FOF 2004 - The "Magic Beans" Challenge

[QuikSand]

I’ve gotten into the mood for some fairly quick FOF action (as my MP teams are enjoyable, but take forever to see things happen). So, in an idle moment, I came up with this concept:

The “Magic Beans” Challenge

It’s actually so obvious, I can’t believe nobody has chronicled something like this yet, at least not that I have seen.

One of the most challenging things about FOF 2004 seems to be drafting – it’s tough to get quality young players, when so many of your draft picks just go bust on you and never live up to your hopes. So, I’ll play a challenge career for a while where this is the main exercise in the game – selecting young players, and hoping they turn out okay.

My basic rules will be these:

-All players will come to the team either via the draft or as undrafted rookie free agents (the latter will receive only one or two year minsal contracts)

-I may trade only within the draft itself – I can move up or move down, but may not acquire picks in future drafts (though I may trade them away)

-I’m going to focus on acquiring players – so each season will consist of me determining the inactive players, then letting my staff set the starting lineup (this means no acquiring players to be used out of position… unless I can permanently move them to a spot where they will get used)

-I will, however, use a basic game plan that I have saved from other careers – so I can try to focus my acquisitions around those skills

(I have stuck to these rules pretty closely through the career -- but have occasionally drifted a but in terms of trading. I'm not making ridiculous trades, but have made a few to deal into the next year's draft, and have accepted a trade offer for one of my own players along the way - Q)

That’s about it. I’ll renegotiate at will, with the universe of players we get. I suspect that means that I will be aggressively trying to keep all my veteran players, since I cannot go out and sign veteran free agents at any time.


We’ll see how this goes. My intent is to detail the drafts themselves pretty closely, along with my player development. And then, I’ll basically just post the season summary – my focus is in the roster-building here.

[QuikSand]

2004

We head into our first draft holding the #3 pick, as my “QuikSim” team flopped badly in its opening season, before we mercilessly cut all the players. I am inclined to trade down, and try to pick up a handful of players who can help us right away – even though the team will certainly be dreadful in its first year or two. I expect to focus my early picks in the spots where it’s generally tough to acquire quality players later in the draft – so spots like OT, WR, DE, DT, and CB should be the early targets. QB is different – we know it’s important, and I’ll certainly take an anchor QB if I can, but I expect to be fishing in later rounds for a potential breakout there.


Pick Pos Player Board Dash Sole Strg Agil Vol Draft After PostCamp
1.10 DT Scott Hannon 5.8 4.94+ 33+ 33+ 7.55+ 49 37/65 37/64 39/59
2.03 CB Martin Wallace 4.5 4.46+ 17 12 7.13 47 12/55 12/54 14/50
2.10 CB Sherman Burke 4.2 4.45+ 16 14 7.11 15 17/53 17/51 19/46
3.03 C Emanuel Barber 5.2 5.19 24 42+ 7.74+ 45 25/62 25/64 25/60 RG
3.10 WR Leonard Drake 4.0 4.38+ 36+ 24++ 6.92+ 19 25/46 25/47 29/53
4.10 DT Dana Fortcamp 3.7 5.05 41++ 26 8.01 2 17/44 17/44 18/39
5.10 DE Quinn Goetz 3.5 5.09 14 29 7.16 50 16/42 16/41 21/43
6.10 DT Freddie Covington 3.2 4.88+ 31 33+ 8.47 10 25/35 25/35 26/34


At #3, I have my eye on DE Troy Diaz, a well-developed pass rusher who looks like he’d be an immediate impact player for us. He survives to pick #3 – so I have to decide whether to take him, or to move down in search of quantity over quality. I decide that the lure of moving down is too great – I won’t get Diaz at pick #10, but I should be able to pick up a couple useful player for the swap. I end up getting Oakland’s #1, #2, and #3 picks this year for my #1 and #7 – so I’m happy to make the move.

When Troy Diaz is still there after 6 picks, I decide to try to move up to get him there. But Tennessee wants pretty much everything we just acquired – so I don’t do it, and just sit and hope that he somehow falls three more picks. No dice – he goes at #8, two picks ahead of us.

Scott Hannon is a solid overall DT, and should anchor that position for us. We stayed on defense and grabbed two cover man in round two – both Wallace and Burke are man coverage specialists, and should fit well into my system which uses that setup about 80% of the time. I will explore moving C Barber to a tackle or guard spot, but he looks pretty usable. WR Drake was a standout, and I think looks like a breakout candidate. DE Goetz has good run stopping skills, and we might actually have four playable defensive linemen from this initial draft.

We fill in the rest of the roster with URFA players – and need a little help form the staff engine, as I failed to leave quite enough cap space. So, we will lose a 3rd rounder next year, I guess – but manage to get to 46 players to go on with the season at least.

I’m enthused about WR Leonard Drake, who shows signs of being our first breakout player. I usually expect to see big numbers from some of the best players on such a bad defense – but I don’t know about this group at LB – we don’t have a true standout. Starting at LB will be Alvin Wooden, and he could develop into a 100+ tackle guy this year, just due to opportunity.

We have paid very little attention to the offense, but will see QB Steve Newman and RB Joseph Springer in the lead roles. I don’t know what to expect from either one – I liked Newman as a URFA, but it’s tough to project a ceiling for a player like him. I think he’s got some potential, but how much is realistic?


Okay – so we take this out for a quick spin – and here’s what we get in year one:



Front Office Football 2004
2004 Summary for Miami Dolphins

Record: 2-14
Winning Pct.: .125

Miami Dolphins Team Rank
Rushes 393 30
Rushing Yards 1668 25
Yards Per Carry 4.24 12
Pass Attempts 512 15
Completions 305 16
Passing Yards 3376 19
Yards Per Attempt 6.59 20
3rd Down Conversions 33.5 32
Points Per Game 17.0 26
Turnovers 36 31 (T)
Turnover Margin -13 32

Opponents Team Rank
Rushes 529 31
Rushing Yards 2410 32
Yards Per Carry 4.55 31
Pass Attempts 459 2
Completions 279 2
Passing Yards 3100 4
Yards Per Attempt 6.75 16
3rd Down Conversions 42.3 18
Points Per Game 25.5 32
Turnovers 23 21

Week Team Versus Oppnt
1 22 at NED 29
2 16 SFO 19
3 10 KCY 20
4 26 at CIN 20
5 10 BUF 31
6 14 at CLE 37
7 13 PIT 31
9 20 NED 21
10 27 BAL 30
11 24 at NYJ 19
12 17 at ARI 29
13 17 at TEN 23
14 16 STL 24
15 21 NYJ 22
16 14 at SEA 22
17 6 at BUF 31

Passing Pos Att Comp Yards Y/Att TD Int
7 Newman QB 497 302 3320 6.68 17 20
**Team --- 512 305 3376 6.59 17 22

Rushing Pos Att Yards Y/Att TD
49 Springer RB 238 958 4.02 6
34 Madison RB 92 498 5.41 3
7 Newman QB 40 136 3.40 0
**Team --- 393 1668 4.24 11

Receiving Pos Targ Catch Yards Y/Ctc YAC TD
84 Drake WR 120 66 926 14.0 198 3
39 Shaw WR 72 47 626 13.3 62 0
81 Whiting WR 67 37 457 12.3 92 2
80 Gray TE 55 34 391 11.5 67 3
83 Upshaw WR 68 31 421 13.5 38 2
48 Wooden FB 41 28 137 4.8 70 4
49 Springer RB 25 21 132 6.2 56 0
34 Madison RB 25 20 95 4.7 59 2
88 Bisson TE 29 16 158 9.8 43 1
**Team --- 511 305 3376 11.0 706 17

Defense Pos Tack Asst Sack Hurr Ints Defn
97 Dorff ILB 94 32 1.0 1 1 5
55 Dugas OLB 77 25 5.0 1 1 10
42 Flowers S 66 33 1.0 0 4 5
90 Perkins OLB 62 28 5.0 3 0 4
46 Burke CB 51 10 0.0 0 1 4
28 Wheeler S 48 23 0.0 0 2 4
98 Hannon DT 47 10 3.5 9 0 2
71 Fortkamp DT 44 28 1.0 9 0 0
32 Barnard CB 43 8 2.0 0 4 5
43 Wallace CB 38 18 3.0 1 1 5
96 Osborne OLB 34 13 0.5 2 1 0
92 Prosser DE 33 10 6.5 10 0 0
73 Covington DE 33 14 5.5 9 0 1
72 Goetz DE 30 14 9.5 2 0 0
79 Gaylor DE 29 8 4.5 6 0 0
45 Lincoln CB 29 5 0.5 0 0 0
53 Whiting S 24 11 2.0 0 0 0
94 Wooden ILB 23 4 0.0 0 0 1
**Team --- 891 309 52.0 55 15 46


Bottom line for this season – the offense wasn’t nearly as bad as I had expected, and WR Leonard Drake looks like he’s going to be for real. Arnold Shaw, a converted URFA running back, will be a decent complemetary receiver with him. QB Steve Newman had a passable rookie year – but we’ll need to improve there if this team is going to go anywhere, of course.

On defense, MLB Carlos Dorff ended up winning the starting job, and was pretty solid – but mostly for lack of competition. SLB Stephen Dugas ends up winning DROY with his 77 tackles and 5 sacks. Our two young corners both had tough seasons, but I still hold out hope they can hold the jobs for a while, at least. The DL – as good as we had hoped? Nope. Quinn Goetz has some potential (9.5 sacks for a run-stopping specialist is weird) and Scott Hannon will be okay, but not spectacular.

And we will pick #2, right behind the Bengals in the coming season, which will be nice.

[QuikSand]

2005

We head into the second season, with at least a framework to build around. I know that I don’t have long-term answers with most of these guys – but under these rules, I’m going to have to try to make a lot of these guys work as best they can. I’m thinking our top priorities for this season are OT, LB and DB. I’m hoping that I might be able to grab an impact player somewhere (OL or S) perhaps with a later pick. And we’ll be looking for a QB, too – if I can grab a guy who looks to have potential as our real future, I’ll bite.

I immediately see the guy I want – DE Curtis Cobb. I always am a sucker for a monster DE when I’m at the top of the draft, and boy this guy looks great. I’m crossing my fingers that the Bungles blow the pick and leave me with this stud at #2. But once again, I am foiled – Cinti hones right in on him, and grabs the player I covet.
I again trade down, and pick up San Diego’s top three selections this year.

I end up taking the second best offensive tackle in the draft, and feel like he ought to work out well. When the late first round is rolling, I seize a chance to move up and grab a new anchor MLB for our defense in Ray Ireland, who is falling like crazy but looks great to us. After scooping a solid wideout at the top of round two, I get my final target player in the middle of round two when I trade the rest of my draft to get him. Four picks is all – but I love them all at this point.


Pick Pos Player Board Dash Sole Strg Agil Vol Draft After PostCamp
1.08 LT Don Zorn 5.8 5.19 38 32 7.54 63 21/69 21/68 20/64
1.30 MLB Ray Ireland 6.5 4.80+ 40+ 26+ 7.37+ 10 45/69 45/68 43/66
2.03 WR Herb Wolf 5.8 4.37++ 24 20+ 7.01 37 42/62 41/61 40/59
2.21 FS Wesley Baskey 4.8 4.43++ 33 29++ 7.03+ 26 17/59 18/60 17/61


I’m very optimistic about the fleet of URFAs we bring in this year – here is a snapshot of their progress as well:

TE Kelly Newman: 11/34 to 12/36 to 14/40
SE Leland Fielder: 20/39 to 21/41 to 24/46
SE Derrick Barrere: 19/42 to 20/43 to 22/46
C Lewis Goolsby: 23/34 to 24/46 to 26/46
LG Kim Everett: 14/32 to 14/33 to 17/37
LG Tom Blazewicz: 14/35 to 14/37 to 16/40
RT Leslie Ford: 19/34 to 20/37 to 22/42
DT Chris Kearney: 11/19 to 11/20 to 11/20

I’m disappointed with Don Zorn and Ray Ireland – both look playable, but not that great, and both have the arrow pointing in the wrong direction. WR Herb Wolf ought to be just fine, and Safety Wesley Baskey might end up being the best of the quartet. TE Kelly Newman ought to start for us, and could end up being good in time. The other two receivers also both have real promise. The URFA group looks unusually strong this year. – that’s welcome news.




Front Office Football 2004
2005 Summary for Miami Dolphins

Record: 4-12
Winning Pct.: .250

Miami Dolphins Team Rank
Rushes 450 22
Rushing Yards 1772 21
Yards Per Carry 3.93 16 (T)
Pass Attempts 522 12
Completions 339 4
Passing Yards 3333 23
Yards Per Attempt 6.38 30
3rd Down Conversions 41.4 18
Points Per Game 16.6 31
Turnovers 27 20 (T)
Turnover Margin 0 12 (T)

Opponents Team Rank
Rushes 481 22
Rushing Yards 2102 29
Yards Per Carry 4.37 29
Pass Attempts 485 5
Completions 288 5
Passing Yards 3645 19
Yards Per Attempt 7.51 27
3rd Down Conversions 41.8 14
Points Per Game 20.7 16 (T)
Turnovers 27 10 (T)

Week Team Versus Oppnt
1 10 at NYJ 20
2 14 at TBY 24
3 20 at CIN 26
4 13 BUF 21
5 6 at SDO 23
6 28 DEN 22
8 14 KCY 27
9 20 at OAK 17
10 20 at NED 23
11 20 NYJ 6
12 27 CAR 30
13 13 JAX 31
14 23 ATL 24
15 10 at BUF 17
16 19 at NOS 21
17 10 NED 0

Passing Pos Att Comp Yards Y/Att TD Int
7 Newman QB 517 338 3317 6.41 17 17
**Team --- 522 339 3333 6.38 17 18

Rushing Pos Att Yards Y/Att TD
49 Springer RB 291 1141 3.92 7
34 Madison RB 77 266 3.45 0
7 Newman QB 34 184 5.41 1
**Team --- 450 1772 3.93 9

Receiving Pos Targ Catch Yards Y/Ctc YAC TD
84 Drake WR 116 72 918 12.7 121 6
85 Wolf WR 88 53 642 12.1 164 1
87 Fielder WR 69 44 549 12.4 61 2
48 Wooden FB 50 38 173 4.5 81 2
49 Springer RB 48 36 215 5.9 113 2
88 Bisson TE 57 36 271 7.5 42 3
89 Barrere WR 49 28 301 10.7 44 1
86 Newman TE 28 22 220 10.0 70 0
**Team --- 522 339 3333 9.8 708 17

Defense Pos Tack Asst Sack Hurr Ints Defn
51 Ireland ILB 119 42 2.0 2 3 3
98 Hannon DT 82 31 7.0 18 0 0
55 Dugas OLB 57 16 2.5 0 0 3
71 Fortkamp DT 54 25 5.0 7 0 0
46 Burke CB 46 14 0.0 0 0 4
32 Barnard CB 45 11 0.0 1 2 7
28 Wheeler S 45 18 1.0 0 3 6
90 Perkins OLB 44 16 2.5 1 0 4
23 Baskey S 44 17 0.0 0 4 6
43 Wallace CB 43 16 3.0 0 0 4
96 Osborne OLB 34 10 1.0 1 0 1
79 Gaylor DE 28 8 2.0 5 0 2
97 Dorff ILB 25 7 1.5 0 0 1
53 Whiting S 22 8 0.0 0 1 1
42 Flowers S 21 3 1.0 1 0 1
72 Goetz DE 19 3 2.0 2 0 0
73 Covington DE 16 10 5.0 3 0 0
45 Lincoln CB 16 4 0.0 0 0 2
**Team --- 865 265 38.0 44 13 45



Okay, 4-12 is about what I would have expected – but there’s room for real optimism here, I think. Our offense wasn’t all that bad, and it seems that if we just dropped in a reasonable starting QB, we could start to go places with this group, mostly. LT Zorn is looking like he will be pretty decent, and the line is taking shape okay overall. And 1,100+ yards for Springer – who expected that?

Defensively, I’m not surprised to see Ireland get big numbers in the middle for us, but we were just not very good. We got crushed up front by injures (both starting DEs – so we really need reinforcements there) and were ineffective overall. DT Scott Hannon came through with an outstanding season – but we desperately need help around him.

Ray Ireland gets DROY, as I would have guessed even before the season. Even better, though, is Scott Hannon earning second team all-pro honors, which he richly deserved.

We will be picking high again for next year – and really need to look at the defensive front and perhaps search for a QB to take us to the next level from here.

[wade moore]

Interesting concept Quik. Obviously you should look to see outstanding cohesion numbers. I am interested to see what happens when you get to about year 4 or 5 and your draftees begin to fill out the red.

[QuikSand]

2006

Pick #1 this year – we can either grab a foundation player (QB?) or we’ll have plenty of capital to use in a trade. Either way, we ought to do very well in adding to the shell of a team we have now. QB, DL and LB are critical need areas. We still can use quality additions in several spots.

We can get a huge DE or DT, both of which I always like, or a pretty attractive QB who can take over right away-- it looks to me like here are three guys worthy of the top overall pick. I can certainly move down one spot, grab an extra pick, and then at least get one of the defensive linemen – so I make the move down.

With our top pick, Philly takes a standout RB – so we still have our choice of the two DL at #2. The QB still looms out there as well. I decide to pull the trigger, and pick up DE Tommie Browder – a monster impact player at our position of greatest need. Bullseye pick for us. Plus, we have three extra picks to use in this draft, or to use as leverage to move back up if needed.

With Cincinnati on the clock at #8, I’m shocked to see DT Courtney Malan still sitting there on the board. I hustle together a big package – and ship five picks to the Bengals to go up and grab another impact defender for us. Malan looks like the complete package – should be a standout for us, and he shows lots of signs of being a player who even gets better than he already looks, which is already pretty darned good. Two huge additions on the DL in one draft – outstanding.


Pick Pos Player Board Dash Sole Strg Agil Vol Draft After PostCamp
1.02 DE Tommie Browder 8.1 4.75+ 22 37++ 6.96+ 79 49/86 49/86 55/86
1.08 DT Courntey Malan 7.7 4.71++ 27 44++ 7.12++ 99 46/83 46/82 45/82
1.29 DE Brant Lockwood 5.4 4.74+ 28 32+ 7.19+ 57 24/62 24/65 28/67
4.01 QB Buddy Conley 4.9 4.65 45++ 12+ 7.72 45 23/59 22/57 25/53
URFA QB Howard Steen 3.2 4.56 36 10 7.75 17 15/37 15/33 16/33
URFA QB Clifton Barber 4.0 4.61 21 10 7.58 6 14/49 14/48 15/44
URFA RB Cole Devine 3.2 4.77 32 18 7.30 55 24/36 23/34 23/32
URFA WR Howie Burnett 3.2 4.57 17 11 7.20 36 18/38 18/37 18/34
URFA WR Donny O’Bryan 3.2 4.59 32 6 7.16 5 14/37 14/36 15/34
URFA TE Joel Wayne 3.1 4.90 23 27 7.56 43 16/36 17/37 20/41
URFA C Ron McFerrin 3.5 5.06 36 26 7.86 32 20/43 20/47 23/52
URFA K Lionel George 3.2 5.09 32 10 7.55 42 26/34 26/36 29/41
URFA DE Morris Forbes 2.7 4.81 27 20 7.71 89 16/31 16/31 19/31
URFA DT Dominic Templeton 2.7 4.99 22 23 7.48 98 8/31 8/32 11/33
URFA OLB Bernard Humphries 3.0 4.66 28 16 7.37 86 16/34 16/32 16/30
URFA OLB Dale Lilly 3.2 4.90 34 21 7.20 47 12/37 12/36 13/32


When we see DE Lockwood fall to the late first round, I deal up to grab him – I don’t want to let a player that good slip away just a few picks ahead of our selection. QB Buddy Conley looks intriguing in the middle round, with our last pick. As for the URFA pickups – maybe we’ll get one to break through this year. There’s playing time available at LB for sure.

I have a weird situation at QB now. If I re-sign my former starter at QB (Steve Newman) and keep him on the active roster, my staff will choose him as our starter for this year. However, what I want is for the rookie, Buddy Conley, to get the start – that’s how we’ll see what we’ve got there. So, I think the most sensible way to go is to sign Newman, but have him be our 4th QB – he’ll play only if Conley gets hurt. So, I’ll have three active rookies – and we’ll try to see what they can do, especially Conley.


From training camp – some great news about our top three defensive linemen, who all had good camps. QB Buddy Conley – well, maybe not so good. He’ll still be our choice for this season, but I’ a lot less convinced that he is the man for us down the road. We’ll probably have yet another tough year ahead. From the URFA pickups – maybe we have something good in TE Joel Wayne and C Ron McFerrin – both improved during camp a bit, which is usually a pretty good sign. (My strike rate with URFA picks is pretty good)



Front Office Football 2004
2006 Summary for Miami Dolphins

Record: 4-12
Winning Pct.: .250

Miami Dolphins Team Rank
Rushes 426 20
Rushing Yards 1548 30
Yards Per Carry 3.63 30
Pass Attempts 482 26
Completions 294 23 (T)
Passing Yards 3111 29
Yards Per Attempt 6.45 28
3rd Down Conversions 33.3 30
Points Per Game 16.3 29 (T)
Turnovers 31 27 (T)
Turnover Margin -12 31

Opponents Team Rank
Rushes 494 30
Rushing Yards 2118 31
Yards Per Carry 4.28 28
Pass Attempts 482 4
Completions 290 5
Passing Yards 3320 4
Yards Per Attempt 6.88 11 (T)
3rd Down Conversions 42.1 19
Points Per Game 25.3 31 (T)
Turnovers 19 27 (T)

Week Team Versus Oppnt
1 31 at BUF 23
2 6 CHI 27
3 16 CIN 31
4 3 at NED 36
5 18 at JAX 23
6 42 TEN 13
7 19 BUF 24
8 19 IND 20
10 15 at HOU 33
11 20 at NYJ 3
12 16 at MIN 42
13 6 at KCY 26
14 7 DET 35
15 19 NED 33
16 7 at GBY 27
17 17 NYJ 10

Passing Pos Att Comp Yards Y/Att TD Int
16 Conley QB 450 272 2851 6.33 15 22
**Team --- 482 294 3111 6.45 18 24

Rushing Pos Att Yards Y/Att TD
49 Springer RB 260 966 3.71 4
21 Devine RB 98 353 3.60 1
16 Conley QB 33 143 4.33 0
**Team --- 426 1548 3.63 8

Receiving Pos Targ Catch Yards Y/Ctc YAC TD
85 Wolf WR 96 55 733 13.3 72 6
84 Drake WR 85 53 663 12.5 114 4
89 Barrere WR 67 42 533 12.6 39 2
49 Springer RB 54 39 231 5.9 103 1
87 Fielder WR 67 37 487 13.1 74 3
86 Newman TE 43 28 235 8.3 52 1
48 Wooden FB 40 26 158 6.0 85 1
**Team --- 482 294 3111 10.5 559 18

Defense Pos Tack Asst Sack Hurr Ints Defn
51 Ireland ILB 88 41 1.0 1 3 5
98 Hannon DT 78 26 6.5 26 0 0
77 Browder DE 78 24 8.5 10 0 2
23 Baskey S 61 36 0.0 1 1 6
76 Malan DT 58 22 8.5 3 0 2
55 Dugas OLB 56 19 1.0 3 2 4
90 Perkins OLB 49 17 0.5 0 0 2
28 Wheeler S 43 20 1.5 2 3 2
45 Lincoln CB 42 11 0.0 0 0 3
43 Wallace CB 33 10 0.0 0 0 3
32 Barnard CB 32 12 0.5 0 2 1
97 Dorff ILB 30 6 0.0 1 0 2
46 Burke CB 30 8 0.0 1 0 6
78 Lockwood DE 30 15 5.0 11 0 0
99 Humphries OLB 28 8 1.0 0 0 3
42 Flowers S 27 10 0.0 0 3 1
**Team --- 856 293 34.0 62 14 43



We suffered injures in the WR corps (Drake and Fielder) that hampered us quite a bit. Regardless, Conley did a pretty passable job in at QB – but for his rookie mistakes, he wasn’t half bad. That’s fairly encouraging: 60% completion rate, and a 6.33 ypa isn’t bad at all. We also lost MLB Ireland for several weeks, and our desperate need for some LB improvement is screaming out now – just look at those tackle totals for our hard-working defensive line. Shocking!

DE Tommie Browder gets the nod as defensive rookie of the year, and also picks up a first team all pro selection. Scott Hannon heads to Hawai’i with him, a second team selection.

Looking to next season, I’m thinking that LB and the secondary are the top two priorities. I’ll be looking for impact players at RB and QB also.

[QuikSand]

2007

I make some staff changes, including an upgrade at scout – so I might have a little better idea of what’s up with the players on hand.

Sitting at #3 in the draft (courtesy of a regrettably final week win over the Jets, putting them ahead of us) I have a plan. I like MLB Stephen Hutchins an awful lot, and LB is a spot where I desperately need help. He’d be great as a MLB, but my current MLB Ireland can’t move – so I’d probably have to slide Hutchins to play the strong side. But at 250 lbs, I think he’d be fine.

I also have my eye on a QB prospect who I think I can grab in round three or so – fleet-footed Neal Dugger is the 5th QB listed – I’ll be watching for him as we get into round two and beyond. I like what I see there.

LB Hutchins is the 6th listed player on the “adjusted” rating list – so I think I can probably trade down from #3 and try to pick up some value here. I trade down to #6, and my heart stops when Clevelend says “linebacker…” but they go after the other top LB out there, a true outside LB. No messing around – I’ll take the stud LB here at #6, and we’ll fill the most obvious need on the team.

At pick #31, Detroit takes the top rated QB, leaving my target guy Dugger as the highest-rated QB left. I’m worried that he might go before our pick at #35 – so I decide to make a small move and get him. (I’m pretty sold on him) It costs me a 4th rounder, but I get into Tampa Bay’s spot at the top of round two, and target the “athletical” QB Neal Dugger. I’m glad I did – as the Jets took another QB with the very next selection.


Pick Pos Player Board Dash Sole Strg Agil Vol Draft After PostCamp
1.06 LB Stephen Hutchins 7.6 4.72+ 47++ 36++ 7.24+ 82 51/80 51/80
to SLB 49/81 48/80
2.01 QB Neal Dugger 4.2 4.43+ 44++ 9 7.72 32 12/51 12/49 15/39
2.03 LB Aaron Tucker 5.0 4.70+ 30 24 7.42+ 47 27/57 26/56
to WLB 25/58 24/52
3.03 CB Rex Grant 3.3 4.37++ 31+ 12 6.90+ 8 18/38 19/40 23/46
5.03 LB Frank Morris 3.9 4.80 32 16 7.40 94 17/47 17/46 19/40
5.06 RB Benjamin Armstrong 3.8 4.84 23 19+ 7.26 58 28/42 27/40 28/38
6.03 FS Tyrus Kerr 3.2 4.70 37+ 9 7.35 2 10/38 10/36 11/33
7.03 TE Kevin Matheson 3.9 4.84 21 20 7.63 66 17/46 17/41 18/37
URFA QB Justin Hastings 2.0 4.86 29 10 7.99 80 1/19 1/19 2/21
URFA FB Ryan King 3.1 4.75 29 20 7.56 92 18/37 17/32 19/32
URFA RG Darren Carter 4.2 5.18 22 25 7.71 50 14/50 14/44 12/35


With our third pick (our own original 2nd rounder) I’m really torn between a couple of pretty good cornerbacks, and the next best LB. LB is such a monstrous need for us, I decide to go there, but I’d really like to find a CB I could start with confidence.

In round three, I target the fastest man left in the draft, CB Rex Grant. He doesn’t seem to have great cover skills, but man coverage is his best of the lot, for what that’s worth. This pick really only works out if he gets better than his current projections – otherwise, he’s a nickel back at best, with no return ability.

The remaining picks are for need – and mostly based on specific ratings. RB Armstrong looks like a decent return man, and that’s how I hope he sticks.


After training camp, we see the first important results of this year’s crop. I’m disappointed in guys like QB Dugger (looks like a miss) and LB Tucker (ditto). My top pick ought to be as expected – excellent. And CB Rex Grant does indeed have potential, it seems.

So, what to do at QB this season? I drafted Neal Dugger thinking he was going to be “the man.” Now I have a multi-year contract inked with a fleet-footed guy who doesn’t seem to have a whole lot in terms of QB skills. Chicago is offering us a 3rd round pick for Buddy Conley – and while I have decided to stay out of the wholesale trading business, this is one I’d consider. But I’d be much more inclined to do it if I still thought that Neal Dugger was going to get the job done. Right now, that doesn’t look like such a strong case.

I put Steen and Dugger out there for the preseason, and this is basically a test of whether Dugger will get a shot to go out and start for us. I implicitly turn down the trade offer for Conley – I expect to either have him start, or else be on the inactive list as we start the season (if I want to engineer Dugger as the starter).

Neal Dugger has a great preseason, and I’m sold (against strong evidence to the contrary). To make him our starter, we’re going to have to have two total stiffs up against him in the active lineup. Hastings is fine, but I’ll probably need to sign an empty uniform for the third spot.

We anticipate a better defense this year, with our two gaping holes at LB both filled with better players. As for the offense – we’ll see how Dugger can do. I have Conley and Newman waiting in the wings, if needed.

Here’s the roster, by my scout, as we head into the season:


Front Office Football 2004
Miami Dolphins Roster, Scout Overview

Player # Pos Start Exp Current Estimate Future Estimate Cntrct
##Newman, Steve 7 QB 4 38 38 1 yr.
##Conley, Buddy 16 QB 2 35 51 3 yrs
Dugger, Neal 6 QB QB 1 15 39 3 yrs
Franklin, Rusty 8 QB 1 10 29 1 yr.
Hastings, Justin 15 QB 1 2 21 2 yrs
Springer, Joseph 49 RB 4 28 28 1 yr.
Armstrong, Benjamin 35 RB RB 1 28 38 3 yrs
##Devine, Cole 21 RB 2 24 30 1 yr.
Steen, Howard 19 RB 2 16 26 1 yr.
Wooden, Vinny 48 FB FB 4 34 34 2 yrs
Wayne, Joel 82 TE TE 2 26 45 1 yr.
Matheson, Kevin 83 TE 1 18 37 3 yrs
Drake, Leonard 84 FL FL 4 60 63 3 yrs
Fielder, Leland 87 FL 3 44 56 3 yrs
##O'Bryan, Donny 11 FL 2 17 28 1 yr.
Wolf, Herb 85 SE SE 3 56 56 1 yr.
Barrere, Derrick 89 SE 3 33 47 3 yrs
Burnett, Howie 9 SE 2 19 21 1 yr.
Goolsby, Louis 52 C C 3 43 48 2 yrs
McFerrin, Ron 58 C 2 32 57 1 yr.
Barber, Emmanuel 54 LG LG 4 58 61 5 yrs
Everett, Kim 64 RG RG 3 34 40 3 yrs
Carter, Darren 53 RG 1 12 35 2 yrs
Zorn, Don 60 LT LT 3 41 53 3 yrs
Fears, Tommy 70 LT 4 37 44 1 yr.
Ford, Leslie 65 RT RT 3 48 50 4 yrs
##McLain, Preston 61 RT 4 32 38 1 yr.
Jeffries, Kyle 2 P 4 37 40 1 yr.
George, Lionel 17 K 2 44 46 1 yr.
Lockwood, Brant 78 LDE LDE 2 40 69 3 yrs
Goetz, Quinn 72 LDE 4 31 35 2 yrs
Browder, Tommie 77 RDE RDE 2 67 83 4 yrs
Covington, Freddie 73 RDE 4 32 33 3 yrs
##Forbes, Morris 91 RDE 2 20 29 1 yr.
Hannon, Scott 98 LDT LDT 4 61 61 2 yrs
Templeton, Dominic 75 LDT 2 15 34 1 yr.
Malan, Courtney 76 RDT RDT 2 63 82 4 yrs
Fortkamp, Dana 71 RDT 4 26 26 1 yr.
Ireland, Ray 51 MLB MLB 3 65 65 2 yrs
Dorff, Carlos 97 MLB 4 28 32 1 yr.
Morris, Frank 59 MLB 1 19 40 3 yrs
Hutchins, Stephen 5 SLB SLB 1 49 80 5 yrs
Dugas, Stephen 55 SLB 4 27 27 1 yr.
Tucker, Aaron 92 WLB WLB 1 24 52 3 yrs
Lilley, Dale 57 WLB 2 15 29 1 yr.
Burke, Sherman 46 LCB LCB 4 31 32 3 yrs
Barnard, Cris 32 LCB 4 29 29 1 yr.
Wallace, Martin 43 RCB RCB 4 41 44 1 yr.
Grant, Rex 44 RCB 1 23 46 3 yrs
Wheeler, Roger 28 SS SS 4 24 25 2 yrs
Baskey, Wesley 23 FS FS 3 38 61 1 yr.
Flowers, Barry 42 FS 4 33 39 2 yrs
##Kerr, Tyrus 30 FS 1 12 33 3 yrs


Note that rookie RB Benjamin Armstrong has won the starting RB job from veteran Joseph Springer, even though he lacks the skills to really be effective there, I think. Once Devine is healthy, I think I’ll deactivate Armstrong, regrettably. I probably need to make RB a priority for next season – we can’t get by with this mess.



Front Office Football 2004
2007 Summary for Miami Dolphins

Record: 3-12-1
Winning Pct.: .218

Miami Dolphins Team Rank
Rushes 436 21
Rushing Yards 1823 16
Yards Per Carry 4.18 9
Pass Attempts 492 18 (T)
Completions 313 14 (T)
Passing Yards 3459 22
Yards Per Attempt 7.03 18
3rd Down Conversions 35.9 30
Points Per Game 15.9 30
Turnovers 33 29
Turnover Margin -7 29

Opponents Team Rank
Rushes 526 32
Rushing Yards 1966 23
Yards Per Carry 3.73 6 (T)
Pass Attempts 498 10
Completions 301 11
Passing Yards 3479 11
Yards Per Attempt 6.98 14
3rd Down Conversions 47.0 29
Points Per Game 22.8 28
Turnovers 26 10 (T)

Week Team Versus Oppnt
1 10 NED 17
2 13 DAL 9
3 3 IND 35
4 13 at CIN 24
5 12 at BUF 15
6 13 at CLE 26
7 23 PIT 17
9 14 at NED 19
10 13 BAL 35
11 23 NYJ 23
12 28 at PHI 33
13 16 at OAK 31
14 10 NYG 16
15 16 at NYJ 17
16 21 at WAS 24
17 27 BUF 24

Passing Pos Att Comp Yards Y/Att TD Int
6 Dugger QB 479 304 3375 7.04 18 19
**Team --- 492 313 3459 7.03 18 20

Rushing Pos Att Yards Y/Att TD
49 Springer RB 214 981 4.58 3
21 Devine RB 85 342 4.02 0
6 Dugger QB 72 274 3.80 2
35 Armstrong RB 41 126 3.07 0
**Team --- 436 1823 4.18 6

Receiving Pos Targ Catch Yards Y/Ctc YAC TD
84 Drake WR 118 80 1231 15.3 340 7
85 Wolf WR 96 51 647 12.6 125 3
49 Springer RB 60 44 251 5.7 109 1
87 Fielder WR 52 36 416 11.5 95 4
82 Wayne TE 48 33 240 7.2 34 1
48 Wooden FB 36 26 113 4.3 37 0
89 Barrere WR 48 26 422 16.2 69 2
**Team --- 488 313 3459 11.0 880 18

Defense Pos Tack Asst Sack Hurr Ints Defn
51 Ireland ILB 151 38 2.0 2 1 6
5 Hutchins OLB 80 23 1.0 2 0 8
23 Baskey S 75 25 0.0 0 3 12
98 Hannon DT 66 21 4.5 20 0 0
76 Malan DT 62 32 4.5 11 0 2
77 Browder DE 57 30 6.0 13 0 0
46 Burke CB 53 14 0.0 1 1 6
28 Wheeler S 51 25 0.0 0 3 5
92 Tucker OLB 47 15 1.0 0 0 4
43 Wallace CB 42 12 0.0 0 1 5
32 Barnard CB 36 14 0.0 0 4 6
78 Lockwood DE 33 14 5.0 13 0 1
44 Grant CB 29 10 0.0 0 0 1
42 Flowers S 20 7 0.0 0 2 2
**Team --- 892 292 24.0 63 15 58


I feel pretty good about going with young Dugger at QB – sure, he made mistakes, but an 80.3 QB rating and over 7 ypa is solid for a rookie. Now, if his potential bumps up after this season, I’ll feel like I did the right thing. Once we got Springer back in at RB, we got the ground game going okay, and Drake again led the passing attack – he’s turning into a pretty serious star for us.

I didn’t expect that MLB Ireland would actually have a big stats boost this year, considering the talent we brought in around him – but that’s exactly what happened. We didn’t get much QB pressure, which is disappointing considering our investment on the DL. But we got nice seasons from SLB Hutchins and both defensive tackles – and I’m pretty comfortable with the defensive front. I also am glad to see Rex Grant getting some playing time – while our top corners don’t look too strong right now.

We get some ink for our players at awards time—MLB Ray Ireland receives not only first team honors, but also Defensive Player of the Year for his massive tackle totals. We sweep the rookie awards, with Neal Dugger and Stephen Hutchins grabbing their respective awards.

Another high draft pick – but it’s now time to think that we can start winning some games with this club.

[JAG]

Not too much pressure, but still, your front four got 20 sacks and 57 hurries. Looks like your defense is headed in the right direction...as evidenced in moving from 29th in the league to 6th in yds per carry allowed. Looks like 3rd down conversions are what killed you this year (on offense as well), which will probably be helped when your defenders get a little more seasoning and cohesion. I haven't been that interested in the offense yet with so few elite draft picks spent there.

Good read so far.

[wade moore]

I am definately interested in seeing the offense upgraded. I think the defense has a good core of players, but will not get very far until the offense moves forward.

[QuikSand]

Incidentally, I neglected to explain my + system for detailing combine data (even though it might be pretty intuitive).

When a player's combine result places him at or near the top of the list for his position, I give him a +. If the rating put him pretty far ahead of the rest of the players at his position, then he gets a ++.

Since I'm making quite a lot of my drafting decisions based on combine data (along with the right general profile of skills) I thought this might be useful to share.

[QuikSand]

2008

Bad news as we look quickly at the roster – QB Neal Dugger’s potential rating, from our own scout, has actually dropped from 39 to 36. It’s a big blow – in my mind, this virtually assures that he won’t be a serious player down the road, and has rather little potential for growth. So, the QB position isn’t really resolved, after all.

We re-sign two players for modest contracts – DT Dana Fortkamp and starting CB Martin Wallace. I don’t know what I’m planning to do at CB (where Wallace and Burke have been a little underwhelming) but I don’t think letting Wallace go – he’s essentially our most talented guy back there. I like Rex Grant (whose potential has grown even more as we got to this season), and am looking for a way to get him into the starting lineup without emasculating the secondary depth.


It seems to be a pretty lousy draft – so I’m not sure what to do. There are two very interesting QBs available – one guy who looks like the prototype top draft pick, and another guy with plenty of breakout signals and great speed. If I could be assured of landing the second guy at the top of round two, I would be delighted to do so. As it is, I’m tempted to go with the “surer thing” with my top selection.

We still have some “need” positions on the team – but nothing all that critical. We could really use a quality player at FB, TE, RG, WLB, and SS. And I’m not really thrilled with our players at RB or CB either. So, landing one or two impact players at those positions would be very desirable for us this in this rookie class.

The top QB prospect, Darnell Farlow, is on the board when we are up at #3, but I decide to once again trade down. We net 2nd and 4th picks from Philly to move down to #10. Philly passes on the QB also, and I’m surprised to see him fall all the way to … pick nine. Just ahead of us. At this point, I have my sights set on QB Mel Copeland, the “athletical” prospect who looks good to me as a breakout candidate. But I’m fawning over S Orlando Bullock, a standout safety, big hitter, ballhawker, just the type that I love in my secondary. We really could use a big improvement there – he’s just too good to pass up, I think.

When the first round is about half way done, I start to panic about the QB I covet. When Buffalo is on the clock at #18, he is by far the best player left in the draft, according to my analysis – he has to go at any moment. I offer them a big slate of picks (2,3,4,4,and 5) to move up to pick #18, where I will grab the only other guy I really wanted in this draft. Done deal.


Pick Pos Player Board Dash Sole Strg Agil Vol Draft After PostCamp
1.10 SS Orlando Bullock 7.0 4.43+ 55++ 30++ 6.94+ 36 35/78 36/80 40/81
1.18 QB Mel Copeland 5.7 4.48++ 46++ 20++ 7.16++ 17 23/66 23/70 23/74
2.09 RB Bernie Buckley 4.4 4.51+ 30+ 20+ 7.13+ 54 37/48 36/46 37/44
3.09 FS Aaron Hill 4.3 4.55 24 19+ 6.87++ 97 27/50 27/48
to LCB 24/48 26/42
3.10 FB Bert England 5.2 4.66+ 22 21 7.37+ 80 34/64 33/57 35/57
URFA RB Dusty Carter 3.0 4.70 22 16 7.19 92 18/34 18/28
URFA RB Riddick Garrison 2.3 4.81 24 13 7.24 5 13/25 13/24 14/23
URFA RB Winfred Harrison 2.4 4.65 21 9 7.44 8 18/26 18/26 19/26
URFA TE J.C. Heflin 3.5 4.90 26 21 7.71 35 11/42 10/39 13/39
URFA WR Luther Ellis 2.8 4.51 12 9 7.14 37 11/31 11/29 12/26
URFA RG Rodney Miller 3.0 5.45 15 25 7.54 77 17/36 16/42 18/42
URFA DT Brett Fredrickson 3.2 4.90 24 28 7.73 27 22/36 22/38 24/41
URFA SLB Willie Walker 3.0 4.64 31 13 7.51 5 13/35 13/33 14/31
URFA CB John Freeman 3.0 4.48 32 8 7.10 68 14/33 14/32 14/30
URFA FS Nick Hartshorn 3.0 4.55 19 15 7.58 54 14/35 14/32 15/29
URFA FS Clarence Brewer 2.4 4.66 31 10 7.75 69 8/25 8/22 9/19
URFA FS Mickey Bunch 2.8 4.57 26 12 7.73 83 15/31 15/32 17/32


My hopes are now that Copeland can move into the starting QB job, and Duggs will settle in behind him as the backup. Both are gifted runners, and I feel that they fit the same mold well.

In round two, I struggle a bit over the pick, and end up passing over a pretty promising DE to take RB Buckley. If he’s as good as advertised, he should be okay. I take him because I think he might get even better. We’ll see – I’m not wild about this pick, but the options were pretty slim. If we see DE Sherman Olsen going to the pro bowl in a few years, we’ll regret passing him over – he looks like a first round talent to me, but I’m drafting for need here. I swing a minor deal with Seattle to move down in round two, and pick up a third rounder for the effort and some fluff.

Several of the URFA players are in due to return and special teams skills – I think this team is taking shape enough so that we can start thinking about the “secondary” things that matter on the field. I’m hoping to bring along one or two players in reserve roles mostly for their special teams abilities.

As we head into training camp, QB Neal Dugger picks a curious time to announce a holdout. We’ve just drafted the guy who will presumably move ahead of him, and he’s decided to pitch a fit. Fabulous. (In a weird way, this makes some sense)


Training camp brings great news. Our top pick Orlando Bullock is going to be great, and even more importantly it looks like we might have struck gold with QB Mel Copeland – a nice bump in his potentials in training camp is a great sign for a top pick. At QB, it’s pure gold.

Look out for DT Brett Frederickson, too – he might end up being a nice value acquisition for us from after the draft. Yet another possible breakout player from the far depths of the rookie pool.




Front Office Football 2004
2008 Summary for Miami Dolphins

Record: 5-11
Winning Pct.: .312

Miami Dolphins Team Rank
Rushes 489 8 (T)
Rushing Yards 1816 16
Yards Per Carry 3.71 28
Pass Attempts 487 24
Completions 294 23 (T)
Passing Yards 3013 28
Yards Per Attempt 6.18 26
3rd Down Conversions 40.1 19 (T)
Points Per Game 13.4 32
Turnovers 36 31 (T)
Turnover Margin -21 32

Opponents Team Rank
Rushes 452 15 (T)
Rushing Yards 1627 3
Yards Per Carry 3.59 2
Pass Attempts 475 1
Completions 271 1
Passing Yards 2801 1
Yards Per Attempt 5.89 1
3rd Down Conversions 36.5 5
Points Per Game 21.0 22 (T)
Turnovers 15 32

Week Team Versus Oppnt
1 10 at NYJ 9
2 16 at SFO 23
3 10 PIT 17
4 19 BUF 17
5 17 at SDO 30
6 32 DEN 27
8 3 at KCY 31
9 17 OAK 13
10 17 at NED 20
11 0 NYJ 30
12 17 ARI 20
13 7 at HOU 10
14 16 at STL 31
15 10 at BUF 36
16 21 SEA 6
17 3 NED 16

Passing Pos Att Comp Yards Y/Att TD Int
14 Copeland QB 479 288 2974 6.20 9 18
**Team --- 487 294 3013 6.18 9 19

Rushing Pos Att Yards Y/Att TD
38 Buckley RB 317 1046 3.29 10
14 Copeland QB 74 401 5.41 1
35 Armstrong RB 73 228 3.12 1
**Team --- 489 1816 3.71 13

Receiving Pos Targ Catch Yards Y/Ctc YAC TD
84 Drake WR 125 77 832 10.8 146 4
85 Wolf WR 95 53 661 12.4 133 1
87 Fielder WR 83 51 538 10.5 104 2
82 Wayne TE 41 26 254 9.7 48 0
39 England FB 33 25 160 6.4 123 1
89 Barrere WR 50 23 329 14.3 113 1
**Team --- 484 294 3013 10.2 760 9

Defense Pos Tack Asst Sack Hurr Ints Defn
76 Malan DT 78 22 5.5 15 0 0
51 Ireland ILB 73 29 0.0 2 0 3
77 Browder DE 72 26 9.5 21 0 0
23 Baskey S 67 17 0.0 0 2 8
98 Hannon DT 59 28 7.0 7 0 0
40 Bullock S 59 28 0.0 0 2 3
92 Tucker OLB 50 20 1.5 4 0 1
5 Hutchins OLB 44 22 3.0 4 0 3
43 Wallace CB 38 14 0.0 0 2 12
78 Lockwood DE 36 19 8.5 15 0 0
34 Hill CB 34 10 0.0 1 3 6
46 Burke CB 24 13 0.0 0 1 5
44 Grant CB 24 3 0.0 2 0 1
55 Dugas OLB 20 12 0.0 0 0 0
56 Walker OLB 18 8 0.0 0 0 1
59 Morris ILB 17 6 0.0 0 0 2
28 Wheeler S 16 1 1.0 0 0 2
42 Flowers S 16 3 1.0 0 0 0
**Team --- 807 284 37.0 71 10 47


We get off to a 4-4 start, and start thinking we have really turned the corner. But reality sets in, and we drop 7 of the last 8. QB Mel Copeland, our third straight rookie starter, shows promise – he’s the one we’re going with from here. RB Bernie Buckley gave us a pretty solid season – we are surprisingly able to put up rushing yardage, given the overall shakiness of the offense. Injuries kept WR Drake and Wolf from getting out there every week, and the numbers sagged a bit as a result.

On the other side, MLB Ireland had an appendectomy and missed time, and never really got completely back. SLB Stephen Hutchins also missed six weeks injured. All in all – we struggled to get our best men out there all season. The DL played well and stayed in place, shockingly. But despite those problems, we had a great defense, honestly -- #3 against the run, #1 against the pass, and top-ranked in yard per play both way. Wow. Tommie Browder and Courtney Malan get trips to alohaland for a job very well done.

Well, another year of concluding with “maybe next year.” If we can whip the offense into a little better shape, we can start to go places with this group.

