Nerfed "One and Done" Challenge discussion (spoilers likely)

[QuikSand]

See foundation thread: The "One And Done Challenge" Redux, with a QB/WR nerfed draft file. - Front Office Football Central

Since this hasn't really taken off, I thought maybe it would be better to have a segment here for people who have started/finished it, to offer discussion and spoilers.

[QuikSand]

I have not had a chance to get started, but I spent a few minutes looking at QB, just to give initial thought on whether to draft early there.

Looking at one guy in particular, and wondering if you might be able to make a decent team with him in the saddle.

[screen capture coming at some point]

Lindsay Vue

Thoughts? That's an interesting bar profile, but his lack of a good 3rd down rating might be a major problem if you plan to be a run-first team (especially if you decide to start with the RB at pick 1.1, which seems like a viable option to me).

Any thoughts?

More generally, it does seem like there are a number of high-sense-rush guys who might give you a shot to get away with a one-dimensional offensive line, which in this challenge might be of major value.

[QuikSand]

One thought that should help if you are a chemistry-inclined guy like me (well, I'm not sure anyone is really like me) -- you can load up your position leaders from within the 11-12 group after the draft (i.e. high leadership, high personality guys are fairly plentiful in that group). So, it may make sense to plan ahead with that as a working assumption... and to focus a bit more on your rookies in the 7-8 and 8-9 groups (birthdates between 7/24 and 9/23) and to avoid guys in the 6-7 group (birthdates between 6/22 and 7/23).

[Subby]

I tried this and it is REALLY hard. Which is good. I won one game in three seasons, so I am rebooting and will try again at some point this weekend.

[Ben E Lou]

I've completed six seasons and made the playoffs once. I screwed up one entire season by leaving playing time for starters at 50% until I noticed it around Week 14 or so, or we might have made the playoffs twice by now. The one playoff season was a 10-6 WC, so we're not exactly tearing it up. Year 6 was the WC year, so I'd assume that we'll improve a bit due to cohesion in our final four seasons.

[MRL17]

I loaded the file up but I must've missed the part about how you had to make a ton of trades to get enough draft picks. I got annoyed and never came back to it. Maybe I'll put some effort in one of these days...

[Julio Riddols]

Through 8 seasons now. We made the playoffs 3 straight years in years 4, 5 and 6, but the last couple seasons we have had brutal schedules. We finished 10-6 in year 7, then in year 8 went 8-8. Our division and the NFC in general are stacked, with 10-6 teams missing the postseason the last 2 years.

Our first round went as follows:

1.5 T Kevin Farris
1.18 RB Julian Little
1.22 SLB Bruce Mull

Going with the idea that we would build around the run game and defense first, then try and find a QB and receivers later, we currently have a win percentage of .569 going into season 9, and the run game is starting to die on me. We might get another 2 years out of this team. I am hoping year 9 will be our last stand and that we can at least be respectable if we can field a team in year 10.. We shall see.

[johnnyshaka]

I'm in the offseason prior to year 4 when it's time to re-up just about everybody to longer term deals...I just haven't had the time to sit down and get those deals done.

We went 8-8 in year 3 so there looks to be some good years ahead...hopefully.

[QuikSand]

I finally got underway last night, and finished season three today after finally settling on a QB. Managed an 8-8 record in year three, but have lost one of our first rounders to back-to-back knee blowouts.

[Yoda]

Just started this since I had 30 minutes free this morning. Made some trades and ended up with picks:
1.1, 1.12, 1.24, 2.1, 2.11, 2.23, 3.1, 3.15, 3.22, 4.1, 4.24, 5.1, 5.23, 6.1, 7.1

[Yoda]

For my QB, I think I am going to go with Peter Glover, I like his bars, interviews as underrated, has a 1 intelligence, and formations.

[Yoda]

I am wondering if it would be better to trade down and build up a lot of midround picks.... maybe I'll have to do this twice.

[Yoda]

Finally won a game, week 4- thanks to an interception returned for a TD and a blocked punt for a TD.

[Yoda]

Also got a 53 week compound leg fracture to my started NT.

[Yoda]

End of first season 3-13.

Peter Glover is 30/51- rating 63.7 10 TD 13 int 2322 yards passing

[Ben E Lou]

I posted from memory yesterday. I didn't realize that I lost one of my starting WRs to ACL Surgery in the WC Round of year 6. He will miss all of year 7. Ouch.

[QuikSand]

After a core of us complete a run, maybe this would make an interesting GroupThink project? Now that I see the post-draft pool, I could Imsgine building a platform of 30 or so cohesion and chemistry guys ( as noted above) to complement what talent we might build upon.

I have one LB I missed in the draft but who looks very competent, I'm sure there are numerous other nice guys I missed in my trip through... But perhaps after seeing it play out once each, we could build one perfect draft and FA complement and create a new starting point for purposes of gameplanning, etc.

