FOF 2007 GroupThink (season five)

[TRO]

I'll look through what I can tonight but I need to get a feel for what happened with this patch.

[Barkeep49]

Can we slow this a bit? I'm really having trouble digesting this patch and the changes it means. I know that's part of what we're supposed to be doing here and since I want to like this game slowing down hopefully would let me figure out WTF is happening.

[Tasan]

I usually can't get on during the week til about 7:30 cst. Its amazing to me that I work as a programmer but get no internet access. What would I do but spend my time here anyway, which would lead to a quick end to my job.

Anyway, I've got to get the patch and take a look at things. What does the top 10 for the draft look like? ANY qbs?

[QuikSand]

The QB position in this draft looks like a vast wasteland.

[TRO]

Think I'm at a standstill myself. Uggh.

[Narcizo]

So, I'm trying to look at Artie the Smarty, and figure out what we make of him now, with the new light being shed on the meaning of red/green bars and the "experience level:" rating. Artie is rated 61/61 by our scout now, with hardly any green showuing above his current red bars. But in his experience picture, I see him being only about 50% developed.

I guess that means that when we condier his current ability, it's more or less like he's an old-style 30/60 player, who would still have had a lot of green left in his bars, and not so much red.


This is my interpretation as well. Our scout is clearly overestimating his current ability. (Or underestimating his future ability and he's actually got 120 there :D - or possibly somewhere inbetween) Either way we have to play him. I don't know what conclusions we should draw from Abrams either. He scouts as maxed out but only has 50% experience. Either his current is way lower than it looks (which, given his performance, seems unlikely) or his potential is seriously under-valued by our scout and should be up around the 70 mark.

Disappointing to see that the all-star punter seems to be decided by who's punted the furthest, rather than on averages. With our current performance Billy Joe Ludwig can expect to win the award a lot more.

To be honest I'm still coming to terms with the patch and that's going to take some time to digest.

[Narcizo]

If we use the #1 pick I think we have to take Harmon. It's tough to decide whether to stick with Mr Bust or get in yet another defensive tackle. We have a lot of money tied into Szymanski and he's an adequate starter but I can't see the AI recognising the enormous gap between the #1 and #2 pick and responding differently to trade proposals as a result. I've never seen one player so utterly dominate the draft boards.

That leaves the prospect of moving back to a 4-3 (Knoll at MLB, Dux at WLB?) or having a very expensive back-up at NT. I guess you can argue that cap costs really aren't an issue with the team so there's no reason not to have a fantastically expensive back-up.

[Narcizo]

I thought it would be interesting to see how the patch effected the guys I've been tracking. First number is their ratings immediately post-draft, the next is their ratings at the moment. I intend to try and pick some test cases again and follow them now that the patch has been applied (although hopefully the scouted ratings will change again fairly soon with a new patch).


QB Ricardo McConnell 5.5 21-50 43-51<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o:p></o:p>
QB Jerome Kirk 4.9 13-51 28-48<o:p></o:p>
QB Edward Caldwell* 4.6 11-28 -----<o:p></o:p>
QB Aaron McCartney 6.2 24-65 43-54<o:p></o:p>
QB James Groza 5.9 30-65 45-55<o:p></o:p>
RB Ed England 4.6 29-48 28-38<o:p></o:p>
RB Austin Hagglund 5.1 40-56 42-46<o:p></o:p>
RB Allen Dawson 4.4 28-52 30-46<o:p></o:p>
WR Billy Joe Arderko 6.3 39-71 74-74<o:p></o:p>
WR Lenny Strong 4.1 16-56 28-41<o:p></o:p>
WR Stanley Tyler 4.3 15-43 24-32<o:p></o:p>
WR Bryant Zeutschel 4.4 28-38 34-34<o:p></o:p>
C Adrian Hansen^ 4.5 16-64 23-43<o:p></o:p>
LG Shawn Wolfe^ 5.2 24-60 33-33<o:p></o:p>
LT Courtney Free 7.2 50-83 78-82<o:p></o:p>
DE Tito Martin 5.4 32-71 40-53<o:p></o:p>
DE Cory Baumann 4.7 21-50 26-35<o:p></o:p>
DE Conrad Deighton 4.4 13-50 33-44<o:p></o:p>
DT Nathan Patterson 4.4 21-46 23-41<o:p></o:p>
DT Leland Howard 5.5 33-61 38-38<o:p></o:p>
DT Casey Goguen 4.9 22-61 42-53<o:p></o:p>
DT Billy Joe Hicks 5.1 22-33 40-40<o:p></o:p>
ILB Rodney Rockwell 6.8 54-72 87-87<o:p></o:p>
SLB Sammie Lake 5.2 27-54 35-42<o:p></o:p>
CB Bart Blaisse 4.2 18-53 17-30<o:p></o:p>
CB Clifton Shepherd 5.1 33-55 40-40<o:p></o:p>
CB Percy Lochner 6.7 61-72 69-69<o:p></o:p>
SS Kenneth Kirk* 5.2 11-28 35-38<o:p></o:p>
FS Kirk Blackwell 5.3 26-64 21-31<o:p></o:p>
<o:p></o:p>
<o:p></o:p>
High Scout/Low Combine<o:p></o:p>
<o:p></o:p>
QB Donnell Flannery 4.0 16-50 -----<o:p></o:p>
C <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" /><st1:place>Troy</st1:place> Groce 5.1 30-67 36-44<o:p></o:p>
RT Jumbo <st1:City><st1:place>Rogers</st1:place></st1:City> 5.8 32-69 51-51<o:p></o:p>
DT Kenneth Cassidy 5.5 45-78 67-69<o:p></o:p>
FS Roger Kinsella 4.8 20-65 38-58<o:p></o:p>
<o:p></o:p>
Low Scout/High Combine<o:p></o:p>
<o:p></o:p>
RB Pete Copeland 6.8 28-43 75-75<o:p></o:p>
WR Artie Markiewicz 4.0 12-13 61-61<o:p></o:p>
LG Jeffrey Hobert 3.8 9-36 -----<o:p></o:p>
DE Leland Hopper 3.7 10-20 -----<o:p></o:p>
CB Mack Pringley 5.1 24-39 -----<o:p></o:p>
FS Seth Jackson 5.6 18-28 -----<o:p></o:p>
<o:p></o:p>
High Scout/Combine<o:p></o:p>
WR Ricardo Ashraf 4.6 26-63 44-55<o:p></o:p>


Of course how much the current ratings means is debatable. My guess is that most of them fall somewhere between the current rating in the first column and the current rating in the second.

I think Copeland is an interesting case. Anyone used to FOF2004 who drafted him in the first round would initially think that he was a huge bust. Of course, in reality, he would probably have been drafted late 2nd/early 3rd and the owner who picked him would have been congratulating himself on his shrewd drafting skills. His great combines pushed him right up the draft board into the first round and it looks like that was right. One advantage of the patch is that Copeland will almost certainly be the Jags' starter next year instead of Kurt Kaplan. At least, I hope so.

So, it seems that SkyDog's comment about the importance of good combines is correct. The great scout/poor combine blokes might not really be a good test case as I don't think, in retrospect, that their combines were that bad. More interesting is the fate of true great scout/poor combine players Adrain Hansen and Shawn Wolfe who have plummeted catastophically. The lesson is clear. You ignore combine results at your peril. Meaning that players who don't enter the combine should fall down the draft boards in MP leagues.

[Narcizo]

When it comes to free agents I think we owe the long-suffering fans of Texarcana some flashy names to get excited about.

Westbrook is a no-go but what about his back-up for the Cardinals, Pete Robinson? None of our running backs are going to amount to anything and even if we're taking the long-term view then running back is one of the last pieces we need to put in place. I think Robinson will give our offence a bit more respectability. Perhaps we could stand to beef up our secondary as well. If we limit ourselves to affinity players then, as QS mentioned, Jeff Henry might be worth a shout despite his injury record.

And it looks like we need a RB team leader. Leslie Schultz has a conflict with Graham Terry - and he's demanding a trade (which is a nice touch). I think we'll have to get rid of Schultz and bring in another QB mentor. We'll have to dump Terry as well (who has 82 leadership) and get the "right" kind of guy in. It's hard to tell, with his leadership, but Andre Erickson might fit the bill as a team leader. (and might be a starter for us, unless we get someone better in).

[QuikSand]

And it looks like we need a RB team leader.

Probably got buried in my uninterrupted comments yesterday, but I still support re-signing Aranda here -- he's a weak leader, but the only guy out there who stays in line with the rest of the team in our coordinated effort, plus he'd bring two affinites with current players.

If we want to abandon the entire cooridnated leadership concept, that's fine - but I'd rather we realize what we're doing if so. We tried to be very deliberate about all this - and it has added a lot to simplifying this stuff. (I candidly had thought it would be a real help to everyone, but I overestaimed the number of people who would be paying attention to such things)

[Narcizo]

No I saw you said that, I just think that Andre Erickson would be better.

My posts are in a bit of a mess as the number of edits shows.

[QuikSand]

No I saw you said that, I just think that Andre Erickson would be better.

Gotcha, now that I have the game open, I see.

Yes, Erickson is more likley to make some on-field contribution. He would be an even weaker leader, though, than Aranda (5th year 54 Ldr 43 Pers, versus 9th year 60 Ldr, 86 Pers). If we think that the minor addition in on-field contriubution we'd get from Erickson is worth it, I'm definitely fine with that. I don't see it - I think either guy is likely to be a fringe player for us at most, thus my continued support for Aranda.

But I'm glad to see we're not really at cross purposes.

[Narcizo]

Well, the problem with Arande is that he is likely to retire at the end of this year, leaving us with the same problem again next year. Erickson would be our starter, presuming we don't go out and get a shinier running back and some improvement over anything we've so far been able to do. Ok personality 43 isn't ideal but I would have thought loyalty 99 and wants winner 0 is a perfect match for our franchise.

[Narcizo]

I think it's worth pointing out that the draft will probably now function a bit differently from how it did before the patch. Basically interview results should be a bit more meaningful than they were, while scouting results should be a bit more accurate (althogh not infallible).

[QuikSand]

I think I could get behind using Erickson as our starter. I'm not wild about it, but I guess you're right - he probably is better than Graham Terry.

[Narcizo]

No, I'm not overly happy about him starting as running back either. I think we might want to consider trading down to get a first round RB in the draft or sign Robinson. However I think he's defintely good enough to be a back-up running back, which is still an important position as he'll see a lot of carries.

[QuikSand]

If we use the #1 pick I think we have to take Harmon. It's tough to decide whether to stick with Mr Bust or get in yet another defensive tackle. We have a lot of money tied into Szymanski and he's an adequate starter but I can't see the AI recognising the enormous gap between the #1 and #2 pick and responding differently to trade proposals as a result. I've never seen one player so utterly dominate the draft boards.

That leaves the prospect of moving back to a 4-3 (Knoll at MLB, Dux at WLB?) or having a very expensive back-up at NT. I guess you can argue that cap costs really aren't an issue with the team so there's no reason not to have a fantastically expensive back-up.

The other sensible option might be to just cut bait on Szymanski, and take the big cap hit in a year where we probably won't feel it (next year). That's my leaning, if we use the 1.1 pick on the presumably good DT.

[Narcizo]

I really like the look of Dusty Farrell and Paul Velthoen. Farrell looks like a carbon-copy of Copeland in 2007. I know Velthoen isn't the ideal west coast back, but I think we can start to think outside of that box now.

However I think that Harmon looks like a one in a generation player in his position. We'd have to get a whole lot out of a deal in order to trade out from picking him.

[Narcizo]

I'm thinking I'll throw out some names I'm interested in before I have to go.

CB Korey Kramer looks like a cornerback version of Markiewicz. I know the new patch might make that harder to swallow but his comine scores and low development seem to fit the pattern.

In a similar vein S Stan Fletcher. Looks like he'll take a long time to develop. Time that we do have.

[QuikSand]

So.... where were we?

[QuikSand]

Texarkana Armadillos Roster, Scout Overview

Player # Pos Start Exp Current Estimate Future Estimate Cntrct
Burks, Howard 1 QB 3 23 23 1 yr.
Tellez, Stan 16 QB 2 20 49 2 yrs
Schultz, Leslie 19 QB 8 15 30 1 yr.
Greene, Anthony 49 RB 3 32 42 ---
Terry, Graham 47 RB 2 31 43 2 yrs
Marlin, Norm 36 RB 2 22 35 1 yr.
Foreman, Zack 39 FB 3 27 43 ---
Holmes, Harvey 48 TE 9 64 64 ---
Diaz, Eric 87 TE 6 61 61 1 yr.
Lang, Johnnie 80 TE 3 37 52 ---
Cushing, Roosevelt 89 FL 3 33 39 ---
Markiewicz, Artie 88 FL 3 31 42 1 yr.
Ballard, Burt 86 SE 2 47 59 3 yrs
Hall, Daniel 85 SE 3 30 30 ---
Woodson, Grady 84 SE 11 24 24 1 yr.
El Nino, Leland 50 C 10 47 47 1 yr.
Pascal, Marco 66 LG 2 52 69 2 yrs
Warren, Tarlos 62 LG 3 21 31 ---
Wallace, Bert 71 LG 2 20 48 1 yr.
Yardley, Carlton 63 LG 7 17 33 1 yr.
Aiston, Sherman 69 RG 7 36 36 ---
Bickler, Jonathan 68 LT 3 63 83 3 yrs
Hindman, Jason 60 LT 2 21 29 1 yr.
DeLamielleure, Kent 65 RT 3 35 35 ---
Cote, Bruce 76 RT 10 11 11 1 yr.
Ludwig, Billy Joe 17 P 3 36 36 ---
Whiting, Neil 15 K 3 52 54 ---
Zimmerman, Amos 58 LDE 2 37 61 2 yrs
Altuna, Albert 78 RDE 8 40 40 1 yr.
Lopes, Brant 95 RDE 2 28 56 2 yrs
Burks, Corwin 94 NT 13 41 41 1 yr.
Szymanski, Wendell 75 NT 2 40 40 4 yrs
Forbes, Julio 70 NT 8 32 32 ---
Bobo, Artie 90 NT 3 24 24 1 yr.
Knoll, Leland 53 SILB 3 38 38 ---
Polko, Kevin 91 SILB 9 34 37 ---
Crumley, Rickey 55 SILB 2 33 52 1 yr.
Dux, Brett 93 WILB 3 51 56 1 yr.
Samuels, Lamont 54 WILB 9 40 40 ---
Booker, Doug 51 SLB 3 25 43 2 yrs
Abrams, Shaun 92 SLB 3 25 36 2 yrs
Pinero, Rufus 57 WLB 8 46 46 ---
Belanger, Grady 59 WLB 9 32 33 1 yr.
Gerak, Howie 26 LCB 11 37 37 1 yr.
Hickman, Carlos 25 LCB 2 24 34 1 yr.
Schiller, Percy 21 RCB 13 24 24 1 yr.
Spearman, Nicky 24 RCB 3 23 23 1 yr.
Dole, Tito 46 RCB 3 20 28 ---
Steidl, Deion 23 SS 2 23 43 2 yrs
Curtin, Winston 22 SS 2 16 43 1 yr.
Wolfe, Shannon 42 FS 7 50 50 1 yr.
Clements, Heath 44 FS 3 21 35 ---

$$ - player is suspended, ## - player is inactive,
** = player is injured, %% - player is on IR.

Players Under Contract: 34
Inactive: 0
On Active Roster: 34

Salary Cap: $119,100,000
Cap Room: $72,630,000
Maximum for New Player: $63,150,000
Cap Room Lost (to old contracts): $40,000

Cap Room Lost Next Year (to old contracts): $0
Cap Room Required Next Year: $26,870,000



My plan is to basically try to ignore what we might have learned from the brief time in the 6.0a patch, and instead to just go from here. If you have been following, but would still prefer to wait and soak in the new patch, please make that known -- I'd hate for this transition to turn into a real problem for participation.

We're sitting "on the clock": with pick 1.1, and this selection/trade could be a pretty defining decision for the franchise. I don't want to do it all alone.

[Narcizo]

I say, "Pick him".

[QuikSand]

That's my feeling too, and we have waited a pretty long time to see if anyone out there feels otherwise.

Any other rookie interviews that you';d like me to conduct? I'm fine going ahead -- if nobody cares, I will probably do a searcxh by % Developed and look for good skills matches or affinities as the targets for the last 15-20 interviews we have left.

[JeffW]

If we use the #1 pick I think we have to take Harmon. It's tough to decide whether to stick with Mr Bust or get in yet another defensive tackle. We have a lot of money tied into Szymanski and he's an adequate starter but I can't see the AI recognising the enormous gap between the #1 and #2 pick and responding differently to trade proposals as a result. I've never seen one player so utterly dominate the draft boards.

In FOF 2k4 SP, you could get far above chart value trading down from the top spots. I created house rules banning me from making any trades, but IIRC you could trade 1(1) and say 6(1) for 1(2), 2(2), 3(2), 4(2), 5(2). You could do pretty much the same trading down from 1(2)->1(3). Is that still the case in 2k7?

[Narcizo]

The thing is, looking at the draft class, I'm not even sure that would be a good deal. 1.2 isn't a great lot of use to us.

Ok that's a bit of an exaggaration but I'm hopeful that the game will have stopped those sorts of exploits.

[JeffW]

The thing is, looking at the draft class, I'm not even sure that would be a good deal. 1.2 isn't a great lot of use to us.

I haven't had time to install the groupthink universe yet(will tonight), but if the #1 player is that much better than #2 I'd just take him. Mid-late picks aren't as valuable in fof 2k7, so you're probably not missing much.

Screen shot?

[QuikSand]

Adding to the case to just use the pick at #1 is that New Orleans, who sits at #2, definitely doesn't have a strong DT corps that might persuade them to go elsewhere. If we cede the top pick, I see no way that we still get our guy -- and that's the only outcome that I think is acceptable from this draft perch.

I'll fill out our interviews and start the draft shortly.

[KWhit]

The thing is, looking at the draft class, I'm not even sure that would be a good deal. 1.2 isn't a great lot of use to us.

Ok that's a bit of an exaggaration but I'm hopeful that the game will have stopped those sorts of exploits.

Yes, and I'm not interested in trying to screw the AI with that type of deal. I say we take the stud DT.

I'm not sure what to do with Szymanski yet, though. At first, I thought we should just cut him to free up cap space down the line, but I'm not sure on that. I need to take another look at his contract first.

[JeffW]

I'm installing 6.0b now and I'll add the GT universe and see if I can contribute anything.

[JeffW]

All I see when I open the draft preview is gobbledegook. Any idea how to fix this? The roster and free agents seem to be working fine

[QuikSand]

Make sure that you get the file from the start of the 2009 season, not just the first and last files. That caused problems for folks before.

[JeffW]

He could be a red herring, but I like FA LDE Rondell Clemons skills and his salary demands are low.

I think we should try to sign some WRs and CBs. Yikes, our passing game(sub-4 yards/attempt?!?) and pass defense has been horrific.

[JeffW]

Make sure that you get the file from the start of the 2009 season, not just the first and last files. That caused problems for folks before.

I'm pretty sure I did, I'll try redoing everything. The only thing that is screwed up is the draftee names list.

[QuikSand]

Another big question before we get to the draft -- other than signing a new position leader at RB. Do we want to pursue other veteran players? Or just keep building from within, and focus playing time on our young, developing players?

This has been sitting out there for a while, and while a couple of us have done sone veteran scouting, nobody has really offered an opinion on what we want to do in this regard.

[JeffW]

Draftee name list is screwed up, but there is a RCB with 4.43 40, 14 BP, 7.00 Agi, 9'0 Broad Jump whose adjusted grade is only 4.3. I think we should try to get him later in the draft.

Also of some interest is a 4.7 adj with a 4.58 dash, 19 reps, 7.08 agi, 9-10 broad. I hope you guys see who I'm talking about. I'd like to see them both on the roster as they look like huge values to me. Where do 4.3 adjusted usually go in FOF 2k7?

I also see a SE 4.43 40, 13 bp, 7.05 agi, 9'3 broad--looks like a sleeper. 4.9 adj. grade

Is it just me or are combine number inflated from FOF 2k4?


Let me know if this is too awkward... I couldn't fix the draft unfortunately.

[QuikSand]

Draftee name list is screwed up, but there is a RCB with 4.43 40, 14 BP, 7.00 Agi, 9'0 Broad Jump whose adjusted grade is only 4.3. I think we should try to get him later in the draft.

Also of interest is a 4.7 adj with a 4.58 dash, 19 reps, 7.08 agi, 9-10 broad. I hope you guys see who I'm talking about. I'd like to see them both on the roster as they look like huge values to me. Where do 4.3 adjusted usually go in FOF 2k7?

I also see a SE 4.43 40, 13 bp, 7.05 agi, 9'3 broad--looks like a sleeper. 4.9 adj. grade

Let me know if this is too awkward... I couldn't fix the draft unfortunately.

First guy is CB Korey Kramer, second is WR Johnny Waters. I will interview them both.

[JeffW]

Are we sold on Stan Tellez as our QB of the future? I think his ratings look pretty but that 0 Sense Rush is going to limit his effectiveness. Last year he took 55 sacks even though our line appears geared toward pass blocking.

There is a 5.5 Adj QB. 4.77 40, 9 BP, 7.65 Agi, 8'9 BJ, 70 position drill, 34% developed. He has really nice blue bars. His intelligence is only 38/100 and he is a Short Passes QB(not my favorite), unfortunately.

Oh... this might screw with the triple affinity idea you guys had going, if so, just ignore me.

[QuikSand]

I'm not at all sold on Tellez. I guess he's the best we have on hand right now, and I won't be miserable if we suffer through another year with him, but I'm certainly open to drafting a rookie QB (again) or even signing a veteran free agent.

[KWhit]

He has really nice blue bars. I think he's worth taking a look at even though his combine isn't particularly stellar.

Danger! Danger, Will Robinson, Danger!

:)

I haven't even looked at the guy yet, so I'm not knocking the guy (or you, btw), but this statement scares me. We'll have to continue to keep an eye on things, but these type of guys seem to underwhelm and slip into mediocrity (never reach their potential).

