Push Button Rams - a FOF 2004 "challenge" career

[QuikSand]

Push Button Rams

I have been itching to start up a new FOF dynasty – so I am doing so with a new set of rules. I have no idea where the term “Push Button” came from, but I’m using it to describe this challenge concept for now.

My guiding rule here will be that the only multi-year contracts we can sign with any player will be the rookie deals with drafted players. Every other player gets a one year deal, and that’s it.

No renegotiations, no backloaded deals, no franchise tag, no backdoors. Every player who does well gets a chance to test the market after each year – and I’ll only keep him if I’m willing to outbid the world for him.

More details to come as needed.

[QuikSand]

Cleaning House

Our first order of business is to take over a new team, and completely emasculate them by cutting every signed player on the roster. I am stepping into a mature career here, and after I get through with the Rams, they have just over half this year’s cap space available. That’s fine – I don’t expect to build this team overnight.

So, this is essentially empty cupboard – though I am going to allow myself to sign free agent players to one year deals. That should get us off to a quicker start.

I decide, for no particular reason, that my coaching staff will all be fresh new guys – nobody with outside experience. We end up with a pretty mediocre staff – I’m thinking that might be an interesting (and simple) house rule for staff hiring, for those interested in such things.

[QuikSand]

Free Agency

Since we have a completely empty roster, it’s an opportunity to build the team from scratch. I think that we’ll try to build a pretty balanced team – I’m not interested in trying anything too outré here. Actually, I have rarely built an FOF team on outstanding offensive linemen – so maybe that can be an angle this time? (Might be hard to keep them together, though)

We have $41 million (of the $75m cap) to spend – so I don’t feel at liberty to make a big splash with one or two big time free agents. instead, I think we will wait a while in free agency, and try to pick up some value players after the big bidding wars have calmed down.

I do start out with bids to a number of 3rd year players – these are guys who, after playing one year with us, will still be restricted free agents, meaning I would get an unfettered chance to re-sign them for the following year. Nobody here is really great, but we get a few rosters fillers early this way.

After we get some of our bargain bin players signed early, I look out for some value additions. I am not too worried about QB – there seem to be several solid veterans floating around, and I expect we will ultimately lock up one decent guy for no more than $2m. No budget busters welcome here.

We manage to fill several of the tough-to-fill positions, getting two starting caliber cornerbacks and two starting caliber defensive linemen for under $1m each. Not too bad.

I keep on the cheap, and manage to fill in quite a lot of the roster for under $1m a player. We get to the rookie draft with 31 players signed, and $17m in cap space remaining.

[QuikSand]

Rookie Draft

Planning for the future with a team like this is unusual – everyone we have could be gone next year. My thinking is that we’ll just try to get foundation players wherever we can – it’s probably wisest to spend our top picks on positions that tend to be particularly expensive in free agency, like CB, DE, and WR.

When my top pick comes up, I am perplexed – the top CB available is a horrible mismatch for my intended scheme, and the WR I had been eyeing got napped up two picks ahead of us. I decide LB Daryl Jeffries can help us, and looks like a solid pick here – he’s our man.


Amateur Draft Report:

Rnd 1 - Daryl Jeffries, OLB, Washington
Rnd 2 - Herman Cochrane, WR, Auburn
Rnd 3 - Wendell Schanne, OLB, Southern California
Rnd 4 - Sammie King, RB, Evansville
Rnd 5 - Everett Chelius, QB, Troy State
Rnd 6 - Edwin Irwin, DT, Florida State
Rnd 7 - Duane Buchanan, S, North Carolina


I don’t really have a good read on this lot – we just picked up value where we could, and will be hoping to see a couple of these guys look as good as their draft day scorecards indicated.

[QuikSand]

Late Free Agency

We fill up the remaining roster holes with late roster additions. I’m also open to high quality players who might be willing to take one year with us, in the absence of a solid multi year deal.

Oh, and a starting QB. We need one of those, too.

I decide to move my two rookie linebackers to the inside (they are both tough against the run) and that we will use a 3-4 front. I decide that I want to give them a mentor to help bring them along, so we sign a veteran MLB to try to help things out.

At QB, we end up with two veterans, both signed pretty inexpensively. Alvin Gammon is a guy with pretty solid ratings and decent stats thus far, while Deion Brock is on the downhill, but was a total monster during his prime. (If you’re a serious diehard, you might remember him from my [url=http://dynamic.gamespy.com/~fof/forums/showthread.php?t=18145]Akron/Cleveland dynasty some time ago – this career sprang from those game files) Anyway – Deion Brock has a career passer rating of over 98, and while he’s in his 15th season, he still looks like he might be able to get it done. I might give him a chance as our starter this season.

[QuikSand]

Training Camp

Here is the nutshell camp analysis:


Player # Pos Start Exp CE FE CE FE dCE dFE
Gammon, Alvin 11 QB 9 61 61 61 61 0 0
Brock, Deion 19 QB 15 51 51 51 51 0 0
Fisk, Dwight 9 QB 1 20 46 25 50 5 4
Chelius, Everett 13 QB 1 18 47 20 42 2 -5
Bartell, Stephen 4 QB 1 12 51 15 51 3 0
Crain, Leonard 40 RB 8 42 43 42 43 0 0
Keyes, Floyd 29 RB 7 40 43 40 43 0 0
Horvath, Trent 34 RB 3 33 41 34 41 1 0
King, Sammie 47 RB 1 26 39 26 35 0 -4
Garber, Willie 30 FB 12 44 50 44 50 0 0
Alton, Lenny 48 FB 3 34 47 35 47 1 0
Fisk, Dennis 89 TE 3 40 46 41 46 1 0
Bensen, Terrance 84 TE 3 20 45 23 45 3 0
Brannan, Gino 86 FL 4 47 51 47 51 0 0
Cochrane, Herman 88 FL 1 29 51 29 48 0 -3
Crooks, Artie 81 FL 1 10 25 12 27 2 2
Miller, Devin 82 SE 6 48 49 48 49 0 0
Haines, Lee 87 SE 1 12 32 13 28 1 -4
Gomez, Greg 53 C 6 40 53 43 53 3 0
Schwartz, Karl 51 C 3 30 50 32 50 2 0
Cunningham, Ted 60 LG 9 48 51 48 51 0 0
Huntley, Wesley 79 RG 4 39 49 42 49 3 0
Barbour, Don 67 LT 14 49 53 49 53 0 0
Voncannon, John 61 LT 6 31 34 31 34 0 0
Rasmussen, Kevin 78 RT 3 33 47 34 47 1 0
Blade, Kevin 14 P 1 42 63 45 64 3 1
Wallace, Charles 5 K 1 29 53 30 49 1 -4
Copeland, Ronnie 74 LDE 4 49 54 52 54 3 0
Irwin, Edwin 73 LDE 1 17 40 19 37 2 -3
Steele, Sammie 72 RDE 6 51 52 51 52 0 0
O'Neill, Bart 71 LDT 4 49 50 49 50 0 0
Burgess, Dave 75 RDT 5 52 52 52 52 0 0
Colon, Cris 91 RDT 6 22 45 24 45 2 0
Callis, Nolan 70 RDT 1 21 30 21 31 0 1
Whitfield, Pat 96 RDT 1 10 39 11 39 1 0
Schanne, Wendell 54 SILB 1 17 52 20 48 3 -4
Jeffries, Daryl 90 WILB 1 29 69 33 69 4 0
Fisher, Jackie 58 MLB 13 45 47 45 47 0 0
Selby, Rodney 55 MLB 6 27 34 29 34 2 0
Wynn, Lewis 99 SLB 12 48 48 48 48 0 0
Parrish, Clifton 59 WLB 3 37 49 40 49 3 0
George, John 93 WLB 12 35 38 35 38 0 0
Rickles, Bruce 95 WLB 14 32 35 32 35 0 0
Ellison, Blaine 98 WLB 1 11 33 12 31 1 -2
Woodcock, Isaac 37 LCB 5 52 56 55 56 3 0
Gumphrey, Benjamin 21 LCB 6 51 51 51 51 0 0
Bensen, Chris 20 LCB 3 32 50 36 50 4 0
Fulcher, Brandon 28 RCB 1 16 37 21 41 5 4
Moulton, Fred 36 RCB 1 17 39 19 42 2 3
Fisk, Rick 49 SS 14 50 53 50 53 0 0
Newton, Toby 26 SS 13 45 50 45 50 0 0
Buchanan, Duane 33 SS 1 17 39 18 39 1 0
Swatek, Tom 42 FS 9 40 40 40 40 0 0


My top draft pick held up okay, but the other young ILB doesn’t look so hot. We have a couple minor breakouts at CB and QB – indeed, QB Dwight Fisk might be worth a look for us down the road.


I don’t have terribly high hopes for this team this season – indeed, my expectation are that we’ll end up with a fairly vanilla year. I think the talent level is okay (though our roster rating is only a subpar 30) but I don’t think we have any cohesion to work in our favor, in a league where there will be plenty of teams with lots of long-time starters. So – we will do our best, but I suspect this will be a losing campaign in our first year.

The fun really begins when all these one-time cheap free agents get a full year of starting experience, and decide they are really worth some money!

[QuikSand]

2027 season

Any doubt about our QB situation is erased in the preseason, as Alvin gammon goes down with a broken ankle. Deion Brock is clearly the starter now, with rookie Dwight Fisk in the #2 slot, under Brock’s tutelage.

Through the early season, we seem to be a very average team. Deion Brock is a solid, mistake-free QB (10 TD and 1 Int through six games), but we don’t have a truly explosive offense. Our defense, on balance is pretty poor – that is our real weakspot, probably due to an utter lack of any cohesion at all.

We run the strong out, about where I expected us to be – not the bottom tier, but a sub-.500 team through and through.


2027 Summary for St. Louis Rams

Record: 7-9
Winning Pct.: .437

St. Louis Rams Team Rank
Rushes 453 19
Rushing Yards 1851 20
Yards Per Carry 4.08 20 (T)
Pass Attempts 503 22
Completions 302 24
Passing Yards 3466 26
Yards Per Attempt 6.89 20
3rd Down Conversions 42.3 25
Points Per Game 19.8 20
Turnovers 22 13 (T)
Turnover Margin -1 17

Opponents Team Rank
Rushes 461 19 (T)
Rushing Yards 1849 11
Yards Per Carry 4.01 7
Pass Attempts 524 17
Completions 334 27 (T)
Passing Yards 4100 31
Yards Per Attempt 7.82 30
3rd Down Conversions 44.7 18
Points Per Game 21.2 18
Turnovers 21 20 (T)

Week Team Versus Oppnt
1 27 SFO 17
2 13 at PIT 38
3 37 at NYG 12
4 14 at DET 16
5 14 GBY 24
6 17 CHI 10
7 14 at MIN 17
8 10 ARI 15
10 28 at SFO 17
11 6 at SEA 21
12 19 at CLE 13
13 21 ATL 28
14 20 BAL 27
15 27 at ARI 24
16 14 CIN 28
17 36 SEA 33

Passing Pos Att Comp Yards Y/Att TD Int
19 Brock QB 379 224 2458 6.48 18 9
11 Gammon QB 124 78 1008 8.12 6 5
**Team --- 503 302 3466 6.89 24 14

Rushing Pos Att Yards Y/Att TD
34 Horvath RB 307 1280 4.16 7
40 Crain RB 76 327 4.30 3
**Team --- 453 1851 4.08 13

Receiving Pos Targ Catch Yards Y/Ctc YAC TD
86 Brannan WR 109 66 956 14.4 145 9
30 Garber FB 78 50 333 6.6 147 3
82 Miller WR 85 44 776 17.6 70 3
88 Cochrane WR 57 33 449 13.6 105 2
34 Horvath RB 45 28 160 5.7 67 0
89 Fisk TE 32 17 153 9.0 24 2
40 Crain RB 23 16 113 7.0 52 2
**Team --- 503 302 3466 11.4 730 24

Defense Pos Tack Asst Sack Hurr Ints Defn
90 Jeffries ILB 107 33 2.5 3 1 11
99 Wynn OLB 84 32 8.0 2 1 9
37 Woodcock CB 73 25 0.0 0 2 15
26 Newton S 69 20 0.5 0 3 12
59 Parrish OLB 64 26 1.5 1 1 4
49 Fisk S 60 18 0.0 0 1 8
75 Burgess DT 50 14 3.5 7 0 0
21 Gumphrey CB 45 22 0.0 1 2 5
74 Copeland DE 44 17 12.0 17 0 0
58 Fisher ILB 43 22 0.0 0 0 4
54 Schanne ILB 34 12 0.0 0 0 4
72 Steele DE 32 20 3.5 4 0 0
36 Moulton CB 30 5 0.0 0 3 1
71 O'Neill DT 24 10 4.5 4 0 0
42 Swatek S 20 7 0.0 0 0 3
**Team --- 879 294 37.0 40 15 78


We end up basically below average in most everything – though we are slightly better than average in stopping the run. Deion Brock got hurt down the stretch, and had to come out for the last few games – now we know what we have with both veteran guys here.

WR Gino Brannan was a great value pickup in late free agency, but after a 900+ yard season, I don’t know if he’s going to be affordable. He and Trent Horvath (another guy we found in late FA) were the real engines behind this team. Horvath just might stay affordable – he doesn’t have many high ratings to drive the buyers crazy.

We got a very productive season out of journeyman LB Lewis Wynn, whose 8 sacks more than double his career total. LB Daryl Jeffries looks to be on pace for a solid career in the middle of our defense, and might take down DROY honors for his standout season. DE Ronnie Copeland was the real pass pressurer for this team – his 12 sacks also more than double his career total. The defense ended up being passable – we’ll see who is willing to stick around and be part of something here in St. Louis.


Year one: about as expected
Ahead: hopefully, this will get tough quickly

[CraigSca]

Interesting. Do prized free agents usually accept lucrative one year contracts? I have never even attempted something like that.

[QuikSand]

You have to pump up the deal a good bit. If he's seeking 4yrs, $36m... I might have to offer something like $3m salary plus $5m in bonus -- then he will at least consider that offer. (Actually, with a one year deal, I have the liberty of pushing everything but the minsal into a bonus, making it even more attractive, I guess)

So far, I'm just going after guys nobody else wants. BUt next seaosn, we might have the money to go after an impact player here or there... don't know how the cap will fit yet, really.

[Poli]

Push Button Rams
I know it's not similar, but a "push button" in the Navy is someone who makes E4 automatically out of school. I myself am a "push button."

[Peregrine]

Interesting idea, Quik. I'll be reading, as usual.

[QuikSand]

Thoughts on “Planning”

With a team that’s up for contract every year, it seems hard to really make long term plans. But I think I have to do some of that to get this to work.

I am thinking that in year two, I will try to lay some groundwork for a long term plan with this team – and that the foundation will be to bring aboard some guys that I plan to keep for a long time (at least 3-4 years, if not more). Signing top quality starters or stars with this in mind is not the right approach – I don’t want to be in a situation where I have to overpay certain players to keep them around, so instead, I will try to build a foundation with players who really aren’t that good (and therefore won’t be in high demand on the open free agent market). So, at pretty much every position group, I will be looking for players who fit one or more of the profiles here:

-Veterans with high leadership who can become position leaders
-Players with single skills good enough to be used as reserves
-Players with special teams or return skills
-Players who will contribute affinity with established leaders
-Players who can mentor younger players at their position

So, my thinking is to try to find a single player that I can install as the position leader – ideally a decent reserve-quality veteran – and then try to build the position group around him. A good example might be RB Leonard Crain. He’s currently in his 8th year, has a decent 53 rating in leadership, and is my position leader. He doesn’t have great ratings, but he is pretty solid in elusiveness and hole recognition, two specific skills I value for a backup RB. So – I might want to plan to keep Crain around for the years to come, and try to plan my backs around his leadership – I expect that Crain will never attract big interest from other teams, so I probably can count on him being willing to re-sign year after year with us… lending some stability to the position group. If I can get comparable guys (especially with higher leadership and perhaps mentoring ability) at other position groups, I think I can start to do some long range planning.

That is my top goal of this offseason – to start to develop a structure for this team, despite the lack of long term contracts that would add security.

[QuikSand]

2028 offseason

On our retirement list – I’m looking for Deion Brock’s name. He’s a QB mentor, and if he sticks around, I’ll be inclined to re-sign him for another season.

Brock does not retire – that’s good news. S Rick Fisk and LB Bruce Rickles do – and Fisk was a guy we’d have preferred to keep around. So, a bit disappointing there, but no major shock.


As I enter the free agency period, I want to note the players who are priority re-signings for us. Guys who either performed well for us, or who might fit into the long-term planning I described earlier, in one way or another. Here’s my working list:

QB Deion Brock – mentor, potential starter, solid player
QB Dwight Fisk (RFA) – promising
RB Leonard Crain – possible long term position leader
RB Trent Horvath (RFA) – productive RB, but might be tough to re-sign
TE Dennis Fisk (RFA) – decent skills, might be good long term asset
WR Gino Brannan – very productive, may be too expensive
WR Devin Miller – very solid, starting quality guy
LT John Voncannon – OL leader, quality reserve, played well
DE Ronnie Copeland – will be expensive, but a solid pass rusher
DT Bart O’Neill – solid reserve quality guy, good leadership
DT Chris Colon – solid run stopper, potential to develop
LB Daryl Jeffries (signed) – anchor LB potential
LB Wendell Schanne (signed) – complementary LB, good skills fit
LB Jackie Fisher – mentor at ILB, decent skills to start/backup
LB Lewis Wynn – very productive, might be expensive after big year
LB Clifton Parrish – good complementary player (playable at LB and S)
CB Benjamin Gumphrey – starter, mentor, good skills match
CB Chris Bensen (RFA) - solid skills match, cheap starter
CB Fred Moulton (RFA) – some potential, good skills match, bargain
SS Toby Newton – good skills match, starter quality player
FS Tom Swatek – position leader, mentor, starter – guy to build around


Actually, our secondary is probably the best-assembled position group on the team right now. With Swatek as our position leader, we have a mentor at each position, and we have four affinities within the group (and no conflicts). This is the model for how I’d like the team to look in the long run. We just have to keep everyone together – my biggest worry is with CB Isaac Woodcock, who may have too much talent to be willing to re-sign with us for an affordable one year deal. I’m ready to insert Bensen as the starter, and to go with Moulton and Fulcher as the reserves (both of them are very promising youngsters with affinity to Swatek – a perfect combination).

So, where do we need help? I guess the spots we need to work on are the OL and defensive front, most of all. I am hoping that LT John Voncannon can be our long-term position leader on the OL (though his contract demands are a big high right now, I expect we will land him eventually) so I will look for guys who will work with him. And on the DL, we will let go of DE Sammie Steele (high demands, low production) and will instead be looking for more players who fit well with Bart O’Neill, who I expect will take over as the position leader on the departure of Steele. That should resolve the conflict between Steele and LB Jackie Fisher, who we hope to bring back as mentor to the young ILBs on the roster.

So, do I need to go out and sign any veteran players to become position leaders? Maybe at WR/TE.

I think I find my ideal guy in WR Jeff Sasa. His skills are mediocre – he could probably be okay as a 3rd or 4th WR option. He’s only a 6th year guy, but he has very high leadership and intelligence, and is already a position mentor. Perfect. His demands are modest – this is a guy we might be able to keep around for ten years. We put in an offer, and will hope to build around Sasa at the position group – just what we wanted!

The downside with Sasa is that QB Fisk doesn’t like him – an immediate conflict. I’d prefer to avoid conflicts on the team if we can, so I look a bit more at the appropriate receivers. 5th year Curtis Carter is a similar guy – but has the same effect with QB Fisk. There is really no other good fit here.

I end up going with Sasa – hard to say whether QB Fisk will be around that long, but Sasa is just too good for hat we want to do with this team. Leader, mentor, and young enough to be here forever – it’s too good to pass up. We put in a bid, and hope to land him.

[QuikSand]

Free Agency

With that, I am ready to go ahead into the open world of free agency.

After putting in early bids for a number of our own players, I make a few overtures to free agents we’d like to bring aboard. DE Chris Franz looks good enough to start for us at the RDE spot, and isn’t looking for a wheelbarrow full of cash. CB Emanuel Hanson looks like a good fit for our secondary scheme, and we put in a modest offer for his services. DT Dustin Hammond looks like a solid run stopper, perfect for our NT slot, where we anticipate losing our starter from last year.


After the first week – no big surprises. CB Woodcock is fielding big offers, and he will be gone for certain. We have a battle for DE Chris Franz, and will have to up our offer there. But we look pretty good for the other dozen or so early offers we have out there, including immediate deals with LB Jackie Fisher and S Tom Swatek, two veteran mentors we definitely wanted back.

DT Dave Burgess is the nest player of ours (from last yea) to accept a huge multi year deal, so he is gone (as expected). DE Chris Franz now had five offers on the table – ours is solid, but only one year and he has four year offers to choose from.

Along the way, we re-sign WR Devin Miller and RB Leonard Crain, both important offensive weapons we wanted to keep aboard. WR Gino Brannan isn’t getting any attention from the FA market, so we may well be able to get him to re-up as well, which would be great.


With the group leaders as I forecast them, here’s the grid I will use to guide my affinity judgments.


AFFINITY ANALYSIS

# Sign Begin End Affs Conflict Leaders
1 Aries 3/21 4/20 3 8 11
2 Taurus 4/21 5/21 4 12 7
3 Gemini 5/22 6/21 1 8 6
4 Cancer 6/22 7/23 2 12 9 OL
5 Leo 7/24 8/23 6 9 10
6 Virgo 8/24 9/23 5 9 3
7 Libra 9/24 10/23 1011 2 RB,D7
8 Scorpio 10/24 11/22 1 3 12 WR
9 Sagittarius 11/23 12/22 5 6 4 DB
10 Capricorn 12/23 1/20 7 11 5
11 Aquarius 1/21 2/18 7 10 1
12 Pisces 2/19 3/20 2 4 8

POS Affinity Affinity Conflict

RB 12-1 1-2 4-5
WR 3-4 5-6 2-3
OL 4-5 2-3 11-12
D7 12-1 1-2 4-5
DB 7-8 8-9 6-7

QB 12-1 and 1-2 best, 4-5 worst


In particular, I’m going to try to build some OL affinity around Voncannon – so we’ll be looking for decent, reserve-quality players at the affinity slots there. Sagittarians need not apply.


Moving forward in free agency, we land DT Bart O’Neill, and WR Jeff Sasa – both guys I expect to become and remain position leaders for us. In week five, we land a few more players, including DE Chris Franz, who finally relents to our bonus-heavy one year offer over the three and four year tenders he got from other teams. Great news, we expect to slot him as a starter immediately. DE Ronnie Copeland has not yet signed, but doesn’t have any other offers – so I suspect we will land him eventually.


In week 7, we have a challenge for C Greg Gomez, our solid starting center from a year ago. I am befuddled by one thing – Gomez appears to be a candidate for affinity with our position leader Voncannon, but it doesn’t show up (Voncannon was born 6/30, Gomez 3/18). Gomez has been solid – I put in an offer intending to retain him, despite the mysterious lack of affinity.

In week nine, our outstanding bids all get resolved – in our favor. C Greg Gomez accepts our offer to return, and both WR Gino Brannan and DE Ronnie Copeland accept our deals, too. That covers our top priority signings – now we can work through the remainder of the roster, and look for guys who would fit in with our increasingly established position groups.


At this point, through FA week 9, we only have 22 signed players – but I feel like it’s all coming together. I think a lot of our guys who have not yet received any offers at all will be fairly easy to re-sign, it’s just a matter of waiting them out.

Interestingly, I am not recording a conflict between WR Sasa and QB Fisk, and I’m pretty certain I was notified of such. Odd.


In an effort to work out my OL affinity issues, I make an offer to a new potential position leader in veteran C Randy Walker. He takes our bid, and everything falls properly into place again. Walker becomes our group leader, and we suddenly have four affinities with him – much, much better.

That reinforces the importance of re-signing starting RG Wesley Huntley, a 5th year veteran who gets along great with Walker. We get in a one year bid, and lock him up quickly.


Our remaining trouble area is RB, where FB Lenny Alton sits as the position leader, and nobody likes him. I sign and release him on a RFA contract – and that clears up the position group issues quickly. With Leonard Crain as our position leader, we have an affinity with FB Willie Garber, so there is potential there. However, Deion Brock doesn’t get along with Crain – so there is one potential short-term conflict situation there to worry about.

I also have a problem, that DT Dustin Hammond, our proud new signing to start at DT, does not get along well with DT Bart O’Neill, our position leader along the defensive front. I like Hammond a lot – maybe the answer is to bring in a veteran who will assume the leadership role and get along with both guys. I find just the guy – DE Rick Peterson is an 11th year player, good enough to get backup playing time, and is a mentor at the DE position. Ideal. We get him signed, despite Pittsburgh’s efforts to lock him up with a three year deal.

So, our affinity grid now has changed a bit:


AFFINITY ANALYSIS

# Sign Begin End Affs Conflict Leaders
1 Aries 3/21 4/20 3 8 11
2 Taurus 4/21 5/21 4 12 7 OL
3 Gemini 5/22 6/21 1 8 6 D7
4 Cancer 6/22 7/23 2 12 9
5 Leo 7/24 8/23 6 9 10
6 Virgo 8/24 9/23 5 9 3
7 Libra 9/24 10/23 1011 2 RB
8 Scorpio 10/24 11/22 1 3 12 WR
9 Sagittarius 11/23 12/22 5 6 4 DB
10 Capricorn 12/23 1/20 7 11 5
11 Aquarius 1/21 2/18 7 10 1
12 Pisces 2/19 3/20 2 4 8

POS Affinity Affinity Conflict

RB 12-1 1-2 4-5
WR 3-4 5-6 2-3
OL 6-7 2-3 9-10
D7 3-4 10-11 8-9
DB 7-8 8-9 6-7

QB 3-4 best; 1-2,5-6,7-8,10-11,12-1 good


So, as things stand right now – we have four personality conflicts on the team. Three are from quarterbacks, where it’s just going to be tough to get things to work since I have such a hodgepodge of signs involved, and the other is from TE Dennis Fisk. Fisk is a guy I had slotted as a “long term” keeper, but now I think I’m going to cut him. He doesn’t have great talent, and TE is a pretty easy position to fill via free agency, especially if I’m willing to settle for a mediocre player. Sorry, Dennis – Jeff Sasa says you have to go. (Actually, Fisk isn’t even signed – I just won’t b offering him a RFA contract)


We may be able to avoid the conflict with Deion Brock, too. QB Alvin Gammon has gotten no love on the open market, and would probably re-sign with us for the coming year. He has just become a QB mentor, meaning that I’d be comfy going with him (one affinity, and mentor) as our starter ahead of Fisk (promising youngster, chemistry neutral). That leaves out the sentimental story of Deion Brock, but he’s got one or two years left in him at most, and admittedly has lesser skills than Gammon. If I’m committed to chemistry – this is probably the way to go here.


We have reached the end of the early free agency period, and our team still has $24 million in cap space. Admittedly, with all my attention paid to chemistry matters, we didn’t really go out and make any big splash free agent signings. There is still time – especially at the QB position – to do so, so our options are not totally exhausted.

So, in week 19, we go ahead and work out a one year deal with CB Karl Hulton, who has been a standout through most of his 12 year career. he has been a pro bowler twice, and has 70 interceptions, for a 20.0 PDPct on his career. He should be a solid starter for this year, even if our hopes of re-signing him are likely nil.

I make a much smaller splash with TE Bryan Brown, who looks like he might be a great fit for us – great long snapper, good special teamer, and certainly good enough to be our reserve TE, if not a starter. He takes a cheap deal, and he generates affinity with WR Sasa – bullseye.

I also lock up new deals with starting offensive linemen Barbour (a mentor tackle) and Cunningham, getting our line almost ready for the season ahead. We need a starter at RT, and to lock up reserve OT Rasmussen, but both guys we have in mind are restricted – so we ought to be able to work them out in late free agency. We can fill in with affinity guys as needed, and be good to go.

One guy I let slip is DT Cris Colon – I failed to get in a bid for him, and he got signed away in week 20. We were getting deep at DT for our 3-4 setup anyway – so it’s not a crisis.

[QuikSand]

2028 Rookie Draft

I already have the sense that the free agency period is FAR more important in this challenge than are rookies, but here I get a chance to at least lock up a few players to multi year deals. My first round picks need to be valued starters, the rest can just be fillers and reserves (as usual).

As for need areas – not many, really. This team looks pretty complete to me, assuming we ultimately re-sign everyone we expect to re-sign. We could use a long term presence at the RB position, and maybe a quality OL to groom, especially at LT (where our expected starter will be a 15th year vet). We currently have “system” guys at safety – a star caliber addition there would be welcome as well.


Our pick is at #14, where we will probably have missed our chance to nab a major impact player, unless we see a guy slip through at a spot like safety or TE. I will be willing to move up if needed – especially if we can get a perfect fit somewhere in a need spot.

After a look at the draft, I see an offensive lineman in our future. Several solid tackles in this draft, and it seems very likely that we will see at least one or two of them at pick 14, especially since there are lots of glittery quarterbacks who are sure to go in the early selections.

I watch the top two offensive linemen, including the guy I liked bet go between picks 11 and 13, along with the top WR whom I fancied a bit as well. Suddenly, in the space of three picks, we are over the cliff. Ugly.

The best-looking OT left happens to be in the conflict group – and I’d prefer to avoid that, having made such an investment into the team chemistry already. I decide, eventually, to deal out of this year’s first round to pick up a first rounder next year, and advance a bit in the second round of this draft. I just don’t see many (any?) sure things in this crop, and I’d rather wait than reach.

In early round two, I am tempted by the best TE left – but I really like a guy I think I can get later, perhaps in round three or four (he is the third-ranked TE on the remaining list – I may have to get him in round three).

I end up using our top pick on the best OL I can find – he’s a natural center, I expect to see him switch to guard at 299 lbs. The TE I covet is atop the position list when I pick in the middle of round three – so I pull the trigger there and grab him, hoping we have a sleeper pick there.


Amateur Draft Report:

Rnd 2 - Gino Reeves, C, Arizona
Rnd 3 - Cary Schulz, TE, Georgia
Rnd 4 - Jeff Dole, ILB, Rutgers
Rnd 5 - Byron Kraemer, S, Stony Brook
Rnd 6 - Bruce Sutter, FB, Michigan
Rnd 7 - Kim Devine, DT, Purdue


In round four I was enamored with two receivers, but rolled the dice and took my LB prospect instead – both got snapped up (from way down the WR sort) before my selection in round five, to my surprise and dismay.

