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15 Questions: Jean Lefebvre

Ask almost any GM what is the most important aspect to building and maintaining a winning USAFL franchise and he will tell you that it's the College Draft. Making solid selections at every pick is every GM's goal. Every GM has good drafts and bad drafts, but there are a couple of GMs who seem to always come out of a draft shining. It's amazing that a native French Canadian who never owned an FBPRO game is one of those GMs.

Jean Lefebvre gained respect in this league rather quickly, taking over a dismal San Diego Chargers team and within a few seasons moved them to Tennessee. From then on the post-season was practically a regularity.

Over the past few seasons, Lefebvre has quietly amassed a boatload of first round draft picks for the 2031 College Draft. As of this article the Titans have a record eight selections. That evening will be a thing of beauty.

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TENNESSEE TITANS GM Jean Lefebvre

1. Congrats on an amazing season! In 2015, you made your first trip to the Super Bowl, defeating the Dallas Cowboys 20-17 in overtime. Then you made another trip in 2018, beating Dallas yet again, 21-14. You were a perfect 2 for 2 in Super Bowls. But it was twelve seasons since you last reached that height. How nervous were you about your chances in the 2029 Super Bowl?

I wasn't nervous at all. Honestly, I wasn't expecting to be in playoffs in 2029 after trading 6 players during last year off-season for future picks. (OL Niles Wilmsmeyer, OL Tommy Lucas, DL FP Matt Dodds, LB Anthony Santa, DB Harold Thomas and DB Erik Rice). Each post-season win was a bonus. My guys went out there without pressure and stepped on the field to have fun. We began a rebuilding process last season, 2029 success will not change my rebuilding plan.

2. The Titans were 8-6 last season and involved in a 5 team tie just to gain entrance to the post-season. You won the AFC Championship and for awhile there you had the NFC Champion Green Bay Packers against the ropes. Until they woke up in the 2nd quarter. How much of this Super Bowl loss do you think is due to your QB Knox Pritchard's two interceptions in that 2nd quarter?

I would lie by not saying those 2 turnovers weren't key plays in GB win. I must give credit to Packers management for their victory, the have put a great team on the field and will certainly still be a contender in 2030. I also don't think my team has underachieve in 2029. We simply weren't supposed to be there.

3. Your Titans did a fine job taking care of Denver and Buffalo, but I can't help not mentioning the obvious, weren't you planning on having the play the 12-2 Dolphins for the AFC title?

In my opinion, Dolphins were the best team in AFC in 2029. I was very surprised to see them lose against Denver, especially after beating DEN myself 22-0. Something has happened in sunshine state during playoffs. Was the team too old? Was there a lot of players with huge egos? That's a fact that 8 players left the team at the end of the season.

4. Just happened to notice your ENTIRE roster is back for the 2030 season. No one retired. Man, talk about player loyalty. These guys want to win a championship badly. But you are going to shuffle the deck some, aren't you? I know you at least will bring in a few rookies .....

I agree that my players showed a lot of loyalty. My current team chemistry is good, but I'm looking to add some good young talent. I made some changes this off-season in order to make room for some rookies. 2030 season is crucial for many Titans members. I will have to evaluate everyone this year, especially during training camp. Next year the team has 11 of the 54 College Draft picks, including a record 8 first round selections.

5. The Titans are going to stick with the I-formation for offense and the 4-3 defense schemes for the 2030 season. You've been running that combination since the 2028 season. My guess is that you are enjoying the success with those particular schemes? Are you partial to one scheme over another? Or do you change your schemes based on the trend of talent coming to play for Tennessee?

The Titans always had good running backs but never had coaching staff who could exploit it. USAFL all-time leading rusher Myron Hazelton would probably have benefit from our current coaching staff. We believe that are current running backs Wilber Dirks and Joe Auzenne should have good numbers in 2030

6. Let's go back into history a bit here. You joined the USAFL in the 2007 season. You were one of the "new generation" of GMs to join. In fact, you and Baltimore Ravens GM Martin Lemay signed up together. What brought you into our little world? And what intrigued you the most about the USA Sports leagues?

I wasn't new to sports league, I was active in baseball and hockey in other leagues. That's were met Joe Malloy and Tom Edwards (both USAFL GMs). I knew they were in a football league but never paid much attention to it. Fred Hurtubise was also an active member of USAFL, he brought me in. I was very impressed the first time I saw the USAFL website ... I thought it was a real league!

7. You are, as most of us have already learned, a French Canadian. English is not your native language, French is. How difficult was it, joining this American league and having to translate everything? Do you still have problems with it?

It isn't quite difficult for managing the team itself. Players ratings are numbers, and numbers are a universal language. But I agree language may be a problem when being very active in headlines and message board, I wish I could be more active.

8. Let's talk a bit about your relationship with Fred Hurtubise, the Arizona Cardinals GM. He is a personal friend of yours, in fact you guys go to CART and Formula 1 races together. Most of us are quite familiar with his intensely sarcastic humor. Gives us an insight to what he is really like offline .....

I consider Fred a very good friend. We used to be co-workers in the same company, when he left, we always kept in touch. We share a lot likes and dislikes. Music, sports, food, beer, Sesame Street, Mister Roger etc ... we're also both huge Warren Sapp fans :)

Fred is unselfish and is always there when you need help. He's a good guy to be with, he's funny and enjoys partying :)

By the way, for the benefit of every USAFLer knowing Fred now, I was the one who introduced Fred to fantasy games first !

9. In our league, there are several different levels of competiveness. Describe your competitive spirit when it comes to the USAFL. What keeps you involved?

Win, win and win. We're all here to try win championship. What keeps me involved ? When you have a bad team, you can always turn things around. What keeps me involved ? 'cause each season goes very quickly, we can see results of our work very soon (real days of calendar) ... and I almost forgot, I also must beat Baltimore and Arizona every game! :-)

10. What one feature of the USAFL would you say is by far, the best component to the league?

I would say all the automated scripts made by Garritt. Running fantasy leagues needs a lot of works for the commish, using these kind of tools is, in my opinion, a key of success and a long life to any fantasy league

11. If you could have any ACTIVE player on your team right now, who would it be?

Jean: Definitely GB running back Keith Gunn. I always liked very good running backs, as offense centerpiece, then build a strong offensive line.

12. Let's say you do make the Super Bowl this season, which team would you like to face?

I wish I could have played the Tampa Bay Buccaneers :)

13. How many of your family/friends know that you are a hard-core USAFLer? Do you talk about it with them? Or are you a closet USAFLer?

I'd say around 3-4 other people. I'm not talking much about USAFL to other people, except for future potential AGM.

14. Describe your environmental setting on a draft night. Do you draft from work/home? Do you order out for pizza/wings/etc? How much paperwork are you looking through to make your selection, or is all your scouting work done on the computer?

First, when I joined USAFL, I told my girlfriend that I now needed one free Monday night out of 3. She's calling it my "night of gambling". Normally I need around 3 hours of preparation for the draft. Doing Excel sheets, compare current rookies with previous years, rank players by position, then create an overall rank. Everything is done on my computer, as I don't like playing with paperwork in all my fantasy leagues. When draft is starting, I don't like to be disturbed, I don't want to miss anything :)

15. Which of the following would you rather have in your trophy case? One Lorne Sundby Cup, three James Maurer GM of the Year Awards, six AFC Championship trophies, four Bing Bennett Most Valuable Player Awards, five Tim Arkwright Rookie of the Year Awards, or ten AFC West Division Championship trophies?

I would say One Lorne Sundby Cup, especially after building a team from nothing.

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NEXT WEEK: Houston Texans GM Patrick Sicher