[JeffW]

Danger! Danger, Will Robinson, Danger!

:)

I haven't even looked at the guy yet, so I'm not knocking the guy (or you, btw), but this statement scares me. We'll have to continue to keep an eye on things, but these type of guys seem to underwhelm and slip into mediocrity (never reach their potential).

I know... this guy is so tempting, though. He's 34% developed too. Obviously, it's up to the group, I just thought we should at least give him a look. His name is Earl Irwin:

http://img469.imageshack.us/img469/8982/qbearlirwinno1.jpg

I fixed the draft! The trick is you need to make sure and import not only the start of 2009, but the first free agency stage as well(presumably when the draft names are created/exported?).

[KWhit]

I agree that Tellez is not the future of this franchise (and I personally hope he's not the present)....

I'll have to open up the game and check this guy out. He's worth an interview though, for sure.

[JeffW]

RG Ken Briges looks like a monster. 5.1 dash, 42 BP, 7.7 Agi, 5.3 grade. I don't have a feel for where he'll end up going in the draft, though. Would he be able to convert to RT according to those position bars? Just throwing him out there.

RB Brenden Crangle might be worth a look. 4.55 40, 20 BP, 7.27 Agi, 9'7 Broad. 5.1 grade, skills look pretty good. He's a step down from the RBs we've interviewed, but should be available quite a bit later.

WILB Joel Powenski looks like a steal. 4.74 40, 24 BP, 7.38 Agi, good blue bars and only 4.9 adjusted grade.

WLB Dan Gantt looks good. 4.57, 22, 7.29, 9'8 Broad Jump. Excellent blue bars. 5.3 Adjusted.

[QuikSand]

Okay, I am out of interviews... update ocming very shortly.

[QuikSand]

2009 Free Agency

We put in a number of player pursuits, and go out and bring aboard a number of new potential Dillos:

QB Harry Nelson – fairly young QB mentor, decent fit with skills
RB Andre Erickson – decent RB, potential position leader
RB Marc Aranda – previous position leader, RB mentor
T Andy Winters – playable OT, affinity guy
CB Jeff Henry – playable CB, affinity guy

I didn’t commit lots of bonus money to anyone, so these are basically reversible decisions, in case we decide to stay youth-focused – it’s easier to cut guys we have signed than to wish we had signed them in the first place.

At RB, I signed Aranda just in case we need him as a mentor. I’m basically sold on Erickson as the better fit overall, but if we find a youngster we like, we might rather have the mentorship of Aranda.

Along the way, Atlanta signs away two of our veteran players, LB Lamont Samuels and TE Harvey Holmes. Nobody indicated any interest in re-signing either guy, so I’m not too worried there.


We re-sign many of our better young players, and head into the draft with exactly 53 players on contract. A 7-pick draft would bring us right to the limit of 60, though I do think we have a few potential veteran cuts we could make to make room for more signings. Looks like a decent spot to be in, though, for right now.

I conducted a number of additional rookie interviews, and got us to the rookie draft… where we’re up first.

[QuikSand]

Draft Progress

1. Texarkana - Harmon, Junior, DT, California
2. New Orleans - Rockett, Edwin, WR, Iowa
3. San Diego - Francis, Louis, T, Assumption
4. Pittsburgh - Farrell, Dusty, RB, Mississippi State
5. Detroit - Rollin, Randal, T, Washington State
6. Cincinnati - Grudich, Luke, QB, Vanderbilt
7. Cincinnati - Sutter, Jermaine, CB, Stanford
8. Kansas City - Lucas, Roger, TE, Syracuse
9. New Jersey - Bronson, Jamie, OLB, Fresno State
10. Washington - Velthoen, Paul, RB, Tennessee
11. Seattle - Lyle, Eric, S, Nebraska
12. Indianapolis - Kelly, J.B., WR, Vanderbilt
13. Jacksonville - Brush, Robbie, WR, Florida
14. Green Bay - Criswell, Marlon, CB, Kentucky
15. Denver - Curry, Cary, T, Texas Tech
16. Philadelphia - Horan, Stephen, CB, Albany
17. Baltimore - Branch, Stanley, G, Northwestern
18. Minnesota - Morris, Bob, RB, Kentucky
19. Arizona - Joseph, Ted, T, East Carolina

[QuikSand]

I'll send a new file at this point... just in case someone jumps out as worthy of a trade-up.

[QuikSand]

DT Junior Harmon grades out at 63/92 right now, and shows as 49% developed.

[JeffW]

First guy is CB Korey Kramer, second is WR Johnny Waters. I will interview them both.

Cool, no go on Dusty Almonte? His BP, Agility, Broad Jump are all near the top for CBs although his 4.58 40 is weak. Depends on where a 4.7 adj grader is expected to land I guess. His blue bars don't look bad either.

[QuikSand]

Sorry, I must have gotten lost in the list of stats, and only noticed two players there, not all three. My apologies.

Sorry if my advancing interrupts contributions... it's just tough to judge when I'm on my own, and when someone really wants to contribute. I'd be delighted to turn over the entire rookie interviewing process to someone else any time there's a volunteer. I'm just trying to keep this enterprise from dying.

[JeffW]

Sorry, I must have gotten lost in the list of stats, and only noticed two players there, not all three. My apologies.

Sorry if my advancing interrupts contributions... it's just tough to judge when I'm on my own, and when someone really wants to contribute. I'd be delighted to turn over the entire rookie interviewing process to someone else any time there's a volunteer. I'm just trying to keep this enterprise from dying.

That's cool, I'm late to the party. I don't think interviews are critical anyway since I primarily look for combine warriors.

Also, I'd like to throw my hat in the ring for free agent LDE Rondell Clemons again. Even if it's only as a reserve, I think he would be a good contributor and he's only asking for 1.2m over 1 year.

[QuikSand]

I still am almost completely lost on what to take from the labels underrated/overrated. I'm starting to think all they actually reflect is the slight upward-downward adjustment we get from the ratings projections after the interview refines them -- and not any insight into what long-term prospects the player may have.

[QuikSand]

CB Albert Coleman is one of the very fastest rookie left, he's got maxed-out potential coverage skills in BNR and MTM, and our interview labels him as "underrated." This, to me, might be a nice second round pick. I doubt we need to trade up to get him... he's listed as the #2 remaining Cb on the big board, with 13 picks before we're up again.

[QuikSand]

Sorry about DE Clemons, too - I had agreed he was worth signing, I just lost track of him in the page switch and delay. Too bad, Buffalo re-signed him.

[QuikSand]

Likely easy veteran cuts due to FA signings:

QB Schultz
G Yardley
CB Schiller

(mostly for my own reference, but also to keep a fair look at how many roster slots we have to work with)

[JeffW]

Sorry about DE Clemons, too - I had agreed he was worth signing, I just lost track of him in the page switch and delay. Too bad, Buffalo re-signed him.

That's okay.

Looks like Earl Irwin is "very underrated"... the plot thickens.

I'm looking at available players now. I like S Henry Broemer a lot if he lasts, his combine numbers blow Coleman out of the water.

It looks like G Ken Bridges will last awhile, I'd really like to see him on our team.

[Narcizo]

If Irwin is worth anything in a couple of years time then I'm not the second best drafter in the HFL.

I'm really afraid that my theory about undervalued/overvalued holds true (unless the player also has a solid to good combine). I'd steer clear of anyone labelled undervalued, unless he has a combine score to back up his scouted rating.

[JeffW]

If Irwin is worth anything in a couple of years time then I'm not the second best drafter in the HFL.

I'm really afraid that my theory about undervalued/overvalued holds true (unless the player also has a solid to good combine). I'd steer clear of anyone labelled undervalued, unless he has a combine score to back up his scouted rating.

Yeah, we should ignore him unless he can be had much later. His combine is weak--we don't want Sam Strong or Vince Ferragamo on our team. ;)

[QuikSand]

I'm still not buying that interpretation of under/overrated.

[Narcizo]

I'm still not buying that interpretation of under/overrated.

I think it's probably not valid in the first round where players have good scout reports and combines. Outside of that I think it's a decent indicator

I don't see anyone I think it's worth trading up for. Did you have anyone in mind QS?

[QuikSand]

I dont see anyojne to trade up for, either. Actually, I'm finding a pretty sparse list of guys I'm even interested in at the 2.1 spot.

[JeffW]

I'm all for simming till our pick @ 2.1

[QuikSand]

I'm really afraid that my theory about undervalued/overvalued holds true (unless the player also has a solid to good combine). I'd steer clear of anyone labelled undervalued, unless he has a combine score to back up his scouted rating.

I don't think we are really that far apart, because I'd agree with a slightly modified version of your conclusion:

I'd steer clear of almost anyone, whether labelled undervalued or not, unless he has at least a partial combine score to back up his scouted rating.

[QuikSand]

20. Miami - Broemer, Henry, S, Jackson State
21. Oakland - Clayton, Don, DT, Clemson
22. Cleveland - Kubicz, J.R., WR, East Central (Okla.)
23. Carolina - Phillips, Dave, S, Harvard
24. Chicago - Waugh, Charles, ILB, Monmouth, NJ
25. Buffalo - Coleman, Albert, CB, Delta State
26. New York - Menendez, Oscar, QB, Duke
27. Tennessee - Westbrook, Kenyon, QB, Arizona State
28. Atlanta - Woodson, Dave, DT, Louisiana State
29. Tampa Bay - Siplon, Steve, CB, Fresno State
30. Dallas - Shelton, Nathan, RB, Virginia Tech
31. New England - Williamson, Dixon, S, Boston College
32. St. Louis - Prior, David, S, Northwestern

[QuikSand]

Guess I was wrong about CB Coleman. *shurg*

[JeffW]

Wow, the AI really owned us pretty badly. I was hoping Dixon Williamson might fall to us.

I like G Ken Bridges the best of anyone left, but we might be able to trade down and get him a bit later. He's pretty far down the prospect list, but the AI is dangerous.

[QuikSand]

I guess I'm not wild about using an early pick on a guard, especially one who doesn't seem to have huge upside. Combine was okay, so maybe he lives up to his projections, and becomes... what, Paul Lester? Lester is a 6th year free agent guerd who has decent-enough ratings, but nothing special, mediocre performance, and is still sitting around unclaimed in the FA pool.

I can't get enthused about taking a guard in round two, unless he's either a combine monster, or else a guy with sky-high ratings and a reason to htink they are for real (like Marco Pascal).

I don't have a better alternative right at the moment, though. I'd still like to improve the DB group, but pickings are admittedly pretty slim. CB Joseph Dotson is probably the best looking guy I find out there at the moment, and he doesn't make my toes tingle.

[QuikSand]

C Ray Gullet might be weighty enough at 289 to move to another OL slot, and he looks pretty good, and a pretty strong combine suppo0rts those lofty ratings. Might be more run blocker than pass protector, though.

I like LB Devin Thornton, though LB is clearly our most well-stocked position on the team, and we obviously have serious needs elsewhere.

[JeffW]

C Ray Gullet might be weighty enough at 289 to move to another OL slot, and he looks pretty good, and a pretty strong combine suppo0rts those lofty ratings. Might be more run blocker than pass protector, though.

Well, I like Bridges a hell of a lot more than Gullet. 42 BP, 7.7 Agi is great for a lineman. His blue bars don't look that great and our impression is overrated but I generally go with combine ratings over pretty much everything else. I'd much prefer to get him later if possible, of course.

There are some decent LBs available. We're deep here but our starting SLB is pretty weak. Again, I like the higher combine guys over Thornton even though he's "very underrated" and has good blue bars. I like SLB Ricardo Jackson more for example. His blue bars and combine numbers are very promising and he could even play ILB if we needed him to.

[QuikSand]

My main worry with Bridges is that he ends up with a great combine in the gbench press, which suggests that he has a very high rating in "blocking strength." which (in previous versions of the game) has been shown pretty exhaustively to be a nearly pointless rating. I am always leery of linemen who have lots of talent there, regardless of the position. Might be different in FOF 2007, certainly.

[QuikSand]

There are some decent LBs available. We're deep here but our starting SLB is pretty weak.

By "weak" did you mean the DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR Shaun Abrams?

If we bench him, we'll also need to re-sell all the tickets for the 2,500 crazed fans who have set up "Abrams Asylum" in the southwest corner of the stadium.

[JeffW]

My main worry with Bridges is that he ends up with a great combine in the gbench press, which suggests that he has a very high rating in "blocking strength." which (in previous versions of the game) has been shown pretty exhaustively to be a nearly pointless rating. I am always leery of linemen who have lots of talent there, regardless of the position. Might be different in FOF 2007, certainly.

That's true, but I think that BP(and other combine numbers) also correlates with general boom potential. Anecdotally, I've noticed that OL with poor blocking strength tend to fail to develop to their full potential.

[JeffW]

By "weak" did you mean the DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR Shaun Abrams?

If we bench him, we'll also need to re-sell all the tickets for the 2,500 crazed fans who have set up "Abrams Asylum" in the southwest corner of the stadium.

Oh Jesus, I thought he was the backup SLB! Hahahaha. Wow, those numbers are insnae for someone of that apparent talent level. Is he a boomer?

[QuikSand]

Yes, Abrams is a creeper so far - no one major boom, but his ratings have been in the come since we got him, and last year he started and really delivered. He, ILB Knoll, and CB Spearman are our three identified "creepers" who seem to still be developing for us. WR Markiewicz is a special case - we grabbed him after he sat out his would-be rookie year, and he bumped a bit, and then boomed this offseason.

Spearman has been the focus of the most hullabaloo, but all four have proven interesting and instructive to follow.

[JeffW]

Looks like the team is getting a lot of mileage out of undrafted free agents. Rickey Crumley and Artie Markiewicz look like strong contributors.

Why wasn't LG Bert Wallace the starter last season? He was only marginally worse than Aiston and he has considerable upside.

[QuikSand]

Crumley is an interesting case -- we used him as a top backup everywhere at LB last year, where he got a lot of playing time and he's holding his solid ratings far better than any of us expected, I think. I lofted the notion of switching him to WLB and starting him there this year -- so far, the motion has failed for want of a second.

[QuikSand]

Jacksonville will give us a 4th next year to move up from 2.12 to 2.1.

If we do that trade, take CB Dotson assuming he is still there at 2.12, and then hope for G Bridges to be there at 3.1 -- does that get us to a good place?

[QuikSand]

Well, here goes...

33. Jacksonville - Jacomy, Al, WR, California
34. New Orleans - Cheyne, Anthony, DT, North Carolina
35. San Diego - Bemont, T.J., DE, Auburn
36. Detroit - Turner, Harvey, G, Purdue
37. Jacksonville - Bates, Clarence, OLB, Howard
38. Pittsburgh - Player, Leonard, DE, Wisconsin
39. Kansas City - Gertz, Dennis, CB, Louisiana State
40. Cincinnati - Burke, Sammy, ILB, Arizona
41. Washington - May, Bert, T, Iowa State
42. Seattle - Bauer, Dana, RB, North Carolina State
43. New Jersey - Stone, Derek, DE, Texas A&M
44. Texarkana - Dotson, Joseph, CB, Virginia
45. Green Bay - Gantt, Dan, OLB, Maryland
46. Denver - Grotrian, Rico, DE, Houston
47. Philadelphia - Williamson, Ryan, DE, Rutgers
48. Indianapolis - Palmer, Will, TE, Maryland
49. Minnesota - Giannetti, Cory, OLB, Carson-Newman
50. Arizona - Middleton, Rob, S, Arizona State
51. Miami - Riviere, Heath, RB, Michigan
52. Oakland - Gullett, Ray, C, Army
53. Cleveland - Lockett, Tyrone, T, Florida State
54. Baltimore - Upshaw, Clifton, CB, Wisconsin
55. Chicago - Phares, Riddick, G, Hofstra
56. Buffalo - Garrett, Doug, RB, Northern Iowa
57. Chicago - Fletcher, Stan, S, Maryland
58. Tennessee - Dyer, Glenn, OLB, Hawaii
59. Carolina - Wilcox, B.J., DE, Minnesota
60. Atlanta - DePree, Harris, T, Indiana
61. Chicago - Andersen, Clay, G, Washington State
62. Tampa Bay - Duffy, Frank, RB, Baylor
63. New England - Ward, Mercury, DT, Nebraska
64. St. Louis - Rook, Roy, S, Temple
65. Texarkana - Bridges, Ken, G, Columbia
66. New Orleans - Salave'a, Ted, C, William & Mary
67. San Diego - Assler, Nicky, DE, Michigan
68. San Francisco - Garner, Donnie, WR, Virginia
69. Pittsburgh - Jackson, Ricardo, OLB, Arizona
70. Detroit - Hansen, Dexter, OLB, Washington State
71. Cincinnati - Clinton, Freddie, G, Tulane
72. Kansas City - Dixon, Ryan, DT, Rutgers
73. Seattle - Sledge, Cary, K, Syracuse
74. New Jersey - Powenski, Joel, ILB, Princeton
75. Washington - Maze, Bryce, T, Oregon
76. Green Bay - Emerson, Andy, DE, Rutgers
77. Denver - Reed, Lincoln, WR, Pennsylvania
78. Philadelphia - Elway, Deion, DT, Washington State
79. Indianapolis - Thornton, Devin, ILB, Columbia
80. Jacksonville - White, Tommy, OLB, North Carolina State
81. Baltimore - Claussen, Albert, TE, Washington
82. Miami - Hastings, Vincent, TE, Duke
83. Oakland - Fuller, Matt, CB, Vanderbilt
84. Cleveland - Whalen, Casey, WR, San Jose State
85. Baltimore - Campana, Floyd, P, Northwestern
86. Minnesota - Compton, Skip, OLB, Tulsa
87. Buffalo - Dillon, Stanley, CB, Missouri
88. Cleveland - Erickson, Greg, T, Buffalo
89. Tennessee - Hastings, J.R., T, Purdue
90. Carolina - Froehlich, Billy Joe, OLB, Lehigh
91. Chicago - Webb, Korey, DT, Notre Dame
92. Atlanta - Forbes, Brenden, ILB, Rice
93. Tampa Bay - Walters, Omar, CB, Arizona State
94. Dallas - Brewer, Rick, ILB, Houston
95. New England - Thrash, Adam, DT, Washington
96. St. Louis - Stephens, Alonzo, RB, UCLA

New file on its way. QB Irwin still out there, I already noticed. Heh.

[QuikSand]

As scouted on the roster:

CB Joseph Dotson = 36/58, 59% developed
RG Ken Bridges = 33/55, 31% developed

[QuikSand]

Players still on the board, previously mentioned:

QB Earl Irwin
CB Dusty Almonte
CB Korey Kramer
WR Johnny Walters
RB Brenden Crangle

[QuikSand]

And some contenders for the "Mister Blue" title:

QB Bryan Tatum
RB Norbert Clancy
G Juan Bradley
WLB Curtis Browning
S Marty Lofton
S Karl Mersky

[TRO]

I'm goin g to dive into patch b tonight.

I think we're sticking with the planned affinity groups. I really think it is one of the more interesting parts of the experience. I like having some restraints built in.

[JeffW]

Well, can't say I'm a big fan of Dotson, those combine numbers are bad, but Bridges is great value at 3.1. Hopefully Dotson will prove me wrong.

I think Kramer, Almonte and Walters will last a while longer yet.

Brenden Crangle is probably the best value, but I wonder what role he will have with the team--I like Richardson-Graham as our 1-2 combo.

I don't know what to think about QB Earl Irwin. He's falling to the range where he might be worth gambling on, but with those combine numbers, he might be a house built on a foundation of sand. He's the #2 player on the draft board, so we have probably have to move now if we want him. What does everyone else think of him?

Looks like Ricardo Jackson lasted till 3.5, I would have suggested a trade up but I guess missing out on stuff is inevitable in a group project.

[QuikSand]

On a team with so many serious holes, I'd have trouble supporting a move up to get yet another guy at basicall the one position where we're basically set - LB. Sorry if I missed a strong vibe to get Jackson.

I'd be okay getting the QB here - I, too, think he's fool's gold, but the opportunity cost from here on out is awfully low, and until we have a QB I'm all for taking multiple stabs at it. RB Crangle is the BPA, though, from what I recall seeing.

[JeffW]

On a team with so many serious holes, I'd have trouble supporting a move up to get yet another guy at basicall the one position where we're basically set - LB. Sorry if I missed a strong vibe to get Jackson.

Nah, it's no big deal. It's hard to move up in the draft any way(i.e. you get sub-chart deals). I do think 2.1 and 5th in 2010 for Jax 2.12 and 3rd in 2010 would have been a better deal than picking up the fourth rounder. Sorry if I sound like I'm second guessing everything, I'm really just thinking out loud and it's not really a big deal to me if I don't get my way. :cool:


I'd be okay getting the QB here - I, too, think he's fool's gold, but the opportunity cost from here on out is awfully low, and until we have a QB I'm all for taking multiple stabs at it. RB Crangle is the BPA, though, from what I recall seeing.

If Crangle fell this far in MP I'd be jumping for joy, but it's so damn easy to obtain good RBs in SP(the AI just doesn't evaluate RBs correctly) that it's not a big deal to pass him up.

If we like both, we could probably trade for 4(2) relatively painlessly.

[Narcizo]

Hm..

Something screwy going on with the save files. It shows us at 4.1 and the draft order is correct but the players on the board are the same as they were for 1.20. I got round the problem by doing the draft myself. The AI picks exactly the same players so there's no randomness there.

Gah! We should have taken Dana Baeur with the 2.1 pick. I don't believe he fell that far down. Look at his combines! His combines! I tells yeh! I really think Dotson will be a dud.

On the plus side Bridges looks like a nice little pick. Good work.

I like the idea of taking a centre with the 4th round pick. I think El Nino may be about to experience ratings decline and I'm fairly confident Irwin will fall to 5.1 if we really want to roll the dice on him. I can't for the life of me decide who is the best centre though. Does anyone know if BJump has any meaning for O Line guys? I'm leaning towards Pat Brooks though. Or possibly S Danny Ramirez.

[Narcizo]

I don't think we are really that far apart, because I'd agree with a slightly modified version of your conclusion:

I'd steer clear of almost anyone, whether labelled undervalued or not, unless he has at least a partial combine score to back up his scouted rating.