[QuikSand]

Late Free Agency

Now, with all our rookies quickly signed, we have 36 players on board and $14 million to spend. We can still afford to sign a solid quarterback, and the prospect is awfully tempting. QB Vince Winslett is a 14th year veteran, the defending superbowl MVP, and is sitting around waiting for his phone to ring. He looks very solid, and is certainly affordable – I suspect a $3m deal would lock him up. I put in an initial offer – and decide that we will pursue him, possibly in addition to one of the guys currently on the roster.

I also target 14th year veteran LB Curtis Bergsman – possible starter for us, a good fit for our coverage scheme, and an affinity guy with the front seven leader. Great fit, ideal signing. 5th year LB Keith Woodard is probably a guy we won’t be able to hold on to long term, but he is also amendable to a one year contract, and is also an affinity plus. These are great additions to our club – Woodard would be great to keep around, if possible.

So – those are my main targets in free agency, and we lock them all up pretty smoothly. In week six, I work out deals with mot of our returning restricted free agents, to try to settle out our cap situation once and for all.

I’m a little surprised, but my RFA re-signings take up pretty much all our remaining cap space. I am left with something of a quandary – as we only have one veteran QB signed currently, and that’s Vince Winslett. If I want to work out a deal with Alvin Gammon (which I do) I probably have to cut Winslett to do it – his $3.3m is the easiest way to make some cap space on this team, for certain.

In the end, it looks like Winslett is going to be our man, leaving both Deion Brock and Alvin Gammon on the sidelines. I’m okay with that – Winslett has been pretty steady in his later years, and perhaps he can be with us for two or three seasons, as we continue to develop young Dwight Fisk (who looks just fine as our reserve for this year).

I give it some more thought, and decide that the best route to go is to try to clear out space for Alvin Gammon. In the process, I clean out the two young QBs who contribute personality conflicts with group leaders, and end up with a clean slate in that regard. That gets me to $940,000 in cap space – still not enough to lure Gammon in. I decide the next guy to go is LB John George – that does the trick, and we get Alvin Gammon inked to a $1.5 million contract.

We will carry only 49 players into training camp, so we don’t have a lot of margin for error – but I’m ready for the season ahead and like hat we have on hand. We had more turnover at LB than I had imagined, but the losses of Lewis Wynn and Clifton Parrish will be nicely offset by additions of veterans Curtis Bergsman and Keith Woodard, both of whom will probably land in starting positions right away.

My last problem is that I don’t have the cap space for CB Brandon Fulcher – a guy I really want to keep, as he is a double bonus with affinity and growth potential. I let go of CB Hansen, a 13th year vet who probably figured to be 3rd on our depth chart, but didn’t contribute all that much right away, and doesn’t have much of a future. That frees up the space to sign Fulcher, plus we now have $480k in cap space – enough to work out a deal with a fill-in rookie if we need one down the line (fairly likely, actually).

We head into training camp now with 49 players – and are ready for a look at this new group.

[QuikSand]

Training Camp

Here is the snapshot from training camp:


Player # Pos Start Exp CE FE CE FE dCE dFE
Winslett, Vince 1 QB 14 62 66 62 66 0 0
Gammon, Alvin 11 QB 10 61 61 61 61 0 0
Fisk, Dwight 9 QB 2 32 52 36 52 4 0
Crain, Leonard 40 RB 9 39 41 39 41 0 0
Horvath, Trent 34 RB 4 36 42 37 42 1 0
King, Sammie 47 RB 2 25 31 26 31 1 0
Garber, Willie 30 FB 13 41 47 41 47 0 0
Sutter, Bruce 39 FB 1 19 42 21 45 2 3
Brown, Bryan 85 TE 7 35 40 35 40 0 0
Schulz, Cary 83 TE 1 28 58 31 62 3 4
Brannan, Gino 86 FL 5 47 50 47 50 0 0
Cochrane, Herman 88 FL 2 30 45 32 45 2 0
Sasa, Jeff 80 FL 6 30 33 30 33 0 0
Miller, Devin 82 SE 7 47 48 47 48 0 0
Walker, Randy 57 C 11 54 54 54 54 0 0
Gomez, Greg 53 C 7 46 52 46 52 0 0
Schwartz, Karl 51 C 4 32 49 34 49 2 0
Cunningham, Ted 60 LG 10 48 50 48 50 0 0
Reeves, Gino 56 LG 1 26 62 30 65 4 3
Huntley, Wesley 79 RG 5 48 50 50 50 2 0
Barbour, Don 67 LT 15 49 53 49 53 0 0
Val, Ernest 62 LT 1 22 34 25 38 3 4
Rasmussen, Kevin 78 RT 4 38 47 38 47 0 0
Blade, Kevin 14 P 2 55 65 56 65 1 0
Wallace, Charles 5 K 2 34 47 36 47 2 0
Copeland, Ronnie 74 LDE 5 49 51 49 51 0 0
Irwin, Edwin 73 LDE 2 20 34 21 34 1 0
Franz, Chris 95 RDE 5 51 54 51 54 0 0
Peterson, Rick 72 RDE 11 37 42 37 42 0 0
Hammond, Dustin 76 LDT 5 50 50 50 50 0 0
O'Neill, Bart 71 LDT 5 48 49 48 49 0 0
Devine, Kim 92 LDT 1 22 28 23 28 1 0
Callis, Nolan 70 RDT 2 22 31 23 31 1 0
Schanne, Wendell 54 SILB 2 24 45 26 45 2 0
Jeffries, Daryl 90 WILB 2 42 68 44 68 2 0
Woodard, Keith 52 MLB 5 49 55 51 55 2 0
Bergsman, Curtis 50 MLB 14 45 45 45 45 0 0
Fisher, Jackie 58 MLB 14 43 45 43 45 0 0
Dole, Jeff 97 SLB 1 14 50 17 48 3 -2
Ellison, Blaine 98 WLB 2 11 27 13 27 2 0
Hulton, Karl 31 LCB 13 68 72 68 72 0 0
Gumphrey, Benjamin 21 LCB 7 50 50 50 50 0 0
Bensen, Chris 20 LCB 4 36 50 38 50 2 0
Moulton, Fred 36 RCB 2 24 45 27 45 3 0
Fulcher, Brandon 28 RCB 2 24 45 26 45 2 0
Newton, Toby 26 SS 14 42 46 42 46 0 0
Buchanan, Duane 33 SS 2 18 38 19 38 1 0
Swatek, Tom 42 FS 10 37 37 37 37 0 0
Kraemer, Byron 49 FS 1 21 33 22 32 1 -1


Looks like we might have hit with a couple of our draft picks. TE Cary Schultz does indeed seem to have some real potential, and so might FB Sutter. My new LG Reeves has promise that I didn’t really expect, though some of the camp gain might just be recovering from the position switch from C to G. LB Dole might end up a disappointment – should have grabbed one of my sleeper receiver there instead.


I decide to make a fairly radical decision – we need a pure strong-side linebacker, and Keith Woodard is the most logical fit. So, I permanently move the 5th year player to that spot – his current ratings drop from 51 to 15, but he holds his potential, and I hope he can play well there this year and perhaps be a guy we use there for a few years. I also move young CB Fulcher over to play at strong safety – he is a solid hitter and ballhawk, I think this is a better slot for him and he will still get mentoring there.

We are ready for the season ahead – one last thing to show here. Since we invested so much time into managing the team chemistry, we might as well show it off a bit:


Player # Pos Start Playing Time Chemistry
Winslett, Vince 1 QB QB Content
Gammon, Alvin 11 QB Content 1 Affinity with lea
Fisk, Dwight 9 QB Content
Crain, Leonard 40 RB Content Backfield Leader
Horvath, Trent 34 RB RB Content
King, Sammie 47 RB Content
Garber, Willie 30 FB FB Content Affinity
Sutter, Bruce 39 FB Content Affinity
Brown, Bryan 85 TE Content Affinity
Schulz, Cary 83 TE TE Content
Sasa, Jeff 80 FL Content Receivers Leader
Brannan, Gino 86 FL FL Content
Cochrane, Herman 88 FL Content
Miller, Devin 82 SE SE Content
Walker, Randy 57 C C Content Offensive Line Lead
Gomez, Greg 53 C Content Affinity
##Schwartz, Karl 51 C Content Strong Affinity
Cunningham, Ted 60 LG LG Content
Reeves, Gino 56 LG Content
Huntley, Wesley 79 RG RG Content Affinity
Barbour, Don 67 LT LT Content
Val, Ernest 62 LT Content
Rasmussen, Kevin 78 RT RT Content
Blade, Kevin 14 P Content
Wallace, Charles 5 K Content
Copeland, Ronnie 74 LDE LDE Content
##Irwin, Edwin 73 LDE Content
Devine, Kim 92 LDE Content
Peterson, Rick 72 RDE Content Defensive Front Lea
Franz, Chris 95 RDE RDE Content
Hammond, Dustin 76 LDT NT Content
O'Neill, Bart 71 LDT Content
Callis, Nolan 70 RDT Content Affinity
Schanne, Wendell 54 SILB Content Mild Affinity
Jeffries, Daryl 90 WILB WILB Content
Fisher, Jackie 58 MLB WLB Content
Bergsman, Curtis 50 MLB SILB Content Affinity
Woodard, Keith 52 SLB SLB Content Affinity
Dole, Jeff 97 SLB Content
Ellison, Blaine 98 WLB Content Affinity
Hulton, Karl 31 LCB LCB Content
Gumphrey, Benjamin 21 LCB RCB Content Strong Affinity
Bensen, Chris 20 LCB Content
Moulton, Fred 36 RCB Content Mild Affinity
Newton, Toby 26 SS SS Content
Fulcher, Brandon 28 SS Content Strong Affinity
##Buchanan, Duane 33 SS Content Affinity
Swatek, Tom 42 FS FS Content Secondary Leader
Kraemer, Byron 49 FS Content


Looking forward, we can probably improve at the WR group, as this year we really don’t have any reserves, and therefore didn’t focus much on filling in with affinity guys. Ideally, I’d like to get a solid receiver/returner to slide in as a long term answer at the WR position – a guy who doesn’t have great skills, but can contribute and add an affinity. We’ll be looking.


So, with plenty of team chemistry, but still not much in the way of cohesion (still last in everything), we head into our second season. Our roster rating is still a pretty low 43, and I suspect we will be in the middling 8-8 range again this season – but there are foundations in place now. A lot probably rests with QB Vince Winslett – if he can put up a 29 TD season like last season in Oakland, we might have a chance to exceed expectations a good deal. We will need the defense to get the job done, too – tough to expect from a ragtag bunch still settling in together.

[QuikSand]

2028 Season

Regrettably, our biggest injury of the preseason is to SLB Keith Woodard – the guy we needed to “grow into” the SLB role. That leaves us a bit thin at LB, but we will patch by. Next guy to go down for the year is DE Chris Franz – so our pass rush is now seriously compromised.

Our secondary gets absolutely hammered by injures – boy, could we use a veteran like CB Hansen, the last guy we cut in preseason. In week five, we have an undrafted rookie fill-in already seeing playing time at CB and S, since we are literally running out of live bodies.

We are in tatters as we reach the halfway point, but a two win streak has us at 4-4. RB Trent Horvath has been surprisingly effective, with 658 yards in 8 games, ahead of last year’s pace even. Vince Winslett has 12 TDs, but also 12 picks – the sort of inconsistency that has long plagued him. We are mounting nearly zero pass rush – we have 7 team sacks in 8 games, and that is a major problem on defense.

With Winslett now out with an injury – we decide to go young and insert Dwight Fisk as our starting QB. I don’t feel the team is likely to be a playoff contender, so we’ll see what we have in this young QB. I think his development trend is good enough that we may have to consider him a player to build around – this season may tell the tale.

In the second half, the injuries continue to pile up – it’s downright dreadful. For a team that’s as thin as we are, we just can’t have guys getting hurt three or four times a season. Just won’t do. S Tom Swatek has probably had five separate injuries this year – and he’s not the only one. It’s awful.

And yet – we still manage to limp our way to 7-7. By luck of the division draw, we are not in the playoff hunt, even though the 7-7 Giants and 7-7 Redskins (and even the 6-8 Eagles) are still battling for their spot. We can’t catch San Francisco, so we will sit out this postseason again. We wrap up the season at a level 8-8, more or less as expected, and will move ahead with at least one thing in mind – Dwight Fisk has probably earned the starting QB job for the foreseeable future.


2028 Summary for St. Louis Rams

Record: 8-8
Winning Pct.: .500

St. Louis Rams Team Rank
Rushes 476 9
Rushing Yards 2115 7
Yards Per Carry 4.44 5
Pass Attempts 524 15
Completions 316 14
Passing Yards 3688 12
Yards Per Attempt 7.03 13
3rd Down Conversions 42.0 20
Points Per Game 21.1 12 (T)
Turnovers 30 26
Turnover Margin -6 24 (T)

Opponents Team Rank
Rushes 465 19 (T)
Rushing Yards 2116 28
Yards Per Carry 4.55 31
Pass Attempts 516 14 (T)
Completions 300 9 (T)
Passing Yards 3368 8 (T)
Yards Per Attempt 6.52 9 (T)
3rd Down Conversions 44.1 20
Points Per Game 22.6 27
Turnovers 24 15 (T)

Week Team Versus Oppnt
1 28 ARI 18
2 14 NYJ 31
3 6 at WAS 20
4 26 at NOS 23
5 6 CAR 17
6 35 TBY 38
7 34 SFO 24
8 28 at ARI 14
9 16 at ATL 37
10 16 SEA 13
12 14 at BUF 10
13 17 MIN 21
14 31 at MIA 33
15 35 at SEA 34
16 23 NED 13
17 10 at SFO 17

Passing Pos Att Comp Yards Y/Att TD Int
1 Winslett QB 272 160 1786 6.56 12 12
9 Fisk QB 239 145 1770 7.40 13 12
**Team --- 524 316 3688 7.03 26 24

Rushing Pos Att Yards Y/Att TD
34 Horvath RB 306 1380 4.50 11
40 Crain RB 86 315 3.66 2
9 Fisk QB 42 184 4.38 0
**Team --- 476 2115 4.44 15

Receiving Pos Targ Catch Yards Y/Ctc YAC TD
86 Brannan WR 112 64 961 15.0 100 3
82 Miller WR 97 48 677 14.1 114 7
34 Horvath RB 76 47 350 7.4 146 5
30 Garber FB 54 45 293 6.5 101 4
88 Cochrane WR 56 32 508 15.8 93 5
85 Brown TE 45 29 313 10.7 62 1
40 Crain RB 30 24 197 8.2 33 0
**Team --- 524 316 3688 11.6 768 26

Defense Pos Tack Asst Sack Hurr Ints Defn
90 Jeffries ILB 120 31 4.0 5 0 10
50 Bergsman ILB 84 15 4.5 5 0 5
54 Schanne ILB 74 25 1.5 0 0 3
28 Fulcher S 58 13 0.0 1 0 2
21 Gumphrey CB 55 21 0.0 0 2 6
58 Fisher ILB 53 22 0.0 0 0 4
31 Hulton CB 48 13 0.0 0 4 11
72 Peterson DE 43 17 4.5 17 0 0
36 Moulton CB 37 12 0.0 2 3 3
26 Newton S 35 11 0.0 0 2 5
76 Hammond DT 34 15 0.5 6 0 0
71 O'Neill DT 26 9 0.5 6 0 0
42 Swatek S 23 9 0.0 0 1 3
74 Copeland DE 23 15 4.5 28 0 0
48 Manard S 17 6 0.0 0 0 3
**Team --- 826 254 21.0 71 13 59


It’s a little bit odd – last year we were basically below average in everything except stopping the run, where we were surprisingly strong. This year, turn it inside out – our running game was very strong, and our offense in general was solid. What couldn’t we do? Stop the run.

The group of hoboes we put out there at DB for half the season kept opponents to well under 7 yards per attempt – in the league top ten. I don’t see any way to explain that. CB Karl Hulton was pretty good, actually, but nobody else put up much of a season, statistically. My young guys Fulcher and Moulton – nice reserves, admittedly – had to play 413 and 370 plays, respectively, and neither one got close to a PDPct of 20 (18.7 and 19.4, respectively).

In any event – the development of QB Dwight Fisk was good to see. My scout has edged him up to 44/52 – 8 points of growth since training camp in current ratings. I’d like to see that potential continue to climb, but for now I am settled that this is my guy. Hopefully, he will not cost us an arm and a leg to keep aboard.

It’s a Bay area affair in the superbowl, as defending champions Oakland (behind a new QB, they went with Winslett at the helm last season) make their second straight title game, but lose this time to San Francisco, 26-25.

[QuikSand]

2029 offseason

RB Sammie King, who suffered a horrific injury last season, has retired. He’s the only guy from my roster who appears on the retiree list this go-round.

I keep my front office in place – I had thought about replacing the HC and looking for an improvement in that ever-critical “avoid injuries” rating, but my guy is already rated “very good” and it won’t be easy to improve on him. So, we let it ride with the guys on hand.


We head right into free agency – and are once again faced with a legion of important players without contracts. I won’t belabor this as much as I did last year – now we have the structure I want in place, so there is a good deal less to do here than last season.

My objectives will be to retain contributors wherever possible, maintain our heavy affinity status, and to bring aboard a few more players to add decent depth (as we clearly need it).

A few specific goals:

-retain a mentor QB to bring along and back up Dwight Fisk
-improve our return skills and add a key special teamer or two
-improve our depth on the front seven
-improve our chemistry in the receivers group


Looking at the contract process – I’m not going to detail every single deal. I will try to bring back as many of my solid players as I can – I will note ones who get lured away and those I have to fight for, the things that are really worth mentioning. I’m not going to detail every new deal we hammer out with a minsal veteran that nobody else wants – and there will be a lot of them, it seems, if experience is a guide.

We do have one big thing looming on the background. The Chicago Bears, our trade partner last season during the draft, turned out to be the worst team in football – and we suddenly hold the #1 pick in this year’s draft. It wasn’t deliberate – but through the backdoor we have gained a chance for a young impact player. I have a look at the draft preview, to see if there’s an obvious target to use the top selection on – NT Kelvin Green (45/87) looks like a very serious candidate, so we will keep that in mind as we manage our free agent activities.


With our position leaders already in place – our affinity grid looks the same as it did going into last year:


AFFINITY ANALYSIS

# Sign Begin End Affs Conflict Leaders
1 Aries 3/21 4/20 3 8 11
2 Taurus 4/21 5/21 4 12 7 OL
3 Gemini 5/22 6/21 1 8 6 D7
4 Cancer 6/22 7/23 2 12 9
5 Leo 7/24 8/23 6 9 10
6 Virgo 8/24 9/23 5 9 3
7 Libra 9/24 10/23 1011 2 RB
8 Scorpio 10/24 11/22 1 3 12 WR
9 Sagittarius 11/23 12/22 5 6 4 DB
10 Capricorn 12/23 1/20 7 11 5
11 Aquarius 1/21 2/18 7 10 1
12 Pisces 2/19 3/20 2 4 8

POS Affinity Affinity Conflict

RB 12-1 1-2 4-5
WR 3-4 5-6 2-3
OL 6-7 2-3 9-10
D7 3-4 10-11 8-9
DB 7-8 8-9 6-7

QB 3-4 best; 1-2,5-6,7-8,10-11,12-1 good


One twist here is that C Randy Walker suffered a serious injury late last season, and he is now hardly worth mentioning as a player. We may retain him as a position leader, but he’s not a starting caliber player by any stretch now. For now – I will operate under the assumption that he comes back and remains our position leader.

On the good side, it appears that DE Chris Franz has come back healthy after missing all last season, and LB Keith Woodard looks solid as well (though his shift to SLB still leaves him looking like a project player). We will try to sign both of those guys – whose absence certainly hurt us a lot up front last season. (The injury proneness is a concern, but we do what we can)


I put in a bid for a new strong safety – Tyrell Slaymaker is an 8th year guy who I see as a new starter, and standout kick returner. He would be a great addition, I think, and isn’t asking for a fortune. I’m still bidding for Toby Newton, who essentially occupies that dual role now, but he’s a 15th year vet, and I need to be thinking about that. I also put in a bid for CB Jimmy Sprehe – a solid corner with standout punt return skills. We got chewed up in the secondary last year – he could help on a lot of fronts.


In the very first week, I am not surprised to see CB Karl Hulton signing a big deal elsewhere – he was a one-year guy all the way. QB Vince Winslett looks like he will land a big deal also, in Denver.

We are going to have to battle for RG Wesley Huntley – Chicago has a bid in for him, which we will have to outdo. It works, as we re-sign Huntley for a solid $1.4 million.

DE Chris Franz has suddenly taken an offer from Arizona, and we miss out on our chance to bid for him. He never played a down for us – but his departure leaves us even thinner at DE and needing an influx there for certain. It’s a bit disappointing – last year we battled hard to sign him, but he fell to an injury and never saw the field for us.

CB Jimmy Sprehe does sign – he won’t exactly replace Hulton’s skills, but Sprehe might be a guy we can keep around for a while, and who should make a pretty solid swing man in the CB and PR slots.

Detroit is now pursuing QB Alvin Gammon, after Denver already signed our other veteran/mentor Vince Winslett. We want a mentor QB around this year – I had planned on it being Gammon. I now see that there is a likely cheap option out there – a 5th year guy who isn’t good enough to play, but is a mentor. So, I have that on the back burner – but would still prefer a solid backup and mentor all in one bundle (like Gammon). Detroit’s offer for Gammon is over $5m a year – I can’t possibly keep pace with that, especially since Fisk is thinking about a number like $3 million this year already.

DT Bart O’Neill is the next guy I need to defend, while DT Dustin Hammond is being pursued hotly and is probably out of reach. Hammond signs a long term deal with Seattle, and we are left to scramble a bit for O’Neill. In the back of my mind, I am imagining the standout rookie stepping right in at NT, though – so that is comforting to us.

I am stunned when S Tom Swatek up and signs with Jacksonville – there goes a position leader and my whole affinity structure in the secondary. Emergency! I hadn’t seen it coming – he’s a pretty marginal player, and the type that frequently just goes unnoticed by the AI rivals. I decide to try to rescue the affinity structure by pursuing CB Ian Meyer – he is hurt and will miss most of this season, but he would become our position leader and reinstate the affinity losses we suffered by Swatek’s departure. Easiest solution I could muster on short notice. Meyer is delighted to get a contract, and he comes aboard. (We now lack a mentor safety, though)

We do manage to coax LT Don Barbour and DT Bart O’Neill back into the fold, with solid one year offers that they choose over competing multiyear tenders.

CB Chris Bensen is the next departure – and I am again surprised. We are now left with only three healthy corners for this season – and I fear that will not be enough under any circumstance. We will plan to use S Byron Kreamer again as a reserve CB (not a big hitter, good cover guy) but I would prefer to add one more guy there – either in the draft or via free agency.

Incidentally, Alvin Gammon’s contract offer from Detroit has vanished – meaning we may have another backdoor chance later on to sneak in and hold on to him, which I prefer. Detroit has instead set their sights on RB Trent Horvath and FB Willie Garber – both of whom we will try to hold on to with our own offers. We are successful, and hold on to our starting backfield duo.

We work out several deals in the waning days of free agency before the rookie draft, but we do see two offensive linemen depart: LG Ted Cunningham and C Karl Schwartz. Cunningham was a starter, but young Gino Reeves is definitely ready for that slot now. Schwartz was a good reserve, but too expensive to do battle over at more than a million.

We head to the draft with 30 players signed, and probably another 10-12 whom we simply expect will be re-signed before training camp. We draft 8 rookies, and we will be just about at our capacity – before we even consider some of the late stage “value” signings that look like they are going to become a big part of what we do in this career.

[QuikSand]

2009 Rookie Draft

The toughest decision is trying to figure out whether it’s worth spending this much money on any one player – not whether NT Kelvin Greene is the guy to select. Last year’s top pick, a DE, got a $15 million signing bonus for a 5 year deal – and will eat nearly $4m in cap space this year for Indy. He’s a great-looking player, but that’s a huge chunk – and a huge risk.

I decide to pull the trigger – and we lock up our franchise defensive centerpiece with this selection.

There are two corners whom I covet, and I watch through picks 12 and 13 to see if one may fall to me. I think if one gets taken, I must move up to take the other one – it’s a need position for sure. At #14, Chris Hageman Jr. (son of a HOF QB from earlier in this career) is the first of my two target CBs to go – and I initialy decide I need to move up from #19 to #15 to land the other guy I like a lot. however, I look closely – my guy is about 7th on the remaining sorted list (2nd CB listed) and I suspect he will slide to #19. I decide, after reflection, to roll the dice.


Amateur Draft Report:

Rnd 1 - Kelvin Green, DT, Clemson
Rnd 1 - Bart Ikuma, CB, Texas A&M
Rnd 2 - Chad Burns, WR, Iowa
Rnd 3 - Lonnie Gonzalez, CB, Arkansas State
Rnd 4 - Bo Spry, RB, Oregon
Rnd 5 - Ben Rainwater, DE, Rice
Rnd 6 - Josh Hanes, WR, Central Washington
Rnd 7 - Winfred Mikatarian, T, Shippensburg


I am very pleased with the pair of corners we acquired here – I am optimistic about both guys. I wanted to wait on Gonzalez another round, but didn’t want to let him slip away, so I “reached” a but down the list to grab him.

RB Bo Spry seemed intriguing to me – scout rated him 40/43, with some decent-looking skills. A guy that highly developed seems like an anomaly – worth a stab, at a position I needed anyway. Both receivers Burns and Hanes will be affinity additions to our receiving corps – Burns may actually turn out to b a solid starting-caliber player, too, while Hanes is a versatile guy with some return skills.

[QuikSand]

Late Free Agency

Our top priority in free agency is to improve along the DL, ideally with another pass-rushing DE.

If we have to, we can use LB Grant Witte in the DE spot – he is a standout OLB, and my offer is very affordable. I have trouble seeing how he is unclaimed at this point, really.

We have competition from New England for Witte, no surprise, but they aren’t in with big money. I juice up the bonus in our offer, and it looks like we ought to get him. I’m right – and he comes aboard. Witte has the highest current skills rating of anyone on our team – and this isn’t even a jackpot super value deal (though I doubt he’ll stick around past this season). Ideally, we will start him at SLB, and we will find a solid reserve DE – but we now have some depth that could help at DE if need be.

We also work out a new deal with QB Alvin Gammon – so our mentoring and backup QB roles are locked down, to my delight.

I find a veteran DE who might be okay – not quite an impact player, but Alan Castleberry has a 57 rating in pass rush technique, and a career PRPct rating of 5.2 – which isn’t that bad. DE Jesse Paraiso is another decent player (though no run stopping skills) and we also pursue him.

It would also be nice to bring aboard another cornerback – though I am pleased with the look of our rookies, who probably slot as our #2 and #5 guys for this season at CB. Actually, I suspect we will be okay with Gumphrey and rookie Ikuma as our starters, and with Sprehe and Fred Moulton as our top reserves – it’s not as bad I had been thinking (( overlooked the signing of solid veteran Sprehe). So – things look pretty good there, after all.


As we approach training camp, we still have not signed DT Kelvin Green, but we have a massive $29 million in cap space remaining. This year, we simply did not find any “big splash” free agents to sign, as I am generally comfortable with most parts of the team. There are a couple veteran QBs and RBs still available – but I am not moved to replace either starting position this year.

We have 58 players signed (plus Green pending) so we will have a deeper roster coming into training camp than in past years. I am a little disappointed about players who left the team for other spots – we clearly had the money to keep anyone we wanted this year, so it’s disappointing to watch a few guys go for better deals when I could have spread around a couple $4-5m deals to keep them as needed.

[QuikSand]

Training Camp

I bump up our time in the training room a bit – hoping that might help us out with injuries, which just savaged us last season.