[wade moore]

Nice Running numbers from the QB also, could be a valuable asset until his arm and mind develop...

I'm doing a franchise with these rules that you have to see how it goes, but not posting a dynasty at he moment.. between my IHOF commentary and my CFL MP Dynasty, I don't have time to post another dynasty atm...

[JAG]

Was Bullock injured this year? His numbers didn't look too good. I think once your offense gets on track and you get a ballhawk or two at corner, your defense will start piling up some obscene numbers (not that the yardage numbers weren't, but turnovers and points allowed weren't too hot).

[QuikSand]

Was Bullock injured this year?

Bullock was healthy, but I attribute the fairly low tackle total to our generally effective front seven. We've got very good players up there, and not as many ball carriers get into the secondary... thus, a safety won't get as many chances. That's the positive spin, I suppose.

[QuikSand]

2009

As we approach this year’s draft – what do we need? We have pick #5, and what would I like to land there? We could stand to improve a bit at several places – maybe OT, WR, CB, and LB.

It’s a pretty deep draft – I see quite a number of prospects who would look good suiting up for us. A few real standouts in DT Oscar Ramey, QB Tom Meier, WR Moe Marschalk and CB Matthew Tate all look like future superstars. I’d love to land Tate at #5, as CB has been a sore spot for us. But the draft does indeed look very deep – we might even get a solid contributor in the second round, if things break well. (The CB position, in particular, seems to have five or six solid players – more than usual)

CB Tate goes at #2, right behind WR Marschalk. Defensive lineman are picked at 3 and 4, and we are on the clock. I’m looking at CB Bruce Winslett, who looks like a nearly-ideal candidate for our defense. I think about trading down here, but decide that I’m better off just taking the guy I want – Winsltt seems to be the best CB left, and that’s a good position to lock up with an early pick while we still have them.

I’m glad we grabbed Winslett early, because a major run on DBs wiped out the position before our next pick. I end up going for a relative “need” position, and picking up the best TE in the draft, Thomas Newnam. I think he projects to be a major weapon in the passing game for us. (He violates many of the rules of drafting, so I’ll be hoping he doesn’t bust)


Pick Pos Player Board Dash Sole Strg Agil Vol Draft After PostCamp
1.05 CB Bruce Winslett 7.4 4.40+ 24 26+ 6.84+ 33 40/81 40/82 46/82
2.05 TE Thomas Newnam 6.1 4.88 29 25 7.85 90 22/73 22/72 25/69
3.05 WR Sherman Pritchett 4.2 4.42+ 26 6 7.04+ 13 31/48 31/46 33/44
4.05 LB Sam Tucker 4.0 4.92 43+ 18 7.60 59 17/49 17/48
to WLB 17/48 18/43
5.05 WR Travis McKenzie 2.7 4.43+ 15 21++ 7.14 34 18/32 18/30 19/23
URFA QB Damon Blackwell 3.2 4.79 32 12 7.37 26 13/38 13/40 16/45
URFA QB Ben Mueller 3.3 4.73 30 13 7.34 12 16/39 17/42 22/49
URFA RB Phil Carney 2.4 4.85 19 12 7.27 34 12/26 12/25 12/20
URFA LT Ray Middleton 2.7 5.17 22 20 7.67 61 4/30 5/33 8/38
URFA LB Jeffrey Crosby 2.8 4.84 40 21 8.01 89 12/32 12/31 13/28
URFA CB Quentin Winslett 2.8 4.65 27 12 7.36 90 8/32 8/31 8/28


The later picks ought to all help on special teams – Pritchett projects as a punt returner, McKenzie returns kicks. LB Tucker, cousin of our current weak-side starter Aaron Tucker, will push him for the starting job, but also should see time on special teams for us. Some of the URFA selections are for similar reasons – we’re trying to add some versatile depth to this club where we can.

I re-up with a few of our veterans, and bring 62 players into training camp. We have not been overloading the roster here, and this is probably the highest totals we have carried. Still no salary crunch – I think next season will be the year for some belt-tightening, finally.


After training camp, I’m very pleased with CB Winslett, who looks like the real deal, and modestly disappointed with most everyone else from the draft. TE Newnam will be fine, but probably not the star we were hoping for. Our best rookies, other than Winslett, might end up being after-draft guys like QB Mueller and T Middleton. I’m comfortable enough with Mueller that I decide to accept a trade offer from Minnesota – and send them QB Buddy Conley for their 2nd round pick next year.


Pruning the roster is tougher than usual – we drop a few players who have been with us for some time. But we’re at that point now. A few holdovers remain – guys like DR Freddie Covington, RB Joseph Springer, LB Stephen Dugas, and S Barry Flowers, players who were once starters for us but have now been dropped back into reserve capacities. I prefer to keep some guys like this around when possible, and I’m hoping that we’ll get a couple of mentors out of the deal in time (Covington, Dugas, and Flowers are all decent candidates). I hope that in time, QB Neal Dugger joins this list – he’s very smart, and could become a great backup QB and mentor to the monster-in-training Mel Copeland.


So, here we are – on paper, this is a pretty formidable team. This coming season will only be our second without a rookie QB starting. Yes, that is my own fault, but it’s a nearly sure-fire recipe for a shaky season. Now, with a more developed and mature Mel Copeland behind the wheel, I think the offense ought to be improved, and the team as a whole should be ready to step forward. We ought to at least gat around .500 on the season, and our goal is to be a contender for a postseason berth.



Front Office Football 2004
2009 Summary for Miami Dolphins

Record: 11-8
Winning Pct.: .578

Miami Dolphins Team Rank
Rushes 519 3
Rushing Yards 1950 6
Yards Per Carry 3.75 23
Pass Attempts 489 26
Completions 289 26
Passing Yards 2942 29
Yards Per Attempt 6.01 28
3rd Down Conversions 45.0 9 (T)
Points Per Game 16.7 23
Turnovers 20 6 (T)
Turnover Margin +4 9 (T)

Opponents Team Rank
Rushes 429 10
Rushing Yards 1494 5
Yards Per Carry 3.48 4
Pass Attempts 488 4
Completions 270 1
Passing Yards 3144 3
Yards Per Attempt 6.44 10
3rd Down Conversions 39.2 6
Points Per Game 15.4 2
Turnovers 24 17

Week Team Versus Oppnt
1 10 BUF 13
2 26 TBY 7
3 14 at CIN 16
4 24 NED 14
5 26 at JAX 10
6 21 TEN 11
7 10 at BUF 27
8 17 at IND 20
10 13 HOU 34
11 21 NYJ 23
12 31 at CAR 7
13 15 DEN 10
14 3 at ATL 27
15 7 at NED 3
16 10 NOS 7
17 20 at NYJ 18
$$WC 24 at KCY 21
$$CS 28 at IND 24
$$CF 23 at BUF 31

Passing Pos Att Comp Yards Y/Att TD Int
14 Copeland QB 489 289 2942 6.01 14 14
**Team --- 489 289 2942 6.01 14 14

Rushing Pos Att Yards Y/Att TD
38 Buckley RB 339 1065 3.14 9
49 Springer RB 103 441 4.28 2
14 Copeland QB 61 355 5.81 2
**Team --- 519 1950 3.75 13

Receiving Pos Targ Catch Yards Y/Ctc YAC TD
85 Wolf WR 116 62 787 12.6 133 2
87 Fielder WR 82 49 524 10.6 90 2
84 Drake WR 90 48 558 11.6 105 4
89 Barrere WR 56 32 357 11.1 54 3
86 Newnam TE 40 28 206 7.3 43 1
39 England FB 33 22 169 7.6 136 0
49 Springer RB 25 16 88 5.5 47 0
**Team --- 488 289 2942 10.1 671 14

Defense Pos Tack Asst Sack Hurr Ints Defn
51 Ireland ILB 104 37 0.5 2 0 8
5 Hutchins OLB 91 20 4.5 4 0 5
76 Malan DT 67 32 8.0 24 0 1
77 Browder DE 55 27 6.5 21 0 0
98 Hannon DT 53 17 6.5 16 0 0
40 Bullock S 52 24 1.0 0 3 12
92 Tucker OLB 50 17 1.0 1 1 4
44 Grant CB 42 15 0.0 0 4 7
78 Lockwood DE 40 18 9.0 21 0 0
42 Flowers S 37 21 0.0 0 1 2
41 Winslett CB 32 24 0.0 0 4 8
34 Hill CB 25 5 0.0 0 0 1
23 Baskey S 21 8 0.0 0 0 1
28 Wheeler S 19 5 0.0 0 1 1
**Team --- 797 278 38.0 91 14 53


Once again, the team is carried by the defense, who had another very strong season. We make it further this year than last, and tread into new territory – edging out the Jets in our finale to secure a playoff spot for the first time.

QB Mel Copeland was still fairly green, but was on the good side of 60% completions, even though he played hurt for several weeks with a minor injury. WR Drake was also hurt this year, which dented the whole offense’s production. Buckley continues to do well, and I’m glad to have Springer back in as our #2 option (I released Armstrong deliberately to get Springer back in there).

After defending S Bullock between posts, he comes out and gets hurt in the preseason, and misses several games. And this year, the DL suffers the predictable spate of injuries – much more like what I expect in FOF. DT Courtney Malan has another all-pro trip in him, after a season as our most effective lineman overall. LB Stephen Hutchins had his best season for us, but just doesn’t seem to have it in him to become the dominant force power that we had hoped for out there. Rookie CB Bruce Winslett was solid – 4 picks, 8 passes defensed, and a PDPct over 20, which is great for a rookie.

The defensive unit didn’t rank quite as highly as last year (4th and 10th) but brought the points per game down to about 15 – that’s pretty solid.



In the postseason:

Miami 24, Kansas City 21 – Mel Copeland has perhaps his best game yet, and his 3 TD passes secure an OT win in our first playoff appearance. WR Leonard Drake is back in top form, with 11-158 and a score.

Miami 28, Indianapolis 24 – A 21-3 halftime edge disappears in the third quarter, but we tough it out with a big late drive for the winning TD. Copeland is 27/35, and Buckley runs for 135 and the winning score.

Buffalo 31, Miami 23 – The dream dies here, as they keep us in check all day. LB Ray Ireland gives us a TD off an interception to keep it close, but Buffalo has too many weapons for us to keep up with.

Philadephia beats Buffalo 31-28 to take the title.


No more waiting ‘til next year… this team is ready! We’re going to start losing players now, as our cap issues take hold – so the next couple of seasons will be critical.

[QuikSand]

Roster Review

Before we get too deep into all this, I’m going to do a fairly thorough roster analysis, position by position, trying to identify the state of the team everywhere right now. I want to give some flavor of what each player is doing with the club, rather than just stopping at scout ratings and stats.


Player # Pos Start Exp Current Estimate Future Estimate Cntrct
Copeland, Mel 14 QB 3 61 77 2 yrs
Dugger, Neal 6 QB 4 23 33 2 yrs
Mueller, Ben 18 QB 2 22 49 1 yr.
Blackwell, Damon 4 QB 2 16 45 1 yr.


Mel Copeland is turning into a complete QB for us, with 60-90 ratings in everything. He won’t be topped out, but he ought to be very solid. Neal Dugger is a fleet-footed guy whose skills are stuck at the “intriguing” level. He has good timing and won’t throw a terrible number of picks, and he’s very fast for a QB – but doesn’t have the complete game at all. Ben Mueller (URFA from last year) looks like he’s on his way to becoming a solid backup-grade QB, maybe better than that. If he develops hic current potential, he’d be a decent enough guy to throw out there as a starter, or certainly as a good #2. Damon Blackwell looks okay, might have some upside, but is just stuck behind the others here – he probably will stay on the team, but I don’t see any PT for him ahead. Dugger is my sentimental choice to be the #2, but Mueller is edging up in the eyes of the scouts, and has more upside as a basic do-it-all guy.


Player # Pos Start Exp Current Estimate Future Estimate Cntrct
Buckley, Bernie 38 RB 3 43 43 2 yrs
Springer, Joseph 49 RB 7 24 24 2 yrs
Carter, Dusty 47 RB 3 18 25 ---


Joseph Springer gave us a good deal of hard work during the team’s formative years – over 4,000 yards over four seasons as a starter, never under 900. He brings his 4.0 ypc average (behind some shaky lines, even) forward as a backup to younger Bernie Buckley, who has stepped in with two 1,000+ seasons of his own. Albeit on only 3.2 yards per carry. Buckley is a well-rounded runner (with virtually no receiving skills) and Springer has very little to show except solid stats (and 96 elusiveness – eh?). Springer is staying around, he’s our leader at the position group, and a sentimental favorite (as well as a pretty effective player when used).


Player # Pos Start Exp Current Estimate Future Estimate Cntrct
England, Bert 39 FB 3 46 57 1 yr.
Wayne, Joel 82 TE 5 45 48 2 yrs
Newnam, Thomas 86 TE 2 43 69 3 yrs
Matheson, Kevin 83 TE 4 26 30 ---


FB Bert England is a solid starter, probably not really worth the 3rd round pick we used on him, though. He will catch a few passes (not too many, he has a low route running rating, which I prefer) and holds the position down just fine. TE Joel Wayne is a power blocker with modest receiving skills, young Thomas Newnam is a more complete tight end who can catch and run with the ball. Newnam only had 206 yards receiving his rookie year (starting the whole way) but has potential to double that, I think. He posted a 100 yard game in the playoffs – and might be coming into this own. We need to get Newnam starting ahead of Wayne, for certain.


Player # Pos Start Exp Current Estimate Future Estimate Cntrct
Drake, Leonard 84 FL 7 66 66 4 yrs
Fielder, Leland 87 FL 6 58 59 2 yrs
Pritchett, Sherman 88 FL 2 38 44 2 yrs
McKenzie, Travis 80 FL 2 20 23 2 yrs
Wolf, Herb 85 SE 6 53 53 1 yr.
Barrere, Derrick 89 SE 6 47 48 2 yrs


Leonard Drake is our position leader, a mentor to younger receivers, and a standout when he plays. From a 3rd round pick, he has develop well beyond his original potential – he now has ratings in the 65+ range in everything meaningful (but only 65 in route running). I’ve just signed him to a new contract extension – he’ll be making about $5.8 million a year for the next two seasons.

Herb Wolf and Leland Fielder are both very solid complementary receivers – Wolf was a high second rounder, Fielder was a breakout URFA player who originally scouted at 20/39. We use a lot of 3 WR setups in this offense, so both get plenty of playing time – Fielder got 82 targeted passes last year, even though he was only credited with 6 starts. Derrick Barrere was in the same URAF class as Fielder, another breakout (though not quite as dramatic). That gives us four solid guys to work with, and Sherman Pritchett is a nice fifth guy for depth who can stay activated, return punts, and play special teams for us – he’ll probably be a gunner for us this year.


Player # Pos Start Exp Current Estimate Future Estimate Cntrct
McFerrin, Ron 58 C 5 53 58 1 yr.
Goolsby, Louis 52 C 6 48 48 3 yrs
Barber, Emmanuel 54 LG 7 59 61 2 yrs
Everett, Kim 64 RG 6 47 47 ---
Miller, Rodney 74 RG 3 20 42 ---
Zorn, Don 60 LT 6 61 61 2 yrs
Fears, Tommy 70 LT 7 54 54 2 yrs
Middleton, Ray 69 LT 2 8 38 1 yr.
Ford, Leslie 65 RT 6 54 54 1 yr.


Ron McFerrin overtook Louis Goolsby for the starting C job last year, but the battle remains close. McFerrin is a run blocker, Goolsby is a strong, balanced guy. I’m happy with either one.

G Emannuel Barber was a 3rd round pick at C, we switched him over to play guard, and he’s stuck ever since. An excellent pass blocker, he has a career SA% under 1, which I judge to be excellent. Kim Everett, a URFA find, is a five-year starter at RG, a solid run blocker but not a standout - also below 1 in SA%, though. RG Rodney Ford was a URFA find who has unbelievable pass blocking potential (36/94) but no run blocking skills. Decen reserve, but it’s tough to depend on a guy like that, I find.

At tackle, Don Zorn is our starter on the left, a former first rounder who disappointed slightly but has remained viable. Tommy Fears won the starting job for 2008, but is back to the reserve capacity now. Fears is another pass blocking giant – ratings of 2/3 in run blocking and 98 in pass blocking is about as one-dimensional as you can get, I’d say. We’ll look to re-do his contract and keep him around as a reserve, or a possible future starter at RT. Leslie Ford is our position leader and a solid starter at RT, giving us 5 years of good service after we picked him up as yet another URFA. He scouted at 19/34 when we first saw him, after camp he bumped to 22/42 and we pushed him into the starting job, and has never looked back.


Player # Pos Start Exp Current Estimate Future Estimate Cntrct
Slone, Moe 11 P 3 46 46 1 yr.
Wells, Darnell 9 K 3 41 41 2 yrs


Whatever. No superstars here. Maybe I’ll actually draft someone one of these years.


Player # Pos Start Exp Current Estimate Future Estimate Cntrct
Lockwood, Brant 78 LDE 5 66 70 3 yrs
Goetz, Quinn 72 LDE 7 36 36 3 yrs
Browder, Tommie 77 RDE 5 85 85 1 yr.
Covington, Freddie 73 RDE 7 33 33 ---
Hannon, Scott 98 LDT 7 63 63 3 yrs
Malan, Courtney 76 RDT 5 90 90 1 yr.
Fredrickson, Brett 94 RDT 3 29 46 ---
Fortkamp, Dana 71 RDT 7 24 24 1 yr.


DE Brent Lockwood kind of got caught up in the scuffle of a monster DL draft for us – he was the third of three D-linemen taken in the first round 2006 (we held the top overall pick, and got a bounty by multiple trades down). Lockwood has delivered very consistently – his pass rushing numbers keep getting better and better, and now he’s getting paid for his efforts, with a fat contract through three more years. Tommie Browder starts alongside him, and has flashes of real dominance, too. Browder is a great run defender (262 solo tackles in four seasons) and has put up 30.5 sacks of his own – he’ll land a fat wad of cash after this season runs out.

Scott Hannon was our very first draft pick, and is still a very solid starter. He has missed only four games in six seasons – and has been very consistent in his play. We’ll need to re-do his deal after this year, but should be okay paying him for what he’s worth. Courtney Malan is a nearly perfect player – 100 RD, 100 PRTech, and 93 PRStr – ouch. He, too, has remained very healthy – has not missed a game in four seasons. He’s gotten to the pro bowl twice now, and might be the most talented player on the team, overall.

I like our depth here – Quinn Goetz is a nice run-stopper, while Freddie Covington is a pure pass-rusher. If needed, they would make a nice platoon. Brett Frederickson has real potential (but won’t get the playing time to develop, I fear) and Dana Fortkamp is from our first draft, and has remained a soild contributor. Trouble is, thought, that both Covington and Fortkamp are angry about playing time, and might be lost causes for new contract offers.


Player # Pos Start Exp Current Estimate Future Estimate Cntrct
Ireland, Ray 51 MLB 6 65 65 1 yr.
Morris, Frank 59 MLB 4 22 33 1 yr.
Crosby, Jeffrey 90 MLB 2 13 28 1 yr.
Hutchins, Stephen 5 SLB 4 79 79 2 yrs
Dugas, Stephen 55 SLB 7 26 26 2 yrs
Walker, Willie 56 SLB 3 16 29 ---
Tucker, Aaron 92 WLB 4 36 45 2 yrs
Tucker, Sam 93 WLB 2 19 43 2 yrs


I picked up Ray Ireland in early round two, looking for an anchor to an empty cupboard LB corps. He has delivered, and has become surprisingly solid in the middle for us. He’s a god run stopper, and solid overall – just what I like in a MLB. Stephen Hutchins is a very good-looking, well-rounded linebacker, with superior talent. He has yet to post a 100-tackle season, but he seems to be getting better and better – on this defense, he won’t be the star, but he’s an excellent player. On the weak side, we start Aaron Tucker (second rounder in the same draft as Hutchins) but he’s an incomplete player. Sam Tucker isn’t going to set the world on fire, either – the position is ripe for an improvement.

Stephen Dugas is a one-time Defensive Rookie of the Year, who now plays the role of occasional fill-in for us. Willie Walker and Jeffrey Crosby are basically special teamers – we’re pretty thin in terms of quality, starting-caliber talent here.


Player # Pos Start Exp Current Estimate Future Estimate Cntrct
Winslett, Bruce 41 LCB 2 64 82 5 yrs
Hill, Aaron 34 LCB 3 36 42 2 yrs
Grant, Rex 44 RCB 4 53 54 2 yrs
Wallace, Martin 43 RCB 7 45 45 1 yr.
Winslett, Quentin 29 RCB 2 9 27 1 yr.
Bullock, Orlando 40 SS 3 68 83 3 yrs
Wheeler, Roger 28 SS 7 24 24 2 yrs
Baskey, Wesley 23 FS 6 62 62 ---
Flowers, Barry 42 FS 7 40 40 2 yrs


The addition of Bruce Winsltt changed everything for our secondary. Now, he’s the anchorman, we’ll isolate him on the best opposing wideout. Rex Grant, after two seasons as an understudy, finally eclipsed Martin Wallace for the starting job, and continues to improve. Grant was a 3rd round pick who I thought might get better – he has, bumping from 18/38 to his current rating of 53/54. He has made specifically good gains in man coverage – just what I’m looking for. Fast, good eye for the ball, I’m thrilled to have locked him into a new deal after his first couple of years, before he started to realize how valuable he could get. Martin Wallace, a five year starter, now plays as our top nickelback option, with Aaron Hill also contributing in coverage as needed. Martin Winslett is a special teamer, on the fringe of our plans going forward.

Orlando Bullock has yet to put together a monster season, but he’s got monster ratings and is getting better. I still like Wesley Baskey, a late second rounder who really panned out for us (despite having lousy tackling skills, he’s played well at free safety). Barry Flowers is a grizzled veteran who stepped in to start 9 games last season (and did quite well, actually) – he’s a hard hitter who keeps his eye on the ball. Roger Wheeler, our veteran position leader, saw some time last year, too – after usually spending the season mostly on the sidelines.

We don’t really have a great ballhawker type of guy – in this club’s short history, nobody has more than 4 interceptions in any season. My guess is that we’ll see that record eclipsed soon, probably by Bullock.


Players Under Contract: 45
Salary Cap: $75,000,000
Cap Room: $7,320,000
Maximum for New Player: $3,180,000
Cap Room Lost (to old contracts): $0


This is going to be our first year where the cap is meaningful – and with several stars looking for contracts, I expect we’ll have to make some tough choices. They will only get tougher from here.


So, what do we do with this team? I am going to try to keep my star players, but I can see that the DL is going to get depleted after this season. Adding depth there would be sensible, and we’ll be looking for one or two LBs who can actually play a bit – maybe even a new starter for the weak side. It seems like RB is a position where we really could use a boost, too. A big hitter on the OL might be a worthy target, as well. We have options – I’m basically comfortable with the whole team right now, so we have some resulting freedom.

[QuikSand]

2010

We have our first free agent bidding war – we’re up against St. Louis for S Wesley Baskey, a long time starter for us. In week 10, he finally signs with us – so we keep him on board, which is good.

DE Freddie Covington is apparently not quite as mad at us as before – he accepts a new contract to stay with us for three more seasons. Again – I’m pleased, he’s a long-timer and a pretty decent pass rusher in reserve for us on the DL, and he signs very cheaply, too. RG Kim Everett is exposed, but doesn’t generate any interest – I expect to re-sign him, but probably late in the FA process.


It feels weird sitting all the way down at #23 in the draft – but we will probably have to get used to it. (Sigh) When we come up, the top flight stuff is gone, including one of the very best offensive tackles I’ve ever seen (who got take at #3) – we’re looking at mostly flawed prospects, really. I’m thinking RB or WLB as my first choices – but I’ll take a standout anywhere, if there is one.

RB Everett Dotson is pretty decent – he’s the fastest and most agile RB left in the draft, and has the highest combine rating for strength, too. But not a standout at any of those, really – just top of the list. I see him as a modest improvement over our current back, Bernie Buckley, but not by a wide margin, really. A first round pick? Seems like a reach.

WLB Albert Kasica seems like a good fit – strong against the run, good in zone coverage, and a good special teamer. He only projects to 65, though, by my scout – meaning he won’t be a real star, ever. Another WLB, Lester Ridder, looks pretty good to me, also – but I decide that Kasica is the better fit for our needs.

RB Dotson goes at pick #1, so my outside hopes of snagging him with my extra second rounder are dashed. However, WR Frank Dotson (no relation, I suppose) is available – and he is the quickest wideout in the draft by far, running a 4.33 forty. I pick him up, adding a little quality depth to our receiver fleet, hopefully.

I trade out of my late second rounder, and pick up a second rounder next year. I have to throw in my 6th rounder to make the deal – so it doesn’t seem unfair to do it.


Pick Pos Player Board Dash Sole Strg Agil Vol Draft After PostCamp
1.23 WLB Albert Kasica 5.6 4.56+ 21 25+ 7.27 34 27/65 27/65 26/61
2.07 WR Frank Dotson 4.8 4.33++ 27 13 6.85++ 87 30/56 30/52 32/48
3.23 FB Ross Meadows 6.1 4.68+ 31+ 31+ 7.29+ 64 40/67 39/65 40/61
4.23 LT Ike Hickman 3.2 5.27 34 43++ 7.80 86 22/38 23/40 24/41
5.23 DT Morris Borders 3.2 4.98 17 26 7.52+ 86 18/37 19/33 21/32
7.23 RB Pat Noccolino 2.6 4.75 33+ 17+ 7.27 79 22/28 36/45 37/46
URFA RB Amos Sutter 2.7 4.78 27 9 7.30 63 17/32 17/30 17/26
URFA RG Adrian Locklear 2.7 5.08 27 30 7.86 71 15/31 15/33 17/38


Wow, we got an immediate bump from our seventh round pick, RB Pat Noccolino. I grabbed him to contend for the KR job and perhaps slide in as our third RB – suddenly, he looks like he has far more potential than I had originally imagined. I’m not sure if that’s good scouting or bad… but it looks good now! And at a position where I was even thinking about using my first pick, too – what great fortune.

I don’t find an awful lot to like in the post-draft group, and only sign one offensive lineman. I like Locklear – and smell a breakout, of some proportion, coming in him. In the last stage of free agency, I pick up one more URFA – RB Amos Sutter, a potential kick returner and special teamer.


Training camp shows a few dents in the armor of my top picks – no great breakouts up there. RB Noccolino continues to impress, as does RG Locklear – both will get extended looks from us. I don’t know where LB Kasica will end up in our depth chart this season – I don’t think he can win the starting job, so he may be relegated to reserve and special teams duty for his first season, which is okay.

We head into this season with what I believe to be an excellent team. We ought to be throwing the ball a lot, and we ought to find ourselves again among the stronger defenses. Overall, I like our chances to be a force this season.


Indeed, we march through the first half of the season unbeaten, and largely unchallenged. Wow. QB Mel Copeland and LB Stephen Hutchins are both on fire, with all-pro performances in the first half of the season. We get through the entire regular season without a blemish – one very close call in the 16th week, but generally speaking, we remained in good shape. We managed through injuries to Copeland (he played through) and RB Buckley (Noccolino stepped in) and stayed in top form on offense for both spells.


Front Office Football 2004
2010 Summary for Miami Dolphins

Record: 16-0
Winning Pct.: 1.000

Miami Dolphins Team Rank
Rushes 436 19 (T)
Rushing Yards 2053 6
Yards Per Carry 4.70 2
Pass Attempts 571 7
Completions 351 3
Passing Yards 4429 1
Yards Per Attempt 7.75 4
3rd Down Conversions 42.6 13
Points Per Game 30.1 1
Turnovers 17 6 (T)
Turnover Margin +18 1

Opponents Team Rank
Rushes 349 1
Rushing Yards 1057 1
Yards Per Carry 3.02 1
Pass Attempts 538 25 (T)
Completions 252 1
Passing Yards 3229 2
Yards Per Attempt 6.00 2
3rd Down Conversions 26.3 1
Points Per Game 11.1 1
Turnovers 35 2

Week Team Versus Oppnt
1 28 at NED 16
2 24 at CHI 11
3 28 OAK 21
4 33 at CIN 3
5 41 BUF 13
6 28 at CLE 3
7 48 PIT 9
9 21 NED 10
10 24 BAL 13
11 31 at NYJ 17
12 34 MIN 9
13 27 at HOU 10
14 35 at DET 3
15 34 NYJ 3
16 23 GBY 21
17 23 at BUF 17

Passing Pos Att Comp Yards Y/Att TD Int
14 Copeland QB 571 351 4429 7.75 40 8
**Team --- 571 351 4429 7.75 40 8

Rushing Pos Att Yards Y/Att TD
38 Buckley RB 178 816 4.58 6
37 Noccolino RB 122 462 3.78 2
14 Copeland QB 76 477 6.27 1
39 England FB 34 187 5.50 0
**Team --- 436 2053 4.70 9

Receiving Pos Targ Catch Yards Y/Ctc YAC TD
84 Drake WR 140 88 1285 14.6 300 7
85 Wolf WR 115 68 1017 14.9 295 8
87 Fielder WR 103 52 665 12.7 167 7
89 Barrere WR 84 51 606 11.8 181 11
86 Newnam TE 70 47 489 10.4 94 4
39 England FB 25 18 125 6.9 77 3
**Team --- 571 351 4429 12.6 1219 40

Defense Pos Tack Asst Sack Hurr Ints Defn
51 Ireland ILB 82 36 5.0 3 4 6
5 Hutchins OLB 77 32 10.0 10 2 8
40 Bullock S 65 25 0.0 0 8 8
23 Baskey S 58 17 0.0 0 3 11
76 Malan DT 58 17 9.5 25 0 1
77 Browder DE 54 16 12.0 34 0 1
92 Tucker OLB 46 19 1.0 0 2 4
44 Grant CB 43 18 0.0 0 0 13
98 Hannon DT 38 7 2.0 20 0 0
41 Winslett CB 35 14 0.0 0 10 14
78 Lockwood DE 24 15 9.5 15 0 0
87 Fielder WR 21 0 0.0 0 0 0
88 Pritchett WR 20 0 0.0 0 0 0
**Team --- 734 229 50.0 110 30 74


Some unbelievable numbers here – what a season! Mel Copeland came through with a season for the ages, posting some of the best stats I’ve ever seen in this game. That he managed to also scamper for nearly 500 yards rushing just adds to what must be an MVP year. Our running platoon was fine – we had several games where we posted 150+ rushing yards, despite being a pass-first team – 6th in total rushing is a testament to our overall offense, as we got a lot of leads.

Defensively, we got monstrous pressure on the QBs, and played very tough against the run. CB Bruce Winslett had a monster year – he only had 32 tackles, but his other numbers were stellar: 10 ints, 4 TDs, and 14 passes defensed to only 25 catches allowed. That’s crazy – if this guy doesn’t get to Hawai’i because he didn’t have that many guys to tackle, it’s a travesty. Rated #1 against the run, and #2 against the pass – what a year for this defense. Unbelievable.


Postseason:

Miami 34, Houston 10 – Orlando Bullock’s TD interception sets the tone early, and we take control.
Mel Copeland is brilliant, and we make quick work of the Texans.

Miami 23, Kansas City 20 – Tough game, we are behind 17-13 midway through the fourth quarter, but Copeland hits Leland Fielder for the go-ahead TD, and we get a clinching FG with :22 left to win it.

Miami 24, Philadelphia 14 – We hold them to 224 total yards, and cinch the game when Orlando Bullock scores on yet another interception. Mel Copeland gets the game ball, and racks up a superior season with the superfecta of season awards.


QB Mel Copeland sweeps the season awards – League MVP, Offensive Player of the Year, First Team QB, and even Superbowl MVP. We also send DE Tommie Browder and DT Courtney Malan as second teamers. A CB from Oakland gets first team honors, largely due to making 85 tackles – maybe if he covered his man he wouldn’t have ot tackle so many guys, eh? Bruce Winslett sits and watched the all-pro parade from his doorstep, since our front seven did its job and he did his, he was left without that many guys to bring down. Shame.


An unbelievable season! Perfect record, and as close to perfection in stats, too. Great results.

Looking ahead – we see contracts looming, and a wide-scale dismantling might be in the works. This might have been our lightning-in-a-bottle season for this group. But what a year.

[wade moore]

Funny thing is, I was going to bump this today to see if you were still doing it because it really intrigues me...

To be honest, this is kind of what I expected from this idea... bad early, peak, and then possibly a downfall as you are not able to keep your talent but cannot bring new talent... let's see if that happens..

[QuikSand]

The roster situation for next season looks downright scary. I worked out an extension for DT Malan, but have about six quality veterans up for new contracts, and I won't have much money at all to work with. There's no way this team comes back anywhere near intact... I will have to make some tough decisions going forward.

[wade moore]

The roster situation for next season looks downright scary. I worked out an extension for DT Malan, but have about six quality veterans up for new contracts, and I won't have much money at all to work with. There's no way this team comes back anywhere near intact... I will have to make some tough decisions going forward.


Championships are not out of the question with this design though. You played a perfect season this year, I would HOPE that is not possible to do year after year with this design. However, you are probably concentrating so much on young talent compared to what you/others normally would, that your odds of having a capable backup is much higher..

The tricky part is the fact that right now you are not getting top 10 first rounders, so you do not have a lot of superstars in waiting...

[QuikSand]

2011

Interesting note – we were awarded a 90/100 for “team performance” by Herb following a 16-0 season, with dominating stats on both side of the ball, and a powerful run through the playoffs to an unblemished title. 90? What exactly does it take to earn a higher rating than that?

Our first retirement is safety Roger Wheeler, who gave us seven good years from the very start.

We use the franchise tag on DE Tommie Browder, who has been a very consistent performer for us through his five seasons, racking up three all-pro honors. However, the $9m salary he commands for the tag spot puts us over the cap already – and we have much work to do ahead. I work through some renegotiations, and bring our cap imbalance down to $3 million – but we’re still way out of whack.

I’m up against a big number with DE Brant Lockwood, and he’s looking for some $12 million in signing bonus to extend for more years. He’s not as good as Browder, but he is pretty good – and I’m in trouble here. Cutting or trading Lockwood would get us out of cap prison – but keeping him certainly would help us this season.

Eventually, I work out a new long term deal with Tommie Browder. It will cost us only $5.5m this year and next in cap space, but he gets $15 million up front in bonus. Thus, things will escalate and get totally out of hand in a while. This gets us to right around the salary cap, though – we still have some pruning to do, as we are still mathematically unable to offer a free agent contract to anyone right now. Trouble is – we still have four other starters in MLB Ray Ireland, WR Herb Wolf, and C Ron McFerrin, and RT Leslie Ford all sitting our there unrestricted.

I decide that veteran LT Don Zorn needs to go. He’s looking for a big contract after this year, anyway – and we’ll save $1.5 million by cutting him now. I plan to start Tommy fears at LT, and I like the looks of young LT Ike Hickman as a possible future starter. That clears up enough cap room for us to pursue bringing MLB Ray Ireland back on a backloaded deal that we can afford for at least a couple of years. This is very tough, but I’m trying to fill as many pending holes as possible.

We start the FA process fully expecting to see RT Leslie Ford and WR Herb Wolf head to greener pastures with other teams. I’d like to bring back Ford, but I need to wait until his asking price settles – so I’ll take the chance on his getting a fat deal somewhere else. I’m deep enough at WR that we can get by without Ford, despite his breakout year last season for us. Same for C McFerrin – we have a quality backup, so he is expendable, in a relative sense. My ultimate hope is that a couple of these guys remain unclaimed, and that DE Lockwood’s demands come down enough that we can try to get them all under our salary cap.


Good news – MLB Ray Ireland takes our offer. And WR Herb Wolf is our only FA who is pursued in the early stages. He inks a deal for about $6m a year with Atlanta. We make it through 20 weeks with no other departures – that’s very good for us, right now.


In the draft, I’m looking for BPA – with an eye on where we might have holes coming up this year or next. LB remains a relative weakness, and star SLB Stephen Hutchins will be looking for big money next year (at the same time we will have a QB up for a new deal) so that might be a top spot to consider. I’m also figuring that we have trouble ahead at DL – so that might be a consideration as well. CB Rex Grant is probably going to price out as well – so depth there would be useful, as well.

I quickly thee the guy I want. LB Alex Murphy is a major power linebacker, a standout at strength, and the best LB in the draft. I don’t think there’s any way he will fall to pick #32, so we will have to move up to get him. But I believe he can be an impact player – he’s the guy we want, for certain. We have to give up our picks at the end of rounds one and two, but we move up to #16 and grab Murphy there, getting the guy we wanted most.

We still have an extra pick in the middle of round two, and we target the best Olleft in the draft with that pick, and grab Donovan McBeal. Hi shift to the position where we need him (LG) isn’t seamless, and this might not have been a great pick.




Pick Pos Player Board Dash Sole Strg Agil Vol Draft After PostCamp
1.16 ILB Alex Murphy 6.3 4.77 31 36++ 7.09+ 47 33/70 33/71
to SLB 32/71 33/71
2.18 C Donovan McBeal 5.8 5.10 50++ 35++ 7.73+ 17 22/70 22/65
to LG 21/59 25/58
3.32 ILB Kim Northern 4.3 4.82 40+ 22 7.38+ 49 27/50 27/46
to LDE 21/46 24/46
4.32 SS Maurice Diehl 3.9 4.56 30 15 7.04+ 63 23/40 23/39
to RCB 20/45 21/40
5.32 FB Derek Burnett 3.7 4.74 20 27+ 7.29+ 49 29/41 28/40 29/38
6.32 K Barry Grier 6.2 5.33 30 10 7.45 69 42/67 42/60 45/59
7.32 QB Bobby Muse 4.1 4.62 28 12 8.24 57 20/50 20/47 23/43
URFA TE Roderick Giles 3.5 4.78 38 23 7.50 33 22/41 22/43 26/48
URFA WR Tito Taylor 2.7 4.45 18 24 7.00 28 15/30 16/33 18/38
URFA LT Trent Jackson 3.5 5.18 12 31 7.77 34 14/40 15/43 17/48
URFA P Rich Gabrelski 5.2 4.80 28 8 8.04 15 44/55 44/55 46/56
URFA K Cornell Mobley 4.2 5.24 39 9 7.62 2 23/50 23/50 27/51
URFA DE Kris Donovan 3.2 4.78 24 27 7.82 90 19/39 19/36 20/35
URFA DE Mario Otomo 3.3 4.92 18 27 7.26 72 13/39 13/40 15/40
URFA ILB Bobby Beethoven 3.0 4.75 26 23 7.59 35 21/35 22/36
to SLB 21/38 24/41


In the late FA stages, we land a number of undrafted rookies who look potentiall promising to me. Before getting any of them, I’d speculate that WR Tito Taylor (the workout warrior with 24 lifts!) might end up being a breakout… but we’ll how for a few of them to make jumps and lock up roster spots for us.

Well, my plan all along was to wait until the late FA stages, and then re-work our deal with DE Brant Lockwood, who is a $9m cap hit this year. My hope was to work him down a bit, free up room to re-sign RT Leslie Ford, and then see what else we can do. Trouble is, Lockwood won’t budget off his number – he wants an $11m signing bonus to extend his deal, and it wouldn’t be very affordable starting as soon as next season. So, no deal – he has to go. It’s our first serious cap-motivated cut, but we’ll try to patch together at DE – run-stopper Quinn Goetz will get the job for now, I expect, but rookie Kim Northern will get the chance to play and see if he can step in there.

With the cap space afforded, we even work out a new deal with C Ron McFerrin – a guy I had all but given up on seeing with us this year. He had an offer from Dallas, but it didn’t work out – so we re-up with him on a long term deal which should keep him here for at least three seasons more. Great addition!


Training camp gives us yet another insight into our young crop. Our top picks all held their ground – good signs. Looks like we do have a couple of promising would-be breakout players among our URFA class – TE Giles and T Jackson might head the list. WR Taylor looks to get better – but has a skill mismatch with our real needs. (What do you do with a WR whose best skills are courage, adjusting to the ball, and avoiding fumbles – but lacks much of anything in the top four categories or even return skills?)


So, coming out of camp, we carry 58 players into the preseason – it should be a fairly painless cut-down. We’ll clip a few rookies, cut one of our kickers, and go from there. We’ll be watching the RB position in pre-season – young Pat Noccolino didn’t really turn it on last season as our backup, but he’s approaching Buckley in total skill and might weasel into the starting job this year.

We make our cuts, and get everything in line. We’re ready to defend our title, and try to continue our string of wins that stands at 19, including the playoffs.


We get two wins, but suffer a tough loss – WR Leonard Drake is out for the season after week two. After losing Wolf in the offseason, we’re going to have quite the turnover in our starting roles here. This will put Leland Fielder into the featured flanker role, with Derrick Barrere staying as the split end. Our slot receiver (previously Fielder) will now be rookie Tito Taylor, at least for the moment (Sherman Pritchett is nursing an injury but may move past him).

Our winning streak continues through 7 games, but we suffer another serious injury, as LB Stephen Hutchins breaks his arm. I’m now very glad we drafted his presumed replacement this year – as Alex Murphy is a solid replacement already. We keep on winning, and extend our streak to 28 games as we beat a good KC team to get to 9-0 on the season.

Through 11 wins, Mel Copeland has now moved past playing superstar QB and has now begun to walk on water. His QB rating is 119.6 – unheard-of numbers: 35 TD, 6 interceptions, 69% competions, 8.68 ypa. Unreal. Plus, he has 367 yards rushing to boot. Phenomenal. He should ask for the moon and starts in his next contract – and get it.

On the road at Buffalo in week 15, the streak finally ends. The Bills get out to a 21-0 lead and hold us off, 30-27 for the upset win. We won 32 straight regular season games, and the same number of total games including the playoffs. Tough to take the loss – but we still look like the dominant force in the NFL here. A 15-1 regular season and, of course, the home field advantage isn’t anything to complain about.


Front Office Football 2004
2011 Summary for Miami Dolphins

Record: 15-1
Winning Pct.: .937

Miami Dolphins Team Rank
Rushes 431 17
Rushing Yards 2045 6
Yards Per Carry 4.74 1
Pass Attempts 605 2
Completions 412 1
Passing Yards 5003 1
Yards Per Attempt 8.26 2
3rd Down Conversions 52.2 1
Points Per Game 33.3 1
Turnovers 15 2 (T)
Turnover Margin +7 8

Opponents Team Rank
Rushes 354 2
Rushing Yards 1138 1
Yards Per Carry 3.21 1
Pass Attempts 519 8
Completions 250 1
Passing Yards 3345 8
Yards Per Attempt 6.44 9 (T)
3rd Down Conversions 31.9 1
Points Per Game 14.4 2
Turnovers 22 18 (T)

Week Team Versus Oppnt
1 24 NYJ 20
2 35 at DAL 10
3 24 HOU 10
4 30 BUF 3
5 38 at SDO 14
6 38 DEN 9
8 31 KCY 17
9 38 at OAK 35
10 41 at NED 10
11 35 at NYJ 14
12 42 PHI 17
13 49 at BAL 10
14 28 at NYG 18
15 27 at BUF 30
16 24 WAS 14
17 30 NED 0

Passing Pos Att Comp Yards Y/Att TD Int
14 Copeland QB 585 400 4920 8.41 47 8
**Team --- 605 412 5003 8.26 47 8

Rushing Pos Att Yards Y/Att TD
38 Buckley RB 190 758 3.98 7
37 Noccolino RB 101 526 5.20 3
14 Copeland QB 85 543 6.38 6
**Team --- 431 2045 4.74 20

Receiving Pos Targ Catch Yards Y/Ctc YAC TD
87 Fielder WR 133 86 1205 14.0 250 8
89 Barrere WR 128 81 1081 13.3 205 8
86 Newnam TE 112 81 788 9.7 135 15
85 Taylor WR 66 50 764 15.2 126 5
81 Dotson WR 63 38 484 12.7 92 4
39 England FB 40 34 247 7.2 109 3
**Team --- 605 412 5003 12.1 1057 47

Defense Pos Tack Asst Sack Hurr Ints Defn
51 Ireland ILB 78 37 5.5 1 0 6
76 Malan DT 65 24 10.0 20 0 2
40 Bullock S 62 35 0.0 0 1 16
92 Tucker OLB 55 17 3.0 2 0 1
41 Winslett CB 53 14 0.0 0 4 14
5 Hutchins OLB 50 17 2.0 6 1 8
77 Browder DE 49 29 11.5 16 0 0
23 Baskey S 46 16 0.5 0 3 12
98 Hannon DT 40 12 4.5 16 0 0
44 Grant CB 38 7 0.0 0 5 12
34 Hill CB 28 5 0.0 0 0 4
43 Wallace CB 20 0 2.0 1 0 2
73 Covington DE 19 7 6.0 13 0 0
82 Wayne TE 17 0 0.0 0 0 0
50 Murphy OLB 16 11 3.0 0 1 4
**Team --- 741 237 55.0 81 15 87


Our pass defense softened up a bit this year – falling to 9th ranked in yards per attempt. But we were #1 or #2 in the other three areas – very strong. With only a +7 in turnovers, it’s surprising we remained as dominant as we were last year, more or less.

QB Mel Copeland – what can we say? He’s the man. He breaks the single season record for passing TDs by seven this year, and posts a 115.1 passer rating along the way – six point better than any before this season. He put Fielder and Barrere into the thousand-plus club this year – a definite first for both of them, neither of whom was a regular starter prior to this season. TE Newnam ought to go to the pro bowl, too. Rookie Tito Taylor held on to the third WR role, and posted some awfully nice numbers for a young’un – might he be an outsider for OROY? At RB, Buckley was decent as usual, and we got some real signs of life from Noccolino, who seems to be ready to step into the starter’s role to me.

Our defense was again very tough up front, even after losing one of our mighty quarter up front. DT Courtney Malan ought to get all-pro recognition yet again, and DE Tommie Browder might as well. 55 sacks and 81 hurries is pretty impressive – the front is doing its job, all right. And the secondary – all four starters with double-digit passes defensed, that’s a thing of beauty. We didn’t pick the ball off as much this year, but were still awfully solid across the board. With Hutchins back and healthy for the postseason, we should be even better.


Postseason Results:

Miami 31, Houston 10 – Mel Copeland nails four TD passes, and we hold them to 14 yards rushing and only 207 total yards to dominate the opener. Fielder catches 8 for 155 and two scores.

Cleveland 17, Miami 16 – Shocking upset! We outgain them by 386-250 yards, but a FG with one minute to go gives the Browns the win. We only turn it over once, were even in time of possession – tough to figure.

Cleveland then goes out and loses to Green Bay in the Superbowl. Oy.


Our all-pro nods go to QB Mel Copeland (three awards, MVP, OPOY, and QB1) and second teamers DT Malan and DE Browder. Two tight ends both approached 1,000 yards – sop I can understand that. And Minnesota’s rookie QB threw 25 TDs to get OROY, also tough to argue with.

Great season, disappointing finish. But we certainly put a product out on the field.

[QuikSand]

I usually play this game with so many rules that I naver field a team this good. I don't think I've ever put up numbers like these.

Usually, I get bored at about this point (it's so much more fun to struggle and field marginal performers)... but perhaps the lure of trying to keep this team from falling apart under the cap is enough to keep me with it another season or three.

[Kodos]

I'm enjoying this dynasty, although I wish you had titled it differently. I keep thinking "magical fruit" when I see it.

[Alf]

Copeland nearly through 5000 yards and 50 TDS... Geez !

[wade moore]

I usually play this game with so many rules that I naver field a team this good. I don't think I've ever put up numbers like these.

Usually, I get bored at about this point (it's so much more fun to struggle and field marginal performers)... but perhaps the lure of trying to keep this team from falling apart under the cap is enough to keep me with it another season or three.

I usually feel the same way as you here. However, since you are running through the season quickly and concentrating on the off-season, I continue to hold the interest of what happens as the cap comes to bite you.. you saw a nibble this year, but re-signing Copeland could really have a huge overall affect.