But the thing is, a good combine score outside of the 1st is almost certainly an assurance that the player will be rated overvalued. And a poor combine means they will be undervalued. The evidence is pretty clear. Markiewicz was considered very overvalued. Shawn Wolfe very undervalued. All the lower round high scouted dudes I've checked out have been very undervalued and their ratings have dropped like a stone post-draft. It's harder to get a fix on combine warriors because they're scouted ability is so crap no AI run team will keep them around for long enough to be able to track them. I think I have thought up a little project for myself.

[JeffW]

Hm..

Something screwy going on with the save files. It shows us at 4.1 and the draft order is correct but the players on the board are the same as they were for 1.20. I got round the problem by doing the draft myself. The AI picks exactly the same players so there's no randomness there.

Same here and I had to do the same thing. Might be problems later on, although there will be less to do during the season any way and we can reset in 2010.


Gah! We should have taken Dana Baeur with the 2.1 pick. I don't believe he fell that far down. Look at his combines! His combines! I tells yeh! I really think Dotson will be a dud.

I don't like Dotson at all either, oh well.

You're high on Dana Bauer because of %Developed? Crangle has better combine numbers(4.55/20/7.27/9'7") and blue bars and he's still available at 4.1.


On the plus side Bridges looks like a nice little pick. Good work.

Gracias.


I like the idea of taking a centre with the 4th round pick.

There are no Centers worth taking right now, IMO. Brooks just doesn't wow me, I think we'd be better off going with a higher upside player and just picking up a comparable or better C in free agency.

What about SE Rickey Reynolds? Good combine numbers 4.49/13/6.96/9'3", Blue bars look favorable. 5.1 adjusted grade. We didn't interview him. He looks pretty intriguing to me along with Crangle.

[JeffW]

http://img227.imageshack.us/img227/7928/serickeyreynoldsqh6.jpg

http://img216.imageshack.us/img216/3654/rbbrendencranglebd7.jpg

[Narcizo]

Fair enough.

TAKE CRANGLE!

I don't understand why someone with those combines scores AND scout bars has dropped this far.

Easily influenced. That's me.

[QuikSand]

Wrapping up the rookie draft, we pick upu three players who had been mentioned as targets back in the round four discussion, plus one decent-looking affinity OL:

97. Texarkana - Crangle, Brenden, RB, Texas Tech
98. New Orleans - Reynolds, Rickey, WR, Colorado
99. San Diego - Porter, James, TE, Kentucky
100. Pittsburgh - Browning, Curtis, OLB, Miami, Florida
101. Detroit - Lucas, Bob, OLB, Panhandle State
102. Chicago - Delgado, Donald, TE, Colorado
103. Kansas City - Cobb, Earl, DT, South Florida
104. Cincinnati - Thornton, Glen, DT, Vanderbilt
105. New Jersey - Turner, Shane, DT, Texas - El Paso
106. Washington - Prall, Leslie, CB, Wisconsin
107. Seattle - Wright, Jeffrey, WR, Virginia
108. Denver - Verstegen, Howard, WR, Purdue
109. Philadelphia - Ramirez, Danny, S, Rutgers
110. Indianapolis - Iannucci, J.C., OLB, Auburn
111. Jacksonville - Bradley, Juan, G, Oklahoma
112. Green Bay - Flowers, Russell, DT, Iowa
113. Miami - Terrell, Ronald, ILB, Clemson
114. Oakland - Weber, Arnold, S, Georgia
115. Cleveland - Madison, Bert, DT, Mass. Maritime
116. Baltimore - Gradkowski, Hugh, ILB, Illinois State
117. Minnesota - Lyon, Oliver, DT, Albany
118. Arizona - Rodon, Edward, WR, Rutgers
119. Chicago - Browning, Mo, CB, South Carolina
120. Tennessee - Schwant, Wayne, ILB, Indiana Univ., Pa.
121. Carolina - Lofton, Marty, S, Tennessee
122. Chicago - Walz, Daryl, CB, Temple
123. Buffalo - Stermer, Dan, TE, Georgia Tech
124. Atlanta - Johnston, Roderick, K, Fresno State
125. New York - Shawwa, Herman, G, Iowa State
126. Tampa Bay - Garcia, Kurt, FB, Kansas
127. New England - Carter, Kevin, ILB, Virginia
128. St. Louis - Swenson, Mitchell, CB, Oklahoma State
129. Texarkana - Irwin, Earl, QB, Boston College
130. New Orleans - Clancy, Norbert, RB, Oregon
131. San Diego - Hopkins, Leroy, RB, Iowa
132. Detroit - Kelly, Cole, FB, Illinois
133. Tennessee - Jenkins, Ross, TE, Auburn
134. Pittsburgh - Jamison, Charles, CB, Wyoming
135. Cincinnati - Rosenfels, Gilbert, OLB, New Mexico
136. Kansas City - Glaze, B.J., WR, Iowa State
137. Washington - Pinard, Earl, G, Michigan State
138. Seattle - Walters, Johnny, WR, Texas A&M
139. New Jersey - Hardy, Clarence, G, Western Illinois
140. Philadelphia - Zelenka, Deron, K, Vanderbilt
141. Indianapolis - Prescott, Aaron, CB, Georgia Tech
142. Jacksonville - Martin, Clifton, TE, Auburn
143. Green Bay - Cobbs, Broderick, DT, South Carolina
144. Denver - Oglethorpe, Mickey, S, Wake Forest
145. Oakland - Tatum, Gus, DE, Miami, Ohio
146. Cleveland - Owens, Luke, P, North Carolina
147. Baltimore - Kendrick, Donnell, DT, Valparaiso
148. Minnesota - England, Rondell, C, Syracuse
149. Arizona - Bailey, Dave, ILB, Tennessee
150. Miami - Naeole, Karl, C, Vanderbilt
151. Tennessee - Brooks, Pat, C, Texas
152. Carolina - Donaldson, Billy, P, Texas Christian
153. Chicago - Gallegos, Kyle, OLB, Wake Forest
154. Buffalo - Farley, Tito, DT, Northwestern
155. New York - Craig, Gabe, P, Toledo
156. Atlanta - Tatum, Bryan, QB, South Carolina
157. Tampa Bay - Rose, Carlton, P, Penn State
158. Green Bay - Huffman, Darnell, G, Georgia Tech
159. New England - Stevens, Bryan, WR, North Carolina
160. St. Louis - McConnell, Fred, DE, SW Oklahoma St.
161. Texarkana - Kramer, Korey, CB, South Carolina St.
162. New Orleans - Payton, Karl, DE, West Virginia
163. San Diego - Collier, Mel, T, Alabama St.
164. San Francisco - McCormick, Jon, DE, Tennessee
165. Pittsburgh - Gillespie, Lonnie, DE, Florida State
166. Detroit - Broadnax, Buddy, DE, Colorado
167. Kansas City - Peters, Brock, T, Georgia Tech
168. Cincinnati - Hernandez, Jerome, DT, Boston College
169. Seattle - Strong, Timothy, DE, St. Francis (Ill.)
170. New Jersey - Urlacher, Dennis, OLB, Oregon
171. Washington - Jarvie, Joey, G, West Virginia
172. Indianapolis - Cliett, Jared, CB, Auburn
173. Jacksonville - Hartman, Don, DE, Central Connecticut
174. Green Bay - Roark, Andre, ILB, Wisconsin
175. Denver - Familo, Patrick, DT, Arizona State
176. Philadelphia - Chelius, Darren, G, Wisconsin
177. Cleveland - Almonte, Dusty, CB, Florida
178. Baltimore - Sanford, Marty, DT, Quincy University
179. Minnesota - Springer, Ken, CB, Maryland
180. Arizona - Kerr, Jon, WR, Texas Tech
181. Miami - Houser, Barry, OLB, Duke
182. Oakland - Caldwell, Antonio, T, Auburn
183. Carolina - Torres, Cole, QB, Eastern Michigan
184. Chicago - Alcott, Clay, OLB, Oregon State
185. Buffalo - Ponko, Austin, OLB, Notre Dame
186. Jacksonville - Long, Rick, T, Arkansas
187. Tennessee - Joseph, Myron, DE, Utah
188. Atlanta - McCardell, Lester, G, Purdue
189. Minnesota - Schneider, Julio, G, Louisiana State
190. Tampa Bay - Damm, Chad, T, Colorado State
191. New England - Sheldon, Sammie, P, Michigan
192. Philadelphia - Herndon, Omar, T, Arkansas
193. Texarkana - Nixon, Colin, C, Siena
194. New Orleans - Ruddy, Keith, CB, Louisville
195. San Diego - Monroe, Leonard, CB, Louisiana State
196. Pittsburgh - Baxter, Desmond, CB, Air Force
197. Detroit - Giles, Roosevelt, CB, Arkansas
198. Seattle - Sampson, Jerald, DE, Oregon
199. Cincinnati - Farmer, Otis, OLB, Texas A&M
200. Kansas City - Stokes, Tom, S, Iowa State
201. New Jersey - Pierce, Kerry, WR, Southern California
202. Washington - LaStarza, Phillip, ILB, Arizona State
203. Seattle - Emerson, Damon, T, Michigan State
204. Jacksonville - Matthews, Lester, QB, Louisville
205. Green Bay - Lyrenmann, Kent, WR, Stanford
206. Denver - Peterson, Lonnie, CB, Alabama
207. Philadelphia - Statler, Dominic, OLB, Arizona State
208. Indianapolis - Stamer, Anthony, S, Furman
209. Baltimore - Chaffin, Amos, G, Michigan
210. Minnesota - Proctor, Ethan, S, Purdue
211. Arizona - Hamrick, Moe, T, North Carolina
212. Miami - Banuelos, William, DT, Notre Dame
213. Oakland - Hughes, Kirk, T, UCLA
214. Cleveland - Fix, Luther, DT, West Virginia
215. Chicago - Ellingson, Patrick, WR, Western Michigan
216. Buffalo - Newhart, Robert, OLB, Florida State
217. New York - Brooks, Doug, C, UCLA
218. Tennessee - Jamison, Jake, CB, Georgia
219. Carolina - Reynolds, Gilbert, RB, Stanford
220. Atlanta - Bismo, Walter, CB, Washington
221. Tampa Bay - Finch, Ellis, TE, Notre Dame
222. New Orleans - Oliver, Jessie, ILB, Pennsylvania
223. New England - Stanberry, Kenyon, G, Boston College
224. St. Louis - Benson, Deon, CB, Cal. - Sacramento


First look on the roster, before the draft cycle ends:

QB Earl Irwin - 18/65, 34%
RB Brenden Crangle - 34/49, 34%
C Colin Nixon - 22/49, 43%
RG Ken Bridges - 33/55, 31%
NT Junior Harmon - 63/92, 49%
CB Joseph Dotson - 36/58, 59%
CB Korey Kramer - 11/28, 16%

[QuikSand]

New file sent. All the rookies were unchanged as of the conclusion of the draft -- just thought that was worth checking again.

I guess I'm hung out to dry on CB Dotson, which is fine. Sorry if there was apparently a "must have" guy out there at 2.1 who we passed on there... if you (or anyone) had mentioned him somewhere and I just missed it, then I'm doubly sorry. The pick of Dotson wasn't really made with any real enthusiasm.

[Bobble]

I still am almost completely lost on what to take from the labels underrated/overrated. I'm starting to think all they actually reflect is the slight upward-downward adjustment we get from the ratings projections after the interview refines them -- and not any insight into what long-term prospects the player may have.

I have another theory to keep in mind. Could overrated/underrated be strictly how other teams view the player? i.e. your scout would be saying:

- Overrated = A lot of other teams think this guy is better than what I think he is. I already told you what I think but if you really like the guy, he probably won't fall past his projected position.

- Underrated = Not too many teams have him as highly rated as I do. He should be there at the projected spot.

I'm not sure it holds much water but it's one thing that occurs to me at first blush. Why is a scout telling me a guy is "overRATED" if he just RATED the guy? That's like saying, "I rate Joe Blogs at a 63 but I'm pretty sure 63 is too high."

[Narcizo]

I don't think so Bobble, as, from what I've seen, teams tend to leave overrated guys and grab underrated ones. Apart from that it would seem to fit quite well.

I think the overrated and underrated score is based on their draft grade (whatever it's called - 4.3 or whatever). What you would expect it to mean is that a player who is underrated at, say, 5.5 is good enough to go in the 1st round. Someone who is overrated at 5.5 should really be in the 3rd round. Your scout has nothing to do with the draft grade so it sort of makes sense. It's just that I don't think the scout looks at the full range of variables that decide whether a player will be any good or not.

Basically I think we're all at a loss. In order to test it I wonder if a test MP league might help. That could be set up and when it's draft time you could interview them with a team with excellent youth scouting, and one with poor scouting. Then compare the results and see how the players look post-draft and two or three years down the line.

[Narcizo]

QB Earl Irwin - 18/65, 34%
RB Brenden Crangle - 34/49, 34%
CB Korey Kramer - 11/28, 16%

I think the % development thing might be a big give away here (bearing in mind Artie the patron saint of crap looking rookies). 16% just doesn't match up with 11/28. I think Kramer's potential may be up around the 50 mark. Same with Crangle (but, no, I don't think his potential is 100) and, unfortunately, the same with Irwin, except in the other direction.

We'll see.

[QuikSand]

I think the % development thing might be a big give away here (bearing in mind Artie the patron saint of crap looking rookies). 16% just doesn't match up with 11/28. I think Kramer's potential may be up around the 50 mark. Same with Crangle (but, no, I don't think his potential is 100) and, unfortunately, the same with Irwin, except in the other direction.

We'll see.

I think the way to understand the % developed number relies on the recognitaion that in FOF, certain ratings are essentially filled-in to begin with, with basically every player.

Like with OL, the rating for "blocking strength" is one that is essentially all filled in with virtually every player. So, to the extent that your OL has an overall rating that is, in part, a reflection of his blocking strength, then *every* player has already reached some of his potential, just by virtue of having all (or very nearly all) of that rating alyread current.

I'm thinking that an OL who rates 50 in overall future potential, but iy hypothetically 0% developed wouldn't be a 0/50 player... but because he's got full or partial development of some ratings just because the ratings are designed that way, he'd be something like 15/50. My guess is, if this is basically how it works, that this OL's % developed is more a reflection of how much of those remaining 35 points... on top of the "given" stuff... has he really gained by his degree of experience and pre-development.

I'm thinking some attention to this, maybe some regressions, might reveal these to be fairly straightfowrard functions of weighting the ratings and noting the correlation between % developed overall and the red/green percentage for all players -- but in short, that's the way I'm guessing it works in FOF 2007.

So, with a guy like Kramer: 11/28, 16% developed

You could theoretically take the 28 future as a given, and back out that a guy with his actual skills would be something like 8/28 if he had absolutely zero development... but Kramer's modest 16% development bumps him up 16% of the way... meaning he gets roughly 3 points of the remaining potential.

Just another way to theoretically make sense of these % developed figures, as they are clearly telling us something different than in FOF 2004.

[Narcizo]

Hmmm. That makes sense. I think stuff like BnR is pretty constant, particularly for LB, while Big Play is fixed for WR and Speed for RBs as well. I think that may play into it a bit. Basically the "physical" skills don't change much, which is what you'd expect.

The thing is though, I've drafted a quarterback who was off-the-chart in combines (really off the chart 50+ IQ, sub 7 agility, 25 strength, 83 positional. He's rated 13% developed and looks like 13-48 on drafting. I don't know if you've used the historical draft files or not but this is very reminiscent of the likes of Joe Montana or Steve Young when the game is trying to "hide" what a stud they are. It doesn't work here because the combine scores pushed him up to the top of the draft class - but he was considered very overrated (as I'd expect). And I know that that 13% is very likely almost exactly what a percentage of his future ability - this guy is going to be a 80-100 range quarterback.

(I hope - I'll get back with info when I get further).

[QuikSand]

Right, at every position, there is a subset of ratings that tend to show up fully developed, or pretty nearly so (scout error at work in those cases, perhaps?). I think that is the key to understanding the % developed we now see.

[KWhit]

Hmmm. That makes sense. I think stuff like BnR is pretty constant, particularly for LB, while Big Play is fixed for WR and Speed for RBs as well. I think that may play into it a bit. Basically the "physical" skills don't change much, which is what you'd expect.

Are you saying that those skills don't improve over time as a player gains experience? I don't think I have seen that.

[Narcizo]

In 2004 they didn't increase as much as the other skills, no. It makes sense that physical skills increase very little over the career of a player while mental/experience based skills (like play diagnostics, pass rush, that sort of thing) increase hugely.

[KWhit]

OK. I see what you're saying now. That does make sense.

[QuikSand]

KWith, looking at your Conyers COndors in IHOF (FOF 2004)... check out QB Schiavi, who got only trivial playing time in his rookie season, now concluded.

He's already "fully developed" in areas like sense rush and scramble frequency. Every QB is, even brand spanking new rookies lying around in free agency. That's hiw this game has always worked - some ratings are clearly predestined to arrive fully developed, with no apparent potential. That's not to say that players can't ever change their overall ratings... I'm just saying that you *never* see a QB with a 10/50 rating in scramble frequency -- the game doesn't create any players like that. If the potential is 50, the current is 50, period.

That's what we're talking about here. I haven't looked closely enough to see if the array of fixed ratings is different in FOF 2007 than it was in FOF 2004, but there clearly are some that work that way.

[QuikSand]

Oh, before I forget it...

From: Brett Dux

I have decided to hold out until I receive a new contract.

I believe I made a huge difference on defense last season. I believe I'm very seriously underpaid, and will not report to camp without a new contract.

[Narcizo]

He's still on his rookie contract isn't he? Greedy git!

[QuikSand]

Yeah, I like that. Not reserved just for guys who were signed on the super-cheap.

[albionmoonlight]

I never got a short passing offense to work in FOF2 or FOF2k4.

And, while there is certainly a, ahem, slight talent issue with Texarkana, nothing that I have seen makes me think that a short passing offense makes sense in FOF2k7. At least not as a base gameplan.

Also, for what little it may be worth, I decided one day with FOF2 (note well) to see if I could get a 3,000 yard rusher. So I used the easter egg to max my team out. Then I ran the ball like 95-100% of the time, depending on the situation.

One thing that stuck out to me (and was the first thing to lead me to start eschewing short passes) was that when I set the passing distance short, my RB had a very poor YPC. However, when I set the passing distance long (I think 100% as long as possible), my RB had much more room to run. He got over 5 YPC even though he had over 600 attempts.

So, for what little it is worth, I am pretty sure that a short (as opposed to long) passing game in FOF2 makes it harder for your running game to function.

[johnnyshaka]

Maybe "short passing" needs to be redefined somewhat. Maybe trying to stretch things out to a short-medium passing game is the way to go. I'm not sure what you've been using for a gameplan to this point, but maybe making the 10-yard pass the focus instead of the 5-yard pass and maybe things will open up a little bit.

Thoughts?

I'm still following along but without the game, it is still pretty tough to contribute...but, I have been enjoying the discussions. I'll probably purchase the game shortly...we'll see.

[QuikSand]

So, nothing? From anyone?

I'm around a while... I'll fire up the game and have a look through the post-draft FA market. Anyone have input on remaining free agents (of our own) we ought to re-up with, or let walk?

[JeffW]

So, nothing? From anyone?

I'm around a while... I'll fire up the game and have a look through the post-draft FA market. Anyone have input on remaining free agents (of our own) we ought to re-up with, or let walk?

I'm looking now.

Do we have house rules, like "Must sign players to their first contract offer, etc..."? I guess with 55m in salary cap room that rule doesn't mean much right now anyway.

It's too easy to build a team through FA in single player... we could sign a ton of free agents and boost ourselves into competition right now with no house rules.

[QuikSand]

CB Hugh Knight seems like a no-braininr signing - affinity guy, our scout rates him 27/52, and he's got a pretty good apparent rating in bump and run. He might be this year's Ricky Crumley for us, only at a serious need position.

[Warhammer]

You know what could be hurting our passing stats are the formations we are passing out of. What is our formation useage in passing situations (I don't have the files here at work)?

[QuikSand]

WR Bubba Karl - 19/53, decent spread of apparent ratings

FB Kennedy Parrish is my kind of FB, good blocker who won't get in the way of the offense

S Karl Merksy - would-be Mister Blue, still looks worth a stab with maxed out BNR rating

QB Earle Bell, triple affinity guy with decent skills match


Any thoughts about rookies who thought so much of themselves that they skipped the copmbine, but then didn't even get drafted? A guy like WR Jumbo Shepherd looks okay, but we have limited information there. Is the sit-out maybe a positive "tell" there?

[QuikSand]

You know what could be hurting our passing stats are the formations we are passing out of. What is our formation useage in passing situations (I don't have the files here at work)?

Fair point - I haven't looked at them since last season's significant revision, but that's worth a perusal. If we are going to remain pass heavy, it makes sense to at least reduce some of the run-heavy formations.

[JeffW]

I'm going to throw out a few names on offense that Quik didn't mention, then I'll do defense..

FL Fernano Hall? Agility is weak, but otherwise he's solid looking. I think this guy is a sure sign.

SE Jumbo Shepherd--no combine but he should be on the team just as a gamble with those kind of ratings.

SE Neil Brown has a nice combine 4.48/11/7.13/9'1, he's 19/43 but "15% developed(I don't get all that stuff yet).

RB Raymond Hanks--Blue Bar Pick mostly.

FB Myron Steward--Passable combine to go along with good skill distribution(another pure blocker type).

QB Shane Ellard. QB Henry Hopper?

TE Rick Boivin -- Solid Combine, decent skills.

On the OLine, no one I'm in love with.

[QuikSand]

So, in-game, I have cut the three obvious cuts from above (QB Schultz, G Yardley, and CB Schiller) ,and have signed the rookie draftees, which brings our roster up to 57 players. Our limit has been 60 to camp, so we'll need to make cuts if we want to splurge in free agency a bit... some potential cuts:

DT Szymanski - we've discussed this, he's no good, and he's damned expensive -- I say swallow the pill this year sdna next, rather than dragging it out for years. We have 5 Nts on the roster, which is just silly - we have to cut at least one guy here.