Here is the training camp nutshell:


Player # Pos Start Exp CE FE CE FE dCE dFE
Gammon, Alvin 11 QB 11 62 62 62 62 0 0
Fisk, Dwight 9 QB 3 49 56 54 56 5 0
Grant, Jumbo 3 QB 1 10 50 13 46 3 -4
Spry, Bo 43 RB 1 38 40 39 39 1 -1
Horvath, Trent 34 RB 5 38 41 38 41 0 0
Crain, Leonard 40 RB 10 34 36 34 36 0 0
Garber, Willie 30 FB 14 36 42 36 42 0 0
Sutter, Bruce 39 FB 2 24 47 26 47 2 0
Schulz, Cary 83 TE 2 35 60 38 60 3 0
Brown, Bryan 85 TE 8 36 40 36 40 0 0
Brannan, Gino 86 FL 6 47 50 47 50 0 0
Cochrane, Herman 88 FL 3 35 45 37 45 2 0
Sasa, Jeff 80 FL 7 30 33 30 33 0 0
Miller, Devin 82 SE 8 47 49 47 49 0 0
Ratto, Ronald 87 SE 4 30 52 33 52 3 0
Burns, Chad 89 SE 1 27 64 30 67 3 3
Hanes, Josh 81 SE 1 17 38 18 37 1 -1
Gomez, Greg 53 C 8 46 52 46 52 0 0
Walker, Randy 57 C 12 39 39 39 39 0 0
Reeves, Gino 56 LG 2 33 67 36 67 3 0
Huntley, Wesley 79 RG 6 56 56 56 56 0 0
Barbour, Don 67 LT 16 41 45 41 45 0 0
Val, Ernest 62 LT 2 31 41 33 41 2 0
Harper, Brandon 64 LT 1 14 41 17 45 3 4
Mikatarian, Winfred 60 LT 1 8 34 10 31 2 -3
Rasmussen, Kevin 78 RT 5 37 47 37 47 0 0
Blade, Kevin 14 P 3 62 65 62 65 0 0
Wallace, Charles 5 K 3 36 45 37 45 1 0
Copeland, Ronnie 74 LDE 6 49 51 49 51 0 0
Paraiso, Jessie 94 LDE 7 40 42 41 42 1 0
Irwin, Edwin 73 LDE 3 23 35 25 35 2 0
Devine, Kim 92 LDE 2 20 27 21 27 1 0
Castleberry, Alan 95 RDE 11 42 46 42 46 0 0
Peterson, Rick 72 RDE 12 33 39 33 39 0 0
Rainwater, Ben 77 RDE 1 16 45 18 41 2 -4
Hickl, Brett 76 LDT 14 58 58 58 58 0 0
O'Neill, Bart 71 LDT 6 48 49 48 49 0 0
Green, Kelvin 75 NT 1 45 87 44 87 -1 0
Schanne, Wendell 54 SILB 3 29 41 32 41 3 0
Jeffries, Daryl 90 WILB 3 53 67 56 67 3 0
Bergsman, Curtis 50 MLB 15 39 40 39 40 0 0
Fisher, Jackie 58 MLB 15 37 40 37 40 0 0
Witte, Grant 51 SLB 12 65 65 66 66 1 1
Dole, Jeff 97 SLB 2 17 47 20 47 3 0
Woodard, Keith 52 SLB 6 15 54 18 54 3 0
Ellison, Blaine 98 WLB 3 13 28 14 28 1 0
Gumphrey, Benjamin 21 LCB 8 49 49 49 49 0 0
Gonzalez, Lonnie 24 LCB 1 20 43 21 39 1 -4
**Meyer, Ian 42 RCB 10 52 55 52 55 0 0
Moulton, Fred 36 RCB 3 40 47 43 47 3 0
Ikuma, Bart 47 RCB 1 41 68 43 67 2 -1
Sprehe, Jimmie 41 RCB 6 40 42 40 42 0 0
Sloane, J.B. 46 RCB 1 11 43 13 46 2 3
Slaymaker, Tyrell 22 SS 8 49 49 49 49 0 0
Newton, Toby 26 SS 15 40 44 40 44 0 0
Fulcher, Brandon 28 SS 3 30 56 33 56 3 0
Buchanan, Duane 33 SS 3 19 39 20 39 1 0
Kraemer, Byron 49 FS 2 24 30 25 30 1 0
Manard, Jermaine 48 FS 2 21 40 24 40 3 0


I am pleased with the look from DT Green and especially WR Burns – both look like they ought to pan out just fine. I had thought CB Lonnie Gonzalez was going to be a great sleeper – now it doesn’t look so good for him, but CB Bart Ikuma ought to be a solid contributor (though it turns out his coverage strengths aren’t in line too well with our secondary scheme). Solid rookie class – we will have some tough choices ahead with cutdowns.

I think RB Bo Spry will probably step into the #2 RB role for us this year – he isn’t a breakout guy, but he does have solid ratings in hole rec (77) and elusiveness (94), so I think he can be effective as a pure rusher. Indeed – he might be a guy we want to keep around long term, even – he probably won’t ever be hotly pursued as a free agent. Nice pickup.

We get a trade offer – which has played no role in this career this far. It’s a 2nd rounder for WR Gino Brannan – I will keep Brannan, but things are better than ever at WR for us.

I don’t know how big a step forward this team is ready to take. Our cohesion remains in the bottom third in each category, which will be an impediment. Our overall roster rating is 43, still in the bottom handful of the league. I wonder about our defense – especially whether we will stop the run effectively. Landing monster DT Kelvin Green ought to help, but I was disappointed there last season.

Nothing close to 8-8 would surprise me… perhaps we can edge up one more game and post our first winning record?

[QuikSand]

2029 season

In the preseason, LB Grant Witte goes down with a six week injury – and I wonder if the reason he was available so cheaply was due to an injury problem. He has only played 12 games the last two seasons – I think that must be the case (which admittedly makes sense).

After four weeks, we are 3-1, but our OL is in shambles from injuries. LT Don Barbour is gone for the year, and RG Wesley Huntley is just getting back from his own injury.

Halfway through the year, QB Dwight Fisk has a brilliant game with 4 TD passes to lead us to a win, to get to 7-2 on the season. At 9-3, we are now virtually assured a playoff berth, and have seen RB Horvath again top the 1,000 yard mark. Dwight Fisk has a 97 passer rating – we are clicking awfully nicely, with our passing game among the league’s most efficient. The defense has been average – but we are playing well overall.

From the 9-3 mark, we run the table to finish the season 13-3, and lock up a bye week, which we will need to recover from some minor injuries, no surprise. We have the top seed in the NFC, and the best record in football. (Recall, this is a team with a roster rating of 43, one of the worst in the league)


2029 Summary for St. Louis Rams

Record: 13-3
Winning Pct.: .812

St. Louis Rams Team Rank
Rushes 541 1
Rushing Yards 2189 4
Yards Per Carry 4.04 18
Pass Attempts 425 32
Completions 286 26
Passing Yards 3432 22
Yards Per Attempt 8.07 3
3rd Down Conversions 51.9 2
Points Per Game 21.2 11
Turnovers 21 15 (T)
Turnover Margin +2 16 (T)

Opponents Team Rank
Rushes 419 3
Rushing Yards 1727 8
Yards Per Carry 4.12 18
Pass Attempts 519 19
Completions 290 9
Passing Yards 3607 18
Yards Per Attempt 6.94 15
3rd Down Conversions 42.1 14
Points Per Game 17.8 9 (T)
Turnovers 23 14

Week Team Versus Oppnt
1 23 at SEA 18
2 27 JAX 20
3 6 at ATL 31
4 17 SFO 12
5 16 at NYG 14
6 15 at WAS 31
8 29 DAL 19
9 24 PHI 13
10 28 at ARI 22
11 20 SEA 10
12 13 IND 20
13 30 MIN 10
14 21 at HOU 20
15 23 at SFO 19
16 27 at TEN 17
17 21 ARI 10

Passing Pos Att Comp Yards Y/Att TD Int
9 Fisk QB 425 286 3432 8.07 23 10
**Team --- 425 286 3432 8.07 23 10

Rushing Pos Att Yards Y/Att TD
34 Horvath RB 374 1427 3.81 10
43 Spry RB 85 330 3.88 2
9 Fisk QB 70 384 5.48 3
**Team --- 541 2189 4.04 15

Receiving Pos Targ Catch Yards Y/Ctc YAC TD
30 Garber FB 71 57 391 6.8 174 3
86 Brannan WR 81 47 737 15.6 175 5
34 Horvath RB 53 44 367 8.3 156 5
89 Burns WR 57 38 630 16.5 151 4
82 Miller WR 37 27 375 13.8 96 0
88 Cochrane WR 51 26 472 18.1 41 4
83 Schulz TE 43 25 261 10.4 72 2
**Team --- 425 286 3432 12.0 909 23

Defense Pos Tack Asst Sack Hurr Ints Defn
90 Jeffries ILB 75 24 0.5 2 1 7
51 Witte OLB 74 22 1.5 3 0 14
54 Schanne ILB 70 24 0.0 1 1 7
21 Gumphrey CB 53 23 0.0 1 0 17
50 Bergsman ILB 50 13 2.5 0 0 5
36 Moulton CB 47 10 0.0 0 3 7
26 Newton S 46 24 0.0 0 5 6
58 Fisher ILB 44 16 0.0 1 0 3
28 Fulcher S 42 13 0.0 0 2 4
74 Copeland DE 37 10 8.5 20 0 0
75 Green DT 35 17 6.0 9 0 0
47 Ikuma CB 34 11 0.0 0 3 7
52 Woodard OLB 25 7 1.0 1 0 7
72 Peterson DE 23 8 4.0 6 0 0
41 Sprehe CB 23 5 1.0 0 0 0
95 Castleberry DE 16 12 0.5 7 0 0
22 Slaymaker S 16 14 0.0 0 1 2
**Team --- 784 260 29.0 57 17 88


Another big season from workhorse back Trent Horvath – this year the 1427 is yet another high mark for him, despite a drop in his yards per carry. The passing game didn’t generate gaudy stats, but Fisk completed two thirds of his passes and posted a passer rating of an even 100.

Both LBs Daryl Jeffries and Grant Witte missed time this year, but in the end they were the leaders of our defensive effort. We gave LB Wendell Schanne a chance to play at the SILB spot – and the results were fine – he is no star, but he will remain affordable for us, and seems okay.

[QuikSand]

Postseason Summary

Our first postseason… we get our starting safeties back healthy, and are ready to head into the playoffs, with home field advantage.

Divisional Playoff: Green Bay (8-9) at St. Louis (13-3) – Tough to explain what happened here, but our passing game came up empty, and we just get outplayed by a team with a losing record. Odd way to end things, really. Green Bay 30, St. Louis 26.

Buffalo defeats Philadelphia in the Superbowl…

In the season awards, we finally get some recognition, as K Charles Wallace gains first team honors. (He had to do most of the punting this year, so it’s not like he earned the honor honestly) It is the only honor we have gained with this team since DROY Daryl Jeffries in our first season.

[QuikSand]

Throuugh three seasons, and we are 13-3 and have the best record in football.

*sigh*

With these rules in mind, I really felt like my qualiity players would be in high demand -- that I'd constantly have to be patching holes and such, just to keep the team afloat. When I decidd to try to build chemistry with the team, I thought it would be a seriously difficult undertaking to do so, with all the turnover I expected.

Instead, it looks like we have settled into a rut. My 1,400 yard rusher seems perfectly comfortable re-signing with us for one year deals worth less than 2x minsal. Same for just about every starter on the team. The number of guys who actually get a sniff of big money is surprisingly small.

Tough to know what to think... I want to play another season, but if it looks like the team has already "arrived," I may lose interest awfully quickly. I wanted a struggle. Three seasons and we're 13-3? Not enough struggling going on.

[Peregrine]

Hmm, looks like you may have explored another nuance of the weird salary AI in FOF2K4 that hadn't been discovered before. It sounds like star players accept a one year contract far too easily!

[QuikSand]

I don't have a problem with them accepting my contracts... it's more a matter of there being no demand for these guys. Fairly few are turning down other offers - it's just that these guys are going totally unpursued, and I move in with a modest deal, and it's all they have.

[Peregrine]

Maybe you need to have a limit to how long each player can be signed? Like two or three years and gone? I'm not sure that will address the fundamental problem of easiness though, I'm sure there will be other good players available.

[QuikSand]

I'm at a loss.

Maybe I can't sign anyone until the late FA stages? That way anyone with any talent at all ought to have gotten some offer, right? (Too contrived, I think)

[Ragone]

The Fish that saved Pittsburgh! :)

[jbmagic]

there always a lot of good free agents left and cpu teams dont sign them or offer contract to them it seems like.

are you seeing that?

you feel like that a weakness in FOF?

[QuikSand]

there always a lot of good free agents left and cpu teams dont sign them or offer contract to them it seems like.

are you seeing that?

you feel like that a weakness in FOF?

I think this territory is pretty well covered, but yes - I think this is a weakness. In any single player career, I can sort through the free agents available, and with the exception of the very best players, I routinely can find ten solid-looking players who can be key contributors for my team, who will sign for minimal contracts. And invariably, I have no competition at all for most, if not all, of these players. This is not just this career - this is any SP career.

I don't claim to understand how the AI works in managing the computer-controlled teams, but I just think that somebody ought to see the same guys I see, and somebody ought to be battling me for a few of these guys. Maybe some teams out there are building cohesion, or feel they are all set at specific position groups -- but it's just disappointing to see guys who would improve lots of teams going completely unclaimed.

Anyway... more to come here.

[QuikSand]

2030 offseason

Well, if my offseason moaning needed to be heard – the evidence is in. We have six retirements from the team – meaning we will have work to do, like it or not. The list:

ILB Curtis Bergsman
S Toby Newton
FB Willie Garber
DE Rick Peterson
RB Leonard Crain
WR Devin Miller

Wow. We will have work to do on several fronts, especially since we lost two of our position leaders. At RB/FB, we have a whole new opportunity here to build some cohesion and good chemistry. AT De, we may have to do some more work – as Peterson was a part-time starter, a mentor at DE, as well as our position group leader and affinity centerpiece. So, we will have some work to do there.


I decide to take a whack with a new scout – my current scout really isn’t much to speak of, and his contract is up. My new scout is at least “average” in everything, and ought to give us a better feel for positions like DL and LB in particular. He, too, is new to scouting – so we will be his first team.


We head into early free agency with 11 players signed, and a good deal of work and planning to undertake. After last year’s unspent cap, I will be more aggressive if need be with keeping our own players, and with targeting guys whom I think can help us.

[QuikSand]

Free Agency

Among our other concerns, we note that LT Don Barbour is all but useless at this point after a bad injury last year. So, he didn’t retire, but he clearly needs to be replaced, and that will be an expensive spot to go after.

CB Ian Meyer, it seems, has fully recovered – he is our position leader and mentor at CB, and having him come aboard as a helpful player will be good. Last year we paid him basically just to keep the peace, as he was hurt from day one.

I also note, after my walk through the roster, that DE Alan Castleberry is a DE mentor. If we can keep him (fairly likely), then he might help bring along any promising young players at the position (if we land one). That might take off some pressure there.

Another looming issue is QB Fisk. Right now, his contract demand is over $9 million. He is restricted, so we get to wait him out without fear, but if not this year, perhaps next year we will have to be setting aside a bug chunk of cap space for him, if we want him around (and I think we do).


At the moment, our defensive front position leader is LB Woodward, which would be okay but for the fact that he doesn’t get along well with LB Daryl Jeffries, who isn’t going anywhere. So, if we want to keep Woodward (which we do) we need a new position leader for the front seven. Problem is, Woodard has a real lock on the position, it seems. If Woodard goes, the leadership role might drop to Castleberry, which wouldn’t be too bad, I don’t think.


My first new FA target is RB Hunter Royals, a 7th year journeyman who I believe will be a solid position leader for us, and a useful third RB option behind Horvath and Spry. Actually, Bo Spry (leadership=95) may be a future leader, but right now we will go with someone more stable, and someone who gets along well with Horvath, our workhorse back.

LB Grant Witte is looking for a fat contract. He was a gift last season, but he seems to be injury prone. We got 12 games from him last year, but he seems unlikely to be around all year this coming season. So – do we pay him the $3m or so it might take? I think not. He is, however, a truly brilliant fit for our defense – great run stopper, solid pass rusher, and excellent match for our coverage scheme – that we will keep a close eye, and will make an effort to lock him up if that’s practical at some point.

I will also wait out QB Alvin Gammon – I no longer really need his mentorship for QB Fisk, so my rigid pursuit of him will be lessened, I’m sure. I do want a veteran #2, but will not be as particular.

DE Ronnie Copeland will again be among our most expensive returning players, but DE is a tough spot for us, and he has proven to be pretty solid, with 25 sacks and 65 hurries in his three StL seasons. It will take around $4 million right now – I will wait him out, but will be prepared to spend to keep him around if he receives interest.


I make an offer to a very good-looking free agent strong safety, Sammie Collier. He’d be a great fit for our defense, but probably a one year guy for us.

I also pursue C Jon Huntley – who would take over as a new position leader for us on the OL, but he is in the same sign band as our current leader – so he wouldn’t upend the affinity structure. Looks like a solid reserve OL, better on paper than the broken down Randy Walker.

DE Courteny Largent is a pretty effective pass rusher, who listens to my offer as well – he could end up starting alongside Copeland, or backing him up (or replacing him in our worst case).


We go into week one with a more aggressive slew of bids than usual – I’m going with the “sit and wait” strategy with fewer of my own players this year, as I’m starting to feel the cohesion building up and want to retain solid contributors wherever possible.


Our first battle will be with Philly, for LB Grant Witte. They are offering two years and nearly $9 million. I decide to give chase – he’s just such a perfect fit for us. My offer is $4m, with $3m in bonus – we’re hopeful that he sees fit to go with that deal with so much guaranteed. In week two, he does, and is locked up for another season as our presumed SLB starter.

RG Wesley Huntley gets an offer from San Diego – he is a solid starter and an affinity guy, so we’d prefer to keep him. He did get injured last year, but he’s been awfully reliable for us. My $1.4 million offer ought to do the trick, it’s better than the average year from SD. It does, and he, too, returns to the fold.

DE Ronnie Copeland gets some interest in week 7 from Baltimore. My response is a one year, $3.8 million deal, with $3m in bonus. Again, we lock him up – and keep the core of our pass rush fairly intact, though it does take him three weeks to decide that our offer is best.


So, in week 10, we have results from all our offers – and didn’t lose anyone yet. We have 36 players signed now – and $30m in cap space. I still don’t know what it will take to work things out with QB Fisk, but I know his demands dropped a lot in late FA last year, so I expect it will be a good deal lower than the $8m he currently is looking for. Next year, though, we will have to fend off real competition for him, as he will no longer be restricted.


Among our remaining veterans (unrestricteds), we have little left to do. DT Brett Hickl will not re-sign, as he is angry over playing time. LT Don Barbour is pretty much worthless, so re-signing him is not a priority. QB Alvin Gammon is, as usual, on hold. And C Randy Walker has essentially been replaced seamlessly, so he’s not a priority either. RT Kevin Rasmussen is a guy we can bring back, but is also rather replaceable – we will comfortably wait him out and hope for a cheap deal. So – nothing to panic about there.

With 11 restricted free agents I intend to re-sign, it looks like the roster is pretty close to being set. I decide to make one move in the interest of team chemistry, and release LB Keith Woodard, who just doesn’t get along with Daryl Jeffries, our centerpiece defensive player. With that move, DE Courtney Largent becomes our defensive leader, and we immediately spring up with four affinities in the position group, and no conflicts. Much better.

My revised affinity chart looks like this:


AFFINITY ANALYSIS

# Sign Begin End Affs Conflict Leaders
1 Aries 3/21 4/20 3 8 11
2 Taurus 4/21 5/21 4 12 7 OL
3 Gemini 5/22 6/21 1 8 6
4 Cancer 6/22 7/23 2 12 9
5 Leo 7/24 8/23 6 9 10
6 Virgo 8/24 9/23 5 9 3
7 Libra 9/24 10/23 1011 2 D7
8 Scorpio 10/24 11/22 1 3 12 WR
9 Sagittarius 11/23 12/22 5 6 4 DB
10 Capricorn 12/23 1/20 7 11 5 RB
11 Aquarius 1/21 2/18 7 10 1
12 Pisces 2/19 3/20 2 4 8

POS Affinity Affinity Conflict

RB 9-10 1-2 7-8
WR 3-4 5-6 2-3
OL 6-7 2-3 9-10
D7 12-1 1-2 4-5
DB 7-8 8-9 6-7

QB 1-2 best; 3-4,8-9,12-1 good


I identify a pretty solid left tackle, still available as a free agent, and am delighted to see that he’d be an affinity guy for us. Problem is, he is looking for about $4 million a year – so he’s pricey. I try a couple of offers, then decide to sit back and hope that LT George Webb remains unclaimed a while longer, and comes down to our price level.

I decide to keep my options open, and head into the rookie draft without signing any more free agents – we’ll see what holes we can fill by way of younger players on multi year deals.

[QuikSand]

2030 Rookie Draft

We have the cursed slot, #30. Invariably that signifies a playoff choke – and that’s the case here. I am thinking offensive tackle or perhaps linebacker here, but we can be flexible. I’m also willing to move up if there’s a good fit, since we may have trouble finding room for seven rookies anyway.

LB Sammie Kreutz looks like the perfect guy for us, but we’d almost certainly need to move up to at least spot 15 to get him. LB Brady Arellano may be a value pick for us – he at least has a good match in the certain skills I value most. There is one star caliber OT in this draft, then a bunch of guys – I doubt we will find anything to like there.

LB Sammie Kreutz goes at #13, about where I expected, and too high for us to trade up, I judge. The tackle is gone at #6, and we are left sitting and waiting. I had no plans to select a DB, but coverman Lorenzo Barrett is shaping up as a possible pick here – he looks like a solid player to me, and fits our coverage needs well.

At our pick, CB Barrett is there, but I am also intrigued by a DT who could move to DE and give us some needed depth and stability there. It’s a tough call – I think Barrett is the better player, but I think DE is a bigger need for us (by far). I just don’t have a lot of optimism that DL John Workmon will turn out to be anything special – he’s rated 22/60 by my scout right now, and doesn’t have any standout combine scores to suggest a boom. If he ends up a 45/50 guy, he’s not really worth a top pick – we can get those guys off the free agent scrapheap most years.

In the end, I choose Barrett, and add to a position already deep with talent on our team. I just have more faith that he will turn out to be a long term keeper for us, and a guy who can help right away (even though we really don’t need extra help at CB right now). DT Workmon goes to Buffalo two picks later.

LB Joseph Schnebele has two great ratings – run defense and the coverage we need. He also graded out well at the combines, and is an affinity guy for our front seven. Bullseye, nice pick for late round two, I reckon. He will fight for playing time at the SILB slot, where he could easily end up our starter this season.


Amateur Draft Report:

Rnd 1 - Lorenzo Barrett, CB, Minnesota
Rnd 2 - Joseph Schnebele, ILB, Oklahoma
Rnd 3 - Clarence McConnell, OLB, Utah State
Rnd 4 - T.J. Lynch, G, Maryland
Rnd 5 - Tyrus Grider, DT, Ohio
Rnd 6 - Mickey Winters, QB, West Virginia
Rnd 7 - Terrell Randle, FB, Oregon


LB Clarence McConnell is the fastest LB left, and has pretty good complementary skills for pass rushing and coverage. Not a standout run stopper (which I prefer) but for a mid-round pick, he looks pretty nice. I considered him in round two, got him in round three.

Our later picks are nothing too special – a decent G with an affinity bonus, a pass-rushing DL with a little potential, and a couple of project players at QB and FB.

[QuikSand]

Late Free Agency

I have a new mission. I want to switch rookie CB Lo Barrett to play free safety, where he can get more playing time right away. But I’d prefer to have a mentor for him there. So, I go looking for a veteran mentor safety to tuck away. I find my guy in modestly talented 5th year man Jason McClover, and get him signed. It might cost us a roster spot (an active one at that) but I think Barrett has real potential, and we have a much more serious need at safety than at corner.

When we sign McClover, I execute the switch – Barrett goes from 40/57 as a corner to 42/65 as a safety. Looks like a good switch, and he will be a nice tough hitter for us, and may have a starting job right away.


As we get to the late stages – Dwight Fisk is holding pretty firm, and it looks like it will take a fat offer to sign him. We have the cap space – but this bodes poorly for the future, I reckon. His long term request is for $6m a year – but I try offers of up to $8m for one year, mostly bonus, and he is not willing to listen. Ouch. It eventually takes a full $10 million ($6m bonus) to get him aboard. Right now, we can afford it, but as these young player salaries continue to escalate, it will get tougher and tougher.

In week six of the late stages, we re-sign QB Alvin Gammon and RT Kevin Rasmussen, where our waiting paid off as they went unpursued by other teams. The final piece of the puzzle, it seems, is left tackle – and I manage to sign LT George Webb to a $3m deal, solidifying that spot with the exact guy I wanted.

We head to training camp with 59 players signed, and one rookie holdout (Barrett).

[QuikSand]

2030 Season


In our opener, we score a critical late TD, but Bo Spry’s run up the gut for the tying 2-pointer comes up short, and we fell to San Franisco.

Four games deep, we are already overwhelmed by injuries, and have two losses on the books. Here’s the injured list – after only four games:


Player # Pos Start Health Injury Full Strn.
##Gumphrey, Benjamin 21 LCB Out Torn Lateral Knee13 Weeks
##Gomez, Greg 53 C Out Dislocated Elbow 9 Weeks
##Moulton, Fred 36 RCB Out Separated Shoulde5 Weeks
**Brown, Bryan 85 TE Doubtful Strained Patellar4 Weeks
Spry, Bo 43 RB RB Questionable Elbow Bursitis 3 Weeks
Copeland, Ronnie 74 LDE LDE Probable Sprained Thumb 3 Weeks
Collier, Sammie 25 SS SS Questionable Sprained Knee 3 Weeks
##Horvath, Trent 34 RB Out Strained Elbow Te2 Weeks
Schulz, Cary 83 TE Questionable Hyperextended Elb2 Weeks
Brannan, Gino 86 FL FL Probable Bruised Ribcage 2 Weeks
Cochrane, Herman 88 FL Probable Hyperextended Elb1 Week


I have Lonnie Gonzales starting at CB – this is a situation I never wanted to see, as he’s a nice dime back, but not a starter.

RB Trent Horvath quickly gets re-injured, and is lost for the whole season. It will fall to RB Bo Spry to lead the rushing game – tough to say whether he is up to the task. At 2-4, the season is rapidly slipping away from us already. Losing one of our most dependable and productive players doesn’t help things.

We split our next two games, but 3-5 doesn’t look like a playoff mark. We need a big run right now, or the season is lost.

We get two wins, as QB Fisk increasingly tries to do it all himself, rushing for over 50 yards in each game as well as connecting for 4 TD passes. But San Diego beats us in OT, and that drops us to 5-6. We need a major late run just to finish over .500, and there are five teams ahead of us just in the wild card race – the playoffs look like a real longshot now.

Now, Dwight Fisk is out – he’s about the only guy we had counted on to this point. Gammon plays well in his debut, but now he gets the call for at least a couple of weeks, each a must-win game for us.

We trash Denver for a big win, getting to 7-6. We are now only one game out of the wild card – it’s getting dicey. However, a loss against Arizona seals our fate – we will miss the playoffs this year for certain now. We drop our last two games, and our fall from the 13-3 glory of last season is complete, as we post a 7-9 losing record as our follow-up.


2030 Summary for St. Louis Rams

Record: 7-9
Winning Pct.: .437

St. Louis Rams Team Rank
Rushes 462 10
Rushing Yards 1894 13
Yards Per Carry 4.09 18
Pass Attempts 543 8 (T)
Completions 332 7 (T)
Passing Yards 4025 5
Yards Per Attempt 7.41 8
3rd Down Conversions 44.0 15
Points Per Game 20.1 16
Turnovers 32 27
Turnover Margin 0 17

Opponents Team Rank
Rushes 482 24
Rushing Yards 1993 22
Yards Per Carry 4.13 19
Pass Attempts 554 27
Completions 322 21 (T)
Passing Yards 3624 19
Yards Per Attempt 6.54 10
3rd Down Conversions 46.7 24
Points Per Game 21.5 24 (T)
Turnovers 32 2 (T)

Week Team Versus Oppnt
1 19 at SFO 21
2 28 at KCY 17
3 23 PHI 30
4 20 at DET 17
5 9 GBY 13
6 7 CHI 24
7 20 at MIN 17
8 10 at ARI 20
10 27 SFO 17
11 17 SEA 16
12 24 SDO 30
13 33 at ATL 27
14 30 at DEN 6
15 17 ARI 23
16 7 OAK 31
17 31 at SEA 35

Passing Pos Att Comp Yards Y/Att TD Int
9 Fisk QB 451 274 3373 7.47 14 12
11 Gammon QB 91 58 652 7.16 3 6
**Team --- 543 332 4025 7.41 17 18

Rushing Pos Att Yards Y/Att TD
43 Spry RB 270 1040 3.85 9
34 Horvath RB 84 324 3.85 3
9 Fisk QB 66 356 5.39 3
48 Royals RB 33 159 4.81 3
**Team --- 462 1894 4.09 18

Receiving Pos Targ Catch Yards Y/Ctc YAC TD
83 Schulz TE 87 63 740 11.7 294 2
86 Brannan WR 114 60 882 14.7 189 4
89 Burns WR 81 40 585 14.6 107 1
43 Spry RB 51 36 214 5.9 97 1
87 Ratto WR 57 32 483 15.0 131 3
39 Sutter FB 33 26 206 7.9 138 2
88 Cochrane WR 25 16 284 17.7 72 2
**Team --- 543 332 4025 12.1 1194 17

Defense Pos Tack Asst Sack Hurr Ints Defn
90 Jeffries ILB 124 31 0.5 0 0 16
25 Collier S 85 19 0.0 0 2 11
38 Barrett S 76 34 0.0 0 5 13
99 Schnebele ILB 69 27 0.0 2 1 4
50 McConnell OLB 67 24 3.0 1 0 4
51 Witte OLB 50 18 3.0 0 1 10
54 Schanne ILB 43 14 2.0 0 1 5
75 Green DT 43 22 5.0 13 0 1
47 Ikuma CB 38 22 0.0 0 5 2
93 Largent DE 35 21 3.5 19 0 0
42 Meyer CB 32 10 0.0 1 2 3
24 Gonzalez CB 27 6 0.0 1 1 6
28 Fulcher S 26 12 0.5 0 4 3
36 Moulton CB 25 7 0.0 1 3 4
74 Copeland DE 17 11 2.0 17 0 0
**Team --- 875 290 21.0 58 28 85


Well, first the good things. RB Bop Spry filled in well for our injured starter, and put up comparable numbers inn full time duty. Nice work by him. The passing game sputtered, though, despite TE Schultz emerging as a pretty significant threat (when healthy). Our OL played pretty well, despite some injury problems (of course).

Once again, our pass defense was above average, to my surprise. We can’t really stop the run – part of this is probably DT Green, who is too much of a pass rusher to just focus on plugging holes in the running game. We’re totally committed to him, so that’s not easy to fix. Rookie safety Barrett, though, gave us a very nice season – everything we’d want from a fresh young starter.

[QuikSand]

Musings

So, what to think? I guess if I was worried that this challenge was over, that I should be relieved. We are not dominating the league, going 14-2 year after year. So, that’s good, I suppose. But our roster rating did improve, a lot, this year. Maybe we just suffered from injuries, or just failed to click for some reason. I don’t know.

I have mixed feelings. I feel like this team has really taken shape. Meanwhile, I remain disappointed that I’m not having much trouble at all re-signing the players that I want to re-sign – the defining part of this “challenge” that was supposed to inject the challenge. Now, I basically find myself with a team that I’m holding together pretty easily, and have had the luxury of building an obscene amount of chemistry – things that I had originally thought to be completely out of reach in this career. It’s odd.

My best guess is that as central players become tougher and tougher to re-sign, we will see more trouble. QB Fisk and LB Jeffries will both be unrestricted free agents this coming year, for instance. For continuity’s sake, I’d want to keep both guys. If I’m playing “all-out” maybe it doesn’t make sense to do so, if it costs us $15 million for two players. I guess these might become the decisions that make this challenging for us. Not exactly what I had in mind – but it might make this worth continuing (which is my main issue right now).

To be continued…

[wade moore]

I have the solution.

Try this strategy in IHOF.

[QuikSand]

I have the solution.

Try this strategy in IHOF.