[Ben E Lou]

Year 7 regular season complete. Had my first 1,000-yard WR. Woot! (1,023 ftw!!!)

[Ben E Lou]

No retirements after year 7. This is about where I figure it's time to start worrying about those. ACL WR is fully healed. WOOT!!!! Needed that 34/34 WR...

[Ben E Lou]

Lol. Both of my starting WRs from last year held out. One had 59 catches for 704 yards. The other was the "big-time" guy: 61 for 1023 and 5 TDs.

[Ben E Lou]

In year 8, my starting QB has his first year with >7 ypa. (He had 7.16.) So far his highest rating is 83.9. The team now has back-to-back division titles (13-3 followed by 10-6) but still hasn't won a playoff game yet.

[Ben E Lou]

...and the playoff winless string is broken with a win in the WC round of 2018. (Lost in divisional round.)

[Ben E Lou]

First retirement, beginning of Year 9.

Spoiler

I only carried 3 RBs. In retrospect, that sounds like it was a terrible idea. I'm one injury away from having to switch a CB or something to carrying the rock as RB2

[Ben E Lou]

Heh. Year 9 Cohesion..

[Ben E Lou]

I'm pretty sure that at the time I was in the other One N Done, I didn't understand as well (or at all) how cohesion worked. With my current understanding, I'm finding that I am Rexing the depth chart pretty much always. I can't find much of a reason to care whether my 25/25 backup or 27/27 backup steps in to start due to injury, or whether the 34/34 or the 31/31 guy starts.

[Ben E Lou]

YOwza. Four retirements after year 9 (13-3, lost in Conf. Championship). Down to 48, but I've got outstanding terf and a great Injury Avoidance HC, so I'm guessing I can make it through at least one more season.

[Ben E Lou]

Down to 41 after post-2020 retirements. I don't recall the specifics, but the last One N Done revealed that the docs in FOF aren't exactly correct as to what constituents the minimum number of players, so I'm going to go forward to see if it'll let me play on...

[Ben E Lou]

Nope. It won't let me continue. Done after 10 seasons.

2-13-1
4-12
6-10
5-11
8-8
10-6 (WC)
13-3 (DIV)
10-6 (DIV)
13-3 (CONF)
6-10

[MRL17]

Finally got through the initial offseason. I'm pretty happy with the team, although they sucked in the preseason. Already lost a DE for 17 weeks.

Preparing for the first real game now.

[Yoda]

Ended season 2 with a 5-11 record

Peter Glover ended the season as the 2nd highest rated QB at 87.1 with 2331 yards, 16 tds, 6 interceptions on 235 of 377 passing.

[Yoda]

Ended season 3 with a record of 7-9.

Glover dropped after TC to a 42/43 (from a 51/53), then went up during the season to a 45/45. He finished the season:
95.1 rating (4th in the league)
25 TD
8 ints
3224 yards
10.82 ypc
6.93 ypa

My best WR (John Reed 35/35) caught 55 passes (79 targets) for 600 yards.

I had 5 wrs with 43-59 catches (my RB is the one with 59 catches).

Since it is being talked about else where, my special teams:
PR 11.7 KR 30.0
OppPR 10.8 OppKR 16.7

[Yoda]

Starting season 4.

Glover went up to a 46/46 after TC.
Got a 53/53 WR- Salvatore Baker- picked him at 4.1, plus he's averaged 30+ yards per return the past 2 seasons.
All cohesions are 93 or higher.

[Yoda]

Well, was 9-4 and just lost my best corner (54/54) for 14 weeks with a high ankle sprain.

[Yoda]

And proceeded to get torched by the best passing team in the league for 355 yards and 3 tds in losing 41-19 *sigh*

[Yoda]

Sweetness.... just won the bowl 31-14.

[Yoda]

Season 4- won the bowl
Regular season 11-4
4-0 playoff run

Glover- stayed 46/46
87.4 rating (#7)
3086 yards
10.87 ypc
6.65 ypa
23 td
11 interceptions

Top Rusher
Claude Harris- 1338 yards (tied for 1st) on 298 carries 10 TDs
Also had 57 catches (71 targets) for 605 yards and 3 TDs

Top WR
Salvatore Baker- 69 catches (100 targets) 948 yards 6 TDs

As a side note- I like kickers... I tend to take kickers/punters WAY earlier than anyone else. That being said, I find this pretty humorous:
Calvin Lee K 18/18
acc 19
pwr 16
dist 26
htime 24
32 of 38 FGs
12 of 15 40-49
2 of 3 50+

[TRO]

I finished season 3 in my last session.
Year 1: 1-15
Year 2: 4-12
Year 3: 8-8

I went with a load up on middle round draft strategy myself.