WLB Grady Belanger - with four good young LBs, and two decent mentors, we're six deep with guys we actually like at LB. Belanger was inactive all last year - he's taking space away from a young guy elsewhere.

RB Norm Marlin - I dont see how he weasels any playing time from this group

RB Aranda / Erickson - we need one as leader, probably can cut the other - do we think Crangle is promising enough to mentor him (meaning we probably keep Aranda)

[JeffW]

WR Bubba Karl - 19/53, decent spread of apparent ratings

FB Kennedy Parrish is my kind of FB, good blocker who won't get in the way of the offense

I like those guys.



S Karl Merksy - would-be Mister Blue, still looks worth a stab with maxed out BNR rating

Sure.


QB Earle Bell, triple affinity guy with decent skills match

I don't like him.


Any thoughts about rookies who thought so much of themselves that they skipped the copmbine, but then didn't even get drafted? A guy like WR Jumbo Shepherd looks okay, but we have limited information there. Is the sit-out maybe a positive "tell" there?

I don't know, but this is an experiment so we might gain value knowledge from keeping a guy like Jumbo Shepherd around to see what happens.

[JeffW]

Defense:

Lonnie Rhodes--Not great combine but I love DTs with these kinda skills.

RDE Ethan O'Bryan--I forgot to mention this guy during the draft, but I love him as a situational pass rusher in nickel/dime.

SLB Shaun Reilly--Blue Bars, passable combine.

SLB Derek Dennis--Ooh... really good combine for an undrafted player 4.71/20/7.26/8'4. High run defense and PRT.

The DBS all have bad combines. RCB Hugh Knight is a pure red herring I think--4.59/9/7.60/8'5.

[JeffW]

Obvious Cuts:

NT Szymanski--Probably time to cut bait here. I'd cut NT Artie Bobo as well unless he's a boomer.

Agree with RB Norm Marlin. I would keep Aranda and Erickson eve though we have a log jam at RB.

WLB Belanger is a definite cut.

QB Howard Burks

There are other possible cuts, but I try to be careful not to have a revolving door of pretty looking undrafted free agents who end up never panning out and then cutting them for more UDFAs who fail to pan out who are in turn...etc

[QuikSand]

So if we needed to whittle down to 6 or 7 post-draft rookies to sign... where should we go? Wanna do this stage?

About the only guy I'm really interested in seeing is WR Shepherd, mostly as a test of the no-combine theory. And how badly would CB Knight have to crumble to be worse than maybe our 4th best cornerback? Same with S Mersky, I guess.

I say you make the moves... and take us up to camp.

[Warhammer]

Fair point - I haven't looked at them since last season's significant revision, but that's worth a perusal. If we are going to remain pass heavy, it makes sense to at least reduce some of the run-heavy formations.

One of the things I did in FOF2k4 to get an effective short passing offense (although it was by no means explosive) was to go run heavy on first and second down. Then, I would go pass heavy in 3rd and 3+ situations. I would run short passes so that I would have a high completion % and that would keep the chains moving. My QBs would have YPAs in the 5.8+ category, but we moved the ball and we won. However, my WRs in those years had great 3rd down catching skills, which seemed to help quite a bit. I did wind up with completion %s in the 60-65% range.

For passing situations we might want to go with 3WR sets for the medium passing game, but go for 2 TE sets for the short passing game since we have great TEs. I would imagine a single back 2TE set would be a good base formation for us. We could run and pass out of it quite a bit and morph into a standard single back set for our normal passing situations and a trips formation for other passing situations.

[QuikSand]

Okay, if we agree on the cuts - I'll include Bobo, and that gets us up to 7 slots to fill with rookies. How about:

WR Jumbo Shepherd
WR Fernando Hall
DE Ethan O'Bryan
DT Lonnie Rhodes
SLB Derek Dennis
CB Hugh Knight
S Karl Mersky



If we agree on the list, I can run the stage, and take us through training camp prety quickly.

[JeffW]

The AI is pretty smart these days--I was enthused with SE Reynolds and RB Crangle at 4.1. We took Crangle at 4.1 and Reynolds was gone the very next pick.

[JeffW]

Maybe we should add one of the FBs? Steward has the very good combine and decent pass blocking, Parrish is a blue bar monster with better current/future, but his combine is not as stellar and he has a 0 in pass blocking. I'm really torn here.

We can cut LG Carlton Yardley. We already have an offensive guards mentor in Chapman with slightly better currents.

[QuikSand]

Yardley is already gone, per above. How about cutting QB Burks?

[JeffW]

Yardley is already gone, per above. How about cutting QB Burks?

Oops, yah definitely cut him, I think I mentioned him in my cuts post.

Which FB do you like better? Parrish? I'm fine with either one.

[QuikSand]

Next file, post training camp, coming shortly...

[QuikSand]

CB Hugh Knight seems like a no-braininr signing - affinity guy, our scout rates him 27/52

If that wasn't a typo, there's some good news... as soon as he made the roster, our scout upped our rating of him to 27/55. Might be a good sign.

[JeffW]

I don't think it's critical to focus on game planning right now. The AI will do a decent job in this iteration if we let them handle all the game plans except the major stuff like 3-4 vs. 4-3. As far as I can tell, we can't add multiple wins per season by game planning like we could in 2k4.

[JeffW]

If that wasn't a typo, there's some good news... as soon as he made the roster, our scout upped our rating of him to 27/55. Might be a good sign.

Ooh, interesting. I think that just means our scout thinks that his previous rating was too low(and not a sign of boom potential), but any ratings increase is good news.

[QuikSand]

<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tbody><tr class="catbck" align="center"><td colspan="2" class="qbname">Texarkana Armadillos Player Report</td> </tr> <tr class="catbck" align="center"> <td colspan="2" class="qbname">(GT2009c-precamp - GT2009d-postcamp)</td> </tr> </tbody></table>

<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tbody><tr class="catbck" align="center"> <td class="headr">Name</td><td class="headr">Pos</td><td class="headr">GT2009c-precamp Current</td><td class="headr">GT2009c-precamp Future</td><td class="headr">GT2009d-postcamp Current</td><td class="headr">GT2009d-postcamp Future</td><td class="headr">Overall Current Change</td><td class="headr">Overall Future Change</td></tr><tr class="stats" align="center"> <td>Irwin, Earl</td><td>QB</td><td>18</td><td>65</td><td>18 (0)</td><td>56 (-9)</td><td>0</td><td>-9</td></tr><tr class="stats" align="center"> <td>Nelson, Harry</td><td>QB</td><td>20</td><td>34</td><td>20 (0)</td><td>35 (1)</td><td>0</td><td>1</td></tr><tr class="stats" align="center"> <td>Tellez, Stan</td><td>QB</td><td>20</td><td>49</td><td>20 (0)</td><td>48 (-1)</td><td>0</td><td>-1</td></tr><tr class="stats" align="center"> <td>Aranda, Marc</td><td>RB</td><td>31</td><td>31</td><td>26 (-5)</td><td>26 (-5)</td><td>-5</td><td>-5</td></tr><tr class="stats" align="center"> <td>Crangle, Brenden</td><td>RB</td><td>34</td><td>49</td><td>34 (0)</td><td>50 (1)</td><td>0</td><td>1</td></tr><tr class="stats" align="center"> <td>Erickson, Andre</td><td>RB</td><td>47</td><td>47</td><td>47 (0)</td><td>47 (0)</td><td>0</td><td>0</td></tr><tr class="stats" align="center"> <td>Greene, Anthony</td><td>RB</td><td>32</td><td>42</td><td>
</pre></td><td>
</pre></td><td>0</td><td>0</td></tr><tr class="stats" align="center"> <td>Terry, Graham</td><td>RB</td><td>31</td><td>43</td><td>31 (0)</td><td>42 (-1)</td><td>0</td><td>-1</td></tr><tr class="stats" align="center"> <td>Foreman, Zack</td><td>FB</td><td>27</td><td>43</td><td>28 (1)</td><td>42 (-1)</td><td>1</td><td>-1</td></tr><tr class="stats" align="center"> <td>Parrish, Kennedy</td><td>FB</td><td>27</td><td>54</td><td>26 (-1)</td><td>49 (-5)</td><td>-1</td><td>-5</td></tr><tr class="stats" align="center"> <td>Diaz, Eric</td><td>TE</td><td>61</td><td>61</td><td>60 (-1)</td><td>60 (-1)</td><td>-1</td><td>-1</td></tr><tr class="stats" align="center"> <td>Lang, Johnnie</td><td>TE</td><td>37</td><td>52</td><td>40 (3)</td><td>52 (0)</td><td>3</td><td>0</td></tr><tr class="stats" align="center"> <td>Cushing, Roosevelt</td><td>FL</td><td>33</td><td>39</td><td>33 (0)</td><td>39 (0)</td><td>0</td><td>0</td></tr><tr class="stats" align="center"> <td>Hall, Fernando</td><td>FL</td><td>19</td><td>56</td><td>19 (0)</td><td>47 (-9)</td><td>0</td><td>-9</td></tr><tr class="stats" align="center"> <td>Markiewicz, Artie</td><td>FL</td><td>31</td><td>42</td><td>32 (1)</td><td>41 (-1)</td><td>1</td><td>-1</td></tr><tr class="stats" align="center"> <td>Shepherd, Jumbo</td><td>FL</td><td>27</td><td>43</td><td>29 (2)</td><td>49 (6)</td><td>2</td><td>6</td></tr><tr class="stats" align="center"> <td>Ballard, Burt</td><td>SE</td><td>47</td><td>59</td><td>49 (2)</td><td>59 (0)</td><td>2</td><td>0</td></tr><tr class="stats" align="center"> <td>Hall, Daniel</td><td>SE</td><td>30</td><td>30</td><td>30 (0)</td><td>30 (0)</td><td>0</td><td>0</td></tr><tr class="stats" align="center"> <td>Woodson, Grady</td><td>SE</td><td>24</td><td>24</td><td>22 (-2)</td><td>22 (-2)</td><td>-2</td><td>-2</td></tr><tr class="stats" align="center"> <td>Nixon, Colin</td><td>C</td><td>22</td><td>49</td><td>31 (9)</td><td>52 (3)</td><td>9</td><td>3</td></tr><tr class="stats" align="center"> <td>Chapman, Tommie</td><td>LG</td><td>36</td><td>36</td><td>32 (-4)</td><td>32 (-4)</td><td>-4</td><td>-4</td></tr><tr class="stats" align="center"> <td>Pascal, Marco</td><td>LG</td><td>52</td><td>69</td><td>56 (4)</td><td>69 (0)</td><td>4</td><td>0</td></tr><tr class="stats" align="center"> <td>Wallace, Bert</td><td>LG</td><td>20</td><td>48</td><td>21 (1)</td><td>47 (-1)</td><td>1</td><td>-1</td></tr><tr class="stats" align="center"> <td>Warren, Tarlos</td><td>LG</td><td>21</td><td>31</td><td>
</pre></td><td>
</pre></td><td>0</td><td>0</td></tr><tr class="stats" align="center"> <td>Aiston, Sherman</td><td>RG</td><td>36</td><td>36</td><td>
</pre></td><td>
</pre></td><td>0</td><td>0</td></tr><tr class="stats" align="center"> <td>Bridges, Ken</td><td>RG</td><td>33</td><td>55</td><td>36 (3)</td><td>55 (0)</td><td>3</td><td>0</td></tr><tr class="stats" align="center"> <td>Bickler, Jonathan</td><td>LT</td><td>63</td><td>83</td><td>68 (5)</td><td>88 (5)</td><td>5</td><td>5</td></tr><tr class="stats" align="center"> <td>Hindman, Jason</td><td>LT</td><td>21</td><td>29</td><td>21 (0)</td><td>29 (0)</td><td>0</td><td>0</td></tr><tr class="stats" align="center"> <td>Winters, Andy</td><td>LT</td><td>38</td><td>47</td><td>38 (0)</td><td>47 (0)</td><td>0</td><td>0</td></tr><tr class="stats" align="center"> <td>Cote, Bruce</td><td>RT</td><td>11</td><td>11</td><td>12 (1)</td><td>12 (1)</td><td>1</td><td>1</td></tr><tr class="stats" align="center"> <td>DeLamielleure, Kent</td><td>RT</td><td>35</td><td>35</td><td>35 (0)</td><td>35 (0)</td><td>0</td><td>0</td></tr><tr class="stats" align="center"> <td>Whiting, Neil</td><td>K</td><td>52</td><td>54</td><td>56 (4)</td><td>56 (2)</td><td>4</td><td>2</td></tr><tr class="stats" align="center"> <td>Ludwig, Billy</td><td>P</td><td>36</td><td>36</td><td>30 (-6)</td><td>30 (-6)</td><td>-6</td><td>-6</td></tr><tr class="stats" align="center"> <td>Zimmerman, Amos</td><td>LDE</td><td>37</td><td>61</td><td>36 (-1)</td><td>60 (-1)</td><td>-1</td><td>-1</td></tr><tr class="stats" align="center"> <td>Burks, Corwin</td><td>NT</td><td>41</td><td>41</td><td>35 (-6)</td><td>35 (-6)</td><td>-6</td><td>-6</td></tr><tr class="stats" align="center"> <td>Forbes, Julio</td><td>NT</td><td>32</td><td>32</td><td>30 (-2)</td><td>30 (-2)</td><td>-2</td><td>-2</td></tr><tr class="stats" align="center"> <td>Harmon, Junior</td><td>NT</td><td>63</td><td>92</td><td>71 (8)</td><td>92 (0)</td><td>8</td><td>0</td></tr><tr class="stats" align="center"> <td>Rhodes, Lonnie</td><td>NT</td><td>15</td><td>47</td><td>18 (3)</td><td>44 (-3)</td><td>3</td><td>-3</td></tr><tr class="stats" align="center"> <td>Altuna, Albert</td><td>RDE</td><td>40</td><td>40</td><td>28 (-12)</td><td>28 (-12)</td><td>-12</td><td>-12</td></tr><tr class="stats" align="center"> <td>Lopes, Brant</td><td>RDE</td><td>31</td><td>56</td><td>32 (1)</td><td>56 (0)</td><td>1</td><td>0</td></tr><tr class="stats" align="center"> <td>Abrams, Shaun</td><td>SLB</td><td>25</td><td>36</td><td>27 (2)</td><td>36 (0)</td><td>2</td><td>0</td></tr><tr class="stats" align="center"> <td>Booker, Doug</td><td>SLB</td><td>25</td><td>43</td><td>26 (1)</td><td>43 (0)</td><td>1</td><td>0</td></tr><tr class="stats" align="center"> <td>Dennis, Derek</td><td>SLB</td><td>16</td><td>37</td><td>18 (2)</td><td>37 (0)</td><td>2</td><td>0</td></tr><tr class="stats" align="center"> <td>Crumley, Rickey</td><td>SILB</td><td>33</td><td>52</td><td>35 (2)</td><td>52 (0)</td><td>2</td><td>0</td></tr><tr class="stats" align="center"> <td>Knoll, Leland</td><td>SILB</td><td>38</td><td>38</td><td>37 (-1)</td><td>37 (-1)</td><td>-1</td><td>-1</td></tr><tr class="stats" align="center"> <td>Polko, Kevin</td><td>SILB</td><td>34</td><td>37</td><td>30 (-4)</td><td>32 (-5)</td><td>-4</td><td>-5</td></tr><tr class="stats" align="center"> <td>Dux, Brett</td><td>WILB</td><td>51</td><td>56</td><td>51 (0)</td><td>56 (0)</td><td>0</td><td>0</td></tr><tr class="stats" align="center"> <td>Pinero, Rufus</td><td>WLB</td><td>46</td><td>46</td><td>46 (0)</td><td>46 (0)</td><td>0</td><td>0</td></tr><tr class="stats" align="center"> <td>Dotson, Joseph</td><td>LCB</td><td>36</td><td>58</td><td>34 (-2)</td><td>51 (-7)</td><td>-2</td><td>-7</td></tr><tr class="stats" align="center"> <td>Gerak, Howie</td><td>LCB</td><td>37</td><td>37</td><td>33 (-4)</td><td>33 (-4)</td><td>-4</td><td>-4</td></tr><tr class="stats" align="center"> <td>Hickman, Carlos</td><td>LCB</td><td>24</td><td>34</td><td>25 (1)</td><td>35 (1)</td><td>1</td><td>1</td></tr><tr class="stats" align="center"> <td>Dole, Tito</td><td>RCB</td><td>20</td><td>28</td><td>21 (1)</td><td>27 (-1)</td><td>1</td><td>-1</td></tr><tr class="stats" align="center"> <td>Henry, Jeff</td><td>RCB</td><td>51</td><td>51</td><td>51 (0)</td><td>51 (0)</td><td>0</td><td>0</td></tr><tr class="stats" align="center"> <td>Knight, Hugh</td><td>RCB</td><td>27</td><td>55</td><td>28 (1)</td><td>54 (-1)</td><td>1</td><td>-1</td></tr><tr class="stats" align="center"> <td>Kramer, Korey</td><td>RCB</td><td>11</td><td>28</td><td>14 (3)</td><td>33 (5)</td><td>3</td><td>5</td></tr><tr class="stats" align="center"> <td>Spearman, Nicky</td><td>RCB</td><td>23</td><td>23</td><td>23 (0)</td><td>23 (0)</td><td>0</td><td>0</td></tr><tr class="stats" align="center"> <td>Curtin, Winston</td><td>SS</td><td>16</td><td>43</td><td>16 (0)</td><td>43 (0)</td><td>0</td><td>0</td></tr><tr class="stats" align="center"> <td>Mersky, Karl</td><td>SS</td><td>19</td><td>49</td><td>19 (0)</td><td>44 (-5)</td><td>0</td><td>-5</td></tr><tr class="stats" align="center"> <td>Steidl, Deion</td><td>SS</td><td>23</td><td>43</td><td>24 (1)</td><td>43 (0)</td><td>1</td><td>0</td></tr><tr class="stats" align="center"> <td>Clements, Heath</td><td>FS</td><td>21</td><td>35</td><td>22 (1)</td><td>34 (-1)</td><td>1</td><td>-1</td></tr><tr class="stats" align="center"> <td>Wolfe, Shannon</td><td>FS</td><td>50</td><td>50</td><td>50 (0)</td><td>50 (0)</td><td>0</td><td>0</td></tr></tbody></table>

[QuikSand]

Ooh, interesting. I think that just means our scout thinks that his previous rating was too low(and not a sign of boom potential), but any ratings increase is good news.

In FOF 2004, slight bump-=ups like this were pretty good indications of things to come. No, not for major booms, but rather for the creeper type of player who gains bits over time. No idea yet if this still holds in FOF 2007.

[JeffW]

Well, QB Iwin is a bonafide bust--can't say I'm surprised. I'm glad we at least waited till round 5 to take him.

FB Parrish is a tad surprising, I thought he might be able to hold those ratings.

Not really surprised about SE Hall.

Wow, FL Shepherd is a boomer? I am glad we gambled on him. This might be an interest case to follow

C Colin Nixon's improvement is a surprise to me. Nothing about him indicated that potential.

G Bridges stays the same--slightly disappointing, but he's still solid as is for a 3rd rounder.

Knight held his ratings much better than expected. Dotson takes a huge hit unfortunately. Mersky drops as well, not too surprising as his blue bars didn't match his combine.

Kramer's boom is good news. I can't wait till he becomes a 50ish overall player so I can pretend I'm a genius.

[QuikSand]

Quik reactions --

DT Harmon looks like a stud, at last!

Good camps from a few rookies - any bump in future here is nice, so RB Crangle +!, WR SHephere +6 !!!, C Nixon +3, and CB Kramer all certainly impressed.

DE Altuna might have earned a ticket right off the team with a crash-and-burn camp this year.

[JeffW]

In FOF 2004, slight bump-=ups like this were pretty good indications of things to come. No, not for major booms, but rather for the creeper type of player who gains bits over time. No idea yet if this still holds in FOF 2007.

That's good to know and something to keep an eye on.

I don't know quite how FOF 2k7's boom/busts work yet, so hopefully this will be instructive.

[QuikSand]

Yes, Dotson took a major hit in potential, but look where he landed. He's got an 86 rating in bump coverage, right this minute. 37/69 in interceptions, and pretty decent complementary reds elsewhere. No, he's not going to be an 80/80 player one day -- but this is already the best CB we have on our roster.

Yes, yes I know, I'm defending him again.

[QuikSand]

And by "look" I guess I mean "soon you will be able to look and see" since I havent sent a file yet. Sorry bout that.

[QuikSand]

From: Denver

We are interested in trading for Amos Zimmerman.

Please click the View Trade button to see the offer and respond.


Denver is offering us their 2nd rounder next year for Zimmerman.

[QuikSand]

New file sent... now we can get into gameplans and stuff. Since we are somewhat committed to sticking with the setup we decideed to build around (short-passing WCO, and high-blitz 3-4 defense) I'd like to see us stick within that framework rather than just bail to a vanilla gameplan. At least not yet.

It's hard to go through seasons without much success, but I also don't want to cut every corner and end up sacrificing what we might learn by patching through with the original plan, more or less.

[JeffW]

I would extend Dux. I wouldn't trade Zimmerman for a 2nd unless we think he's a bust, he looks like a good player and he has an exceptional affinity despite the -1 to his potential this off season.

[JeffW]

New file sent... now we can get into gameplans and stuff.

Cool, looking at the roster right now. I'll see if I have any input to give.

Wow--Colin Nixon is awesome. Great job on that pick.

Since we are somewhat committed to sticking with the setup we decideed to build around (short-passing WCO, and high-blitz 3-4 defense) I'd like to see us stick within that framework rather than just bail to a vanilla gameplan. At least not yet.

That's cool. I don't think we'd have any problem running a different offense. I think our receivers are actually more suited to a deep throwing offense because of their big play receiving ratings--Shepherd is 92 BP, Markiewics 86, Hall 66, Ballard 56. In Avoid drops, our best guy is only 58.

[QuikSand]

DE Ethan O'Bryan looks good enough to make the team, and perhaps get some time in as a situational pass rusher, as hoped for.

