The 2002 draft was very good for both Mayhem and Maulers. Maulers picked third and drafted Priest Holmes, Isaac Bruce and Tiki Barber to go along with keepers Terrell Owens, Kevin Johnson and a returning-from-IR Jamal Lewis. Mayhem picked sixth and got Fred Taylor, Brett Favre and Hines Ward to go along with keepers Torry Holt, Travis Henry and Laveranues Coles. But none of those would be the most remembered pick of that draft.
With the next to last pick in the 10th round, Little Feats selected R. Jay Soward.
R. Jay Soward (WR) was a first round draft pick of Jacksonville in 2000 out of USC. For his entire NFL career he played in 13 games, with two starts, all in the 2000 season. He had 14 catches for 154 yards and one TD.
In June 2001, Soward was suspended four games for violating the league’s substance abuse policy. In October he was suspended six more games for a second violation. After being inactive for a game, he was suspended indefinitely by the Jags for the remainder of the 2001 season, and was suspended for the entire 2002 season by the NFL for his third violation of the substance abuse policy. He was released by the Jags before the 2002 season and was not signed by another team.
To reiterate, at the time of the 2002 CFFL draft, Soward 1) hadn’t played in over a year, 2) was halfway through a two year suspension, and 3) was not signed to an NFL roster. But somehow he was picked in the 10th round.
My recollection is that the rest of us took a few seconds to process what we’d heard, and I’m sure my reaction was something akin to “Okaaaay … “. But unlike Randy’s attempt to draft a retired Barry Sanders a few years earlier, this time no one suggested that we give Feats’ owner a mulligan. We had gotten much tougher in four short years.
There were 49 picks after Feats took Soward, including Jeremy Shockey, Robert Ferguson, Santana Moss, Donald Driver, Marcus Robinson and Drew Brees.
As for the 2002 season, Mayhem and Maulers both finished 10-4, with Mayhem grabbing the #1 seed by winning the head-to-head matchup between the teams. Both teams eked out narrow wins in the semi-finals to meet in the championship game, with Mayhem once again topping Maulers to claim their second CFFL title.
Both teams reloaded in the 2003 draft and continued their imitation of Cowboys/49ers. Their much-anticipated regular season matchup ended in a tie, which gave 11-2-1 Maulers the #1 seed. Mayhem settled for the #2 seed despite a franchise best record of 10-3-1.
Alas, the titanic championship game rematch between the two teams was not to be, as #7 Big Guns upset #2 Mayhem in the first round of the playoffs. With the #5 and #6 seeds also winning, Maulers path to the championship was clear, and after three postseason blowout wins Maulers claimed their first CFFL title.
The Mayhem/Maulers era ended the next year when both teams lost in the 2004 semi-finals. They met in the first round in 2005 with Mayhem winning (of course), but that year was notable for being the start of the greatest dynasty in CFFL history.
Ruminations & Cogitations 
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