[RPI-Fan]

Sounds like your team really found a way to have the pass set up the run... as far as I can tell, your running game shouldn't be all that great; a middle of the road RB, and good-not-great OL. Yet you got 4.74 YPC - quite impressive.

Just curious - what do Copeland's ratings look like at this point? Are they all red? All in the 90's? Sounds like he could be one of those legendary FOF QB's...

[QuikSand]

Actually, Copeland isn't even a topped-out stud... but he is fairly close.

In order, his ratings are:

82
88
94/100
83/93
80/88
64
96 Avoid Int
86/98 Accuracy
24/42 Timing
96
78
82/94
83 Scr Frq
73/84
76

So, he's excellent, but not 90+ everywhere. But in this system, surrounded by star-level talent at most positions (except the OL, where we are good but not great) he has been a monster for the last two seasons.

Initially, I was thinking that in the next season, we'd let him go and use the money to try to keep much of the team intact. Now, I'm thinking that we do everything we can to extend the window of opportunity with him at the helm and as much around him as possible for one or maybe two more seasons. We might even get into "cap out" offers and such to do this, I'm thinking -- thus are the pressures of being really good right now.

[QuikSand]

2012

No retirements – so all our off season decisions are in our own hands. Great.


We come into this season with our cap already spent (we have a $1.6m trifle available – not even enough to sign our rookies) and a slew of players without contracts. G Emmanuel Barber, LB Stephen Hutchins, LB Aaron Tucker, CB Rex Grant, RB Bernie Buckley, and of course, QB Mel Copeland are all without deals. So – we have real work to do here. My first decision is to decide not to use the franchise tag on anyone – we’ll haggle through free agency, but I’ll go without a net.

WR Leonard Drake, following a season-ending injury last year, is a mere shadow of his former self now. He’s still our receivers leader, and a guy I’d like to keep – but probably not at his current salary of $10 million. We work out a new deal with him, bringing his base down to veteran minimum – much better.

Along the way of working through contracts, I notice something really weird – my WR Leland Fielder, my starting flanker, has inexplicably switched to split end. I *know* I didn’t do this. I *know* I didn’t turn my roster over to the computer (in the sense that sometimes accomplishes this switch – setting it to “sign players to fill roster.” But now, I have an imbalance in my WR depth – not good news as all, really. This might be a bigger deal than it seems – we use our Flanker 2 as the main third option – and if my two best WRs are both formally listed at split end, it’s a big problem for me in this career, where I’m letting the depth charts set themselves. I look back, and see that this actually happened some time last season – so it might not be as big a crisis as I’m expecting – Fielder started at flanker last season despite technically being a split end. (There were a couple other side-balancing switches made without my consent last year, but at least it didn’t hurt the players’ ratings) SO, I try to switch him back – and it works seamlessly. Good.


Now – we settle up a few more minor contract issues, and have about $11m in cap space - $8.4m in usable space. My hope would be to wrap up QB Mel Copeland and LB Stephen Hutchins, and then see what else we might be able to do later on. But Copeland’s deal is going to be very, very tough – and Hutchins himself is looking for $9m a year.

Interestingly, Copeland is asking for a deal worth $140 million over 6 years. The base salary numbers escalate to over $20 million a year in the last three seasons, naturally, along with a $32m signing bonus. My trouble, of course, is that my owner won’t let me pay any player more than $19.14 million in any one season. So – technically, I can afford to put in an offer right around where Copeland is asking – but it has to be completely flat ($31.9m bonus and $19.14m each year). OUCH! I can’t even come close to affording that deal without cutting another $10m from my roster, maybe much more. I’m completely stuck.


So, I do something I generally don’t do. I go back to my last save, and play it out again – knowing what I now know about the hard-wired limitations in the game, there is only one option here – I have to use the franchise tag on QB Mel Copeland, period. Rather than just edit out all this narrative above – I’ll come clean and apologize for my lack of foresight – but that game limit just paints me into an absolutely impossible box there.

So, I re-work contracts, and get to the point where we have jut enough cap space for our rookies – not a nickel to re-sign anyone at all. Not good enough. I have to make a cut or two, maybe more.

RB Joseph Springer is gone – he was a good influence, but I can’t justify his salary. Same goes for backup MLB Frank Morris, and fourth-string QB Bobby Muse. I re-work my deal with DT Courtney Malan – it’s another $9.5 million in bonus, but it will keep him fairly affordable for three seasons, which is all I can realistically ask for at this point. RG Kim Everett gets a long look (or more fittingly, his $2 million salary does) but he makes it through this round of cutbacks, through he might be next on the list.


I put in backloaded offers to SLB Hutchins and LG Barber, and a modest offer in to our starting WLB Aaron Tucker. Hutchins, however, gets a huge offer from Denver – and he’s gone in the first week. Berber and Tucker sign immediately with us – so we are at least in good shape there.

So, I have some cap space to work with – and I quickly lock up RB Bernie Buckley to a new deal. I expect this is the year that he loses his starting job, but he’s only asking for backup-type money anyway, so this seems reasonable to me. Now, I’d like to parlay some sort of contract offer to CB Rex Grant – he is asking for $6m a year, but if we’re creative we might get him back for a couple more seasons. At week six, we are his only offer – but he hasn’t signed yet. In week 9, he finally relents, and we lock him up for two affordable seasons – I’m surprised that this worked out, actually.

We get to the rookie draft with 48 payers on contract, and true roster holes at RB, MLB and S. We’ll try to land some prospects at those spots in this draft. I wouldn’t mind grabbing a solid DL if I can with pick #30, either.

In the draft, we end up taking an undersized linebacker who probably will only be able to play in the outside spot. That could cause some troubles, but I like enough things about Burt Veen that I decide to let it go, and we’ll try to get all we can from him and last year’s top pick, Alex Murphy.


Pick Pos Player Board Dash Sole Strg Agil Vol Draft After PostCamp
1.30 OLB Burt Veen 5.2 4.49+ 38+ 32++ 7.11+ 24 21/66 20/63 20/63
2.30 FB Max Wynn 6.5 4.66+ 15 22 7.14++ 4 49/68 48/66
to RB 35/46 35/44
3.30 K Conrad Bullock 8.6 4.83++ 37+ 21++ 8.16 51 72/83 70/80 72/78
4.30 RG Gerald Kinney 3.7 5.12 44+ 48++ 7.83 12 22/43 22/40 24/40
5.30 FS Drew Griffith 3.4 4.65 16 26++ 7.07+ 35 16/39 16/41 19/45
6.30 DE David Cazares 2.9 4.84+ 26 31+ 8.06 3 27/31 27/31 29/32
7.30 P Jeremy Shaw 8.4 4.76+ 33+ 20+ 7.49 21 54/89 55/91 58/91
URFA QB Hugh Demps 3.1 4.75 36 10 7.64 26 9/35 9/38 11/43
URFA OLB Walter Nakajo 2.3 4.59 22 14 7.35 8 11/25 12/25 13/26
URFA FS Willie Huntley 3.0 4.55 23 13 6.99 55 13/34 13/36 16/39


FB Max Wynn is an undersized FB – and my goal is to move him to RB and hope to make a utility back out of him. I pick up a couple standout special teamers in Bullock and Shaw, and both should immediately displace my current players. I’m mildly disappointed with the immediate review of a couple other players – but overall I think we’ll come away with a contributor or two here.


We have a real battle at the safety position – both rookie safeties looks pretty good, and are making the case for staying with the club. Both are from the same mold as the veteran they may be trying to displace, Barry Flowers – tough hitter, good eye for the ball. All three go into preseason probably competing for two jobs at most.

After tinkering with putting Alex Murphy into the reserve MLB slot, I decide that rookie Veen is just not ready to start on the strong side – so Murphy goes back there, and Veen will be a reserve this year. He is just not at all ready to play. Murphy, I think, is ready to take a good step forward (though I hurt him by switching his position twice – dummy).



We lose RT Leslie Ford in preseason – maybe a career-ending injury. But we come into the season otherwise pretty healthy, with the top-rated team in all four cohesion areas, not to mention the top overall roster rating (100/84). We are once again a top pick to win it all – we cam close to putting together back-to-back titanic seasons last year – we’d like to follow up with a third.


We win our opener at buffalo – the sits of our last regular season loss, breaking our crazy streak. In week three, we get a remarkable three touchdowns from CB Bruce Winslett – one on a kick return, and two on interceptions. That has to be a record – three scores by a player who didn’t ever line up on offense.

Halfway through the season, again at 8-0, it’s hard to complain. Copeland is again a titan, but we’re not getting a lot from our RB position – Noccolino is disappointing with only 3.3 ypc. Leland Fielder might be on his way to a monetsr year – with 745 yards at the halfway point. We get a win over Cleveland (who beat us in last year’s playoffs) to extend to 12-0 on the year – but it’s the closest game of the year, only 27-24. In the final regular season game, we paste the Jets 47-0 to run our record to 16-0 for the second time in three seasons.


Front Office Football 2004
2012 Summary for Miami Dolphins

Record: 16-0
Winning Pct.: 1.000

Miami Dolphins Team Rank
Rushes 404 23
Rushing Yards 1775 14
Yards Per Carry 4.39 5
Pass Attempts 604 3
Completions 416 1
Passing Yards 5018 1
Yards Per Attempt 8.30 2
3rd Down Conversions 42.0 19
Points Per Game 32.9 1
Turnovers 11 2
Turnover Margin +23 1

Opponents Team Rank
Rushes 355 1
Rushing Yards 1084 1
Yards Per Carry 3.05 1
Pass Attempts 534 25 (T)
Completions 276 2
Passing Yards 3488 14
Yards Per Attempt 6.53 11
3rd Down Conversions 31.4 1
Points Per Game 11.6 1
Turnovers 34 2 (T)

Week Team Versus Oppnt
1 40 at BUF 20
2 44 SFO 21
3 34 at KCY 7
4 37 at NED 17
5 21 at JAX 3
6 24 TEN 17
7 41 BUF 10
8 20 IND 0
10 35 at HOU 7
11 37 at NYJ 20
12 27 at ARI 10
13 27 CLE 24
14 28 STL 7
15 34 NED 14
16 31 at SEA 10
17 47 NYJ 0

Passing Pos Att Comp Yards Y/Att TD Int
14 Copeland QB 597 412 4966 8.31 40 6
**Team --- 604 416 5018 8.30 40 6

Rushing Pos Att Yards Y/Att TD
37 Noccolino RB 149 576 3.86 8
38 Buckley RB 109 475 4.35 4
14 Copeland QB 75 466 6.21 3
**Team --- 404 1775 4.39 16

Receiving Pos Targ Catch Yards Y/Ctc YAC TD
87 Fielder WR 154 96 1401 14.5 323 11
89 Barrere WR 113 81 1108 13.6 180 7
86 Newnam TE 109 70 662 9.4 141 8
85 Taylor WR 77 57 618 10.8 104 3
81 Dotson WR 65 44 710 16.1 170 10
39 England FB 27 23 175 7.6 104 0
**Team --- 604 416 5018 12.0 1146 40

Defense Pos Tack Asst Sack Hurr Ints Defn
40 Bullock S 80 39 1.5 0 1 21
51 Ireland ILB 72 25 4.0 4 1 4
76 Malan DT 63 12 9.0 16 0 0
23 Baskey S 54 18 3.0 0 5 8
77 Browder DE 54 14 12.0 25 0 1
41 Winslett CB 50 21 0.0 0 6 11
50 Murphy OLB 50 21 5.5 2 4 3
92 Tucker OLB 48 12 0.0 0 0 6
98 Hannon DT 41 13 7.5 10 0 0
44 Grant CB 32 17 0.0 0 2 16
34 Hill CB 32 7 0.0 0 4 3
43 Wallace CB 22 0 0.0 0 0 6
42 Flowers S 20 1 0.0 1 0 0
79 Cazares DE 19 6 5.0 13 0 1
88 Pritchett WR 16 0 0.0 0 0 0
**Team --- 757 215 52.0 80 23 87




Well, we posted another tremendous season here. QB Mel Copeland broke his own record for passing yards (though not by much) with 4,966 – and we topped the 5,00 yard barrier as a team. The running game wasn’t awful – but Noccolina was a little disappointing overall. We got banged up on the OL – but still managed to pave the way fo the stars on the team.

Defensively, Courtney Malan and Tommie Browder again managed to anchor a dominant defensive line, despite even more injuries. 52 sacks and 80 hurries – that’s pretty good pressure, best in the league. We were okay even without our best linebacker – young Alex Murphy was fine as our sam starter, after all. And we help opposing rushing games to just barely over 3.0 yards per carry – that’s one of those milestone stats I always like to tap – getting under 3.0 there is very tough, I have found. Also – proper credit to Rex grant, who returned to us and had a great season in coverage – rating a 21.1 PDPCT, a very nice mark considering he only picked off 2 passes.


Postseason

Miami 27, New England 24 – Not really that close, we had a good lead and they scored with 35 seconds left. But they played tough, and outgained us even – our defense came through with some big plays.

Miami 52, Cleveland 7 – Sweet revenge for last year’s loss. We have it all working, and Copeland tops it with a blazing 27-of-32 effort for 343 yards and 4 TDs - he is unreal.

Miami 36, Washington 16 – We outgain the Skins by 150 yards, and really keep their passing game in check. Copeland secures his second Superbowl MVP award – and our three year reign has its bookend seasons!


Predictably, Mel Copeland gets his quartet of awards again. WR Leland Fielder breaks out of the shadow a bit, and gets named to the all-pro first team – not bad for an undrafted rookie (along with his co-starter, Barrere). OL Gerald Kinney didn’t play much, but wowed them at the pre-season workouts, and is named the league’s strongest man. Maybe that will pay off at some point.


An outstanding season – we’ll leave it to the judges over time to decide which team was the best of the three, but after shining so brightly two seasons ago, we have again run the table and made it a debate.

[JAG]

Ho hum, another 5000 yard season, another 4th WR with 10 TDs. :) Crazy stats. One interesting note, despite having 11 (!) turnovers on the year, it was only good enough for second in the league. Considering Copeland's performance, I can't see how you could ever reasonably hold him without franchising him every year till he retires.

[Alf]

Yep, this guy IS a franchise player.

[Barkeep49]

I'm amazed that you would go back to the last saved game.

[QuikSand]

I'm amazed that you would go back to the last saved game.

Well, it was (in my judgement) a specific circumstance -- I felt I was unfairly hamstrung by the artificial limitations in the game. Had I known that in advance, I clearly wouldn't have allowed him to go onto the open market where i would have zero hope of keeping him.

Had this not been the result of a game quirk, I wouldn't have done it. Not an excuse, an explanation. Sorry if you judge it to undermine what I'm doing - I myself don't, but that's a subjective determination, I'll admit.

[nfg22]

I'm amazed that you would go back to the last saved game.

Heh I was wondering why he didnt franchise at first...what was it his 3rd or 4th season he starts breaking records? that means 10 more years and his prime is in 3 or 4 more, I would have franchised that guy in the rookie season :D . But seriously there is no way I would have thought about trying to sign him.

[QuikSand]

2013

We received another “90” rating for our team performance, which has to be the upper bound there. But we also got a 90 when we went 15-1 and lost in the playoffs – what kind of rational rating system finds no difference between 16-2 and 19-0? *sigh*

We again have no retirements – so the next year will again be completely in our hands.

We return Offensive Coordinator Kendall England on a new contract – he has been very effective for us, clearly. He is 63, but still very good. A 3 year deal ought to wrap up his career with us.


We are already over the cap as the season starts – so this is going to be a very trying year. We will again franchise QB Mel Copeland (of course) and try to make that work, but doing so simply makes it tough – though a franchise salary of only $6.3 million is a bona fide steal for this superstar player. So, we have to cut $10 million in salary, right off the bat.

We work through salary restructurings first – DT Scott Hannon, RT Leslie Ford, LB Albert Kasica, CB Martin Wallace (out for the year already), CB Aaron Hill, and a few others work out new deals, and we clear a fair degree of space that way. But, that only gets us so far – we still are over the cap, without space to sign our rookies r any free agents. Trouble.

RG Kim Everett is first to go – he was slated to earn $4 million, and wasn’t looking for a cheap renegotiation. We have Donovan McBeal and strongman Gerald Kinney who can compete for the job there. I also decide that since Ron McFerrin has clearly won the starting C job, we can release reserve Lewis Goolsby, and save $1.4 million. We’ll probably go after a young center in the draft, perhaps to take over as soon as next season.

With practically zero cap space, we have to decide how important it is to do re-signings. Heading the list this season is WR Leland Fielder, fresh off a career-best 1,400-yard season and a pro bowl. He’s looking for a fat payoff of something like $7-8 million a year. I’m thinking I can make an offer, but we’ll probably have to pay him $2-3 m this year, at a minimum. SS Orlando Bullock is a playmaker in the secondary, and losing him would be a real blow. He’s seeking $7-8 ma year – and my calculations are about the same for him as for Fielder. LT Tommy Fears would be a nice guy to bring back, but I’ll probably wait until the late FA stages and hope he’s still available. TE Thomas Newnam might be the odd man out – I’d like to return him, but I won’t pay him big money. If he’s available and cheap later on, I’ll look.

I decide to release DE Quinn Goetz – a long-timer for us, but I can’t carry his $1.6m salary and see him get 50 plays a year. This clear sup a little bit or space – we could at least hypothetically offer a FA deal or two now.

To get a better picture of our draft-cap situation, I execute a trade with Jacksonville, moving up from #32 to #12 overall, and flushing four later draft picks. That move clears up more cap space – since I don’t need to reserve room for a bunch of middle-round guys. I seem to be doing far better with my URFA selections, anyway.


I have a solid offer in to S Bullock, but WR Fielder is getting really stubborn. He wants $10 million in bonus, and he’s not listening to any of my “creative” offers. I think he fails to recognize that it’s the guy throwing all those passes who is my real star – not this particular guy catching some of them. I’ll wait him out, but it’s looking fairly likely that he departs for big money elsewhere. I have enough huge contracts – I can’t tie up another with him, at a position where we have pretty good depth already.


In the FA process, TE Thomas Newnam is immediately signed by Baltimore – getting a pretty good pay raise. S Orlando Bullock is listening to our offer, his only one. And WR Leland Fielder is not getting any bites for his moon-and-stars demands. Might work out okay, after all.

Bullock accepts our deal after four weeks – so we are back in business there. Key signing.

I go back to WR Fielder in week 18 – he’ still awaiting an acceptable contract offer from anyone. He wants $9m up front now, and still won’t even consider my deals. But I’m feeling better and better since nobody else is biting either. We might be able to get him through the back door after the draft.


We head into the draft without a truly pressing immediate need. The OL is an obvious target spot – we have cut one starter and one key reserve, and we are probably going to lose our starting LT. So, a quality addition there would be nice – but I’ve been doing fine with fill-in guys and URFA breakouts along the OL thus far. I still also think that adding a quality player on the DL would be wise – we’re running out of quality there, and soon the contract of Tommie Browder might force a really tough cut there. So – maybe OT, DE, or just BPA. Picking at #12, I’m thinking we can get a pretty solid impact player. If not, I’ll probably look to trade down or out, and free up cap space for another run at Leland Fielder.

I see the guy I want with our top pick, and when Ken Curtis is still there at #9, I feel like I need to make a move to get him – but my offers aren’t enough, and I sit tight. He makes it to #11, and I can’t help but move up with San Diego to get him there.


Pick Pos Player Board Dash Sole Strg Agil Vol Draft After PostCamp
1.11 DE Ken Curtis 6.1 4.87 32 31+ 7.07++ 70 38/67 38/65 38/60
2.32 CB Jorge Floyd 4.3 4.43+ 22 12 6.99+ 25 27/50 27/49 28/47
7.11 DT Emmitt Russell 3.7 5.17 28 27 8.05 58 11/45 11/44 13/38
URFA QB Rondell Buckley 2.7 4.78 34 9 7.94 76 10/30 11/30 12/30
URFA QB Harold Jordon 3.5 4.63 24 10 7.22 29 13/43 12/40 15/36
URFA C Mickey Monk 2.8 5.38 35 29 7.86 26 17/32 17/34 19/38
URFA RT Melvin Branson 2.0 5.60 28 19 8.22 35 3/10 3/09 3/08
URFA DT Floyd Sanders 3.1 5.15 34 34 8.43 16 24/35 24/33 25/32



After the draft, in the late FA process, our starting LT Tommy fears has finally gotten an offer – and looks likely to head off to Jacksonville for $5m a year. WR Leland Fielder is still looking for a huge payday – his bonus demand has waned to only $7m, but he’s still beyond my willingness.

I try everything I can think of – but it just seems that the only deal he will accept would do two things – use up all the cap space that we need to sign out draft picks, and get completely unaffordable right after this season. So, it just looks like all-pro receiver Leland Fielder will be our latest cap casualty. We’ll head into training camp with him unsigned, and will presumably watch him play for peanuts elsewhere this season. (He does, in Tampa Bay, for the veteran minimum)


So – we will have quite a new look on offense. Two of Mel Copeland’s top targets from last year are gone (that’s 2,000 yards and 19 TD worth) – so he will have to work with a different supporting cast. We will, frankly, be asking him to do a lot more by himself than ever before. Derrick Barrere will slide over to start in the flanker spot, and we’ll have Frank Dotson and Tito Taylor in the other two receiver slots.

In week two, we take our first loss – to Tampa Bay, of all teams. WR Leland Fielder, bearing something of a grudge, posts 88 yards and two scores as they win 24-14. This sort of thing just didn’t happen the last few years – I’m thinking we are far more vulnerable this season, no surprise.

As we get to 4-1, the surprise offensive star so far has been Sherman Pritchett. Who? Well, he’s a receiver, he’s been playing as our special teams gunner, and has been forced to start at the split end spot by an injury to Frank Dotson, our originally slated starter. But in 5 games, Pritchett has posted a shocking 520 yards receiving, with 5 TDs to lead the team both ways. Who knew?

A big win at home over New England gets us to 7-1 at the halfway point – while we’re not slamming the door shut week after week, but we are still a pretty good team, it seems. We get to 14-1, but suffer the unthinkable – an injury to Mel Copeland. Fortunately, he ought to be okay after a couple of weeks – and we eke out a narrow win in his absence in the regular season finale.


Front Office Football 2004
2013 Summary for Miami Dolphins

Record: 15-1
Winning Pct.: .937

Miami Dolphins Team Rank
Rushes 381 30
Rushing Yards 1711 20
Yards Per Carry 4.49 3
Pass Attempts 601 2
Completions 360 2
Passing Yards 4878 1
Yards Per Attempt 8.11 1
3rd Down Conversions 41.7 14
Points Per Game 26.6 1
Turnovers 20 11 (T)
Turnover Margin +2 13 (T)

Opponents Team Rank
Rushes 406 2
Rushing Yards 1591 6
Yards Per Carry 3.91 15
Pass Attempts 564 30
Completions 323 23
Passing Yards 3898 28
Yards Per Attempt 6.91 21
3rd Down Conversions 39.7 12
Points Per Game 14.8 2
Turnovers 22 17 (T)

Week Team Versus Oppnt
1 28 at NED 21
2 14 at TBY 24
3 38 JAX 0
4 31 at CIN 7
5 26 BUF 10
6 27 at CLE 7
7 17 PIT 10
9 31 NED 21
10 22 BAL 19
11 26 at NYJ 16
12 34 CAR 3
13 27 at KCY 16
14 29 ATL 26
15 23 NYJ 10
16 23 at NOS 21
17 30 at BUF 27

Passing Pos Att Comp Yards Y/Att TD Int
14 Copeland QB 541 328 4340 8.02 31 7
18 Mueller QB 59 31 534 9.05 3 3
**Team --- 601 360 4878 8.11 34 10

Rushing Pos Att Yards Y/Att TD
37 Noccolino RB 171 662 3.87 5
14 Copeland QB 81 536 6.61 5
38 Buckley RB 52 203 3.90 1
36 Wynn RB 38 130 3.42 0
**Team --- 381 1711 4.49 11

Receiving Pos Targ Catch Yards Y/Ctc YAC TD
88 Pritchett WR 181 103 1447 14.0 265 10
89 Barrere WR 129 71 1067 15.0 187 5
85 Taylor WR 103 61 913 14.9 197 3
84 Drake WR 57 35 587 16.7 175 4
83 Giles TE 40 29 326 11.2 160 4
82 Wayne TE 32 24 246 10.2 45 2
39 England FB 26 18 118 6.5 56 5
**Team --- 599 360 4878 13.5 1168 34

Defense Pos Tack Asst Sack Hurr Ints Defn
51 Ireland ILB 103 36 4.5 3 0 7
44 Grant CB 70 20 0.0 0 2 11
76 Malan DT 67 25 11.5 17 0 1
50 Murphy OLB 63 29 5.0 7 1 4
77 Browder DE 61 19 13.5 24 0 2
23 Baskey S 57 22 0.0 1 2 13
92 Tucker OLB 56 22 0.0 0 1 4
42 Flowers S 47 18 0.0 0 2 4
94 Fredrickson DT 42 16 9.5 9 0 0
41 Winslett CB 42 10 0.0 0 4 10
40 Bullock S 38 18 0.0 0 3 4
78 Curtis DE 28 14 6.0 5 0 0
34 Hill CB 24 7 0.0 0 1 6
84 Drake WR 23 0 0.0 0 0 0
**Team --- 842 284 60.0 77 16 68


Interestingly, the offense chugged right along – still the most effective on the game, and Mel Copeland managed an unbelievable season once again. Not quite to his great heights from last year, but another first team all pro effort, I suspect. Sherman Pritchett came into this season with fewer than 400 receiving yards – and now he’ll go to Hawai’i for the pro bowl as a receiver – I definitely didn’t see that coming. But Pritchett and Barrerre both outgained Leland Fielder this year (who admittedly did get hurt). Tito Taylor, getting better and better each season, came just short of giving us a threesome of 1,000-yard receivers.

The defense, however, really dropped off. We have been used to being rated in the top handful against both the run and pass – this year ranking 15 and 21 is a shock. Young DE Ken Curtis looks like he will be pretty good, but maybe using him as he developed was a mistake, and we say Scott Hannon’s role in the middle get eclipsed – and we really suffered against the run this year. Here’s a measure for us – last year Rex Grant had 32 tackles playing in our secondary, this year he had to bring down 70 men. This is a defense that quietly fell apart, even as we went 15-1 on the season and looked very good.

For the playoffs, Mel Copeland gets a 100% clean bill of health – so we have a real shot to win it again, even though I see an awful lot of new weaknesses in this team compared to the last three.


Postseason

Miam1 17, New England 12 – Close call, but we manage to tough it out and withstand their late run. Our offense seemed sluggish, but we kept things in hand and hopefully worked off the rust.

Miami 20, Pittsburgh 17 – A very even game, we manage to get the game-winnign drive and score with 1:55 left, on a 47-yard FG from Bullock. Copeland is sharp, but the offense isn’t completely clicking yet.

Miami 23, Atlanta 10 – Copeland has another solid but not spectacular game – but it’s enough to get him his third Superbowl MVP award in four seasons. Sherman Pritchett tops off a great year with 132 and 2 scores.


Copeland misses out on the Offensive Player of the year award – breaking his string of three. But he has still racked up a staggering 14 awards in four seasons – that’s hard to fathom, in my experience. WR Sherman Pritchett makes the first team all-pro squad, and DE Tommy Browder and DT Courntney Malan both do as well.


Well – another title, but certainly signs of cracks in the old armor. Can this team stay on top?

[Warhammer]

I am playing in a similar manner with my latest career, first 40 years I simmed and drafted, and let the computer do the rest. Then after a disastrous season, I took over the team, and did well for a few years, but then wound up in salary cap hell. You should play a few more seasons and see what you can do with this.

Interestingly enough, over those 40 years the Rams won the FOF Bowl 5 times, and reached the bowl 11 times. However, our winning % is only marginally above KC and NE who have each won 3 bowls.

[QuikSand]

2014

We receive yet another 90 for tam performance. Whatever.

We have one retirement – veteran WR Leonard Drake. It’s a shame – he suffered a nasty injury, but got back last season to post over 500 yards receiving as our #4 WR, and was primed to stick around as a reserve and mentor for us. Losing him hurts, and causes chemistry problems as well.

Mel Copeland will make $7.4 million this year under the one year franchise tender. This is the only path I had to keep him, and he’ll just have to like it one year at a time.


We start this season a whopping $29 million over the salary cap. That has a certain ring to it – it sounds like we have landed into the inner circles of “cap hell.” So, we’ll see where this takes us.

One good working through of the roster gets us down to … $20 million. Still far, far away from any light at the end of the tunnel at all. I make a coupe of tough calls, including capping out DE Tommy Browder, which all but insures that we have to cut him next season. This year is obviously going to be a sort of “last hurrah” for this club. As much as I love CB Rex Grant (and he’s probably our best cover man now, since Bruce Winslett got hurt last year and lost his previously topped-out ratings), he has to go – we need the $4 million he’d earn, and he won’t negotiate down. I also finally give up QB Neal Dugger, who has been with us for a long time, ever since his OROY campaign in 2007. But paying $1 million for a third-stringer doesn’t make sense for us. And LG Emmanuel Barber also has to go – his $3m is just not workable, and he won’t come down off that number at all.

So, after some gut-wrenching effort, we are under the cap. We don’t have any money to offer WR Derrick Barrere a new contract, but we’ll have to make do (and probably go after a receiver in the draft). We also need to work things out with RFA LT Trent Jackson – or else we won’t have anyone to play there, which might pose a slight inconvenience for Mel Copeland.


In the FA period – things are silent for several weeks. In week 8, WR Derrick Barrere gets an offer from GB, and we have to act. I’m in a spot – I can’t afford anything more than the veteran minimum this year, but he won’t sign without a sizable bonus, meaning at least $2-3m in cap hit this year. I decide to make another tough cut – LB Alex Murphy, a former first rounder. Following an injury, he’s not quite all the way back, and I’ll save $1.7m with the cut. This apparently hands the starting SLB job to Bobby Beethoven, a former URFA who will have beaten out two first rounders to take the job. Nice development.

I work out a couple more contract squeezes, and eventually we get things in good enough shape to approach WR Derrick Barrere – and we make an offer. He signs it after two weeks, and we retain at least one of our original star-studded fleet of targets for Mel Copeland. Interestingly, WR Leland Fielder signs a three year deal with San Diego, getting a great deal less than any of the many offers I sent his way last year at this time. Jackass.


In the draft, I’m hoping to bolster up the OL, or perhaps grab yet another good-looking linebacker. Instead, I am appalled by the talent left at pick #32, and decide to trade out of the first round. We deal for Chicago’s top pick next season, and clear out some cap space for this year in the process. Later, in the middle second round, I move up to grab St. Louis’s second rounder, and get my OL upgrade after all.


Pick Pos Player Board Dash Sole Strg Agil Vol Draft After PostCamp
2.15 C Deon Flint 6.1 4.90++ 51+ 32+ 7.87+ 61 19/74 19/77 23/76
4.32 LB Dusty Assesi 3.8 5.09 34+ 24+ 7.19++ 85 22/46 21/44 22/41
6.32 LB Nolan Robertson 3.5 4.81 23 24+ 7.57 97 19/42 17/39 19/37
URFA QB Gabe Glenn 3.4 4.52 30 14 7.66 49 20/40 21/41 24/43
URFA RB Grady Chin 3.0 4.74 21 10 7.28 65 19/34 19/32 20/30
URFA RB Lamar Wright 4.2 4.56 27 25 7.26 61 37/45 37/45 39/47
URFA TE Lawrence Story 3.0 4.94 13 22 7.68 15 13/34 13/36 16/40
URFA WR Kenneth Coles 2.8 4.65 24 14 7.56 26 13/32 12/25 13/25
URFA LT Russ Lofton 3.1 5.37 16 33 7.63 22 17/36 17/39 21/43
URFA DT Larry Bader 2.2 5.12 32 25 8.47 1 14/37 10/23 11/21
URFA CB Zach Morrison 3.2 4.47 14 12 6.91 61 14/37 15/38 18/40



I’m very excited by the prospects of a few of our URFA players – RB Lamar Wright might have potential to really help us – I mull over slotting him at WR (where I think he would play very well) but end up keeping him at RB. Tough call, though – I think he’ll be valuable wherever we end up using him.

QB Gabe Glenn steps right in for Neal Dugger – a fleet-footed roll-out guy who might develop into a backup with much the same style as Mel Copeland. I also like what we see from T Ross Lofton – he might have a high ceiling.


We have two weird situations on the roster – functions of my decision to let the staff set the depth chart. My scouts have placed DT Brett Frederickson ahead of Scott Hannon – and I think that’s a bad switch. Similarly, now that WR Frank Dotson is healthy again, my scouts want to have him start, placing WR Sherman Pritchett into the #4 receiver role – where he started last season. Well, after his monster year last season, I can hardly bench Pritchett. The only way to resolve these problems is to de-activate the troubling player – which hurts our depth badly. So, Dotson will be inactive, as will Frederickson, to get the starters I want in there. I make a similar decision of my own at TE – where last year’s backup Roderick Giles seems to be a better fit for our first team, so we get him in there.


Interestingly, in our final preseason game – with the first team getting their first work together, we post our first 100 yard rushing game that I can remember in a very long time. And it is from…? No, not Noccolino, of course. Not even from rookie Lamar Wright. Nope, it’s Mel Copeland himself, who carries 10 times for 109 yards and 3 TDs. Unbelievable.


After one week, we have a crisis. G Gerald Kinney is hurt, and out for the year. We now have only Mickey Monk available – and slated to start at RG – a disaster, as he is nothing but roster filler. I have little choice but to move T Russ Lofton over there – he will get the start at RG the rest of the way, and should have a chance to really develop (which he ought to do).

We need overtime to beat Indy in week 3, but stay unbeaten with a FG in the extra stanza. In week six, we edge a good Denver team to stay unbeaten, after the 30-27 win in overtime again. In week 8, Pat Noccolino’s 4 TDs make the difference as we beat Kansas City to get to 7-0. We stretch out to 12-0 behind a hot streak from Mel Copeland, who picks up the pace a bit after a good, but not great, first half.

We get to 14-0 – and then face something practically unheard of. A regular season matchup of two teams who have very real threats of running the table. Sure this happens at 4-0 or so… but two 14-0 teams matching up? Has to be a first. What is even weirder, is that in addition to our rivals this week in Green Bay – there’s also another 14-0 team in Seattle. Wow.

Anyway – in Green Bay, they manage to get the win on their last drive, which pushes them ahead 21-17, and hand us our first defeat. But the NFC is setting up for a monstrous clash between the Packers and Seahawks – maybe the win over us has placed the Packers into the lead there. The power ratings now say: Green bay 97, Miami 94, Seattle 82. And in their respective finales, both Seattle and Green bay win to get to 16-0. Wow, we are 15-1, and but for the good fortune of being in the other conference, we could be facing a wild card game as a #3 seed.


Front Office Football 2004
2014 Summary for Miami Dolphins

Record: 15-1
Winning Pct.: .937

Miami Dolphins Team Rank
Rushes 379 28
Rushing Yards 1707 25
Yards Per Carry 4.50 1
Pass Attempts 596 3
Completions 393 1
Passing Yards 4724 1
Yards Per Attempt 7.92 1
3rd Down Conversions 42.8 11
Points Per Game 29.8 1
Turnovers 13 2 (T)
Turnover Margin +9 5 (T)

Opponents Team Rank
Rushes 401 3
Rushing Yards 1453 3
Yards Per Carry 3.62 3
Pass Attempts 559 27 (T)
Completions 305 11 (T)
Passing Yards 3355 11
Yards Per Attempt 6.00 3
3rd Down Conversions 40.8 10
Points Per Game 15.0 3
Turnovers 22 15 (T)

Week Team Versus Oppnt
1 38 at NYJ 10
2 24 CHI 10
3 27 at IND 24
4 22 at BUF 10
5 41 SDO 6
6 30 DEN 27
8 35 at KCY 24
9 13 at OAK 9
10 35 NED 25
11 38 NYJ 21
12 30 at MIN 10
13 30 PIT 0
14 32 DET 10
15 38 BUF 10
16 17 at GBY 21
17 27 at NED 24

Passing Pos Att Comp Yards Y/Att TD Int
14 Copeland QB 593 392 4721 7.96 38 10
**Team --- 596 393 4724 7.92 38 10

Rushing Pos Att Yards Y/Att TD
37 Noccolino RB 177 668 3.77 7
32 Wright RB 83 353 4.25 3
14 Copeland QB 77 502 6.51 2
**Team --- 379 1707 4.50 12

Receiving Pos Targ Catch Yards Y/Ctc YAC TD
88 Pritchett WR 148 90 1131 12.5 98 5
89 Barrere WR 112 74 1009 13.6 112 8
83 Giles TE 110 70 858 12.2 106 11
85 Taylor WR 95 56 740 13.2 128 6
87 Coles WR 47 36 458 12.7 36 2
39 England FB 38 30 253 8.4 127 4
**Team --- 596 393 4724 12.0 683 38

Defense Pos Tack Asst Sack Hurr Ints Defn
40 Bullock S 116 34 0.0 0 5 11
51 Ireland ILB 91 23 6.0 4 1 5
77 Browder DE 64 18 13.5 19 0 1
23 Baskey S 57 25 0.0 1 1 11
97 Beethoven OLB 56 21 7.0 6 1 1
76 Malan DT 53 34 5.0 8 0 0
95 Kasica OLB 44 18 0.0 0 0 4
41 Winslett CB 42 19 0.0 0 2 15
22 Diehl CB 42 14 0.0 0 8 15
34 Hill CB 38 7 0.0 0 0 2
92 Tucker OLB 22 8 1.0 0 0 0
78 Curtis DE 22 9 1.5 6 0 0
98 Hannon DT 21 8 2.0 8 0 0
42 Flowers S 21 3 0.0 0 1 1
49 Veen OLB 18 7 1.5 3 0 3
94 Fredrickson DT 17 4 3.0 5 0 0
**Team --- 812 268 45.0 77 19 70


Our offense was back where we like it – best in the league at both rushing yards per carry and passing yards per attempt. Copeland has yet another stellar MVP-type season, posting even more staggering numbers. It’s a little blasé by now, but five straight seasons of monster stats is really worth something, I think.

Pat Noccolino probably had his best season – but his single-focused nature (he gets no part of the passing game) keeps him off the field a lot, even when we are in some of our standard formations. Rookie RB Wright was a solid #2, and is more versatile – we’ll see where he goes.

Again, we put both Barrere and Pritchett over 1,000 yards – even while TE Roderick Giles emerged as a favorite target for Copeland. Giles is improving, but still doesn’t look like a star to our scouts – playing with Copeland has that effect, though, evidence Pritchett, who is a very pedestrian receiver, by his ratings, but now looks like a titan on the field.

On defense, we fell short of #1/#1, but getting #3/#3 isn’t bad at all. The run defense was improved with Hannan back in at DT most of the way, I think, and we got another outstanding season from Tommie Browder, who has been the model of consistency at an inherently inconsistent position. Our LB corps has dropped from great to decent, but we got nice efforts from them all, emerging playmaker Beethoven included. And at CB, Maurice Diehl won the starting job and was fabulous – 15 passes defensed, eight picks, and two scores. After a shaky season last year, we put together yet another very dominant year on defense, and put ourselves right back into the hunt with that effort.


So, the week off does us well – we’ll prepare for another playoff run, and hopefully a big clash with an NFC titan in the big one.

Postseason

Miami 31, Baltimore 7 – We stuff the Ravens’ running game, and post a solid defensive effort to secure the good opening win. Orlando Bullock follows up a great year with a super game, and a TD off a pick.

Miami 28, San Diego 14 – Copeland finds Tito Taylor for two first half TD passes, and we outpace all-pro Leland Fielder and the Chargers. Great win, and we head on to our fourth Superbowl appearance.

Green Bay 27, Seattle 21 – The Packers remain the only unbeaten with a tight win at home against the Seahawks, who can’t believe they went 16-0 and had a road playoff game. Sets up a titanic rematch game.

The Packers are 1 point favorites against our Dolphins – what a matchup. They are 18-0, we are 17-1 with our only loss coming at their hands at their field. Now, we settle it in fairer climes – lovely Tulsa, Oklahoma.
It’s the first time I actually watch the game sim – this is a huge game.

Green Bay 28, Miami 6 – The final score is a pretty fair reflection, we got creamed. Green bay’s star RB and QB were both unstoppable, and they had control all day with their offense. Tough loss, but no heartbreaker.


Mel Copeland again takes home three awards – MVP, OPOY, and QB1. In a modest surprise, TE Roderick Giles joins him on the all-pro first team. DE Tommie Browder again appears, on the second team, along with S Orlando Bullock. Several great seasons for us among this group.


Weird year – not often we find a CPU-run juggernaut team like that. It would be very intriguing to see if Green Bay can stay together and continue as a major force.

[QuikSand]

2015

Into the 2014 season, we manage to avoid any retirements. We have 43 players signed at the outset, and are $19 million over the cap (before tagging Copeland again, of course). Once again, tough decisions ahead.

My scout has retired – so we will have some shift in our player assessments. My new scout is better with young players – but a little shaky with receivers.

Mel Copeland will cost us $7.6 million. A shade up from last year – but still fine. We have to cut some $24 million or so to be able to sign our rookie class, which includes an extra first round pick at #9.


DE Tommie Browder is by far our top-paid player – his cap number is $25.2 million this year. I can cut $19 million by releasing him – and we may have to do so. His initial renegotiation tactic is to ask for over $16 million, and would bring his tag number this year down to only $13.2 million. I’ll hold off for now – but this might be the last decision for the year.

So, we get to the cutting. C Ron McFerrin goes – he’s a long time starter, but young Deon Flint is ready to start this year, I think. QB Ben Meuller (a very solid backup) has to go, too – that will save us $2m, and we’ll go with a younger Gabe Glenn as our reserve.

There’s clearly only one way out here. I love Tommie Browder a ton, he’s been a remarkably consistent DE – 9 seasons, 144 starts, 93 sacks, 183 hurries, and 54 sacks. That’s an average season of 60 tackles, 10.5 sacks, and 20 hurries. I would love to keep him – but he’s the only way out of this mess.


I have five free agents, none asking for big money, and all worth bringing back. CB Bruce Wisnlett was once a monster, now he’s a capable player – possible starter. RB Pat Noccolino has been my top option – and he’s only asking for around the veteran minimum. We’ll try to give him another shot. LB Aaron Tucker was a disappointment as an early draft pick, but he’s become a pretty decent long-time starter at WLB. LG Donovan McBeal might get some attention – a solid starter. And DE Kim Northern will probably start for us if he re-signs here.

And so – things go off without a hitch. We get no competition for any of our free agents, and we get all five re-signed fairly easily. We had to trim just a little more, and offer DT Courtney Malan a new extension (and big bonus) but we held most of the team together. We’ll be without perennial pro bowler Tommie Browder, but we will likely be looking for a long-term answer at DE with this early draft pick we acquired.


Looking at the draft, I quickly see the guy I really want – DE Luke Stanton. There’s a nearly perfect DT in this draft and a top grade QB, so I figure Stanton will slip to the pick at #3 or 4 or so. My thinking is that if he’s there at #3, I’ll try to move up and get him. If he’s not there, I still have options – but I think I still will have to move up. There are two really good left tackles here – and that might be a nice spot to lock down, too, to better help out Mel Copeland.

When the top two DL go #1-2, I’m out of luck there – it’s just way too costly to move up into those very top spots. The first five picks leave only two guys that interest me left on the board – LT Eddie Wickes, and DT Tim Devaney (whom I would move over to play DE, I reckon). Devaney goes at #6 – meaning that to ensure the guy I want, I have to trade up to #7.

Once again, I find nobody I like at the bottom of the first round, and decide to trade down again. From the second round, I continue to deal (not liking the prospects there much, either) and end up with a third rounder this year and a first next year from Cleveland.


Pick Pos Player Board Dash Sole Strg Agil Vol Draft After PostCamp
1.07 LT Eddie Wickes 7.4 5.15 12 40+ 7.35+ 59 33/84 33/85 37/85
3.14 LB Jerome Maxwell 3.7 4.82 37+ 31++ 7.60 83 22/44 22/47
to SLB 23/50 26/53
6.31 C Duane Mage 3.6 5.46 14 30+ 7.87+ 54 16/42 16/39 17/37
URFA QB Ernest Dunn 3.3 4.64 31 11 7.53 38 9/39 9/37 11/42
URFA FB Michael Price 3.2 4.81 30 18 7.57 32 20/37 20/35
to FL 6/24 6/20
URFA LT Quentin Fuller 2.7 5.25 11 24 7.66 45 8/33 9/40
to RG 9/40 11/46
URFA DE Britt Prior 2.0 5.14 32 18 7.60 90 3/11 4/12 5/13
URFA DE Rick Foster 2.7 4.86 19 20 7.42 76 10/32 11/32 13/33
URFA DT Brandon Crane 3.0 4.96 25 30 8.47 67 24/33 24/32 25/32
URFA DT Julio Quinn 2.8 5.01 14 28 8.14 48 17/32 17/25 18/25
URFA DT Harvey Sullivan 2.9 5.16 27 29 7.80 75 24/31 24/32 27/34
URFA WLB Mack Baniewicz 3.3 4.82 11 18 7.30 65 21/38 22/40
To MLB 22/43 24/44


The draft day maneuvering also frees up cap space – so we might have a little more room to sign someone like P Jeremy Shaw or DT Floyd Sanders than I had initially expected.

I had hoped to slide LB Maxwell over to play DE – but it turns out he’s just short on the weight necessary to make the switch. SO, we move him to the strong size, where he might be able to show off his excellent pass rushing skills. Too bad he can’t play the run to save his life.

I make an unusual position switch with URFA Michael Price – I don’t want a pass-catching FB, but I’m intrigued by him. I slide him to flanker – but it doesn’t look like the switch agrees with him too well.


We receive an interesting trade offer after training camp. Cinti wants TE Roderick Giles – and they are offering a 7th round draft pick. Hmmm… Giles went to the pro bowl last year, and he’s making about $800,000 this year – basically the minimum for his tenure. Gee, do ya think I’m pretty happy with his performance? Or would I want to give him away for some pocket fluff? (Yes, his ratings are only 46/48 – but still, one would think that his on-field performance would merit something.


We start out our first career after the loss of DE Tommie Browder – and I have worries about the defensive front, which has been a foundation for this team’s great success. I have also made a change – I’m keeping WR Frank Dotson active, which will give him the starting split end job, over Sherman Pritchett, who will play as our #4 option. There’s a method to this – but overall I think it’s worth it to have four quality guys available.

We get through a number of injuries, including both of our starting defensive tackles, but continue with a very strong season. But in week 15, we do something we have managed to avoid for the last five seasons – we lose our second game. We slip to 12-2 – still very much in control of the conference, but we won’t have our sixth straight 15+ win season.