I think we go with the rookie RB Crangle as our starter this year - he's the only guy who has demonstrated upward momentum - he might continue creeping, and if so, he may play over his head.

I think we ought to cut the veteran CB Henry, and go with our young guys. If we follow through with earlier plans and play mostly BNR with some MTM, then rookie CB Dotson will be pretty solid right away, good enough to play. Hugh Knight is good enough to merit a look in competition with Spearman, Dole, and the creeper Kramer on the other side. I'd hate to keep playing these washout veterans, who might be slightly better than our kids, but aren't going to help us really win anything.

S Mersy did indeed lose an awful lot, but he still might be one of our better options at S. Maybe we need to move a CB over to start at S this year? Kramer? - at 202 lbs, eh might be the best fit, and he'd develop with the playing time, if he indeed has creeper potential.

RG Ken Bridges does indeed look good enough to play, to me. I'm not wild about the right side of our line, but at least we don't have to panic about any single starter, really. At C, if Nixon is the real thing, we may need to bench El Nino, and go with the promising youngster.

[JeffW]

Yes, Dotson took a major hit in potential, but look where he landed. He's got an 86 rating in bump coverage, right this minute. 37/69 in interceptions, and pretty decent complementary reds elsewhere. No, he's not going to be an 80/80 player one day -- but this is already the best CB we have on our roster.

Yes, yes I know, I'm defending him again.

:p

If this were 2k4 I'd be in love with the guy, but don't we have to run Zone in 2k7? I tried to run pure B&R coverages and got toasted for >9 yards/attempt in my trials. Anyway, I've railed on Dotson enough for one lifetime, hehe.

[QuikSand]

I think our receivers are actually more suited to a deep throwing offense because of their big play receiving ratings--Shepherd is 92 BP, Markiewics 86, Hall 66, Ballard 56. In Avoid drops, our best guy is only 58.

You're right, we have hit the jackpot at BPR receivers, which was almost completely by accident and is of nearly zero used to us in this straitjacket of an offense.

Maybe we give it up with the short passing stuff, but I think we owe it another half season here. Perhaps if we still average below 5 yards an attempt we switch halfway through the season, and open thigns up a bit more. I do think the offense is hurting us, even if this staff isn't exactly top notch -- I have rarely seen such bad stats from any team, other than ones that were using a counterproductive gameplan of some sort.

[QuikSand]

If this were 2k4 I'd be in love with the guy, but don't we have to run Zone in 2k7?

I keep hearing this from a variety of people, but I have yet to see anything to support it. I don't know if there's anything to it, but we have so far been pretty indifferent about what coverages to use, and whether to specialize at all.

I posted some comments abotu using BNR/MTM in that order, and got no pushback, and made some judgments about personnel based on that... but it's not like we are deeply committed to anything.

[QuikSand]

I'm out for a while... feel free to carry on if you or others get things moving. Lots to do here, but we have generally stalled in terms of interest at this juncture.

[JeffW]

DE Ethan O'Bryan looks good enough to make the team, and perhaps get some time in as a situational pass rusher, as hoped for.

Yep, I like him too. I think he'll put up good pass rush numbers as a role player. We can sub him in for Zimmerman on Nickel/Dime, I think. If so, we should convert him to LDE.

I think we go with the rookie RB Crangle as our starter this year - he's the only guy who has demonstrated upward momentum - he might continue creeping, and if so, he may play over his head.

That's fine, though I think Erickson would put up superior numbers by quite a bit this year. It might be hard for Crangle to ever match Erickson as a pure runner.

Snip CB Discussion

I guess cutting Henry is fine if we have no chance of competing this year.

The CB competition is interesting. We have highly rated guys on downward trends and low rated guys on upward trends. I think we should try to get Kramer playing time--make him our special teams gunner, a nickel or dime corner and maybe even starting safety if we don't like what we've got there too much.

I haven't followed the dynasty too closely, but Dole and Spearman are far from being passable starters at CB despite their upward momentum.

S Mersy did indeed lose an awful lot, but he still might be one of our better options at S. Maybe we need to move a CB over to start at S this year? Kramer? - at 202 lbs, eh might be the best fit, and he'd develop with the playing time, if he indeed has creeper potential.

Playing Kramer this year isn't a bad idea. I think mersky is not a 19/44 player. If we play him, he'll just break out hearts as he fails to live up to his potential and slowly trails off season after season. If we cut him, I wouldn't shed a tear. Steidl should man the other spot.


RG Ken Bridges does indeed look good enough to play, to me. I'm not wild about the right side of our line, but at least we don't have to panic about any single starter, really. At C, if Nixon is the real thing, we may need to bench El Nino, and go with the promising youngster.

I like the look of the OL as well.

Nixon is clearly our man at C this year IMO.

[JeffW]

You're right, we have hit the jackpot at BPR receivers, which was almost completely by accident and is of nearly zero used to us in this straitjacket of an offense.

Maybe we give it up with the short passing stuff, but I think we owe it another half season here. Perhaps if we still average below 5 yards an attempt we switch halfway through the season, and open thigns up a bit more. I do think the offense is hurting us, even if this staff isn't exactly top notch -- I have rarely seen such bad stats from any team, other than ones that were using a counterproductive gameplan of some sort.

If I were a betting man...and I happen to be a professional gambler, I'd place an a bet on us averaging >5.0 yards/pass this season with the offense we've used in the past.

OTOH, I think we're going to crash and burn on offense this year no matter what. Tellez can't run a deep offense either--fair to poor long/deep passes skills and he was sacked 1/11 pass attempts in the old offense. Damned if you do, damned if you don't.

I'm curious why we skipped out on the QB Bonanza in the 2008 draft, I'll have to go back and read the whole thread. At some point we need to find a good QB if we want to go anywhere. QB Eddie Buckner of the Chargers is a 4th year vet, 24/70 who will be available in FA next year(he's demanding trade). We might be able to sign him and develop him into our franchise QB.

[QuikSand]

JeffW, I agree with most of your analysis above. My one area of disagreement is probably with what to do with the young, upward-developing ("creepers") players that we have lying around in a few slots. By and large, I thin players like this are definitely worth playing, unless we have top-shelf talent holding them back.

We have had a few wonderful results from doing so thus far -- LBs Abrams and Knoll arer both develping into dependable starters for us, it seems. WR Markiewicz was creeping before a boom, and might continue creeping even after leaping into a starting role. And CB Spearman... well, maybe he will never creep into priminence, but he's also on the upward path.

RB Crangle popped in camp, and becausse of that (even just a +1 is meaningful to me), I'm looking not at his current ratings and what that would mean for us, but rathaer I'm seeing him as a potential creeper -- a guy who might actually be better than he appears, whose mask just gets removed over time. I suspect we have the same thing in WR Shepherd and CB Kramer, so I'm definitely interested in getting them playing time as well.

No real insistence - I'd be okay if we used a guy like Spearman as our nickel back, used RB Crangle as a heavy #2, and maybe use WR Shepherd as the slot receiver and in 3WR packages, and so forth. No major argument there - but I don't want to see the guys who are actually blooming to be denied their sunshine.

Guys like CB Dole, WR Cushing, WR Hall, RB Terry, and S Steidl are probably the ones who ought to lose out in playing time battles, even if they appear slightly better right now, because using your phrase -- they are the guys on downward trends.

If I get a chance, and nobody else has gone forward, I will hack together a depth chart for the preseason, adn will tweak the offense a bit to push the ball downfield a shade more than we have been thus far, and to try to better organize our formations to suit our philosophy and QBs.

[QuikSand]

I don't recall being terribly tempted by QBs in the 2008 draft... we took Tellez fairly late, but I don't recall having much conversation about a top QB with any of our early picks. *shurg* Guess we missed the bonanza altogether.

[st.cronin]

I would definitely find room in the starting lineup for Spearman.

Although, I don't even have the game yet, so take my opinion for what it is.

[JeffW]

JeffW, I agree with most of your analysis above. My one area of disagreement is probably with what to do with the young, upward-developing ("creepers") players that we have lying around in a few slots. By and large, I thin players like this are definitely worth playing, unless we have top-shelf talent holding them back.

I actually think we're pretty much in agreement. Re: Crangle. I am sure he will play better than he looks and improve a lot, but I'm not sure he'll be able to match Erickson, who is 75/59/67 in the big 3 RB ratings.

I'll take another look to make sure. I'm definitely in favor of playing guys with improving potential. I'm not sure how high of a hidden potential Dole and Spearman have, but if you guys have seen evidence to suggest that they will continue to improve to become productive players, we can play them for sure.

Artie M., Shepherd and Ballard are our WRs in the future--I think we're in agreement there.

[JeffW]

I don't recall being terribly tempted by QBs in the 2008 draft... we took Tellez fairly late, but I don't recall having much conversation about a top QB with any of our early picks. *shurg* Guess we missed the bonanza altogether.

Guess so. :p

Look at some of the QBs from last year's draft--very impressive, especially the QB taken at 1(17). Maybe if we look back at that file we can identify why we "missed" them.

[QuikSand]

If you do read through the discussion from last year's draft, I think the only QBs we discussed at all were Tellez and Bruce Carter -- a guy who was mentioned because of his good speed ratings and combine, but set aside after we went with Tellez.

Turns out Carter was a significant boom, and now rates as a pretty serious player for Buffalo, picked in the middle of round five past year.

[JeffW]

Some more quick points to think about:

What are we going to do with Dotson? For starters, I think he should be moved back to LCB because he has "much more" experience there. How much playing time should he get? His ratings could get much worse in the future.

Similar for Karl Mersky

Hugh Knight can move to S, but is poor at run D. He had a ratings bump so he is definitely in our plans. Corey Kramer probably can switch looking at the experience bars--just throwing those out there as we try to juggle starters.

I doubt Earl Irwin is worth coddling--players with those kind of ratings hits are tainted goods.

[JeffW]

If you do read through the discussion from last year's draft, I think the only QBs we discussed at all were Tellez and Bruce Carter -- a guy who was mentioned because of his good speed ratings and combine, but set aside after we went with Tellez.

Turns out Carter was a significant boom, and now rates as a pretty serious player for Buffalo, picked in the middle of round five past year.

That's cool, we'll get a good QB eventually, even though it's very hard in this iteration of FOF.

[JeffW]

Is there a chart of our player's progress from year to year?

[QuikSand]

I have all the step by step stuff saved locally, and can create something using ChangeTracker. We have lost track of C El Nino, and maybe others, but it's pretty good regardless.

[QuikSand]

I know you are not a fan of Dotson, but he isnt' likely to actually lose the ratings that he already has -- and just looking at his current reds, he's got the best CB skills on the roster. he may indeed not be our long term answer -- but I don't see enough upside around him to keep him out of the lineup for this year. *shurg*

[QuikSand]

Here's thee full report from CHangeTracker, in html:

http://www.fof-ihof.com/upload/QuikSand/gt_full_report.html

[JeffW]

I know you are not a fan of Dotson, but he isnt' likely to actually lose the ratings that he already has -- and just looking at his current reds, he's got the best CB skills on the roster. he may indeed not be our long term answer -- but I don't see enough upside around him to keep him out of the lineup for this year. *shurg*

Who do you see as our starters?

Kramer and Knight should be starting somewhere in the secondary I think. You also wanted Dole, Spearman to have spots, which is fine, maybe you mean that you just want everyone to at least be in nickel/dime packages, which I agree with. Dotson should be in the lineup.

Edit: Looks like Steidl is not the long term answer at safety. (-10 ratings hit since he was drafted).

Looks like Dole is -14 since rookie year, am I reading that right? Merksy is a sure bust too at -5.

As long as Kramer and Knight are in there, everything is fine. I agree we don't have the upside to keep Dotson out of the line up. Lots of declining players in the secondary if I'm reading the chart correctly.

[JeffW]

Here's thee full report from CHangeTracker, in html:

http://www.fof-ihof.com/upload/QuikSand/gt_full_report.html

Gracias.

[QuikSand]

Sorry I got distracted last night...

I have run the 4 preseason games, where we went a fairly respectable 2-2, looking pretty decent in games 2 and 3, even. I'm hopeful that's the turnaround we are looking, for, but you never know how good the preseason rosters are - we might have been up against 11 undrafted rookies.

Anyway - it's time for final cutdown decisions...I'll have a look at post my recommended list shortly, and then I'll wait for at least a "second" or someone's tweaks before going ahead.

[QuikSand]

Proposed cuts:

One of the veteran RBs -- I personally am just not that wild about Erickson, and I'd cut him to keep Aranda as the better chemistry guy and mentor to Crangle, but I do think we need to cut either Erickson or Aranda...and I think JeffW feels strongly that Erickson is a short-term asset for us

WR Fernando Hall
DE Albert Altuna
LB Doug Booker (sorry)
CB Jeff Henry (going young there)

S Winston Curtin, S Heath Clements (I have moved Kramer to SS and have started him there... with him looking fairly promising and developing, I think we are committed to youth at safety, and Clements isn't getting any better)

[rjolley]

Finally got the files working. I will be following along...but I'm not sure how much I'll contribute. I own TCY, 2K4, and 2K7, but haven't had a great deal of time to play them. It's nice to follow along and see what you guys are seeing. Maybe I'll feel comfortable enough to join an MP league...

[QuikSand]

I'd still like some input from someone before I go ahead and make cuts... espcially at RB, I guess.

[JeffW]

and I think JeffW feels strongly that Erickson is a short-term asset for us

Hmmm, yeah but I don't want to dump mentor Aranda with two young RBs on the roster. 6 RB/FB on the roster is a bit excessive. I think the phrase "short-term asset" doesn't have much meaning with this team even though we have some vanishing probability of making the playoffs this year.

WR Fernando Hall
DE Albert Altuna
LB Doug Booker (sorry)
CB Jeff Henry (going young there)
S Winston Curtin
S Heath Clements

Those look fine, instead of Aranda/Erickson, what about cutting LT Jason Hindman? We should still be okay for tackle depth and he's not a promising prospect.

[QuikSand]

I'm good with cutting Hindman, he was on my list before the final draft. Sounds good, I'll go ahead, I guess.

[QuikSand]

2009 Summary for Texarkana Armadillos

Year 2009
Record 1-3
Winning Pct. .250
All-Time 5-47
Winning Pct. .096
Playoffs 0-0
Playoff Visits 0
Bowl Wins 0
Head Coach Derri Merrim
Record 1-3
Winning Pct. .250
Off. Coord. C. Hansford
Def. Coord. W. Montgomery

Texarkana Armadillos Team Rank
Rushes per Game 14.0 32
Rushing Yards 33.5 32
Yards Per Carry 2.39 32
Pass Attempts 46.0 1
Completions 26.0 1
Completion Pct. 56.5 20
Passing Yards 206.8 16
Yards Per Attempt 4.49 31
Yards Per Catch 7.95 32
Total Yardage Gained 214.0 32
3rd Down Conversions 32.8 24
Points Per Game 14.3 25 (T)
Pass Rush Pct. 4.0 29
Pass Defense Pct. 64.6 23
Turnovers 14 31
Turnover Margin -7 29 (T)

Opponents Team Rank
Rushes per Game 37.0 30
Rushing Yards 163.0 32
Yards Per Carry 4.41 22
Pass Attempts 26.0 3 (T)
Completions 18.3 14
Completion Pct. 70.2 30
Passing Yards 196.3 12
Yards Per Attempt 7.55 25
Yards Per Catch 10.75 16
Total Yardage Gained 350.0 29
3rd Down Conversions 37.5 19
Points Per Game 29.0 31 (T)
Pass Rush Pct. 8.6 28
Pass Defense Pct. 73.3 23
Turnovers 7 11 (T)

Week Team Versus Oppnt
1 14 TEN 34
2 6 SEA 24
3 24 at SDO 20
4 13 at IND 38
5 NJY
6 at BUF
7 NED
8 at TEN
10 at MIA
11 JAX
12 at SFO
13 PIT
14 at STL
15 IND
16 ARI
17 at JAX

Passing Pos Att Comp Yards Y/Att TD Int Rate
16 S. Tellez QB 178 101 808 4.54 4 9 54.7
**Team --- 184 104 827 4.49 4 9 54.7
$$Opp --- 104 73 785 7.55 10 2 116.0

Rushing Pos Att Yards Y/Att TD Fum
41 A. Erickson RB 28 62 2.21 1 2
43 B. Crangle RB 24 66 2.75 0 0
**Team --- 56 134 2.39 1 10
$$Opp --- 148 652 4.41 4 10

Receiving Pos Targ Catch Yards Y/Ctc Y/Tar Drop TD
88 A. Markiewicz WR 55 30 277 9.23 5.04 3 3
86 B. Ballard WR 36 20 200 10.00 5.56 2 0
81 J. Shepherd WR 19 12 109 9.08 5.74 3 0
85 D. Hall WR 21 10 76 7.60 3.62 2 1
43 B. Crangle RB 16 10 44 4.40 2.75 3 0
80 J. Lang TE 13 7 30 4.29 2.31 0 0
87 E. Diaz TE 13 6 45 7.50 3.46 0 0
37 K. Parrish FB 6 5 25 5.00 4.17 1 0
41 A. Erickson RB 5 4 21 5.25 4.20 0 0

Defense Pos Tack Asst Sack Hurr Ints Defn PDPct
53 L. Knoll ILB 32 12 0.0 0 1 0 75.0
92 S. Abrams OLB 19 6 2.0 0 0 0 68.0
93 B. Dux ILB 18 11 1.0 2 0 0 70.8
38 H. Knight CB 16 1 0.0 0 0 2 68.8
55 R. Crumley OLB 14 1 0.0 0 0 0 76.4
42 S. Wolfe S 13 3 0.0 0 0 3 81.7
23 D. Steidl S 12 3 0.0 0 0 0 79.4
45 K. Kramer S 12 8 0.0 0 0 1 82.3
91 K. Polko ILB 11 4 0.0 0 0 1 82.0
25 C. Hickman CB 11 1 0.0 0 0 0 58.8
95 B. Lopes DE 8 2 0.0 1 0 0 79.3
96 J. Harmon DT 8 6 0.0 2 0 0 82.5
58 A. Zimmerman DE 7 3 0.0 1 0 0 82.5
31 J. Dotson CB 7 1 0.0 0 1 2 79.5
70 J. Forbes DT 6 3 0.0 1 0 0 82.5
56 D. Dennis OLB 4 1 0.0 0 0 0 73.8



We remain a bad team. In other news, the sun rises in the east, and then night follows day.

Artie the Smartie is looking awfully good, though - he was the absoslute key in the one win.

Nobody injured... nothing obvious to do with the depth chart or gameplah that I see...

[JeffW]

Gameplan looks like a nightmare to me. I think the AI game plan would give us better results.

Practically speaking, it wouldn't really make any difference though. We are going to get pillaged this season.

[QuikSand]

Agreed, shall I proceed?

[JeffW]

Agreed, shall I proceed?

Yep. Hell, go all the way to the offseason is fine by me.