Aren't you clever...

Though I couldn't do much worse than this year's IHOF results...

[wade moore]

Aren't you clever...

Though I couldn't do much worse than this year's IHOF results...
Just keep it up in week 17 please! ;)

[wade moore]

On a serious note...

I definately feel like you got a 'challenge' this year largely due to your injuries... although something to think about is if this challenge naturally makes you more vulnerable if some injuries due occur (lack of depth, lack of cohesion in your depth, etc) so that may be an added benefit to this challenge in and of itself...

As for ways to make it more challenging... Maybe some house rules around what kind of a bonus you can offer? Something like 3x salary or something like that?

[QuikSand]

Tough to say, wade... I am starting to think that a fair number of the decent players that I have been able to sign via free agency have been injury prone, and that at least is part of the reason why they aren't getting big offers from other teams. So that might help explain why my team is suffering so many injuries -- a few injury prone guys on top of the usual litany can certainly add up. Anyway - it does fit into the whole challenge, I agree - whether it's that, or just the obvious fact that my roster generally won't be too deep and able to handle lots of injuries.

[QuikSand]

2031 offseason

Three retirements this year, but not as catastrophic as last year’s group.

LB Jackie Fisher has been a solid reserve and mentor to ILBs for us. LB Grant Witte battled injuries for his two seasons, but finally succumbed to them and has hung it up. DE Alan Castleberry was a decent player and contributor – he’s done too. So – we have work to do along the front seven, in particular.

My staff is still on their initial contracts, but my big decision is with the Head Coach. The injuries are just too much to bear. I think I’d be willing to put up with a guy who couldn’t game plan his way through pee wee opposition, if only we could get some of our players to stay on the field. After a disappointing year, it’s not ridiculous to fire the head coach anyway.

We hire Terry Stevens, a fresh 56 year old coach who also has a VG rating in avoiding injuries (the best we could find). He should help our defensive playcalling as well, though perhaps not our offense. Seems worth a shot – he’s decent, and we will hope for an improvement with injuries (perhaps getting higher in the VG band).

[QuikSand]

Early Free Agency

We have 11 players on contracts coming into the free agency period – so once again, we have a lot of work to do.

This year, QB Dwight Fisk and LB Daryl Jeffries are both unrestricted free agents – my first two star players to reach that stage. In a real league, these proven fifth year players would generate an awful lot of interest from other teams – I hope that is the case here. I will make a concerted effort to keep both players – Fisk has developed nicely and may still have more room for growth, while Jeffries has been our best and most reliable defensive player. I expect to pay handsomely for their services.

If re returned every single player from our current front seven we would have a passable but thin group going into the season. DEs Largent and Copeland are both decent starters – both ought to be fairly costly, at perhaps $2-3m each. DT Kelvin green is already locked up, and is our starter at DT for certain. At LB we would be starting Jeffries along with the two second year guys Schnebele and McConnell, along with (presumably) Wendell Schanne, who was a classmate of Jeffries. Not awful at any position, but we essentially have nothing behind them – DT O’Neill will hopefully return to be an all-purpose backup DL, and Jeff Dole is a pretty marginal reserve LB. I think we need to add at least one capable guy at both DL and LB, even if we return every single guy we currently have. That’s the position group with the highest priority, I think.

Running back is the other area of need. Trent Horvath is back, but he is badly depleted following his injury last year – not a starting caliber guy any longer by any stretch. Since he is neither a position leader nor a chemistry addition, we may have to let him go. Bo Spry did okay last season, but we definitely need to add another RB who can contribute, either as the #1 or #2 option for us. I expect that will be via free agency, as I am used to seeing decent RBs sitting around into the late stages – that seems more reasonable than burning a draft pick there.


So, our ideal plan for the offseason is to re-sign practically everyone if possible, add another RB and perhaps a couple of defensive players, and then draft for long term needs.

For reference (mostly my own), here is our affinity grid, mostly intact from last season:


AFFINITY ANALYSIS

# Sign Begin End Affs Conflict Leaders
1 Aries 3/21 4/20 3 8 11
2 Taurus 4/21 5/21 4 12 7 OL
3 Gemini 5/22 6/21 1 8 6
4 Cancer 6/22 7/23 2 12 9
5 Leo 7/24 8/23 6 9 10
6 Virgo 8/24 9/23 5 9 3
7 Libra 9/24 10/23 1011 2 D7
8 Scorpio 10/24 11/22 1 3 12 WR
9 Sagittarius 11/23 12/22 5 6 4 DB
10 Capricorn 12/23 1/20 7 11 5 RB
11 Aquarius 1/21 2/18 7 10 1
12 Pisces 2/19 3/20 2 4 8

POS Affinity Affinity Conflict

RB 9-10 1-2 7-8
WR 3-4 5-6 2-3
OL 6-7 2-3 9-10
D7 12-1 1-2 4-5
DB 7-8 8-9 6-7

QB 1-2 best; 3-4,8-9,12-1 good


The one (looming) change here is that our defensive front leader is now DT Bart O’Neill. This change doesn’t create any conflicts, fortunately – it’s just a move within one of the affinity groups. Unfortunately, O’Neill didn’t get much playing time last season, and is “angry” – meaning h won’t re-sign with us. For now, I will assume that O’Neill will depart, and that DE Largent will reclaim the position leadership mantle – that is what is reflected above.

I intend to try to work the team affinity a lot again this year – it didn’t seem to do us a lot of good last season, but it has been a unifying theme of this career, and I intend to stick with it.


Earlier, I neglected to mention two more players who are now unrestricted – G Gino Reeves and LT George Webb. Both are quality players, pretty young, and both are looking for multimillion dollar deals -- Reeves around $4 million a year, Webb about $11 million. If we were to re-sign both guys, that would be great – but would put quite a dent into our fiscal planning. My plan with both guys is to sit back, I will be prepared to match a reasonable offer they receive, but if someone is going to pay them big bucks, we probably let them go. I don’t think we have the capacity to spend $15m on the left side of our offensive line. Fifth year LG Stanley Sutton is a decent-enough guy with an affinity to play at LG, and he’s thinking under $2 million (and might not even get that mush elsewhere), so I have options. LT could be a good spot for our top draft pick.


LB Daryl Jeffries is project one. His initial demand is for 5 years, $32 million. I start the bidding with one year, $5 million, including $4m in bonus. No good. A base salary of 2.5 with the 4.0 bonus is good enough to make it onto this radar – and that’s where we start off.

Next up, QB Dwight Fisk. I know that we can sign a solid starting caliber QB fairly cheaply – every year there are three or four such guys sitting around in late free agency. This is, despite the importance of the QB position, a less critical signing to us than Jeffries, I think. Fisk is looking for $9 million a year. My initial offer is one year, $7 million. Again, not even worth listening to. At $9 million, he includes it on hi offer list. So, we are at least in the doorway.

I have no expectation of re-signing Sammie Collier – he is a great fit for our system, but wants $3 million a year and that’s just too much. I love our young starter Barrett, and we have role players to use if need be.

Okay – as I look through this roster, I am seeing more and more players who are looking for (relatively) big dollars. Lots of guys who want $2m a year or so – prices that I don’t expect we can afford for rank-and-file starters or decent reserves. The re-signing part of this challenge may be kicking in this season, for whatever reason, and that’s before I really factor in the squeeze from Jeffries and Fisk’s anticipated contracts.

Guys like CB Moulton, S Fulcher, DE Largent, C Wallace, WR Brannan and G Huntley – all decent starters or reserves for us, are all asking for multiyear, multimillion dollar deals. I can’t afford that – and these are the guys who have contributed mightily to our critical depth. We might find ourselves with a lot of young players in fairly important roles this season – unless these guys don’t get attention as free agents and we can snap them up later for cheaper deals.


I make an approach to S Josh Benton, a 16th year vet who is still good enough to start for us, I think. He’s also a mentor, good for my young guy, and would free up a roster spot I have used on Jason McClover for that reason. It’s a $1.9m offer, but killing two birds seems worth it to me. Our backup plan is to re-pursue old friend Tom Swatek – he would become our position leader (which would be a good move for our affinity), and would probably cause us to release CB Ian Meyer (currently the position leader). We’ll keep an eye on the situation.

I decide that, other than S Benton, I’m going to wait on open free agents, and will try to do some cherry-picking later on among the unpursued guys. I just don’t see how we will be able to get into any bidding wars – our best bet is to skim from the players not receiving attention on the FA market, either in the later stages of this segment, or in the late FA sessions after the draft.


So, our planning complete, and a number of affordable bids in for our own guys – here is the synopsis of the first three weeks:

Quick signing: LB Daryl Jeffries
Fairly quick re-signing: QB Dwight Fisk
Early losses: LT George Webb, S Sammie Collier, S Brandon Fulcher
Early re-signings, unopposed: WR Jeff Sasa, WR Ronald Ratto
Re-signings, with competition: RG Wesley Huntley

Okay – at this point, we have our two marquee players worked out. I’m not sure how tight the budget will eventually be, so I go to the players I have pursued, where we have no opposition, and I shave down the offers. Don’t want to pay more than we have to – I might have saved a million total among six or eight contracts where we are the only one in the running.

I expect a few fights ahead, but things are going pretty well so far. I didn’t expect to lose Fulcher quickly, but he had terrible coverage in our scheme, so despite being a decent player, it’s not that tough to lose him.

Weeks 4-15

Players signed away: RT Kevin Rasmussen
Re-signed, unopposed: CB Ian Meyer, WR Gino Brannan, RB Hunter Royals, C Greg Gomez, C Jon Wallace
Re-signings, with competition: LB Wendell Schanne
New players signed: S Josh Benton

So, we lose T Rasmussen, but the OL isn’t really in shambles. Young Dusty Benedict is a fairly promising guy, and might actually have a shot to take that spot – he will need to develop, but the signs are there than he can do so. If third year man Brandon Harper has to step in and play at LT, that could leave us pretty young and vulnerable on the outside – but I am now thinking that an OT is a likely draft target for us.

CB Fred Moulton got a big money offer, but it dried up before he accepted, so he now sits back – and would be a nice guy to get, but for considerably less than the $3-4m he is thinking he’s worth.

We have 26 players signed, and after factoring in seven rookies, we have $30 million in available cap space. I’m not starting to think we are going to be in fine shape this season, despite my moanings to the contrary.

We still have pending a few players who we’d like to re-sign – DE Courtney Largent and G Gino Reeves (who is restricted) top that list right now. RFA TE Cary Schultz is also looking for a fat deal – I like him, but not for $2 million, I don’t think, especially with his injury history. So, we have money to spend, and some places where we expect to spend it.


The last stages are pretty eventful – we re-sign S Duane Buchanan for $500,000, and that initially looks like all we’ll do. However, I do make one fairly big move – as we sign RB Moe Jamison. He’s a very solid starting caliber running back, who is oddly being unpursued for his second straight season. He has over 6,600 yards rushing in his six seasons, and a 4.51 ypc average on his career – this is a high quality player for us. And a $2 million deal lands him.

We then lose WR Herman Cochrane to Pittsburgh on a quick bid – I was being frugal, and just didn’t put in a bid on him, it’s my fault.

RG Darnell Manning is a solid, veteran OL who could be a starter for us – with Wesley Huntley already signed to be our RG starter, I decide Manning could make sense for depth and possibly to play LG if Gino Reeves is too pricey. We will wait him out.

RDE Vince Serbicki is the type of DE that I have been using in this career – decent pass rusher, ought to be okay, but not good enough to merit a big contract. We lock him up for $750,000.

WR Xavier Branch looks like a decent, affordable guy to slide in as a reserve WR, essentially to replace Cochrane, and he comes aboard for $650,000.

We still have work to do – but we will let the rookie draft guide our future moves to some degree. We stand at 30 players signed, and $26m in usable cap space.

[QuikSand]

2031 Rookie Draft

With pick 1(9), my ideal pick would be a solid left tackle to assume that spot for the foreseeable future. In the draft, there is one standout LT, who sit atop the pre-draft “board” rated by adjusted grade – meaning he’s likely to go in the top two or three picks. RT Kenny Thomason looks like our candidate – solid #2 tackle, graded 6.2, and appears to have done pretty well in the combines too. If I’m doing a mock draft, I’m penciling Thomason in at nine.

I also like DE Melvin Newton, a well-rounded player, who is also still available when our pick comes up. I decide that I think Newton is the better player, and both are real need positions. Neither guy makes an affinity impact for us, so it’s a matter of the two players. I decide to go with the offensive tackle, and we will look for DL help later in the draft.


Amateur Draft Report:

Rnd 1 - Kenny Thomason, T, Purdue
Rnd 2 - Dwight Fisher, S, Mississippi State
Rnd 3 - Louis Woodson, WR, South Carolina
Rnd 4 - Quentin Rushing, S, Murray State
Rnd 5 - Martin Marchion, DT, Brigham Young
Rnd 6 - Joey Delgado, OLB, Fort Hays State
Rnd 7 - Brandon Maumau, CB, Arizona State


S Dwight Fisher is a guy who, if he develops, can be our long term starter at strong safety. In round two, that seems like great value – even if I am somewhat unconvinced that he will pan out completely.

The later picks are all system guys – good value, and all contribute an affinity. I don’t really expect great breakouts, but if we can get some decent reserves who contribute to esprit de corps, I’m okay locking up guys like that for a few seasons.

[QuikSand]

Late Free Agency

We quickly sign all our rookies, and plan our attack for lat free agency. We have 37 players currently signed, and I figure we will re-sign a fair number of our restricted free agents – perhaps as many as 8 of them. Add in a required punter and kicker (whether re-signings or just free agents), and two more QBs (maybe Gammon and Grant, maybe not) and we’re looking at around 49 roster slots occupied.

That means we have about four to six slots that we can try to fill, either by re-signing some of our veteran players, or by pursuing new free agents. Among the veteran free agents, the two I want to re-up with are LG Stanley Sutton and DE Courtney Largent – in fact, Largent is important, as we are presuming him as our position leader for the coming year.

I think we need to bring in one more decent player along the defensive front, too. I don’t think our rookie LB is going to be playable, so we need one more versatile body to use in the LB rotation. Assuming we re-sign Largent, I think we are okay on the defensive line.

I also would like very much to bring aboard a player to help us in the return game, as we have gotten pretty thin there. A specialist would be fine, perhaps as our third RB?


LB Orlando McNeil looks like just the guy I want for my defense. Good run stopper, solid in coverage, and not looking for a ton of money. He’s a 13th year veteran, and he’d actually have an affinity with Largent – a perfect fit!

Another great bit of news is that CB Fred Moulton has dramatically dropped his demands – and I now have in an offer for him for only $800,000. He had multimillions on the tale at one point, but let it pass – and now he just wants to sign somewhere. We’re game.


So, in the late FA period, we lock up deals with G Sutton, CB Moulton, LB McNeil, and DE Largent – all uncontested. In the very final stages, we lock up new deals with several restricted free agents as well, as expected. We return P Kevin Blade and K Charles Wallace, both on pretty affordable deals.

After week 7 of the late stages, we have 52 players signed. Last gasp time – we still have a vacancy at backup QB, and have not made a move to help our return game either.

(At this point, I note that were I playing “all out” there is a WR my scout rates 80/80, who would be wiling to sign for less than one million dollars – but I pass, and remain content with my little “band of brothers” we’ve been cultivating.)

And finally, we work out yet another deal for QB Alvin Gammon, our perpetual backup and QB mentor. Every year he enters free agency with dreams of pulling down $5 million a season, and every year it seems he’s sitting there at the end of the whole affair asking “where do I sign?” for his one year deal with us once again. I also ink Marc Swann, who may be good enough to battle Gammon for the backup duties, and will likely displace Jumbo Grant as well.

I do some filling in with fairly unheralded players, and we are ready for training camp.

[QuikSand]

Training Camp

I once again bump up our training room time, in hopes of reducing the injury bug that has just devastated us in the last few seasons.


Player # Pos Start Exp CE FE CE FE dCE dFE
Fisk, Dwight 9 QB 5 61 61 61 61 0 0
Gammon, Alvin 11 QB 13 56 56 56 56 0 0
Swann, Marc 19 QB 6 32 59 36 59 4 0
Grant, Jumbo 3 QB 3 25 42 27 42 2 0
Jamison, Moe 32 RB 7 56 56 56 56 0 0
LaBoy, Randal 30 RB 7 40 42 40 42 0 0
Spry, Bo 43 RB 3 40 40 40 40 0 0
Pringle, Benjamin 46 RB 4 37 39 38 39 1 0
Greer, Shawn 25 RB 1 31 49 31 46 0 -3
Royals, Hunter 48 RB 7 28 31 28 31 0 0
James, Calvin 28 RB 1 21 32 21 32 0 0
Sutter, Bruce 39 FB 4 34 50 36 50 2 0
Parcells, Jake 82 FB 2 21 36 23 36 2 0
Schulz, Cary 83 TE 4 62 63 62 63 0 0
Brown, Bryan 85 TE 10 27 28 27 28 0 0
Lane, Marlon 4 TE 1 18 55 20 51 2 -4
Brannan, Gino 86 FL 8 46 49 46 49 0 0
Branch, Xavier 88 FL 3 43 49 46 49 3 0
Sasa, Jeff 80 FL 9 22 26 22 26 0 0
Burns, Chad 89 SE 3 51 68 54 68 3 0
Ratto, Ronald 87 SE 6 32 45 33 45 1 0
Woodson, Louis 17 SE 1 30 49 31 47 1 -2
Hanes, Josh 81 SE 3 23 35 24 35 1 0
Wallace, Jon 59 C 11 44 51 44 51 0 0
Gomez, Greg 53 C 10 43 49 43 49 0 0
Hamlin, Ross 55 C 2 16 45 19 45 3 0
Reeves, Gino 56 LG 4 61 68 63 68 2 0
Sutton, Stanley 65 LG 5 44 44 44 44 0 0
Lynch, T.J. 63 LG 2 28 43 30 43 2 0
Huntley, Wesley 79 RG 8 49 49 49 49 0 0
Ellard, Junior 78 RG 1 14 29 15 26 1 -3
Harper, Brandon 64 LT 3 29 51 32 51 3 0
Thomason, Kenny 69 LT 1 24 69 27 69 3 0
Benedict, Dusty 66 RT 2 21 51 23 51 2 0
Blade, Kevin 14 P 5 62 64 62 64 0 0
Wallace, Charles 5 K 5 40 45 40 45 0 0
Largent, Courtney 93 LDE 9 56 56 56 56 0 0
Copeland, Ronnie 74 LDE 8 48 49 48 49 0 0
Serbicki, Vince 98 LDE 6 45 54 47 54 2 0
Grider, Tyrus 72 RDE 2 26 41 27 41 1 0
Marchion, Martin 76 LDT 1 12 42 15 40 3 -2
Green, Kelvin 75 NT 3 71 86 75 86 4 0
Schanne, Wendell 54 SILB 5 37 38 37 38 0 0
Schnebele, Joseph 99 SILB 2 33 40 36 40 3 0
Jeffries, Daryl 90 WILB 5 63 67 63 67 0 0
McNeil, Orlando 94 MLB 13 47 51 47 51 0 0
McConnell, Clarence 50 SLB 2 36 54 38 54 2 0
Dole, Jeff 97 SLB 4 23 45 25 45 2 0
Delgado, Joey 91 SLB 1 10 32 11 28 1 -4
Kramer, Everett 51 WLB 3 34 52 36 52 2 0
Gumphrey, Benjamin 21 LCB 10 44 46 44 46 0 0
Gonzalez, Lonnie 24 LCB 3 28 35 29 35 1 0
Maumau, Brandon 22 LCB 1 12 32 12 28 0 -4
Ikuma, Bart 47 RCB 3 64 64 64 64 0 0
Moulton, Fred 36 RCB 5 51 51 51 51 0 0
Meyer, Ian 42 RCB 12 35 35 35 35 0 0
Benton, Josh 20 SS 16 55 55 55 55 0 0
Buchanan, Duane 33 SS 5 24 38 26 38 2 0
Rushing, Quentin 23 SS 1 20 45 22 42 2 -3
Fisher, Dwight 40 SS 1 19 65 22 59 3 -6
Barrett, Lorenzo 38 FS 2 49 63 51 63 2 0


Well, to be honest, we were due for a dud rookie class, and I think we got it right here. No breakouts at all, but our top pick did at least hold his ratings.

I look at S Dwight Fisher, a guy I initially thought might be a future starter, and now I see a guy who, if he fully develops (questionable) might be good enough to become our top backup safety. Might be.

DT Martin Marchion, on whom I had been counting to some degree, is disappointingly weak – he might not even make the final roster, except for the fact that we don’t have another DT to use. LB Joey Delgado may well be cut – he isn’t even good in the limited things I picked him for. Much the same for CB Brandon Maumau – a wasted pick there, too.

As we come out of training camp, I note that we have 27 affinities on the team, and no conflicts. I suspect we will have to cut some of these get-along guys to get to 53, but this is a high water mark for us, I think.

[QuikSand]

After Camp

It turn out that RB Hunter Royals is a guy we have to keep around – without him, we will expose a conflict between RB Spry and our new presumed starter, Mo Jamison. So, Royals stays as the #3 RB, and that probably means curtains for the youngsters we brought in for a look.

Also, CB Brandon Maumau’s personality is so weak that he doesn’t even register an affinity – and that was the only thing he had going for him. He is our first casualty, despite the modest signing bonus we gave him.


In preseason, we lose LB Schnebele for 15 weeks, and put him on IR, gone for the season.

WR Louis Woodson is an absolute terror in the preseason, and makes our decisions at WR even tougher than I had expected. He might well push either Branch or Ratto out of a job, as those two were expected to be our key reserves, but we need to make room for this rookie, who will also step in and play as a gunner for us.

Our final cutdown is difficult in a few spots. Thinning the RB slot isn’t too bad – we end up keeping four guys, plus sending Benjamin Pringle to IR. We keep the whole load of seven receivers – I’m uncertain how we will end up using everyone, but I keep all seven. We remain a bit thin on the defensive front, especially losing Schnebele for the year. So, I make one extra cut, and bring aboard an ironic addition—second year DT John Workmon. He was a guy I coveted during the draft, but picked another player instead – now he has been released as a bust, and we grab him to serve as our backup DT. Small world.


As we head into the season, here is a roster snapshot – mostly to reveal the affinity development we have embraced, even in this supposedly instable career:


Player # Pos Start Playing Time Chemistry
Gammon, Alvin 11 QB Content 1 Affinity with lea
Swann, Marc 19 QB Content 1 Affinity with lea
Fisk, Dwight 9 QB QB Content
##Royals, Hunter 48 RB Content Backfield Leader
Jamison, Moe 32 RB RB Content
**Pringle, Benjamin 46 RB Content
Spry, Bo 43 RB Content
James, Calvin 28 RB Content Affinity
Sutter, Bruce 39 FB FB Content
Parcells, Jake 82 FB Content Affinity
Brown, Bryan 85 TE Content Affinity
Schulz, Cary 83 TE TE Content
Sasa, Jeff 80 FL Content Receivers Leader
Brannan, Gino 86 FL FL Content
Branch, Xavier 88 FL Content
##Ratto, Ronald 87 SE Content
Burns, Chad 89 SE SE Content Mild Affinity
Hanes, Josh 81 SE Content Affinity
Woodson, Louis 17 SE Content Mild Affinity
Wallace, Jon 59 C C Content Offensive Line Lead
Gomez, Greg 53 C Content Affinity
##Hamlin, Ross 55 C Content Strong Affinity
Sutton, Stanley 65 LG Content Strong Affinity
Reeves, Gino 56 LG LG Content
##Lynch, T.J. 63 LG Content Strong Affinity
Huntley, Wesley 79 RG RG Content Affinity
##Ellard, Junior 78 RG Content Strong Affinity
Harper, Brandon 64 LT RT Content
Thomason, Kenny 69 LT LT Content
Benedict, Dusty 66 RT Content
Blade, Kevin 14 P Content
Wallace, Charles 5 K Content
Largent, Courtney 93 LDE RDE Content Defensive Front Lea
Copeland, Ronnie 74 LDE LDE Content Affinity
Serbicki, Vince 98 LDE Content
Grider, Tyrus 72 RDE Angry Mild Affinity
Workmon, John 92 LDT Content
##Marchion, Martin 76 LDT Content Affinity
Green, Kelvin 75 NT NT Content
Schanne, Wendell 54 SILB WLB Content
**Schnebele, Joseph 99 SILB Content Affinity
Jeffries, Daryl 90 WILB WILB Content
McNeil, Orlando 94 MLB SILB Content Affinity
Dole, Jeff 97 SLB Content
McConnell, Clarence 50 SLB SLB Content
**Delgado, Joey 91 SLB Content Mild Affinity
Kramer, Everett 51 WLB Content Mild Affinity
Gumphrey, Benjamin 21 LCB LCB Content Affinity
##Gonzalez, Lonnie 24 LCB Content Mild Affinity
Meyer, Ian 42 RCB Content Secondary Leader
Moulton, Fred 36 RCB Content
Ikuma, Bart 47 RCB RCB Content
Benton, Josh 20 SS SS Content
**Buchanan, Duane 33 SS Content Mild Affinity
Rushing, Quentin 23 SS Content Mild Affinity
Fisher, Dwight 40 SS Content
Barrett, Lorenzo 38 FS FS Content


We managed to retain 25 affinities on this squad, still with no conflicts. Ideally, this would translate to better on-field performance. We’ll put that to the test this season.

My expectations are tough to pin down. I usually expect my teams to get incrementally better and better, but last year we regressed badly. I suspect we are a winning team, and barring a major injury to a key player like Fisk, I would expect 9 or 10 wins, and a postseason threat at least.

[QuikSand]

2031 season

As usual, I will simply go with the default offensive game plan, and on defense my only contribution is to adjust the secondary coverages. I’m letting the staff decide our pass/run shares and the like. For me, this is a challenge about building the roster.

Our roster rating is 70 entering the season – in the top third of the league now. Cohesion continues to grow slowly – we are at 70-71-76-65, with the defensive front the highest-rated area, but still below average.


RB Moe Jamison breaks out with 199 yards in our first game, as we beat Arizona on the road. Welcome to the backfield, pal.

We get to 4-0, but are once again in big trouble on the defensive front, with LB McNeil out for the year and LB McConnell out for a few weeks. We sign LB Adam Bauer on a one year deal, and will expect him to step in and probably start for us at the SILB slot, now vacated by McNeil. Bauer is, predictably, an affinity guy, and looks like a solid run stopper to boot. Could be a long term acquisition, if he wants to stick around.

After a 6-0 start, we come to earth a bit with two losses to division rivals, and at 6-2 are back into a division race. Dwight Fisk has a sterling 106 passer rating at this point, and Moe Jamison has 849 yards rushing – our offense is clicking nicely. Our defense is average – but that’s good enough to keep us near the top of the power ratings.

We don’t get another win until week 12, which pulls our record back to 7-3-1, still in first place in the division. We seem to be clicking again, with two more wins, and have all but locked up the division title (against an increasingly weak field). Two more wins finish out the regular season string, and we will hit the playoffs on a real roll after our odd midseason doldrums.


2031 Summary for St. Louis Rams

Record: 12-3-1
Winning Pct.: .781

St. Louis Rams Team Rank
Rushes 529 2
Rushing Yards 2662 1
Yards Per Carry 5.03 1
Pass Attempts 434 32
Completions 283 29
Passing Yards 3580 21
Yards Per Attempt 8.24 1
3rd Down Conversions 51.0 2
Points Per Game 27.5 1
Turnovers 15 3
Turnover Margin +13 3

Opponents Team Rank
Rushes 435 10 (T)
Rushing Yards 1668 5
Yards Per Carry 3.83 2 (T)
Pass Attempts 556 28
Completions 327 22
Passing Yards 3865 25
Yards Per Attempt 6.95 16
3rd Down Conversions 44.9 21
Points Per Game 16.9 3
Turnovers 28 3 (T)

Week Team Versus Oppnt
1 28 at ARI 24
2 31 PIT 28
3 21 WAS 14
4 24 at NOS 3
5 41 CAR 17
6 38 TBY 9
7 23 at SFO 27
8 28 ARI 31
9 23 at ATL 26
10 16 at SEA 16
12 24 CLE 21
13 37 at MIN 6
14 28 at BAL 21
15 31 SEA 6
16 24 at CIN 12
17 23 SFO 10

Passing Pos Att Comp Yards Y/Att TD Int
9 Fisk QB 434 283 3580 8.24 35 7
**Team --- 434 283 3580 8.24 35 7

Rushing Pos Att Yards Y/Att TD
32 Jamison RB 344 1615 4.69 5
9 Fisk QB 83 435 5.24 3
43 Spry RB 79 527 6.67 3
**Team --- 529 2662 5.03 15

Receiving Pos Targ Catch Yards Y/Ctc YAC TD
32 Jamison RB 69 47 403 8.5 199 6
83 Schulz TE 68 46 596 12.9 211 4
86 Brannan WR 69 42 741 17.6 130 7
88 Branch WR 58 35 464 13.2 66 5
39 Sutter FB 39 29 183 6.3 116 4
17 Woodson WR 41 27 407 15.0 50 3
43 Spry RB 24 21 185 8.8 79 0
**Team --- 433 283 3580 12.6 957 35

Defense Pos Tack Asst Sack Hurr Ints Defn
90 Jeffries ILB 133 43 4.0 1 0 15
38 Barrett S 73 30 0.0 1 3 10
20 Benton S 68 24 0.0 0 2 9
75 Green DT 61 17 6.5 25 0 1
52 Bauer ILB 60 15 2.0 2 1 2
54 Schanne ILB 60 13 4.5 2 2 3
36 Moulton CB 51 7 0.0 0 3 6
21 Gumphrey CB 49 22 0.0 0 1 13
93 Largent DE 38 16 7.0 14 0 0
47 Ikuma CB 38 11 1.0 0 1 3
51 Kramer OLB 28 11 0.5 0 0 0
42 Meyer CB 21 7 0.0 0 0 3
86 Brannan WR 21 0 0.0 0 0 0
98 Serbicki DE 21 11 5.0 5 0 1
97 Dole OLB 21 4 0.0 2 0 1
74 Copeland DE 20 13 8.0 22 0 0
**Team --- 857 271 41.0 82 13 73


QB Dwight Fisk has elevated his game, after a shaky season in 2030, and put together a great campaign here – a 110.9 passer rating and 35 TDs should finally get us a player on the season awards list, I reckon. (Actually, our kicker will probably get there again, too, as he had to do a lot of punting for our injured punter) RB Moe Jamison posted a career-high yardage total, and his 4.69 yards per carry was a bit higher than his career average – even though he lost a lot of the lucrative passing-situation carries to Spry (who was very productive in his reserve role this year). Jamison was a real impact pickup for us.