Front Office Football 2004
2015 Summary for Miami Dolphins

Record: 14-2
Winning Pct.: .875

Miami Dolphins Team Rank
Rushes 375 29
Rushing Yards 1605 23
Yards Per Carry 4.28 7
Pass Attempts 633 1
Completions 433 1
Passing Yards 4888 1
Yards Per Attempt 7.72 6
3rd Down Conversions 46.0 6
Points Per Game 30.5 1
Turnovers 17 7 (T)
Turnover Margin +15 2

Opponents Team Rank
Rushes 391 4 (T)
Rushing Yards 1382 2
Yards Per Carry 3.53 3
Pass Attempts 557 30
Completions 282 1
Passing Yards 3668 15
Yards Per Attempt 6.58 3 (T)
3rd Down Conversions 37.1 3
Points Per Game 13.5 1 (T)
Turnovers 32 1 (T)

Week Team Versus Oppnt
1 34 BUF 9
2 44 at DAL 9
3 34 SDO 3
4 44 at NED 17
5 20 at JAX 21
6 30 TEN 23
7 31 at BUF 3
8 34 IND 18
10 27 at HOU 17
11 37 at NYJ 7
12 20 PHI 9
13 20 at CIN 17
14 20 at NYG 17
15 24 NED 27
16 34 WAS 9
17 35 NYJ 10

Passing Pos Att Comp Yards Y/Att TD Int
14 Copeland QB 632 432 4881 7.72 45 10
**Team --- 633 433 4888 7.72 45 10

Rushing Pos Att Yards Y/Att TD
37 Noccolino RB 151 487 3.22 3
32 Wright RB 107 388 3.62 2
14 Copeland QB 73 526 7.20 1
**Team --- 375 1605 4.28 7

Receiving Pos Targ Catch Yards Y/Ctc YAC TD
89 Barrere WR 113 81 995 12.2 170 9
85 Taylor WR 114 78 1161 14.8 146 10
83 Giles TE 107 76 709 9.3 220 11
81 Dotson WR 105 70 888 12.6 200 6
88 Pritchett WR 92 54 630 11.6 104 5
39 England FB 37 31 205 6.6 107 4
**Team --- 633 433 4888 11.2 1083 45

Defense Pos Tack Asst Sack Hurr Ints Defn
40 Bullock S 100 30 0.0 2 5 21
51 Ireland ILB 84 36 3.0 7 1 7
97 Beethoven OLB 60 14 7.0 13 1 5
95 Kasica OLB 56 14 0.0 0 4 3
23 Baskey S 49 21 1.0 0 2 9
78 Curtis DE 40 16 8.0 17 0 0
41 Winslett CB 39 12 0.0 0 2 20
57 Northern DE 39 17 10.0 5 0 0
22 Diehl CB 32 12 0.0 1 4 6
42 Flowers S 31 5 0.0 0 1 2
24 Morrison CB 30 4 0.0 1 1 3
76 Malan DT 26 12 3.5 9 0 0
94 Fredrickson DT 21 6 2.5 8 0 0
34 Hill CB 21 7 0.0 0 0 4
98 Hannon DT 20 16 2.5 4 0 0
88 Pritchett WR 18 0 0.0 0 0 0
92 Tucker OLB 17 5 1.0 0 0 2
49 Veen OLB 17 3 1.5 2 0 1
**Team --- 785 243 47.0 81 21 85



A notch down on offense, generally – but still pretty effective both ways. And Copeland put up great numbers again – his season ranks 3rd in passing yards, 2nd in TDs, and 4th in passer rating… all time, of course. So, putting the season into perspective makes this look pretty good. The WR group basically shared the load – and Pritchett got his share, too, even in the fourth slot nearly all season.

Defensively, we were still effective up front, and a ranking of #3 against both the run and pass is excellent. We got a really nice season from Bobby Beethoven – what a find he has been! Great year fro Orlando Bullock, too – perhaps an all-pro season. And Bruce Winslett, a much more pedestrian players compared to his illustrious past, posts a career-best 20 passes defensed. And a very, very nice season from Kim Northern – a nice reserve for a long time, finally getting his shot in the starting role.

So, we head on into the postseason, led by our offense, with both of our anchor defensive lineman missing – DT Courtney Malan is on IR with a terribly leg injury. We’ll see how we play out from here.


Postseason

Miami 34, Pittsburgh 10 – Scores from DT Scott Hannon and S Orlando Bullock make a huge difference, as we keep them in check all day, and avoid making big mistakes on offense.

Miami 38, Cincinnati 21 – Mel is the show this week, with 5 TD passes – what a monster. He spreads the ball around, stays cool under pressure, and we end up winning easily in a statistically close game.

Miami 31, Atlanta 24 – Mel Copeland snags his fourth Superbowl MVP award, in yet another outstanding performance. 26 of 36 for 311 and 3 TDs – lock it up for this guy and we’re in for our fourth title.



For the effort, Mel Copeland once again gathers every single award for which he was potentially eligible – league MVP, Superbowl MVP, Offensive Player of the Year, and first team QB. Unbelievable – he has now won 22 out of 24 hypothetically possible awards from the last six years – that’s just staggering to me.

S Orlando Bullock also makes the first team – his second laurel in as many seasons.


Well – the great run continues for us, behind the sterling arm of Mel Copeland. It’s starting to get ridiculous (actually that happened a few years ago) – as we have now only lost a total of seven games in six seasons, including playoffs. That’s a six-season record of 106-7…

[wade moore]

hmmmmmmm...


-I may trade only within the draft itself – I can move up or move down, but may not acquire picks in future drafts (though I may trade them away)



Once again, I find nobody I like at the bottom of the first round, and decide to trade down again. From the second round, I continue to deal (not liking the prospects there much, either) and end up with a third rounder this year and a first next year from Cleveland.


I'm not sure that this is the first time this has happened, but I noticed it because I was trying to use your rules in a dynasty today... just found it interesting...

[nfg22]

He did it earlier but I didnt say anything because I love this dynasty and it didnt seem to affect the flow of the game....also I dont see what that rule does to keep him from.

[wade moore]

I love the dynasty too and I'm not trying to "call Quik out" or anythign... I'm thinking he doesn't even realize it...

It is one more little restraint that keeps him from being quite as dominant as he is now..

[QuikSand]

No, you're right - I originally ruled out any acquisitions of future draft picks -- a bluntly-designed rule to fend off the all-too-easy "swap firsts next year" with some team that will be terrible while you'll be very good. (The AI doesn't recognize these for what they are)

I have essentially bent the rule to be more like "no unreasonable trades for picks next year" -- meaning that the two times I have traded for future firsts, I have given fair value for them, as least as nearly as I can tell, and have never included my own future firsts in the deal (that's what gets overrated by the trade AI, in my judgment).

So, yes - I'm violating the original letter of the law, but not really the spirit.


However, while I'm enjoying this career a bit, I don't think I'd ever play by these rules again -- all this contract renegotiating and backloading is suc a HUGE advantage, it makes a monstrous load of difference in how the game is played. Sure, it's been nice to keep most of my players for a long time, but this degree of success just isn't really very much fun for me.


...though this career has gotten me thinking about launching a qiock "misfit toys" career in FOF 2004. I know someone (Jon in MG?) did this, but I didn't follow it. I think with the degree of success I'm having with URFA breakouts, I could put together a pretty good team in the long run without any draft picks at all -- as long as I got lucky at QB. Might be interesting, at some point.

[wade moore]

Logical explanation Quik. I definately get the spirit of the rule. Without knowing how the other teams did, I could not tell what the expectation of the pick was.

What if you had some rules about backloading contracts? Would you consider that? It seems it is giving you quite the advantage. Or perhaps no negotiating mid-contract so you would be forced to make more tough salary decisions?

I have thought about a misfit toys career. That was possibly my favorite dynasty that anyone has done yet.

[QuikSand]

The thing with the "misfit toys" concept is that while it's fairly challenging to do - it doesn't really require very much tough decision-making. You don't ever have to say "gee, do I want to pick up a defensive end, or do I need a receiver more this year?" With IMT, you basically take what you can get - and you play the hand you're dealt. Your ability to slot guys effectively (and to recognize players with potential) is key, but a lot of your success is out of youur hands -- making it a little tedious in the long run.

I might get there... I'm convinced that with the latest game engine (and my evolving understanding of rookie players) I'd do better than ever before.

[QuikSand]

2016

Well we lock up our coordinators again – my offensive coordonator is all but topped out at this point, he’s a great asset.

Surprisingly enough – we might be pas the worst of our cap woes. We have $8.6 million in dead cap space from prior year cuts, but even after locking up Ben Copeland again on a franchise tender, we have $5.9 million in cap space. It’s not the lap of luxury, of course, but it’s better than being $20 million in the hole. We have several players to try to lock up – but I don’t expect to have to do another layer of strip mining of my roster to get there, at least.

I’ve got four free agents I really want to bring back – MLB Ray Ireland, WR Sherman Pritchett, TE Roderick Giles, and CB Maurice Diehl. We also have several restricted free agents who should stay – but the budget is going to get strained a bit. I renegotiate a few contracts, and make one cut – RB Bernie Buckley has dropped to fourth on our RB depth chart, and I can’t afford to pay him $900K – so he goes.

During the first FA period, CB Maurice Diehl and TE Roderick Giles both re-sign, fairly cheaply, I expect to work things out with WR Pritchett too, but MLB Ray Ireland is looking for $3m+ and that’s pretty tough for me to find in my budget. Ireland isn’t spectacular, but he is solid and has been our man in the middle for a long, long time.


In the draft, I’ll be looking for a replacement at MLB, perhaps – if we can’t land Ireland, we may need someone immediately. But more likely, we’ll have a #2 ready to go in a season or two when Ireland is done. De, as always, is a need area also. And I’d like to add one more fairly reliable receiver. We’ll see what we can do.

The guy I like is probably going to go ahead of #16 – so we swing a deal with Denver, trading my #1, #1, and #2 picks for their top two from the 9th position. That gives us the MLB we want, and a better second rounder – plus (once again) a little cap relief.


Pick Pos Player Board Dash Sole Strg Agil Vol Draft After PostCamp
1.09 MLB Cole Westbrook 7.1 4.74+ 39+ 39++ 7.38 52 52/75 52/74 51/73
2.09 CB Mickey Sims 4.8 4.40+ 32+ 24++ 6.94+ 97 22/59 24/64 28/68
3.32 FB Sammy Briseno 7.0 4.61 29 24 7.49 28 51/73 51/72 54/70
4.32 WR Teddy Rainwater 3.2 4.63 27 23++ 7.33 34 16/37 14/32 15/26
5.32 K Adam Tolliver 7.1 4.96++ 30 14+ 7.58 25 46/76 45/75 48/75
7.32 DT Donnell Mayberry 2.7 4.99 17 19 8.34 54 19/30 18/29
to DE 19/34 20/33
URFA QB Roman Rose 2.1 4.99 28 11 7.94 6 10/25 10/29 13/32
URFA QB Pat Cash 3.0 4.56 30 11 7.95 8 12/35 12/28 14/28
URFA FL Brant Barker 3.0 4.53 21 12 7.14 64 21/34 22/36 24/38
URFA DE Alfred Castine 2.7 4.87 17 27 7.84 88 18/31 18/33 20/35


I’m pretty optimistic about the group here – Westbrook looks like a serious addition in the middle of the defense, and should compete for the starting job right away. Mickey Sims might break out, and could end up being better than the solid role player he seems already. I like WR Rainwater – his great strength might portend a step forward yet to come.

After the draft, we pursue a few of our free agents, and wrap up WR Sherman Pritchett to a new long term deal (made cheaper by the fact that he didn’t post all-star stats last season). We also re-sign Cazares, who will probably be our #3 option at DE for this year.

After 11 seasons with us, MLB Ray Ireland has proven tough to re-sign. He demands nothing less than $3m a year – which I cannot afford, especially since I have just picked up his future replacement, who looks pretty well ready to go right now. So, paying good money for a veteran backup (admittedly with mentor ability) is tough – but I would really like to keep him.

I do work out a new three year deal with Gabe Glenn – who will serve as the “Mr. Oh Shit” if Ben Copeland goes down for some reason. Ben Meuller, the last understudy from our squad, has become a top-rated starter in Pittsburgh since we let him go. Perhaps Glenn can work out similarly, and eventually blossom. But for now – he’s just an insurance policy.

After it’s all said and done, we cannot wowrk it out with LB Ray Ireland, and we’ll have to let him go. He simply wouldn’t listen to less than $2m in signing bonus over two years – and I’m seeing him now as a reserve player – just not worth that kind of money. Of course, nobody else put up that sort of cash for him, either.


After training camp – nice looking results from CB Mickey Sims, our second pick, who looks like he might get really, really good, and has vastly more man coverage potential than I had originally guessed – excellent news.

WR Teddy Rainwater has been beaten out easily by URFA Bryan Barker, who will make the team in his place. We prune to 53, and are ready for the season – yet another title defense.


We get our third win only on a last second FG from Adam Tolliver, but keep the record perfect with the narrow escape against Houston. After getting to 5-0, Mel Copeland still has yet to get picked off, and we are clicking very nicely. Our seventh win is against Pittsburgh, who were also 6-0 before the game, behind Ben Meuller who has really lifted them a lot. We get past Baltimore 10-9 in a tight game, to get to 9-0 on the season, despite a pretty dismal effort from our offense. And a 21-10 win at the Jets all but locks up the division – they were 7-2 and something of a threat to us. In week 12, we get a rarity – a 100-yard rushing game, from backup Max Wynn, who breaks a 52-yard TD run late to get the numbers. But it’s RB Lamar Wright who has wrested the starting role away from Pat Noccolino, and it looks like Wright might be more of an all-purpose back than Noccolino, so we’ll see where this goes. We finish out another unbeaten regular season, and will head into the playoffs with quite a head of steam.


Front Office Football 2004
2016 Summary for Miami Dolphins

Record: 16-0
Winning Pct.: 1.000

Miami Dolphins Team Rank
Rushes 422 22
Rushing Yards 2085 8
Yards Per Carry 4.94 1
Pass Attempts 586 3
Completions 364 2
Passing Yards 4637 1
Yards Per Attempt 7.91 2
3rd Down Conversions 48.8 2 (T)
Points Per Game 30.9 1
Turnovers 20 5 (T)
Turnover Margin +4 10 (T)

Opponents Team Rank
Rushes 378 1
Rushing Yards 1340 1
Yards Per Carry 3.54 2
Pass Attempts 546 28 (T)
Completions 273 1
Passing Yards 3340 4
Yards Per Attempt 6.11 1
3rd Down Conversions 33.6 1
Points Per Game 14.0 2
Turnovers 24 11 (T)

Week Team Versus Oppnt
1 37 at NED 14
2 24 SFO 14
3 41 at HOU 38
4 42 at CIN 13
5 20 BUF 13
6 26 at CLE 17
7 41 PIT 17
9 27 NED 3
10 10 BAL 9
11 21 at NYJ 20
12 38 at ARI 15
13 37 SDO 0
14 38 STL 28
15 31 NYJ 6
16 38 at SEA 6
17 24 at BUF 12

Passing Pos Att Comp Yards Y/Att TD Int
14 Copeland QB 583 363 4626 7.93 31 8
**Team --- 586 364 4637 7.91 31 8

Rushing Pos Att Yards Y/Att TD
32 Wright RB 168 660 3.92 13
37 Noccolino RB 116 586 5.05 6
14 Copeland QB 69 493 7.14 4
44 Briseno FB 36 142 3.94 0
**Team --- 422 2085 4.94 26

Receiving Pos Targ Catch Yards Y/Ctc YAC TD
89 Barrere WR 110 66 949 14.3 164 4
81 Dotson WR 93 58 967 16.6 228 7
83 Giles TE 79 51 528 10.3 109 7
85 Taylor WR 80 48 686 14.2 52 4
32 Wright RB 58 41 353 8.6 118 1
88 Pritchett WR 59 30 462 15.4 103 2
82 Barker WR 42 22 364 16.5 51 3
44 Briseno FB 26 18 98 5.4 52 1
**Team --- 586 364 4637 12.7 976 31

Defense Pos Tack Asst Sack Hurr Ints Defn
55 Westbrook ILB 71 25 2.5 2 1 10
97 Beethoven OLB 66 15 6.0 14 1 1
95 Kasica OLB 58 18 1.0 0 2 8
78 Curtis DE 58 16 13.0 13 0 0
40 Bullock S 54 23 0.0 0 0 10
25 Sims CB 42 12 0.0 0 1 6
57 Northern DE 41 13 5.5 14 0 0
22 Diehl CB 41 11 0.0 0 7 11
23 Baskey S 39 18 0.0 0 4 6
41 Winslett CB 32 12 0.0 0 2 17
31 Griffith S 29 12 0.0 2 1 3
49 Veen OLB 25 6 3.5 5 1 2
94 Fredrickson DT 24 9 5.5 14 0 0
42 Flowers S 21 14 0.0 0 0 1
24 Morrison CB 20 5 0.0 0 0 5
76 Malan DT 17 5 3.5 6 0 1
**Team --- 780 247 52.0 86 20 84


And the beat goes on. Mel Copeland posts another standout season, comfortably leading the league again in yards, touchdowns, and passer rating. Nothing new there. Doing it without a single 1,000-yard receiver at all is new, but not shocking. Ranking #1 in rushing yards per carry is great, and along with #2 in passing yards per attempt has to make us the most feared offense in the league – again.

Defensively, I’m really surprised. We lost our starting two defensive tackles down the stretch, were playing with a rookie at MLB, and still managed to be #1 against the run in total yards, and second in yards per carry. #1 in passing yards per attempt, too – I guess that makes us the most feared defense in the league – again. Great season from DE Ken Curtis, who stepped into the leadership vacuum quite nicely. Also – kudos to Cole Westbrook who looks very nicely placed in at MLB for us, for now and for a long time ahead.


Postseason

Miami 36, Pittsburgh 17 – Copeland outduels former understudy Ben Mueller and drives us into the conference championship – we sacked Mueller five times and picked him off three times to reinforce the message.

Miami 13, Baltimore 3 – Tough, tight game from the Ravens – we resort to the ground game more, and get 102 yards from versatile starter Lamar Wright.

Miami 42, Atlanta 14 – We really don’t have control until the late third quarter (after trailing 7-3 at the half), but then pull away when the Falcons implode and we snag two defensive touchdowns. Mel Copeland, again, is game MVP – his fifth.



In the final awards setup, Mel Copeland yet again lands his foursome of awards. DE Ken Curtis gets a second team nod, but he’s the only other player from this 19-0 squad that makes it to the pro bowl. Fascinating.

Well, it could be the worst is behind us – and that the toughest things we have ahead will be the eventual declines and losses of our key players due to age. We seem to have survived the major salary crush over the last couple of seasons – now we’re a very high cohesion team with mostly veteran players… but not a lot of depth. We’re getting by with the usual – but we’ll see how it holds together.

[QuikSand]

Just in case anyone was losing track – here’s the performance record of our Dolphins:


Front Office Football 2004
GM Performance for QuikSand of the Miami Dolphins

Year Team Eval Perf Diff Proft FrVal Record Playoffs
2016 MIA 61 90 65 38 85 19-0-0 Bowl Winner
2015 MIA 72 90 64 63 78 17-2-0 Bowl Winner
2014 MIA 51 83 66 26 67 17-2-0 Conference Champion
2013 MIA 64 90 69 48 70 18-1-0 Bowl Winner
2012 MIA 64 90 73 51 58 19-0-0 Bowl Winner
2011 MIA 58 90 76 38 55 16-2-0 Conference Final
2010 MIA 65 90 78 53 51 19-0-0 Bowl Winner
2009 MIA 53 60 81 51 33 11-8-0 Conference Final
2008 MIA 47 10 79 71 26 5-11-0 None
2007 MIA 37 5 78 55 24 3-12-1 None
2006 MIA 46 5 77 72 25 4-12-0 None
2005 MIA 49 0 74 82 25 4-12-0 None
2004 MIA 45 2 74 72 27 2-14-0 None
2003 MIA 51 5 73 77 42 4-12-0 None

[JonInMiddleGA]

The thing with the "misfit toys" concept is that while it's fairly challenging to do - it doesn't really require very much tough decision-making. ... I might get there... I'm convinced that with the latest game engine (and my evolving understanding of rookie players) I'd do better than ever before.

FWIW, I've probably made more tough decisions in my Misfit Toys dynasty than any campaign/career I've played with any incarnation of FOF. But they're definitely different sort of "tough decisions" than the ones you've faced in Magic Beans.

For me, it's been excruciating at times, mostly because of the massive amount of URFA's that get brought in for a look in training camp/exhibitions. On the occasions you see those breakouts/likely breakouts, they seem to show up in the wrong positions while other spots are devoid of any real talent. And that makes for some interesting calls.

Also FWIW, I'm convinced that you'd do better with it than ever before & do better, quicker, than I've done with it -- your study & understanding of the vagaries of FOF are on a whole different level from mine.

In case you're curious though, you can find everything I've posted so far at
http://www.middlegaonline.com/games/misfit/misfitindex.html

I've got 3-4 more seasons that need to be converted from .txt to .html & uploaded, but there's 26 seasons to get you started :)

[Buccaneer]

However, while I'm enjoying this career a bit, I
I am surprised by this because with the incredibly easy success you are having against the AI, I thought you would have stopped enjoying this 3-4 seasons ago.

[nfg22]

The thing is the success isnt because of superstars yet because you have alot of guys that get the job done and dont mess up too much which makes for a solid team....on offense obviosly copeland does it but on D I think u just have a solid team with no superstars...

[QuikSand]

Bucc, I guess part of the reason I'm enjoying the game is because it is really different from anything I usually play. I never have dynasties like this -- I usually play with rules that keep me from getting anywhere near this dominant. So, it's been sort of a change of pace.

Actually, I though that with the inherent imprecision in the draft, I'd be hamstrung with roster gaps forever -- if the only way to get a quality player at, say, LG was to draft him (or pick him up as an undrafted rookie), then I figured a few misses at any position would leave me starting complete bums for years on end. I think my biggest judgment error there was underestimating the quality I'd be able to regularly harvest out of the post-draft player pools, where I'm seemingly getting a couple of breakout players every season.

[wade moore]

There are some elements that could be added pretty easily... for instance, you could make it so that you have to make every effort to re-sign your first round draft picks every year... or make it so that you cannot cut your draft picks and they have to ride their contracts out.. idano.. something like that..

[QuikSand]

I realize that there are any number of things I coudl do to make this harder, and if I felt like it, i'd probably be exploring the sort of thing you describe, wade. As it is, I'll probably just ride this out a couple more seasons, maybe see where everything settles while we still have a fair number of the current crop of star players, and then let it die. Who knows? Mel Copeland might have ten titles in him by the time it's all said and done. I've never had a player put up such superlative stats... but he's a monster, no doubt about it.

[QuikSand]

I will say that given the ability to pick up pretty decent players after the draft - that probably is one area I'll address via house rules in the future. Maybe I should only be able to sign them to one year deals... or maybe there ought to be a limit on how many I can sign in a given season.

Either way - under my current rules, I'm doiing better with URFAs than with late-round draft picks -- so why not trade out of rounds 4-7 of every draft, use that leverage to get the top picks I really want, and then just fill in with URFAs rather than late rounders?

[dixieflatline]

Either way - under my current rules, I'm doing better with URFAs than with late-round draft picks -- so why not trade out of rounds 4-7 of every draft, use that leverage to get the top picks I really want, and then just fill in with URFAs rather than late rounders?

It's funny that you say that because I have heard comments to this effect from several unnamed scouts in the last few drafts. Several teams have actually chosen not to sign late round picks and apply that cap space elsewhere. Looking at the numbers as of 2001:


round drafted # of players % of total
1 260 15%
2 232 13%
3 201 11%
4 189 11%
5 140 8%
6 129 7%
7 128 7%
FA 466 26%

You look at that and you wonder how much those low round picks are really worth. You are deep into the bell curve of player talent at that point. It would be interesting to see a distribution like this for FOF and see how well this is being simulated. Also then see how much value the computer is placing on those low round picks.

[QuikSand]

dixieflatline - are you still talking about FOF? I assume so, but it's not clear from your thread what league you're describing. Is this a multi-player FOF league? Or are those numbers from the NFL?

[QuikSand]

2017

Defending two-time champions, five of the last seven – are we going to start seeing some of our players hang up the cleats, just to wrap things up on a high note? Not this year – we don’t lose anyone at all.

We lock up Head Coach Harry Prior to a new deal, which will probably end his career. He’s likely to end up with one of the best coaching records I have ever seen – right now he stands at 171-73-3, which is pretty solid. He came to us when we were still building, and ended up suffering for two years before we got good. But since then, we have been sterling, of course.


So, we actually have some cap space this year – a new thing. Even after tagging Copeland again, we still have $10 million in cap space – wow. We do have several free agents to try to get back – but overall, this is the softest offseason we have faced in a very long time.

And so, we take a stroll through the roster. DT Courntey Malan seems to be breaking down – after being a model of consistency for years, he played in 10 games in 2015, and only 7 last year. I renegotiate him down for a new deal – hoping we can get something out of him, at least. (This worked great for S Orland Bullock, who completely rebounded from injury to play very well since)

We start the FA process with bids in for WR Tito Taylor, RB Max Wynn, and DTs Scott Hannon and Brent Fredrickson. Hannon is basically out of gas, but provides veteran leadership – and we’ve always been better with him than with Fredrickson, who has been a good super-sub at DT. LB Albert Kasica is the toughest of our group – he might be difficult to re-sign, as he is asking for $4m a year, too much for a decent starter at the weak side spot. LB Bobby Beethoven is seeking a similar deal – and I expect to re-sign him, only we’ll try to time it well, to get good value.

After the first week, Kasica has gotten an offer – so I put one in, too. But in week two, it’s Beethoven who gets an offer – and we are in jeopardy of being split over these two. It takes until week 9, but we get both guys locked up – both get pretty good bonuses, but we should be solid at LB for the future now, with these two flanking our new rising star at MLB, Cole Westbrook.

So, we have most of our FA mission accomplished, as we head into the draft. We’d like to add a quality DL, but picking at the bottom of round one will limit our options. I will again feel free to move up a bit if it secures a top pick we’d be happy with, especially at DL.

There are 6 defensive ends in this draft who I judge to be worth a top pick – that’s pretty deep. I count three defensive tackles – that’s nine guys. If they are almost all gone, I will trade up, but otherwise we just plan to take whoever remains.

Well, six of the first ten picks are at DL – so we are suddenly looking at just the last three guys. Byu pick #17, I feel I cannot wait any longer – we have to get one of these guys, or else we’ll be sitting at the end of the round with nobody we like at all.


Pick Pos Player Board Dash Sole Strg Agil Vol Draft After PostCamp
1.17 DT Emmitt Summers 6.3 4.86+ 21 36+ 7.47 1 48/66 48/68
to DE 43/66 45/66
2.32 DT Sammy Halpin 4.5 5.18 31 29 7.37+ 62 20/55 20/54 22/52
6.32 RB Lonnie Connell 3.4 4.77 18 10 7.26 89 24/39 24/36
to SE 13/42 15/39
URFA WR Chad Horner 3.0 4.48 25 11 7.11 67 18/36 19/37 21/40
URFA C Tommie Edwards 2.8 5.15 19 25 7.78 87 7/34 7/37 9/40
URFA RG Mack Willis 3.0 5.06 17 30 7.80 24 13/36 13/36 15/39
URFA LG Jack Spar 2.0 5.48 39 26 7.70 34 17/17 16/18 19/20
URFA DE Jack Newsome 2.0 5.01 21 22 8.16 37 6/18 6/15 6/14
URFA CB Courtney Tobias 3.0 4.52 32 12 7.02 56 19/35 19/35 21/35
URFA CB Derek Harper 3.0 4.45 23 12 6.89 64 11/35 12/38 15/44


Summers slides to defensive end, where I see him as a starter probably next year (anticipating Kim Northern’s departure). Sammy Halpin might turn into a run stopper in the middle, and was too promising there (unlimited run defense, I think) to pass up. Connell is a gifted receiver, and will have to make the team as a wideout.

Among the URFAs – I love WR Chad Horner and CB Courtney Tobias, and think both might be long term contributors. We’ll see what we have with the rest of the lot.


After training camp, we see that Summers will probably turn out okay, but our other two draftees will probably fall short of hopes. WR Chad Horner will stick, and G Mack Willis looks pretty good, too. I was apparently wrong about CB Tobias – but the quicker Derek Harper has some promise.

I’m carrying 60 players into the preseason – it’s been a while since we have been that deep at this point. We pare down, with a few players hitting the IR, and get to our target of 53 players for the regular season. We’ll try to keep up a good winning streak now.

On the roster, a few notes. RB Lamar Wright now has a firm grip on the starting job, and looks to take much more of a “full time” role there – maybe not 1,000 yards, but I expect him to see more total time than Noccolino did. At WR, Sherman Pritchett has won back his starting job at split end ahead of Frank Dotson, who will still see time, but as our #4 option. Meanwhile, Tito Taylor has taken the top flanker spot from Derrick Barrere, who will line up in the slot now. At LDE, it looks like Kim Northern will star, but will yield to rookie Emmitt Summers for passing situations. The time split should serve both well, and might cool Northern’s contract demands for next year. Also, in a big surprise, LB Bobby Beethoven has yielded the starting SLB job to Burt Veen – I don’t know what to make of this yet, Veen has been slow to develop but has finally gotten there.


Our winning streak ends in week two, as Tampa comes from behind to snag us 17-13. And they knock Mel Copeland out for a few weeks – which will cause us some real angst. We split two games with Gabe Glenn at the helm, then welcome back Mel Copeland with open arms – with an alarming 2-2 record. Copeland rights the ship leading us to two easy wins, and we are feeling our rhythm again. We get to the halfway point at 6-2, not quite clicking on all cylinders really, but looking pretty good. Buffalo, though, is 7-1 and a bid threat.

We run off a a few more wins, but stumble in Baltimore, losing 7-3. Two weeks later, at Buffalo, we lose our last shot at getting the division title, as Buffalo beats us 31-28. It’s tough to be upset with a 12-4 season, but after the run we’ve had, it feels like we have dropped back to the pack, which is disappointing.


Front Office Football 2004
2017 Summary for Miami Dolphins

Record: 12-4
Winning Pct.: .750

Miami Dolphins Team Rank
Rushes 401 26 (T)
Rushing Yards 1863 16
Yards Per Carry 4.64 2
Pass Attempts 548 5
Completions 345 2
Passing Yards 3982 2
Yards Per Attempt 7.26 11
3rd Down Conversions 36.4 26
Points Per Game 26.0 2
Turnovers 10 1
Turnover Margin +8 5 (T)

Opponents Team Rank
Rushes 429 9
Rushing Yards 1403 1
Yards Per Carry 3.27 2
Pass Attempts 564 32
Completions 309 18 (T)
Passing Yards 3563 20
Yards Per Attempt 6.31 4
3rd Down Conversions 37.7 5
Points Per Game 12.8 1
Turnovers 18 25 (T)

Week Team Versus Oppnt
1 40 at NYJ 20
2 13 at TBY 17
3 27 HOU 10
4 23 BUF 30
5 34 at SDO 3
6 30 DEN 6
8 37 KCY 10
9 38 at OAK 13
10 21 at NED 3
11 17 NYJ 14
12 34 CAR 0
13 3 at BAL 7
14 28 ATL 21
15 28 at BUF 31
16 27 at NOS 6
17 17 NED 14
$$WC at PIT

Passing Pos Att Comp Yards Y/Att TD Int
14 Copeland QB 459 291 3332 7.25 25 2
16 Glenn QB 89 54 650 7.30 3 3
**Team --- 548 345 3982 7.26 28 5

Rushing Pos Att Yards Y/Att TD
32 Wright RB 168 681 4.05 7
37 Noccolino RB 117 524 4.47 4
14 Copeland QB 64 429 6.70 2
44 Briseno FB 32 148 4.62 1
**Team --- 401 1863 4.64 14

Receiving Pos Targ Catch Yards Y/Ctc YAC TD
89 Barrere WR 94 55 759 13.8 79 6
88 Pritchett WR 92 52 731 14.0 99 3
83 Giles TE 71 48 482 10.0 81 4
32 Wright RB 58 47 413 8.7 131 3
82 Barker WR 74 47 637 13.5 44 6
44 Briseno FB 36 28 212 7.5 65 2
85 Taylor WR 43 24 296 12.3 53 2
81 Dotson WR 37 17 206 12.1 32 0
**Team --- 548 345 3982 11.5 637 28

Defense Pos Tack Asst Sack Hurr Ints Defn
40 Bullock S 110 31 0.0 0 6 17
55 Westbrook ILB 87 23 2.0 8 1 10
49 Veen OLB 73 22 8.0 3 1 6
95 Kasica OLB 65 28 0.0 0 0 6
25 Sims CB 59 14 0.0 2 1 22
78 Curtis DE 51 22 8.5 8 0 0
31 Griffith S 49 21 0.0 0 2 7
94 Fredrickson DT 47 21 3.5 11 0 0
76 Malan DT 44 20 5.0 16 0 0
97 Beethoven OLB 44 9 2.0 2 0 3
24 Morrison CB 22 9 1.0 0 0 2
22 Diehl CB 18 4 1.0 0 1 1
96 Summers DE 18 3 8.5 17 0 2
57 Northern DE 17 6 1.5 6 0 0
**Team --- 833 266 44.0 79 13 84


Copeland’s injury started it, but even after he was all better, we were never the top-tier offense we strive for. Sure, we end up with impressive stats - #2 in yards per carry and #11 in yards per attempt, but our passing stats are usually a level better than this. We’re slipping. Lamar Wright’s big plans got derailed by a midseason injury, and he ended up with fewer than 200 carries, as usual.

We welcome back Courtney Malan to our regular lineup – he managed 14 starts this year, a nice rebound from his two tough injury-marred years before. Westbrook is growing right into the MLB role, and it’s tough to argue with Burt Veen’s effort at the sam spot this year. And young Barry Sims is taking over the top job at CB for us – as we rotated Diehl and a fading Bruce Winslett across from him. Orlando Bullock put up another all-star season, I think.


Wild card? What is this shit?

Postseason

Miami 28, Pittsburgh 13 – The Copeland/Mueller plotline is fun, but this is a team effort, as we take advantage of our opportunitites to get the win. Sherman Pritchett snags two TD catches in the effort.

…for the next game, we are 12-4 playing at 14-2 Buffalo – and it’s a pick ‘em game…

Buffalo 28, Miami 10 – The Bills complete the three-game sweep of us this season, and go on to the conference championship. Ben Copeland got knocked out early (after only one pass) and they dominated us from that point on. Tough way to lose – but that was the story of the season. As good as we are, without Mel Copeland we are a very beatable team right now.

Buffalo goes on to win the Superbowl over Washington, 31-27. Good season for them, obviously, led by a journeyman QB they picked up off the FA scrap heap for a one year minimum salary deal. Fascinnating.


Mel Copeland’s streak of multi-award seasons is also over now. He still manages to grab first team QB, but that’s all he gets this time. Our punter Jeremy Shaw and kicker Adam Tolliver are both named to the all-pro first team. S Orlando Bullock is left off the list this year, despite some great stats.

Tough to see whether this is the beginning of the end, of just a hiccup year. Is Copeland going to be plagued by injuries now? Or can we get things back together for another mighty run at a title?

[wade moore]

NOW it gets interesting... Gota wonder how much of this revolved around Copeland...

[Alf]

0-3 vs Buffalo and Buffalo winning a SuperBowl. WoW, that's unrealistic. It seems your team relies more on QB Copeland that what you write in your end of season report. We'll see that next year.

[QuikSand]

2018

We have two retirements from the team – probably the start of a flood over the next few seasons. Safety Barry Flowers was never a star for us, but was a solid fill-in for his full 14 year career. WR Darrick Barrere is our career leader in all receiving categories, having started 99 of his 207 games and posting 9,516 yards receiving for our pass-heavy offense. Candidly, Barrere probably gained this longetivity in part by being not quite good enough to demand a budget-busting contract like his contemporary Leland Fielder, who also retired this season from San Diego with 10,118 total receiving yards.

Our staff is intact, so we move right to the FA process. We have $2 million in usable cap space after tagging Copeland again, so this will be tight, but not impossible. A round of renegotiations get us up to $8.6 million in usable cap space, and then we release G Donovan McBeal, whose $4.5 million salary is a great relief as well. That relief is needed – as we have a strong set of free agents.

Atop the list of free agents are S Orlando Bullock and DE Ken Cutris. I have an offer in to Bullock, and expect to wrap him up – but Curtis is going to be tougher. RT Trent Jackson has been a little shaky against the pass rush, but without him we take a real drop to our next option, journeyman backup Ike Hickman.


After the first week, I’m surprised to see T Trent Jackson immediately sign with Denver – so we will lose him. S Orlando Bullock quickly has accepted our offer, so we lock him up. And DE Ken Curtis is listening to my offer, and also has a sheet in from Denver. Curtis accepts our offer, though, so we land two of the “big three” who were up for grabs, which is okay.

WR Frank Dotson has declined a bit, and is really just another guy out there for us now. I decide to put in a new contract offer, it’s cheap and he does still have some big play ability. But we are now really without a premiere target for Copeland at any position.

Our last target is C Deon Flint. He’s looking for $5m a year – big bucks. He’s good, and I’d like very much to keep him, but it’s tough. Fortunately, he doesn’t get an offer during the first 20 weeks, so we will hope he might drop down in the post-draft period.


In the draft, we sit at #28 with our full complement of original picks. The OL is a need area – we need one more playable tackle, and remain weak inside at guard. If we cannot re-sign C Flint, it gets all the more pressing. I think that WR is another place to look, and perhaps at safety. We may be in a “BPA” situation, though… but offensive line is going to be my first look.

I am shocked to see a true standout RB still on the board after 8 picks are taken. I wasn’t looking for a RB, but Bruce Pietrzyk is a sure thing, seems to me. He has blazing speed, and is completely ready to go. So, I explore a trade with Atlanta, seeking to move up to #9 to grab this standout player. The deal is our #1, #3, #4 and #6 to get Atlanta’s #1 – but we move up and grab, by my reckoning, the very best player on the entire board. We are a passing team – but Pietrzyk might mark a change in that attitude… he could be enough to change our whole perspective.


Pick Pos Player Board Dash Sole Strg Agil Vol Draft After PostCamp
1.09 RB Bruce Pietrzyk 8.8 4.31++ 34+ 25 6.96++ 30 81/81 78/81 79/82
4.02 TE Ellis Nagi 4.7 4.87 32 17 7.42+ 48 19/57 19/54 22/51
5.28 DE Marshall Polasek 3.7 4.95 21 27 7.58 51 17/45 17/43 18/30
URFA RB Bo Brewster 4.0 4.56 17 18 7.13 34 30/45 31/45 34/47
URFA RB Wes Holecek 3.9 4.70 22 17 7.22 91 29/43 29/38
To FB 20/42 22/36
URFA LG Curtis Clinton 2.9 5.50 28 35 7.90 74 20/28 20/28 20/28
URFA RT Marty Wagner 2.2 5.60 27 36 8.18 24 15/23 15/23 15/22
URFA SLB Kelly Ahmed 2.7 4.65 15 22 7.80 28 20/30 21/29 21/30


When our late second rounder comes up, I find nothing worth taking – not a single OL who looks worth a hoot. So, I trade down with Carolina, and move up slightly in next year’s draft. (Yes, I know) At the top of round four, I still get the TE I was eyeing in late round two.

Oddly enough, our signing of super-rookie RB Pietrzyk is good news for veteran Pat Noccolino. Noccolino was in real jeopardy of losing out and not making the roster this season. But by signing Pietrzyk, we suddenly had a lot more interest in re-signing the wily veteran RB Noccolino, who has potential to serve as a mentor to the youngster and help along his development.


We bring 58 into training camp. The result? Bingo. Bruce Pietrzyk will get a little better in the passing game, but he is already a monster carrying the ball. He should change everything for us – and be the first serious weapon for us on the ground. Our other two draftees are a little shaky, but we don’t have a big investment in either one DE Polasek end up getting cut before the season starts.


Heading into the regular season, we have a real problem. WR Sherman Pritchett has gone down with an injury, and will miss nearly the whole season. So – what to do at WR? We’re desperately thing there now. I decide that with the changes at RB this season, we have the ability to make a position switch, and we move versatile RB Max Wynn over to play some flanker. I don’t think he will be a star, but he was likely to be our #4 or #5 RB anyway – so this will give him a chance to contribute, where we will need him.

So, we head into the season – looking for a bounce back to the top tier of title competitors.


In the opener, we get a nice 31-14 win at Buffalo –a good sign. But in week 2, Mel Copeland is hurt again, and we get rolled by Chicago. Copeland misses two weeks – and we are just not the same team without him, it’s clear. We lose again under Gabe Glenn, but Copeland returns the following week and we’re back on track with a big win.

In week 5, we get our first 100-yard rushing game – but it’s not from Pietrzyk. It’s from Lamar Wright, filling in for the fallen starter. Pietrzyk, it seems, has blown out his knee – he’s done for the year, and his long term future is now in some grave doubt. Big blow for us, of course. We are in massive injury trouble – the worst we have ever seen. This could be a second in real trouble, now.

A few good weeks get us feeling better, and we reach the halfway point at 6-2. Copeland has 22 TDs to only 1 interception, and a passer rating of 126.1 – unreal. But in week 10, Copeland is down again – and will now miss several weeks. Gabe Glenn, the much-maligned backup, trots out and holds our playoff position largely in his hands. We manage to drop only one more game down the stretch, and get to 13-3, hopefully to welcome back a healthy Mel Copeland for the playoffs.



Front Office Football 2004
2018 Summary for Miami Dolphins

Record: 13-3
Winning Pct.: .812

Miami Dolphins Team Rank
Rushes 390 31
Rushing Yards 1638 27
Yards Per Carry 4.20 11
Pass Attempts 569 3
Completions 363 2
Passing Yards 4270 2
Yards Per Attempt 7.50 5
3rd Down Conversions 43.4 14
Points Per Game 28.9 1
Turnovers 24 17 (T)
Turnover Margin -4 19 (T)

Opponents Team Rank
Rushes 454 16 (T)
Rushing Yards 1616 4
Yards Per Carry 3.55 2
Pass Attempts 532 20
Completions 305 10
Passing Yards 3365 10
Yards Per Attempt 6.32 5
3rd Down Conversions 39.2 7
Points Per Game 14.8 1
Turnovers 20 23 (T)

Week Team Versus Oppnt
1 31 at BUF 14
2 8 CHI 23
3 22 BAL 30
4 38 at NED 21
5 34 at JAX 7
6 55 TEN 23
7 38 BUF 10
8 35 IND 7
10 37 at HOU 9
11 24 at NYJ 10
12 21 at MIN 17
13 19 at KCY 22
14 42 DET 7
15 20 NED 7
16 23 at GBY 17
17 16 NYJ 13

Passing Pos Att Comp Yards Y/Att TD Int
16 Glenn QB 304 184 2151 7.07 15 17
14 Copeland QB 263 178 2114 8.03 26 1
**Team --- 569 363 4270 7.50 41 18

Rushing Pos Att Yards Y/Att TD
32 Wright RB 174 651 3.74 6
37 Noccolino RB 65 256 3.93 3
29 Pietrzyk RB 61 205 3.36 2
**Team --- 390 1638 4.20 13

Receiving Pos Targ Catch Yards Y/Ctc YAC TD
83 Giles TE 108 71 672 9.4 142 5
82 Barker WR 96 55 747 13.5 68 7
81 Dotson WR 89 49 647 13.2 92 2
32 Wright RB 60 47 401 8.5 152 6
85 Taylor WR 70 46 673 14.6 123 10
44 Briseno FB 45 39 242 6.2 83 6
87 Horner WR 67 37 707 19.1 125 4
**Team --- 569 363 4270 11.7 813 41

Defense Pos Tack Asst Sack Hurr Ints Defn
55 Westbrook ILB 119 41 8.0 4 1 12
49 Veen OLB 81 23 4.0 5 2 6
25 Sims CB 62 26 0.0 0 6 18
76 Malan DT 60 26 12.0 24 0 0
97 Beethoven OLB 56 25 0.0 0 0 2
23 Baskey S 51 21 1.0 0 0 2
31 Griffith S 49 26 1.0 0 2 5
94 Fredrickson DT 39 17 5.5 9 0 0
41 Winslett CB 39 13 0.0 1 0 12
96 Summers DE 38 11 10.0 12 0 0
47 Harper S 35 8 1.0 0 0 3
22 Diehl CB 34 5 0.0 0 0 2
78 Curtis DE 26 10 2.0 6 0 0
93 Maxwell OLB 25 7 1.0 3 0 7
24 Morrison CB 24 4 1.0 0 1 1
58 Baniewicz ILB 23 8 0.0 1 0 0
79 Cazares DE 18 2 5.0 5 0 0
40 Bullock S 16 6 0.0 0 2 5
**Team --- 883 291 55.0 75 14 77


This was still an excellent team, going 13-3, the best record in the NFL. It’s a notch or two below our past dominance, but still solid. Mel Copeland was unbelievably effective even without much of a supporting cast, and Gabe Glenn managed to keep things afloat without him (though those 17 picks hurt). WR Brant Barker ended up being our best target – an out-of-nowhere free agent reserve, who just became very solid while everyone around him got hurt. The line played okay, even though we had injuries there and had to put lousy rookie Marty Wagner on the right side, after we lost our starter to free agency.

Defensively, we are delighted to have Courtney Malan back and playing well, despite his arthritis that keeps him less than his best. Cole Westbrook had a star season in the middle of our linebacker corps. And we have seen CB Mickey Sims finish his development into a superior player at the cover position. All in all - #2 in ypc, #5 in ypa, adds up to a very strong effort.

Mel Copeland is back to 100% and ready for the postseason. We are probably the favorites to win it all.

Postseason

Miami 59, Indianapolis 3 – Wow. Mel Copeland is 22 of 26 with 5 TD passes as we dismantle the Colts in our opener. It’s a great effort, as we get our early and whip them badly.

Miami 27, Denver 26 – Our offseason rivals give us a challenge here, but we get the final score and take the lead.

Miami 35, Atlanta 6 – Mel Copeland is again the MVP, as we beat Atlanta for the fourth time in the Superbowl. Lamar Wright has a solid game in the short passing game, and we pound out yet another title.


Copeland’s Superbowl MVP is obviously his only award – this first time he has not been the first team QB in eight seasons. P Jeremy Shaw retains his title as the first team all pro. DT Courtney Malan has an improbable return rewarded with a first team award, while MLB Cole Westbrook is named to the second team. LT Eddie Wickes is the league’s strongest man this year.


Great season – we had Copeland when we needed him, and managed to get through the spots where we were without him. He’s clearly vital to the team – but we have enough around him to play well without him. But it’s clear that this isn’t going to be a title team without Copeland anytime soon.

[RealDeal]

Atlanta appears to be Copeland's personal bitch.

[dixieflatline]

dixieflatline - are you still talking about FOF? I assume so, but it's not clear from your thread what league you're describing. Is this a multi-player FOF league? Or are those numbers from the NFL?

Real world. Just pointing out that other people share your idea that low round picks are almost worthless.

[wade moore]

This team so obviously revolves around Copeland. Without him, you would just be nowhere close to the standards you have set. This career's key intrigue to me at this point is to see what happens when Copeland retires.

[Alf]

QB is key in the FOF series => the usual conclusion again with Jim's games.

[JAG]

In his last 700 pass attempts over the past two seasons, Copeland's thrown 3 INTs. He is Quiksand's Dean Houston, minus the off-field baggage. What's his career QB rating?

I'll be interested to see his career stats when he finally retires.

[QuikSand]

Just for the sake of clarity - here are Mel Copeland's career stats thus far:

Drafted 1(18) in 2008 draft

He was actually the second player we selected in that draft - we took S Orlando Bullock with pick 1(10), whi has also worked out well

Here's what we saw at the time:


Pick Pos Player Board Dash Sole Strg Agil Vol Draft After PostCamp
1.18 QB Mel Copeland 5.7 4.48++ 46++ 20++ 7.16++ 17 23/66 23/70 23/74


He stepped right in and started in 2008, supplanting the Offensive Rookie of the Year in Neal Dugger. I felt right away that Copeland was going to be the real thing.

In eleven seasons, he has started 166 games (missing ten, all but one in the last two seasons). He was shaky in his first season, but has been very good since, and eventually brilliant.

3,724 / 5,792 passes completed = 64.2%

44,245 passing yards = 7.63 yards per attempt

346 TDs to only 92 interceptions

754 rushing attempts, for 4,870 yards = 6.4 yards per carry
He is the Dolphins' career rushing leader, incidentally

Career passer rating = 100.7
Best year ratings were 115.1, 112.3, and 108.3

[wade moore]

Grief.. the passing numbers are impressive enough.. but about 400 yards a year rushing too.... grief!

[Alf]

Didn't you want to start a dynasty where you could make the QB your best runner ? Guess you have it with Copeland !