[QuikSand]

2009 Summary for Texarkana Armadillos

Year 2009
Record 1-7
Winning Pct. .125
All-Time 5-51
Winning Pct. .089
Playoffs 0-0
Playoff Visits 0
Bowl Wins 0
Head Coach Derri Merrim
Record 1-7
Winning Pct. .125
Off. Coord. C. Hansford
Def. Coord. W. Montgomery

Texarkana Armadillos Team Rank
Rushes per Game 11.6 32
Rushing Yards 35.0 32
Yards Per Carry 3.01 32
Pass Attempts 44.4 1
Completions 24.3 3
Completion Pct. 54.6 25
Passing Yards 206.8 16
Yards Per Attempt 4.66 32
Yards Per Catch 8.53 32
Total Yardage Gained 214.1 32
3rd Down Conversions 33.3 25
Points Per Game 11.8 31
Pass Rush Pct. 3.4 31
Pass Defense Pct. 62.5 28
Turnovers 26 32
Turnover Margin -14 32

Opponents Team Rank
Rushes per Game 36.5 30
Rushing Yards 152.5 30
Yards Per Carry 4.18 18
Pass Attempts 25.4 2
Completions 18.5 11 (T)
Completion Pct. 72.9 32
Passing Yards 203.0 14
Yards Per Attempt 8.00 31
Yards Per Catch 10.97 18
Total Yardage Gained 340.8 29
3rd Down Conversions 36.7 13
Points Per Game 28.4 31
Pass Rush Pct. 9.8 30
Pass Defense Pct. 75.9 26
Turnovers 12 15 (T)

Week Team Versus Oppnt
1 14 TEN 34
2 6 SEA 24
3 24 at SDO 20
4 13 at IND 38
5 10 NJY 30
6 10 at BUF 34
7 10 NED 17
8 7 at TEN 30
10 at MIA
11 JAX
12 at SFO
13 PIT
14 at STL
15 IND
16 ARI
17 at JAX

Passing Pos Att Comp Yards Y/Att TD Int Rate
16 S. Tellez QB 346 189 1609 4.65 6 19 49.9
**Team --- 355 194 1654 4.66 6 19 50.3
$$Opp --- 203 148 1624 8.00 18 4 117.5

Rushing Pos Att Yards Y/Att TD Fum
41 A. Erickson RB 43 143 3.33 1 3
43 B. Crangle RB 26 71 2.73 0 0
**Team --- 93 280 3.01 1 16
$$Opp --- 292 1220 4.18 7 14

Receiving Pos Targ Catch Yards Y/Ctc Y/Tar Drop TD
88 A. Markiewicz WR 98 50 493 9.86 5.03 5 3
86 B. Ballard WR 74 41 547 13.34 7.39 4 2
81 J. Shepherd WR 43 25 177 7.08 4.12 3 0
85 D. Hall WR 35 17 113 6.65 3.23 4 1
87 E. Diaz TE 29 15 105 7.00 3.62 0 0
43 B. Crangle RB 21 13 49 3.77 2.33 3 0
80 J. Lang TE 18 10 59 5.90 3.28 1 0
37 K. Parrish FB 11 8 37 4.63 3.36 2 0

Defense Pos Tack Asst Sack Hurr Ints Defn PDPct
53 L. Knoll ILB 49 15 0.5 1 1 0 70.2
92 S. Abrams OLB 37 12 2.0 0 0 1 68.8
93 B. Dux ILB 35 15 1.0 2 0 0 74.4
91 K. Polko ILB 34 13 0.0 0 0 2 76.4
42 S. Wolfe S 32 8 0.0 0 0 5 79.5
45 K. Kramer S 31 14 0.0 0 0 1 76.0
96 J. Harmon DT 27 13 4.5 2 0 0 81.7
55 R. Crumley OLB 26 4 1.0 3 0 0 77.6
38 H. Knight CB 24 5 1.0 0 1 2 73.4
23 D. Steidl S 18 7 0.0 0 0 0 79.7
56 D. Dennis OLB 18 8 0.0 0 0 0 68.1
58 A. Zimmerman DE 17 8 1.0 1 0 0 82.5
95 B. Lopes DE 16 9 2.0 1 0 0 80.1
25 C. Hickman CB 16 2 0.0 0 0 0 66.5
31 J. Dotson CB 15 4 0.0 0 1 3 77.4
57 R. Pinero OLB 9 2 4.0 4 0 0 78.6
70 J. Forbes DT 9 5 0.0 1 0 0 80.7

[QuikSand]

2009 Summary for Texarkana Armadillos

Year 2009
Record 1-11
Winning Pct. .083
All-Time 5-55
Winning Pct. .083
Playoffs 0-0
Playoff Visits 0
Bowl Wins 0
Head Coach Derri Merrim
Record 1-11
Winning Pct. .083
Off. Coord. C. Hansford
Def. Coord. W. Montgomery

Texarkana Armadillos Team Rank
Rushes per Game 12.1 32
Rushing Yards 42.8 32
Yards Per Carry 3.54 32
Pass Attempts 47.3 1
Completions 24.9 2
Completion Pct. 52.7 28
Passing Yards 204.9 16
Yards Per Attempt 4.34 32
Yards Per Catch 8.22 32
Total Yardage Gained 221.2 32
3rd Down Conversions 31.4 29
Points Per Game 11.2 32
Pass Rush Pct. 4.0 32
Pass Defense Pct. 64.5 26
Turnovers 37 32
Turnover Margin -19 31 (T)

Opponents Team Rank
Rushes per Game 35.8 31
Rushing Yards 142.6 30
Yards Per Carry 3.99 13
Pass Attempts 25.8 1
Completions 17.8 4
Completion Pct. 69.0 32
Passing Yards 179.6 2
Yards Per Attempt 6.95 24
Yards Per Catch 10.07 5
Total Yardage Gained 305.7 17
3rd Down Conversions 34.9 10
Points Per Game 26.3 31 (T)
Pass Rush Pct. 10.1 31
Pass Defense Pct. 76.0 27 (T)
Turnovers 18 18 (T)

Week Team Versus Oppnt
1 14 TEN 34
2 6 SEA 24
3 24 at SDO 20
4 13 at IND 38
5 10 NJY 30
6 10 at BUF 34
7 10 NED 17
8 7 at TEN 30
10 10 at MIA 24
11 3 JAX 24
12 10 at SFO 17
13 17 PIT 24
14 at STL
15 IND
16 ARI
17 at JAX

Passing Pos Att Comp Yards Y/Att TD Int Rate
16 S. Tellez QB 558 294 2414 4.33 9 26 50.0
**Team --- 567 299 2459 4.34 9 26 50.2
$$Opp --- 310 214 2155 6.95 22 6 104.1

Rushing Pos Att Yards Y/Att TD Fum
41 A. Erickson RB 71 268 3.77 2 5
43 B. Crangle RB 39 130 3.33 0 1
**Team --- 145 514 3.54 2 24
$$Opp --- 429 1711 3.99 11 22

Receiving Pos Targ Catch Yards Y/Ctc Y/Tar Drop TD
88 A. Markiewicz WR 142 69 622 9.01 4.38 10 3
86 B. Ballard WR 120 64 780 12.19 6.50 8 4
81 J. Shepherd WR 64 34 226 6.65 3.53 3 1
87 E. Diaz TE 58 30 260 8.67 4.48 1 0
85 D. Hall WR 58 28 256 9.14 4.41 5 1
43 B. Crangle RB 32 20 79 3.95 2.47 5 0
41 A. Erickson RB 33 18 58 3.22 1.76 3 0
80 J. Lang TE 28 14 74 5.29 2.64 2 0
37 K. Parrish FB 16 12 48 4.00 3.00 2 0

Defense Pos Tack Asst Sack Hurr Ints Defn PDPct
53 L. Knoll ILB 69 28 2.5 3 1 1 73.5
93 B. Dux ILB 64 25 1.0 3 0 1 76.0
91 K. Polko ILB 48 17 0.0 0 0 3 76.2
45 K. Kramer S 48 19 0.0 0 0 3 75.3
42 S. Wolfe S 47 10 1.0 0 0 7 78.0
92 S. Abrams OLB 47 17 2.0 4 0 1 70.5
96 J. Harmon DT 42 17 4.5 4 0 0 81.4
55 R. Crumley OLB 38 10 4.0 6 0 0 77.0
38 H. Knight CB 33 7 1.0 0 2 2 75.5
56 D. Dennis OLB 28 10 3.0 1 0 1 74.4
95 B. Lopes DE 24 15 3.5 1 0 0 80.9
23 D. Steidl S 23 10 0.0 0 0 0 77.8
31 J. Dotson CB 23 7 0.0 0 1 3 75.2
58 A. Zimmerman DE 19 11 1.0 2 0 0 82.5
25 C. Hickman CB 18 4 0.0 0 0 0 70.6
70 J. Forbes DT 15 6 0.0 1 0 0 80.0
24 N. Spearman CB 15 5 1.5 1 2 0 82.9
57 R. Pinero OLB 13 4 5.0 4 0 0 79.1

[JeffW]

One thing we might want to do: Use more multi-WR sets to get our depth more playing time and then rotate Crangle in more at RB.

[QuikSand]

Okay, with the offense a particular abomination, I'm planning to run the next three games with the staff setting the gameplan week to week, just to see how things go... I wil save and distribute our current gameplan files, but I'd liek to get a taste of what we're costing ourselves with this novelty act of a gameplan.

[QuikSand]

I installed a pretty sizable number of 3WR formations (ones that Tellez knows) into the offense for this year, and have Crangle playing on lots of passing downs - so I think he's being used correctly, more or less. *shurg*

[JeffW]

I installed a pretty sizable number of 3WR formations (ones that Tellez knows) into the offense for this year, and have Crangle playing on lots of passing downs - so I think he's being used correctly, more or less. *shurg*

Cool, sounds good. It's a marginal effect anyway.

[QuikSand]

2009 Summary for Texarkana Armadillos

Year 2009
Record 1-15
Winning Pct. .062
All-Time 5-59
Winning Pct. .078
Playoffs 0-0
Playoff Visits 0
Bowl Wins 0
Head Coach Derri Merrim
Record 1-15
Winning Pct. .062
Off. Coord. C. Hansford
Def. Coord. W. Montgomery

Texarkana Armadillos Team Rank
Rushes per Game 14.4 32
Rushing Yards 54.3 32
Yards Per Carry 3.78 27
Pass Attempts 45.5 1
Completions 23.8 2
Completion Pct. 52.2 29
Passing Yards 203.1 17
Yards Per Attempt 4.46 32
Yards Per Catch 8.55 32
Total Yardage Gained 231.8 31
3rd Down Conversions 32.0 29
Points Per Game 10.0 32
Pass Rush Pct. 3.7 32
Pass Defense Pct. 63.0 31
Turnovers 44 32
Turnover Margin -23 32

Opponents Team Rank
Rushes per Game 35.5 31
Rushing Yards 140.7 30
Yards Per Carry 3.96 14
Pass Attempts 25.6 1
Completions 18.3 8
Completion Pct. 71.2 32
Passing Yards 194.8 7
Yards Per Attempt 7.60 31
Yards Per Catch 10.67 14
Total Yardage Gained 319.3 21
3rd Down Conversions 36.6 16
Points Per Game 27.0 32
Pass Rush Pct. 9.8 31
Pass Defense Pct. 76.4 28
Turnovers 21 27 (T)

Week Team Versus Oppnt
1 14 TEN 34
2 6 SEA 24
3 24 at SDO 20
4 13 at IND 38
5 10 NJY 30
6 10 at BUF 34
7 10 NED 17
8 7 at TEN 30
10 10 at MIA 24
11 3 JAX 24
12 10 at SFO 17
13 17 PIT 24
14 0 at STL 23
15 3 IND 24
16 9 ARI 24
17 14 at JAX 45

Passing Pos Att Comp Yards Y/Att TD Int Rate
16 S. Tellez QB 683 368 3129 4.58 10 29 53.3
7 E. Irwin QB 45 12 121 2.69 0 1 30.3
**Team --- 728 380 3250 4.46 10 30 51.6
$$Opp --- 410 292 3117 7.60 31 7 111.2

Rushing Pos Att Yards Y/Att TD Fum
41 A. Erickson RB 121 495 4.09 2 5
Front Office Football 2007
43 B. Crangle RB 59 220 3.73 0 2
**Team --- 230 869 3.78 2 31
$$Opp --- 568 2251 3.96 16 25

Receiving Pos Targ Catch Yards Y/Ctc Y/Tar Drop TD
88 A. Markiewicz WR 189 96 957 9.97 5.06 12 4
86 B. Ballard WR 157 82 966 11.78 6.15 11 4
81 J. Shepherd WR 90 44 353 8.02 3.92 5 1
87 E. Diaz TE 68 35 287 8.20 4.22 1 0
85 D. Hall WR 71 34 307 9.03 4.32 6 1
43 B. Crangle RB 41 27 106 3.93 2.59 5 0
41 A. Erickson RB 43 22 78 3.55 1.81 4 0

Defense Pos Tack Asst Sack Hurr Ints Defn PDPct
53 L. Knoll ILB 95 35 2.5 3 1 2 74.1
93 B. Dux ILB 84 33 1.0 3 0 1 74.4
42 S. Wolfe S 64 17 1.0 0 0 8 76.3
92 S. Abrams OLB 63 24 3.5 4 0 2 71.1
45 K. Kramer S 63 26 0.0 0 0 4 75.6
96 J. Harmon DT 59 18 6.0 4 0 0 81.7
91 K. Polko ILB 56 19 0.0 0 0 4 74.9
55 R. Crumley OLB 49 13 5.0 6 0 1 78.0
38 H. Knight CB 45 12 1.0 0 2 2 73.1
23 D. Steidl S 32 15 0.0 0 0 0 76.7
56 D. Dennis OLB 32 11 3.0 1 0 1 73.4
95 B. Lopes DE 30 20 5.0 3 1 0 82.8
31 J. Dotson CB 30 9 0.0 0 1 4 73.4
70 J. Forbes DT 28 7 0.0 1 0 0 80.6
58 A. Zimmerman DE 26 14 2.5 3 0 0 82.5
25 C. Hickman CB 23 4 0.0 0 0 1 69.7
24 N. Spearman CB 20 7 2.5 1 2 0 81.6


Well, from the looks of the last four games, it would be hard to say that it has been our gameplans that have really held us back. We were pretty awful in those games as well, with our staff setting the gameplans. *shurg*

[JeffW]

Looks like our running game improved substantially as the season went on. That 3.8 yards/carry includes that abyssmal 2.4 yard/carry start.

[QuikSand]

I'm going to cut C El Nino before we wrap the season - he's angry about being benched, and there's no way to re-sign him without severing first. (Kinda a dumb backwards way to get these to work out, but if he doesn't retire, he won't hold his grudge next year, and would be open to re-signing if we want him, which I doubt anyway)

edit: Ditto with CB Gerak.

[JeffW]

I'm going to cut C El Nino before we wrap the season - he's angry about being benched, and there's no way to re-sign him without severing first. (Kinda a dumb backwards way to get these to work out, but if he doesn't retire, he won't hold his grudge next year, and would be open to re-signing if we want him, which I doubt anyway)

edit: Ditto with CB Gerak.

Sounds fine. When the offseason starts, I will look over the roster and free agents. Roster needs a lot of help obviously. We absolutely need a QB and we need to try and avoid busts--that chart tells me that the Armadillos have been plagued by draft busts.

[QuikSand]

<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"> <tbody><tr class="catbck" align="center"> <td colspan="2" class="qbname">Texarkana Armadillos Player Report</td> </tr> <tr class="catbck" align="center"> <td colspan="2" class="qbname">(GT2009d-postcamp - GT2009e-end)</td> </tr> </tbody></table>

<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"> <tbody><tr class="catbck" align="center"> <td class="headr">Name</td><td class="headr">Pos</td><td class="headr">GT2009d-postcamp Current</td><td class="headr">GT2009d-postcamp Future</td><td class="headr">GT2009e-end Current</td><td class="headr">GT2009e-end Future</td><td class="headr">Overall Current Change</td><td class="headr">Overall Future Change</td></tr><tr class="stats" align="center"> <td>Irwin, Earl</td><td>QB</td><td>18</td><td>56</td><td>20 (2)</td><td>56 (0)</td><td>2</td><td>0</td></tr><tr class="stats" align="center"> <td>Nelson, Harry</td><td>QB</td><td>20</td><td>35</td><td>20 (0)</td><td>34 (-1)</td><td>0</td><td>-1</td></tr><tr class="stats" align="center"> <td>Tellez, Stan</td><td>QB</td><td>20</td><td>48</td><td>23 (3)</td><td>48 (0)</td><td>3</td><td>0</td></tr><tr class="stats" align="center"> <td>Aranda, Marc</td><td>RB</td><td>26</td><td>26</td><td>26 (0)</td><td>26 (0)</td><td>0</td><td>0</td></tr><tr class="stats" align="center"> <td>Crangle, Brenden</td><td>RB</td><td>34</td><td>50</td><td>38 (4)</td><td>50 (0)</td><td>4</td><td>0</td></tr><tr class="stats" align="center"> <td>Erickson, Andre</td><td>RB</td><td>47</td><td>47</td><td>48 (1)</td><td>48 (1)</td><td>1</td><td>1</td></tr><tr class="stats" align="center"> <td>Terry, Graham</td><td>RB</td><td>31</td><td>42</td><td>33 (2)</td><td>42 (0)</td><td>2</td><td>0</td></tr><tr class="stats" align="center"> <td>Foreman, Zack</td><td>FB</td><td>28</td><td>42</td><td>28 (0)</td><td>42 (0)</td><td>0</td><td>0</td></tr><tr class="stats" align="center"> <td>Parrish, Kennedy</td><td>FB</td><td>26</td><td>49</td><td>29 (3)</td><td>49 (0)</td><td>3</td><td>0</td></tr><tr class="stats" align="center"> <td>Diaz, Eric</td><td>TE</td><td>60</td><td>60</td><td>60 (0)</td><td>60 (0)</td><td>0</td><td>0</td></tr><tr class="stats" align="center"> <td>Lang, Johnnie</td><td>TE</td><td>40</td><td>52</td><td>44 (4)</td><td>52 (0)</td><td>4</td><td>0</td></tr><tr class="stats" align="center"> <td>Cushing, Roosevelt</td><td>FL</td><td>33</td><td>39</td><td>33 (0)</td><td>39 (0)</td><td>0</td><td>0</td></tr><tr class="stats" align="center"> <td>Hall, Fernando</td><td>FL</td><td>19</td><td>47</td><td>
</pre></td><td>
</pre></td><td>0</td><td>0</td></tr><tr class="stats" align="center"> <td>Markiewicz, Artie</td><td>FL</td><td>32</td><td>41</td><td>43 (11)</td><td>43 (2)</td><td>11</td><td>2</td></tr><tr class="stats" align="center"> <td>Shepherd, Jumbo</td><td>FL</td><td>29</td><td>49</td><td>37 (8)</td><td>49 (0)</td><td>8</td><td>0</td></tr><tr class="stats" align="center"> <td>Ballard, Burt</td><td>SE</td><td>49</td><td>59</td><td>58 (9)</td><td>58 (-1)</td><td>9</td><td>-1</td></tr><tr class="stats" align="center"> <td>Hall, Daniel</td><td>SE</td><td>30</td><td>30</td><td>30 (0)</td><td>30 (0)</td><td>0</td><td>0</td></tr><tr class="stats" align="center"> <td>Woodson, Grady</td><td>SE</td><td>22</td><td>22</td><td>21 (-1)</td><td>21 (-1)</td><td>-1</td><td>-1</td></tr><tr class="stats" align="center"> <td>Nixon, Colin</td><td>C</td><td>31</td><td>52</td><td>42 (11)</td><td>52 (0)</td><td>11</td><td>0</td></tr><tr class="stats" align="center"> <td>Chapman, Tommie</td><td>LG</td><td>32</td><td>32</td><td>32 (0)</td><td>32 (0)</td><td>0</td><td>0</td></tr><tr class="stats" align="center"> <td>Pascal, Marco</td><td>LG</td><td>56</td><td>69</td><td>67 (11)</td><td>67 (-2)</td><td>11</td><td>-2</td></tr><tr class="stats" align="center"> <td>Wallace, Bert</td><td>LG</td><td>21</td><td>47</td><td>21 (0)</td><td>47 (0)</td><td>0</td><td>0</td></tr><tr class="stats" align="center"> <td>Bridges, Ken</td><td>RG</td><td>36</td><td>55</td><td>47 (11)</td><td>55 (0)</td><td>11</td><td>0</td></tr><tr class="stats" align="center"> <td>Bickler, Jonathan</td><td>LT</td><td>68</td><td>88</td><td>84 (16)</td><td>88 (0)</td><td>16</td><td>0</td></tr><tr class="stats" align="center"> <td>Hindman, Jason</td><td>LT</td><td>21</td><td>29</td><td>
</pre></td><td>
</pre></td><td>0</td><td>0</td></tr><tr class="stats" align="center"> <td>Winters, Andy</td><td>LT</td><td>38</td><td>47</td><td>38 (0)</td><td>47 (0)</td><td>0</td><td>0</td></tr><tr class="stats" align="center"> <td>Cote, Bruce</td><td>RT</td><td>12</td><td>12</td><td>12 (0)</td><td>12 (0)</td><td>0</td><td>0</td></tr><tr class="stats" align="center"> <td>DeLamielleure, Kent</td><td>RT</td><td>35</td><td>35</td><td>35 (0)</td><td>35 (0)</td><td>0</td><td>0</td></tr><tr class="stats" align="center"> <td>Whiting, Neil</td><td>K</td><td>56</td><td>56</td><td>56 (0)</td><td>56 (0)</td><td>0</td><td>0</td></tr><tr class="stats" align="center"> <td>Ludwig, Billy</td><td>P</td><td>30</td><td>30</td><td>30 (0)</td><td>30 (0)</td><td>0</td><td>0</td></tr><tr class="stats" align="center"> <td>Zimmerman, Amos</td><td>LDE</td><td>36</td><td>60</td><td>42 (6)</td><td>60 (0)</td><td>6</td><td>0</td></tr><tr class="stats" align="center"> <td>Burks, Corwin</td><td>NT</td><td>35</td><td>35</td><td>35 (0)</td><td>35 (0)</td><td>0</td><td>0</td></tr><tr class="stats" align="center"> <td>Forbes, Julio</td><td>NT</td><td>30</td><td>30</td><td>30 (0)</td><td>30 (0)</td><td>0</td><td>0</td></tr><tr class="stats" align="center"> <td>Harmon, Junior</td><td>NT</td><td>71</td><td>92</td><td>89 (18)</td><td>92 (0)</td><td>18</td><td>0</td></tr><tr class="stats" align="center"> <td>Rhodes, Lonnie</td><td>NT</td><td>18</td><td>44</td><td>23 (5)</td><td>44 (0)</td><td>5</td><td>0</td></tr><tr class="stats" align="center"> <td>Altuna, Albert</td><td>RDE</td><td>28</td><td>28</td><td>
</pre></td><td>
</pre></td><td>0</td><td>0</td></tr><tr class="stats" align="center"> <td>Lopes, Brant</td><td>RDE</td><td>32</td><td>56</td><td>39 (7)</td><td>56 (0)</td><td>7</td><td>0</td></tr><tr class="stats" align="center"> <td>Abrams, Shaun</td><td>SLB</td><td>27</td><td>36</td><td>35 (8)</td><td>35 (-1)</td><td>8</td><td>-1</td></tr><tr class="stats" align="center"> <td>Booker, Doug</td><td>SLB</td><td>26</td><td>43</td><td>
</pre></td><td>
</pre></td><td>0</td><td>0</td></tr><tr class="stats" align="center"> <td>Dennis, Derek</td><td>SLB</td><td>18</td><td>37</td><td>27 (9)</td><td>37 (0)</td><td>9</td><td>0</td></tr><tr class="stats" align="center"> <td>Crumley, Rickey</td><td>SILB</td><td>35</td><td>52</td><td>
</pre></td><td>
</pre></td><td>0</td><td>0</td></tr><tr class="stats" align="center"> <td>Knoll, Leland</td><td>SILB</td><td>37</td><td>37</td><td>37 (0)</td><td>37 (0)</td><td>0</td><td>0</td></tr><tr class="stats" align="center"> <td>Polko, Kevin</td><td>SILB</td><td>30</td><td>32</td><td>32 (2)</td><td>32 (0)</td><td>2</td><td>0</td></tr><tr class="stats" align="center"> <td>Dux, Brett</td><td>WILB</td><td>51</td><td>56</td><td>54 (3)</td><td>54 (-2)</td><td>3</td><td>-2</td></tr><tr class="stats" align="center"> <td>Crumley, Rickey</td><td>WLB</td><td>
</pre></td><td>
</pre></td><td>43</td><td>54</td><td>0</td><td>0</td></tr><tr class="stats" align="center"> <td>Pinero, Rufus</td><td>WLB</td><td>46</td><td>46</td><td>46 (0)</td><td>46 (0)</td><td>0</td><td>0</td></tr><tr class="stats" align="center"> <td>Dotson, Joseph</td><td>LCB</td><td>34</td><td>51</td><td>38 (4)</td><td>51 (0)</td><td>4</td><td>0</td></tr><tr class="stats" align="center"> <td>Gerak, Howie</td><td>LCB</td><td>33</td><td>33</td><td>
</pre></td><td>
</pre></td><td>0</td><td>0</td></tr><tr class="stats" align="center"> <td>Hickman, Carlos</td><td>LCB</td><td>25</td><td>35</td><td>28 (3)</td><td>35 (0)</td><td>3</td><td>0</td></tr><tr class="stats" align="center"> <td>Dole, Tito</td><td>RCB</td><td>21</td><td>27</td><td>21 (0)</td><td>27 (0)</td><td>0</td><td>0</td></tr><tr class="stats" align="center"> <td>Henry, Jeff</td><td>RCB</td><td>51</td><td>51</td><td>
</pre></td><td>
</pre></td><td>0</td><td>0</td></tr><tr class="stats" align="center"> <td>Knight, Hugh</td><td>RCB</td><td>28</td><td>54</td><td>32 (4)</td><td>54 (0)</td><td>4</td><td>0</td></tr><tr class="stats" align="center"> <td>Kramer, Korey</td><td>RCB</td><td>14</td><td>33</td><td>
</pre></td><td>
</pre></td><td>0</td><td>0</td></tr><tr class="stats" align="center"> <td>Spearman, Nicky</td><td>RCB</td><td>23</td><td>23</td><td>23 (0)</td><td>23 (0)</td><td>0</td><td>0</td></tr><tr class="stats" align="center"> <td>Curtin, Winston</td><td>SS</td><td>16</td><td>43</td><td>
</pre></td><td>
</pre></td><td>0</td><td>0</td></tr><tr class="stats" align="center"> <td>Kramer, Korey</td><td>SS</td><td>
</pre></td><td>
</pre></td><td>16</td><td>36</td><td>0</td><td>0</td></tr><tr class="stats" align="center"> <td>Mersky, Karl</td><td>SS</td><td>19</td><td>44</td><td>19 (0)</td><td>44 (0)</td><td>0</td><td>0</td></tr><tr class="stats" align="center"> <td>Steidl, Deion</td><td>SS</td><td>24</td><td>43</td><td>27 (3)</td><td>43 (0)</td><td>3</td><td>0</td></tr><tr class="stats" align="center"> <td>Clements, Heath</td><td>FS</td><td>22</td><td>34</td><td>
</pre></td><td>
</pre></td><td>0</td><td>0</td></tr><tr class="stats" align="center"> <td>Wolfe, Shannon</td><td>FS</td><td>50</td><td>50</td><td>50 (0)</td><td>50 (0)</td><td>0</td><td>0</td></tr></tbody></table>

[QuikSand]

The Armadillos have been plagued by draft busts.

