are insanely good.