We spread the ball around in the passing game pretty well – WR Chad Burns (nominally our best receiver) had injury troubles, but other guys filled in well. TE Cary Schultz had a solid injury-free season (for once) and we got god production from Xavier Branch in our slot position, along with rookie Louis Woodson to complement stalwart flanker Gino Brannan.

Our offensive line, without making huge investments, was really a team strength this year – potentially the real reason for such good performances on the field from the skill players. Here is a fair summary of their stats:


Blocking Statistics

Player Pos Team GP GS KRB KRO BPct SkA PPly SPct RPly OPct
Wallace, Jon C STL 16 16 36 83 43.3 2 439 0.4 498 16.6
Reeves, Gino G STL 16 16 35 88 39.7 2 450 0.4 504 17.4
Huntley, Wesley G STL 16 16 33 96 34.3 1 452 0.2 524 18.3
Thomason, Kenny T STL 16 16 18 52 34.6 4 450 0.8 506 10.2
Sutter, Bruce FB STL 16 11 13 22 59.0 1 241 0.4 301 7.3
Benedict, Dusty T STL 14 10 12 51 23.5 4 295 1.3 336 15.1
Schulz, Cary TE STL 16 15 9 17 52.9 0 372 0.0 467 3.6
Harper, Brandon T STL 8 6 6 22 27.2 4 138 2.8 172 12.7
Gomez, Greg C STL 5 0 4 12 33.3 0 17 0.0 47 25.5
Parcells, Jake FB STL 16 0 4 7 57.1 0 54 0.0 121 5.7
Brown, Bryan TE STL 16 0 3 4 75.0 0 51 0.0 137 2.9
Sutton, Stanley G STL 13 0 1 6 16.6 1 24 4.1 58 10.3


The RT slot was a weakness (split between benedict and Harper) but other than that, we see every guy well over 30% blocking, and allowing far under 1% sacks – if those are reasonable benchmarks (and I think they are) then this group played very, very well. We allowed a total of 19 sacks on over 450 pass plays… that is stellar, especially considering the run blocking was strong as well.

It’s easy to overlook the OL in this game, especially when relying on the game’s “Team Summary” for stats – but these guys were collectively our most valuable asset, I’m thinking. We were #1 in the league in yards per carry and in yards per attempt – that’s a sign that the offense is just clicking on all cylinders, and I think it starts with the line in this case.


LB Daryl Jeffries will also have a strong case for season honors, as he posts some big tackle totals, along with 4 sacks and a solid 15 passes defensed. That, to me, is DPOY stuff. He is a true star, and an absolutely ideal fit for our system – his $6.5 million contract seems like a bargain right now.

S Lorenzo Barrett is becoming the all-around player that we needed at safety, while DT Kelvin Green is asserting himself as the leader of our pass rush, even while posting a very solid 61+17 tackles from the NT slot (potential award winner there, too). I love what we got from waiver wire find Adam Bauer playing at SILB – this is a guy we will probably make a real effort to re-sign, as I do love having a committed run-stopper playing the ILB slots (though he has a history of injury issues, which have obviously plagued this team).


We head into the playoffs looking very sharp, and with the top seed in the conference. Here are the full standings – our PF/PA ratio is certainly the best in the league, a good sign that our record isn’t just a fluke.


2031 Regular Season Standings

AC North W L T Pct PF PA Conf Div
Cincinnati 10 6 0 .625 363 320 7-5 3-3
Cleveland 9 7 0 .563 377 339 6-6 4-2
Pittsburgh 8 8 0 .500 329 375 5-7 2-4
Baltimore 6 10 0 .375 319 324 5-7 3-3

AC South W L T Pct PF PA Conf Div
Indianapolis 9 7 0 .563 337 381 6-6 5-1
Jacksonville 8 8 0 .500 345 356 6-6 3-3
Tennessee 6 10 0 .375 242 312 4-8 3-3
Houston 4 12 0 .250 242 323 3-9 1-5

AC East W L T Pct PF PA Conf Div
Buffalo 14 2 0 .875 386 242 10-2 5-1
Miami 8 8 0 .500 360 327 7-5 3-3
New York J 8 8 0 .500 278 265 5-7 2-4
New England 6 10 0 .375 254 348 3-9 2-4

AC West W L T Pct PF PA Conf Div
Oakland 13 3 0 .813 409 294 9-3 5-1
Denver 13 3 0 .813 411 274 9-3 5-1
San Diego 8 8 0 .500 320 313 5-7 0-6
Kansas City 6 9 1 .406 345 328 6-6 2-4

NC North W L T Pct PF PA Conf Div
Detroit 9 6 1 .594 342 332 9-3 6-0
Green Bay 8 8 0 .500 279 303 7-5 2-4
Minnesota 7 9 0 .438 299 317 6-6 3-3
Chicago 7 9 0 .438 325 331 5-7 1-5

NC South W L T Pct PF PA Conf Div
Atlanta 11 5 0 .688 344 278 9-3 5-1
Carolina 8 8 0 .500 312 343 6-6 3-3
New Orleans 6 10 0 .375 297 343 4-8 4-2
Tampa Bay 3 13 0 .188 218 332 1-11 0-6

NC East W L T Pct PF PA Conf Div
New York G 9 7 0 .563 285 274 8-4 4-2
Washington 7 9 0 .438 299 337 5-7 3-3
Dallas 6 10 0 .375 355 413 5-7 4-2
Philadelphia 3 13 0 .188 284 396 2-10 1-5

NC West W L T Pct PF PA Conf Div
St. Louis 12 3 1 .781 440 271 8-3-1 3-2-1
Seattle 8 7 1 .531 307 287 7-4-1 3-2-1
San Francisco 8 8 0 .500 322 339 8-4 4-2
Arizona 6 10 0 .375 342 350 5-7 1-5

[QuikSand]

2031 postseason summary

Divisional Playoff: NY Giants (10-7) at St. Louis Rams (12-3-1) – We are 13 point favorites here, a daunting endorsement from the oddsmakers. Our defensive front is healthy, but our secondary is dinged up a bit. Here, it’s an odd situation, as we can’t get our running game going, lose the time of possession battle, and despite a late rally, drop our second straight playoff opener at home despite the top seed. NY Giants 17, St. Louis Rams 14. One and done, again.


It’s Detroit (?!?!) over Denver in the Superbowl – with the Broncos nearly making the improbable run from the WC round, and Detroit winning despite being one of the weakest records in the entire playoffs. Oh, well.


My main drive here is to develop the roster and have general success with the team – but it is a bit disappointing to come up completely empty in the postseason twice now, both times after very strong seasons.

Where from here? I’m still pretty interested in this team… so who knows?

[wade moore]

Booooooooooooooooo!

This is one of the more engaging dynasties of yours, which tells me as a fan of the dynasty i 'feel' more of a challenge... It seems that your knowledge of the game makes that difficult, but it's happening here, even if you're still generally having good regular season records...

[QuikSand]

I really appreciate the feedback. I generally feel that my dynasties all start to follw the same old story -- gradual build up to a powerhouse, and then the team isn't very interesting any longer.

On my end, my increased attention to chemistry (I have never focused this much on that stuff before) has kept my interest level fairly high.

But hearing from a reader or two does reinforce my interest as well. So, thanks.

[QuikSand]

2032 offseason

Just to catch up, here is the summary of our performance thus far:


GM Performance for QuikSand of the St. Louis Rams

Year Team Eval Perf Diff Proft FrVal Record Playoffs
2031 STL 53 83 86 42 18 12-4-1 Division Final
2030 STL 37 22 87 47 12 7-9-0 None
2029 STL 58 90 86 53 2 13-4-0 Division Final
2028 STL 53 54 86 61 12 8-8-0 None
2027 STL 52 36 86 70 7 7-9-0 None



One retirement this year – S Josh Benton. Not a surprise, but it leaves us with two holes to fill, at starting SS and also safety mentor. The latter may be less important now that FS Lorenzo Barrett is well on his way to full development, but if second year man Dwight Fisher is going to see starting duty, then we definitely need to back him up with a mentor who can play a little bit.

Our two coordinators are done with their initial contracts – I will attempt to re-hire both. Both re-up for another five years, so we put that behind us for a while. Seems like our injury problems lessened a bit last season, so my head coach is safe.

Incidentally, from last year we end up with our first real representation on the awards list:


2031 Awards List

Award Player Team
**Player of the Year Dwight Fisk STL
**All-League First Team Quarterback Dwight Fisk STL
**All-League First Team Inside Linebacker Daryl Jeffries STL

[QuikSand]

Early Free Agency

As usual, we have only a paltry few players signed to contracts coming into the season – this year it’s 13.

The list of key players on the open market is growing – this year I’d say it shapes up this way:

A LIST: QB Dwight Fisk, LB Daryl Jeffries
B LIST: RB Moe Jamison, DE Courtney Largent, LG Gino Reeves

My biggest worry here is Moe Jamison, who is really too good to be signing year by year, and by rights ought to get a fat multi year offer from someone. I think we could live without Gino Reeves as well, though I’m awfully hesitant to break up that offensive line that played so well for us last season. If we lose Fisk or Jeffries, we’ll have a big shock to the team continuity – I want to keep both players, even if the price keeps going up.

One additional note – QB Dwight Fisk has himself become a mentor, so my need for a backup who can mentor along a younger player is lessened. This could spell the end of the line for Alvin Gammon – whose skills are declining, and whose attraction has lied, in part, in his mentoring.


Once again, I will refresh the team’s affinity grid – for my benefit as much as the readers’:


AFFINITY ANALYSIS

# Sign Begin End Affs Conflict Leaders
1 Aries 3/21 4/20 3 8 11
2 Taurus 4/21 5/21 4 12 7 OL
3 Gemini 5/22 6/21 1 8 6
4 Cancer 6/22 7/23 2 12 9
5 Leo 7/24 8/23 6 9 10
6 Virgo 8/24 9/23 5 9 3
7 Libra 9/24 10/23 1011 2 D7
8 Scorpio 10/24 11/22 1 3 12 WR
9 Sagittarius 11/23 12/22 5 6 4 DB
10 Capricorn 12/23 1/20 7 11 5 RB
11 Aquarius 1/21 2/18 7 10 1
12 Pisces 2/19 3/20 2 4 8

POS Affinity Affinity Conflict

RB 9-10 1-2 7-8
WR 3-4 5-6 2-3
OL 6-7 2-3 9-10
D7 12-1 1-2 4-5
DB 7-8 8-9 6-7

QB 1-2 best; 3-4,8-9,12-1 good


This assumes that we will retain all our incumbent position leaders – which may be in some doubt, actually. RB Hunter Royals really adds nothing except keeping Jamison and Spry from feuding – if Jamison departs, we may bring aboard a RB/FB who might foster some more affinity within the group.

At WR, Jeff Sasa has been our leader for years, and is fine – but we are carrying more WRs than I prefer, and I might have to explore what might happen if we lost Sasa, who isn’t good enough to get onto the field, really.


In addition to targeting our key returning players, we also want to add a quality player at the safety position this year. Ideally, we’d get a starting-caliber player or key reserve who can also serve as a mentor. I find a great candidate in 15th year veteran Ralph Robinson – who would become our starting strong safety – but doesn’t have long to go. FS Lamont Whiting is also a good player, but he’d have a conflict with our position leader CB Ian Mayer, so I rule him out. We make an initial bid on Robinson, and will hope to bring him aboard for a one or two year stint with us.


LB Daryl Jeffries has initial demands for $9 million per year. My offer has to get to $9 million before he considers it – but we are in, at least, for the initial bidding. Last year he snapped up my first offer right away – if there won’t be any competition, I’d prefer to whittle it down a few weeks, and save some scratch.

QB Dwight Fisk is our other must-have player, and he is looking for a solid, but not that massive contract, worth over $8m a year. That seems odd to me – after an MVP season, his demands actually dropped. Anyway, I put in a matching $9m offer to Sims, and he takes it under advisement.

In my mind, DE Courtney Largent is another player I don’t want to eave to chance. He is solid on the field, and is the lynchpin for a lot of affinity on the defensive front. Replacing both those roles would prove expensive, I am certain. His mentoring is also a plus, in the event we ever have a promising DE to bring along. I put in an initial offer of $4 million for him – more than I’d expect to pay down the line, but I am seeking to avoid any big surprise there.

RB Moe Jamison is looking for $6 million a year – and is jut out of my price range. We’d be fine going with Bo Spry again, as he fits our system well, but if Jamison’s demands drop over time, we will certainly take him seriously.


LB Orlando McNeil ants to sign in stage two, so I want to have an offer on the table for him. He’s a solid player, an affinity guy, and an ILB mentor – that’s just too tough to pass up, even if he seems to be brittle (though that wasn’t the case prior to last season).

I put in a few more initial offers to other solid players whose demands aren’t ridiculous – and we head into early free agency. Once again, I am not looking to make any big additions here in the early stages – we will have a look around at week 15 or so, and if there are guys who could help us still waiting by the phone, we will look for values there. But in general, until we lose a key player somewhere, I don’t feel a lot of urgency to add players to the roster, other than at SS where we already have our target.

[QuikSand]

EARLY FA RESULTS (Weeks 1-6)
Immediate re-signings: QB Dwight Fisk, LB Daryl Jeffries, LB Orlando McNeil
Re-signed, no competition: CB Ian Meyer, LB Adam Bauer, CB Benjamin Gumphrey
Re-signed, over competition: none
New players signed: S Ralph Robinson
Signed away: RB Moe Jamison, CB Fred Moulton, P Kevin Blade


RB Moe Jamison does indeed get his fat offer, and $7m is more than we can handle there for certain. I also don’t think we can match $6m for CB Moulton – he waited too long on his big offer last year, I expect he won’t make the same mistake this time. Both are locked up and out the door in week three.

I cannot justify $4 million for TE Cary Schultz – the position just doesn’t seem that tough to fill with a capable player, and he has been injury prone to boot. If Seattle wants to give him a fat deal – have at it, we’ll find someone to step in and do fine, I reckon. I have my eye on 3rd year man Bennie Havran, and see a couple potential prospects in the rookie class, too.

I won’t pay $1 million for an injury-prone punter – we will find a rookie, simple as that.

[QuikSand]

MIDDLE FA RESULTS (Weeks 7-17)
Immediate re-signings:
Re-signed, no competition: DE Ronnie Copeland, WR Gino Brannan
Re-signed, over competition:
New players signed: RB Ricardo Rayburn
Signed away: WR Ronald Ratto, TE Cary Schultz, DE Vince Serwicki

I keep whittling away at DE Courtney Largent’s offer – by week 8, it’s down to $3 million, as we are the only team in the bidding.

Seattle plucks away WR Ratto – he is a decent reserve guy, but with the development of young Louis Woodson (a guy I inexplicably like) he was pretty much surplus to us. TE Cary Schultz finally accepts the Seahawks’ $20 million offer – it had been hanging for four or five weeks, and I suspected he might lose it soon. The ‘Hawks sill have a few of our familiar faces in their passing game next year.

Seattle then swoops in and grabs DE Vince Serwicki – their third FA grab from our roster this year. Serwicki was a decent DE, put up acceptable numbers, but I didn’t want to pay him $2 million – Seattle did, apparently. I am eyeing LB Everett Kramer for that reserve pass rushing role – he I better suited to play at DE than at LB, really.

DE Courtney Largent finally signs, for $2.5 million. I’m happy – we pared $1.5m off the deal as he waited for a better offer that never came.


I want to see what we can do with the RB/FB group, so I have a look at the affinity structure there. RB Spry and FB Sutter are guys I want to return – and RB Pringle is worth a look, too, after sitting out all last season. Turns out we have a complete affinity mess here – it will be tough to find a veteran who does anything here beyond a single affinity bridge.

I do some searching for potential group leaders – Bo Spry gets a veto, but everyone else is negotiable. I sign and release Royals, to clear out his leadership effects – and Bo Spry actually becomes our position leader. That might be okay – we can corral younger players around him, and Spry can probably be the guy we plan on keeping long term. With a 95 leadership rating, unless we go out of our way to replace him, he ought to remain the group leader. That works, I think.

I have a look at the free agent gaggle of running backs, and I think I find just the guy we need – Ricardo Rayburn is a 10th year veteran, posted one 1,000-yard season some time ago with the Browns, but remains a decent player and a standout punt returner to boot. I have been trying to improve our return game – Rayburn could be jus the guy to help us. His cost? The minimum of $610,000.

[QuikSand]

So, we get to the last few weeks of free agency before the rookie draft. Here’ I like to put in a few modest offers to my remaining guys, and take a look for value players who have not been signed on the open market, but could help us out. A contributor at CB might be wise (after losing Moulton) and we probably need another DE, too.

LAST FA RESULTS (Weeks 18-20)
Immediate re-signings:
Re-signed, no competition: C Jon Wallace, LB Jeff Dole
Re-signed, over competition:
New players signed: CB Corwin Ferrell
Signed away: RB Benjamin Pringle


CB Corwin Ferrell is a good ballhawker and will play our coverage scheme well – so I overlook his lack of tackling skills. Solid reserve for us, giving depth at the position where we might need it.

RB Pringle’s signing was immediate – but no effect, as I didn’t expect to keep him anyway, as his potential role has just been filled by Rayburn.

DE Van Rivera is a better and more balanced DE than we are used to getting – he was a first round pick and five year full time starter for Pittsburgh, but has gone unpursued in the open market. I suspect he steps right in to start for us at RDE, and is a better run stopper than we usually have at that spot. Sturdy, pretty talented, and an affinity to boot – great signing for us, it seems. For a measly $1.0 million.


We head into the rookie draft with 29 player signed, and probably 18 guy unsigned whom we intend to re-up with. If that count is accurate, then 7 rookies would pretty much fill up the roster.

[jbmagic]

great dynasty. i am enjoying reading it.

for gameplan on defense , you mention your changing the secondary only? what are you changing it too?

for offense and defense, do you hit recommend and then change the defense secondary only?

thanks

[QuikSand]

2031 Rookie Draft

For this year’s rookie class, I think our top immediate needs are at DB, TE, DE and LB. For a particularly good fit, I will go anywhere – the top selection has to be a “long term answer” for the team, but past that we are fine getting role players and speculative guys.

Giving a look at affinities and chemistry – I realize that I have made a critical oversight. Anointing Bo Spry as position leader worked fine within the backs group, but it creates a conflict with QB Dwight Fisk – and Fisk isn’t going anywhere. So, I need to re-evaluate what to do at the RB position. Regrettably, I am discovering this as the rookie draft is starting, meaning that I don’t have a handle on my affinity structure for that group. I have painted myself into a bit of a corner here…

Alas – the affinity situation at RB/FB simply could not be more tangled, and I see no easy answers, short of clearing out the whole lot of them. I’m just not going to worry about it with the rookie class – and we will endeavor to fix it all afterwards. Heh.


Our slot is #28 in this draft – we’ll be looking for “best fit” at that point, I’m sure. This might be a good circumstance to move up, and I will try to find some likely targets for the middle of the round.

My first impression is that this is a very, very weak draft. All the more reason to try to move up if we can find a suitable target player.

Or… as it turns out, maybe it’s a good year to trade down or even out. My top target player, a solid safety with a good match in his skill set, get taken at #14 (higher than I expected), I decide it’s probably time to look ahead.

I do find a linebacker I like a good deal – the question is when can we get him? I think 1(28) is too high, but I doubt he’d last another full round. Sounds like an ideal spot to trade down. We swap with Carolina, and move down to the middle of round two for a switch of first round picks next year.

My target LB is 2nd on the list of remaining OLBs – I resolve that if the guy ahead of him goes, we trade up for the next pick. Everything goes perfectly according to plan – until my LB gets taken with the pick exactly one spot ahead of us, at 2(13). Ouch. So it goes, I guess.

After that, the hatches are open – we trade out of both second round picks, and accumulate selections for next year instead, getting two additional second rounders in the 2032 draft.


Amateur Draft Report:

Rnd 3 - Calvin Troy, DE, Purdue
Rnd 5 - Roosevelt Springer, TE, Penn State


For all intents and purposes, we sit out this draft. These two guys are speculative affinity picks – both might pan out to be good enough to get reserve duty. But after missing on my LB in round two, I basically pack it in and wait until next year.

[QuikSand]

for gameplan on defense , you mention your changing the secondary only? what are you changing it too?

for offense and defense, do you hit recommend and then change the defense secondary only?

Yes, I have just clicked "recommend" and than have adjusted to a 100% bump and run coverage -- built around the first few DBs we got for the team way back when, and I've just stuck with it since then.

[wade moore]

I really appreciate the feedback. I generally feel that my dynasties all start to follw the same old story -- gradual build up to a powerhouse, and then the team isn't very interesting any longer.

On my end, my increased attention to chemistry (I have never focused this much on that stuff before) has kept my interest level fairly high.

But hearing from a reader or two does reinforce my interest as well. So, thanks.
No Problem... When I had time (that has been stolen by the IHOF) to do dynasties, reader feedback always kept me motivated to write. So now I tend to try to stick to reading no more than 2-3 dynasties (admittedly I gravitate to yours because the style you use is very appealing to me for whatever reason) and try to "immurse" myself in the dynasty... And, I like to try and give feedback now and then even if it is just "hey, still reading!"... So, if my feedback gets obnoxious, just let me know...

[jbmagic]

Yes, I have just clicked "recommend" and than have adjusted to a 100% bump and run coverage -- built around the first few DBs we got for the team way back when, and I've just stuck with it since then.

thanks

so your CB's, SS and FS has great rating for bump and run coverage.

[QuikSand]

so your CB's, SS and FS has great rating for bump and run coverage.

Well, the nature of this challenge is that I don't really have all that many superstar-caliber players, so hardly anybody would rate as "great." But I have been trying to pick guys who fit my scheme.

Going into training camp in 2031, here are the BNR ratings for my main secondary players:

CB Depth Chart

Gumphrey 69 (just bumped up)
Ikuma 32/46 (is very solid in most everything else)
Gonzalez 73/75 (good in BNR and interceptions, little else)
Farrell 44/54
Meyer 53

S Depth Chart

Barrett 78/80
Robinson 74
Fisher 50/66
Buchanan 50/69 (marginal elsewhere)
Rushing 50/60 (only a few decent ratings, but the right ones)


So - nobody here is a total monster. Actually, Ikuma is my best all-around guy, but as he developed, it became clear that bump and run coverage is actually his weak spot, not his strong spot like most of my guys. So it goes - after his rookie contrct ends, I doubt I will pay for Ikuma, as I'll be paying a lot for his strong abilities in other coverages.

I have thought about switching to zone (mostly for Ikuma) with this team, but now I am pretty well slotted with bump, and am instinctively looking for bump coverage now with my guys.

[QuikSand]

Late Free Agency

Incidentally, right after the draft concludes, I notice that CB Benjamin Gumphrey has taken a big bump up in his ratings – my scout now rates him 60/62. He’s been a long-timer for us, and a mentor at CB, but he looks better than ever as he readies for his 11th season. I hope that doesn’t make him hard to re-sign next season, though.


My first active task in late FA is to work things out at the RB position. I have messed this up badly – but it looks like I have a guy who can fix things, within reason. RB Randy Munoz is a decent reserve-caliber back, who would become our position leader – and gain an affinity with Dwight Fisk. This would eliminate the trouble brewing between RB Spry and QB Fisk – this is the second time was have had to use the kid gloves to dance around a problem with Bo Spry. I get in an offer, and expect to sign him easily – he isn’t that good, really.

Assuming Munoz signs, here is our revised affinity chart:


AFFINITY ANALYSIS

# Sign Begin End Affs Conflict Leaders
1 Aries 3/21 4/20 3 8 11
2 Taurus 4/21 5/21 4 12 7 OL
3 Gemini 5/22 6/21 1 8 6 RB
4 Cancer 6/22 7/23 2 12 9
5 Leo 7/24 8/23 6 9 10
6 Virgo 8/24 9/23 5 9 3
7 Libra 9/24 10/23 1011 2 D7
8 Scorpio 10/24 11/22 1 3 12 WR
9 Sagittarius 11/23 12/22 5 6 4 DB
10 Capricorn 12/23 1/20 7 11 5
11 Aquarius 1/21 2/18 7 10 1
12 Pisces 2/19 3/20 2 4 8

POS Affinity Affinity Conflict

RB 3-4 10-11 8-9
WR 3-4 5-6 2-3
OL 6-7 2-3 9-10
D7 12-1 1-2 4-5
DB 7-8 8-9 6-7

QB 3-4 best; 1-2,5-6,7-8,10-11,12-1 good


As always, I welcome a contributor to the front seven – DE Philip Ahn is just such a guy. He’s a pretty pure run stopper, so I intend to slot him behind Green at DT, and he can be a reserve DE also. Solid addition, I think.

TE Bennie Havran is a guy I targeted a while ago, and we are pleased to grab him here. I expect we might carry three tight ends into the season, and all will have chances to play. Havran may be the favorite for the starting job.

Since we are going to have cap space available, I decide to watch TE Kris Erickson, a very good TE who will miss this year due to injury. A pre-emptive signing might engender some goodwill for us, and help him to sign with is next season if he returns from his injuries in good form. We get a deal done – and will wait until next year to see if it bears any fruit.

We eventually work out a one year deal with G Gino Reeves, whose demands stayed high, but eventually settles for a $3m deal with us. I knew he wasn’t going to get the big offers – so we waited until late to get it done with him, but were not worried about this.

LB Shawn Reader is another perfect target for us – a solid run-stopper, and very good in our bump coverage. He looks like another Orlando McNeil, maybe a shade better. I’m surprised he is still awaiting a deal, but we snap him up and bring him aboard – our front seven this year might be the deepest we have had.

RB Bernard McDonald has been the league’s offensive player of the year twice – and last season he rushed for over 1,300 yards for Buffalo. He is sitting in the free agent pile – not all that impressive ratings, admittedly, but he looks like a pretty solid player. He will get along well with Munoz, and he can return punts as well as run and catch. Another solid pickup, I think. RB Kendrick Anderson was a solid starter for Arizona last season (1,230 yards rushing) and he, too, will come aboard to compete for a slot in the RB stable.


We wrap things up, re-signing Marc Swann as our backup QB – so this means adieu to Alvin Gammon. Swann is solid, gets along well with WR Sasa, and might have potential to get better with playing time. We’ll be in good hands with him in reserve. We carry 59 player into training camp – and are as close to the salary cap as we have ever been, with only $630,000 in space left. We can afford one or maybe two cheap vets as fill-ins, but not much.

The one guy who basically got left out was LB Everett Kramer. I’d like to have signed him, but he was looking for more than $2 million – and at the end of the line, we just couldn’t afford him. He and Gammon are two guys we’d have kept if we had the cap space.

[QuikSand]

Training Camp

We don’t have many rookies to see in this year’s training camp – but I will share the snapshot nonetheless.


Player # Pos Start Exp CE FE CE FE dCE dFE
Fisk, Dwight 9 QB 6 61 61 61 61 0 0
Swann, Marc 19 QB 7 36 59 39 59 3 0
Petkovich, Rich 13 QB 1 8 43 9 38 1 -5
Anderson, Kendrick 29 RB 3 43 43 43 43 0 0
McDonald, Bernard 26 RB 9 42 46 42 46 0 0
Spry, Bo 43 RB 4 40 40 40 40 0 0
Munoz, Randy 48 RB 5 37 39 38 39 1 0
Rayburn, Ricardo 34 RB 10 36 39 36 39 0 0
Sutter, Bruce 39 FB 5 43 51 45 51 2 0
**Erickson, Kris 84 TE 6 73 75 73 75 0 0
Havran, Bennie 83 TE 3 45 45 47 47 2 2
Brown, Bryan 85 TE 11 23 26 23 26 0 0
Springer, Roosevelt 87 TE 1 20 42 21 38 1 -4
Branch, Xavier 88 FL 4 55 55 56 56 1 1
Brannan, Gino 86 FL 9 44 49 44 49 0 0
Sasa, Jeff 80 FL 10 21 25 21 25 0 0
Burns, Chad 89 SE 4 57 69 59 69 2 0
Woodson, Louis 17 SE 2 35 46 37 46 2 0
Hanes, Josh 81 SE 4 25 35 26 35 1 0
**Harden, Robbie 58 C 15 45 45 45 45 0 0
Wallace, Jon 59 C 12 43 51 43 51 0 0
Gomez, Greg 53 C 11 40 46 40 46 0 0
Hamlin, Ross 55 C 3 15 39 18 39 3 0
Reeves, Gino 56 LG 5 65 69 65 69 0 0
Sutton, Stanley 65 LG 6 44 44 44 44 0 0
Lynch, T.J. 63 LG 3 27 38 29 38 2 0
Huntley, Wesley 79 RG 9 50 50 50 50 0 0
Ellard, Junior 78 RG 2 15 26 16 26 1 0
Harper, Brandon 64 LT 4 38 52 42 52 4 0
Thomason, Kenny 69 LT 2 38 69 42 69 4 0
Benedict, Dusty 66 RT 3 31 57 34 57 3 0
Logsdon, Charles 67 RT 1 19 34 21 35 2 1
DeMint, Brant 8 P 1 28 52 28 45 0 -7
Wallace, Charles 5 K 6 39 44 39 44 0 0
Largent, Courtney 93 LDE 10 56 56 56 56 0 0
Ahn, Phillip 73 LDE 6 45 59 48 59 3 0
Copeland, Ronnie 74 LDE 9 45 49 45 49 0 0
Troy, Calvin 77 LDE 1 21 41 21 41 0 0
Rivera, Van 95 RDE 6 49 53 51 53 2 0
Grider, Tyrus 72 RDE 3 30 41 31 41 1 0
Marchion, Martin 76 LDT 2 16 40 18 40 2 0
Green, Kelvin 75 NT 4 86 86 86 86 0 0
Schnebele, Joseph 99 SILB 3 34 37 36 37 2 0
Jeffries, Daryl 90 WILB 6 64 67 64 67 0 0
Reader, Shawn 98 MLB 7 51 55 51 55 0 0
McNeil, Orlando 94 MLB 14 46 49 46 49 0 0
Bauer, Adam 52 MLB 7 41 46 41 46 0 0
McConnell, Clarence 50 SLB 3 40 55 43 55 3 0
Dole, Jeff 97 SLB 5 28 45 30 45 2 0
Delgado, Joey 91 SLB 2 10 25 12 25 2 0
Gumphrey, Benjamin 21 LCB 11 60 62 60 62 0 0
Gonzalez, Lonnie 24 LCB 4 30 34 30 34 0 0
Ikuma, Bart 47 RCB 4 63 64 63 64 0 0
Farrell, Corwin 37 RCB 14 34 37 34 37 0 0
Meyer, Ian 42 RCB 13 32 32 32 32 0 0
Robinson, Ralph 35 SS 15 53 53 53 53 0 0
Fisher, Dwight 40 SS 2 26 55 29 55 3 0
Rushing, Quentin 23 SS 2 25 39 26 39 1 0
Buchanan, Duane 33 SS 6 21 33 22 33 1 0
Barrett, Lorenzo 38 FS 3 57 63 60 63 3 0


Nothing much to report here. We got a pleasant bump from TE Bennie Havran, which is nice to see as we maybe counting on him this season. And DE Troy didn’t reveal any serious downside – so we ought to be okay. no major breakouts – a small bump from T Lodgson might get him a roster spot, but that’s about it.