[JeffW]

Earl Irwin and Joseph Dotson held their ratings. Is it possible that they won't suffer a slow and steady decline? Or is there just less ratings movement in this phase?

[QuikSand]

For a team committing to the heavy blitz, our teamwide "pass rush percentage" for the season was a measly 3.7 - by far the league's lowest (5.0 was second lowest). Not much change dlast year to this year, other than the WLB starter, but suddenly Abrams was basically a nonfactor and we couldn't get to anyone. Weird.

[QuikSand]

Earl Irwin and Joseph Dotson held their ratings. Is it possible that they won't suffer a slow and steady decline? Or is there just less ratings movement in this phase?

I think the downward drift (or upward) in future ratings during the season is usually pretty minor, and doesn't seem to be a strong indicator of anything. The thing to look for is next offseaosn with these guys, I believe.

[QuikSand]

New file for start of 2010 being sent as I type. Important file to get if you are catching up.

[JeffW]

I think the downward drift (or upward) in future ratings during the season is usually pretty minor, and doesn't seem to be a strong indicator of anything. The thing to look for is next offseaosn with these guys, I believe.

Oops, I thought that chart was for the offseason. Yeah, in season potential changes are not meaningful.

[QuikSand]

Sorry, I'm having trouble with the file... should be up shortly, though.

[JeffW]

Okay, Staff Hiring. I like the following guys as replacements(I'm assuming we have the house rule that you can't hire anyone who's had a job before--if that's wrong, ignore this):

Scout Steve Mathis Age 64. G at QB, OL, LB, DB, YT. VG RB, DL. Av WR/TE.

Offensive Coordinator Alan Gibbons Age 39. VG QB, Rec. G RB, OL, YT.

Head Coach George Hutton Age 38. P Motivation. G Disc., Offense, Defense. VG Injuries.

Defensive Coordinator Andr Glover Age 35. G DL, LB, DB, YT.

[JeffW]

Briefly looking ahead to free agency.

QB Eddie Bucknet has left the San Diego Chargers as expected.

http://img182.imageshack.us/img182/3774/qbeddiebucknermj8.jpg

He's underdeveloped, but he only has 90 pass attempts with the Chargers, so I think there is still hope to develop him to that 70 potential. Someone will have to check the affinities--I hate that. :p

A guy I liked a lot last year, RDERondell Clemons is back on the market, but he started 16 games, earned 15.5 sacks, 16 hurries so he might be expensive this year.

[heardie]

Nice thread I am enjoying, even if your team is horrible! :)

Quick question, how did you set it up so that you got the worst team (did you change?), and how did you move straight away?

[QuikSand]

After an initial allocation draft, I released several of Houston's better players, which dropped them to being a bad team. At the end of the season, I cut the rest of them, giving us the "empty cupboard" we wanted to start out with for year two.

We didn't technically move the team - I just reassigned Houston in-game to be associated with Little Rock, and I renamed it as Texarkana in the city list.

Glad you're enjoying, though!

[QuikSand]

Once again, we have to decide whather we want to really be building this team from youth or from the open market. I'm really okay either way, and at the moment, it's starting to feel like we could make the "group" decisions with just the two of us, Jeff...

[QuikSand]

Incidentally, we do have two retirements - DT Corwin Burks (a group leader) and G Tomie Chapman (a mentor). It appears that CB Howie Gerak has stuck around, so we could go get him back if we like, and same with C Leland El Nino.


...seems to me we need to decide whether the affinity-building stuff is worth continuing with. We opted early to commit to this "system" but we really haven't committed to it in any meaningful way - we aren't really going after many affinity guys, even at QB where we deliberately tried to build the triple affinity system, and the game tells us (except for rookies) who is an aff/conf in advance... so the simplicity factor seems to be a bit overblown.

Is it time to give up the "system" and just go with whatever players we like best, and then perhaps think twice if a conflict shows up? That, I suspect, is how many FOF players deal with affinities and conflicts... as a much more secondary factor.

[QuikSand]

Okay, Staff Hiring. I like the following guys as replacements(I'm assuming we have the house rule that you can't hire anyone who's had a job before--if that's wrong, ignore this):

Scout Steve Mathis Age 64. G at QB, OL, LB, DB, YT. VG RB, DL. Av WR/TE.

Offensive Coordinator Alan Gibbons Age 39. VG QB, Rec. G RB, OL, YT.

Head Coach George Hutton Age 38. P Motivation. G Disc., Offense, Defense. VG Injuries.

Defensive Coordinator Andr Glover Age 35. G DL, LB, DB, YT.

All doone, with only one veto. I re-hired our so-so scout, just because (a) he is young, and (b) havinng continuity there makes it a bit easier for us to try to measure movement in player ratings. Going for a aslightly better 64 year old guy basically commit us to having at leats two stutter-steps in every player's ratings, which woudl make it easier to note guys who are creeping, etc. Just for purposes of this exercise, I think continuity in scouting has some particular value.

[JeffW]

All doone, with only one veto. I re-hired our so-so scout, just because (a) he is young, and (b) havinng continuity there makes it a bit easier for us to try to measure movement in player ratings. Going for a aslightly better 64 year old guy basically commit us to having at leats two stutter-steps in every player's ratings, which woudl make it easier to note guys who are creeping, etc. Just for purposes of this exercise, I think continuity in scouting has some particular value.

That's true, didn't think about that. Go with the guy we have already.

I should probably go to bed soon so I can wake up for 10 AM football, but I will stick around for a little while if you want to work on the team for a bit.

[QuikSand]

<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"> <tbody><tr class="catbck" align="center"> <td colspan="2" class="qbname">Texarkana Armadillos Player Report</td> </tr> <tr class="catbck" align="center"> <td colspan="2" class="qbname">(GT2010a-start - GT2010b-startFA)</td> </tr> </tbody></table>

<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"> <tbody><tr class="catbck" align="center"> <td class="headr">Name</td><td class="headr">Pos</td><td class="headr">GT2010a-start Current</td><td class="headr">GT2010a-start Future</td><td class="headr">GT2010b-startFA Current</td><td class="headr">GT2010b-startFA Future</td><td class="headr">Overall Current Change</td><td class="headr">Overall Future Change</td></tr><tr class="stats" align="center"> <td>Irwin, Earl</td><td>QB</td><td>20</td><td>56</td><td>19 (-1)</td><td>50 (-6)</td><td>-1</td><td>-6</td></tr><tr class="stats" align="center"> <td>Nelson, Harry</td><td>QB</td><td>20</td><td>34</td><td>20 (0)</td><td>34 (0)</td><td>0</td><td>0</td></tr><tr class="stats" align="center"> <td>Tellez, Stan</td><td>QB</td><td>23</td><td>46</td><td>21 (-2)</td><td>40 (-6)</td><td>-2</td><td>-6</td></tr><tr class="stats" align="center"> <td>Aranda, Marc</td><td>RB</td><td>26</td><td>26</td><td>26 (0)</td><td>26 (0)</td><td>0</td><td>0</td></tr><tr class="stats" align="center"> <td>Crangle, Brenden</td><td>RB</td><td>38</td><td>50</td><td>38 (0)</td><td>50 (0)</td><td>0</td><td>0</td></tr><tr class="stats" align="center"> <td>Erickson, Andre</td><td>RB</td><td>48</td><td>48</td><td>48 (0)</td><td>48 (0)</td><td>0</td><td>0</td></tr><tr class="stats" align="center"> <td>Terry, Graham</td><td>RB</td><td>33</td><td>42</td><td>33 (0)</td><td>43 (1)</td><td>0</td><td>1</td></tr><tr class="stats" align="center"> <td>Foreman, Zack</td><td>FB</td><td>28</td><td>42</td><td>27 (-1)</td><td>42 (0)</td><td>-1</td><td>0</td></tr><tr class="stats" align="center"> <td>Parrish, Kennedy</td><td>FB</td><td>29</td><td>49</td><td>28 (-1)</td><td>46 (-3)</td><td>-1</td><td>-3</td></tr><tr class="stats" align="center"> <td>Diaz, Eric</td><td>TE</td><td>60</td><td>60</td><td>59 (-1)</td><td>59 (-1)</td><td>-1</td><td>-1</td></tr><tr class="stats" align="center"> <td>Lang, Johnnie</td><td>TE</td><td>44</td><td>52</td><td>43 (-1)</td><td>52 (0)</td><td>-1</td><td>0</td></tr><tr class="stats" align="center"> <td>Cushing, Roosevelt</td><td>FL</td><td>33</td><td>39</td><td>32 (-1)</td><td>37 (-2)</td><td>-1</td><td>-2</td></tr><tr class="stats" align="center"> <td>Markiewicz, Artie</td><td>FL</td><td>43</td><td>43</td><td>45 (2)</td><td>45 (2)</td><td>2</td><td>2</td></tr><tr class="stats" align="center"> <td>Shepherd, Jumbo</td><td>FL</td><td>37</td><td>49</td><td>39 (2)</td><td>52 (3)</td><td>2</td><td>3</td></tr><tr class="stats" align="center"> <td>Ballard, Burt</td><td>SE</td><td>58</td><td>58</td><td>55 (-3)</td><td>55 (-3)</td><td>-3</td><td>-3</td></tr><tr class="stats" align="center"> <td>Hall, Daniel</td><td>SE</td><td>30</td><td>30</td><td>30 (0)</td><td>30 (0)</td><td>0</td><td>0</td></tr><tr class="stats" align="center"> <td>Woodson, Grady</td><td>SE</td><td>21</td><td>21</td><td>21 (0)</td><td>21 (0)</td><td>0</td><td>0</td></tr><tr class="stats" align="center"> <td>Nixon, Colin</td><td>C</td><td>42</td><td>52</td><td>41 (-1)</td><td>51 (-1)</td><td>-1</td><td>-1</td></tr><tr class="stats" align="center"> <td>Pascal, Marco</td><td>LG</td><td>67</td><td>67</td><td>66 (-1)</td><td>66 (-1)</td><td>-1</td><td>-1</td></tr><tr class="stats" align="center"> <td>Wallace, Bert</td><td>LG</td><td>21</td><td>47</td><td>20 (-1)</td><td>44 (-3)</td><td>-1</td><td>-3</td></tr><tr class="stats" align="center"> <td>Bridges, Ken</td><td>RG</td><td>47</td><td>55</td><td>46 (-1)</td><td>55 (0)</td><td>-1</td><td>0</td></tr><tr class="stats" align="center"> <td>Bickler, Jonathan</td><td>LT</td><td>84</td><td>88</td><td>84 (0)</td><td>88 (0)</td><td>0</td><td>0</td></tr><tr class="stats" align="center"> <td>Winters, Andy</td><td>LT</td><td>38</td><td>47</td><td>38 (0)</td><td>47 (0)</td><td>0</td><td>0</td></tr><tr class="stats" align="center"> <td>Cote, Bruce</td><td>RT</td><td>12</td><td>12</td><td>12 (0)</td><td>12 (0)</td><td>0</td><td>0</td></tr><tr class="stats" align="center"> <td>DeLamielleure, Kent</td><td>RT</td><td>35</td><td>35</td><td>34 (-1)</td><td>34 (-1)</td><td>-1</td><td>-1</td></tr><tr class="stats" align="center"> <td>Whiting, Neil</td><td>K</td><td>56</td><td>56</td><td>55 (-1)</td><td>55 (-1)</td><td>-1</td><td>-1</td></tr><tr class="stats" align="center"> <td>Ludwig, Billy</td><td>P</td><td>30</td><td>30</td><td>29 (-1)</td><td>29 (-1)</td><td>-1</td><td>-1</td></tr><tr class="stats" align="center"> <td>Zimmerman, Amos</td><td>LDE</td><td>42</td><td>60</td><td>40 (-2)</td><td>57 (-3)</td><td>-2</td><td>-3</td></tr><tr class="stats" align="center"> <td>Forbes, Julio</td><td>NT</td><td>30</td><td>30</td><td>30 (0)</td><td>30 (0)</td><td>0</td><td>0</td></tr><tr class="stats" align="center"> <td>Harmon, Junior</td><td>NT</td><td>89</td><td>92</td><td>88 (-1)</td><td>92 (0)</td><td>-1</td><td>0</td></tr><tr class="stats" align="center"> <td>Rhodes, Lonnie</td><td>NT</td><td>23</td><td>44</td><td>22 (-1)</td><td>42 (-2)</td><td>-1</td><td>-2</td></tr><tr class="stats" align="center"> <td>Lopes, Brant</td><td>RDE</td><td>39</td><td>56</td><td>36 (-3)</td><td>52 (-4)</td><td>-3</td><td>-4</td></tr><tr class="stats" align="center"> <td>Abrams, Shaun</td><td>SLB</td><td>35</td><td>35</td><td>36 (1)</td><td>36 (1)</td><td>1</td><td>1</td></tr><tr class="stats" align="center"> <td>Dennis, Derek</td><td>SLB</td><td>27</td><td>37</td><td>27 (0)</td><td>37 (0)</td><td>0</td><td>0</td></tr><tr class="stats" align="center"> <td>Knoll, Leland</td><td>SILB</td><td>37</td><td>37</td><td>38 (1)</td><td>38 (1)</td><td>1</td><td>1</td></tr><tr class="stats" align="center"> <td>Polko, Kevin</td><td>SILB</td><td>32</td><td>32</td><td>32 (0)</td><td>32 (0)</td><td>0</td><td>0</td></tr><tr class="stats" align="center"> <td>Dux, Brett</td><td>WILB</td><td>55</td><td>55</td><td>53 (-2)</td><td>53 (-2)</td><td>-2</td><td>-2</td></tr><tr class="stats" align="center"> <td>Crumley, Rickey</td><td>WLB</td><td>44</td><td>54</td><td>40 (-4)</td><td>49 (-5)</td><td>-4</td><td>-5</td></tr><tr class="stats" align="center"> <td>Pinero, Rufus</td><td>WLB</td><td>46</td><td>46</td><td>46 (0)</td><td>46 (0)</td><td>0</td><td>0</td></tr><tr class="stats" align="center"> <td>Dotson, Joseph</td><td>LCB</td><td>38</td><td>51</td><td>36 (-2)</td><td>47 (-4)</td><td>-2</td><td>-4</td></tr><tr class="stats" align="center"> <td>Hickman, Carlos</td><td>LCB</td><td>28</td><td>35</td><td>26 (-2)</td><td>32 (-3)</td><td>-2</td><td>-3</td></tr><tr class="stats" align="center"> <td>Dole, Tito</td><td>RCB</td><td>21</td><td>28</td><td>21 (0)</td><td>26 (-2)</td><td>0</td><td>-2</td></tr><tr class="stats" align="center"> <td>Knight, Hugh</td><td>RCB</td><td>32</td><td>54</td><td>30 (-2)</td><td>49 (-5)</td><td>-2</td><td>-5</td></tr><tr class="stats" align="center"> <td>Spearman, Nicky</td><td>RCB</td><td>23</td><td>23</td><td>24 (1)</td><td>24 (1)</td><td>1</td><td>1</td></tr><tr class="stats" align="center"> <td>Kramer, Korey</td><td>SS</td><td>16</td><td>35</td><td>17 (1)</td><td>39 (4)</td><td>1</td><td>4</td></tr><tr class="stats" align="center"> <td>Mersky, Karl</td><td>SS</td><td>19</td><td>44</td><td>18 (-1)</td><td>41 (-3)</td><td>-1</td><td>-3</td></tr><tr class="stats" align="center"> <td>Steidl, Deion</td><td>SS</td><td>27</td><td>43</td><td>25 (-2)</td><td>38 (-5)</td><td>-2</td><td>-5</td></tr><tr class="stats" align="center"> <td>Wolfe, Shannon</td><td>FS</td><td>50</td><td>50</td><td>50 (0)</td><td>50 (0)</td><td>0</td><td>0</td></tr></tbody></table>

[QuikSand]

Nice to see continued creeping from our usual cast of characters there...

...no such luck with QB Irwin, though.

[QuikSand]

I'm sending a new file, up to stage 2 of early free agency (after the empty reneg stage). This way, we can chart a course more globally form here... look at rookies, see who is really available in free agency, consider affinities, and so forth.

[JeffW]

Is it time to give up the "system" and just go with whatever players we like best, and then perhaps think twice if a conflict shows up? That, I suspect, is how many FOF players deal with affinities and conflicts... as a much more secondary factor.

I never got into the affinity system and I never used it in my single player games. In the HFL, I have 0 conflicts on my roster and otherwise I don't worry about it. I don't know if it's right or wrong, I just am not fond of looking through birthdays, so I try to minimize that aspect of the game as much as possible.

[JeffW]

I'm sending a new file, up to stage 2 of early free agency (after the empty reneg stage). This way, we can chart a course more globally form here... look at rookies, see who is really available in free agency, consider affinities, and so forth.

I think if you skip stage 1 of free agency, the draft names might be garbled. For 2009, I had to go back and import that stage to fix that problem.

[QuikSand]

Perfact - the top QB in the draft is an 8% developed guy who skipped the combine.

[JeffW]

Nice to see continued creeping from our usual cast of characters there...

...no such luck with QB Irwin, though.

Yeah, we took a lot of ratings hits.

IME, this is what happens when you draft "skills" players instead of "numbers" players in FOF. You get burned every time.

[QuikSand]

I think if you skip stage 1 of free agency, the draft names might be garbled. For 2009, I had to go back and import that stage to fix that problem.

Try this file - I think the problem there was a function of the .fpn being rewritten at the start of free agency, and you'll have the updated one in this zip file. I think it shoudl work.

[QuikSand]

Yeah, we took a lot of ratings hits.

IME, this is what happens when you draft "skills" players instead of "numbers" players in FOF. You get burned every time.

Yes, we did take a lot of hits, but I wou;ldn't be quite so cuisk to judge. I don't think this team, with its various shifting list of contributors, has made an untoward number of stupid picks based on flashy blue bars. Yes, we have made some, and yes, we have had a few busts as a result, and yes we have a few slow-bust types on the roster... but do remember that we have lost two top picks on defense (LB Booker and DT Szymanski) to relatively random vanishing acts - and both guys looked like can't miss picks. We also have populated this team pretty extensively from the undrafted realm, and from the lower rounds of teh draft -- where "good combines" become an even more elusive matter to judge.

I agree with you in principle. Just might quibble with the tone a bit.

[JeffW]

Try this file - I think the problem there was a function of the .fpn being rewritten at the start of free agency, and you'll have the updated one in this zip file. I think it shoudl work.

Okay it works, looking at the draft/FA now.

[QuikSand]

CB Dotson is looking like an interesting pivot for a philosophical battle ahead. he is, as predicted, losing ratings points, and pretty clearly won't develop into the guy we see with those greens. But hiss reds still make him the most talented cover man we have, and I wouldn't be surprised to see him post respectable numbers in year two, if given the chance.

CB Spearman is the counterpoint guy. Ratings are still awfully low, but he continues to creep upward, year after year, just a little bit. I honestly wonder which guy actually has more value to the team right now, for this year?

[JeffW]

Perfact - the top QB in the draft is an 8% developed guy who skipped the combine.

Yeah, I wonder how far he'll drop. We did have good luck with combine no-show Shepherd last year when he fell right out of the draft.

What do you think of FA Buckner?

[JeffW]

Free Agents I think are potential steals:

QB Eddie Buckner
QB Phillip Crane
TE Marvin Shea
RT Terry Fedolfi
SLB Lamont Henry
SLB Clarence Law
LG Neal McIntyre
LCB Ted Doctrow

There are even more guys who we can get cheaply. It's easy to wait till final stage of free agency and sign everyone who slips through the cracks at far below market prices.