[daedalus]

Out of curiosity, what became of Darnell Farlow, the top QB prospect in Copeland's draft? Kinda funny that Copeland's worst ratings are all in categories I look at first.

Well, y'know, funny in that sense that I feel even more completely clueless. :D

[Bee]

I hope you continue this career at least until Copeland retires. I'm curious to see where his numbers end up all-time.

[QuikSand]

2019

We have one retirement from the team this year: DT Scott Hannon was our very first player, a great DT for a long time, 10 year starter, 2-time all pro. He goes out as a “Legend of the Game” after 14 years with the same club.

Our front office staff remains in place – after winning all these titles, could we fire anyone anyway?

After tagging Mel Copeland again, we still have $5 million in usable cap space – nice. We do have a lot of work to do (only 40 players signed, lower than usual) but it’s good to start with a little cash to spread around.

Our biggest issue is that our defensive line is in free agent flux. DT Courtney Malan, DE Kim Northern, and DT Brett Fredrickson were all starters last year, and all are looking for new contracts. I’d like to return all three – but especially Malan, who has proven to be great when healthy. Malan is looking for $10m to play for two more years – he’s already in his 14th season. This hurts.

RB Lamar Wright and QB Gabe Blenn are also up for new contracts – both are challenges. Wright is the suppose backup to would-be star RB Bruce Pitrzyk, but Pietrzyk is still nursing his ACL and is listed out for 8 weeks. What will we see when he returns? It might not be a star running back any more, that much is certainly possible. Gabe Glenn hasn’t been great, but do we want a totally untested backup to Copeland, who is showing some tendency toward injury now? Another tough call.

After a round of renegotiations, we bring our cap figure up to about $9.5m in usable space – not too bad. And I decide to start off the FA process with offers in only to RB Lamar Wright and DT Brett Fredrickson, who are both being pretty reasonable with their demands.

Kim Northern signs immediately with the Giants – getting over $5m a year. DT Courtney Malan is listening to a fat offer from Tennessee- which I feel I must outbid. In week 4, Malan accepts our terms – but it costs us $4.5m this season. Loyalty is a tough thing – but this is in part based on outstanding on-field results. By week 8, we lock up both Wright and Fredrickson to affordable deals.

In week 11, G Quentin Fuller unexpectedly signs with Tennessee – my mistake for not getting an offer in, I thought he would go unnoticed. That almost certainly makes the interior line, at the G spot in particular, the most pressing need on the team. Bad mistake. And it all but forces my hand to make a FA offer to G Russ Lofton – we probably needed to keep him anyway, but I had hoped to wait him out and work his price down. Now, he’s the only start-worthy guy on our potential roster – we cannot afford to let him slip away also.

In week 14, my third strong QB Ernest Dunn is getting pursued. Not a fat deal, but more than I’d want to pay. I had thought Dunn might be a reasonable backup plan for losing Gabe Glenn – now it looks like I’ll have to work things out with Glenn, period. Paying $1.5m for Dunn makes no sense at all.

Not the ideal outcome – but at least we re-signed Malan. We still have real issues to resolve at QB, G, and perhaps DT and safety. We’ll need immediate help from the draft, and we still could enter the season with a serious gap somewhere.


In the draft, we are targeting a guard, but he gets snapped up right ahead of us by Atlanta. SO, I’m looking at second-best options, and I’m not thrilled with our choices. I really wanted an OL we could start right away – but I don’t see any such guy at any position. I have an OLB I like as a possible convert to DE – but that’s about as good as it gets from this crop. So, we make a modest deal with Cleveland – we move down a few spots here, and get a fourth rounder in trade for two later picks. I have an idea what to do with this draft now.

I’m pleased when, with the first of our back-to-back early second rounders, we have the two guys I wanted both available. Not our top need positions, admittedly, but guys who ought to help out right away.



Pick Pos Player Board Dash Sole Strg Agil Vol Draft After PostCamp
2.05 WR Harris Hansen 4.9 4.41+ 24 19++ 7.20 14 30/56 29/56 32/56
2.06 SLB Pat Wayne 4.8 4.57 32 21 7.13+ 6 25/57 24/50
to DE 27/57 29/56
3.32 RG Melvin Ahn 3.9 5.12 44 32+ 7.71+ 55 24/45 24/43 26/42
4.05 FS Emmitt Rasmic 2.7 4.35++ 26 22+ 7.80 9 18/30 19/34
to CB 19/34 22/40
4.32 QB Greg Huffman 4.1 4.55+ 33 20++ 7.40++ 9 17/50 17/50 21/50
6.32 TE Bo Grier 3.8 5.06 23 36++ 7.67 58 19/46 19/43 20/40
URFA FB Rick Beyer 3.4 4.66 20 26 7.53 59 28/38 29/40 31/44
URFA RG Edgar Tisdale 2.6 5.12 37 29 7.87 99 18/29 19/32 22/33
URFA K Damon Bolender 5.0 5.31 37 9 8.12 28 35/55 35/55 38/55
URFA DE Ross Mesaros 2.5 5.00 28 28 7.74 63 17/27 17/27 18/28
URFA MLB Dean Palmer 2.7 4.77 14 20 7.60 68 10/30 10/27 11/26


I’m happy with Hansen, who looks pretty decent, and Wayne, who makes a good transition to DE for us. RG Ahn was the best left at his position, and might well start right away. The key to everything was getting Rasmic, a standout speedster who I think has great potential – I wanted to position us right there to get him in early round four. With QB Huffman, another guy I was targeting but surprised to get this late, we might have a solid backup in training – he has speed and agility, we’ll see if he can actually throw the ball.

Among the URFA group, the most intriguing prospect is definitely FB Rick Beyer. I‘m not wild about the FB position, but this guy could be special. I’d love to see G Edgar Tisdale break out, too – that 99 volatility is calling my name.

In the late FA period, in addition to grabbing our undrafted rookies, we also work out deals with S Drew Griffith and WR Brant Barker. We sit with $1.2 million in cap space, looking to re-up with QB Gabe Glenn to fill our final hole. We get Glenn in the final stage, and have 58 players on board going into training camp.

We are ready for training camp… Emmitt Rasmic is going to break out, I just know it…

Can I get a din-ding-ding for Emmitt Rasmic? He ought to get better and better in time, but he’s going to develop if he gets some playing time. Without much evident ability in picking off passes, he might be limited, but he’ll get pretty good, I think. FB Rick Beyer and G Edgar Tisdale both show some promise, too.

Oddly enough, we get a trade offer for QB Gabe Glenn – Dallas is wiling to give their 1st round pick next year for him. I won’t take the deal anyway (my rules prohibit it) but it would be quite a dilemma – that probably would be a pretty high pick, and I’m not too keen on Glenn besides. But with Copeland seeming so brittle, that would be very, very risky for this season.


We will head into this season with a huge question mark looming over our offense – what will become of Bruce Pietrzyk? If he can get back full steam, we might have a great new weapon in the arsenal. If his injuries take a big permanent toll, he might be a role player at best. What’s the reality? We’ll find out in a couple of months, in the fairly early season, it seems.

As the season starts, Pietrzyk is upgraded to probable, and he looks just fine. But I’m not certain when the long-term damage would be revealed, perhaps it’s not until he is all the way back 100%. After two wins, we suffer another big injury loss – LT Eddie Wickes will miss two months with a hammy. He’s easily our best lineman, and now we will be reshuffling the whole line to accommodate the loss. Ouch.

After a 3-0 start, Bruce Pietrzyk is declared 100%ready to go, and we have a look at him. He seems good as new – a great sign. We will send him out right away, and see what he can do for our admittedly lagging running game. After a 5-0 start, we are finally toppled by Cleveland, but we manage to get to the halfway point at a solid 7-1. Copeland is not putting up gaudy gross numbers, but his 13 TD to zero interceptions has his passer rating sky-high as usual.

We keep winning down the stretch, despite even more injuries, and eventually get to the final week with only one loss. Mel Copeland is dinged up and cannot go, but Gabe Glenn leads us to a win over wild card-bound Buffalo, and we finish up at a very solid 15-1.


Front Office Football 2004
2019 Summary for Miami Dolphins

Record: 15-1
Winning Pct.: .937

Miami Dolphins Team Rank
Rushes 334 32
Rushing Yards 1520 29
Yards Per Carry 4.55 6 (T)
Pass Attempts 625 2
Completions 402 1
Passing Yards 4961 1
Yards Per Attempt 7.93 4
3rd Down Conversions 39.2 26
Points Per Game 27.2 3
Turnovers 18 8 (T)
Turnover Margin +2 13 (T)

Opponents Team Rank
Rushes 429 12 (T)
Rushing Yards 1678 10
Yards Per Carry 3.91 8
Pass Attempts 552 27
Completions 313 10 (T)
Passing Yards 3655 13
Yards Per Attempt 6.62 6
3rd Down Conversions 41.1 14
Points Per Game 16.6 2
Turnovers 20 22 (T)

Week Team Versus Oppnt
1 19 NED 13
2 34 DAL 10
3 16 IND 14
4 24 at CIN 13
5 44 at BUF 10
6 17 at CLE 31
7 31 PIT 6
9 30 at NED 27
10 39 BAL 10
11 31 NYJ 28
12 19 at PHI 13
13 20 at DEN 10
14 31 NYG 13
15 27 at NYJ 24
16 30 at WAS 24
17 24 BUF 21

Passing Pos Att Comp Yards Y/Att TD Int
14 Copeland QB 568 368 4540 7.99 28 3
16 Glenn QB 57 34 421 7.38 3 6
**Team --- 625 402 4961 7.93 31 9

Rushing Pos Att Yards Y/Att TD
29 Pietrzyk RB 114 573 5.02 5
28 Brewster RB 99 428 4.32 7
32 Wright RB 60 233 3.88 1
14 Copeland QB 35 159 4.54 2
**Team --- 334 1520 4.55 15

Receiving Pos Targ Catch Yards Y/Ctc YAC TD
85 Taylor WR 109 71 1056 14.8 134 7
82 Barker WR 78 52 636 12.2 60 5
88 Pritchett WR 82 47 588 12.5 45 4
89 Hansen WR 74 38 691 18.1 97 3
84 Nagi TE 52 36 316 8.7 29 2
29 Pietrzyk RB 50 34 344 10.1 81 3
83 Giles TE 41 29 271 9.3 53 2
81 Dotson WR 29 21 353 16.8 40 1
32 Wright RB 30 18 138 7.6 58 3
87 Horner WR 32 18 249 13.8 29 0
**Team --- 625 402 4961 12.3 739 31

Defense Pos Tack Asst Sack Hurr Ints Defn
55 Westbrook ILB 122 32 13.0 7 0 12
40 Bullock S 94 27 1.0 1 1 9
49 Veen OLB 75 28 8.0 6 2 10
97 Beethoven OLB 70 16 1.0 1 0 4
25 Sims CB 59 20 0.0 0 5 22
31 Griffith S 55 26 0.0 1 3 1
78 Curtis DE 54 27 8.5 9 0 0
47 Harper S 41 7 0.0 0 1 2
96 Summers DE 39 20 12.0 19 0 1
94 Fredrickson DT 33 15 6.0 7 0 0
33 Rasmic CB 33 9 0.0 0 1 7
99 Sullivan DT 28 12 4.0 2 0 0
22 Diehl CB 23 4 0.0 0 0 7
71 Halpin DT 22 9 0.0 3 0 0
**Team --- 871 265 59.0 61 14 84



So, the offense remained very effective – even behind a truly dreadful and embarrassing patchwork offensive line. C Deon Flint played well, but T Marty Wagner and G Melvin Ahn just shouldn’t be on the field. Regardless, Copeland was his old self – a 103.5 passer rating on the year, and only three picks all season. He might not get first team QB this year – Bill Gaines from the Giants has a 104 rating. Bruce Pietrzyk just seems like he needs a little hand-holding – he’s okay, but not the explosive monster that our scouts say he should be. Perhaps with a blocker or two? WR Harris Hanson worked through injuries to take over the starting split end job, and seems to have a bright future ahead. Tito Taylor was target #1, but Copeland spread it around as usual.

The defense slipped a few notches, but remained better than average in most everything, and gave up the second-fewest points in the league. Injuries were key – we had Courtney Malan only for a few games, and young Sammy Halpin is just not a replacement at all. LB Cole Westbrook might have posted yet another all-pro year, doing the dirty work inside and in the pass rush as well. Summers and Curtis led the pass rush from the bookends, but we didn’t get a much pressure as usual, no surprise. CB Mickey Sims had another great season leading the secondary, and Orlando Bullock stayed healthy and put together another great campaign.

Copeland and Pietrzyk are both upgraded to probable, and both will go for our playoff opener. We’ll have Courtney Malan back in there, too – perhaps we are in good shape for another good postseason run here.


Postseason

Miami 26, NY Jets 14 – We seal this with a nice long drive in the fourth quarter, topped by a Pietrzyk TD carry. Copeland is only 19 of 41, but we get he job done on defense, led by LB Burt Veen with 13 tackles.

Miami 31, Cleveland 16 – We avenge our only loss of the year, as Copeland is back on track with 348 yards and 3 TD passes. Pietrzyk has 121 combined yards – and is getting more into the flow of the passing game.

Miami 27, Green Bay 13 – Bruce Pietrzyk runs for 89 and 2 TD, but the MVP goes, once again, to Mel Copeland – whose 325 yards passing kept us in control the whole day. Solid, dominant win.


The season awards are announced – and Mel Copeland once again has the four-way sweep. I’ve lost count of his many times he has done it. Turns out this is his fifth four-award season (2010, 2012, 2015, 2016, and 2019). Really, about the only thing he has yet to do is top 5,000 yards passing – and the way we’re heading, that doesn’t seem too likely. But he’ the king of passing TDs already, and is closing in on the career yardage leaders, despite giving them a five-year head start. Another tidbit – Copeland holds the single-season league records for yards, TDs, completions, and passer rating – but he accomplished each of them in different seasons. This is no one-trick pony, gang.

MLB Cole Westbrook rakes in his first Defensive Player of the Year award – pretty solid to rack up those tackles, considering he was on one of the best defenses in the league. He’s also the first team MLB, of course.

Those are the only awards we manage this year – but another standout season all told. Mel Copeland is on a mission – and he heads a pretty elite group of players on board:


Player # Pos Start Exp Current Estimate Future Estimate Cntrct
Baskey, Wesley 23 FS 15 39 39 1 yr.
Malan, Courtney 76 LDT LDT 14 63 63 3 yrs
##Tucker, Aaron 92 WLB 13 26 26 1 yr.
Copeland, Mel 14 QB QB 12 91 91 1 yr.
Bullock, Orlando 40 SS SS 12 81 81 3 yrs
Fredrickson, Brett 94 RDT RDT 12 43 45 2 yrs
##Winslett, Bruce 41 LCB 11 36 36 2 yrs
Pritchett, Sherman 88 SE 11 32 32 1 yr.
Noccolino, Pat 37 RB 10 41 41 1 yr.
Hickman, Ike 68 LT LT 10 40 40 1 yr.
##Dotson, Frank 81 SE 10 28 28 2 yrs


This is a list of our current players who can sport a total of seven championship rings. Of course, not all are what they once were – but seven rings ought to ensure a pretty serious aqua-and-orange contingent heading to Canton when it’s all said and done. Copeland is a no-brainer, but I think Malan, Winslett, and probably Bullock would merit consideration, too.

[Alf]

Pritchett also had a nice period.

[QuikSand]

Pritchett is a strange case. I drafted him in the third round in 2009, and he immediately showed some signs of tailing off -- usually, this tells me that the player doesn't have much real upside and I cool on using him too much. So, while he was usually on the active roster, he didn't realy make much of a splash for this first four seasons - returning some punts, but only starting in two games that whole time, and only getting about 350 yards over four seasons.

Then, in 2013, we had a series of shifts in our personnel (I think it was Leonard Drake's injury, Derrick Barrere being switched to flanker by my staff, and nominal starting SE Frank Dotson getting hurt for the whole season) which catapulted Pritchett into a starting role. And he really delivered - out of nowhere, a 1,447-yard season with 10 TDs! The following season, I benched Dotson just to keep Pritchett in as the starter, and he posted another 1,000-yard effort.

However, in 2015, Dotson won the job back, and Pritchett went back to a punt returner/reserve receiver, for the most part. Pritchett ended up with 25 starts over the next four years, but never topped 1,000 yards again.

Pritchett isn't a strong HOF candidate, despit that one great season: only 5,364 receiving yards and 33 TDs. Our better candidates from the roster would have to be Derrick Barrere (13 seasons, 9,516 yards, 67TD) who spent his whole career with us, or a guy like Leland Fielder (13 seasons, 10,118 yards, 62 TD) who finished his career elsewhere. The best guy we ever had, of course, was Leonard Drake (10 seasons, 7,103 yards, 39 TD), but a serious injury after his seventh season cut his career too short. Drake was coming off a 1285-yard season in 2010 as Copeland's favorite target when he suffered the blown knee that eventually rendered him useless.

[QuikSand]

Out of curiosity, what became of Darnell Farlow, the top QB prospect in Copeland's draft?

Cool question, I didn't forget. (Okay, I did, but it came back to me)

Farlow went on to be very proficient, and is still in the league. He was drafted by Seattle and started for them for 11 seasons, until leaving as a free agent after the 2018 season. He signed in 2019 with Philadephia, where he was their full-time starter last year. And he is signed to a nice long term deal for the next four years there with a heavy bonus - so he's probably going to retire an Eagle.

Darnell Farlow
164 starts, 36,487 yards passing, 206 TD, 121 Int, 88.4 QB rating
Career record: 83-83-2

Nothing to really complain about. But I wonder how differently things might have gone if we had taken Farlow at pick #10 (rather than seeing him selected right ahead of us at #9) and used the later pick on S Bullock instead? Just swap the two quarterbacks... where would we be right now?

[nfg22]

You would be just an average team...Mel Copeland is proboblyone of the best I have ever seen

[cthomer5000]

Copeland would very seriously be in the "best FOF player ever" debate. I imagine he could crush all known passing records if his career is long enough (16+ years).

[cthomer5000]

dola, I've always thought it might be interesting to do this exact sort of career, but limit your drafting to one unit of the team (and kickers). So you'd either be fielding an all-UDFA defense or offense (probably the more challenging of the two).

[cthomer5000]

Along the way of working through contracts, I notice something really weird – my WR Leland Fielder, my starting flanker, has inexplicably switched to split end. I *know* I didn’t do this. I *know* I didn’t turn my roster over to the computer (in the sense that sometimes accomplishes this switch – setting it to “sign players to fill roster.”
I just had the same thing happen to me for the first time. I drafted an LDE, immediately moved him to RDE, and the computer moved him back to LDE during training camp.

Weird and unnecessary.

[T-Storm]

I just had the same thing happen to me for the first time. I drafted an LDE, immediately moved him to RDE, and the computer moved him back to LDE during training camp.

Weird and unnecessary.
Sadly that's the modus operandi for FoF. If you allow your coach to set the depth charts and don't turn that option off before training camp, it switches players left and right. While mostly just annoying (and partly nice in case of lightweight defensive linemen...) it's just bad if it changes a RT to LT who proceeds to loose several points of ability (present and future).
probably not just imo this shouldn't be linked to the depth charts setting option but rather to the "sign players to roster"-option.

[cthomer5000]

T-Storm, I agree 100%. That really shouldn't be considered a depth chart function, as it can severely impair some players.

[QuikSand]

Sadly that's the modus operandi for FoF. If you allow your coach to set the depth charts and don't turn that option off before training camp, it switches players left and right. While mostly just annoying (and partly nice in case of lightweight defensive linemen...) it's just bad if it changes a RT to LT who proceeds to loose several points of ability (present and future).
probably not just imo this shouldn't be linked to the depth charts setting option but rather to the "sign players to roster"-option.

I agree with this, generally, and have been watching the situation.

The AI makes changes right after/during training camp, it seems - based on your current depth chart balance. If you have three left tackles and no rigt tackles, it's prtty likely to switch your second-best left tackle to right tackle -- and yes, this seems to be connected to the "depth chart" setting, rather than the "sign players" setting (I agree that I'd rather this wasn't the case).

However, the good thing is that these AI-initiated position switches are, in every single case that I have seen, painless switches. You don't see guys taking the hits in current and potential ratings like you would if you were making the same switches manually. So, that at least eliminates the much bigger downside in my mind.

Plus, the few times I have tried it, when I have noticed a switch like this that I didn't want to go ahead with, I have been able to immediately undo the switch, and this is also a penalty-free switch. So, that new RT that I'd rather keep listed as a LT -- I can switch him reight back manually and he wil retain all the exact same ratings.

I'm pretty sure this is true acros the board -- but feel free to experiment. Indeed, this might be something of a "backdoor" to making position switches that you might want, but are afraid to do because you don't want the player to suffer a ratings loss - there are possibilities here.

[QuikSand]

However, the good thing is that these AI-initiated position switches are, in every single case that I have seen, painless switches. You don't see guys taking the hits in current and potential ratings like you would if you were making the same switches manually. So, that at least eliminates the much bigger downside in my mind.

Plus, the few times I have tried it, when I have noticed a switch like this that I didn't want to go ahead with, I have been able to immediately undo the switch, and this is also a penalty-free switch. So, that new RT that I'd rather keep listed as a LT -- I can switch him reight back manually and he wil retain all the exact same ratings.

I need to take back/amend this comment -- I just ran a training camp, and had a star-caliber CB get switched from RCB to LCB (for no good reason) and he did indeed suffer some current skill loss in the move. He did gain it back (almost completely) when manually switched back... but that does counter my previous observation.

FWIW...

[QuikSand]

2020

We again escape the retirement list – good news yet again. In the next few years, though, I have to think we are going to start taking some hits. We have six players with more than 12 years in the league.


We have two staff retirements – head coach Harry Prior and OC Kendall England. Prior leaves with a record of 218-82-3, with 7 championships – pretty impressive stuff, even if I did all the thinking for him. Our new coach is 17-year veteran Mel Clancy, who has a career record of 135-148-2 and has one title with the Redskins, way back in 2005. Our new OC is Darrell Cooley, and he should be excellent.


With Copeland tagged for over $9, we have 35 players signed (lower than usual) and about $4.6m in usable cap space. After a work-through of the rosters, I have $12.6 million – and an opportunity to work out a new deal with C Deon Flint that would clear up even more (but lock him to use with a big new bonus, too). So – we have at least some room to move.

Target FA to re-sign, in order or importance: WR Tito Taylor, LT Eddie Wickes, CB Mickey Sims, LB Burt Veen, T Ike Hickman, WR Sherman Pritchett, S Wesley Baskey, RB Pat Noccolino, TE Roderick Giles, P Jeremy Shaw, LB Mack Baniewicz, LB Aaron Tucker, RFA RB Bo Brwester, FB Sammy Briseno. Lots of targets – limited cash, as usual.

LT Eddie Wickes is going to be impossible, unless he gets no pursuers elsewhere. He wants a $22m signing bonus, and to be paid $16m a year. No possible way. So, I’m all but writing him off as gone. In fact, all my top players are looking for fat deals – this is going to be tougher than I had expected.

I start the FA process, and re-sign CB Mickey Sims, who should remain affordable for two, maybe three seasons. LB Burt Veen gets exactly the deal he requested – he wouldn’t accept anything different, even if it had more money up front – weird. LT Eddie Wickes has a $107 million contract on the table, but it disappears as the Rams use up their cap space elsewhere. Wow, he balked at $107 million. In the late weeks, I re-sign TE Roderick Giles (who we have to get back into the starting lineup) , but we still have a lot of unsettled guys to sort through – but that will wait until after the draft.


Since I fully expect to lose T Eddie Wickes to free agency, I figure landing a startable tackle is probably our top priority in this draft. We got Ike Hickman (also out there as a FA, but I expect to get him back) as a URFA – but I don’t want to depend on that working again. We spend our first two picks on linemen, trying to get some depth there – and I’m hoping that McCloskey will work out and slide over to play guard for us, where I could use a talent infusion.


Pick Pos Player Board Dash Sole Strg Agil Vol Draft After PostCamp
1.22 LT Marshall Goodwin 4.9 5.24 43+ 29 7.55+ 67 31/57 31/58 31/58
2.32 C Ted McCloskey 5.4 5.11 13 28 7.94 96 28/61 27/58
to LG 19/52 21/40
5.32 DE Gerald Stokes 3.5 4.98 37+ 32+ 7.67 32 29/38 30/37 31/37
7.32 LB Luke Swift 3.7 4.75+ 32 24 7.60 75 22/44 22/42 23/39
URFA QB Cary Brandon 3.6 4.62 26 13 7.85 22 19/43 18/42 21/40
URFA RB Kendrick Wiggins 2.2 4.87 22 18 7.26 3 14/23 14/22 14/20
URFA TE Stanley Hocking 3.8 5.18 29 20 8.44 29 23/43 22/42 26/37
URFA FL Deion Upshaw 3.0 4.70 11 12 7.56 92 13/34 13/33 14/31
URFA P Norman Rowe 4.8 4.99 20 12 8.25 93 34/53 31/45 33/45
URFA MLB Brett McElroy 3.7 5.05 39 26 7.66 91 17/44 17/43 17/38


The late draft picks both seemed pretty intriguing to me, but both lost some luster as soon as we got them into camp – not a great first sign. I’m not crazy about any of these URFA pickups, and am mostly looking for special teamers here. I’d like to see a surprise, but I don’t have anyone in mind, really.


In the post-draft FA market, I am shocked at how far LT Eddie Wickes’s demands have dropped – he suddenly is looking for a deal of only like $3m a year. Unbelievable! I had all but given up on him – now I’m looking g for a way to lock him up for as long as possible.

We work out new deals with WR Sherman Pritchett, RB Pat Noccolino, S Wesley Baskey, and finally LT Eddie Wickes in week 7 of 8. So, our main targets through free agency are locked up, with one exception – WR Tito Taylor. I have to go ahead and extend our deal with C Deon Flint, but that makes up the room we need to sign not only Taylor, but also T Ike Hickman and P Jeremy Shaw. So – that wraps up everything we need – having LT Eddie Wickes aboard for a new four year deal is a great surprise – how did he miss his $100 payday with the Rams?


Training camp is our spot to see the trend line for our young players. This year, we get some lousy news – looks like my second round pick is a bust, and I don’t see any breakouts on the whole list, at all. DE Gerald Stokes looks like a nice value pick, but he shouldn’t become more than a usable cheap reserve. Nothing to be too excited about here, including the top pick – who will probably become a decent RT, but not an anchor player by any means. Yawn.


We head into the season trying, for the third time, to successfully complete the “three-peat” ® of league titles. With all the subplots on the team, perhaps the most intriguing remains – when, if ever, are we going to see star production from RB Bruce Pietrzyk? My scouts still say he’s an unbelievable talent – but so far, he’s posted zero hundred yard games… even in this offense I’d think he’d come up with bigger numbers. I’m wondering if my initial fanciful thoughts of moving him to play WR might have been right on—at least he’d be getting the ball out there. Alas.

LT Eddie Wickes is showing why, perhaps, his contract demands dropped. He is hurt again – this time with a broken arm, his second of the season. If he cannot remain healthy, he’s not the bargain I thought we got. Similarly, DT Courtney Malan goes down again – another 14-week injury, and we’re scrambling again at DT. That’s a serious need area for down the road.

However, despite the injury whining, we beat Buffalo in a week four battle of unbeatens – crushing them 41-3 to take command of the division and extend to 4-0 on the year. In week six, we lose a home game to Denver, while Mel Copeland is healthy – a rarity. We play pretty well, but we are absolutely ravaged by injury – I have a waiver wire pickup out there playing at CB, since we were down to only four guys at CB/S who were not listed as “out” (that’s 5 out of 9 guys unable to even suit up). We end up a solid 12-4, but in our tough division that puts us into the wild card – not a great setup for a wounded team that really needed that week off to rest up.


Front Office Football 2004
2020 Summary for Miami Dolphins

Record: 12-4
Winning Pct.: .750

Miami Dolphins Team Rank
Rushes 344 32
Rushing Yards 1695 24
Yards Per Carry 4.92 1
Pass Attempts 630 1
Completions 393 1
Passing Yards 4350 2
Yards Per Attempt 6.90 17
3rd Down Conversions 35.3 30
Points Per Game 28.6 1
Turnovers 21 9 (T)
Turnover Margin +12 3

Opponents Team Rank
Rushes 431 10 (T)
Rushing Yards 1729 11
Yards Per Carry 4.01 12
Pass Attempts 572 31
Completions 282 1
Passing Yards 3278 3
Yards Per Attempt 5.73 1
3rd Down Conversions 40.4 13
Points Per Game 16.5 1
Turnovers 33 2 (T)

Week Team Versus Oppnt
1 42 at NYJ 23
2 22 at SFO 19
3 34 at HOU 18
4 41 BUF 3
5 28 at SDO 24
6 24 DEN 30
8 24 at KCY 5
9 34 OAK 6
10 12 at NED 17
11 19 NYJ 14
12 22 ARI 29
13 35 CLE 3
14 31 at STL 7
15 23 at BUF 30
16 35 SEA 14
17 33 NED 22
$$WC at SDO

Passing Pos Att Comp Yards Y/Att TD Int
14 Copeland QB 630 393 4350 6.90 32 12
**Team --- 630 393 4350 6.90 32 12

Rushing Pos Att Yards Y/Att TD
29 Pietrzyk RB 156 883 5.66 11
28 Brewster RB 76 373 4.90 3
14 Copeland QB 46 237 5.15 2
32 Wright RB 42 136 3.23 2
**Team --- 344 1695 4.92 18

Receiving Pos Targ Catch Yards Y/Ctc YAC TD
89 Hansen WR 117 69 1087 15.7 156 9
83 Giles TE 94 65 609 9.3 94 6
29 Pietrzyk RB 88 63 519 8.2 187 4
82 Barker WR 112 59 754 12.7 80 4
85 Taylor WR 80 47 622 13.2 79 3
27 Beyer FB 41 36 226 6.2 57 3
88 Pritchett WR 43 20 222 11.1 19 1
**Team --- 629 393 4350 11.0 733 32

Defense Pos Tack Asst Sack Hurr Ints Defn
55 Westbrook ILB 95 43 4.5 12 1 22
49 Veen OLB 79 20 6.0 10 1 6
31 Griffith S 68 35 2.0 0 2 8
71 Halpin DT 52 22 4.0 6 0 0
99 Sullivan DT 51 13 2.5 4 0 1
33 Rasmic CB 48 14 0.0 0 1 16
97 Beethoven OLB 46 17 2.5 1 1 5
47 Harper S 43 9 0.0 0 2 3
93 Maxwell OLB 39 1 3.0 2 0 2
24 Morrison CB 35 16 1.0 0 3 6
96 Summers DE 33 20 5.5 29 0 1
23 Baskey S 30 11 0.0 1 0 5
90 Castine DE 21 13 3.5 10 0 0
41 Winslett CB 20 7 0.0 1 0 0
52 Assesi OLB 18 5 0.0 0 0 0
76 Malan DT 16 6 1.5 4 0 0
**Team --- 839 278 44.0 94 19 98


There are signs all over the place that this was probably our worst season in this era. Start with Mel Copeland – perfectly nice numbers for most QB, but for him this year is a disaster – only a 91.3 passer rating. I guess we can’t complain about Pietrzyk – his 5.66 yard per carry is great, but it would be nice to see him command more than 55% of the RB carries on the team. WR Harris Hansen is developing into our top target, and topped 1,000 yards – it’s been a while since we had a wideout do so. Roderick Giles, back in as our starter, was very productive again, too.

The defense, without our best CB, SS, DT and DE, played fairly well, I guess. We remained tough against the pass (despite the patchwork secondary group we put out there) but softened against the run. DT Sammy Halpin did his best – he’s a one-trick pony run stuffer inside, and did a decent job, it seems. But he and Sullivan just aren’t top-shelf types… we really need a bigger impact player in the middle up front. We’ll try to get Courtney Malan back for the playoffs, but his injury situation is tenuous as usual. CB Emmitt Rasmic played fairly well after being pushed into starting – 16 passes defensed is a pretty good number, for only 36 catches allowed. But our team just didn’t get many picks this year – without our two best players in the secondary, it’s no real shock.

We will wait a week on CB Mickey Sims, hoping too get him up to probable. But LT Eddie Wickes and DT Courtney Malan have to come back and play hurt if we’re going to go anywhere in the playoffs.


Postseason

Miami 31, San Diego 17 – Bruce Pietrzyk has 159 total yards, and we put together a very nice effort, not making mistakes, and keeping them at bay all afternoon. Good road win to move on.

Miami 21, Buffalo 17 – Another great win, with Pietrzyk again rushing in the sealing TD. Copeland throws for 279 yards and 2 TDs in a great game – a narrow win over the division winners.

Houston 32, Miami 23 – Weird game, as we outgain the Texans slightly, and have only one turnover – but they were better on third downs and in the red zone, and came away with a fairly easy win. Harris Hansen has 146 receiving yards in the effort – but our season is done one level short of the big game.

Houston, after a 9-7 season, manages to win it all with a 31-23 win over Detroit in the Supebowl.



QB Mel Copeland manages to get the first team QB honor, despite a “down” year. P Jeremy Shaw is also a first teamer again. But that’s it for us – so many of our stars were hurt, we didn’t get a full complement of stats from most of the main contenders for awards. Tough year… might this be the beginning of the end for this team?

[Buccaneer]

We again escape the retirement list – good news yet again. In the next few years, though, I have to think we are going to start taking some hits.
Gee, you think there might be some parallels between your Dolphins and our Chitterlings and Outlaws?

[wade moore]

I think that the way in which the coaches manage the depth charts has a lot to do with Pietrzyk. I have RARELY seen them mark skill players, particularly RBs, as 7-9 in starting percentage... You just don't see a RB take that brunt of the carries when they manage the depth charts, which is unfortunate because Pietrzyk should definately be up there.

You also have to look at his 63 receptions as very solid and 15 total TDs.

[QuikSand]

I think that the way in which the coaches manage the depth charts has a lot to do with Pietrzyk. I have RARELY seen them mark skill players, particularly RBs, as 7-9 in starting percentage... You just don't see a RB take that brunt of the carries when they manage the depth charts, which is unfortunate because Pietrzyk should definately be up there.

You also have to look at his 63 receptions as very solid and 15 total TDs.

True - I'm not furious with his usage, just a tad frustrated. I deliberately let my starting FB go via free agency this past offseason, planning to keep a younger (lesser) FB in that role, so that Pietrzyk would take over the RB duties in passing situations. (I hate having a stodgy fullback in there getting carries and catches) He did get the full assignment, and a playing time level of 6 by my scouts - which isn't too bad. But I'm still frustrated when I see a box score and see that my RB #2 got 9 carries in the game, while my supposed star RB got only 13. If we're going to have 22 handoffs, then I'd much rather see a split mroe like 18 to 4 or thereabouts. But I fear that the only way to get there (without taking over depth charting myself) is to put up two stiffs in the reserve RB roles - and I have to think that's a high price to pay - my current reserves are pretty decent.

I honestly am starting to think I should just switch him to play WR -- my sout said he's switch over at about 80%, and if he developed in a year or two to that level, he'd be my best wide receiver. It's a shame, really.

[cthomer5000]

I need to take back/amend this comment -- I just ran a training camp, and had a star-caliber CB get switched from RCB to LCB (for no good reason) and he did indeed suffer some current skill loss in the move. He did gain it back (almost completely) when manually switched back... but that does counter my previous observation.

FWIW...
My new favorite trick is the computer changing everyone to a 4-3 defense during training camp (although I play a 3-4). If I'm going to let the computer handle the depth chart, I guess I should try to remember to briefly turn that off before I run training camp.

[QuikSand]

2021

Entering into another year, we’re wondering – did we tail off last year due to a big rush of injuries? (They were the worst we have seen, and that was after getting a new head coach with a better AI rating) Or, is it just that the team is declining overall? This year should help us find out. However, we are still counting on a number of players who seem to be injury-prone: DT Courtney Malan and LT Eddie Wickes topping the list.

Last year we went 12-4 and were a wild card, made it to the conference championship where we were even in the point spread despite playing on the road. I think that made us a “title contender” even though it was a disappointing year. We’ll see if our next step is forward or backward.


This is the first “big year” for retirements – we have four:

S Wesley Baskey was a 2nd rounder from our first draft, and started 201 games for us – solid veteran, but never really a superstar player and a team leader
DT Brett Fredrickson was a longtime solid backup, with 83 starts in 144 games, retiring with 41.5 sacks
CB Bruce Winslett was a superstar corner for us, but got hurt badly in his fifth season, and then played out for several more years as a capable starter, but never quite the electrifying player he once was
WR Frank Dotson played as our playmaker split end for a few years, getting 4,255 yards and 30TD in his nine-year career, but declined badly in his last two seasons


This year, Mel Copeland’s salary will only be about $6 million – so that’s a little extra cap room we didn’t expect. We start the FA period with 40 players signed and about $2m short on usable cap space. We go through renegs, and get space up to about $6 million – not that bad, and this year’s class of free agents isn’t quite as pressing as last year’s.

Our target free agents, in order of importance, are: MLB Cole Westbrook, S Derek Harper, DT Sammy Halpin, S Drew Griffith, WR Brant Barker, and DE Alfred Castine. I probably can’t re-sign everyone with $6 million – but we’ll do what we can. I start off the process with offers in to Westbrook, Barker, and Harper. In five weeks, we have all four guys locked up, and also DT Halpin, whom we had to lure away from an Atlanta offer sheet. That leaves S Drew Griffith as my biggest problem – and he’s slated to start, since Orlando Bullock is still hurt from last year. But we will go into the draft with that potential gap – and see what we can come up with.



Pick Pos Player Board Dash Sole Strg Agil Vol Draft After PostCamp
1.28 DE Mike Fulton 4.7 4.84+ 32 22 7.23+ 14 24/55 23/54 23/50
2.17 WR Archie Broenkow 4.3 4.38+ 25 14+ 6.92+ 17 31/50 32/51
to FL 32/51 35/54
3.28 MLB Nicky Jamison 4.1 4.80+ 33 17 7.45+ 97 09/49 11/52
to WLB 11/53 12/49
4.28 FS David Crute 4.2 4.56 30 18+ 6.94++ 97 19/52 19/48 20/47
6.28 K Marcus Knox 7.5 4.99+ 28 10 7.65 32 50/78 49/76 53/73
7.28 DT Ike Johnson 3.3 5.04 17 23 7.92 26 10/39 10/37 11/33
URFA TE Jesse Cox 3.5 4.91 19 28 7.53 13 19/42 19/38 20/34
URFA WR Ellis Lake 2.7 4.51 29 6 7.41 75 11/30 12/30 13/30
URFA C Karl Fontenot 3.1 5.30 36 28 7.89 82 18/36 19/38
To RG 17/37 19/38
URFA RT Alvin Hegamin 2.5 5.13 28 24 7.70 2 08/29 09/31 11/35
URFA CB Carl Toretta 3.0 4.47 26 7 7.07 67 12/35 12/35 13/35
URFA CB Cory Bailey 2.6 4.43 10 21 7.54 84 18/30 19/33 22/37
URFA SS Brian Rubio 3.2 4.57 28 13 7.23 81 20/37 19/35 20/28


In the draft, I grab a potentially interesting DE with our top pick – Mike Fulton might end up being a pretty effective run stopper on the end for us. I had hoped he might move inside to play DT, but no luck there. WR Broenkow is fast and looks like he might push for immediate playing time – we moved up a bit to get him as he was a guy I actually considered with our top pick. LB Jamison and S Crute both fill needs, and look like they could be long term assets. Among the URFA group, I’m crossing my fingers for CB Cory Bailey in particular – I’d love to pick up one more usable cornerback, as we are in some trouble there.

Following the draft, in preparation for late free agency, I release QB Gabe Glenn. Greg Huffman is ready for the #2 job, and the move saves us over $1.3m in cap space – probably enough to re-sign S Drew Griffith. If we lose Copeland, we’re likely shot anyway – who really cares whether we go 9-7 or 5-10?


Well, in camp we saw great things from URFA cornerback Cory Bailey, and he will certainly make the team. DE Fulton, our top pick, looks a bit disappointing, though. WR Archie Broenkow made an impression – we’ll have to figure out how to say his name, it seems. RT Alvin Hegamin might be needed this year if LT Eddie Wickes has injury troubles again.

We head into the preseason with few situations to resolve – every starting job is pretty well locked up. We’ll be watching to see who makes the team in the last few roster spots, and we’ll keep an eye out for injuries.

A preseason injury to DT Harvey Sullivan, a projected starter, leaves us desperately thin there. We have Courtney Malan, a brittle old man, and Sammy Halpin – and after that, a disappointing 7th round rookie in Ike Johnson. This is easily our weakest position. Our only DE who could move over is Emmitt Summers, and doing that to him while he is already fully developed at DE seems like a terrible waste – I won’t do it now, but I might consider it later if we lose Malan to injury. In theory, we could get by with Pat Wayne at DE better than Ike Johnson at DT.


Despite an already-frustrating list of injuries, we batter Buffalo in our opener, 30-10, to get a good start on the season. But after two weeks, it’s staggering – our DL is already wiped out. DT Sullivan, DE Curtis, DT Malan, and DE Fulton – all four are now gone for the season. Oh, dear. So, for week three – here’s our starting foursome up front: DE Summers (67/67), DE Stokes (34/37), URFA DT Garrison (11/28) and DT Ike Johnson (13/33). Unbelievable – what good can we possibly accomplish with this kind of garbage on hand?

Short answer – keep winning. We keep racking up injuries, including another season-ender for LT Eddie Wickes (as I predicted, alas) but we keep going. Next we lose DT Sammy Halpin (again) and MLB Cole Westbrook – this is preposterous. But the wins keep on coming. Orlando Bullock gets healthy from his injury from last year – but he’s a shadow of his former self, promptly gets re-injured, and is probably done for his career now. Yet, we trash the 8-1 Jets to get to 10-0 and stay in command in the division. This is a weird-as-hell season. Through 10 games, WR Harris Hansen has topped 1,000 yards already – and in en route to a monster year, even while comrades are falling all around him.

We finally stumble, against Kansas City. We have a few more injuries – at this point, it’s just growing comical:


Player # Pos Start Health Injury Full Strn.
**Pietrzyk, Bruce 29 RB RB Out Strained Patellar5 Weeks
**Ahn, Melvin 73 RG RG Out Separated Shoulde3 Weeks
**Summers, Emmitt 96 LDE Out High Ankle Sprain16 Weeks
**Curtis, Ken 78 RDE Out MCL Knee Surgery 25 Weeks
**Fulton, Mike 75 RDE Out ACL Damage to the13 Weeks
**Sullivan, Harvey 99 RDT Out ACL Knee Surgery 44 Weeks
**Rasmic, Emmitt 33 LCB LCB Out Strained Elbow Te5 Weeks
**Bullock, Orlando 40 SS Out ACL Knee Surgery 38 Weeks
##Malan, Courtney 76 LDT Doubtful Torn Lateral Knee5 Weeks
##Halpin, Sammy 71 LDT Doubtful Stress Fracture i2 Weeks
##Wickes, Eddie 70 LT Questionable High Ankle Sprain8 Weeks
Westbrook, Cole 55 MLB Questionable Herniated Disk 2 Weeks
Veen, Burt 49 SLB SLB Probable Deep Thigh Bruise2 Weeks


Through 13 games, we are 12-1, and there is one goal somewhat in sight. Mel Copeland has never posted 5,000 yards in a single season – in fact, nobody in the league has. He has 3,991 yards through 13 games – meaning if he can go off with about 335 yard per game for the final three, he could top that magical barrier. Might be nice. Two solid wins, but not flashy outings from Copeland, all but end that dream – and he ends up with a very good, but not record-breaking total of 4,867.


Front Office Football 2004
2021 Summary for Miami Dolphins

Record: 15-1
Winning Pct.: .937

Miami Dolphins Team Rank
Rushes 371 30 (T)
Rushing Yards 1449 31 (T)
Yards Per Carry 3.90 25 (T)
Pass Attempts 621 1
Completions 394 1
Passing Yards 4867 1
Yards Per Attempt 7.83 2
3rd Down Conversions 39.4 19 (T)
Points Per Game 29.0 1
Turnovers 23 13 (T)
Turnover Margin +1 11 (T)

Opponents Team Rank
Rushes 407 4
Rushing Yards 1467 1
Yards Per Carry 3.60 2
Pass Attempts 553 32
Completions 267 3
Passing Yards 3162 7
Yards Per Attempt 5.71 1
3rd Down Conversions 34.5 3
Points Per Game 13.6 1
Turnovers 24 16 (T)

Week Team Versus Oppnt
1 30 BUF 10
2 10 TBY 3
3 37 at CIN 10
4 38 NED 0
5 42 at JAX 16
6 23 TEN 22
7 27 at BUF 21
8 27 at IND 19
10 34 HOU 3
11 34 NYJ 7
12 41 at CAR 20
13 13 KCY 19
14 31 at ATL 20
15 16 at NED 15
16 38 NOS 12
17 24 at NYJ 21

Passing Pos Att Comp Yards Y/Att TD Int
14 Copeland QB 621 394 4867 7.83 34 18
**Team --- 621 394 4867 7.83 34 18

Rushing Pos Att Yards Y/Att TD
29 Pietrzyk RB 164 669 4.07 11
28 Brewster RB 131 472 3.60 2
14 Copeland QB 50 217 4.34 2
**Team --- 371 1449 3.90 17

Receiving Pos Targ Catch Yards Y/Ctc YAC TD
89 Hansen WR 152 91 1414 15.5 204 6
85 Taylor WR 96 59 858 14.5 102 7
29 Pietrzyk RB 69 51 433 8.4 126 6
86 Broenkow WR 86 46 639 13.8 106 2
80 Hocking TE 60 45 509 11.3 37 2
27 Beyer FB 59 44 290 6.5 102 2
82 Barker WR 53 31 449 14.4 38 4
83 Giles TE 22 16 185 11.5 37 2
**Team --- 621 394 4867 12.3 780 34

Defense Pos Tack Asst Sack Hurr Ints Defn
55 Westbrook ILB 91 25 7.0 9 2 8
31 Griffith S 67 23 1.0 0 2 6
25 Sims CB 66 18 1.0 2 1 16
93 Maxwell OLB 56 14 3.0 3 0 6
49 Veen OLB 55 22 10.0 3 2 4
47 Harper S 53 18 1.0 1 3 9
97 Beethoven OLB 47 22 0.0 0 0 3
24 Morrison CB 37 11 0.0 0 2 3
33 Rasmic CB 37 15 0.0 0 1 24
96 Summers DE 30 8 9.5 28 0 1
74 Stokes DE 27 9 2.5 6 0 4
77 Johnson DT 26 14 4.0 8 0 0
91 Wayne DE 22 5 5.0 7 0 2
59 Swift ILB 21 2 1.0 3 0 2
83 Giles TE 20 0 0.0 0 0 0
94 Garrison DT 19 14 1.0 7 0 0
48 Crute S 19 7 0.0 0 1 0
26 Torretta CB 18 3 0.0 0 0 1
**Team --- 819 245 50.0 87 17 92


Mel Copeland – again with the big numbers. His pinpoint precision seems to be waning a bit (30 picks these last two seasons, while he threw only six in the three seasons before that) but he still ends up with some gaudy numbers, and a 93.8 passer rating. WR Harris Hansen is the real deal – and has put together a great season, starting opposite the rookie Broenkow. Bruce Pietrzyk – another solid year, hampered by injury, but still a decent year (though his yards per carry were way down). But look at the passing rankings -- #1 in attempts, completions, and yards, and even #2 in yards per attempt.

On defense, I’m shocked – how can this team be #2 in yards per carry allowed? Inconceivable! And #1 in yards allowed per attempt? Why do I ever bother with good players on the defensive line? They all disappeared in a puff of early season smoke for us, and we still were completely dominant. Great seasons from Cole Westbrook (when he could play – only 11 games) and Burt Veen (14 games) who held things together as bet they could.