Since the WRs all looked bad as expected, I went with the TE as my first pick, taking him at #9. He's been good and his ratings look great, but he hasn't dominated like I was hoping for.

As for QBs, I picked up 5 between the draft and UDFAs:
Glover
Gore
Soares
Vickery
Vue.

Vue ended up getting cut but I was definitely intrigued by him.

Glover is turning into a solidly rated QB, but his performance has been awful for me. 34 TD - 49 INT in first 3 seasons.

I think I need to try a different BEL gameplan in year 4 of this dynasty.

[aston217]

Originally Posted by Ben E Lou

I'm pretty sure that at the time I was in the other One N Done, I didn't understand as well (or at all) how cohesion worked. With my current understanding, I'm finding that I am Rexing the depth chart pretty much always. I can't find much of a reason to care whether my 25/25 backup or 27/27 backup steps in to start due to injury, or whether the 34/34 or the 31/31 guy starts.

Can you elaborate? Did you use to think player ratings had an effect on cohesion? I mean, in this case, all your players have the same amount of years on the team, right, so I'm not sure what aspect of cohesion you are talking about...

[Ben E Lou]

Originally Posted by aston217

Can you elaborate? Did you use to think player ratings had an effect on cohesion? I mean, in this case, all your players have the same amount of years on the team, right, so I'm not sure what aspect of cohesion you are talking about...

In the past, I ill-advisedly used "football logic." I thought that cohesion took into account the actual ntime that a unit had played together as starters, or at least the number of games played. It doesn't. It simply uses the "On Team" number. If you have a guy who has been your QB3 for 5 years and never played a snap and he gets into a game, he gets the exact same cohesion benefit that the guy who has started every regular season, preseason, and playoff game for 5 years gets.

[Erik Holland]

Originally Posted by QuikSand

See foundation thread: The "One And Done Challenge" Redux, with a QB/WR nerfed draft file. - Front Office Football Central

Since this hasn't really taken off, I thought maybe it would be better to have a segment here for people who have started/finished it, to offer discussion and spoilers.

Sorry, but what do do with the picks you get after season 3?

[QuikSand]

Originally Posted by Erik Holland

Sorry, but what do do with the picks you get after season 3?

I trade them away to some random team, some people just don't sign their rookies, I don't think it matters. Point it you are not adding any more players to your team after the first offseason.

[QuikSand]

For what it's worth... a mature team in this challenge might provide a great platform for testing the value of cohesion. Since after ~8 years we will be fielding a cohesion monster, what if you cut and resigned most of the team, resetting that value for "Joined Team" to the current year. So, same team, same players... and I bet the low-cohesion version would be a dreadful mess, while the high cohesion team remains at least viable, if not a winner.

[QuikSand]

I made it through 10 seasons, here are the splits:

2-14
2-14
8-8
11-7
7-9
11-6
12-5
11-6
9-7
3-13

A whopping 1-4 total in the playoffs keeps me from any bonus points at all (despite two bye teams), so we end up with 43+76=120 points.

Decided that the key player for the whole thing was to get TE Barfield (who posted nearly 7,000 yards for us), we got him with pick 1.10. Stunned to see the top RB Claude Harris still there,we took him at pick 1.13 (he had injury issues, but did manage a nearly 2,000 total yards season in our final year).

DE Erin Gilliland at 1.18 was a multiple all-pro pick as our only legit pass rusher, 1.21 LB Bruce Mull was crippled early and rode the bench, 2.01 CB Ricky Bruns became very good (33 int, 83.1 career PD%), and 2.12 FB Frank King was a pretty good TE2 for us (4,100 yards). My top drafted WR was 3.13 lance Hammond, who had one couple good season before serious injuries wiped him out for good.

I drafted QB Glover (like others, apparently) at 3.1, but for some reasson fiddled around with other guys in the first few years. Still ended up pretty solid - nearly 32,000 yards and a 195/135 ratio, but only 5.9 ypa.

I ran a 2TE offense, with formationm modifications necessitated by the QB limits. Not sure if I learned anything much about it.

[QuikSand]

Among the minor observations from this -- I love when stuff like this happens. In my last season or two, I had two RB injuries, necessitating a position switch. I sent a reserve CB over to play RB, and with my thin depth there, he actually got slotted to play a fair bit. And, of course, this guy rated something like 0/2 at RB manages to post stats (in a non-trivial 100 or so carries) that were something like 4.3 yards per carry and zero fumbles (more or less what I'd expect from my legit non-stud RB in this system).

Love that stuff. Wonder if we collectively agonize way too much over the value of that 32/32 guy over the 23/23 guy in this game.

[Alf]

Originally Posted by QuikSand

Wonder if we collectively agonize way too much over the value of that 32/32 guy over the 23/23 guy in this game.

That's what is not user intuitive there. Performance to ratings ratio does not seem to be "linear" but kind of "logarithmic".