[QuikSand]

I never got into the affinity system and I never used it in my single player games. In the HFL, I have 0 conflicts on my roster and otherwise I don't worry about it. I don't know if it's right or wrong, I just am not fond of looking through birthdays, so I try to minimize that aspect of the game as much as possible.

Even if all we do is avoid conflicts, it's a bit tough to keep all that in mind when drafting rookies. WIth a coordinated system, it's pretty easy to just tuck away that the 5/6 birthday group is bad for evrry position, and to simply avoid them.

If we don't coordinate, it takes some discipline to watch out for that stuff -- you don't want to draft a key guy in round two only to find that he's a maassive conflict, which would have made you do something else had you been paying attention. Discipline hasn't been a strong suit in this exercise thuis far - that's why I have advocated the simplest way, even though it has caused a few hardships along the way with free agents.

[JeffW]

Buckner will take this deal:

$4.95m bonus
Minsale years 1-4.
Last year voidable 4000 yards.

It's an exploitative contract, though... not sure what everyone's feelings are on stuff like this(and waiting out free agents). In single player dynasties I use house rules to curb my gamist instincts.

Going to look at rookies now. QB really looks like a wasteland once again.

[QuikSand]

Here's the guy who would take the leadership helm at the D7 group, assuming we don't re-sign DT Forbes:

DE Emmit Slezak - 5th yr, DE mentor, 76 personaliity, no real on field skills to speak of

He would retain affinities with LB Knoll, LB Abrams, and DE Zimmernan -- all three young guys we have pretty mucch committed to. And he woudl keep our entire affinity structure aligned for another year, assuming we re-sign CB Gerak too.

That's two roster slots to keep this thing as simple as possible (plus we get mentors out of both guys). Seems worth it to me, even if we don't make much out of it in the big picture.

[JeffW]

Amateur Draft Defensive Backs:

I am going to mainly look for guys who should overperform relative to their likely draft position, so I might miss some guys like CB James Rebstock and Dwayne Gardner.

S Butch Gordon
S Ralph Buss
S Gary Cook
S Edgar Henson

CB Riddick Arnold
I do not like Mickey Wiggins because of 0 interceptions--he will never boom there so he doesn't justify high pick
CB Emmitt Small
CB Artie Walker
CB Gerald Elliot
CB Barney Owens
CB Jamie Joyner

[QuikSand]

Since we aren't going to get pinched by the salcap any time soon, there might not be any need to really backload a deal for him. I think I am swayed that the only way we will get better is to improve at QB, so signing Buckner makes plenty of sense to me.

[JeffW]

That's two roster slots to keep this thing as simple as possible (plus we get mentors out of both guys). Seems worth it to me, even if we don't make much out of it in the big picture.

Cool, if you want to handle all the affinity stuff and remind me if I'm screwing that up, that would be great. :)

[JeffW]

Since we aren't going to get pinched by the salcap any time soon, there might not be any need to really backload a deal for him. I think I am swayed that the only way we will get better is to improve at QB, so signing Buckner makes plenty of sense to me.

Cool, contract's not backloaded, just bonus heavy and the voidable year really makes people a LOT more likely to accept a contract.

Working on Front 7 prospects now.

[QuikSand]

Yeah, it's probably the $4m at the end that makes him even willing to consider a deal of that length, though, which is what I quibble with in general. But I will lock him up.

Do you want to make a broad-based move at numerous free agents? If we did, it might mean the end of some intriguing players like CB Spearman and his ilk... but it also might mean the end of these nail-biting 1-15 seasons, too. *shurg*

[JeffW]

Linebackers:

OLB Bonanza!

OLB AJ Tjan. (Pure nickel/dime type probably, I think he can do well despite horrible agility since he's 3.9 grader)
OLB Nolan Horton
OLB Scottie Burns
OLB Reggie Dover
OLB Ryan Gass--<3 this guy
OLB Kirk Norton
OLB Mercury Delgado
OLB Roosevelt Banks
OLB Dave Reese(not strictly an overperformer, just damn sexy)

ILB Ian Reed
ILB Chuck Ferguson(borderline as far as performance vs. draft position)

[JeffW]

Yeah, it's probably the $4m at the end that makes him even willing to consider a deal of that length, though, which is what I quibble with in general. But I will lock him up.

Oops, maybe my original post isn't clear--no 4m year at the end here is best contract IMO:

$4.95 bonus
minimum salary in all four years
last year is voidable at 4000 yards but still minsal.


Do you want to make a broad-based move at numerous free agents? If we did, it might mean the end of some intriguing players like CB Spearman and his ilk... but it also might mean the end of these nail-biting 1-15 seasons, too. *shurg*

Yeah, we probably need to stock up on FAs if we really want to win.

[QuikSand]

Buckner will take this deal:

$4.95m bonus
Minsale years 1-4.
Last year voidable 4000 yards.

It's an exploitative contract, though... not sure what everyone's feelings are on stuff like this(and waiting out free agents). In single player dynasties I use house rules to curb my gamist instincts.

I have ofered him a more level deal - 4 yrs, $11.5m, $2.5 in bonus, salaries of 2,2,2,3. Less risk for us, and a little more cap used in these early no-pressure years, which I htink is fine. He's listening, at least.

[JeffW]

Defensive Lineman

DT Paul Givens is another wierd one--no combine, ridic. skills
DT Ryan Overby--same deal, except he is 33% developed which is a good sign I think.
DT Joseph Daianu
DT William Thompson
DT Corwin Mathes(DTs tend to be taken lower than their draft grade, so he could fall to 2.1 or be worth trading up for)
DT Herman Pettigrew
DT Rodney Bruce

DE Aaron O'Donnell--def. 1.1 if we don't trade down.
DE Lawrence Musto
DE Fred Dronett--I could see skipping him because of his PRT
DE JT St. Amal
DE Geoff Midler
DE Dennis Desai

[QuikSand]

Yeah, we probably need to stock up on FAs if we really want to win.

That's the big question - do we really want to win? Or do we want to see how tough it is basically developing a team from the draft/rookie classes?

I sorta like the way we have been playing conservatively, despite not having a form rule. If we go out and sign 15 quallity veterans, and set aside all our draft projects and slow creepers, it seems to me this team will lose its character immediately.

Not that a 1-15 club has much character, but you get my point.

I'd rather go after a few perfect fit types, and remain committed to most of the younger players that we have been trying to count on thus far.

[QuikSand]

Oops, maybe my original post isn't clear--no 4m year at the end here is best contract IMO:

$4.95 bonus
minimum salary in all four years
last year is voidable at 4000 yards but still minsal.

Gotcha, it's in now. If we get heat, I will make it more reasonable and fatter - if we want him, there's no reason why we shouldn't get him.

[JeffW]

Backs

QB Kelvin Shawver--this guy is a mindfuck. I could see him lasting awhile and roping us into taking him. 85 position score, 44 Sole, good personality stuff, 68 volatility.
QB Lewis Lapuente--probably a UDFA so we might not bother interviewing

RB Rob Tyler--love this guy later on, but we have too many backs already. In fact I'm going to skip this position except for the real gems

FB Raymond Edinger, superstud except for high route running, low pass blocking.
FB Fernando Shaw
FB Ron Stimpson

[JeffW]

I sorta like the way we have been playing conservatively, despite not having a form rule. If we go out and sign 15 quallity veterans, and set aside all our draft projects and slow creepers, it seems to me this team will lose its character immediately.

Not that a 1-15 club has much character, but you get my point.

I'd rather go after a few perfect fit types, and remain committed to most of the younger players that we have been trying to count on thus far.

That's cool. I don't like just buying up a ton of free agents either--it's pretty ABC and boring. I'd like a house rule, but not really sure which would be best. No more than 3 free agent signings per offseason and no veteran free agent signings post draft?

[QuikSand]

Free agent affinity prospects:

6th yr FB Russell Preston would become a major contributor at FB

There are a couple solid veteran centers who would be affinities for us -- Kyle Jacques and lawrence Phillips

9th yr LT Jon Bradley is a serious pass protector - maybe a meaningful upgrade at RT?

5th year DT Grant Dotson is a serious run stopper (76 there)


Not much wows me there... would be nice to find a perfect-fit safety or cornerback, really.

[JeffW]

Receivers

TE Patrick Robertson--No combine, Hella skillz. I don't know what to make of these guys.
TE Levon Shepherd
TE Jerome Fauntleroy
TE Julio Burkhammer

WR Lamont Badalaty--This guy needs to make our roster at all costs. If we don't draft him i'll be pissed. He's a stud, gauranteed.
WR Otis Brecht
WR Eugene Mathis(the 0 blue bars worry me some but can't overlook that combine)
WR Bryan DiNicolas(hate that he has 0 BPR tho, he doesn't fit with our other receivers)
WR Norbert Lofton
WR Mo COmpton
WR Levon Hawkins--maybe not worth it because of 6% development

I think we should never ever take a WR high again. It's very easy to find studs here in later rounds.

[QuikSand]

Jeff - go get some sleep. I'll muck through FA and get us up to the draft, and we won't go ahead without you from there. We'll get the QB and the DE you mentioned, and I might drop in a line for one or two more free agents, but that's it.

[JeffW]

Free agent affinity prospects:

6th yr FB Russell Preston would become a major contributor at FB

Russel Preston looks good. Pricey for a FB, but we have cap room to burn I guess.


There are a couple solid veteran centers who would be affinities for us -- Kyle Jacques and lawrence Phillips

Well, I like C Nixon, he's one of our best prospects.


9th yr LT Jon Bradley is a serious pass protector - maybe a meaningful upgrade at RT?

I think we should go more balanced on our o line. Our RBs are good so we should get some guys with at least passable run blocking IMO.

I like Sugarman and Fedolfi as possible RTs. Both are way cheaper than Bradle.

5th year DT Grant Dotson is a serious run stopper (76 there)

How much does endurance matter? I'm always taking low endurance gys. Ellis blair is much cheaper but has 0 endurance(83 pass D, 63 play diag)[/QUOTE]

[QuikSand]

Receivers

WR Lamont Badalaty--This guy needs to make our roster at all costs. If we don't draft him i'll be pissed. He's a stud, gauranteed.

I love him. Think we will need to take him in about round two? Combine tells me he could go at any time... and I want him pretty badly too.

[JeffW]

Jeff - go get some sleep. I'll muck through FA and get us up to the draft, and we won't go ahead without you from there. We'll get the QB and the DE you mentioned, and I might drop in a line for one or two more free agents, but that's it.

Good idea. OLine is all I have left to go over for the draft.

Let me know what you think about the simple house rules I proposed.

-Jeff

[QuikSand]

I didn't mean to suggest that those were the very best free agents -- just the best guys out there who would come in and contribute to afifnity. Sure, DT Blair is better than DT Dotson overall. But if we already have a full time starter at DT (lord knows we hope we do) then all we need is a passable backup who could play if needed... and Dotson woudl be a strong affinity there, too, which is a nice bonus. That's my general thinking with positions like that... but again, it's a matter of philosophy there.

[JeffW]

Before I go catch 3.5 hours sleep, FS Earnest Powell is someone to look at. Fairly cheap, only weakness is bump and run, but he is studly at interceptions and run D and fairly cheap.

RCB Anthony Terry would be a perfect fit for bump/man if not for the red flag. If we can run pure coverages in 2k7, I'd just go pure bump and run and forget the man, but I haven't tested that much yet.

[JeffW]

I didn't mean to suggest that those were the very best free agents -- just the best guys out there who would come in and contribute to afifnity. Sure, DT Blair is better than DT Dotson overall. But if we already have a full time starter at DT (lord knows we hope we do) then all we need is a passable backup who could play if needed... and Dotson woudl be a strong affinity there, too, which is a nice bonus. That's my general thinking with positions like that... but again, it's a matter of philosophy there.

We have good LBs, but my gut tells me that the 4-3 is just plain better in FOF since that blitz patch, so I'd probably advocate switching to 4-3 unless we love our youth at ILB. I could be off there--in 2k4 I run the 3-4 anyway because it's cheaper. In this version DTs are more plentiful and don't cost as much.

Noted about the affinity stuff--you make the call if the affinities outweigh the skills. I honestly have no idea--is a strong affinity 50 overall better than no affinity 60 ceterus paribus?

[JeffW]

I love him. Think we will need to take him in about round two? Combine tells me he could go at any time... and I want him pretty badly too.

I don't know, maybe Narcizo or another strong drafter can weigh in. He might slip to round 3 but we'll have to think about whether we want to gamble or not.

Okay, naptime, for real this time haha.

[QuikSand]

Okay, through free agency, we targeted three free agents to bring aboard -- staying within a reasonable limit, and targeting three need spots on the offense:

QB Eddie Buckner, FB RUssell Preston, and RT Terry Fedolfi. We expect all three to become starters right away, and to help improve these three offensive weak spots for us by a good margin.


Oddly, as I'm going through free agency, we get to week 7 before any other team makes even a single bid for any player. Most teams have $10-20m in cap space... so this looks really wrong.

[QuikSand]

We have 44 players signed, 10 on the roster but unsigned, and 8 draft picks this year (extra in mid-4th). I think we will be in a situation similar to last season, overall.

I'm going to do some rookie interviews, mostly following JeffW's target lists, and get us up to the start of the draft, where we sit at 1.1 again.

[QuikSand]

I'll post a file now - I will be tied up a while today, but if Jeff or anyone else wants to move forward, I'll give you a new stopping point to do interviews and perhaps go after another FA, if we like.

[JeffW]

Okay, I'm going to finish up my draft review.

Mentors only improve 3rd year and younger players, correct? If so, we can dump Harry Nelson later if we don't bring in a young QB in the draft.

If we are still signing guys(I'll leave it to your discretion). FS Earnest Powell is available--65/65. I'd give him a 4-year minsal deal with $4.51 million bonus and a voidable 4th year(8 interceptions).

Another guy to bring in is QB Phillip Crane--3 year minsal, $30k bonus, voidable 3rd year 4000 passing yards.

As I predicted, there are just way too many solid players still out there who could be signed for a pittance--many of them to minsal deals with minimal bonus.

[JeffW]

Offensive Line Prospects - Lots of other interview possibilities here, bit hard to find Adj. Grade vs. Combine bargains, so I might have missed some guys who we should interview. I'm trying to avoid guys with 0 run blocking. In this iteration, I am 100% sure that you want more balance on offense--the days of just recruiting pure pass blockers on the OL are over.

C Bert Boggs - No combine, 4.7 grade. Uber blue bars. Intriguing and could fall.
C Bryan Bates

G RJ Johnston - Very good combine, 4.5 grade, interesting prospect to look at later on.
G Deion McDonald
G Chris Greene

T Lamont Austin
T Toby Wayne
T Edgar Fulton
T Donnie Edward

[JeffW]

Next Q is: What do we do with the first pick. Keep it or trade it?

Aaron O'Donnell is the #1 overall if we keep it. You can't go wrong with a can't miss stud DE prospect like this.

I don't like CB Mickey Wiggins. Rb Joe Harmon is a stud, we could go with him and forget our current depth at that position. He might go #2 if we don't take him. Philosophically, I generally don't like to take RBs high, but this guy is damned good so I don't mind it too much.

I think a move that makes a lot of sense is to trade down deep into the first round. We can pick up 2nd/3rd round picks in this draft and perhaps a 1st rounder in next year's. We don't want to acquire too many picks because we're short on roster spots right now, so quality>quantity.

Initial trades to consider:

1(1), 2nd(2011), 5th(2011) for Carolina's 1(3), 1st(2011), 4th(2011).

1(1), 2nd(2011), 3rd(2011) for Detroit's 1(2), 1st(2011), 5th(2011).

After making one of those trades, we could then either take a player or trade down for even more picks.

[JeffW]

I think we need to add a lot of players on defense. I know everyone is fond of Dole and Spearman, but IMHO they will never improve enough to become quality starters.

It looks like Hugh Knight took a -5 hit to his potential?

If so, I don't really like any of our defensive backs that much. Kramer is improving, but again, his ceiling is perhaps 50 overall or so.

I think we should stock up on CB/S in this draft--possibly after trading down multiple times in round 1. Along with our improvement at QB, I think we can turn this team around in the near future if we do so. This means that we "abandon" some of the fan favorites, though.

We can also stand to upgrade at LB, especially our strongside linebacker and our second middle linebacker if we stick with the 3-4.

[QuikSand]

Somewhere, I think you heard someone say something positive about CB Dole. I'm not sure anyone ever actually said it, but it's obvious you heard it. If I erred and lumped him in with the actually promising players at some point, I'm sorry. He has no defenders. He was inactive all last year. He should not get a new contract. Let's move on.

I still think Spearman is worth a roster spot, but I won't push for him to get major playing time. Last year he saw 200 pass plays in a reserve role - I'd like to see him continue to play some, but I'll live either way.

If we really get to the point with this roster that we're losing a real contributor by keeping Spearman, then let's dump him. But any creeper at any position is worth keeping if the alternative is just the sort of flotsam that occupies our "bubble" roster spots on this team, in my view.

[JeffW]

I'm not sure anyone ever actually said it, but it's obvious you heard it.

Haha. I think basically what happened is my brain could not compute why he was on the roster when any number of free agents was vastly better, so I just assumed he was a rising star--hence my shock when I saw that he was actually on a tremendous down trend.

Anyway, my ideal draft result would be to pickup 4-5 defensive backs with starter potential and land a new starting strong side linebacker and WR Lamont Badalaty. To accomplish that, we might need to do multiple trade downs in round 1 starting with a trade to det/car to pick up another 1st in 2011.

Would it be kosher to consummate a trade with DET or CAR to test out further trade downs to save time once we get to the draft?

[heardie]

Thanks for the reply QuikSand.

Bit sad this seems to be turning into a 2 man show!

Anyway I'll cast my vote my keeping Spearman...half because of the reasons mentioned, and half out of curiousity

[Narcizo]

Looks like you two have been busy over the weekend. Sorry for disappearing but I have to do all family-y stuff over the weekend and get about 30 minutes internet time from Friday till Monday.

I think the reason we have, relatively speaking compared to 2004, so many busts is
a) random factors (2 key ones there),
b) inexperience with the new system (still no-one is sure what the interview reports mean - I think people have been a bit blinded by a undervalued, and overvalued tag, myself included. I'm still hoping that it isn't as simple as my theory, as that just seems to be wilfully misleading people. FWIW I think draft scouting was much better with 6.0a, but Jim seems to have returned all scouting to the vanilla game to quickly solve the other scout problems in 6.0a. Hopefully the new year will bring a refinement of the system).
c) good combine scores (people you always chased in 2004) pushing players up the draft board - but equating to really horrible looking players coming out of the draft (this really seems to have been taken a bit too far) I mean 12-13 for Markiewicz? Who the hell would touch him in 2004 with that sort of rating, no matter what the combine. Admittedly this happened occasionally in 2004 (Jerry Rice scouting as 20-41 in the draft, topping out as 84-84 etc etc, but not to this extent).
d) Basically, there being far more draft busts in 2007. I think that someone has been slipping the draft scouts happy pills because it seems that the "average" draftee drops 5-10 points on signing his rookie contract. I mean, what's the logic behind that? Surely any scout who was so wildly over-optimistic in real life would be lucky to last a year.

The dilemma in 2007 seems to be trying to get the right balance between scouted value and combines. I think anyone with great scout ratings will drop while the combine guys will rise. However, if it's a slow rise like Spearman then is there really any point in taking him, particularly as players have shorter shelf lives in the new version. What's the point of having a player who may have 60 potential if he never gets anywhere near it (incidentally I still think Spearman is being over-valued, I don't remember his combines being all that great, except in strength). So maybe it's worth taking the odd great scouting guy (like Dotson) who's current ability means that he can start immediately. Maybe he'll never improve but if his current is *ahem* currently better than a combine warrior creeper's current is going to be in 4 years time, then you have to favour the scout-loved guy.

[Narcizo]

With regards FA signing I think our policy should be that we don't sign a player to start in a position where we have a drafted player who is a) performing acceptably or b) we have good reason to believe will perfom better in coming years if given playing time. Obviously this is a bit of a fuzzy guideline, rather than a rule, but may help.

Thus signing a FA quarterback is ok, but not a running back. I think Crangle needs to be given a bit more of a chance. My experience is that rookie RB's perform horribly in 2007.

About Abrams. I'm a bit unclear about the timeline but is it possible that he was the beneficiary of a gameflaw that has been fixed with one of the patches?

[Narcizo]

I think QB is the thing holding us back now. Looking through the roster I was surprised about how solid we now look. Our roster is currently rated at 85 (admittedly a result of the AI's cut and sign policy) but still. We have to get behind Buckner and hope that he can develop quickly with starting time.

We've got 3 very solid WRs, I don't think there's much need to improve there - although if there's a steal in the draft then obviously, we should take him. We have a starting O Line that's better than any I've had in 2007, D-Line looks pretty good as well. We could probably do with improvement at inside linebacker and we're really being let down by the secondary. I think this draft really has to try and address the secondary as much as possible.

To be honest I say sign Ernest Powell as FS. As a safety he could still have 5 years of top level play in him. He plays at least as well as he scouts and there's no way we can turn the secondary around with this one draft and we certainly don't have any drafted players who will be displaced by getting him. I think not taking him smells of tanking for the sake of it.

Ugh! My draft class are all ýýýýýý ýýýýý. Must have done something wrong.

[JeffW]

Ugh! My draft class are all ýýýýýý ýýýýý. Must have done something wrong.

Did you import stage 2 FA and then the stage 8?

[JeffW]

The dilemma in 2007 seems to be trying to get the right balance between scouted value and combines. I think anyone with great scout ratings will drop while the combine guys will rise. However, if it's a slow rise like Spearman then is there really any point in taking him, particularly as players have shorter shelf lives in the new version. What's the point of having a player who may have 60 potential if he never gets anywhere near it (incidentally I still think Spearman is being over-valued, I don't remember his combines being all that great, except in strength).

Yeah, I think every single one of our secondary players is pretty much trash. Spearman is 24/24 and he's a 4th year player. THere is no way he's ever going to be any good IMO. We could sign any number of players who will be better now than he'll ever become.

Hugh Knight and Dotson have taken huge ratings hits and both had terrible combines in the first place. It was shocking when Knight's ratings increase in the first season.