The frugal offense: how to make the biggest bang for your bucks

[HornedFrog Purple]

The following is an outline of how to put together a cheap, effective offense that has worked for me. Although the forward pass is an abortion of football, you must use it in FOF because the all-run offense doesn't work too well.

1. Quarterback: This is really the one you have to spend bucks on. But it is a lot cheaper to develop your own, or check free agency for other teams projects. I have drafted 2 quarterbacks in the 1st round and done fine, but in the 4th or 5th you can draft one and make a nice backup out of him.

2. Running backs: Use the running back by committee approach. Every running back I have ever drafted or signed has been no better than 48. The key to this is you don't need a superback. In fact I have one rated 36 with 9000+ yards for his career thus far. Just get a guy who excels at what your offensive line does. For instance, if your guards are good, hole recognition is a good one. Try to get a guy with good endurance. Now you can have 3 of these types for the price of a superback.

3. Offensive Line: This is pretty simple. Scour the freeagent market for other teams young retreads. Suppliment this with your own picks 3rd-5th round. The key being you don't need a 80 for any of your linemen to do well in the running game. I have 40s and 50s all across the line with 40 and 50s backups. This makes your line very interchangeable in case of injury. Play your young guys in games you think you should win once in a while. As you rotate, none of them will want high dollar come contract time. If they do, repeat the process and stick the next guy in. What makes this difficult for the team you are playing is they can't key on one area where you want to run the ball, you can run to any side at any time and maintain a similar degree of success as long as the backs you use fit your line's strengths.

4. Tight ends and WR: You can dominate with a good pair of tight ends, a good fullback and 1 decent wideout. Tight ends are relatively cheap and their contribution far outweighs the cost of a super WR or a pair of them. Now you can get a nice receiver (50ish) and sign other teams retreads. The principal is the same as offensive line. When you get receivers, look at them like you do the running backs. If they excel at certain things, grab them. Then grab another receiver who excels in something different. This is done to keep the other team off-balance.

Tight ends and a great fullback (who can be drafted 2nd or 3rd round) can dominate a passing game just as well as 2 super WR's, at a substantial discount.

All said you can spend about 35-40% of your cap on your offense and splurge on your defense if you want to. Plus you have room to sign that extra special free agent on either side of the ball if you want.

Tomorrow probably, I will discuss the frugal defense and how to make the biggest bang for your buck. The ideas are similar with a little variation.

[Subby]

With the FOFL draft pool being released today, this is incredibly timely and useful.

Thanks!