C Harden and TE Erickson are already shuffled off to injured reserve – leaving us to winnow the roster down to 55 players total. I expect preseason will make some of that easier, as we might lose a marginal player to an injury, potentially freeing up a spot.


The final cuts include RB Ricardo Rayburn (a casualty of my affinity mixup at RB), TE Roosevelt Springer (essentially a wasted draft pick), LB Jeff Dole, and LT Brandon Harper. I hate to cut Harper, but we were just too stacked along the OL, and we needed to thin out a body.


We head into the season with a roster rating of 75 – the highest we have attainted, and ranked sixth in the league. Our cohesion is at 73-85-85-67, we are actually above average in the two middle catgeories. So, these elements may no longer be working against us.

This season, I have to think we will again be among the better teams in the league. I’m now looking at 2030 as the aberration – I expect that we will win ten games or more, depending on how the ball bounces and how the injury situation shapes up. Our goal has to be to win at least one playoff game – baby steps, I guess.

Here is a last look at the roster, including the starting lineups to begin the season:


St. Louis Rams Roster, Attitude Advisory

Player # Pos Start Playing Time Chemistry
Swann, Marc 19 QB Content 1 Affinity
Fisk, Dwight 9 QB QB Content 1 Affinity
Petkovich, Rich 13 QB Content 2 Affinities
McDonald, Bernard 26 RB Content Mild Affinity
##Munoz, Randy 48 RB Content Backfield Leader
Spry, Bo 43 RB RB Content
Anderson, Kendrick 29 RB FB Content Mild Affinity
Sutter, Bruce 39 FB Content
Brown, Bryan 85 TE Content Affinity
**Erickson, Kris 84 TE Content Affinity
Havran, Bennie 83 TE TE Content Mild Affinity
Sasa, Jeff 80 FL Content Receivers Leader
Brannan, Gino 86 FL FL Content
Branch, Xavier 88 FL Content
Burns, Chad 89 SE SE Content Mild Affinity
##Hanes, Josh 81 SE Content Affinity
Woodson, Louis 17 SE Content Mild Affinity
**Harden, Robbie 58 C Content Strong Affinity
Wallace, Jon 59 C C Content Offensive Line Lead
##Gomez, Greg 53 C Unhappy Affinity
**Hamlin, Ross 55 C Content Strong Affinity
Sutton, Stanley 65 LG Content Strong Affinity
Reeves, Gino 56 LG LG Content
Lynch, T.J. 63 LG Content Strong Affinity
Huntley, Wesley 79 RG RG Content Affinity
##Ellard, Junior 78 RG Content Strong Affinity
Thomason, Kenny 69 LT LT Content
Benedict, Dusty 66 RT RT Content
Logsdon, Charles 67 RT Content Strong Affinity
DeMint, Brant 8 P Content
Wallace, Charles 5 K Content
Largent, Courtney 93 LDE LDE Content Defensive Front Lea
Copeland, Ronnie 74 LDE Content Affinity
Ahn, Phillip 73 LDE Content Affinity
##Troy, Calvin 77 LDE Content Mild Affinity
Rivera, Van 95 RDE RDE Content Affinity
Grider, Tyrus 72 RDE Angry Mild Affinity
Marchion, Martin 76 LDT Content Affinity
Green, Kelvin 75 NT NT Content
Schnebele, Joseph 99 SILB Content Affinity
Jeffries, Daryl 90 WILB WILB Content
McNeil, Orlando 94 MLB WLB Content Affinity
Bauer, Adam 52 MLB Content Affinity
Reader, Shawn 98 MLB SILB Content Affinity
McConnell, Clarence 50 SLB SLB Content
##Delgado, Joey 91 SLB Content Mild Affinity
Gumphrey, Benjamin 21 LCB LCB Content Affinity
Gonzalez, Lonnie 24 LCB Content Mild Affinity
Farrell, Corwin 37 RCB Content Mild Affinity
##Meyer, Ian 42 RCB Content Secondary Leader
Ikuma, Bart 47 RCB RCB Content
Robinson, Ralph 35 SS SS Content
Buchanan, Duane 33 SS Content Mild Affinity
Rushing, Quentin 23 SS Content Mild Affinity
Fisher, Dwight 40 SS Content
Barrett, Lorenzo 38 FS FS Content

[QuikSand]

That's 36 affinities, but who's counting?

[QuikSand]

2032 season

I make one strange decision as the season starts – I need a second active OLB, it turns out, so I switch Orlando McNeil to play the WLB slot (where I have him starting already). My hope is that with a year’s experience, he will develop well there – but it’s risky.

We win our opener at home against Seattle – those thieving pigdogs. WR Ratto and TE Schultz combined for 10 catches against us, but we win the day overall behind a nice effort from Dwight Fisk.

We get to 5-1 on the year, but are still behind 7-0 Arizona, so the division race is going to be tough this year, no matter what. A loss to Philadelphia gets us to 6-2 at the halfway point – and two games out in the division.

So far, injuries have been a modest issue (thankfully) and we see our key offensive numbers looking good. We are giving up too many yards rushing for my tastes, but overall the stats support us as a solid overall power team.

Arizona comes to our place and gets a 30-24 win – making the division race all that much tougher. We’ll need to pretty much run the table and hope for a letdown by the Cards – more likely, we will end up angling for that #5 seed, and a playoff life on the road. A loss to Seattle now has us down to 6-4 – and more properly thinking about just getting into the playoffs at all!

Next, we lose at home to Buffalo – and it’s like the wheels have fallen off the proverbial wagon. We split our next two games, and at 7-6 the playoff picture is coming into focus. Fortunately for us, the NFC has been dominated by three teams – meaning some mediocre records are bound to get in. As of 13 games deep, the two wild cards would go to 7-6 teams, and we’re one of them. So, we control our own destiny – and probably get in even at 9-7.

An OT win over San Fran gets us an eighth win, and we thump New England to get to nine. We are likely in as a wild card at this point, with one game to go.

Which is good, since Dwight Fisk is gone for the season with a rotator cuff. This year we have not suffered serious injury issues – but this one hurts us badly. 8th year man Tommy Peterson is available, and comes aboard – he will back up Marc Swann for us down the stretch here. Ironically, the year we gave up on Alvin Gammon, he inks a cheap deal with Miami when we really could have used him.

In the finale, we get a win over Arizona to move to 10-6, and secure the #5 seed. That is encouraging, at least – as Marc Swann plays pretty well for us, going 25 of 35 for 305 yards and 2 TDs, no picks.

We are in pretty good shape other than Fisk, as we prepare for another postseason berth – heading to Philadelphia for our first ever road playoff game.


2032 Summary for St. Louis Rams

Record: 10-6
Winning Pct.: .625

St. Louis Rams Team Rank
Rushes 531 3
Rushing Yards 2293 3
Yards Per Carry 4.31 6
Pass Attempts 475 30
Completions 320 14
Passing Yards 3739 14
Yards Per Attempt 7.87 4 (T)
3rd Down Conversions 43.8 13
Points Per Game 21.0 13
Turnovers 16 5 (T)
Turnover Margin -1 19 (T)

Opponents Team Rank
Rushes 394 4
Rushing Yards 1639 5
Yards Per Carry 4.15 16
Pass Attempts 503 14
Completions 288 1
Passing Yards 3319 2
Yards Per Attempt 6.59 4
3rd Down Conversions 36.1 3
Points Per Game 16.0 1
Turnovers 15 28 (T)

Week Team Versus Oppnt
1 24 SEA 21
2 16 at NYJ 10
3 24 at DET 6
4 14 SFO 21
5 20 at NYG 14
6 38 at WAS 18
8 35 DAL 9
9 17 PHI 24
10 20 ARI 24
11 17 at SEA 20
12 10 BUF 16
13 17 ATL 3
14 24 MIA 27
15 30 at SFO 27
16 16 at NED 3
17 14 at ARI 13
$$WC at PHI

Passing Pos Att Comp Yards Y/Att TD Int
9 Fisk QB 440 295 3435 7.80 23 8
19 Swann QB 35 25 304 8.68 2 0
**Team --- 475 320 3739 7.87 25 8

Rushing Pos Att Yards Y/Att TD
43 Spry RB 293 1346 4.59 6
26 McDonald RB 113 397 3.51 3
9 Fisk QB 76 333 4.38 3
29 Anderson RB 34 175 5.14 1
**Team --- 531 2293 4.31 13

Receiving Pos Targ Catch Yards Y/Ctc YAC TD
89 Burns WR 119 73 1051 14.3 300 7
86 Brannan WR 93 56 874 15.6 113 4
43 Spry RB 58 45 322 7.1 169 2
39 Sutter FB 54 39 247 6.3 140 2
88 Branch WR 45 34 504 14.8 76 4
83 Havran TE 51 33 366 11.0 66 4
**Team --- 475 320 3739 11.6 988 25

Defense Pos Tack Asst Sack Hurr Ints Defn
90 Jeffries ILB 133 37 3.5 0 0 14
50 McConnell OLB 74 28 4.0 9 1 7
21 Gumphrey CB 56 20 1.0 0 3 11
98 Reader ILB 55 22 2.5 2 0 7
38 Barrett S 53 24 0.0 0 2 8
47 Ikuma CB 42 10 0.0 0 2 4
35 Robinson S 38 17 0.0 0 0 6
93 Largent DE 36 9 9.0 17 0 0
95 Rivera DE 34 12 9.5 10 0 0
75 Green DT 34 20 10.0 30 0 0
94 McNeil OLB 32 19 0.0 0 0 3
24 Gonzalez CB 26 7 0.0 1 1 2
40 Fisher S 24 12 0.0 0 0 5
37 Farrell CB 17 1 0.0 0 2 1
74 Copeland DE 16 8 4.5 7 0 1
**Team --- 772 257 44.0 77 12 71


Okay – Dwight Fisk is the real thing (setting aside the injury) as he posts yet another outstanding season for us. Our tradition of very high productivity from the RB spot continues – Bo Spry is back as starter, and is back well above the 1,000 yard mark. Chad Burns delivers on his promise with a 1,000 yard season as well, leading the receiving corps with his best year yet.

Since the OL was such a focus last season – here’s an update there:


Blocking Statistics

Player Pos Team GP GS KRB KRO BPct SkA PPly SPct RPly OPct
Reeves, Gino G STL 16 16 31 80 38.7 4 498 0.8 520 15.3
Wallace, Jon C STL 16 16 26 80 32.5 5 499 1.0 526 15.2
Huntley, Wesley G STL 12 12 24 81 29.6 2 333 0.6 349 23.2
Thomason, Kenny T STL 16 16 22 55 40.0 4 497 0.8 522 10.5
Benedict, Dusty T STL 16 16 21 69 30.4 5 429 1.1 440 15.6
Gomez, Greg C STL 13 4 10 27 37.0 1 185 0.5 191 14.1
Havran, Bennie TE STL 16 16 7 23 30.4 0 389 0.0 456 5.0
Sutter, Bruce FB STL 16 10 6 27 22.2 2 263 0.7 333 8.1
Sutton, Stanley G STL 10 0 4 10 40.0 0 53 0.0 87 11.4
Brown, Bryan TE STL 14 3 1 2 50.0 0 60 0.0 102 1.9
Logsdon, Charles T STL 3 0 0 3 0.0 0 1 0.0 14 21.4


We were not quite as dominant up front as last year – but once again the combination of solid run blocking and excellent pass protection is tough to beat. Only 23 sacks is very good, with even more pass plays than last season.


Defensively – we managed to maintain our solid sack total (over 2.5 per game) but got 28.5 just from the starting threesome up front. We were tough against the pass – but why? CB Gumphrey had a solid season, but only one regular from our secondary was over 20 in the PDPct rating. We didn’t pick off many passes – only 12 all year – and that probably played a role in the low ratings, but overall low yards per attempt allowed.

LB Daryl Jeffries reaffirms his superstar status, racking up huge numbers on a fairly intact defense (for once). LB Shawn Reader was another excellent pickup – we really hope he will return next year, as those two are great together on the inside.


Statistically, we were a pretty powerful team – perhaps better than the 10-6 record suggests. Practically, and without Fisk, I don’t know how much I like our chances on the road in the playoffs.

[QuikSand]

Postseason Summary

Wild Card Round: St. Louis (10-7) at Philadelphia (12-4) – We put together a solid effort here, and are tied with the Eagles 10-10 at the half, but they grind out a couple second half drives, and put away the win in the early fourth quarter. Eagles 20, Rams 10. Our offense just didn’t have its usual punch, and while Swann is a solid backup, he can’t win it by himself.

Philadelphia actually goes on to win it all, over the Jets in the Superbowl.


Another year on the books, and another one-and-out in the playoffs. not as much a surprise here, but still disappointing.

Now, we will have to sit back and see what happens with QB Fisk – his injury is pretty serious, and it could have long term effects. That would alter our course a good deal, I think – I like Marc Swann fine, but I’m not sure he’s the answer for us long term. We could get back into the rent-a-guy mode, which I had candidly expected would be central to this team all along.


On the season awards list, we again get QB Dwight Fisk (2nd team) and LB Daryl Jeffries (1st team) laurels – but that has become pretty secondary at this point.

[QuikSand]

2033 offseason

We have five retirements from the team this year – with some impact.

CB Ian Meyer has been the centerpiece for a very strong affinity within our DB unit – so his loss will be felt. not surprising, but a problem nonetheless.

TE Bryan Brown has been a nice special teamer and reserve for us for several years – no star, but a reliable reserve and contributor.

RB Bernard McDonald was a decent reserve RB for us, but replaceable at this point in his (apparently waning) career.

S Ralph Robinson is the second straight one-and-done guys at SS for us. Ideally, we’d like to bring aboard a guy who can stay for a few years – S might be a draft target spot again this season, unless we hit the right guy in free agency.

C Robbie Harden was just a speculative pickup – hoping he might return from his injuries and be willing to sign with us this year. No dice.


Our other speculative pickup, TE Kris Erickson, is now healthy – but is also just a shadow of his former self. It’s possible we sign him, but he certainly wasn’t worth the effort (paying him last year to sit on IF in hopes of fostering a good deal for this year). My scout now rates him 42/45 – maybe good enough for a look.

QB Dwight Fisk, on the other hand, looks great. So, his recovery from injury seems complete – and we expect to bid aggressively for his return. That is very good news.


We keep our front office intact, and are quickly preparing for another busy offseason of free agency moves. This year, we are sitting on a few extra draft picks, also – we have pick #9 in round one, and have three late second rounders (including our own, at slot #23). My hope would be to use an extra pick or two as leverage to trade up and secure a key contributor – maybe we can get two starters from this draft?

[QuikSand]

Free Agency Preparations

As in the past, we will have a few high priority guys to re-sign.

A LIST: QB Dwight Fisk, LB Daryl Jeffries
B LIST: DE Courtney Largent, WR Chad Burns, CB Benjamin Gumphrey,
LB Shawn Reader, DE Van Rivera, G Gino Reeves


I expect a bit of shakeup on our DL this season (we have a couple unhappy guys who probably will not accept contracts from us), so re-signing Largent and Rivera to return as our starting defensive ends is important, I think. LB Shawn Reader is a hopeful listing here – but h rightfully deserves a fat deal elsewhere, and we can’t afford to pay him too much. WR Chad Burns is a standout player and affinity guy – too good to let him get away, we’ll try not to.


On our initial look – if we re-sign WR Chad Burns, it will be a miracle. He sets his price at $9 million a year – there’s just no way we can get even close to that mark, so we will wait and hope others are scared off too.

LB Daryl Jeffries again is looking for less than the previous season. I can’t complain – my initial offer is $6.9 million. QB Dwight Fisk is my other immediate target – my offer to him is for $8 million. I hope to lock both guys up quickly again – that bring a lot of certainty to our planning.

DE Courtney Largent is asking for $6 million a year, and CB Benjamin Gumphrey is asking for $4 million. Losing those two would be painful (especially Largent, a position leader) but I don’t think I can offer those prices – we will have to wait on them, and hope to work things out later.

LB Shawn Reader, on the other hand, looks like he might come cheaply. He’s willing to listen to an offer for less than $1.5 million – and I get mine in right away. He’d be great to bring back. DE Van Rivera also seems pretty amenable to a fair deal, and a $1.7m offer makes his cut. Those are two guys I expected to have trouble with – maybe not.

I get in a round of offers to a few more players, and decide to have a look around with the open market.

Here is the affinity schedule from last season – I’m not updating the DB situation right now, as I don’t know where it might land. We might do well to locate a player from the same group as CB Meyer was, and rebuild as much of that leadership as we can.


AFFINITY ANALYSIS

# Sign Begin End Affs Conflict Leaders
1 Aries 3/21 4/20 3 8 11
2 Taurus 4/21 5/21 4 12 7 OL
3 Gemini 5/22 6/21 1 8 6 RB
4 Cancer 6/22 7/23 2 12 9
5 Leo 7/24 8/23 6 9 10
6 Virgo 8/24 9/23 5 9 3
7 Libra 9/24 10/23 1011 2 D7
8 Scorpio 10/24 11/22 1 3 12 WR
9 Sagittarius 11/23 12/22 5 6 4 DB
10 Capricorn 12/23 1/20 7 11 5
11 Aquarius 1/21 2/18 7 10 1
12 Pisces 2/19 3/20 2 4 8

POS Affinity Affinity Conflict

RB 3-4 10-11 8-9
WR 3-4 5-6 2-3
OL 6-7 2-3 9-10
D7 12-1 1-2 4-5
DB 7-8 8-9 6-7

QB 3-4 best; 1-2,5-6,7-8,10-11,12-1 good


We have four players in our current secondary from the Virgo group – meaning that we could create multiple affinities by bringing about a leader from either the Sagittarius group (like Meyer was) or the Leo group. Regrettably, I don’t find quite what I’m looking for…the best I can do is with SS Ricky Lanner, who will probably not see the field for us. He is cheap, at least – so we put in our offer in hopes of stabilizing the group, at least.


I am sick and tired of having marginal punt returner on this team – so this year I resolve to grab somebody who can get the job done. I’ll get a rookie if need be, but I’d prefer a usable veteran. I find WR Mel Howell, who would be great, but is probably out of our price range. I will have to look among the rookie class for my answer, it seems.

[QuikSand]

EARLY FREE AGENCY (Stages 1-4)
Immediate re-signings: LB Daryl Jeffries, CB Lonnie Gonzalez
Re-signed, no opposition: QB Dwight Fisk, LB Shawn Reader, WR Gino Brannan
Re-signed with opposition: G Gino Reeves
New players signed:
Player signed away: WR Chad Burns, CB Bart Ikuma

We had to overpay G Gino Reeves pretty seriously ($6 million) but I just felt he was awfully important to our whole OL scheme. We’re going to have a new starter at RG this year for sure – so keeping Reeve is a grasp for continuity as much as possible. Bug ticket, though.

Burns and Ikuma ere easy calls – both landed fat deals, way out of our price range. I liked Burns’ skill and affinity – but we can’t be paying $8 million for any wideout when we are already doing okay there as it is. We will be looking for a decent-quality split end in the draft, or as a cheap free agent.

[QuikSand]

MIDDLE FREE AGENCY (Stages 5-16)
Re-signed, no opposition: DE Van Rivera, DE Ronnie Copeland, LB Orlando McNeil, G Stanley Sutton
Re-signed with opposition: DE Courtney Largent
New players signed: SS Ricky Lanner
Player signed away: FB Bruce Sutter

I am surprised by FB Sutter – but he did have a pretty good year last season, and quickly snaps up an offer for about $1.5 million a year from Tampa.

Re-upping with our two defensive ends is comforting – and neither was terribly expensive. But Largent then gets an offer – and I will have to fight for him too – there’s way too much affinity at stake to lose him now. It takes $6 million – far more than I had planned – but we get Largent re-signed as well.


I am starting to think that we are going to find ourselves in some cap trouble this year. With four fat salaries already paid out, I’m doing the math – we have 21 players signed, and $25.5m in cap space left. We could trade away our top pick in the draft to make up some room – but I’m starting to think we will have some casualties this year, perhaps more than in any year before.

[QuikSand]

LAST FREE AGENCY (Stages 17-20)
Re-signed, no opposition:
Re-signed with opposition: C Jon Wallace
New players signed:
Player signed away: C Greg Gomez

C Jon Wallace gets an offer from New England – but fortunately gives us a week to get into the mix. We work it out with him for $1.2 million – but then C Greg Gomez takes a deal from Pittsburgh, so we lose a valued backup.

I resolve to sit back, and wait on pretty much everyone – I am getting increasingly worried about our cap situation, and don’t want to tie up more money in bonuses. I am, however, starting to think we may go into this year with fewer than 53 players.

We get to the rookie draft with 22 players signed, and $24 million in cap room. I think we are going to need to get rookie who can contribute this year – whether trading down is the way to do that, or just making smart picks with the slots we have, I don’t know yet. We’ll keep building affinities, too, wherever we can do so.

[QuikSand]

Rookie Draft

Since the chemistry effects have taken center stage for this career, I will re-print my affinity analysis grid – we’ll again use that as a guide for young players. I will not draft anyone who will cause a conflict, and we will try to enhance affinities where we can.


AFFINITY ANALYSIS

# Sign Begin End Affs Conflict Leaders
1 Aries 3/21 4/20 3 8 11
2 Taurus 4/21 5/21 4 12 7 OL
3 Gemini 5/22 6/21 1 8 6 RB
4 Cancer 6/22 7/23 2 12 9
5 Leo 7/24 8/23 6 9 10
6 Virgo 8/24 9/23 5 9 3
7 Libra 9/24 10/23 1011 2 D7
8 Scorpio 10/24 11/22 1 3 12 WR
9 Sagittarius 11/23 12/22 5 6 4 DB
10 Capricorn 12/23 1/20 7 11 5
11 Aquarius 1/21 2/18 7 10 1
12 Pisces 2/19 3/20 2 4 8

POS Affinity Affinity Conflict

RB 3-4 10-11 8-9
WR 3-4 5-6 2-3
OL 6-7 2-3 9-10
D7 12-1 1-2 4-5
DB 7-8 8-9 6-7

QB 3-4 best; 1-2,5-6,7-8,10-11,12-1 good



As far as team needs go – we could use a starting-caliber cornerback, and if we can lock up a quality guy with our top pick, I expect we will do so. We could use a playmaker at TE, and a late second rounder might do well there. An addition for the front seven would be helpful – we have had some luck with second and third round picks spent at LB, and might be looking there as well. We have a gap at RG, and a positive addition there would be good also. With losses at WR, that is another spot where a solid youngster would be very welcome. Several holes to fill.

At pick nine, the top CB and the top two guards are both gone, leaving us without an obvious selection. I have a sleeper I like at CB, and a guard I like who ought to drop a bit longer – so I decide to trade down in round one, hoping to still grab the OG I want after another handful of picks. We deal with Atlanta, move down in round one, and move to the middle of round two – hoping to make two calculated grabs with those picks.

My G goes with pick #14, leaving us fairly empty-handed at #19. Another draft day miscalculation – I just didn’t think he would be gone by this point. So, we decide to swing a pretty big deal – we send this year’s #19 and two of our second rounders to Jacksonville for their pick at #27 and their first rounder next year. Should provide some cap space, and hopefully get us invested into a better-fit draft than this one for us.

At 27, we are on the clock again, and once again I missed out on a solid “sleeper” pick who I thought would be there. I am, however, really tempted to move down again – the CB I like best of the remaining lot is still listed third at the group – he has to last a while longer. On the overall list, he is tenth. he’s not even an affinity guy – so it’s not like he is an absolutely perfect fit for us after all. We move down to 2(1) and gain an edge in next year’s draft – and hope to see our CB land in our laps there.

At 2(1), I again have the urge to trade down – but I have to finaly resist it, and select our guy, CB Aaron Shaw. He graded out well at the combine, and has a pretty good match at the skills we covet, so I think he will be fine for us. We wait 18 more slots to pick again, but I think we will get some value in round two this year, the way things are looking.


Amateur Draft Report:

Rnd 2 - Aaron Shaw, CB, Southern California
Rnd 2 - Kenyon Heinz, WR, Fordham
Rnd 3 - Cedric Evans, CB, Nebraska
Rnd 5 - Sammie Gillespie, FB, Syracuse
Rnd 6 - Ross Stone, CB, Auburn
Rnd 7 - Sean Mahoney, OLB, Wake Forest


WR Kenyon Heinz looks like he will be a solid addition to our receiving corps, though he is not a serious punt returner, which would have been nice. My guess is that he can become our third wideout option, as the reserve flanker/slot receiver.

In round three, I am torn between my sleeper CB and a solid FB who could possibly switch to become our starting TE. I decide to go for the CB, and will hope to see the FB in a later slot. CB Cedric Evans does not look like a breakout, but he does look like he can be a solid contributor, with the right coverage strengths and a position affinity.

FB Sammie Gillespie is my target player in round five (after dealing up to make sure we don’t miss him) – my hope is that he smoothly switches to TE, and can perhaps even become a starter there.

With our late picks, we grab what we need – affinity roster-fillers. CB Ross Stone has a shot to help out as a punt returner, so he’s an easy pickup. LB Sean Mahoney has some skills to contribute, possibly as a reserve on the weak side.

[QuikSand]

Late Free Agency

A lot of work to do now. We have all our rookie signed quickly, so that brings us to 28 players under contract, and $21.6 left to spend under the cap. I want to do some math here to back out what we have to work with – here’s my quick back-of-envelope figuring:

Key players to return:
2.5 CB Gumphrey
1.0 DE Ahn
2.0 RT Benedict
1.0 WR Branch
2.5 LB McConnell
0.5 TE Havran
1.0 LB Bauer
0.5 RB Anderson
0.7 RB Spry
0.4 LB Schnebele
0.3 RT Lodgson
0.4 C Hamlin
0.5 SS Buahanan
0.5 RB Munoz
0.7 WR Sasa

If we re-sign all these players for these amounts, we would get to 43 players, with $7 million left to spend. That’s not quite as dire as I had imagined – and it gives us some wiggle room with a few of the guys like Gumphrey and McConnell where my numbers might be low. We will still need to fill the backup QB job (probably will cost us $1 million or so, either Swann or some other veteran) and then we will have enough cash to probably sign a fleet of undrafted rookies and perhaps a veteran or two. We ought to be okay.

We get some cheap stuff done without much trouble, and I pick up a rookie whom I really like – RB Tommy Henson is a good punt returner, and we will give him a tryout with our WR group, where he will be a better fit. Turns out he doesn’t have the necessarty personality strength to build an affinity with Jeff Sasa, but his return skills might earn him an active roster spot anyway.

In week six of the late stages, we are up to 46 players signed – now, to try to work things out with our final tough nuts. RT Dusty Benedict and SLB Clarence McConnell are both playing hardball with contract talks. As a contingency, we put in a bid for LT Antoine Brock – and he could end up playing at RT for us this year if we can’t get a deal done with Benedict.

I make another bid for LB Emanuel Chustz, a decent-looking outside linebacker who could get some time at DE for us, if needed. C David Bailey is a typical journeyman center – a capable backup for any spot, and I suspect he will see some action this year for us, as we are expecting turnover on the OL.

Into week 8, we have 50 players signed, and $7.1 million left. We won’t have much room to spare, that much is clear. Just to meet the position requirements, we must fill spots at QB, FB, and P. And we still would like to work out deals with LB McConnell and RT Benedict.

RT Dusty Benedict, a guy we picked up off the scrap heap and built into a starter, just won’t budge on any one year deal at all – even for $3 million in mostly bonus money. It looks like a lost cause there.
A cheap offer for RT Jon Clemons will give us a bit more insurance there, as we are now resigned to moving on without Benedict.

LB Clarence McConnell is in a similar situation – it looks like he is so dead set on a long term deal, that no one year offer will satisfy him. He, finally, relents – at a price of $3.8 million. Unreal.

We get in a qualifying $1.2 million offer to QB Marc Swann, and expect that he will return as well. That leaves us with $1.7 million to spend, in theory. I put in a bid for a couple young DBs who might fit into our mix, and get in an offer to a punter and FB to fill out the roster.

[QuikSand]

Training Camp

We have had success with the boosted training room time in camp, so we stick with that, hoping to keep injuries under control.