A special note goes out to our special teamers extraordinaire – TE Rodeirck Giles got demoted to reserve duty, but managed to post 20 tackles! That’s zero defensive snaps, and 20 tackles – this guy was a great gunner for us. And RB Pat Noccolino, who had his sixth career return TD, and even carried in two TDs, as he settles into his role as returner, special teamer, and mentor for us. (Noccolino remains one of my favorite players on this team, for odd reasons)


Into the playoffs – our injury list now includes DE Summers (done) and WR Hansen (done). We re-activate LT Eddie Wickes and DT Courtney Malan, in the faint hopes that they can give us something in the postseason. But our hopes are dim in each case. We’ll just try to get by with what we have – like we have done all season long.


Postseason

Miami 34, New York Jets 21 – If it takes 381 yards to win, Mel Copeland will throw for 381 yards. Simple, really. Resurgent Tito Taylor, back in a starting role, pockets 7 for 126.

Miami 30, Cleveland 20 – Bruce Pietrzyk carries for a career-high 97 yards (yawn) but we play pretty much error-free football, and come away with a good win – and a ticket to the big one, again.

Mel Copeland – looking for a ridiculous 8th Superbowl MVP award. An 8th title? That’s just crazy talk…

The preview says we have the edge on Detroit at QB, RB, LB, and … DL!!! What kind of guys do they field on the defensive line? We are favored by 5 to take it home.

Miami 24, Detroit 10 – Copeland only throws one TD, and Pietrzyk has 121 total yards and all three scores – but the jury finds Mel Copeland to again be the game MVP. The legend grows and grows, one more chapter.


I can’t believe we won it all, with another knockout season at 18-1. After taking so many early injuries, I thought for certain that this was the year we’d implode completely, go 8-8, and mark the end of the dynasty for all intents and purposes. But rolling to another dominating win? Didn’t se it coming at all. Wow.

[QuikSand]

MEL COPELAND PLAYER CARD

Hometown: Springville, Utah
College: Clemson
Drafted: 2008 Round 1, #18 overall by Miami

Statistics
14 seasons, 213 games played (all starts)
4,879 / 7,611 = 64.1% completions
58,002 passing yards = 7.62 ypa
440 touchdowns, 125 interceptions
885 carries for 5,483 yards = 6.1 ypc
Career passer rating = 99.6

Awards
2021 Solecismic MVP
2021 Superbowl MVP
2021 Offensive Player of the Year
2021 All-league First Team QB
2020 All-league First Team QB
2019 Solecismic MVP
2019 Superbowl MVP
2019 Offensive Player of the Year
2019 All-league First Team QB
2018 Superbowl MVP
2017 All-league First Team QB
2016 Solecismic MVP
2016 Superbowl MVP
2016 Offensive Player of the Year
2016 All-league First Team QB
2015 Solecismic MVP
2015 Superbowl MVP
2015 Offensive Player of the Year
2015 All-league First Team QB
2014 Solecismic MVP
2014 Offensive Player of the Year
2014 All-league First Team QB
2013 Solecismic MVP
2013 Superbowl MVP
2013 All-league First Team QB
2012 Solecismic MVP
2012 Superbowl MVP
2012 Offensive Player of the Year
2012 All-league First Team QB
2011 Solecismic MVP
2011 Offensive Player of the Year
2011 All-league First Team QB
2010 Solecismic MVP
2010 Superbowl MVP
2010 Offensive Player of the Year
2010 All-league First Team QB

[Alf]

Pietrzyk 121 yards in the SuperBowl is his best performance ever : good timing guy !

[JAG]

That might be the most ridiculous season I've seen in FOF. All those injuries and still only one loss on the year.

[QuikSand]

Probably the most unbelievable thing about Copeland is that he grew up in Utah and went to Clemson.

Where's the bug thread?

[wade moore]

I continue to be baffled as to why I like this dynasty so much...

But I do...

I think it is two things..

#1 It is short and to the point, but with enough detail to have a picture of what is going on
#2 the nature of the rules keep familiar names around year after year, even if they do not perform exceptionally well. So, you get to know players and see them progress..

[Alf]

another thing to note is that QS is not coaching the team at all, he is playing it in "GM" mode.

[QuikSand]

I think the way to make this a tougher challenge would be to institute a rule that the only players you can ever re-sign are those you drafted. Use URFA players as roster fillers, but not as long-term solutions (like I have frequently here).

That would not only cut down on the number of "breakout" players, but it woudl also make me less interested in dumping my middle/late round draft picks to move up in the draft so much. When I know I can get URFA players, there's rather little value in selecting a 6th or 7th rounder.

[cthomer5000]

another thing to note is that QS is not coaching the team at all, he is playing it in "GM" mode.
but it's his gameplan so he really is coaching the team, he's just not flexible.

[QuikSand]

but it's his gameplan so he really is coaching the team, he's just not flexible.

I think that's a fair way to put it.

[QuikSand]

2022

I’m at the point where I am watching the retirement list each year with apprehension. I don’t want to lose Mel Copeland, not yet. This year, though, I fully expect to see several of our standout veterans on the list – guys like S Orlando Bullock (Copeland’s draft-mate) and DT Courtney Malan, both guys who have suffered serious injuries in the last years of their careers.

And so… we do indeed have two retirements, both fairly easy to anticipate.

DT Courtney Malan was the centerpiece for a fearsome defensive front through our best years, earning two pro bowl berths and retiring with 736 tackles and 97 sacks in 196 games, as our latest “legend of the game.”
WR Sherman Pritchett was a journeyman turned juggernaut when he exploded for 1,447 yards in 2013, earning a pro bowl visit with a team record that still stands. He retires with 5,586 yards and 34 TD.


I decide to keep the current staff. Head Coach Mel Clancy has an “excellent” rating in avoiding injuries – and there isn’t anyone rated that highly available. We have been crushed by injuries lately, but I’m writing it up as a function of old players rather than bad coaching – for now. One more season like that, though, and we might re-evaluate. (Clancy is a monster, though – ratings are G, EX, EX, EX, EX)


We have no cap space immediately available, but I work through a few minor reneges to get us up to $1.5m – a paltry allowance. Our top FA targets are DE Emmitt Summers, LB Bobby Beethoven, CB Zach Morrison, and TE Roderick Giles. RB Pat Noccolino, a sentimental favorite, is also looking for a new deal. So, we need some more space. A new deal with LB Burt Veen (locking him to us forever with even more bonus money) frees up a couple million, and a new deal wit G Ross Lofton (depleted after his latest injury) also helps. So, we ought to be able to make a play for most of these guys to return.

The only offer I have on the table at the outset of free agency is to Beethoven, and it’s a modest sum. It’s decision time right away with DE Emmitt Summers – he’s being pursued by Dallas for $68m over 6 years. I certainly cannot afford $11 million a year – but will try to come up with something. I put in an offer that costs us $3m this year and next – we’ll see if he prefers to stick around. It would be awful to lose one of our few reliable defensive ends at this point – starting 10 games last year made him basically our stalwart.

CB Zach Morrison signs with Detroit, our Superbowl opponents last season – that’s frustrating, because we could have kept him had I just put in a bid there, but I was too worried about Summers. But then we do get Summers, in week four – a big relief. Bobby Beethoven takes our offer in week six, and the early stages are behind us.


We have our full complement of draft picks in slot #32, and a bit of cap space – I wouldn’t mind moving up to grab an impact player, especially a much-needed defensive tackle. DT Seth Cleveland is the target guy – he’s rated 8th on the ordered list by adjusted grade – so it will probably take a big move to get there. But he ends up going at #2 overall – far earlier than I was willing to trade up, so that’s a moot point.

When it’s pick #8, I see one major standout player left in the draft – and decide it’s time to fill our #2 need area, at CB. CB Stephen Banks is an absolute can’t miss prospect – a sure thing, in my book. I didn’t expect to see him fall in the draft like this, but now that he’s slid this far, I have to move up and get him. It takes a lot to make the move – but we’re getting a player we really covet and need.


Pick Pos Player Board Dash Sole Strg Agil Vol Draft After PostCamp
1.08 CB Stephen Banks 8.1 4.28++ 26 24++ 6.73++ 72 38/91 37/91 36/91
3.32 DT Bo Cowley 4.0 5.22 23 25 7.66 96 18/48 18/46 19/41
4.01 DT Roger Ljunghammar 4.0 4.93+ 20 26 7.31++ 96 21/47 22/52 25/53
7.32 CB Arnie Money 3.3 4.43+ 19 22+ 6.86+ 96 17/39 19/43 23/50
URFA QB Ronald Sampson 2.9 4.77 44 12 7.72 30 07/35 07/37 10/42
URFA RB Wesley Huntley 3.4 4.67 25 16 7.43 49 24/38 23/35
To SE 19/46 21/42
URFA RB D.J. Tellez 3.1 4.67 20 10 7.23 71 24/34 24/33 23/31
URFA TE Sherman Strong 3.3 5.14 12 25 8.50 30 23/38 23/37 24/34
URFA C Leroy Blackwell 3.5 5.22 25 32 7.84 57 23/42 23/48 26/54
URFA RG Harris Morrison 2.0 5.50 14 33 7.98 19 13/20 13/20 14/20
URFA LT Everett Evans 3.5 5.20 16 31 7.85 21 12/40 12/30 15/29
URFA DT Rick Amis 3.0 5.28 25 29 7.85 15 24/30 24/32 25/32
URFA DT Rusty Powell 3.1 5.33 34 34 8.32 66 27/33 27/32 28/31
URFA DT Kendrick Vaughn 3.0 5.07 30 31 7.99 4 22/34 22/35 23/35



Stephen banks is a “league’s fastest man” type of burner, who has all the skills we could ask for. He should immediately team up with Mickey Sims to make a titanic secondary combo – we’re very, very excited there. Sure thing. We then make a move up to the front of round four, to select back-to-back defensive tackles, just hoping that we end up with somebody useful here. I’m even enthused about our last pick – Money might turn out to be a pretty promising player for us, too.

In post-draft rookies, I’m obviously thirsting for fill-in caliber players on the DL. I expect to keep probably four rookies there (just to have enough bodies, in case we have injuries again) so I’m looking closely at these guys.

Our toughest final contract decision is with CB Emmitt Rasmic – he has been a pretty good starter for us, and is looking for about $2.5m a year to stick around. That’s a little steep, especially considering we just plunged in with a guy we want to start ahead of him in lightning fast rookie Stephen Banks. So, I decide to let Rasmic go – it hurts our depth, but saves us some money in the swap. Losing Zach Morrison looks even worse now, as we remain pretty thin in the CB spot, we will be depending on our young players a lot.


Training camp reveals a few things. First – CB Stephan Banks is a hit. Even our “irrelevant” pick in CB Arnie Money looks good – he might work out well also. OL Leroy Blackwell looks to have a very promising future – I just need to decide where to slot him. At DT, it looks like Ljunghammar is the most promising of the lot – and we may keep Vaughn on hand as well – but I don’t think we have a major breakout player in the lot.

We are ready for the season – our only serious preseason injury is to MLB Cole Westbrook, who should be okay in a few weeks. So, we head onward for our title defense – here’s the roster, incidentally:



Front Office Football 2004
Miami Dolphins Roster, Scout Overview

Player # Pos Start Exp Current Estimate Future Estimate Cntrct
Copeland, Mel 14 QB QB 15 84 84 1 yr.
Huffman, Greg 13 QB 4 33 52 3 yrs
Sampson, Ronald 1 QB 1 10 42 2 yrs
Pietrzyk, Bruce 29 RB RB 5 91 91 1 yr.
Brewster, Bo 28 RB 5 52 52 2 yrs
##Wright, Lamar 32 RB 9 35 35 2 yrs
Noccolino, Pat 37 RB 13 30 30 2 yrs
Beyer, Rick 27 FB FB 4 49 51 2 yrs
Giles, Roderick 83 TE TE 12 36 37 2 yrs
Strong, Sherman 84 TE 1 25 34 2 yrs
Broenkow, Archie 86 FL FL 2 47 55 3 yrs
Taylor, Tito 85 FL 12 38 39 1 yr.
Barker, Brant 82 FL 7 37 37 3 yrs
##Horner, Chad 87 FL 6 35 35 2 yrs
Hansen, Harris 89 SE SE 4 57 58 1 yr.
##Huntley, Wesley 46 SE 1 21 42 2 yrs
Flint, Deon 50 C C 9 75 76 2 yrs
##Edwards, Tommie 51 C 6 43 45 1 yr.
Blackwell, Leroy 57 C 1 26 54 2 yrs
Lofton, Ross 69 LG LG 9 32 32 3 yrs
Ahn, Melvin 73 RG RG 4 46 46 1 yr.
Fontenot, Karl 58 RG 2 24 39 1 yr.
**Morrison, Harris 63 RG 1 14 20 2 yrs
Wickes, Eddie 70 LT LT 8 81 83 2 yrs
Goodwin, Marshall 62 RT RT 3 61 61 2 yrs
Hickman, Ike 68 RT 13 35 35 1 yr.
##Hegamin, Alvin 67 RT 2 20 39 1 yr.
Shaw, Jeremy 17 P 11 84 87 1 yr.
Knox, Marcus 10 K 2 72 72 2 yrs
Summers, Emmitt 96 LDE LDE 6 68 68 6 yrs
Stokes, Gerald 74 LDE 3 37 37 1 yr.
Curtis, Ken 78 RDE RDE 10 64 64 3 yrs
Wayne, Pat 91 RDE 4 40 58 1 yr.
Fulton, Mike 75 RDE 2 27 47 3 yrs
Halpin, Sammy 71 LDT LDT 6 56 56 3 yrs
Vaughn, Kendrick 98 LDT 1 24 35 2 yrs
##Sullivan, Harvey 99 RDT 8 34 34 2 yrs
Ljunghammar, Roger 79 RDT RDT 1 25 53 4 yrs
Cowley, Bo 72 RDT 1 19 41 4 yrs
Johnson, Ike 77 RDT 2 17 30 2 yrs
##Westbrook, Cole 55 MLB 7 74 74 4 yrs
Swift, Luke 59 MLB MLB 3 30 33 1 yr.
Amis, Rick 60 MLB 1 7 23 2 yrs
Veen, Burt 49 SLB SLB 11 61 61 3 yrs
Maxwell, Jerome 93 SLB 8 55 56 2 yrs
Beethoven, Bobby 97 WLB WLB 12 34 34 3 yrs
Jamison, Nicky 92 WLB 2 19 45 3 yrs
Banks, Stephen 41 LCB RCB 1 39 91 5 yrs
Money, Arnie 42 LCB 1 21 50 3 yrs
Sims, Mickey 25 RCB LCB 7 78 79 4 yrs
Torretta, Carl 26 RCB 2 17 36 1 yr.
**Diehl, Maurice 22 RCB 12 15 15 1 yr.
**Bullock, Orlando 40 SS 15 44 44 1 yr.
Griffith, Drew 31 SS SS 11 43 43 2 yrs
Harper, Derek 47 FS FS 6 56 62 2 yrs
Crute, David 48 FS 2 23 40 3 yrs



So, we are ready for the season, once again.

Mel Copeland’s trick knee is acting up again a bit, but he works off the rust in week five with 387 yards and 5 TDs as we thrash Buffalo 51-20 to get to 5-0 and assume command of the division.

Halfway through the season, we remain unbeaten, but lose LB Cole Westbrook for the year. Big blow- we really don’t have a suitable backup to him – I move SLB Jerome Maxwell over to start, but he loses a lot of experience in the switch, unfortunately. We also have to pickup a free agent TE to fill in for starter Roderick Giles, also gone for the year. We respond by pounding 8-2 Baltimore and holding them to 42 yards rushing, with Maxwell leading the defense in tackles.

We win a Superbowl rematch in Detroit to get to 13-0 on the year, behind an impressive 167 yards rushing from Pietrzyk (71) and Brewster (56). And we round out the season with another impressive dismantling of Buffalo, getting a 38-0 shutout to complete our march through the regular season once again. This year, a few serious injuries hurt – but the DL stayed pretty well intact. Admittedly, I placed injury-prone guys like S Orlando Bullock and DT Harvey Sullivan onto the IR early – but still, things were better. And we kept LT Eddie Wickes and both DE starters on the field all year – that’s good news.


Front Office Football 2004
2022 Summary for Miami Dolphins

Record: 16-0
Winning Pct.: 1.000

Miami Dolphins Team Rank
Rushes 358 30
Rushing Yards 1739 22
Yards Per Carry 4.85 1
Pass Attempts 579 3
Completions 381 1
Passing Yards 4815 1
Yards Per Attempt 8.31 2
3rd Down Conversions 45.8 4
Points Per Game 33.2 1
Turnovers 16 3
Turnover Margin +16 1

Opponents Team Rank
Rushes 403 5
Rushing Yards 1494 4
Yards Per Carry 3.70 5
Pass Attempts 561 30
Completions 301 11
Passing Yards 3677 21
Yards Per Attempt 6.55 11
3rd Down Conversions 34.3 2
Points Per Game 11.6 1
Turnovers 32 3 (T)

Week Team Versus Oppnt
1 34 at NED 10
2 27 at CHI 10
3 16 at HOU 12
4 24 at CIN 10
5 51 BUF 20
6 30 at CLE 7
7 27 PIT 21
9 41 NED 39
10 44 BAL 14
11 35 at NYJ 0
12 34 MIN 15
13 14 SDO 6
14 31 at DET 10
15 55 NYJ 7
16 31 GBY 6
17 38 at BUF 0

Passing Pos Att Comp Yards Y/Att TD Int
14 Copeland QB 573 376 4781 8.34 41 11
**Team --- 579 381 4815 8.31 41 11

Rushing Pos Att Yards Y/Att TD
29 Pietrzyk RB 174 905 5.20 10
28 Brewster RB 96 434 4.52 3
14 Copeland QB 57 345 6.05 3
**Team --- 358 1739 4.85 16

Receiving Pos Targ Catch Yards Y/Ctc YAC TD
89 Hansen WR 146 90 1293 14.3 216 8
86 Broenkow WR 103 63 943 14.9 178 5
85 Taylor WR 84 59 1027 17.4 213 11
29 Pietrzyk RB 76 57 549 9.6 177 6
27 Beyer FB 62 41 286 6.9 72 4
82 Barker WR 39 26 334 12.8 25 3
83 Giles TE 26 17 207 12.1 18 2
**Team --- 579 381 4815 12.6 966 41

Defense Pos Tack Asst Sack Hurr Ints Defn
47 Harper S 86 32 1.0 0 3 16
25 Sims CB 69 20 0.5 0 4 23
49 Veen OLB 59 24 7.5 4 0 6
31 Griffith S 57 13 1.0 0 0 1
93 Maxwell ILB 56 12 2.0 3 1 6
78 Curtis DE 55 28 6.5 10 0 0
41 Banks CB 51 17 0.0 0 7 8
96 Summers DE 46 17 15.5 26 0 0
97 Beethoven OLB 44 23 2.0 0 1 7
71 Halpin DT 43 26 6.5 7 0 0
79 Ljunghammar DT 36 13 7.0 4 0 0
55 Westbrook ILB 26 9 2.0 2 0 1
59 Swift ILB 24 8 1.0 1 0 3
48 Crute S 24 4 1.0 0 2 1
42 Money CB 22 5 0.5 0 1 6
26 Torretta CB 18 3 0.0 1 0 1
**Team --- 855 275 63.0 68 19 84


Once again, we were a statistically dominating team. My shorthand for dominance is looking at the four yards per play rankings – and this year, they were: 1, 2, 5, and 11. Not too bad.

Mel Copeland had another banner year, presumably benefiting from some young talent infusion at WR. Pietrzyk had his best and most consistent year, topping 1,400 total yards with 16 TDs. It might be time to make an investment at TE – I like Roderick Giles, but he is getting fragile. He’ll be cheap to keep around, but he’s probably backup material at this point.

I guess starting a rookie at CB softened the secondary a bit – Banks did have 7 interceptions and will have a case for DROY – but he only broke up 7 passes, and we expect more from our corners. Regardless, our defensive front held up petty well – and DE Emmitt Summers posted a monster season with a 10.1 PR Pct – a huge figure. Regrettably, both he and Ken Curtis got hurt late in the year, and will miss the playoffs (of course). Jerome Maxwell filled in nicely at MLB, starting 8 games, but we need to look for a long term answer there, methinks.

Unsung heroes: LT Eddie Wickes rebounded from three injury-riddled seasons to post a great year (32 KRBs on a passing team). RB Pat Noccolino was one of the league leaders in kick returns, adding one more TD to his career total – now seven. P Jeremy Shaw posted a solid 41.6 yard average on the season. C Deon Flint was a standout leading the OL, with a 37/5% KRB rate, and only 3 sacks allowed in over 600 pass plays.

Postseason

Miami 33, Houston 9 – We play it cool, get a solid win, and avoid making mistakes or losing anyone new to injury. So we move on, and should be in shape for the conference title game.

Miami 52, Kansas City 34 – Wow, a real shootout. We lead 21-20 at the half, but Pat Noccolino returns the second half kickoff for a TD, we later get an interception TD from Micky Sims, and it’s a blowout. Copeland is solid with 20 of 29 passing for 337 and 4 TD, no picks. Great game for our offense and special teams.

Miami 36, Arizona 24 – This wasn’t a real blowout. We’re leading 30-24 with a minute to go, and Arizona is driving - when rookie CB Stephen Banks takes an interception 85 yards for a TD to seal the deal for us. He knows what to do, though, and passes the MVP trophy right to Copeland, who had an error-free but unremarkable game, but reels in his ninth Superbowl MVP trophy regardless.


Mel Copeland is awarded his perfunctory foursome of awards again, adding to his lengthy laurels list. WR Harris Hansen makes the first team for the second straight year. CB Mickey Sims makes his first pro bowl, as a first teamer also. DE Emmitt Summers makes it as a second teamer, also his first recognition.


Yawn – another Superbowl, another 19-0 season. This is getting a little mundane, of course. Very good year all around, we stayed relatively healthy most of the way, and got things clicking pretty well. Hard to say if this team is as dominant as our best (I don’t think so) but a 19-0 record doesn’t look too bad, really.

[QuikSand]

One more stat to add to Copeland’s resume, which I keep omitting:

Career record, including postseason: 231-38-0
And that includes his first two shaky seasons at 16-19, combined

[wade moore]

Sounds like you're finally losing your interest? I would still love to see how you interest is a season or two afer Copeland is gone...

[QuikSand]

Didn't mean to emphasize the "yawn" all that much... but this is exactly the kind of career that really doesn't interest me when playing the game. Yes, I'm making decisions at this point, but I just find so many opportuntities to renegotiate down contracts all over the place that it just seems ridiculous. I'm always able to re-sign my own players to backloaded deals, and then pull the plug on the fat years before they come - it's absurd, really. I had to actually cut some good players for a few years, but that seems to be over - now I can keep practically everyone.

It's okay -- I'm committed to seeing this through the end of Copelnd's career, at least, just because it's intriguing to see how many titles this team will eventually win. I have never played an "all out" career for anywhere near this long, so this is by far the most successful team I have ever governed -- so that's interesting to me, at least.

I can't help but wonder, though -- if you can have this kind of success without even using the FA market and without ever touching your depth chart ... how badly does this game need some sort of additional built-in challenge? Yes, I'm already a believer in house rules - but wouldn't it be nice to play the game on a harder setting and just see most things get incrementally tougher - making the challenge a bit more realistic?

[sidtian]

I've been a silent follower all along, as I'm doing a similar challenge. There is only one house rule I use, outside of what you're doing: I limit myself to franchising a player once during his career.

It's been great watching Copeland dominate, but it makes me wonder how many titles your team would have won without him (I would dare say you would have still won a couple).

This has been very enjoyable reading, though.

[daedalus]

Rushing Pos Att Yards Y/Att TD
29 Pietrzyk RB 174 905 5.20 10So . . . close . . .

[CentralMassHokie]

I limit myself to franchising a player once during his career.


I, too, am digging this dynasty purely out of interest in Copeland now, and to see how far, if at all, the team falls when he finally hangs it up.

But, it's easy to see that one place that AI is lacking is in the response to being franchised.

NFL players hate being franchised. It would have been nice to see Copeland hold out at one point due to being franchised, which would have put you in a huge bind - cut the QB who's been the most successful ever, or dump half of your team hoping to sign him to a deal.

I think, in that situation, that you may not have been able to simply renegotiate enough players to get Copeland in.

[QuikSand]

But once you force a player to play under the one-year franchise tender, my understanding is that this counts as an "injustice" and he will never even consider accepting an offer from you again. So, if what you describe, CMH, happened to us and Copeland held out - we'd just be fucked. No hard decisions to make, no agony, just fucked. Our only choices would be to keep him and see if he eventually comes back, or to cut him and use the cap space. Re-signing wouldn't be an option anyway.

I see your point... but the number of real life instances where legitimate players actually sat out a year over a contract are pretty few, right? Sean Gilbert, Bobby Hebert... ummm...

[CentralMassHokie]

True. The whole injustice bit is really an artificial AI limitation and does sort of blow my whole theory.

But, I was thinking less guys holding out for a whole year and more the guys (Galloway, being a recent example) who piss and moan their way to a trade after being franchised or threatened with a franchise.

Wow, Bobby Hebert ... haven't thought about him in a while.

[QuikSand]

2023

This year’s retirement class is pretty modest – I’m surprised, actually:

S Orlando Bullock was our top pick in 2008 (ahead of QB Mel Copeland, even) Bullock started 170 games over 15 seasons, earning all-pro honors twice and posting 40 interceptions and 867 tackles. He retires as yet another Miami “legend of the game.”
CB Maurice Diehl was a nice surprise when he stepped in and started after three seasons as a fourth-round benchwarmer. Longtime reserve and role player, he leaves after 10 seasons with 40 picks in 53 starts.


MLB Ray Ireland is the first of my players to be inducted into the Hall of Fame. Ireland managed 1,174 tackles in his 13 seasons, 11 of which were with us. Never a major pass rush threat, Ireland was nonetheless an effective inside presence for us, and centered a very strong defense for many, many years.


We have $3 in usable cap space, and 41 players signed. A once-through the contracts, and we open up to $6.4 – not bad to start off. Our ordered target list for this offseason: RB Bruce Pietrzyk, WR Harris Hansen, DE Pat Wayne, P Jeremy Shaw, and RG Melvin Ahn. Pietrzyk is just an unlikely case – I can’t see paying top dollar (bidding starts at $8m a year) for him to keep doing what he’s doing -- rushing for 800 yards and catching passes underneath. He’s never show the explosiveness that he promised, and he certainly never really changed our team that much. S, he’s almost certainly a goner.

Harris Hansen is asking for $10 million a year. Two straight pro bowls have him in the catbird seat. My thinking is that we simply cannot afford that – we’ll wait him out, and hope he crashes to earth. Tito Taylor is looking for less than $1.4 per year – he’ll get an offer right away, coming off his third 1,000+ yard season. I’ll also work to lock up DE Pat Wayne, who we may need on the left side, as starting LDE Emmitt Summers is permanently slowed by his latest injury, and is no longer an impact player.


After two weeks, we have WR Taylor and DE Wayne tied up, and we see San Francisco put in a $7m/yr offer to RB Pietrzyk. I decide to assemble a deal for Pietrzyk, and he at least listens to my backloaded deal. I won’t be surprised if he goes to SF anyway – but we’ll have an offer on the table.

In week 8 Pietrzyk finally decides to take our deal, to my surprise. I offered him only $5 million in signing bonus, and he’ll only hit our cap for $3m this year and next – that seems like quite a deal to me. It does, however, chew up nearly all of the cap space that we had left.

With the new contract, I decide to make a pretty daring move. I switch Bruce Pietrzyk over to play wide receiver – he converts at 75% of his previous skills, and when I go ahead with the switch, I am pretty favorably impressed. He looks like he will be a pretty impressive receiver for us – he will have some learning to do to develop his current skills, but I think this could work out just fine, really. I expect that he will take over as our starting split end, assuming that we are unable to get Harris Hansen to re-sign for anything approaching a reasonable price. An interesting twist in this drama – something I have considered several times, but finally pulled the trigger. (As a very weird aside – in the switch, Pietrzyk went from having zero ratings in both punt and kick off returns to have very high ratings in both – and now he will take over those duties for us as well)

That wraps up the early FA process – we will try to fill some holes with the draft, and then come back and see what we can do with guys like WR Hansen and RG Ahn.


In the draft, we desperately need a middle linebacker – Cole Westbrook will miss this whole season with an extended injury (probably a career-ender for him, but we will keep him around just in case). That’s far and away our top priority – but I don’t see a true standout in this draft at all, so there’s not even a guy for us to mortgage the draft to go up and get there.

When we are up, three linebackers have been selected – and there’s nothing to like there for us at #32. SO, I move down into the middle of the second round, and pick up a middle round pick for doing so. We pick up DB Richie Manning in round two, but have to sit back at LB, since there’s nobody here who moves me at all.



Pick Pos Player Board Dash Sole Strg Agil Vol Draft After PostCamp
2.16 CB Richie Manning 4.5 4.44+ 23 12 7.20 65 13/55 13/52 15/46
3.20 FB Jerry Wells 6.1 4.67+ 29 29 7.45 50 36/68 36/68
to TE 22/64 26/65
4.16 DE Ellis Winters 3.2 5.13 15 28 7.60 59 22/37 22/37
to MLB 10/41 11/38
5.32 SLB Bryan Lengfelder 3.6 4.68 33+ 16 7.42 77 13/43 13/42
to MLB 14/46 16/42
6.32 TE Zach Rose 3.2 5.07 25 37++ 8.46 33 19/38 19/35 20/33
URFA WR Pat Richardson 3.1 4.52 15 6 7.03 69 13/36 13/35 13/30
URFA C Norman Crane 3.6 5.10 24 26 7.90 33 22/42 23/45 25/46
URFA C Bobby McWilliams 3.7 5.09 26 30 7.96 80 24/43 25/45
To LG 20/39 23/41
URFA SLB Bucky Benton 2.7 4.65 28 20 7.77 43 19/30 19/29 19/27
URFA SS Gino Bloomgarden 2.8 4.55 38 16 7.22 45 20/32 19/30 21/28


I’m not sure we landed any breakout candidates – here, we were mostly drafting based on overall potential and good matches at the specific skills. My two best MLB prospects, who will probably compete for the starting job, are both converts from other positions. TE Zach Rose might be a breakout type – we’ll watch him closely.


After the draft, we lock up P Jeremy Shaw and RG Melvin Ahn to fairly cheap deals. We wait until the very end of the late free agency period, but I still can’t work out a deal with WR Harris Hansen. He’s still asking for $27 over five years – I can’t commit to that, by any means. In the very final stage, I finally get in an offer he will listen to – but he then rejects it, and the FA stages finishes with him remaining unsigned. It’s impossible – we will have to let him go, and hope that Pietrzyk can step into the starting split end role right away.


After training camp, it looks like this will be our weakest rookie crop ever. All but one of our new players dipped in camp, which isn’t a good sign. Richie Manning looks like a special teamer and deep reserve, and perhaps we’ll get something out of a guy like G Bobby McWilliams, our only bump-up in the lot. But the two rookie middle linebackers are both disappointing – I don’t know what we ought to do there – we’ll probably end up starting mediocre holdover Luke Swift, as I have already switched Jerome Maxwell back to SLB, where he is far better than he is at MLB.

The preseason looks pretty good for our backfield switchover – Pietrzyk seems to be learning the ropes quickly at WR, while new starting RB Bo Brewster (an undrafted free agent from the same rookie class as Pietrzyk) seems to be stepping well into the starting RB role. I expect a pretty good season from our receiving corps this year – Brewater is not the receiving threat out of the backfield that Pietrzyk was, so we should be going downfield a bit more. WR Archie Broenkow should be primed for a breakout season.


In our opener, Copeland throws for 5 TDs, all to wideouts – including 138 yards and TD for Broenkow. And in week two, we have a very unusual stat: RB Bo Brewster has a 100+ yard rushing day, totaling 123 yards and 3TDs, even without a huge breakaway run (in fact, nothing over 15 yards). Bruce Pietrzyk never had a single 100 yard day rushing the ball – this is unusual for us. Brewster is now by far our best rushing threat – so that helps explain that he’s getting the lion’s share of the work at RB now.

We get to 6-0 on the year – Mel Copeland’s knee bursitis is acting up again, but he will play through it as usual. We’re still unbeaten at the halfway point, and Archie Broenkow leads the league in receiving with 738 yards and 7 TD. Our defense is #1 against eth run and #1 against the pass – very impressive, especially considering the hobos we have playing at MLB.

After our next game, WR Bruce Pietrzyk is lost for the season with a wrist injury. His year was pretty good – 8 starts at WR, with 29 catches for 440 yards. We’ll shuffle the lineup to fill the spot (we’re a little thin at WR now) but it looks like he will be declared a success at wideout.

In the final week, we eke out a 24-21 win over New England, to complete the regular season sweep at 16-0 again. Copeland’s knee problems continue, but he managed to start every game all season. We will get our needed week off, and gear up for another playoff run.


Front Office Football 2004
2023 Summary for Miami Dolphins

Record: 16-0
Winning Pct.: 1.000

Miami Dolphins Team Rank
Rushes 401 29 (T)
Rushing Yards 1646 22
Yards Per Carry 4.10 11 (T)
Pass Attempts 580 2
Completions 376 1
Passing Yards 4852 1
Yards Per Attempt 8.36 2
3rd Down Conversions 45.0 7
Points Per Game 29.6 1
Turnovers 20 10 (T)
Turnover Margin +20 1

Opponents Team Rank
Rushes 379 1
Rushing Yards 1252 1
Yards Per Carry 3.30 1
Pass Attempts 588 31
Completions 300 11 (T)
Passing Yards 3310 6
Yards Per Attempt 5.62 1
3rd Down Conversions 36.4 2
Points Per Game 10.0 1
Turnovers 40 1

Week Team Versus Oppnt
1 35 NYJ 21
2 31 at DAL 3
3 23 TEN 17
4 38 BUF 13
5 10 at SDO 7
6 34 DEN 7
8 34 KCY 6
9 31 at OAK 0
10 31 at NED 14
11 38 at NYJ 7
12 33 PHI 10
13 27 at BAL 7
14 28 at NYG 7
15 27 at BUF 13
16 31 WAS 7
17 24 NED 21

Passing Pos Att Comp Yards Y/Att TD Int
14 Copeland QB 564 365 4769 8.45 37 11
**Team --- 580 376 4852 8.36 37 12

Rushing Pos Att Yards Y/Att TD
28 Brewster RB 264 881 3.33 9
27 Beyer FB 47 334 7.10 1
14 Copeland QB 41 193 4.70 3
32 Wright RB 35 132 3.77 0
**Team --- 401 1646 4.10 14

Receiving Pos Targ Catch Yards Y/Ctc YAC TD
86 Broenkow WR 137 90 1600 17.7 432 16
82 Barker WR 114 73 948 12.9 90 3
27 Beyer FB 74 53 341 6.4 123 3
85 Taylor WR 69 36 393 10.9 55 4
29 Pietrzyk WR 42 29 440 15.1 45 2
45 Wells TE 42 29 310 10.6 52 5
87 Horner WR 43 27 409 15.1 54 2
28 Brewster RB 39 23 247 10.7 157 2
**Team --- 580 376 4852 12.9 1050 37

Defense Pos Tack Asst Sack Hurr Ints Defn
47 Harper S 91 26 0.0 1 2 16
49 Veen OLB 66 23 3.5 7 1 6
25 Sims CB 55 19 1.0 0 14 20
92 Jamison OLB 54 21 0.0 1 1 3
71 Halpin DT 53 22 2.0 9 0 1
41 Banks CB 50 18 0.0 1 9 15
59 Swift ILB 47 16 5.5 2 0 2
91 Wayne DE 46 15 13.5 13 0 0
79 Ljunghammar DT 45 18 4.5 11 0 0
93 Maxwell OLB 41 15 4.5 1 0 3
78 Curtis DE 32 17 8.0 22 0 0
42 Money CB 27 9 0.0 0 3 6
52 Lengfelder ILB 23 7 0.0 0 0 2
26 Torretta CB 17 3 0.0 0 1 5
48 Crute S 17 8 0.0 0 1 1
83 Giles TE 16 0 0.0 0 0 0
23 Bloomgarden S 16 3 0.0 0 1 1
**Team --- 823 264 51.0 80 34 83



Another strong year for Mel Copeland – again nibbling toward 5,000 yards but not quite getting there. This ranks as the sixth-highest yardage total in league history (behind five other of his own years), all within 250 yards of 5,000. WR Archie Broenkow breaks the league record with his 16th TD catch – eclipsing the record held by a long-lost tight end of mine, Thomas Newnam (who had 42 TD in 14 seasons). RB Bo Brewster got nearly all the work, and was good, but not great – 3.33 yard per carry is a little lower than we’d prefer to see.

CB Mickey Sims had an unbelievable season – 14 interceptions, 4 for touchdowns, and 20 passes defensed. He ought to be a lock for the pro bowl, and probably defensive player of the year, I’d think. Stephen Banks joins him to make by far the best CB combo in the league – no contest at all. DE Pat Wayne had a nice year, leading our defensive front to another solid performance. #1 in yards allowed both per carry and per attempt – that’s unbelievable defensive domination, considering our very weak linebacking situation.

Unsung heroes: FB Rick Beyer had a few breakout runs and ended up with a solid 675 total yards on the year, his best season to date… C Deon Flint was again a stalwart on the line, with 30 KRBs and only 3 sacks allowed… LT Eddie Wickes stayed healthy and was dominant again at LT… we were among the lowest in sacks allowed – and this from a team that passes all the time, the OL did a great job this year… P Jeremy Shaw.s 42.8 yard average is among the league leaders, again.


Postseason

Miami 27, New England 24 – Another tough game from the Pats, we needed a FG with 12 seconds left to pull it out. Copeland’s 372 yards passing helped, too.

Miami 27, Pittsburgh 24 – Yikes! A TD interception return from Stephen Banks gives us enough cushion to withstand Pittsburgh’s late rally, and we hold on for the win. Pietrzyk, back healthy, had 90 yards receiving.

…and now, trying to secure our first ever “threepeat” ® here are Mel Copeland and your Miami Dolphins…

Miami 20, Detroit 13 – We wrap up a nail-biting postseason with another close win. Up 14-10 at the half, we endured a battle of defense in the second half, won the FG battle 2-1, and came away with the win for our tenth championship. Mel Copeland gets the game ball yet again, though my vote would have been for FB Rick Beyer (103 total yards).



So, we finally get over the hump, and win a third straight title. This was also our fifth perfect season, and the first time we’ve done it back-to-back ever. We now have a 42-game winning streak, dating back to week 13 of the 2021 season. And also, we have posted a tenth league championship for QB Mel Copeland and RB Pat Noccolino. That’s a lot of bling, folks.


Marvelous Mel Copeland racks up three awards this year – offensive player of the year goes to Pittsburgh’s RB Aaron Bradford, who broke the league rushing record with 1,925 yards and also had 481 yards receiving – a pretty darned good season, I’ll admit. WR Archie Broenkow made the first team, of course, while CB Mickey Sims gets first team honors as well (he was beaten out for DPOY by a LB with 145+38 tackles and 9.5 sacks).


What a year. What a run. Crossing fingers for the retirement list now…

[Bee]

2023
And also, we have posted a tenth league championship for QB Mel Copeland and RB Pat Noccolino. That’s a lot of bling, folks.



And posters go up across Miami saying "Next: One for the toe" :D

[JAG]

Ho Hum, a 41-game winning streak (incl. postseason)

[CraigSca]

FWIW, in all my years of playing FOF, I have NEVER seen a string of success like this. In fact, I've never had an undefeated season (and sometimes wondered if ANYONE ever had).

Like the others, I'll throw in that I too am very interested to see if this continues after the retirement of Copeland. Keep up the good work!

[QuikSand]

For what it's worth... I'm into another offseason, and Copeland has stayed. So, we get him for his 17th season... but the clock has to be ticking.

[nfg22]

MEL COPELAND....Dean who?

[Chas in Cinti]

Dean who? Jeez... I haven't even THOUGHT of Dean Houston in years... hahaha...

Quiksand, just read the whole thread back to back (been gone for a while)... thanks for the entertainment as always, and let's keep this thing going past the Copeland-era. I agree with the others that the best part of this thing is the fact that ALL the players are familiar to us ALL the time... because they rarely leave.

Nice touch... regardless of how hard things are, etc...

Regards,
Chas

[Alf]

yep, QS, make Mel Copeland totaly eclipse Dean Houston (you know, the child molestor).

[Buzzbee]

Yeah, I'd like to see just how incredible Mel's career stats are when he does retire. I'm guessing they will be near tops in FOF history.

One thought, probably more for the FOFC members than for QS himself, since I don't really peg QS as the nostalgic type, but I'd love to see Cuervo or sfl-cat create an end of career "card" for Mel. It be great to see him on the front of the card, poised and ready to deliver a bullet, with his career stats on the back of the card. Some sort of Topps premium line might do him justice. It would certainly become part of FOFC history. Perhaps even both Cuervo AND sfl_cat could design cards. One each from a different card company. Don't know who does football cards other than Topps.

Just a thought.

[QuikSand]

2024

And we check out the retirement list, once again. We have plenty of players at that age.

Relief! Mel Copeland will return for his 17th season! We can try to extend this run we’ve been on!

We do have some retirements:
RB Pat Noccolino was a 7th round breakout, started for us for 80 games, and posted 4,834 yards rushing in his career. He later settled in as a nice mentor and special teamer, getting a little reserve RB duty also.
RB Lamar Wright got 35 starts at RB, posting 3,234 rushing yards in his career. Solid all-around back, he was also a mentor and good contributor on the downside of his ten year career.
TE Roderick Giles had 4,953 yards receiving in his 13 year career, including a great year in 2014 when he caught 70 balls for 858 yards and earned first team all-pro honors. Always solid – our best TE.
WR Tito Taylor retires with 9,807 yards receiving and 75 TD, making him the career leader in both categories for our team. An undrafted rookie free agent, he broke out and developed into a very consistent performer for us for many years, posting three 1,000+ seasons along the way.


We have to bring in a new scout – Derek Wilburn will have a good eye for young talent, and has few weaknesses (maybe linebackers, unfortunately). He ought to be fine.


As we begin the FA period, we have 36 players signed, and a whopping $17.2 million in usable cap space. That undoubtedly means that we will have a number of critical players without contracts – that kind of cap room doesn’t come from nowhere. Our list of FA targets, again in order is here: RB Bo Brewster, LT Eddie Wickes, C Deon Flint, S Derek Harper, S Drew Griffith, SLB Jerome Maxwell, and RT Marshall Goodwin, and FB Rick Beyer. Brewster has been pretty good, but right now we don’t have a single player on the roster signed to play running back – so we’re suddenly in real trouble there. (Oh, Bruce…?)

RB Brewster is looking for a long-term deal, but not really a big fat one – that’s good, at least.

I start the FA process without any offers in – I’m going to react to the market this year, I think. I end up with a pretty expensive contract for S Derek Harper, but I don’t see any other way – he’s easily our best player there. I end up acceding to the exact demands of not only Harper, but also RB Bo Brewster and C Deon Flint as well – all positions where I don’t have much luxury of movement.

It takes until week 14, but we do lock up LB Maxwell, also. SO, we head to the draft without a deal for LT Eddie Wickes – we did this before, and ended up re-signing him fairly cheaply in the late FA stages. I’m hoping against hope that this works again – he’s been very good for two seasons now, and we don’t have a capable option on hand other than him, really, especially with starting RT Goodwin also still unsigned. This promises to be a very active late FA year for us – we have $11m in usable cap space targeted for the two tackles and probably FB Beyer as well.


In the draft – we’d like to pick up some help at LB. I have re-signed Col Westbrook to a new deal, and he looks like he’s fully back from injury – but there’s no way we can really expect him to stay out there all year. In fact, I’d be shocked if he doesn’t go down right away and possibly miss the season. So – the starting MLB job is basically vacant – guys like Luke Swift and Brad Lengfelder are band-aids. Safety would be another good target area – behind Derek Harper was have very little of note. We are thin at WR, and could use an infusion there, and we have only one RB signed to our roster. Those are our many priorities – and all that assumes we can re-sign both starting offensive tackles. If not, then we have a big hole there. More to do than one might expect on a team with a 42-game winning streak.

My top “realistic” target player, middle linebacker A.J. Newton, gets taken by NE at #22. It seemed like a reach pick for them, I thought he’d be there for us at #32. Damn.


Pick Pos Player Board Dash Sole Strg Agil Vol Draft After PostCamp
1.32 WR Dave Harney 4.9 4.45+ 34+ 23++ 7.04+ 99 29/56 29/54 31/52
2.32 FB Lincoln Connell 7.8 4.58++ 32+ 26+ 7.22+ 27 50/82 49/81
to RB 41/58 42/55
3.32 DT Brian Yates 4.1 5.29 20 28 7.35++ 71 20/50 20/48 22/45
4.32 SS Ian Peralta 4.0 4.47+ 37+ 13 7.35 81 17/46 17/41 18/35
5.32 MLB Bart Colley 3.2 5.10 18 22 7.68 14 19/37 19/36 20/33
6.32 RB O.J. Burroughs 3.5 4.53 14 10 7.19 10 27/38 26/35 27/32
7.32 TE Neal Rasmussen 4.0 4.95 28 35++ 7.51+ 32 25/46 26/44 28/40
URFA QB Cris Prior 2.9 4.49 30 10 7.44 89 04/33 04/34 07/39
URFA RB Dan Crawford 2.9 4.71 21 15 7.40 11 24/31 24/31 25/32
URFA FB Clyde Carillo 3.0 4.96 28 16 7.39 47 20/34 20/32 21/31
URFA LT Marty Carter 3.0 5.19 10 32 7.72 55 12/34 12/37 15/40
URFA LT Jon Manning 2.8 5.15 35 30 7.72 49 10/34 10/39 13/44
URFA MLB Moe Lyle 2.4 4.94 24 18 7.77 38 07/26 07/25 08/25
URFA CB Carlos Harper 3.0 4.47 32 14 7.20 54 14/34 14/37 17/43


So, I end up trying to grab a player I think can help us right away in WR Dave Harney – he’s the top-rated wideout left, he has some standout skills, and he could end up being a serious target (he has a super-high apparent potential in route running). He might have breakout potential to exceed his decent-looking ratings – so I figure he’s worth a whirl.

FB Lincoln Connell ought to be a complete monster there – the question is whether to switch him over to play RB. Our current starter Rick Beyer is too fat to play RB, but Connell is only 225, and would be a somewhat chunky back but could be effective. Tough call there.

The rest are mostly skill-driven picks, where we’ve had lousy results lately. We’ll see if we grab any diamonds in the rough here – but I don’t see anyone who stands out, really.

Among the URFA group, I find a few guys to bring aboard, including yet another fleet-footed QB in Cris Prior. I grab a couple fairly promising prospects at offensive tackle – and we might be able to survive if we cannot re-sign LT Eddie Wickes after all (though I still want him back, of course).


In the late free agency stages – we manage to get in pretty affordable offers to both starting tackles, and we lock up Marshall Goodwin right away. Eddie Wickes signs in week three – it’s a time bomb contract, but it won’t blow up for three seasons, so we ought to be okay there.

I have to go back to the URFA pile and scoop up a kicker, as Marcus Knox is looking to be paid something like Fort Knox. Too much – we’ll go with another rookie, pally.

So – we really don’t end up losing anyone this offseason through free agency. We even work out a deal with FB Rick Beyer, who will play for cheap for the next few years after all. And that signing cinches my decision – I have to send rookie Lincoln Connell into camp as a halfback – he’s almost certain to be our #2 option for this season, the way things look now. The switch looks pretty good – he won’t be the most elusive back, but he has nice potential most everywhere else. A 41/58 running back could help us a whole lot.


Training camp reveals – a lot of whimpers at the top of our draft list. Harney and Connell should be good, but I don’t see either one developing into a major star for us. As usual, the best news from camp comes from the unheralded free agents – guys like Clyde Harper and linemen Manning and Carter – those three ought to be worth something in a little time.

Also, we had a veteran breakout this year – S Derek Harper made a pretty big jump, and is now pretty much the complete package, including the coverage skills he once lacked. Makes me feel even batter about investing pretty big money into him this offseason – a good URFA player who has really panned out.


It’s a little tougher than usual to get to our final cut-down – we end up with a few marginally injured players placed onto IR, just to make roster space. But we get there, and head into yet another season, looking for an angle to the title once again.



Front Office Football 2004
Miami Dolphins Roster, Scout Overview

Player # Pos Start Exp Current Estimate Future Estimate Cntrct
Copeland, Mel 14 QB QB 17 80 80 1 yr.
Huffman, Greg 13 QB 6 43 49 1 yr.
Sampson, Ronald 1 QB 3 20 49 1 yr.
##Prior, Cris 15 QB 1 7 39 2 yrs
Brewster, Bo 28 RB RB 7 53 53 6 yrs
Connell, Lincoln 38 RB 1 42 55 3 yrs
Burroughs, O.J. 43 RB 1 27 32 3 yrs
**Crawford, Dan 33 RB 1 25 32 2 yrs
Beyer, Rick 27 FB FB 6 52 52 5 yrs
Wells, Jerry 45 TE TE 2 51 65 2 yrs
Rasmussen, Neil 89 TE 1 29 40 3 yrs
Broenkow, Archie 86 FL FL 4 57 58 1 yr.
Barker, Brant 82 FL 9 39 39 1 yr.
Harney, Dave 85 FL 1 34 52 4 yrs
Horner, Chad 87 FL 8 32 32 3 yrs
Pietrzyk, Bruce 29 SE SE 7 44 63 5 yrs
Flint, Deon 50 C C 11 70 71 3 yrs
Crane, Norman 54 C 2 33 46 2 yrs
**Lofton, Ross 69 LG 11 28 29 1 yr.
McWilliams, Bobby 56 LG 2 28 43 2 yrs
Blackwell, Leroy 57 LG RG 3 23 41 3 yrs
Ahn, Melvin 73 RG LG 6 46 46 2 yrs
Wickes, Eddie 70 LT LT 10 83 85 4 yrs
##Carter, Marty 64 LT 1 16 40 2 yrs
Manning, Jon 63 LT 1 13 44 2 yrs
Goodwin, Marshall 62 RT RT 5 61 61 4 yrs
Shaw, Jeremy 17 P 13 82 85 3 yrs
Benson, Darnell 16 K 1 51 53 2 yrs
Curtis, Ken 78 LDE LDE 12 60 60 1 yr.
Summers, Emmitt 96 LDE 8 34 34 4 yrs
Wayne, Pat 91 RDE RDE 6 57 58 2 yrs
Fulton, Mike 75 RDE 4 11 20 2 yrs
Halpin, Sammy 71 LDT LDT 8 57 57 1 yr.
##Vaughn, Kendrick 98 LDT 3 29 36 1 yr.
Ljunghammar, Roger 79 RDT RDT 3 48 53 2 yrs
Cowley, Bo 72 RDT 3 27 36 2 yrs
##Yates, Brian 99 RDT 1 23 45 4 yrs
Westbrook, Cole 55 MLB MLB 9 70 70 3 yrs
Swift, Luke 59 MLB 5 37 37 1 yr.
##Colley, Bart 90 MLB 1 21 33 3 yrs
##Lengfelder, Brad 52 MLB 2 19 40 2 yrs
Veen, Burt 49 SLB SLB 13 51 51 1 yr.
Maxwell, Jerome 93 SLB 10 51 52 3 yrs
##Benton, Bucky 94 SLB 2 21 23 1 yr.
Jamison, Nicky 92 WLB WLB 4 36 44 3 yrs
**Beethoven, Bobby 97 WLB 14 26 26 2 yrs
Banks, Stephen 41 LCB LCB 3 82 92 3 yrs
Money, Arnie 42 LCB 3 42 62 1 yr.
Sims, Mickey 25 RCB RCB 9 75 76 2 yrs
Torretta, Carl 26 RCB 4 27 38 2 yrs
Harper, Carlos 35 RCB 1 18 43 2 yrs
**Peralta, Ian 34 RCB 1 15 36 3 yrs
Griffith, Drew 31 SS 13 37 37 2 yrs
Bloomgarden, Gino 23 SS 2 25 25 1 yr.
Manning, Richie 36 SS 2 18 41 2 yrs
Harper, Derek 47 FS SS 8 83 84 4 yrs
Crute, David 48 FS FS 4 35 42 1 yr.



So, we head into another season. As has been the case for some time, we have outstanding cohesion – it’s the nature of the beast with this challenge, I keep lots of players a long time, and we build up quite an esprit de corps. We are rated 100 in every group, with the next-highest team in each in the 80s. Our roster rating is also 100, with Carolina next at 81. So – we look to be the favorites to win it all, once again.


After five weeks, five wins, and Mel Copeland has a broken hand. He’s probable, and will go anyway – as has usually been the case with his injuries (mostly knees). A wonderful surprise, though, has been MLB Cole Westbrook – who seems to be completely healthy and productive once again. After two offseasons trying to find a starting MLB, it looks like the guy is right here after all. Great!

At 8-0, we continue cruising along – but Copeland’s hand hasn’t gotten any better. The stats aren’t showing any really ill effects, though –his rating is over 93 (good, but not great for him, I suppose). For our week 11 game, Copeland is finally declared 100%, along with a few others who are nursing injuries.

So, of course, we lose. It’s been a long time coming – 52 games in a row, including playoffs. But we slip in Arizona and get beaten 20-9 by the 5-5 Cardinals. Not a real impact in meaningful terms, but it does end one heck of a streak. Oddly, we outgained the Cards by 416-237 yards, and only had one turnover – but we sputtered on third downs and couldn’t convert scoring chances into scores.

We bounce back and beat two good teams in Pitt and St. Louis, but drop one more down the stretch against Seattle. We finish up the season at 14-2, which is good enough to claim the top seed, as we would expect.



Front Office Football 2004
2024 Summary for Miami Dolphins

Record: 14-2
Winning Pct.: .875

Miami Dolphins Team Rank
Rushes 392 31
Rushing Yards 1602 27
Yards Per Carry 4.08 13 (T)
Pass Attempts 640 1
Completions 401 1
Passing Yards 4626 1
Yards Per Attempt 7.22 7
3rd Down Conversions 43.6 15 (T)
Points Per Game 26.2 1
Turnovers 20 8 (T)
Turnover Margin +6 8 (T)

Opponents Team Rank
Rushes 378 1
Rushing Yards 1379 1
Yards Per Carry 3.64 1
Pass Attempts 546 29
Completions 273 2
Passing Yards 3455 15
Yards Per Attempt 6.32 6
3rd Down Conversions 34.0 1
Points Per Game 12.0 1
Turnovers 26 11 (T)

Week Team Versus Oppnt
1 27 at BUF 20
2 27 SFO 3
3 24 at OAK 0
4 30 at NED 3
5 20 at JAX 13
6 35 TEN 27
7 34 BUF 31
8 36 IND 10
10 35 at HOU 7
11 17 at NYJ 13
12 9 at ARI 20
13 31 PIT 7
14 23 STL 7
15 36 NED 10
16 10 at SEA 13
17 26 NYJ 9

Passing Pos Att Comp Yards Y/Att TD Int
14 Copeland QB 636 400 4621 7.26 26 15
**Team --- 640 401 4626 7.22 26 15

Rushing Pos Att Yards Y/Att TD
28 Brewster RB 154 629 4.08 5
38 Connell RB 128 437 3.41 1
14 Copeland QB 57 318 5.57 4
27 Beyer FB 43 197 4.58 2
**Team --- 392 1602 4.08 12

Receiving Pos Targ Catch Yards Y/Ctc YAC TD
27 Beyer FB 120 90 681 7.5 225 9
86 Broenkow WR 122 68 1041 15.3 170 2
29 Pietrzyk WR 103 60 845 14.0 116 5
82 Barker WR 91 53 636 12.0 49 4
85 Harney WR 74 42 524 12.4 47 1
45 Wells TE 49 31 343 11.0 47 1
28 Brewster RB 34 26 213 8.1 108 4
**Team --- 640 401 4626 11.5 855 26

Defense Pos Tack Asst Sack Hurr Ints Defn
55 Westbrook ILB 100 29 8.0 5 1 14
47 Harper S 78 26 0.0 0 5 18
49 Veen OLB 56 20 10.0 6 0 9
79 Ljunghammar DT 51 18 8.0 8 0 1
41 Banks CB 51 21 0.0 0 4 12
78 Curtis DE 48 11 9.0 18 0 0
93 Maxwell OLB 47 8 2.0 0 1 6
25 Sims CB 47 26 0.0 0 1 23
92 Jamison OLB 45 12 0.0 0 1 1
71 Halpin DT 34 15 4.0 9 0 1
31 Griffith S 30 12 0.0 0 1 0
91 Wayne DE 28 8 7.0 11 0 0
42 Money CB 25 3 0.0 1 2 5
23 Bloomgarden S 19 2 1.0 0 0 5
82 Barker WR 17 0 0.0 0 0 0
**Team --- 777 228 55.0 67 16 104



Mel Copeland had a relative down year – he’s still good for close to 300 yards a game, but he worked underneath more than I would have liked, and our downfield production suffered. FB Rick Beyer had nice stats, but loyal readers know how much it irks me to see the FB getting the ball this much – 120 targeted passes? Ridiculous! The result is that not enough passes went to guys like Broenkow, who could have done things with them. The running game was pretty shaky – but Brewster was up over 4ypc at least.

Cole Westbrook was a welcome sight in the middle of the defense, and we were again very strong against the run, and good against the pass. We didn’t have the gaudy interception totals like last season (Mickey Sims – one pick?) but were still tough to pass against. Great season from DT Roger Ljunghammar – he’s the guy who emerged from our mad scramble to secure a starting DT, and he is doing well. S Derek Harper had a good season, and is locked in as perhaps our defensive leader overall.

Unsung heroes: Bruce Pietrzyk played in 14 games, but was solidly productive as our starting split end, and would have had a better year with more downfield action – he also was very productive with kick and punt returns… CB Arnie Money played well as our nickel back, with a PDPct of 20.9… our line was effective again, with our four regular starters (ignoring the rookie platoon at LG) posting fewer that 1% sacks allowed.


Postseason

Copeland is probable with a weak knee, but will certainly go in the opener…

Miami 31, Jacksonville 17 – Copeland airs it out for 4 TD, as we keep things right on pace.

Miami 21, Indianapolis 14 – Copeland is 27 of 34 for 355 yards to lead the effort again.

In eleven tries, we have only lost one Superbowl – to Green Bay. They are back, and we take on the Packers in the final game, looking to end our run of titles.

Miami 24, Green Bay 10 – No such luck, Packer fans. Marvelous Mel hits Archie Broenkow twice, and Mickey Sims returns a pick for a TD to seal up the win over the outgunned Packers. Copeland is the easy choice for MVP, taking home a staggering 11th piece of Superbowl hardware for his troubles.



In the season awards – Mel Copeland gets the first team QB honor, but loses to two different running backs for MVP and OPOY. FB Rick Beyer makes the first team, as does K Darnell Benson, shockingly (he had to punt twice – and hit them for 50 and 48 yards - that must be why). I’m not wild about either guy, really.


Another excellent season – we take home title number eleven, and four in a row. Copeland is the only player who has lasted through the entire series of titles, now that Pat Noccolino is gone.

Unbelievable – but I have to think that the time has come. Copeland is in his 17th year – and I don’t recall seeing many (any?) QBs make it past that season. I think it might be time to write up another career player card – this could be it…

[cthomer5000]

I have seen the very rare QB go to year 18, but never beyond (to my knowledge). If he's under contract beyond this season that would be a big help (as this appears [to me] to be a pretty big factor in whether a player hangs it up or not).

[QuikSand]

He's been tagged year to year ever since his rookie contract ended, so no such luck.

[cthomer5000]

He's been tagged year to year ever since his rookie contract ended, so no such luck.Since I've been reading, I obviously knew that. Completely slipped my mind. I'd put the odds at about 30-1 at him returning then.

edit - and just to be sure I fired up a solo career where there is an active 18 year veteran starter. I would say I've only seen about 10 guys play that long in 200+ years of (FOF2004) solo play.

[cthomer5000]

dola.

I opened up the last year of my lengthiest solo career (year 2057) and took a look at the all-time leaders in games started. Here is a breakdown of the longest tenured QB's (I was limited to the qualifiers on the games started page obviously).

19 years - 3 QB's (1 guy even started every single game)
18 years - 4 (1 active in 2057)
17 years - 7

[QuikSand]

Maybe not quite as much a longshot as I had thought... Copeland still has ratings about 80% as good as his max... most of his main skills are still 70 or better. He certainly still seems to be in good form...

[cthomer5000]

Maybe not quite as much a longshot as I had thought... Copeland still has ratings about 80% as good as his max... most of his main skills are still 70 or better. He certainly still seems to be in good form...I honestly didn't recall any of the 19 year guys, but seeing them makes me think you definitely have some hope of Copeland returning for year 18.

Still, my incredibly unscientific observations leads me to believe guys who do not have a contract are more likely to retire... so you seem to have that working against you.

[QuikSand]

I've just started the 2025 season... Copeland is back.

I even saved the game and re-ran the "end season" routine a few extra times, just to see if we had gotten lucky -- Copeland stuck around every single time.

So, one more year!

[cthomer5000]

Great news. Can he make it a dozen?

[MIJB#19]

I've just started the 2025 season... Copeland is back.

I even saved the game and re-ran the "end season" routine a few extra times, just to see if we had gotten lucky -- Copeland stuck around every single time.

So, one more year!Right. :rolleyes:

[Alf]

Woot : Champaign in Miami !

[Buzzbee]

Woot : Champaign in Miami !


You live it France, famous for it's fermented grapes. Obviously there are differences between the French and English spellings of various words, but isn't champagne a french word? And shouldn't someone living in France spell it correctly? :p



Glad to see Mel dust off the oxygen tank for another year! I just hope he avoids serious injury. Would be terribly anti-climatic (and a tad tragic) for him to have a season/career ending injury after fighting through the nagging injuries to make it this far.

[MIJB#19]

You live it France, famous for it's fermented grapes. Obviously there are differences between the French and English spellings of various words, but isn't champagne a french word? And shouldn't someone living in France spell it correctly? :p
[Sidebar reply]
Not so fast. If the English talking people decide to butcher how it's pronounced, no wonder if a Frenchmen starts misspelling the translation from spoken to written language. :rolleyes:[/Sidebar reply]

[nfg22]

Mel Copeland eats injuriesfor breakfast....heck he didnt miss a game with a broken hand....even if it isnt his passing hand....handoffs and taking the snap affect that hand...

[Pyser]

quik - i read all of your dynasties (long time, first time?), but have to say this has been my favorite. 11 superbowl mvps. ridiculous. what i find interesting is that there were certainly a few games where copeland didnt deserve the hardware, but got it anyway...which makes me wonder if "reputation" is somehow factored into all of the awards. regardless, excellent job. ill be reading till the end.

[QuikSand]

quik - i read all of your dynasties (long time, first time?), but have to say this has been my favorite.

Favorite? Geez, I'd say that my writing here has been probably the least inspired of just about any dynasty thread of mine I can think of... but to each his own. The content is definitely different, and that might be what has kept it interesting. (Maybe my being more concise helps here, too?)

As for your "reputation" theory - I think it's really just a QB bias showing up. Lots of people complained about the MVP selection in older versions of the game (especially that defensive players scoring a TD got it too frequently) and I'd guess that when it was rewritten, the bias swung a bit too far toward the winning team's QB. Not a bad default, but it seems a bit too prevalent, to me.

[QuikSand]

2025

We start off the season, as always, with a look at the retirement list.

This year – we have only one retirement. But it’s not QB Mel Copeland – he’s back for an 18th season!

(After saving my game at the start of 2025, I decide to see if we got lucky, or if he was really just going to play anyway – I ran the “end season” routine three more times, and Copeland did not retire in any of them, so I tally this up to his real desire to keep playing, not just dumb metagame luck)

LB Bobby Beethoven played 15 seasons with us, starting out as an undrafted roster filler, and working his way up to the starting job on the strong side. When he was displaced by Burt Veen, he moved over to the weak side and started five more seasons there, racking up 514 tackles and 28.5 sacks in his career.


We retain our staff, of course – new contracts all around!


We have $8.6m in usable cap space this season, with 41 players signed. I make my usual pruning through the roster, but I only get us up to about $9.2 million – so there’s not that much cash out there.

Our FA targets are: WR Archie Broenkow, DE Ken Curtis, LB Burt Veen, DT Sammy Halpin, RG Melvin Ahn, WR Brant Barker, and LB Luke Swift – more or less in that order of importance. QB Greg Huffman is a special case – he’s the guy on board best prepared to take over for Mel Copeland, perhaps after this year, but I don’t think I can afford to pay a backup QB too much right now – so we might be in a tough spot with him.

I am once again going to just react – I don’t have the liberty to overpay anyone this year, I don’t think. WR Broenkow gets an $8m/yr offer, and I cannot match that by any means. My sense is that re-signing DE Ken Curtis is probably the single most important thing we can do here, as we have nothing behind him at DE, really. So, I put in my offer for Curtis, and get him locked up – but that eats up over $4m in cap space right there.

DT Sammy Halpin signs with Chicago, so he is gone – but the offer to Broenkow disappears, as the Giants have used up their cap space elsewhere, apparently. But New England comes in with a big bid for Broenkow, and we again are bracing to lose him. In week six, he signs with New England – so there are two pretty good players gone this year. In the late stages, we also see S David Crute and LB Luke Swift depart – guys I would have re-signed later if there was money around to do it.

The balance of the early FA stages are uneventful – we still have money set aside to re-up with LB Burt Veen, WR Brant Barker, and RG Melvin Ahn. And we might even be able to work things out with QB Greg Huffman, is he goes unclaimed.


So, looking at the draft – where do we have immediate needs? Well, DT just became one, with the loss of Halpin, who had been our best run stopper inside. WR is another need, with the loss of Broenkow. And we probably need to replenish at LB, too – we are pretty thin there, too. We could go with a standout cornerback, also, as we may lose both our star starters in the next two years to monster contract demands. Sevral options – close to BPA for us, I think.

I see two linebackers in the draft who suit my needs pretty well, and are pretty equally rated. When one goes at #21 overall, I decide to pull the trigger and move up to get the other guy, getting Detroit’s top two picks for our top two and a couple later selections.


Pick Pos Player Board Dash Sole Strg Agil Vol Draft After PostCamp
1.22 SLB Rufus Giles 5.7 4.52+ 36+ 18 7.03++ 73 18/69 18/67
to MLB 17/70 21/67
2.16 DE Anthony Carlson 4.2 4.97 27 30+ 7.28+ 93 22/50 22/49
to DT 22/54 24/51
4.32 CB Irv Givens 3.4 4.60 29 22++ 7.46 54 14/39 14/33 15/29
6.32 DT Charlie Elliott 2.7 5.07 20 32+ 8.50 68 23/29 23/29 23/30
URFA FB Skillethead Giese 3.3 4.78 28 16 7.29 63 16/39 16/39 18/40
URFA WR Norm Perkins 2.8 4.72 15 14 7.32 84 11/32 13/34 15/35
URFA WR Stephen Boynton 3.0 4.59 18 12 7.50 85 09/34 09/31 10/28
URFA DE Daryl Gonzalez 2.0 5.15 23 27 7.59 35 12/19 12/20 13/20
URFA DT Freddie Byette 2.8 5.19 25 24 7.57 26 12/32 12/33 14/33
URFA DT Eugene McCormick 3.1 5.16 15 24 8.15 91 10/35 09/30 10/24
URFA DT Dean Fennell 3.0 5.07 25 26 7.65 87 16/35 16/36 18/35
URFA LB Frankie Hughes 3.4 4.83 24 22 7.32 46 19/40 19/40 21/41
URFA MLB Deon Segura 2.5 4.81 14 18 7.60 28 07/27 08/27 09/22


DE Carlson is a run-stopper whom we quickly slide over to play DT, where he has some promise to step in for Sammy Halpin and play right away. I pick up a number of DL reaches, hoping to strike gold with one – the best candidate might be URFA Dean Fennell.


In the late FA stages, we lock up everyone – LB Burt Veen gets an offer from Indy, so we have to pay him more than I had hoped, but everyone else is easy, including QB Huffman, who takes a decent three year deal, and all but ensures himself the starting job in a season.


Training camp reveals – a little disappointment. I don’t see any real breakout candidates – all our draft picks are going to drop a bit, except DT Charlie Elliott, perhaps. WR Norm Perkins might be a keeper – he can help on special teams, at least.

LB Frankie Hughes is going to move up and play at DE for us – he’s 277 pounds, and makes the switch pretty seamlessly. He might actually have some potential, and we are thirsty for cheap help at DE, of course. I also switch CB Carlos Harper, who isn’t a great coverman but does have potential to strong safety, where we are thin and need a body.


We are already pretty dinged up as we prep for our opener, but once again have a veteran, cohesive ballclub. Our LB corps will be Westbrook, Veen, and Maxwell (stepping in at the sam, while Veen moves to the willie) – but all three guys are hurt, so we will have backup chumps in for a while.

This season, I’m planning to start young Skillethead Giese at FB – he’s much more to my liking than Rick Beyer, as he won’t mess up the downfield passing game as much. I expect to see ol’ Skillethead (nice nick, too) develop nicely, and stay out of the way of the better players. Good boy.


In our opener, we post a good win over NE wit 4 TD passes from Copeland, but lose DE Pat Wayne for three months. At four weeks and 4-0, we are really banged up on defense, with five starters out – but we keep on moving ahead, and pound unbeaten Buffalo 35-0. But in the Buffalo game, we lose Copeland – only for a few weeks, but it’s his first missed time in several seasons – with an elbow injury.

In Huffman’s fist start at QB, we win on the road to Cleveland, behind 127 yards rushing from Bo Brewster. But then Huffman gets hurt the next week – and even our defense can’t win with super-green Ronald Sampson in there. After a bye week, we are home to New England, a game we’d really like to win. I decide against activating the improving Copeland until he’s totally ready to go. We are run over by the Pats 23-10, and slip to 6-2 on the season.

Copeland is back, but we’re now without WR Bruce Pietrzyk – who has blown out a knee, and is gone for at least this season. What a career of wasted opportunities. We manage, though, to marhc through the rest of the season in good form, and reach the postseason with a solid 14-2 mark behind more great play from our defense, and of course from Mel Copeland.




Front Office Football 2004
2025 Summary for Miami Dolphins

Record: 14-2
Winning Pct.: .875

Miami Dolphins Team Rank
Rushes 377 30
Rushing Yards 1612 27
Yards Per Carry 4.27 10
Pass Attempts 614 1
Completions 384 1
Passing Yards 4262 2
Yards Per Attempt 6.94 17
3rd Down Conversions 41.6 16 (T)
Points Per Game 25.1 3
Turnovers 24 19 (T)
Turnover Margin +4 9 (T)

Opponents Team Rank
Rushes 433 10
Rushing Yards 1558 2
Yards Per Carry 3.59 2
Pass Attempts 544 26
Completions 296 7
Passing Yards 3148 2
Yards Per Attempt 5.78 1
3rd Down Conversions 36.9 2
Points Per Game 13.6 1
Turnovers 28 3 (T)

Week Team Versus Oppnt
1 35 at NED 16
2 24 at TBY 10
3 20 IND 18
4 21 at CIN 11
5 35 BUF 0
6 21 at CLE 14
7 7 PIT 21
9 10 NED 23
10 16 BAL 10
11 34 at NYJ 3
12 26 CAR 13
13 24 at KCY 6
14 30 ATL 14
15 30 NYJ 6
16 38 at NOS 27
17 31 at BUF 27

Passing Pos Att Comp Yards Y/Att TD Int
14 Copeland QB 481 320 3651 7.59 34 7
13 Huffman QB 124 60 567 4.57 2 8
**Team --- 614 384 4262 6.94 37 17

Rushing Pos Att Yards Y/Att TD
28 Brewster RB 199 902 4.53 6
38 Connell RB 112 392 3.50 1
14 Copeland QB 34 166 4.88 0
**Team --- 377 1612 4.27 8

Receiving Pos Targ Catch Yards Y/Ctc YAC TD
85 Harney WR 136 88 1112 12.6 132 8
82 Barker WR 137 78 885 11.3 124 7
45 Wells TE 94 61 569 9.3 124 6
87 Horner WR 95 59 764 12.9 89 7
83 Perkins WR 53 32 373 11.6 41 2
29 Pietrzyk WR 34 22 266 12.0 31 3
**Team --- 614 384 4262 11.0 661 37

Defense Pos Tack Asst Sack Hurr Ints Defn
41 Banks CB 80 15 1.0 0 5 23
49 Veen OLB 75 24 2.0 1 0 2
47 Harper S 71 32 0.0 0 3 13
25 Sims CB 59 9 0.0 2 2 21
93 Maxwell OLB 58 22 2.0 7 0 5
79 Ljunghammar DT 54 25 5.5 10 0 0
53 Giles ILB 52 12 2.5 3 0 1
35 Harper S 37 10 0.0 0 3 3
94 Benton OLB 36 9 0.0 1 0 3
55 Westbrook ILB 34 13 2.0 1 0 3
92 Jamison OLB 29 4 1.0 0 0 2
78 Curtis DE 24 13 4.5 8 0 0
96 Summers DE 22 13 4.5 11 0 0
72 Cowley DT 22 13 2.5 4 0 0
36 Manning S 22 5 0.0 0 1 1
40 Givens CB 18 3 1.0 0 0 3
42 Money CB 17 3 0.0 0 1 3
**Team --- 839 265 40.0 60 17 88



On offense, we struggled without Copeland, but ended up okay for the season after all. Copeland had a pretty good year – his stats are for only 13 games, and include one where he played less than half—so the 34 TDs is pretty strong, really. Huffman was awful.

Bo Brewster was on pace most of the year to top 1,000 yards rushing – which we haven not see inn quite some time. But he fell short as we shifted back to more passing down the stretch. WR Dave Harney, now apparently our best receiving target, topped the mark, though. Pretty good year of spreading it around, again.

The defense was once again really tough - #2 against the run, #1 against the pass. CB Stephen Banks had a superstar season, leading the team in tackles as well as being our ace coverage man (his ratings are all 99 or better, save in returns and an 88 in endurance – he’s a monster). We failed to get the top-tier pressure on the QBs that we are used to (losing Pat Wayne hurt, but he’ll return for the playoffs). Our shuffled group of linebackers got the job done pretty well, including Jerome Maxwell in his first year as a starter – a late bloomer, since he’s an 11th year player at this point. DT Ljunghammar had another good year in the middle, but we need someone to step up to play next to him at DT.


We’re ready for another run at the big one…

Postseason

Miami 19, Tennessee 3 – The defense came up huge here, holding them to 214 total yards and grabbing four turnovers along the way. The offense was a little flaccid, but we’ll take the win. Mel is hobbling on that knee again – but wild horses couldn’t keep him from playing on.

Miami 34, Baltimore 7 – Another dominating defensive effort, wow. 260 yards and 3 turnovers give us all the room we need. Copeland is sharp again, throwing for 280 and 3 TD – and we’re in the big one again.

Arizona was the team who ended our big win streak last season – now they are our rivals in the Superbowl.

Arizona 31, Miami 17 – Copeland is 17 of 24 in the big game, and we are right in the game trailing 14-10 in the third quarter, when it all falls apart. Copeland is flattened and out with another injury to the same elbow that he hurt earlier in the season. With Huffman at the helm, we aren’t the team at all, and Arizona pulls away to get the comfortable win.


A disappointing end to the season, and perhaps to the dynasty. But we did win four in a row, and 11 in 16 seasons. An 11 of 13 mark in the big game isn’t too bad, either – but of course we wanted this one, too.


Mel Copeland is going to have to get used to something new. He’s on the second team of the all-pro squad after his 12+ game campaign. CB Stephen Banks makes the first team all-pro squad, after a fabulous season.


That’s the end of our title run of four in a row – we’ll see where things go from here…

[Barkeep49]

I think Mel does put any other FOF player, including Darkiller's QB (whose name i am forgetting) and the immortal, not to mention immoral, Dean Hutson, to shame.

I just can't see him sticking around for another season though.

[cthomer5000]

I hope he comes back for one more revenge season.

[QuikSand]

MEL COPELAND PLAYER CARD

Hometown: Springville, Utah
College: Clemson
Drafted: 2008 Round 1, #18 overall by Miami

Statistics
18 seasons, 274 games played (all starts)
6,340 / 9,865 = 64.2% completions
75,824 passing yards = 7.68 ypa
578 touchdowns, 169 interceptions
1,074 carries for 6,505 yards = 6.0 ypc
Career passer rating = 100.0
Record as starting QB = 282-41-0

Awards
2025 Retired as Legend of the Game
2025 All-league Second Team QB
2024 Superbowl MVP
2024 All-league First Team QB
2023 Solecismic MVP
2023 Superbowl MVP
2023 All-league First Team QB
2022 Solecismic MVP
2022 Superbowl MVP
2022 Offensive Player of the Year
2022 All-league First Team QB
2021 Solecismic MVP
2021 Superbowl MVP
2021 Offensive Player of the Year
2021 All-league First Team QB
2020 All-league First Team QB
2019 Solecismic MVP
2019 Superbowl MVP
2019 Offensive Player of the Year
2019 All-league First Team QB
2018 Superbowl MVP
2017 All-league First Team QB
2016 Solecismic MVP
2016 Superbowl MVP
2016 Offensive Player of the Year
2016 All-league First Team QB
2015 Solecismic MVP
2015 Superbowl MVP
2015 Offensive Player of the Year
2015 All-league First Team QB
2014 Solecismic MVP
2014 Offensive Player of the Year
2014 All-league First Team QB
2013 Solecismic MVP
2013 Superbowl MVP
2013 All-league First Team QB
2012 Solecismic MVP
2012 Superbowl MVP
2012 Offensive Player of the Year
2012 All-league First Team QB
2011 Solecismic MVP
2011 Offensive Player of the Year
2011 All-league First Team QB
2010 Solecismic MVP
2010 Superbowl MVP
2010 Offensive Player of the Year
2010 All-league First Team QB

[QuikSand]

After saving my game, I again ran the "end season" routine a few extra times, just to see if there was any chance that he would have stayed. Turns out he stayed in 3 out of 10 times I ran it.. just not the "official" one. Oh, well.

Only thing missing from the career player card above is the inevitable HOF induction. Has there ever been a more secure lock for the HOF?

[nfg22]

I dont think he will make it

[cthomer5000]

Please run this career at least until he is inducted. If he doesn't get 100% of the votes, there is something wrong with that aspect of the game.

[Vince]

Amazing...truly amazing. 100.0 Career rating...fitting :)

[MIJB#19]

Please run this career at least until he is inducted. If he doesn't get 100% of the votes, there is something wrong with that aspect of the game.Actually, from here I can't see what the popularity rating is for Mel Copeland, but if he's (for example) even after these outstanding stats and number of awards just average in popularity (though because of the total of award I suspect he's in the Idolized category), I'd say the game engine would make a mistake with a 100% induction.

[QuikSand]

2026

We have one retirement. Mel Copeland.

For a long time, I would recoil at the degree to which the QB position is overvalued in this game. I know it’s pretty indisputably #1, but I’ve always felt that the QB simply meant too much in FOF. I love to invest in other places, and to get by with quarterbacks who are values, or late round finds, or that sort of thing. Just seems more colorful.

But I have to say – Mel Copeland is easily the best player I have ever had in any FOF career. The numbers speak for themselves, it’s been a staggering run. And it’s also very clear that quite a lot of the credit for this team’s dominance goes to Copeland – we have immediately struggled when using even our pretty solid backup quarterbacks over the years. His career records are all in another stratosphere beyond anything I’ve ever seen from a player in any career I’ve ever had – really leaps and bounds. So godspeed, Mr. Copeland.

It would be so cool to have him come back as a coordinator or coach…


My defensive coordinator is hired away by Philly to be their head coach – I offered the max my owner would allow, but they gave him the top job, which I could not do. We hire Baltimore’s guy – a 17 year veteran, who should be very good as well.


We start the free agency period with only $3.3 million in space – and that’s without using the franchise tag on anyone. Renegotiations gets us to about $5.5 million – but nowhere near enough to manage the free agenct class we have to deal with this offseason. Even setting aside the monumental loss of QB Mel Copeland, we have a lot of other key players on the bubble here as well. CB Mickey Sims, DE Pat Wayne, and DT Roger Ljunghammar have all become important parts of our defense – losing two of those guys would really hurt.

I decide that the guy we have to return is Ljunghammar – and that we can get by without Mickey Sims, and we simply won’t be able to afford Pat Wayne. I’ll wait all three guys out and hope their offers come to earth, but for now – my target is to match Ljunghammar if he gets pursued, but to let the others go. At CB, we have Arnie Money pretty ready to step in and start, so I feel okay there even if we lose Mickey Sims (a player I really like).

Right away, DE Pat Wayne gets signed by Denver, and CB Mickey Sims is being pursued by Green Bay. In week two, DT Ljunghammar gets an offer from Cinti, and I go ahead and make my pitch to keep him as cheaply as I can. We get Ljunghammar re-signed to a pretty bonus-leaden contract, probably locking him to us for the next four years no matter what. And, CB Sims sees his Green bay offer sheet disappear – so we might have some shot there also.

The early FA stages end – and Mickey Sims is getting more reasonable. What I’d really like is to see him accept a deal that would still allow us some hope of re-signing our other starting CB Stephen Banks, after his deal runs out following this season.


In the draft – we probably need to help out the offense, really. Greg Huffman holds the starting QB job now, but based on his on-field results to date, that might be a tenuous hold. LT, WR, RB, and TE are all potential target areas, too. On defense – maybe an outside linebacker or a safety, and we can always use another decent defensive lineman, of course.

I like a fair number of players who are available at our top pick, but decide to draft into a relative need area, and take the safety I liked best in this whole draft. When all but one of the defensive linemen I looked at in late round one is gone, I move up to the middle of round two to grab the quick-footed run stopper who I project to step right in and start for us at DE.


Pick Pos Player Board Dash Sole Strg Agil Vol Draft After PostCamp
1.31 SS Peter Brown 5.0 4.47+ 29 25++ 7.03+ 45 27/60 27/61 30/61
2.12 DE Gilbert Dotson 4.2 4.63++ 24 29+ 7.32+ 9 27/49 27/46 29/46
3.31 CB Wayne Ridings 4.3 4.42+ 25 18++ 7.00+ 77 22/51 23/55
to FS 24/64 29/71
4.31 DE Darren Bernard 3.6 4.86 19 31+ 7.47 1 26/41 26/41 27/41
6.31 WR Norbert Bowling 2.8 4.58 30+ 23++ 7.30 95 14/33 16/37 18/40
URFA QB Britt Meier 4.2 4.68 39 10 7.60 23 05/50 05/42 07/34
URFA RB Louis Dillon 3.0 4.70 24 30 7.35 74 23/34 23/34 25/35
URFA RB Winston Finch 3.1 4.80 17 12 7.25 23 21/36 21/33 21/30
URFA RB Charles Comer 3.2 4.74 23 17 7.27 40 20/36 19/32
To WR 13/33 14/27
URFA RG Louis Flowers 2.5 5.46 45 42 8.27 79 16/27 16/25 16/23
URFA RT C.J. Newman 2.9 5.56 28 43 7.72 64 16/33 16/29 17/28
URFA DE Mario Nesbit 3.3 4.85 36 27 7.88 33 21/44 21/37 23/37
URFA LB Tom Stimson 2.9 5.10 23 21 7.66 25 11/33 11/31
To SS 06/37 07/33
URFA LB Rico Poole 2.7 4.71 29 32 7.57 50 18/30 18/30 19/31


Well, despite my initial claims that the offense needed the help – we ended up piling on the defense with the early picks. Regardless, I like this crop a lot – several players I considered with my pick in the fourth round were there after the draft, so we have a number of intriguing guys – including bench press standouts LB Rico Poole, RB Louis Dillon, G Louis Flowers, and T CJ Newman. This was largely a draft dominated by pursuit of strength, as we are trying to get a shade tougher.


Three weeks into late free agency, we are amidst signing rookies, but nothing is happening with CB Mickey Sims yet. He’s thinking $5m per year – I’m not. So, I make some more room – in part by releasing veteran DE Emmitt Summers, who started last season but really isn’t starting caliber any longer. We’ll be depending on young players at DE, but that helps us get CB Mickey Sims re-signed for a new deal.


Training camp tells us a bit more of the story. We see a huge breakout from third round DB Wayne Ridings, who probably shows more potential than our top pick at safety, Peter Brown. So, the safety position quickly moves from a serious weakness to a potential strong suit.


During the preseason, we get WR Bruce Pietrzyk back healthy – we could really use him back to 100% cfor this season, with our depleted receiving corps. I’m not expecting much, but if he really could play, that would be very nice.

So, we take the field for our first season of the post-Copeland era, with QB Greg Huffman at the helm. His career record is an uninspiring 1-2, and his career passer rating is an equally uninspiring 42.3 – we’ll hope to improve on those numbers, pronto. One other change – after a great preseason, RB Lincoln Connell has been tabbed as the starting RB over Bo Brewster, so we’ll see two new faces in key backfield positions.

We get two narrow wins in our first three games – but this is definitely not the same team at all. We make it to 6-2 at our halfway point, though, and are looking okay – Huffman is rightside-up with TDs and picks, and WR Dave Harney is off to a pretty good season thus far. A losing skid in the second half drops us to 7-5, though, and we relinquish the lead in the division standings. However, we get a win at home over Buffalo to get back on top in that fight. We finish up 10-6, enough for a postseason berth, but certainly not the caliber of team that we have grown accustomed to, by any means. (We haven’t lost 6 games in a season since 2009) But oddly enough, 10-6 turns out to be good enough for a bye week as the #2 seed in the AFC behind Pittsburgh.


Front Office Football 2004
2026 Summary for Miami Dolphins

Record: 10-6
Winning Pct.: .625

Miami Dolphins Team Rank
Rushes 377 29
Rushing Yards 1672 25
Yards Per Carry 4.43 6
Pass Attempts 657 1
Completions 388 1
Passing Yards 4119 1
Yards Per Attempt 6.26 28
3rd Down Conversions 40.2 24 (T)
Points Per Game 22.6 6 (T)
Turnovers 28 25 (T)
Turnover Margin -3 21

Opponents Team Rank
Rushes 417 3
Rushing Yards 1403 1
Yards Per Carry 3.36 1
Pass Attempts 541 27
Completions 255 1
Passing Yards 3285 4
Yards Per Attempt 6.07 1
3rd Down Conversions 31.9 1
Points Per Game 14.5 2
Turnovers 25 14 (T)

Week Team Versus Oppnt
1 10 at NYJ 9
2 6 CHI 19
3 24 at IND 19
4 15 at BUF 21
5 20 SDO 6
6 31 DEN 0
8 34 at KCY 13
9 17 at OAK 16
10 31 NED 3
11 6 NYJ 20
12 12 at MIN 17
13 34 BAL 35
14 33 DET 9
15 24 BUF 6
16 22 at GBY 26
17 43 at NED 14

Passing Pos Att Comp Yards Y/Att TD Int
13 Huffman QB 653 386 4107 6.28 26 21
**Team --- 657 388 4119 6.26 26 21

Rushing Pos Att Yards Y/Att TD
38 Connell RB 152 643 4.23 5
28 Brewster RB 119 494 4.15 4
13 Huffman QB 49 250 5.10 2
**Team --- 377 1672 4.43 13

Receiving Pos Targ Catch Yards Y/Ctc YAC TD
85 Harney WR 156 91 1056 11.6 132 7
82 Barker WR 110 68 779 11.4 94 1
45 Wells TE 94 57 533 9.3 107 6
29 Pietrzyk WR 104 53 732 13.8 105 5
27 Beyer FB 74 51 371 7.2 111 3
87 Horner WR 64 34 310 9.1 38 3
**Team --- 656 388 4119 10.6 699 26

Defense Pos Tack Asst Sack Hurr Ints Defn
55 Westbrook ILB 91 28 5.5 5 0 7
93 Maxwell OLB 77 17 5.0 11 1 8
25 Sims CB 69 17 1.0 0 4 29
41 Banks CB 60 26 0.0 0 8 33
22 Ridings S 59 25 2.0 2 0 14
79 Ljunghammar DT 55 17 8.0 7 0 0
49 Veen OLB 45 17 1.0 1 0 6
47 Harper S 44 14 0.0 0 0 11
99 Yates DT 39 21 4.5 4 0 0
42 Money CB 32 7 0.0 0 3 4
21 Brown S 28 13 0.0 0 1 4
91 Dotson DE 27 8 7.5 13 0 0
76 Nesbit DE 26 15 6.5 9 0 0
78 Curtis DE 18 6 2.5 7 0 0
35 Harper S 18 3 2.0 0 0 1
92 Jamison OLB 17 7 0.0 2 0 0
82 Barker WR 16 0 0.0 0 0 0
**Team --- 807 251 48.0 68 17 119



So, Greg Huffman – okay, we can make do with a so-so quarterback, I guess. 4,000 yards passing with a bunch of mistakes is okay. We didn’t really have anyone around him step up and be counted – we don’t have a single standout player at the skill positions, at all. So, we’ll be okay with a pass-heavy offense.

Our defense, though, continues to turn heads -- #1 in yards allowed per rush and per attempt. Great season. Our top cornerbacks, Banks and Sims, paired up for 62 passes defensed – that has to be the highest figure I have ever seen, period: 33 is a league all-time record, and 29 is the fourth-highest figure in league history. Now that’s a pair of shut-downs, which makes for a tough time passing against us, period. We shared the load in the pass rush, but still were pretty solid there, and we got a nice season out of Cole Westbrook again in the middle. Great season by our defense – maybe the best we have had.

Unsung heroes: WR Bruce Pietrzyk continues to excel in the return game, posting a league-high average in punt returns… DE Gilbert Dotson played well his first season, getting pressure from the right side with only part time chances to play… DE Mario Nesbit shared the platoon with Sotson, and provided help against the run as well as the pass… S Wayne Ridings stepped in and played well his first year, and our two rookies have the reins as veteran leaders Derek Harper and Drew Griffith are both on IR.


Postseason

Miami 24, Houston 13 – Legendary RB Amos Sherman isn’t enough for Houston to topple us, despite his 67 yards. We play a nearly error-free game, and come away with the upper hand.

Miami 6, Pittsburgh 0 – We need absolutely everything our defense can give us, and we get it here. We manage only 151 yards on offense, but hold Pitt to 186… we are 2 for 2 on field goals, they are 0 for 1. Wow.

Miami 27, Carolina 6 – Inexplicably, we get to take home the title once again. Greg Huffman is 28 of 40 for 265 and 2 TDs to get the MVP honors, and we manage to get through the playoffs without a single turnover.


CBs Stephen Banks and Mickey Sims both make the all-pro team, Banks as a first teamer. QB Huffman gets the Superbowl MVP, and that’s our only representation on the awards board.


Surprising finish to a predictable season. We certainly don’t have the offense to dominate, but when our defense plays this well and we don’t make mistakes on the other side, we’re a tough out.

[duckman]

Makes you wonder if it is the system as well as the quarterback.

[QuikSand]

I know it's the system in part -- I've worked on the gameplan for some time, and probably more importantly, I have always been looking to acquire players who match up well with the specific needs of this gameplan. So, it stands to reason that there is a certain element of "system" behind the success.

Plus, we have cohesion through-the-roof for this team, which is bound to have a positive effect, too, though the degree is obviously uncertain.

[Warhammer]

Cohesion is one of those items that people tend to overlook. I have had a few teams on which I had great talent, but poor cohesion, and every close game I lost. I had teams with great cohesion and poor talent, but if I stayed close, I normally won.

[Kevin]

Those stats are just amazing. I hope the Hall of Fame doesn't find out Mel was betting on his own games to supplement his income because his oppressive GM kept putting the Franchise tag on him.

[rjolley]

Great dynasty, QS. Enjoyed reading the career of Mel Copeland.

Hope you keep it going for awhile to see if the team can keep producing titles.

[QuikSand]

2027

Okay, we’re getting the hang of this post-Mel thing.

One quick update – I have neglected to mention a couple of HOF inductees from our team. DE Tommie Browder and DT Courtney Malan came aboard together, and were titanic playing together on our line. They both get into the HOF – that was a great draft day, as we parlayed the #1 overall pick into picks #4 and #5 to pick up two DL studs, who both paid off in spades.


We start off the new season, and look over the retirement list: we have two names on there.

LB Burt Veen was a first round pick who needed a few seasons to develop, but took over as our strong-side starter in his 6th year and played well for us from that point on, garnering 732 tackles and 66.5 sacks.
SS Drew Griffith was an unheralded DB we grabbed as a free agent, who just managed to stick around, play pretty well, and developed into a team leader. He notched 107 starts, 13 interceptions, 431 tackles in 15 seasons.


I use the tag on CB Stephen Banks – we will make every reasonable effort to lock him up to a long term deal. The tag offer puts us down to $7.2m to spend, though – and we have quite a number of free agents, including our two remaining starters at LB (in addition to Veen, who has retired). Our top targets are: LT Eddie Wickes, MLB Cole Westbrook, SLB Jerome Maxwell, RG Melvin Ahn, WR Brant Barker, and LG Leroy Blackwell – all starters.

I decide that we probably cannot afford Eddie Wickes, and we have 4th year man Jon Manning ready to step in – so I won’t be putting up $9-10m a year for Wickes. If he changes his tune, we’ll talk. LB Westbrook also has a backup behind him – Rufus Gules has been on the bench for two years after being taken with our top draft pick, and he’ ready to step in when we need him.

I decide to once again sit back and see who gets interest on the market, and only then decide whether I want to match. This is going to be a fairly flexible season for free agency, so I have the luxury of sitting back, with bucks to spend if we need to.

My inaction, though, costs me LT Eddie Wickes right away – he signs a huge deal with Atlanta. Would we have matched it? Almost certainly not, but it would have been nice to have a chance to think about it. He has battled injuries, but he was very good when he was able to play.

I do put in an early offer for WR Brant Barker, and lock him up to an affordable three year contract. After a few weeks, I have to outbid Cinti for RG Melvin Ahn, which I do to keep the unit together. But with no bids in for guys like LB Jerome Maxwell and LB Cole Westbrook, I am getting optimistic that both will return, in time.

But we head into the rookie draft with other things on our mind.


I think we need to get an impact player in this draft, and I think we need him on the defensive line. I have assembled a bunch of junk there, but we don’t have a real standout player on the DL. It would be very good to grab such a player in this draft – if I can do so without dealing away the entire draft, I plan to move up to get an impact player for the defensive front. If not – we’ll look at a WR or OL with our top pick, wherever we get better value.

I target two defensive linemen who would be worth the jump up – not a very deep draft there, I fear. I’ll wait for one of them to go off the board, and then see what it would take – but I expect I can’t make this big a move.

Turns out I’m right – I try to deal up to #4, but the price is just too steep, and I watch the top two defensive linemen go off the board by that very pick. Tough luck.

I turn my attention to WR, where there are a few pretty solid guys in this draft. Moving up to #11 isn’t as hard as #4 was – and we pull the trigger to get there to take the faster of the two standouts I see. We even keep our second rounder on hand, for a (hopefully) useful player as well.