Player # Pos Start Exp CE FE CE FE dCE dFE
Fisk, Dwight 9 QB 7 63 63 63 63 0 0
Swann, Marc 19 QB 8 41 59 46 59 5 0
McNeil, Steven 15 QB 1 11 39 13 36 2 -3
Anderson, Kendrick 29 RB 4 45 45 45 45 0 0
Spry, Bo 43 RB 5 40 40 40 40 0 0
Munoz, Randy 48 RB 6 28 28 29 29 1 1
Barton, Blaine 34 FB 3 29 35 30 35 1 0
Havran, Bennie 83 TE 4 50 50 50 50 0 0
Gillespie, Sammie 32 TE 1 17 61 19 56 2 -5
Branch, Xavier 88 FL 5 55 55 55 55 0 0
Brannan, Gino 86 FL 10 42 48 42 48 0 0
Heinz, Kenyon 89 FL 1 22 53 22 47 0 -6
Sasa, Jeff 80 FL 11 21 25 21 25 0 0
Henson, Tommy 45 FL 1 17 47 18 43 1 -4
Woodson, Louis 17 SE 3 43 44 44 44 1 0
Bailey, David 58 C 10 54 54 54 54 0 0
Wallace, Jon 59 C 13 40 47 40 47 0 0
Hamlin, Ross 55 C 4 17 35 20 35 3 0
Reeves, Gino 56 LG 6 65 68 65 68 0 0
Sutton, Stanley 65 LG 7 45 45 45 45 0 0
Lynch, T.J. 63 LG 4 30 38 33 38 3 0
Ellard, Junior 78 RG 3 16 25 17 25 1 0
Thomason, Kenny 69 LT 3 50 70 55 70 5 0
Brock, Antoine 71 LT 4 28 51 31 51 3 0
Clemons, Jon 61 RT 3 24 36 26 36 2 0
Logsdon, Charles 67 RT 2 22 36 25 36 3 0
Hewitt, Chad 16 P 1 46 46 47 47 1 1
Wallace, Charles 5 K 7 40 45 40 45 0 0
Ahn, Phillip 73 LDE 7 48 58 50 58 2 0
Largent, Courtney 93 LDE 11 49 49 49 49 0 0
Copeland, Ronnie 74 LDE 10 41 46 41 46 0 0
Troy, Calvin 77 LDE 2 21 39 22 39 1 0
Rivera, Van 95 RDE 7 51 53 51 53 0 0
Marchion, Martin 76 LDT 3 17 38 19 38 2 0
Green, Kelvin 75 NT 5 83 86 83 86 0 0
Schnebele, Joseph 99 SILB 4 35 36 35 36 0 0
Jeffries, Daryl 90 WILB 7 64 67 64 67 0 0
Reader, Shawn 98 MLB 8 52 56 52 56 0 0
Bauer, Adam 52 MLB 8 40 46 40 46 0 0
Chustz, Emmanuel 97 SLB 8 54 54 54 54 0 0
McConnell, Clarence 50 SLB 4 50 55 54 55 4 0
Delgado, Joey 91 SLB 3 11 21 12 21 1 0
Mahoney, Sean 53 SLB 1 10 37 12 35 2 -2
McNeil, Orlando 94 WLB 15 23 43 25 43 2 0
Doty, Danny 54 WLB 1 16 31 16 27 0 -4
Gumphrey, Benjamin 21 LCB 12 59 61 59 61 0 0
Gonzalez, Lonnie 24 LCB 5 30 34 30 34 0 0
Shaw, Aaron 39 LCB 1 21 59 25 61 4 2
Evans, Cedric 30 LCB 1 15 48 16 43 1 -5
Farrell, Corwin 37 RCB 15 34 36 34 36 0 0
Stone, Ross 42 RCB 1 13 32 14 30 1 -2
Pearson, Brock 31 SS 3 40 42 43 43 3 1
Lanner, Rickey 49 SS 12 42 48 42 48 0 0
Fisher, Dwight 40 SS 3 35 49 37 49 2 0
Rushing, Quentin 23 SS 3 34 41 36 41 2 0
Buchanan, Duane 33 SS 7 24 33 25 33 1 0
Barrett, Lorenzo 38 FS 4 62 63 65 65 3 2


This might be our worst-looking rookie class, with WR Heinz leading the charge as a likely bust, and CB Evans right there with him. CB Aaron Shaw held up well, though, so we might have something there at least. We did get a few bumps from veteran players, too, so it’s not a total washout.


We do have a trade offer for DE Phillip Ahn, which I might be inclined to accept. We are offered a 2nd round pick for him. However, I think there’s a very good chance that he will become our starting DT next season (assuming Kelvin Green departs as a free agent, which I think is very likely) and I want to keep Ahn around for that contingency.


I think we are a little shallow in the secondary – rookie CB Shaw will step in and start right away, and we will be relying on Lonnie Gonzalez as our nickelback. One loss to a CB puts us in a tight spot. We’ll be using afterthought pickup Brock Pearson as our starting strong safety – he’s not as good as the geezers we have been using the last two years, but he might stick around, at least.

As we start out for the year, here’s the snapshot:


Player # Pos Start Playing Time Chemistry
Swann, Marc 19 QB Content 1 Affinity with lea
Fisk, Dwight 9 QB QB Content 1 Affinity with lea
McNeil, Steven 15 QB Content
Munoz, Randy 48 RB Content Backfield Leader
Spry, Bo 43 RB RB Content
Anderson, Kendrick 29 RB Content Mild Affinity
Barton, Blaine 34 FB FB Content Mild Affinity
Havran, Bennie 83 TE TE Content Mild Affinity
Gillespie, Sammie 32 TE Content Mild Affinity
Sasa, Jeff 80 FL Content Receivers Leader
Brannan, Gino 86 FL FL Content
Branch, Xavier 88 FL Content
Henson, Tommy 45 FL Content
Woodson, Louis 17 SE SE Content Mild Affinity
Heinz, Kenyon 89 SE Content
Wallace, Jon 59 C C Content Offensive Line Lead
Bailey, David 58 C RG Content Affinity
**Hamlin, Ross 55 C Content Strong Affinity
Sutton, Stanley 65 LG Content Strong Affinity
Reeves, Gino 56 LG LG Content
Lynch, T.J. 63 LG Disgruntled Strong Affinity
##Ellard, Junior 78 RG Content Strong Affinity
Brock, Antoine 71 LT RT Content Affinity
Thomason, Kenny 69 LT LT Content
##Clemons, Jon 61 RT Content Strong Affinity
Logsdon, Charles 67 RT Content Strong Affinity
Hewitt, Chad 16 P Content
Wallace, Charles 5 K Content
Largent, Courtney 93 LDE Content Defensive Front Lea
Copeland, Ronnie 74 LDE Content Affinity
Ahn, Phillip 73 LDE LDE Unhappy Affinity
##Troy, Calvin 77 LDE Content Mild Affinity
Rivera, Van 95 RDE RDE Content Affinity
Marchion, Martin 76 LDT Angry Affinity
Green, Kelvin 75 NT NT Content
McNeil, Orlando 94 SILB Content Affinity
**Schnebele, Joseph 99 SILB Content Affinity
Jeffries, Daryl 90 WILB WILB Content
Bauer, Adam 52 MLB Content Affinity
Reader, Shawn 98 MLB SILB Content Affinity
Chustz, Emmanuel 97 SLB WLB Content Affinity
McConnell, Clarence 50 SLB SLB Content
##Delgado, Joey 91 SLB Content Mild Affinity
##Mahoney, Sean 53 SLB Content Mild Affinity
Gumphrey, Benjamin 21 LCB LCB Content Affinity
Gonzalez, Lonnie 24 LCB Content Mild Affinity
##Evans, Cedric 30 LCB Content Affinity
##Farrell, Corwin 37 RCB Content Affinity
Stone, Ross 42 RCB Content Mild Affinity
Shaw, Aaron 39 RCB RCB Content
Lanner, Rickey 49 SS Content Secondary Leader
Buchanan, Duane 33 SS Content Affinity
##Rushing, Quentin 23 SS Disgruntled Mild Affinity
Pearson, Brock 31 SS SS Content Affinity
Fisher, Dwight 40 SS Content
Barrett, Lorenzo 38 FS FS Content
**Doty, Danny 35 FS Content Affinity


I count 35 affinities, and of course no conflicts.


As we head into preseason, our cohesion ratings are rising again – up to 84-93-80-79, and above average in everything. In a career where my main idea was to have to deal with massive turnover, it seems that our player turnover has been only about average – if that. The biggest issue on that front are the expiring rookie contracts like those of DT Green, who is likely to leave after this season.

Our roster rating is down to 48 for some reason – a good deal lower than the last couple of years. I don’t have a great explanation for it, but I still think we have a pretty competitive lineup.

My expectations for the season are tough to pin down, once again – we have been up and down the last few seasons, but never too far gone. I think we are a ten win team, and with some luck, perhaps better than that. We will again be chasing the goal of a playoff win, of course.


Incidentally – those were misleading cohesion ratings – after the teams have set their lineups for the preseason, we are down to 74-73-75-57, with nothing in the top third in any area, not even the OL. Sorry for the headfake.

[wade moore]

Here's what disturbs me most (and I bet disturbs you, and you have mentioned).. you don't just have starters not getting attention on the FA market, but STARS... QB Fisk has one the league MVP, yet he does not even get a single offer outside of your team?!

[QuikSand]

Well, to be fair... each year I have put in a pretty attractive offer to Fisk right away. No, he has not gotten other offers from other teams, but (sadly) the league is basically flooded with quality quarterbacks... if I weren't committing to Fisk, I could easily pick up two 60/60 or better guys each year for modest salaries, and have talent (if not cohesion) at the position pretty cheaply.

I'm not happy about it, I think it's unrealistic how many highly-skilled quarterbacks are just floating around in the league... but it's not just him.

[QuikSand]

2033 season

We get out to a great 5-0 start to the season, with a few close wins and couple of dominating ones. Our defense has been superb in the early going, complementing our offense which has been adequate, but not at its peak yet.

We march to 8-1 on the year, and are looking better than I recall us looking at any point. The running game hasn’t been quite as productive as we had grown accustomed to, but the defense continues to play very well, and we are taking control of games early.

In week 13, we have our first real injury crisis, as out top two defensive ends Courtney Largent and van Rivera are both out for a few weeks. We will go with a rotation including DE Alt, DE Copeland, and LB Chustz to try to patch up the position – but it will be a loss, I’m quite sure.

A late game collapse against Dallas is worrisome, but our 9-3 record is still good enough for a tie with Seattle for the division lead, and we will still have a solid shot at a bye week if we can take the division crown. With the race so tight, I am playing Dwight Fisk through a thumb injury – probably depressing his stats, but it’s our best shot to win.

DE Ronnie Copeland suffers a serious knee injury, depleting the position badly and raising concerns about his career. We re-acquire DE Tyrus Grider from the waiver wire, and he will actually get into the rotation for us at the DE spot now.

We split our next two games, and settle at 10-4 with two games to play. Currently, that would make us the #5 seed, but we will have a shot to get back at Seattle (currently in the division lead) them as we face them in the final game of the year. If we win out, we would take the division, and would get a bye week – so it’s still all in our hands.

We edge Tennessee in a game that shouldn’t have been that close, but it sets the stage for the showdown against Seattle. Our top three DEs are still all hurt and unavailable – we have our ragtag bunch of pass rusher ready to go. Fisk is back to 100%, and just in time.

Seattle is made 2 point favorites in this one, and in the end they meet the line, winning it 19-17. The loss sends us to 11-5, which is good enough for the top wild card spot – but we were so close to being the top seed it hurts.


2033 Summary for St. Louis Rams

Record: 11-5
Winning Pct.: .687

St. Louis Rams Team Rank
Rushes 554 1
Rushing Yards 1976 14
Yards Per Carry 3.56 31
Pass Attempts 473 28
Completions 296 22 (T)
Passing Yards 3615 17
Yards Per Attempt 7.64 5
3rd Down Conversions 48.6 4
Points Per Game 20.7 15
Turnovers 22 14 (T)
Turnover Margin +7 7

Opponents Team Rank
Rushes 404 3 (T)
Rushing Yards 1538 2
Yards Per Carry 3.80 6
Pass Attempts 503 8
Completions 279 1 (T)
Passing Yards 3217 2
Yards Per Attempt 6.39 3
3rd Down Conversions 40.7 6 (T)
Points Per Game 12.0 1
Turnovers 29 4 (T)

Week Team Versus Oppnt
1 27 SFO 7
2 7 at JAX 3
3 16 ATL 13
4 26 at DET 0
5 21 GBY 17
6 27 CHI 7
7 14 at MIN 17
8 14 ARI 12
10 49 at SFO 6
11 27 at SEA 9
12 14 at IND 15
13 20 at DAL 21
14 17 HOU 23
15 13 at ARI 3
16 23 TEN 20
17 17 SEA 19
$$WC at CHI

Passing Pos Att Comp Yards Y/Att TD Int
9 Fisk QB 462 286 3541 7.66 20 17
**Team --- 473 296 3615 7.64 21 17

Rushing Pos Att Yards Y/Att TD
43 Spry RB 330 1082 3.27 7
29 Anderson RB 127 419 3.29 6
9 Fisk QB 86 450 5.23 3
**Team --- 554 1976 3.56 16

Receiving Pos Targ Catch Yards Y/Ctc YAC TD
17 Woodson WR 90 57 757 13.2 177 3
86 Brannan WR 92 53 834 15.7 202 7
43 Spry RB 73 50 455 9.1 221 4
88 Branch WR 72 48 788 16.4 173 3
83 Havran TE 43 27 237 8.7 64 2
34 Barton FB 31 23 163 7.0 117 0
29 Anderson RB 32 19 221 11.6 62 1
**Team --- 473 296 3615 12.2 1059 21

Defense Pos Tack Asst Sack Hurr Ints Defn
90 Jeffries ILB 113 31 2.0 4 1 9
38 Barrett S 77 27 1.0 0 4 8
50 McConnell OLB 71 21 2.5 6 0 9
21 Gumphrey CB 58 18 1.0 1 1 11
98 Reader ILB 58 10 0.0 1 0 7
75 Green DT 50 27 10.0 25 0 0
31 Pearson S 49 24 1.0 0 2 10
39 Shaw CB 45 15 1.0 0 5 8
97 Chustz OLB 44 26 2.0 4 2 2
94 McNeil ILB 29 11 2.0 1 0 0
73 Ahn DE 24 12 4.5 6 0 1
**Team --- 779 259 37.0 72 21 71


Our running game was disappointing this season – Spry managed 1,000 yards but we were below average in our yards per carry, which is unusual. Dwight Fisk threw a lot more interceptions than we had come to expect – that, too, was disappointing. Perhaps the offensive line underlies a lot of this?


Blocking Statistics

Player Pos Team GP GS KRB KRO BPct SkA PPly SPct RPly OPct
Reeves, Gino G STL 16 16 36 119 30.2 1 488 0.2 539 22.0
Wallace, Jon C STL 16 16 22 80 27.5 2 488 0.4 533 15.0
Thomason, Kenny T STL 16 16 22 75 29.3 10 489 2.0 538 13.9
Sutton, Stanley G STL 16 9 19 63 30.1 3 315 0.9 376 16.7
Barton, Blaine FB STL 16 13 11 24 45.8 0 267 0.0 314 7.6
Bailey, David C STL 16 7 10 48 20.8 2 291 0.6 301 15.9
Brock, Antoine T STL 16 16 7 49 14.2 5 394 1.2 448 10.9
Havran, Bennie TE STL 16 16 6 17 35.2 0 363 0.0 436 3.8
Gillespie, Sammie TE STL 16 2 2 2 100.0 0 96 0.0 157 1.2
Logsdon, Charles T STL 5 0 1 4 25.0 0 5 0.0 11 36.3


The line certainly did not stay on par with recent years in run blocking, as the starters converted under 30% in total. The pass protection was solid, though the 23 sacks included a soft spot from LT Thomason. Some, but not all, of our offensive dropoff, probably came from here.

We did stop the run better than before – the presence of DE Ahn on the line might have made a difference there, and our LB corps generally stayed healthy all season, too. DT Kelvin Green has become a major force along the DL – this is his contract year, and his numbers have just continued to ride and rise. CB Aaron Shaw was effective in his first season, and topped the team with five picks, helping out a defense that was one of the toughest against the pass all season. This is the year that our defense finally put it all together – what we’ve been waiting for! (And, of course, it’s when our offense basically falls apart that this happens)

We will head into the postseason looking for that elusive win…

[QuikSand]

Postseason Summary

Wild Card Round: St. Louis (11-5) at Chicago (10-6) – The Bears are favored by only 2 points at home, and we have a solid shot to get a win here, I think. We put together a strong offensive attack, with 413 yards of total offense, and bury the Bears 37-20 for our first playoff victory. Feels good, finally!

Divisional Playoff: St. Louis (12-5) at Seattle (13-3) – We know them well, they have pilfered our players and have put together a major title contender – now we want to return the favor and beat them at their place. Dwight Fisk once again places everything on his own shoulders, with 196 yards passing and 76 more rushing… but we come up short again and lose here 24-21. A nine-play TD drive in the fourth quarter by the Seahawks drove it home, and they go on to the conference championship.

Houston nips Seattle in the Superbowl.


Our only appearance on the season awards table is G Gino Reeves, our first OL to make the honor. He has been excellent for us, a foundation player.

Pretty good season – tough to have the best conference record in the division with us, but overall we did well, won despite some offensive problems, and finally notched a postseason win. Now, on to bigger and better things!

[Izulde]

What a frustrating series of years you've had here. Really nice dynasty too. Seamless and easy to follow. :)

One thing I noticed is that there's an unexpected advantage to the one-year contracts that you sign.

Simply, no contract is ever a terrible one. If a guy doesn't pan out, then hey just don't re-sign him next year. So your chances of cap trouble are, by and large, quite minimal.

[QuikSand]

One thing I noticed is that there's an unexpected advantage to the one-year contracts that you sign.

Simply, no contract is ever a terrible one. If a guy doesn't pan out, then hey just don't re-sign him next year. So your chances of cap trouble are, by and large, quite minimal.

Absolutely true. The only way I could get myself into real trouble with these rules would be with rookie contracts -- and so far, I have avoided any major early pick busts.

Honestly, if you're willing to "make do" with decent, but not spectacular, players (liuke I most definitely have done in this career) these rules don't turn out to be much of a hindraance at all. Actually, if I weren't locking up my MLB adn QB with fat deals every year, I'd probably have cap space to be adding one or two very high quality players each season -- it would just be a biot random -- stud RB and LT one year, WR and QB the next, CB and DE the next year, etc.

[QuikSand]

2034 offseason

We have three retirements from the team, one of which might have significant implications.

LB Orlando McNeil had been a solid contributor, and his loss will have an on-field impact. CB Corwin Ferrell had given us some veteran depth at DB, which is always useful as well.

WR Jeff Sasa has been one of those “foundation” guys I built an entire position’s affinity structure around. He gave us six seasons, never catching even as many as ten passes – but without him, our chemistry is going to be in chaos at the TE/WR group.

Actually, on initial look – it’s not really chaos, but with Xavier Branch serving as our position leader, we have dropped from three affinities to zero. I will have to make an effort there.


One more note – DE Ronnie Copeland has been with us a long time, but a serious injury put him in real doubt last year. He did not retire, but his injury will probably carry through this season, and the smart betting is that he’s probably done. So, not a retirement yet, but a player we need to replace just the same.


We re-hire our head coach – injuries have calmed down a lot under his watch, and that was my main goal. The team continues to play pretty well, so he gets a new deal.

[QuikSand]

Free Agency Planning

The script here is pretty familiar – we will have a few high priority re-signings, and then will probably sit back and wait on most of our other guys. This strategy has usually resulted in a few losses, but nothing wholesale, as most of my solid but not spectacular guys don’t attract much attention in the open market.

We will also have to work on the TE/WR group, looking for someone who can bring that unit back together. Boy, I’d love to find a leadership guy there who can contribute on the field – especially in the return game. I hunt around, and I think I have my guy – FL Cedric Massicot is a 5th year player, very high leadership, and initial indications are that he’d develop an affinity with six players – he’s not a mentor, but he might end up securing a spot as a punt returner for us, too, which would be great. We get in an initial offer.


As far as our returning players, here is my now-familiar list of key re-signings:

A LIST: QB Dwight Fisk, LB Daryl Jeffries
B LIST: G Gino Reeves, S Lorenzo Barrett, CB Benjamin Gumphrey, DE Courtney Largent, DE Van Rivera

Missing from the list is DT Kelvin Green, as I am essentially resigned to losing him. He’s a standout player, but his contract demands of $8 million a year are just beyond what I think we can afford – so my expectation is that he simply walks. If he doesn’t get a fat offer, we may try to work him in, but I don’t expect it.

S Lorenzo Barrett is another guy I want to keep, and we will work hard to do so. His initial demands are about $4m a year – I expect to have to play, but hopefully not quite that much.


Assuming we replace WR Sasa with WR Massicot, our affinity structure will remain unchanged:


AFFINITY ANALYSIS

# Sign Begin End Affs Conflict Leaders
1 Aries 3/21 4/20 3 8 11
2 Taurus 4/21 5/21 4 12 7 OL
3 Gemini 5/22 6/21 1 8 6 RB
4 Cancer 6/22 7/23 2 12 9
5 Leo 7/24 8/23 6 9 10
6 Virgo 8/24 9/23 5 9 3
7 Libra 9/24 10/23 1011 2 D7
8 Scorpio 10/24 11/22 1 3 12 WR
9 Sagittarius 11/23 12/22 5 6 4 DB
10 Capricorn 12/23 1/20 7 11 5
11 Aquarius 1/21 2/18 7 10 1
12 Pisces 2/19 3/20 2 4 8

POS Affinity Affinity Conflict

RB 3-4 10-11 8-9
WR 3-4 5-6 2-3
OL 6-7 2-3 9-10
D7 12-1 1-2 4-5
DB 7-8 8-9 6-7

QB 3-4 best; 1-2,5-6,7-8,10-11,12-1 good



So, that is our plan of attack – we will try to tie down WR Massicot and a number of our priority returners, and then will be looking for affordable fill-ins to work with them. We will fight, selectively, for our players, but expect to take some losses on the open market this year.

[QuikSand]

INITIAL FA STAGES (Weeks 1-4)
Immediate re-signings: LB Daryl Jeffries, LB Shawn Reader, LB Joseph Schnebele, TE Bennie Havran, C Jon Wallace
Re-signings, no competition: QB Dwight Fisk, DE Courtney Largent, WR Gino Brannan, DE Van Rivera, DE Philip Ahn, S Duane Buchanan, CB Lonnie Gonzalez
Re-signings, with competition:
New players signed: WR Cedric Massicot
Players signed away: S Lorenzo Barrett, DT Kelvin Green

I am surprised and saddened to see safety Lorenzo Barrett jump right away at an offer from Baltimore for $4 million a year. I probably would have ponied up that much (in one year) if given a chance. This will make our secondary a clear need area right away, as we had counted on him for four years to play full time at FS.

Baltimore is also after CB Gumphrey – and I can’t let him walk away. I get in a pretty solid offer for the talented veteran mentor, a key contributor for us at CB.

Jacksonville wins a bidding war for DT Green, paying him about $9 million a year to land the superstar tackle. We expect to slot DE Ahn inn the middle this year, where he will serve as a full-time run stopper.


MIDDLE FA STAGES (Weeks 5-15)
Re-signings, no competition:
Re-signings, with competition: CB Benjamin Gumphrey, G Gino Reeves, LB Adam Bauer
New players signed:
Players signed away: WR Xavier Branch

WR Xavier Branch gets a pretty solid offer, and heads for Oakland before we can react. He has been a very solid third receiver – actually more talented than starter Gino Brannan – now he probably starts for the Raiders.

We do land all-star LG Gino Reeves for nearly $5 million, as he shuns an offer from Seattle (for five years). We also must respond to an offer for LB Adam Bauer, a solid run stopper who has been pretty decent for us in reserve.




FINAL FA STAGES (Weeks 16-20)
Re-signings, no competition: RB Bo Spry, RB Randy Munoz
Re-signings, with competition:
New players signed:
Players signed away: RB Kendrick Anderson

Denver makes an overture to RB Kendrick Anderson – a guy who was a bit disappointing for us last year as our top reserve RB. He accepts the offer, but we do lock up our other two running backs from last year, including our featured runner, Bo Spry.

I put in an offer and lock up S Conrad Flannery – he looks like a pretty good fit for our secondary scheme, and I think he could become our starter to replace Lorenzo Barrett.

Otherwise, we lay low and will be leaving a lot to be done in the late FA stages, after the draft. I want to have a sense of where our top rookies are going to be before we make other big commitments.

[QuikSand]

Rookie Draft

We hold picks 18 and 28 in this draft, and have some real needs. I think getting a contributor for our defensive line would be a great priority, but it’s always tough to do. Our right tackle spot is another area where a serious addition would be very welcome.

I also think that safety is a place where it would be good to add a quality young player. We are still using pretty marginal players at RB, and adding a player with some real potential might be good, too – it has been a while since we added a real new face to the mix there.


I struggle to find a need player who also fits our affinity scheme – with no luck. There’s a solid-looking tackle available at 18, but his current skill is so lacking, I’m reluctant to commit to him as our multimillion dollar starter right away. I deal the 18 pick for a first rounder next year, and will hope to strike it big then.

I once again get greedy, and after targeting a right guard as my top pick, I move down, sure that I can get him in early round two. I am wrong, as he is snapped up just ahead of my new top slot, and I again miss out on the guy I want. (All for the attempt to get a future third round pick, and to sign my target guy a shade cheaper) Disappointing miscalculation.

I select a run-clocking RG with our early second rounder, and target a nice CB with our later second round pick. He, of course, is selected a few spots ahead of us, so I have to scrap that plan quickly.


Amateur Draft Report:

Rnd 2 - Terry Donaldson, G, Stanford
Rnd 2 - Shaun Singleton, G, Clemson
Rnd 3 - Emmanuel Mathews, CB, Morgan State
Rnd 3 - Juan Samuels, S, Duke
Rnd 6 - Ethan Parker, DE, Kansas State


Not to cast too dark a shadow on the rookies we did select, but this draft was an unmitigated disaster. I end up missing out on almost every single player that I really wanted – the only real “target” guy I ended up actually selecting was S Juan Samuels, and I feel like I reached a bit for him in early round three (mostly out of fear that I’d lose yet another target player).

The two guards are both affinity selections, and I hope they will both be productive. CB Mathews and S Samuels both are decent fits for our scheme – I think Samuels might have some shot to break out. DE Parker will probably move to play DT, where we are going to need a couple of bodies.

Nothing much to get excited about here – in part because I am spending more and more of my time focusing on affinities, rather than just looking for solid players. Trying to have it both ways, and I end up making lousy picks more often than I might otherwise.

[QuikSand]

Late Free Agency

With all but one rookie signed, we have 32 players under contract – a few more than we often do at this stage. Most of our returning players are either restricted (meaning we can wait them out) or else are guys I simply don’t expect to see get much interest.

I have a look for players we might be able to pick up as value additions – and quickly see CB Preston Contreras, a standout cornerback who is still looking for a deal after a Pro Bowl season. We will keep an eye on him – he’s looking for about $5 million, and I am guessing we might be able to afford it this year.


AFFINITY ANALYSIS

# Sign Begin End Affs Conflict Leaders
1 Aries 3/21 4/20 3 8 11
2 Taurus 4/21 5/21 4 12 7 OL
3 Gemini 5/22 6/21 1 8 6 RB
4 Cancer 6/22 7/23 2 12 9
5 Leo 7/24 8/23 6 9 10
6 Virgo 8/24 9/23 5 9 3
7 Libra 9/24 10/23 1011 2 D7
8 Scorpio 10/24 11/22 1 3 12 WR
9 Sagittarius 11/23 12/22 5 6 4 DB
10 Capricorn 12/23 1/20 7 11 5
11 Aquarius 1/21 2/18 7 10 1
12 Pisces 2/19 3/20 2 4 8

POS Affinity Affinity Conflict

RB 3-4 10-11 8-9
WR 3-4 5-6 2-3
OL 6-7 2-3 9-10
D7 12-1 1-2 4-5
DB 7-8 8-9 6-7

QB 3-4 best; 1-2,5-6,7-8,10-11,12-1 good


I make a bit for FB Jermaine Hawker, a veteran FB who looks like he’d be a pretty valuable third down player.

DT Malcom Poplawski is a decent, reserve-quality defensive lineman, and we need a guy like him at DT – so a good, cheap signing there, too.


Things go generally smoothly in the late FA stages, we don’t have any surprise losses. We work out deals with QB Swan and LB McConnell, and we get to 53 players (and still one rookie unsigned) with quite a load of cap space available. Losing DT Green and S Barrett cleared out a good deal of space, it seems.

We get in a $4 million offer to CB Contreras, who might end up a starter for us this season, either at CB or even safety. RB Benjamin Pringle has never carried the ball for us, but did spend one season on IR with our team – he signs as our backup RB for this season. Pringle is a similar back to Spry, and also has some kick return skills, whish will be quite handy – a very good fit.


My biggest concern is along the defensive front, where losing Ronnie Copeland leaves us with three solid linemen, all starters, and nobody of real consequence behind them in reserve. Calvin Troy and Tyrus Grider are deep reserve quality guys – my focus son affinity has held us back here, I fear. DT Poplawski is probably our fourth best guy – he will end up playing a pretty key role for us this year, as I really cannot find anyone who makes an appropriate addition. (We’d have been better off forgetting about perfect fit players, and just drafting a good DE with pick #18 this year)


My final move is to pick up veteran RB Lamont Cromwell – a decent, journeyman type RB with good receiving skills. I am amazed to see that he was actually a starter last year in Pittsburgh, and posted nearly 2,000 total yards – my plan is to use him as a third down back and perhaps reserve receiver, but we will watch for him to exceed expectations.