Pick Pos Player Board Dash Sole Strg Agil Vol Draft After PostCamp
1.11 WR Cris Cascini 6.5 4.42+ 33 12 6.87++ 66 37/71 37/70 36/70
2.32 LB Tyrus Newhart 4.1 4.85 18 25 7.38+ 82 24/48 25/48
to DE 26/59 28/56
4.32 SLB Lewis Woodard 3.4 4.58 14 18 7.33 4 23/39 23/38 24/37
URFA QB Burt Waas 3.2 4.69 36 14 7.40 37 17/37 17/40 21/43
URFA RB Tommy Hatcher 2.4 4.62 26 9 7.33 63 17/26 17/23 17/22
URFA RB Jon Harper 3.2 4.77 15 9 7.38 12 26/35 26/33 26/30
URFA RB Bryan Samuels 2.6 4.90 29 16 7.52 26 20/29 20/27
To WR 15/35 16/30
URFA TE James Shannon 3.4 5.07 29 24 7.81 80 13/39 13/35 14/31
URFA RT Jessie Horn 2.9 5.14 26 29 7.79 1 10/34 10/37 13/41
URFA DT Marcus Daniels 3.2 4.93 13 26 7.62 14 11/37 11/37 13/37
URFA MLB Shawn Dotson 2.8 4.74 26 23 7.56 90 20/32 18/28 20/28
URFA SS Craig Hennessee 3.2 4.82 23 16 7.32 48 14/39 14/36 15/33
URFA FS Dean Doyle 2.9 4.68 32 13 7.21 81 17/33 16/30
To CB 12/27 13/24


When I get to my second round pick, I’m shocked by the several pretty-good receivers around, and at the utter void at DE. We probably could have done better selecting one of the decent DE in round one, and gotten a decent wideout here. Alas. I end up taking a heavy linebacker, with hopes that he can switch to DE and become a pass rusher for us. Fortunately, the switch goes pretty well – he looks like he may well step right in and start. Probably not a major impact player, but new DE Tyrus Newhart might give us a little boost in the pass rush.

In the URFA crop – I like the looks of QB Burt Waas (not Waas) and pick up a few guys with some potential, including RT Jessie Horn, who will be our top reserve tackle right away.

In late free agency, we lock up MLB Cole Westbrook for two more years, and later follow suit with SLB Jerome Maxwell. Both should end their careers with us, I expect. LG Leroy Blackwell takes a three year deal, and will stay in as our starter there. We actually wrap up every single player on our roster – and head into camp with a bulging roster of 63 players.


Into the preseason, we’ll be looking at a number of young players. I move young LB Rufus Giles to the weak side, where he will (hopefully) start this season, and start developing his fairly considerable talent.

I have to release WR Chad Horner – we’re just out of slots, and he’s getting pushed out of his role anyway. An 11th year guy with no leadership, no mentoring and not enough ability to play just isn’t worth much. That’s the last guy out – and we are ready for the season.


On opening day, Greg Huffman zings five TD passes to crush Buffalo, 35-3. In week 2, though, we lose to Dallas, who are led by QB Gabe Glenn, another former Dolphin.

After three weeks, MLB Cole Westbrook goes down with an injury. So, Rufus Glenn is moved back to the middle, where he will have to start the rest of the way, it seems. We go on without both Maxwell and Westbrook – our LB corps is in shambles, really.

Regardless, we go on winning – and get to a big matchup in week 12, where we give Philly their first loss of the year. A follow-up win in Pittsburgh puts us in really good shape to claim a bye week – we’re one game up on Oakland for the conference top spot. We run the streak of wins out farther, ans wrap up another excellent season at 15-1. This team just keeps on ticking…


Front Office Football 2004
2027 Summary for Miami Dolphins

Record: 15-1
Winning Pct.: .937

Miami Dolphins Team Rank
Rushes 388 31
Rushing Yards 1614 28
Yards Per Carry 4.15 14
Pass Attempts 635 1
Completions 387 1
Passing Yards 4474 1
Yards Per Attempt 7.04 10
3rd Down Conversions 41.4 12
Points Per Game 25.6 1
Turnovers 24 13 (T)
Turnover Margin +6 10 (T)

Opponents Team Rank
Rushes 432 6 (T)
Rushing Yards 1461 2 (T)
Yards Per Carry 3.38 1
Pass Attempts 518 22
Completions 263 1
Passing Yards 3034 2 (T)
Yards Per Attempt 5.85 1
3rd Down Conversions 31.3 2
Points Per Game 13.0 1
Turnovers 30 7

Week Team Versus Oppnt
1 35 BUF 3
2 16 at DAL 21
3 30 SDO 27
4 24 at NED 10
5 27 at JAX 24
6 17 TEN 13
7 31 at BUF 17
8 41 IND 10
10 35 at HOU 0
11 35 at NYJ 14
12 16 PHI 15
13 19 at PIT 14
14 17 at NYG 15
15 16 NED 7
16 15 WAS 12
17 37 NYJ 7

Passing Pos Att Comp Yards Y/Att TD Int
13 Huffman QB 628 384 4460 7.10 30 21
**Team --- 635 387 4474 7.04 30 21

Rushing Pos Att Yards Y/Att TD
38 Connell RB 187 738 3.94 10
28 Brewster RB 113 401 3.54 1
13 Huffman QB 64 407 6.35 3
**Team --- 388 1614 4.15 15

Receiving Pos Targ Catch Yards Y/Ctc YAC TD
45 Wells TE 119 80 812 10.1 191 5
85 Harney WR 130 78 1075 13.7 136 8
29 Pietrzyk WR 107 55 709 12.8 111 2
27 Beyer FB 61 50 299 5.9 60 5
86 Cascini WR 92 50 621 12.4 82 4
38 Connell RB 31 23 129 5.6 78 3
83 Perkins WR 38 23 376 16.3 76 0
82 Barker WR 42 19 336 17.6 59 2
**Team --- 635 387 4474 11.5 799 30

Defense Pos Tack Asst Sack Hurr Ints Defn
47 Harper S 89 25 1.0 0 5 19
22 Ridings S 74 28 0.0 0 0 14
92 Jamison OLB 72 18 0.0 0 1 3
41 Banks CB 68 17 0.0 0 5 26
79 Ljunghammar DT 52 23 7.5 7 0 0
53 Giles ILB 45 29 1.0 2 0 2
99 Yates DT 43 19 4.5 3 0 0
59 Newhart DE 42 11 11.0 8 0 1
90 Woodard OLB 41 11 3.5 4 1 6
42 Money CB 34 6 0.5 0 2 10
91 Dotson DE 29 9 8.5 14 0 0
35 Harper S 28 3 0.0 0 2 3
25 Sims CB 27 9 0.0 0 1 13
94 Benton OLB 25 7 0.0 1 0 0
**Team --- 824 248 48.0 47 17 101



We’re not all that efficient on offense, but we still manage to score more points than anybody out there. Huffman continues to make mistakes, but we are still pretty prolific inn the passing game – system, personnel, whatever – it works. Lincoln Connell had a pretty nice season, but he’s just another fill-in guy at Rb in this offense, really.

The defense held the opposition to 3.21 yards per carry – a really strong number, even for us. Tops in yards per attempt, too – this defense remains a monster, no matter how you slice it. DE Newhart had a pretty nice rookie season, stepping right into the starting lineup at RDE. The LB group played okay – with everyone in and out all year, and eventually Cole Westbrook out for good, I think. S Derek Harper played great, after a bad injury last year that had us scared – the secondary was outstanding even after Mickey Sims went down.

Unsung heroes: WR Norm Perkins is quietly earning more time – he’ll stay in our plans in the years to come… DE Gilbert Dotson is developing rapidly into a serious threat on the end… CB Arnie Money came off the injured list to start for Mickey Sims, and looked great in there…


Postseason

Miami 31, Cincinnati 3 – Lincoln Connell gets his first 100-yard game, at a good time. Bruce Pietrzyk has 129 yards receiving, and we keep this one in control the whole way.

Miami 10, Cleveland 7 – Our defense gets all the credit here, and our only TD when DE Tyrus Newhart scoops up a fumble and takes it home. We win it with a buzzer-beater FG, and move on. (whew)

Miami 24, Philadelphia 13 – We bring it down again, with a great game from LB Jerome Maxwell earning him a rare MVP trophy for a defensive player. 15 tackles and a sack will do that – the announcer called his name an awful lot. Bruce Pietrzyk has 150 yards in a pretty big game – we handle thr Eagles again and take another title.


Greg Huffman takes his proper position as the first team QB in the league – it’s a little weird, but it’s what the Miami QB is supposed to do, right? TE Jerry Wells is a second team selection, as is S Derek Harper.


Well, now we have to wonder where we go from here. Greg Huffman seems to have thing well in control, and now he’ll be looking to get paid. I’m really not convinced that he’s really anything special. Could this team keep on winning big even with a complete novice in there at QB throwing 600 passes a year? Hard to imagine, really. But this defense, posting monster numbers each season, is getting it done year in and year out.

[MIJB#19]

That was a a great move with LB->DE Tyrus Newhart, QS.

Question: What's the deal with picking up 3 URFA rookie RBs every second draft, just a bit of roster filling, or some success with converting RB to WR for a price you can't get "real" WRs for at the same talent level? ("Bite" me if I missed your explanation for doing so.)

[wade moore]

Is anyone else reading this and feeling like the IHOF is in REAL trouble when QS gets the right talent to fit this gameplan?

[QuikSand]

That was a a great move with LB->DE Tyrus Newhart, QS.

Question: What's the deal with picking up 3 URFA rookie RBs every second draft, just a bit of roster filling, or some success with converting RB to WR for a price you can't get "real" WRs for at the same talent level? ("Bite" me if I missed your explanation for doing so.)

I have generally had some success in pickinng up players are fairly deep positions like RB and LB and switching them to play fairly rare positions like WR and DE. It's a little bit hit-or-miss...sometimes they come through with practically nothing in the "supporting" areas (receivers with virtual zeroes for things like courage) and are marginal at best, sometimes things work out. The switch from LB to DE is basically just a contraction of relevant skills, meaning that you already see everything that's relevant for the DE position -- so if the guy makes the switch fairly well, you ought to be okay.

Why pick up running backs every so often? Variety of reasons. Some I switch to WR, if they look better than the dregs at that position. Some are there as insurance policies for the return positions... I want to have a guy on hand who can return kicks or punts in case my current starter there gets cut. And it's also just a position that, visually, tends to look a little alluring after the draft - if you do a sort by "current skill" you tend to see a bunch of kickers and punters, followed by a number of running backs -- it's human nature to fall for a few of these guys from time to time, and my algorithms are programmed to mimic human nature.

[QuikSand]

("Bite" me if I missed your explanation for doing so.)

I'm guessing this is a colloquialism that didn't translate too well from the Dutch. Either that, or I've done something to upset you... I thought the eye-rolling was bad enough, but now you're saying "bite me?"

[cthomer5000]

Is anyone else reading this and feeling like the IHOF is in REAL trouble when QS gets the right talent to fit this gameplan?
If I were in his conference (or worse, his division) I'd be terrified. I've got my own counter-intelligence working on a new gameplan though, and I think I've made a real breakthrough in my solo career. Still, my level of attention to Chesapeake has gone from "passing" to "magnifying glass." I also feel fortunate that if my defense is built to stop one thing - that one thing would be a heavy air attack.

[wade moore]

If I were in his conference (or worse, his division) I'd be terrified. I've got my own counter-intelligence working on a new gameplan though, and I think I've made a real breakthrough in my solo career. Still, my level of attention to Chesapeake has gone from "passing" to "magnifying glass." I also feel fortunate that if my defense is built to stop one thing - that one thing would be a heavy air attack.



I guess the other thing to note is that it should be atleast marginally more difficult for Quik to get the players he wants with Humans instead of the AI.

[cthomer5000]

I guess the other thing to note is that it should be atleast marginally more difficult for Quik to get the players he wants with Humans instead of the AI.
It's our only hope. :)

[QuikSand]

Is anyone else reading this and feeling like the IHOF is in REAL trouble when QS gets the right talent to fit this gameplan?

Despite the success in this particular career, I'm really not inclined to attribute very much of it to the gameplan. Honestly, I think the factors at work are more or less in order here:

-I'm a good judge of talent, and have better overall talent than my AI rival teams do

-My players fit my system well, for the most part -- I have always acquired players with the right skill sets in mind, and paced them where their skills are best used (unlike the AI, again)

-Having lots of long-time veteran players building high cohesion

-My game plan is generally pretty sound, and plays to some of the inherent strengths of the game (I think the passing game is globally more effective than the running game)

-Among my younger players, generally only those with some growth potential actually stay on the team - I'm not spending year after year on guys with a little bit of skill but no future


The game plan makes the list, but in my mind it's well below more important things like (duh) the obviously higher level of overall talent on my team compared to the rest of the league.

[QuikSand]

2028

Okay, into a new season. We’ve got two running championships since we lost our star QB – now we face the potential loss of another QB. But we are buoyed by the best defense in the league, by a pretty comfortable margin.

Here is our performance record to date:



Front Office Football 2004
GM Performance for QuikSand of the Miami Dolphins

Year Team Eval Perf Diff Proft FrVal Record Playoffs
2027 MIA 42 90 65 0 84 18-1-0 Bowl Winner
2026 MIA 51 78 65 23 90 13-6-0 Bowl Winner
2025 MIA 59 90 66 32 93 16-3-0 Conference Champion
2024 MIA 43 86 66 0 96 17-2-0 Bowl Winner
2023 MIA 53 90 67 20 93 19-0-0 Bowl Winner
2022 MIA 58 90 67 29 96 19-0-0 Bowl Winner
2021 MIA 60 90 67 32 100 18-1-0 Bowl Winner
2020 MIA 45 66 63 16 100 14-5-0 Conference Final
2019 MIA 64 90 63 40 97 18-1-0 Bowl Winner
2018 MIA 54 90 63 20 100 16-3-0 Bowl Winner
2017 MIA 45 66 64 19 88 13-5-0 Division Final
2016 MIA 61 90 65 38 85 19-0-0 Bowl Winner
2015 MIA 72 90 64 63 78 17-2-0 Bowl Winner
2014 MIA 51 83 66 26 67 17-2-0 Conference Champion
2013 MIA 64 90 69 48 70 18-1-0 Bowl Winner
2012 MIA 64 90 73 51 58 19-0-0 Bowl Winner
2011 MIA 58 90 76 38 55 16-2-0 Conference Final
2010 MIA 65 90 78 53 51 19-0-0 Bowl Winner
2009 MIA 53 60 81 51 33 11-8-0 Conference Final
2008 MIA 47 10 79 71 26 5-11-0 None
2007 MIA 37 5 78 55 24 3-12-1 None
2006 MIA 46 5 77 72 25 4-12-0 None
2005 MIA 49 0 74 82 25 4-12-0 None
2004 MIA 45 2 74 72 27 2-14-0 None
2003 MIA 51 5 73 77 42 4-12-0 None


Since the team matured (I’m arbitrarily setting that at 2010, when Mel Copeland hit his 3rd season) we have failed to make the Superbowl only three times out of 18. Not too bad.


We have no HOF inductees this year, but we do have two retirements:

DE Ken Curtis suffered an injury a few years ago, which derailed his pursuit of the team career sacks record. He retires after 15 years with 475 tackles, 82.5 sacks, and a boatload of rings.
RB Bo Brewster was an after-draft pickup in the same year we acquired Bruce Pietrzyk, but went on to take the starting job after a few years. He leaves with 5,041 yards rushing on 4.0 per carry – a solid career.


We have a little over $10 million in usable cap space before we start free agency – so the decision is whether to lock up almost $9 million on QB Greg Huffman. In his two seasons, he has proven to be competent, but not the pinpoint striker we had in Copeland. In an ordinary career, I’d easily let him go – he’s really not all that special. But the question here is – who do we have to step in? Ronald Sampson is sorely lacking. Cris prior and Burt Waas both have potential – but going with either of them would definitely mean a very shaky year. This is a team that goes to the Superbowl every year – we can’t have an 8-8 stinker in there!

I decide to risk it with Huffman – we’ll go in without tagging him, as my hopes are that he will be easier to re-sign with a contract offer than with a renegotiation offer (the AI routines seem different). So, we decline to use the franchise tag.


We work out cap space up to $14.8 million – should be enough to make some effort to retain key players. Our list of targets this year is: QB Greg Huffman, WR Dave Harney, C Deon Flint, DT Brian Yates, P Jeremy Shaw (our longest-serving player), and DT Bo Cowley.

I have an offer in for C Flint right away, but will react to everyone else. QB Greg Huffman is thinking he’s worth about $18 million a year – this poses a real problem for my approach. If he gets it, he’s probably gone – I’m not investing that kind of cash into this guy.

WR Dave Harney gets an offer – and this will rapidly force our hand with QB Huffman. If I re-sign Harney, it will surely occupy at least $3-4m, which makes it tougher to re-up with Huffman, unless he has a massive change of heart. I’m not convinced that either guy is really worth a monster investment, but losing both would be a big dent in our passing game, of course.

I decide to split the baby – we put in an offer for Harney, but it’s backloaded enough to make it pretty cheap for the first two years. After that, we’d probably have to cut him, or renegotiate. If that’s good enough to land him, all the better.

It isn’t. Minnesota’s deal has a lot more up front, and he takes the cash. Wise move, really.

After eight weeks, nobody else budges. Good sign. Huffman isn’t really re-thinking his strategy much – he’s still angling for a huge payday of about $16m per year. My best guess is that we will start talking seriously after the rookie draft. If we have a hotshot young QB in the fold by then ... well, that makes those talks a little different doesn’t it?


In the rookie draft, I’m looking to fill holes as usual. We are getting very old and thin at LB, so that is a concern spot once again – probably the spot where we would most welcome a rookie starter. RB is a concern, too – Lincoln Connell is the man right now, but there’s nobody behind him I want touching the ball at all – so landing a solid reserve there (or even a new starter) would be useful. With Harney leaving, we could use a solid addition at WR, too – Cris Cascini will be our featured guy, I suspect, but we don’t have a lot behind him, especially after Bruce Pietrzyk has his inevitable injuries. Finally, the OL could use a boost – especially at guard. Plenty of spots to fill up with young talent – we’ll be looking to patch a few of those holes.

Looking at the top of the draft, I see guys at RB and LB who would be great additions. I’m willing to move up for a difference-maker. The RB, alas, goes at #1 overall – now we’ll focus on the LB. I’m thinking that pick #8 or so is the right spot to try to get him, but that’s a stab in the dark, as usual. When there are 5 players gone, LB Albert Horner is already the top guy on the “big board” – and I need to find out of we can go get him right here. He’s exactly the player we want, a future star strong-side backer.

Arizona just won’t budge – so I decide to let it go a pick or two, and try again. But they take my guy at #6, of course – so much for that plan. Later in the first round, the next best LB (an undersized guy who will be trapped at WLB) is atop the list at #16, then 18, then 20… and I finally move up to get him at #22. I like him a lot (the obvious “whatyoutalkinaboutWillis?” puns aside) and expect him to be very productive. Funny thing is – his twin brother Ted is in this draft too – and he looks like a guy I might be interested in as well. Wouldn’t that be interesting?


Pick Pos Player Board Dash Sole Strg Agil Vol Draft After PostCamp
1.22 WLB Todd Bridges 6.2 4.89 50++ 30++ 6.97+ 63 29/71 29/70 31/66
2.32 FB Jared Stevenson 6.2 4.71+ 44++ 36+ 7.29+ 19 32/70 31/68
to TE 21/63 25/59
3.32 RB Jared Southerland 3.2 4.75 28 20+ 7.24 86 27/35 26/34 26/32
5.32 WLB Ted Bridges 3.6 4.80 37+ 23+ 6.94++ 83 21/42 22/45 24/51
7.32 ILB Christan D’Elisa 3.6 4.80 18 27+ 7.29+ 53 24/42 24/43
to SLB 26/46 29/49
URFA RB Gary Bonk 3.2 4.64 21 16 7.44 21 24/35 24/34 24/31
URFA WR Tony Rhodes 3.1 4.50 24 9 7.14 54 09/36 09/37 11/40
URFA WR A.J. Baker 3.0 4.69 15 16 7.52 9 14/34 13/31 14/28
URFA C Glen Arnold 2.8 5.12 13 27 7.97 87 14/33 14/36 16/39
URFA LG Bob Sharber 2.1 5.38 15 21 7.83 44 06/22 06/22 08/23
URFA K Arnie Blades 4.1 5.07 42 7 7.95 89 23/50 21/55 25/55
URFA DE Shaun Smyth 2.0 4.92 14 26 8.20 53 12/19 12/19 13/19
URFA DE Greg Graziani 2.9 4.92 23 22 7.45 91 12/26 12/26
To DT 11/26 13/25
URFA SLB David Nixon 2.8 4.48 36 19 7.34 20 15/32 15/34
To MLB 16/37 19/43
URFA SS Carlton Nixon 3.7 4.73 43 9 7.23 90 15/45 14/42 16/39


So, it seems that back in the early 2000s, the “Jared Craze” got to a lot of prospective parents, and we end up with two of those products in this draft. Great – we’ll keep both guys on strict diet regimens.

We do pick up two interesting linebackers in the later rounds, including Ted Bridges, the larger twin brother to Todd, our top pick here. I end up slotting both guys at the weak side – Todd is too small to move elsewhere, and Ted fits there best (run stopper, lousy coverage skills). So, they could end up #1/#2 on our depth chart in time – especially of both of them work out, and the preliminary indications are good. Actually, with three promising young linebacker from this draft, I feel like we might have sealed up that gaping hole in our depth chart – if all three guys work out, they could all be key players down the road a few seasons.

We pick up a few undrafted rookies – I have big ideas for yet another young LB David Nixon, adding to the list from the draft. This could be a banner year for young linebackers, I’m thinking. I also like the looks of SS Carlton Nixon, who could make the team as a solid special teamer and decent instinctive player. (My kind of backup in the secondary)

I get in a new offer to QB Greg Huffman – it’s $49m over four years, with $12 up front. That’s a reasonable deal in my mind – and should remain affordable at $9m per season for the next three years.

After three weeks, Greg Huffman takes our deal – it was his only offer. We’ll have him for three years at $9m even – not too bad, I guess. DT Brian Yates eventually signs, after we keep lowering our offer. He will probably start for us for the next few years at DT, unless we bring in an impact rookie along the way somewhere.


In training camp, we get a fresh look at the younger players. Bad news at the top of the draft – LB Todd Bridges had a disappointing camp, and really could turn out to be the 4th best guy we picked up in this year’s crop. More likely, he will get to play more than most, and he’ll have a chance to develop as much as he can – but his upper bound might not be any higher than that of his brother Ted, who shoes some promise for growth down the road.

I also failed to really fill the backup RB job – both Jared Southerland and Gary Bonk are pretty uninspiring. Let’s hope that this doesn’t become a major issue – if Connell goes down, we’ll have a D+ back in there, which isn’t really what we’re looking for. Reaching for Southerland that early was a poor play – I based it on apparent skills, rather than fundamentals, and got burned once again.

At WR, we have the classic “pivotal” rookie decision to make. I have room to keep one rookie, and A.J. Baker is clearly more ready-to-play than is Tony Rhodes. It would be tempting – even natural – for many managers to see this, and to keep Baker and dump Rhodes. Wrong decision! Rhodes will get better… Baker doesn’t have any of that upside that he appears to have by the scouted ratings. It became clear in camp – Rhodes was +3 in potential, and Baker was –3. It doesn’t get any clearer than that – Rhodes is the keeper. If you’re not watching your camp results to notice these movements, you’re playing in the dark.


Into preseason – we’ll be watching these young running backs, hoping to see a glimpse of some ability that might lock up the #2 job. O.J. Burroughs quickly emerges as that guy – which is fine by us. We get things settled, and head into the regular season ready to go.

Top draft pick LB Todd bridges won’t crack the first team this year, but he will be a top reserve, and should see a lot of time on the field on special teams, where he has won a job as a “gunner.” We hope to see him develop into a solid starter for us, and he ought to take the job from Nicky Jamison by next season.


We open the season with a loss at New England – ouch. The winning TD catch is by Archie Broenkow, a former Dolphin, who has been very consistent for the Pats since they signed him away from us. We lose again in week four, almost giving up a 100-yard rushing game (something we do not do, period). A 2-2 record is not what this club is looking for – is this the beginning of a big slide? Perhaps not – we reel off four wins to get to the midpoint at 6-2, back in the driver’s seat in the division at least. Our winning streak lasts until the final regular season game, so we end up at 13-3 on the year, and again in a commanding position for the postseason run, with the best record in the league once again.



Front Office Football 2004
2028 Summary for Miami Dolphins

Record: 13-3
Winning Pct.: .812

Miami Dolphins Team Rank
Rushes 379 30
Rushing Yards 1637 26
Yards Per Carry 4.31 4
Pass Attempts 603 1
Completions 369 1
Passing Yards 4219 3
Yards Per Attempt 6.99 10 (T)
3rd Down Conversions 36.0 30
Points Per Game 24.0 2
Turnovers 27 18
Turnover Margin -1 16 (T)

Opponents Team Rank
Rushes 427 7
Rushing Yards 1410 1
Yards Per Carry 3.30 1
Pass Attempts 554 32
Completions 288 7 (T)
Passing Yards 3309 14 (T)
Yards Per Attempt 5.97 3
3rd Down Conversions 31.0 1
Points Per Game 13.5 1
Turnovers 26 14 (T)

Week Team Versus Oppnt
1 13 at NED 16
2 29 SFO 16
3 22 at IND 11
4 16 at CIN 28
5 30 BUF 7
6 25 at CLE 22
7 26 PIT 20
9 20 NED 0
10 23 BAL 13
11 19 at NYJ 3
12 35 at ARI 17
13 31 OAK 13
14 19 STL 9
15 41 NYJ 18
16 30 at SEA 9
17 6 at BUF 14

Passing Pos Att Comp Yards Y/Att TD Int
13 Huffman QB 598 366 4203 7.02 23 22
**Team --- 603 369 4219 6.99 23 22

Rushing Pos Att Yards Y/Att TD
38 Connell RB 219 872 3.98 6
43 Burroughs RB 84 386 4.59 6
13 Huffman QB 51 340 6.66 4
**Team --- 379 1637 4.31 16

Receiving Pos Targ Catch Yards Y/Ctc YAC TD
45 Wells TE 143 90 831 9.2 155 6
86 Cascini WR 122 73 1143 15.6 197 4
29 Pietrzyk WR 94 50 722 14.4 94 5
27 Beyer FB 56 41 305 7.4 82 2
38 Connell RB 41 31 229 7.3 73 0
80 Bowling WR 48 30 407 13.5 14 2
83 Perkins WR 38 23 225 9.7 14 3
82 Barker WR 36 20 230 11.5 39 1
**Team --- 603 369 4219 11.4 685 23

Defense Pos Tack Asst Sack Hurr Ints Defn
53 Giles ILB 81 27 1.5 5 1 6
41 Banks CB 72 22 0.0 1 4 24
22 Ridings S 68 26 1.0 0 2 10
79 Ljunghammar DT 64 17 8.0 11 0 0
47 Harper S 60 20 0.0 0 2 11
93 Maxwell OLB 55 24 5.5 4 0 4
25 Sims CB 53 11 0.0 1 2 14
51 Bridges OLB 52 27 2.0 0 1 2
42 Money CB 42 4 0.0 0 4 9
91 Dotson DE 42 13 9.5 32 0 0
59 Newhart DE 39 12 7.5 5 0 1
99 Yates DT 38 18 4.5 5 0 1
21 Brown S 30 7 1.0 0 0 4
26 Torretta CB 21 2 1.0 1 1 3
92 Jamison OLB 18 2 1.0 1 0 0
56 Dotson ILB 18 0 0.0 0 0 0
**Team --- 847 246 49.0 71 19 91



We were worried about an injury to RB Lincoln Connell – fortunately he stayed healthy, but the void behind him turned into an asset, as O.J. Burroughs looked very sharp as the #2 option there. Finishing #4 in yards per carry is pretty high for us, but once again a lot of QB scrambles helped there. WR Cris Cascini stepped into his role as our primary receiver – Brue Pietrzyk was solid when he could play (about 11 games). This looks like another pro-bowl season for our solid TE Jerry Wells, also. QB Huffman was his usual self – prolific with moving the offense generally, but not very precise and a bit error-prone. 4,200 yards passing, though, is worth doing.

The defense was tough again, as usual. #1 in yards allowed per carry? Of course – this year at 3.30, very strong. The pass defense was god, but we didn’t cause that many turnovers this season. DEs Dotson and Newhart continue to be pretty effective on a shoestring budget, which is nice – especially Dotson, who is becoming a major pass rushing threat with 32 hurries. Our mighty secondary was very good once again, and Rufus Giles made the most of his first season as the full-time starter at MLB (while Cole Westbrook spent the year on IR and is probably done). LB Todd Bridges did indeed get the starting job after all, and played pretty well – the weak spot doesn’t get a ton of tackles and won’t be the big star, but he acquitted himself well and his run defense is improving pretty rapidly, which is the main thing I want at that spot.

Unsung heroes: WR Norbert Bowling is showing signs of life as a reserve WR, and earned a mid-season contract extension for his good play when called upon… WR Bruce Pietrzyk remains a dominant return threat, with 2 punt return TDs and one of the top kick return averages… DT Roger Ljunghammar continues to be a force in the middle, getting more pass pressure that we have a right to expect from him… CB Arnie Money is a wonderful nickel back, probably one of the 10 best CBs in the league, and played well once again this year… C Deon Flint, our old man in the trenches, had another standout year anchoring the admittedly shaky offensive line.

We head into the postseason fairly healthy – with S Wayne Ridings our only key starter sidelined.


Postseason

Miami 29, Cleveland 7 – Our defense really seems to step up in the playoffs, and we shut them down in the red zone this game, allowing only one big play TD all day. Huffman gets by with a lousy day but a win.

Cincinnati 18i Miami 13 - The Bengals get an early lead from a fumble return TD, and a tight game of field position yields a close in for them. 3 turnovers cost us dearly – two killed drives, one handed then their only TD, and we end up on the short end this time.

Cincinnati 27, Philadeplhia 20 – The Bengals get their first title, and send the Eagles to a second straight loss in the title game.



In the season awards, we are nearly shut out. Our one representative? K Arnie Blades (who is in my doghouse for missing four PATs) gets a second team nod because he had to step in and punt one time. For practical purposes, the 13-3 team with top ratings in nearly every stat had no pro bowlers this year. Fascinating.


Good year, a little disappointing at the end – but this is clearly still a powerfuil team, both on paper and on the cyberfield.

[JAG]

It's kind of surprising those turnovers didn't come back to haunt you the past two years in the playoffs, although I guess that's a tribute to the strength of your team.

[Warhammer]

One item that I think shows how much of an impact that cohesion has, is that each season you seem to start with a .500 record, but after the 1st quarter of the season, the team takes off!

[QuikSand]

2029

We head into a new season – no longer the defending champs, but still a league power.


Two retirements this offseason:

Jerome Maxwell started out as a role player, but developed into a pretty reliable starter at the end of his career, and ended up starting 60 games in his 13 seasons, posting 491 tackles and 30.5 sacks.
C Deon Flint has been our most reliable offensive lineman for some time – the best center we’ve had. He started 221 games in 15 seasons (2nd highest on our career list) with 32.9% KRBs and only 0.6% sacks allowed. He leaves us as our sixth “legend of the game” and a solid HOF candidate, I think.


I decide not to use the franchise tag – DT Ljunghammar as the possible target, but I will hope to re-sign him anyway, hopefully to another long extension like last time.

I generally have not been in the trading business, but we get an offer that I simply cannot turn down. QB Ronald Sampson has been a decent backup for us, but I’m not wild about him – he has voids in accuracy and timing, and I don’t think he’d ever be all that good. We get an offer for him – a 1st round pick from Seattle. It’s the first time I have accepted a trade offer, but I’m going to do it here, as it just makes sense for us. I’m optimistic that QB Cris Prior can handle the job is he has to step in and play.


We have just short of $8 million in cap space initially – renegotiations get that to just over $10m. Our target list of open free agents this year is: DT Roger Ljunghammar, RB Lincoln Connell, WR Bruce Pietrzyk, TE Jerry Wells, and S Carlos Harper. Looming in the background is S Wayne Ridings – a great player, and still restricted, so we can afford to sit back and wait him out a bit – and then lock him up long term, hopefully. Several players to try to bring in – we’ll see where we can do it.

Bruce Pietrzyk has been a fascinating story – would-be stud RB, couldn’t ever really put it all together there, switches over to play WR, shows brilliance in the return game, but never really flashes it all on the field. He’s sort of like the Desmond Howard of this team – such great promise, and while he did become a successful player, it’s still a relative disappointment to what we thought he could have done. He is now seeking a fortune – about $5m a year, which he will not get from us. We’ll see if he comes to earth, but if not we’ll go elsewhere at WR.

I start off with a few offers in this year – DT Ljunghammar gets a long term offer, with about three years being affordable. RB Connell is surprisingly being very modest in his demands, and we will try to lock him up. And S Carlos Harper, after being on the bench nearly all of last season, is pretty cheap as well – but a decent player for us. So –all three get initial offers that I’d be happy to see go through.

Right off the bat, Bruce Pietrzyk gets signed by Indianapolis – so that’s one big loss. He was frustrating, but he was our second-best wideout, without much argument. Indy is also after TE Jerry Wells, and I won’t be matching that big offer, either. After week four, Indy signs Wells – but all three of my initial contract offers have been accepted, so we retain Ljunghammar, Connell, and Carlos Harper. So – that’s our whole list – we zip through the rest of free agency, and head toward the rookie draft, where we hold pick #1 – an early pick for the first time in a long time.


Well, our needs list is about the same as usual. I fell good at LB with all the new blood from last season, but we could use help on the OL, and on the DL – preferring quality over quantity at this point. An impact player at either RB or WR would be welcome, too.

At the very top of this draft is a monster left tackle – and a guy who makes perfect sense for us to take, rather than fool around and trade down. Initially, I was enchanted with the idea of leveraging this top pick into two good picks in the top ten (remembering DT Courtney Malan and DE Tommie Browder from years ago) but I think that T T.J. Money is too … well… “money” to pass up. We’ll look for a need-filler with our pick at the bottom of the round.


Pick Pos Player Board Dash Sole Strg Agil Vol Draft After PostCamp
1.01 RT T.J. Money 8.3 5.01++ 31 40+ 7.32++ 31 47/98 46/98
to LT 43/93 42/93
1.22 DT Everett Hazen 5.1 4.98 30 29 7.55 72 30/59 30/58 32/53
2.22 FB Timothy Joyner 8.6 4.60++ 27 30++ 7.27+ 32 61/86 61/85
to RB 48/64 49/62
3.32 WR Andy Nelson 4.0 4.47 23 10 7.20 19 13/48 14/47 16/43
5.32 RG Bert Upshaw 3.2 5.19 21 21 7.52++ 53 14/38 21/50 25/50
URFA RB Butch Clayton 2.4 4.73 16 16 7.18 96 20/26 21/26 22/27
URFA WR Marty Greeley 3.0 4.61 32 18 7.56 5 16/35 16/34 17/33
URFA C Tommy Strickland 2.8 5.22 38 25 7.90 20 16/32 16/33 18/34
URFA C Harvey Stiggers 3.2 5.15 52 28 8.06 18 14/38 14/36 16/35
URFA LG Frankie Antonick 3.0 5.48 22 22 7.70 99 09/34 09/33 11/27
URFA LT Lincoln Jamison 3.0 5.30 17 32 7.70 44 09/35 09/32 11/33
URFA DT Grant Pearson 3.0 5.04 24 21 7.50 40 14/34 13/30 16/29


I had some pretty good luck when FB Lincoln Connell fell to me, and we moved him over to RB at 225 pounds and made ourselves a pretty effective power-based running back. In this draft, FB Timothy Joyner might be an even better case – he’s only 214 pounds, and he has projected skills that look outstanding. Even if he translates at 80% - he could be a steal as a running back. I’m pretty excited at the prospect of taking him, but I usually see fullbacks fall well into round two – so I decide to make a large trade – moving up into the middle of both rounds one and two – hoping to get a good player and then take FB Joyner in round two. I make the deal with Tennessee to get their top two picks – and sit back with fingers crossed. We get the guy we wanted – and are very happy with the draft.

My happiness rises when I see the immediate change in RG Bert Upshaw – who sprung forward as soon as we picked him up. I think that a 12 point bump before training camp is by far the most I have seen – this has to bode well. We could have made a huge OL improvement in this draft, it seems.

RB Joyner is good, but not great – he switched at 77%, according to my scout, and he came over as a typical FB-cum-RB, meaning he has fairly low ratings for elusiveness and breakaway speed. I thin he will be good – possibly a little better than Connell, but he won’t be the super-steal that I had hoped for.


WR Marty Greeley was a draft-board standout I wanted to draft, but I gave up the late picks that I might have used to select him. Fortunately, he went unclaimed, and we got him in the URAF period anyway – he could be a breakout candidate – look at that strength (for a WR, an 18 there I pretty serious). I don’t see any more breakouts in the group in advance – but with some luck (possibly Frankie Antonick?), this rookie class could be to the OL what last year’s was to the LB corps.

We work out a new long term deal with S Wayne Ridings – so we keep our fabulous secondary intact for another year. We have six guys in this secondary who are good enough to be considered stars in my eyes – that gives us great performance, and great depth. Even when our pass rush wanes, we still get good numbers against the pass.


Training camp reveals a few things good and bad. On the good side: T.J. Money held all his lofty potential, suggesting that he will eventually be a total monster on the line for us. And G Bert Upshaw also looks like he’s going to develop into a starting-quality player on the line for us as well. SO, good news for the OL. On the bad side: DT Everett Hazen doesn’t look like he will live up to the draft hype, and RB Timothy Joyner looks okay, but a couple notches below what we were hoping for, really. No other major breakouts – C Strickland will make the team as our top backup in the middle, but I don’t see huge things for him.

A little more good news – FB Skillethead Giese, a long-term backup for us, had a breakout in camp. Suddenly, he’s a serious contender for playing time. In fact, I decide to make him the starter at FB, while we will move our longtime FB Rick Beyer to a reserve role. I always liked Skillethead – now he’ll get another chance to get onto the front burner.


This season, we get out of the blocks quickly – with a solid 4-0 start. Huffman isn’t even playing well (he’s upside down, even) but we are winning with defense. We beat Denver in week six, to get to 6-0 and end their unbeaten run. We get to 8-0 at our halfway point, with Huffman back on track and Cris Cascini putting up some pretty strong numbers – and LB Christian D’Elisa looking very solid in a new starting job on the strong side. It ends up being a pretty unexciting year – we run our streak all the way, topping it off with a grand baching of the Patriots to secure our first 16-0 season in some time.


Front Office Football 2004
2029 Summary for Miami Dolphins

Record: 16-0
Winning Pct.: 1.000

Miami Dolphins Team Rank
Rushes 440 20
Rushing Yards 1721 22
Yards Per Carry 3.91 20
Pass Attempts 643 1
Completions 420 1
Passing Yards 4621 1
Yards Per Attempt 7.18 11
3rd Down Conversions 46.1 4 (T)
Points Per Game 28.0 1
Turnovers 23 18
Turnover Margin +6 5 (T)

Opponents Team Rank
Rushes 389 3
Rushing Yards 1258 1
Yards Per Carry 3.23 1
Pass Attempts 538 29
Completions 259 1
Passing Yards 2890 3
Yards Per Attempt 5.37 1
3rd Down Conversions 33.4 2
Points Per Game 10.8 1
Turnovers 29 5 (T)

Week Team Versus Oppnt
1 27 at NYJ 21
2 27 at TBY 10
3 17 TEN 10
4 20 BUF 9
5 42 at SDO 10
6 30 DEN 14
8 37 KCY 0
9 14 at OAK 9
10 15 at NED 9
11 35 NYJ 14
12 24 CAR 9
13 19 at CIN 8
14 35 ATL 9
15 35 at BUF 28
16 33 at NOS 14
17 38 NED 0

Passing Pos Att Comp Yards Y/Att TD Int
13 Huffman QB 643 420 4621 7.18 32 16
**Team --- 643 420 4621 7.18 32 16

Rushing Pos Att Yards Y/Att TD
39 Joyner RB 173 618 3.57 6
38 Connell RB 149 627 4.20 10
13 Huffman QB 57 282 4.94 2
27 Beyer FB 37 122 3.29 0
**Team --- 440 1721 3.91 19

Receiving Pos Targ Catch Yards Y/Ctc YAC TD
18 Cascini WR 161 98 1381 14.0 221 11
80 Bowling WR 102 65 718 11.0 74 3
83 Perkins WR 105 64 839 13.1 118 6
27 Beyer FB 65 53 303 5.7 111 1
28 Stevenson TE 73 50 504 10.0 139 4
82 Barker WR 42 27 301 11.1 37 1
38 Connell RB 29 22 169 7.6 127 2
88 Nelson WR 29 18 222 12.3 22 2
**Team --- 643 420 4621 11.0 904 32

Defense Pos Tack Asst Sack Hurr Ints Defn
53 Giles ILB 107 32 7.5 4 2 7
22 Ridings S 75 29 0.0 0 2 8
41 Banks CB 64 22 0.0 0 5 19
95 D'Elisa OLB 62 15 9.0 3 0 13
47 Harper S 49 29 1.0 0 3 15
51 Bridges OLB 49 15 0.5 0 0 3
25 Sims CB 44 12 1.0 0 2 10
26 Torretta CB 39 5 0.0 0 0 2
79 Ljunghammar DT 36 22 2.0 14 0 1
91 Dotson DE 35 8 10.5 29 0 1
21 Brown S 32 9 0.0 0 6 8
99 Yates DT 28 11 3.0 1 0 1
76 Nesbit DE 17 6 6.5 18 0 0
**Team --- 781 255 48.0 94 21 89



After a rocky start, Greg Huffman delivered his most prolific and effective season yet – with a solid 92.6 passer rating. At RB, we had some injuries to Lincoln Connell, and Timothy Joyner proved to be pretty much up to the task – these two probably combined for more rushing yards than any #1-#2 I have had in years. At WR, Cris Cascini was definitely the main target, and we got some nice results from unheralded Norbert Bowling and Norm Perkins – two journeymen who got their chance to start for most of the year. LT T.J. Money took the LT job and played pretty well, but is out for the postseason.

The defense is once again #1 in yards allowed per carry and per attempt. We pushed the run figure down a bit more – down to 3.23 yards per rush, that’s not bad. (Second best in the league was 3.63) Our youthful LB corpw played pretty well – D’Elisa and Todd Bridges seem to be stepping right into their roles, aside run-stopper Rufus Gils in the middle. DE Tyrus Newhart lost some of his playing time to Mario Nesbit – but that platoon proved effective for us. Our real strength, CB, is a problem – Mickey Sims has joined Arnie Money on the IR, so we only have two playable corners for the playoffs. We may even have to do something drastic, like move a sfatey over for these few games, rather than pick up a rookie free agent and see him on the field in the Superbowl – good lord, no.

Unsung Heroes: WR Norbert Bowling stepped in as our primary punt returner, with a solid 7.2 yard average… RB O’J. Burroughs became our kick returner, after losing his backup RB spot… DE Gilbert Dotson posted an 8.4 PrPct – a very strong number, bolstered by 29 QB hurries…



Postseason

Miami 27, Indianapolis 21 – Indy’s two new offensive weapons (WR Bruce Pietrzyk and TE Jerry Wells) certainly helped them, but we overcome them here with a solid offensive game from the whole unit.

Miami 17, Denver 6 – Our defense does its job with a powerful shut-down performance – we gave up only 149 yards to a good Denver team, while causing only one fumble – dominant effort, and we’re back to the big one.

Miami 21, Minnesota 3 – We run the table again, this time it’s a Greg Huffman coronation as MVP of the title game, with 3 TD passes on 28 of 33 in the rout. Cascini had more than half our yardage – but it’s the QB who gets the spotlight as usual. Great dominant effort, and another ring on the fingers!


Greg Huffman makes it a Mel kind of year – he racks up the four awards this season – all four he was eligible to win. He’s first team QB, Offensive Player of the Year, League MVP, and the Superbowl MVP. Very solid. WR Cris Cascini makes the second team, and is our only other mention.


Great season – I certainly didn’t see another perfect year coming, but this defense is so good that we seem to be able to just fill in spare parts as needed, and still dominate. When the offense clicks, we’re a really tough team to handle.

[QuikSand]

So, this is now getting very boring to me... I can't imagine it's still interesting to read. We know the team's good, we know how we pick up young players, all that's left is to see whether we go 13-3 or 16-0, and whether we get uopset in the SB. Doesn't seem like there's much left to do in this career.

[JAG]

Agreed. We're all just waiting to see Mel's ticket to the Hall of Fame get punched. :)

[cthomer5000]

How about restricting yourself to only drafting one side of the ball (and kickers)?

Actually, you're so dominant at this point that even a new challenge would likely take 5+ years to show any real effect. Still, I imagine it would be a bit tougher if you had to scrounge together an all UDFA offense.

[Chas in Cinti]

Quik.

Thanks for the ride. Do whatever you feel is best, just dont stop writing. After a long time gone from this board, this thread brought it back to my daily process...

Regards,
Chas

[QuikSand]

I'm thinking about just starting over (maybe taking over a new team in this universe, even) and playing for a while under "misfit toys" rules -- only URFAs, period. I've convinced myself, more or less, that I have figured out player development sufficiently to make such a team competitive, at least. Who knows?

[cthomer5000]

Certainly sounds like it's worth a shot. I expect a rough 4-5 year startup period with only UDFAs.

edit: you should just change teams within this 'universe' so you have a side story of observing how long it takes the Miami juggernaut to decline. It'll also allow you to monitor Miami HOF'ers without playing on in this same challenge.

[QuikSand]

Or, maybe it's time to play OOTP 6, finally. There is sime talk that with patch 6.3 (which I have alrady downloaded) the game is getting remotely playable solo. Fascinating.

That's usually good for about five seasons before I completely lose interest.

[wade moore]

I agree that these house rules with this exact setup has run it's course for you...

But I will echo the thought to not stop writing... I have enjoyed every dynasty you do...

[MIJB#19]

I'm guessing this is a colloquialism that didn't translate too well from the Dutch. Either that, or I've done something to upset you... I thought the eye-rolling was bad enough, but now you're saying "bite me?"I am late to reply, but there's nothing you did to upset me, this isn't the thread to explain where it came from.

At least now I understand what the reason is behind the picking up of LBs and RBs.

[Barkeep49]

Well as I am also a member of the Quiksand Dynasty fan club I would hope to see another dynasty soon and would cast my vote for a misfit over OOTP dynasty.

[MIJB#19]

You should just change teams within this 'universe' so you have a side story of observing how long it takes the Miami juggernaut to decline. It'll also allow you to monitor Miami HOF'ers without playing on in this same challenge.Yeah, I am in for this. It would be interesting to find out how fast the AI screws up with Miami, or to see if the AI can keep a dominant team winning.

[QuikSand]

aw, shucks guys...

[Chas in Cinti]

If we're voting, I say do OOTP... I've read your dynasties about everything I can think of EXCEPT baseball. Plus, I haven't bought it yet and would like to read your "review"... :)

Regards,
Chas

[Bee]

What about the hockey game from SIGames? I haven't bought it, so a QS dynasty would help me make my mind up if I want to buy it or not. :D

[Buzzbee]

Considering QS is monkeying around with OOTP and has tried the Coliseum demo, methinks QS has a hankerin' fer a new text sim.

I'd vote for OOTP, even though I've never even seen the game. Somehow I feel like a QS dynasty might intrigue me enough to cause me to check it out.

Besides, I think QS has hammered FOF2k4 enough. Us IHOFers need to have some glimmer of hope.

[nfg22]

I love this dynasty but would read any that QS writes.

[cthomer5000]

I would not read a baseball dynasty from anyone. Misfit Toys!

[QuikSand]

Considering QS is monkeying around with OOTP and has tried the Coliseum demo, methinks QS has a hankerin' fer a new text sim.

It's pretty bad. I'm even back to Neverwinter Nights...

[QuikSand]

While some of the stats here aren't as exciting as they were back then, this was a fairly interesting re-read, and was a pretty cool career to document.

Mel Copeland Rules.