[QuikSand]

Training Camp

I’m not all that enthused about our rookie class, and most of the playing time battles will be among veterans this year – but we take 58 guys into camp. Here’s the synopsis:


Player # Pos Start Exp CE FE CE FE dCE dFE
Fisk, Dwight 9 QB 8 63 63 63 63 0 0
Swann, Marc 19 QB 9 47 60 50 60 3 0
McNeil, Steven 15 QB 2 16 36 18 36 2 0
Turner, Kendall 7 QB 1 12 49 15 51 3 2
Pringle, Benjamin 25 RB 7 39 39 39 39 0 0
Spry, Bo 43 RB 6 39 39 39 39 0 0
Cromwell, Lamont 37 RB 11 38 39 38 39 0 0
Munoz, Randy 48 RB 7 28 28 28 28 0 0
Hawker, Jermaine 20 FB 10 49 49 49 49 0 0
Barton, Blaine 34 FB 4 31 33 31 33 0 0
Havran, Bennie 83 TE 5 50 50 50 50 0 0
Gillespie, Sammie 32 TE 2 21 52 23 52 2 0
Brannan, Gino 86 FL 11 42 48 42 48 0 0
Massicott, Cedric 82 FL 5 34 39 34 39 0 0
Henson, Tommy 45 FL 2 21 40 22 40 1 0
Woodson, Louis 17 SE 4 44 44 44 44 0 0
Heinz, Kenyon 89 SE 2 22 42 23 42 1 0
Bailey, David 58 C 11 55 55 55 55 0 0
Wallace, Jon 59 C 14 35 43 35 43 0 0
Reeves, Gino 56 LG 7 65 68 65 68 0 0
Sutton, Stanley 65 LG 8 42 43 42 43 0 0
Lynch, T.J. 63 LG 5 35 39 38 39 3 0
Singleton, Shaun 70 RG 1 24 66 28 69 4 3
Donaldson, Terry 75 RG 1 18 53 21 49 3 -4
Thomason, Kenny 69 LT 4 63 70 66 70 3 0
Ostwald, Kelvin 68 LT 8 47 54 47 54 0 0
Brock, Antoine 71 LT 5 38 51 42 51 4 0
##James, Harvey 62 RT 12 61 65 61 65 0 0
Logsdon, Charles 67 RT 3 26 36 29 36 3 0
Clemons, Jon 61 RT 4 24 34 25 34 1 0
Morton, Quinn 1 P 1 44 62 44 58 0 -4
Wallace, Charles 5 K 8 40 44 40 44 0 0
Ahn, Phillip 73 LDE 8 52 58 56 58 4 0
Largent, Courtney 93 LDE 12 45 45 45 45 0 0
**Copeland, Ronnie 74 LDE 11 36 41 36 41 0 0
Troy, Calvin 77 LDE 3 22 39 24 39 2 0
Rivera, Van 95 RDE 8 50 53 50 53 0 0
Grider, Tyrus 72 RDE 5 28 30 30 30 2 0
Poplawski, Malcolm 94 LDT 13 39 39 39 39 0 0
Parker, Ethan 79 NT 1 23 40 25 42 2 2
Schnebele, Joseph 99 SILB 5 26 28 26 28 0 0
Jeffries, Daryl 90 WILB 8 64 68 64 68 0 0
Reader, Shawn 98 MLB 9 53 56 53 56 0 0
Bauer, Adam 52 MLB 9 40 45 40 45 0 0
McConnell, Clarence 50 SLB 5 57 57 57 57 0 0
Chustz, Emmanuel 97 SLB 9 49 49 49 49 0 0
Mahoney, Sean 53 SLB 2 13 33 15 33 2 0
Contreras, Preston 27 LCB 9 73 73 73 73 0 0
Gumphrey, Benjamin 21 LCB 13 59 60 59 60 0 0
Gonzalez, Lonnie 24 LCB 6 29 34 29 34 0 0
Evans, Cedric 30 LCB 2 18 39 20 39 2 0
Shaw, Aaron 39 RCB 2 38 63 41 63 3 0
Stone, Ross 42 RCB 2 15 28 17 28 2 0
Mathews, Emmanuel 22 RCB 1 16 47 16 42 0 -5
Pearson, Brock 31 SS 4 44 44 44 44 0 0
Lanner, Rickey 49 SS 13 41 47 41 47 0 0
Rushing, Quentin 23 SS 4 35 40 37 40 2 0
Buchanan, Duane 33 SS 8 26 33 27 33 1 0
Flannery, Conrad 26 FS 3 48 50 51 51 3 1
Samuels, Juan 46 FS 1 27 45 29 42 2 -3


Good news from G Shawn Singleton, who gives us a nice bump in training camp. He’s a one-dimensional run blocker, but he looks like he might turn out to be very good at that – currently projects to 99 in run blocking. Late round pick Ethan Parker might be good enough to hold on to at the NT spot, too – he will probably get some reserve time at DE this year.


We bear down for preseason, and will be looking for some separation to make our final cuts. Affinity is clearly no longer enough to make the team – we have let go plenty of guys who got along well. We need some productive reserves.

For our lineup this year, we will have a new twist or two. First, I am going to go to the “utility player” on offense, as we will slot RB Lamont Cromwell all over the field – he will line up at RB in some passing downs, he will split out in a WR slot, he will be in our rotation at FB and TE, and we will drop him back to return some punts. He could have an interesting season.

On defense, I am a little thinner than usual – our defensive front is one serious injury away from a patchwork job. In the secondary, CB Gumphrey is going to slide over and start at safety, making way for one-year pickup Contreras, who will start at CB along with young Aaron Shaw.

Here is the roster as we head into week one of the regular season:


St. Louis Rams Roster, Attitude Advisory

Player # Pos Start Playing Time Chemistry
Swann, Marc 19 QB Content 1 Affinity with lea
Fisk, Dwight 9 QB QB Content 1 Affinity with lea
Turner, Kendall 7 QB Content
Cromwell, Lamont 37 RB Content Affinity
Pringle, Benjamin 25 RB Content
##Munoz, Randy 48 RB Content Backfield Leader
Spry, Bo 43 RB RB Content
Hawker, Jermaine 20 FB FB Content
**Barton, Blaine 34 FB Content Mild Affinity
Havran, Bennie 83 TE TE Content Affinity
Gillespie, Sammie 32 TE Content Affinity
Brannan, Gino 86 FL FL Content
Massicott, Cedric 82 FL Content Receivers Leader
Henson, Tommy 45 FL Content Affinity
Woodson, Louis 17 SE SE Content Affinity
##Heinz, Kenyon 89 SE Content Affinity
Wallace, Jon 59 C Content Offensive Line Lead
Bailey, David 58 C C Content Affinity
Sutton, Stanley 65 LG Content Strong Affinity
Reeves, Gino 56 LG LG Content
##Lynch, T.J. 63 LG Disgruntled Strong Affinity
##Donaldson, Terry 75 RG Content Strong Affinity
Singleton, Shaun 70 RG RG Content
Ostwald, Kelvin 68 LT RT Content Affinity
Brock, Antoine 71 LT Content Affinity
Thomason, Kenny 69 LT LT Content
##James, Harvey 62 RT Content Affinity
**Clemons, Jon 61 RT Content Strong Affinity
##Logsdon, Charles 67 RT Disgruntled Strong Affinity
Morton, Quinn 1 P Content
Wallace, Charles 5 K Content
Largent, Courtney 93 LDE LDE Content Defensive Front Lea
**Copeland, Ronnie 74 LDE Content Affinity
Ahn, Phillip 73 LDE NT Content Affinity
##Troy, Calvin 77 LDE Content Mild Affinity
Rivera, Van 95 RDE RDE Content Affinity
Grider, Tyrus 72 RDE Content Mild Affinity
Poplawski, Malcolm 94 LDT Content Mild Affinity
Parker, Ethan 79 NT Content Affinity
Schnebele, Joseph 99 SILB Content Affinity
Jeffries, Daryl 90 WILB WILB Content
Bauer, Adam 52 MLB Content Affinity
Reader, Shawn 98 MLB SILB Content Affinity
Chustz, Emmanuel 97 SLB WLB Content Affinity
McConnell, Clarence 50 SLB SLB Content
Mahoney, Sean 53 SLB Content Mild Affinity
Gumphrey, Benjamin 21 LCB SS Content Affinity
Contreras, Preston 27 LCB LCB Content Affinity
Gonzalez, Lonnie 24 LCB Content Mild Affinity
Stone, Ross 42 RCB Content Mild Affinity
Shaw, Aaron 39 RCB RCB Content
Mathews, Emmanuel 22 RCB Content Affinity
**Lanner, Rickey 49 SS Content Secondary Leader
Rushing, Quentin 23 SS Disgruntled Mild Affinity
Pearson, Brock 31 SS Content Affinity
Flannery, Conrad 26 FS FS Content Affinity
Samuels, Juan 46 FS Content Mild Affinity


Our affinity count is up to 39 – and it’s largely low personality scores that are holding us back a bit. I have only a few key players on the team who are not generating a plus in this respect.

Our roster rating is up to 69, fifth highest, but far behind Denver, and then Jacksonville and Houston. We are tied with Washington for the highest roster rating in the NFC, though.

Cohesion is looking up – 100-75-80-82. I think I have been timing my looks at cohesion imperfectly to have a good handle on this, but clearly our passing game has been together a long time, largely – and that is finally showing up.

I expect this is a winning team, and once again I think the bidding starts at 10 wins. We might be more vulnerable to injuries, but if we can get some good luck, we might be a real threat.

[QuikSand]

2034 season

We get to 3-0 in the early going, but we are suffering some injury losses and I am worried. We get to 5-1, but the team is starting to resemble a patchwork quilt, with the spate of injuries we have faced.

We are 6-2 at our halfway point, but two games behind unbeaten Seattle, once again. We beat Seattle in week 10, but it gets us to 7-3, still two games back.

At 9-4, we are out of the division hunt, as Seattle has only the one loss to us thus far. Seattle gets their revenge at their place, and we have to fight for our playoff lives. We split our last two, but that’s good enough, as our 10-6 record gets us in, once again, as a wild card.


2034 Summary for St. Louis Rams

Record: 10-6
Winning Pct.: .625

St. Louis Rams Team Rank
Rushes 563 1
Rushing Yards 2408 1
Yards Per Carry 4.27 17
Pass Attempts 480 28
Completions 308 22 (T)
Passing Yards 3627 20
Yards Per Attempt 7.55 13
3rd Down Conversions 49.3 5
Points Per Game 23.3 8 (T)
Turnovers 18 6 (T)
Turnover Margin +8 4 (T)

Opponents Team Rank
Rushes 402 1 (T)
Rushing Yards 1647 5
Yards Per Carry 4.09 13
Pass Attempts 518 14
Completions 279 1
Passing Yards 3481 4
Yards Per Attempt 6.72 7
3rd Down Conversions 40.6 7
Points Per Game 17.1 4
Turnovers 26 8 (T)

Week Team Versus Oppnt
1 17 ARI 10
2 27 KCY 10
3 31 at PHI 28
4 27 at NOS 17
5 20 CAR 23
6 21 TBY 7
7 38 SFO 3
8 10 at ARI 37
9 10 at ATL 17
10 35 SEA 33
12 27 at SDO 6
13 23 MIN 38
14 33 DEN 10
15 13 at SEA 19
16 14 at OAK 16
17 27 at SFO 0
$$WC at CHI

Passing Pos Att Comp Yards Y/Att TD Int
9 Fisk QB 471 300 3565 7.56 19 12
**Team --- 480 308 3627 7.55 19 12

Rushing Pos Att Yards Y/Att TD
43 Spry RB 352 1419 4.03 14
25 Pringle RB 109 453 4.15 2
9 Fisk QB 81 398 4.91 1
**Team --- 563 2408 4.27 20

Receiving Pos Targ Catch Yards Y/Ctc YAC TD
43 Spry RB 75 53 499 9.4 199 0
86 Brannan WR 83 52 816 15.6 109 6
17 Woodson WR 91 51 692 13.5 114 3
83 Havran TE 46 38 373 9.8 149 2
82 Massicott WR 69 33 468 14.1 86 3
25 Pringle RB 39 29 189 6.5 93 3
37 Cromwell RB 28 22 242 11.0 94 0
**Team --- 478 308 3627 11.7 915 19

Defense Pos Tack Asst Sack Hurr Ints Defn
90 Jeffries ILB 110 38 2.0 5 1 14
21 Gumphrey CB 67 18 0.0 0 1 2
50 McConnell OLB 66 22 9.0 5 2 13
98 Reader ILB 61 14 0.0 3 2 4
26 Flannery S 54 22 0.0 0 0 15
27 Contreras CB 52 11 1.0 0 5 9
39 Shaw CB 52 12 0.0 1 2 14
97 Chustz OLB 44 16 2.0 0 1 1
99 Schnebele ILB 32 13 1.5 0 1 1
95 Rivera DE 27 13 5.0 17 0 1
31 Pearson S 25 6 1.0 0 0 2
93 Largent DE 23 13 10.0 24 0 1
52 Bauer ILB 22 8 1.0 0 1 2
73 Ahn DE 22 13 1.5 6 0 0
**Team --- 770 242 43.0 72 17 81


A career year from Bo Spry – just as I was starting to think he was a completely interchangeable part. (He may still be) He approached the mighty 2,000 yards from scrimmage mark this year – very solid numbers.

QB Dwight Fisk was not a monster this season, but the offense was effective all season. He did not have a whole lot to work with at WR, after all, through my own fault. Brannan and Woodson are capable guys, but neither is going to make you forget about Jerry Rice anytime soon.


Blocking Statistics

Player Pos Team GP GS KRB KRO BPct SkA PPly SPct RPly OPct
Bailey, David C STL 16 16 41 129 31.7 3 506 0.5 561 22.9
Singleton, Shaun G STL 16 16 37 101 36.6 8 499 1.6 547 18.4
Ostwald, Kelvin T STL 16 16 24 66 36.3 7 504 1.3 557 11.8
Thomason, Kenny T STL 16 16 24 74 32.4 2 500 0.4 545 13.5
Sutton, Stanley G STL 11 8 13 54 24.0 3 287 1.0 291 18.5
Reeves, Gino G STL 8 8 13 38 34.2 1 220 0.4 266 14.2
Hawker, Jermaine FB STL 15 2 3 8 37.5 0 93 0.0 131 6.1
Wallace, Jon C STL 16 0 1 2 50.0 0 8 0.0 21 9.5
Havran, Bennie TE STL 16 13 1 11 9.0 0 289 0.0 366 3.0
Brock, Antoine T STL 6 0 1 6 16.6 0 9 0.0 24 25.0
Gillespie, Sammie TE STL 16 4 0 4 0.0 0 152 0.0 217 1.8


The blocking up front this year was solid – most of our starters were over 30% KRBs, at least. G Gino Reeves went down with a horrific injury, and is probably done – that’s long term bad news, as he was a standout player for us. The sack numbers were a bit high, but that isn’t a huge surprise to me, really. T Kenny Thomason had his best season – and is playing very well, probably now our best lineman.\

LB Daryl Jeffries gets the ink, but this year it was Clarence McConnell who outshined him, with 9 sacks to help boost our pass rush, from the SLB position. McConnell will miss the playoffs, though, which will hurt us ahead. DE Courtney Largent had a very productive season, in only 14 games notching a near career high with 10 sacks.

We got good play from our secondary, too – Gumphrey got into the run defense fine from the SS slot, while Contreras, Shaw, and Flannery all played well from their starters role – Flannery was a pleasant surprise, with a 20.6 PDPct even without a single pick.


So, we head onward – some of our injuries have cleared up, but we are without SLB McConnell, a painful loss, and the versatile Lamont Cromwell will be limping. Dwight Fisk is listed as probable, as he has been for about the last seven or eight weeks – so it goes, suck it up. It’s on the road we go, despite the third best record in the conference – we are the #5 seed.

[QuikSand]

Postseason Summary

Wild Card Game: St. Louis (10-6) at Chicago (9-7) – We are two point favorites on the road here, and hope to live up to the billing. We get over 200 yards on the ground to lead the attack (Fisk contributed 73 of his own, to add to Spry’s 118) and we get the 24-18 win to advance.

Divisional Playoff: St. Louis (11-6) at Tampa Bay (12-4) – Tough game, and now our starting LT is down for the count, while RB Spry is questionable. The Bucs manhandle us here, our running game manages only 35 yards this week, and it’s over, 24-3.


Houston beats Seattle in the Superbowl… for the second straight season.


In the season awards – we see LB Daryl Jeffries named to the second team once again, and that’s all.


Another solid season, but a shade disappointing. We’d like to advance, but we are pretty clearly in the top several teams in the league – it’s tough that Seattle is currently so good and in our division.

[QuikSand]

2035 offseason

We have five retirements from the team – enough to cause some stir.

CB Benjamin Gumphrey had been with us since the outset, and started 112 games for us, mostly as our top CB. He and S Ricky Lanner are both retiring, leaving us with a major leadership void in our secondary – that will require some attention right away.

DE Ronnie Copeland has also been with us since the beginning, but an injury made this retirement a foregone conclusion. He splashed onto the scene with a 12-sack season in 2027, and stuck with the team as a leader and contributor all the way through, until injuries got the better of him.

DT Malcolm Poplawski and RB Lamont Cromwell were one year acquisitions, neither was able to stay healthy enough to deliver on the hopes we had for them, and both call it quits this year.

In addition to the actual retirements, I note that G Gino Reeves will miss this season with a terrible knee injury, and I expect his career is probably over. LT Kenny Thomason still has weeks of rehab ahead for his blown out quad, but had hope of returning this season. Thomason is in the final year of his rookie contract, Reeves is a free agent.


Our scout’s demand is right at my owner’s limit – but he accepts a new deal and sticks around, after all. Our front office returns intact.

[QuikSand]

Free Agency Planning

This year, we have more to do than most years, I think. We need to formulate a plan in our secondary, trying to decide whom to keep around, and what we ought to do long term there. I have been hiring short-term affinity leaders at DB for the last few years – maybe we need a personnel overhaul, maybe even a scheme overhaul. I’m open to anything, really – I think CB Aaron Shaw is a guy worth building around (he is signed for this year, and will be restricted next year) but he is good at all coverages. At the moment, S Brock Pearson has assumed the leadership role – and we have four affinities with him. So, we might have the solution on hand already.

On the offensive line, we have a curious situation where we may have just lost our two good players who were essentially waived from the all-affinity theme. I haven’t had too much trouble picking up decent affinity players at any OL slot – perhaps we could go all-affinity there from here on out? Biggest problem there is second year starting RG Shaun Singleton, our best rookie from last year, and a guy who is neutral in affinity. So, we will mull it over, I guess.


This challenge has really evolved for me – and now, it’s clear that I am paying attention to affinity as much as anything else. Re-signing my own decent players has proven to be much less of a challenge than I had imagined (or hoped) but maintaining chemistry and cohesion has been fairly interesting along the way here.

As for returning players, I have a familiar list of priority targets:

A LIST: LB Daryl Jeffries, QB Dwight Fisk
B LIST: CB Preston Contreras, LB Clarence McConnell, LB Shawn Reader, DE Courtney Largent, DE Van Rivera, WR Louis Woodson

I have gotten into the habit of putting out my offers to Fisk and Jeffries right away, and seeing them accept quickly. I may sit back on Fisk this year, and see if we can save some dough there – last year it took until week three for him to accept my offer, and there were no other bidders at all. I might have a chance to peel back a few million by waiting him out, and free up cash for an impact player elsewhere.


Factoring into all this is the fact that we have an extra draft pick this year – at #3 overall. A chance to pick up a major impact player, we hope. DE Gerald Wire is a standout defensive end, and would be an affinity guy for us with Largent – that makes him a prime candidate, inn my eyes. He ranks #4 on the overall draft board – could be a perfect fit for us at #3. I am all but sold on taking him with our top pick, and that will influence our DL activities in free agency.


For now, here is an updated affinity grid, reflecting the current status among the defensive backs:


AFFINITY ANALYSIS

# Sign Begin End Affs Conflict Leaders
1 Aries 3/21 4/20 3 8 11
2 Taurus 4/21 5/21 4 12 7 OL
3 Gemini 5/22 6/21 1 8 6 RB
4 Cancer 6/22 7/23 2 12 9
5 Leo 7/24 8/23 6 9 10
6 Virgo 8/24 9/23 5 9 3 DB
7 Libra 9/24 10/23 1011 2 D7
8 Scorpio 10/24 11/22 1 3 12 WR
9 Sagittarius 11/23 12/22 5 6 4
10 Capricorn 12/23 1/20 7 11 5
11 Aquarius 1/21 2/18 7 10 1
12 Pisces 2/19 3/20 2 4 8

POS Affinity Affinity Conflict

RB 3-4 10-11 8-9
WR 3-4 5-6 2-3
OL 6-7 2-3 9-10
D7 12-1 1-2 4-5
DB 7-8 11-12 5-6

QB 3-4 best; 1-2,6-7,7-8,10-11,11-12,12-1 good


If Brock Pearson (a 5th year safety, who has played pretty well for us the last two seasons and also has developed a strong bond with our most promising young CB Aaron Shaw) is going to hold the leaderhsip spot among our DBs, this can be our plan. Right now, I think he has an excellent shot of doing so – though that might end the time for a couple of our current players there like 7th year reserve CB Lonnie Gonzalez. Pearson is the ideal candidate for the long term leadership job – he’s good enough to slot anywhere from #4 to #2 on our safety depth chart, he’s only a 5th year guy, has a 93 rating in leadership, and has a very strong personality score of 96, meaning that we won’t have any phantom affinities due to low personality scores. I also suspect that he may become a safety mentor in another year or two, adding even more value to an already key guy.

[QuikSand]

Free Agency

The demands are way up for LB Daryl Jeffries – this year he is seeking a $11 million/yr deal, more than ever before. My best guess is that he won’t get that kind of money, but I intend to pay him, so even if he comes down, it won’t be cheap. QB Dwight Fisk is thinking about $8 million a year – so he will be tough also. I have typically spent about $15 million on those two – if it’s closer to $20m this year, that’s a challenge.

I am eyeing up LG Ken Sanford, an all-pro who would make a great replacement for Gino Reeves. He is seeking big money, but if he goes unclaimed, he could be a great target for us. Not right away, though.

[QuikSand]

INITIAL FA STAGES (Weeks 1-4)
Immediate re-signings: RB Bo Spry, TE Bennie Havran, S Brock Pearson
Re-signings, no competition: WR Gino Brannan, DT Orlando Lowe, WR Louis Woodson
Re-signings, with competition: LB Daryl Jeffries, DE Van Rivera
New players signed: FB Allan Libin,
Players signed away: DE Phillip Ahn, T Kevin Ostwald

San Diego swoops in and immediately signs away DE Phillip Ahn. He had inherited the starting DT job last year, but I was deeply disappointed with his effort there, so I am not that upset about the loss. We don’t have a lot of depth along the DL, so it hurts, but I wasn’t thrilled with his performance to begin with.

We have a bidding war on our hands for LB Daryl Jeffries, one which will be very costly. Detroit has a 7 year, $84 million offer on the table for him – that is a monster offer, and one he would be wise to accept, but he has seven big money contracts pending his approval. I guess we have to give chase – he has been such a central player for us, I’d just hate to lose him. I offer up one year, $13 million, mostly in bonus – and hope that it’s enough to get him to return. If not, we will have cash, but will be desperately looking for LB help immediately. Fortunately, in week two, Jeffries accepts our offer, and we have our centerpiece on defense back.

Our offense’s central player, though, is next. Dwight Fisk, our longtime starting QB, has a big offer in from Buffalo. I have to match it, and it takes an offer of an $8 million deal to try to bring him back to St. Louis. So, assuming Fisk eventually re-ups with us, we will have $21 million tied up in our two feature players – this is going to be a rather top-heavy team this year, for certain.

With that money tied up, I just don’t see how I can get into the bidding for CB Preston Contreras, but I try to keep pace with a bonus-free offer, meaning we could cut him and clear cap room later if necessary. LB Clarence McConnell’s offer from Kansas City of $6 million a year just looks to be out of our range completely, and I will just hope that he sits a while – maybe they will run out of cap space.

LT Kevin Ostwald is abruptly signed away by Tennessee – we had been counting on him to start at LT for us this year, so that is a meaningful loss as well. This offseason is turning into a nightmare.

TE Maurice Barber is a solid addition, a cheap guy who is basically a clone of Bennie Havran, our current starter. Good, affordable pickup for us, I think, and should help us avoid having a dead spot there at any time. FB Allen Libin is yet another solid blocking fullback, a good special teamer and team player, he ought to help solidify the position, and will get along well with the RB group.

[QuikSand]

MIDDLE FA STAGES (Weeks 5-15)
Re-signings, no competition: LB Adam Bauer, LB Shawn Reader
Re-signings, with competition: QB Dwight Fisk, D Courtney Largent, G T.J. Lynch, WR Cedric Massicott
New players signed:
Players signed away: LB Joseph Schnebele, C David Bailey, FB Jermaine Hawker

Losing DE Ahn and now LB Schnebele, meanwhile preparing to see LB McConnell head for big money, leaves us looking just desperately thin along our defensive front. I am quite worried – there’s only so much we can expect to do via the draft there. There are a few decent veteran linebackers out there who fit with our chemistry – I expect we will have to go after one or two of them. But we will alsso have to pay guys like LBs Reader, Chustzm and Bauer pretty much anything they demand. We get offers in to Bauer and Reader, both of whom sign fairly quickly.

I was not prepared for the offer to C Bailey, which he accepted immediately, from Oakland. So, there is another OL loss – solid starter, good performer from last year. Things are unraveling, it seems – this is the offseason that brings together what I though this challenge was going to be all about.

We do get good news, that QB Dwight Fisk has re-signed. That is one key player we want back – but the $8m price tag is staggering.

Our latest worry is DE Courtney Largent, being pursued by the Chiefs. We get him re-done, but it’s nearly $3 million – he is just too important to lose, though.

Longtime PB Rams fans will remember RB Moe Jamison, a guy who inked a one year deal with us back in 2031 and rushed for 1,615 yards that season. He’s an 11th year guy now, still very productive, and we ink him to a solid deal to share duties with Bo Spry (again). Jamison might take the utility role on our offense, as he has very strong receiving skills. He still has skills – he posted over 1,200 yards last year in New England, on over 4.3 yards per carry.

Dallas finally moves into the bidding war for CB Preston Contreras, and they sign him to a long term deal, ahead of our one year offer. I guess we could have offered more bonus – but honestly, we are concerned about our cap situation right now, and I don’t know how much we have to spread around at this point.

I decide that for now, I want to get in an offer to LB McConnell, so I make it $6 million, all salary. If we have to, we could cut him, but I’m just afraid that KC will lock him up and we will be left holding the bag at LB.

Our next candidate to start at LT this year has departed as well – Antoine Brock leaves for a three year deal in Arizona. We are looking at a total meltdown along our OL, between injuries and FA departures, we are going to be in shock there. We re-sign guard T.J. Lynch for continuity, though he would have been a bubble player ordinarily.

It takes until week 14, but LB Clarence McConnell finally signs our offer sheet – a $6 million contract. We have a chance to cut him, but for now, my panic at LB has subsided – we have everyone back except for Chustz, who has not been pursued, and we will expect to wait out.

[QuikSand]

FINAL FA STAGES (Weeks 16-20)
Re-signings, no competition: C Jon Wallace, CB Lonnie Gonzalez
Re-signings, with competition:
New players signed: T George Cates, C Vincent Embry
Players signed away:

C Jon Wallace may have to reclaim the starting job this year, after Bailey’s departure. He is fading, but not totally gone yet. He is our position leader, so we need to re-sign him, but I am very worried about the state of our OL. At the moment, here is our projected starting offensive line, with scouted current ratings:

LT Sutton 42 – LG Lynch 38 – C Wallace 35 – RG Singleton 41 – RT Lodgson 29

That will not do – I think we simply have to make an addition or two here. So, we put in a bid for RT George Cates – a decent veteran who looks like a good fit, solid run blocker, decent against the pass rush. C Vincent Embry looks okay as well – he could contend for the starting C job, even, and he comes pretty cheaply. Those two additions help, but do not resolve our complete vacancy at left tackle – right now, I expect to be using a guard to play there, which is less than optimal.


I am also worried enough about the CB slot that I re-sign CB Lonnie Gonzalez, a guy I expected we’d let go since he no longer adds to team chemistry. But, he has solid skills in the bump coverage we run (67/71) and interceptions (58/86) and comes cheaply – so I expect he will probably return to the nickelback role he has occupied for a few seasons. That assumes that we find a suitable player to start at CB ahead of him – I really don’t like Gonzalez as a full-time starter.

[QuikSand]

Rookie Draft

We head into the draft with more holes than usual. Assuming we fill ten slots with our draft picks, that would leave us with $11 million to spend, and 44 players signed. So, we need to get as many solid, productive reserves with this draft as we can, and landing maybe three guys who can play solid roles immediately would be a great help as well.

DE is an obvious need, and we already have our target guy picked out. LT has rapidly jumped up the list of priorities, too, and maybe with our late first rounder we can land a suitable young player there. Another important slot would be CB, where a young starting-caliber guy would get us out of a major jam, as I currently have a gaping hole at a starting spot, and no obvious candidates from the FA ranks to step in. With the departure of DE Ahn, we are left without an obvious starter at DT – so that is a worry as well. Additionally, we really could us another productive wide receiver, as we have dipped in our passing productivity since losing a couple of good solid targets for Dwight Fisk. With early picks at 3, 26, and 58, we surely can’t land everything we need – but will be looking for sleepers, of course, along the way.

I will be tempted to deal down from the #3 slot if we can still get DE Wire a few slots later – that could give us a shot to add another impact pick, perhaps.


I do some investigating, and see a couple of sleeper picks for us at CB. Orlando Kingsblood (22/55) might be a great second round pick, and Patrick Jarzyna (14/44) should be available even later. Neither looks like a franchise player, but perhaps a contributor. Kingsblood has a few notable combine scores, too – perhaps a breakout player.

I don’t see any perfect fits at WR, but expect we will be able to add one or two decent reserves with later round picks. I like WR Lincoln Ross (16/42) as a possible late round pickup there, as he has nice complementary skills, but is not a starter candidate. RB Herb Cole (26/41) might have a future as a utility back for us, and we will give him a late look as well.


With things pretty firmed up for our chemistry system – here once again is the grid to check for affinities and conflicts:


AFFINITY ANALYSIS

# Sign Begin End Affs Conflict Leaders
1 Aries 3/21 4/20 3 8 11
2 Taurus 4/21 5/21 4 12 7 OL
3 Gemini 5/22 6/21 1 8 6 RB
4 Cancer 6/22 7/23 2 12 9
5 Leo 7/24 8/23 6 9 10
6 Virgo 8/24 9/23 5 9 3 DB
7 Libra 9/24 10/23 1011 2 D7
8 Scorpio 10/24 11/22 1 3 12 WR
9 Sagittarius 11/23 12/22 5 6 4
10 Capricorn 12/23 1/20 7 11 5
11 Aquarius 1/21 2/18 7 10 1
12 Pisces 2/19 3/20 2 4 8

POS Affinity Affinity Conflict

RB 3-4 10-11 8-9
WR 3-4 5-6 2-3
OL 6-7 2-3 9-10
D7 12-1 1-2 4-5
DB 7-8 11-12 5-6

QB 3-4 best; 1-2,6-7,7-8,10-11,11-12,12-1 good


We have been burned with trade-downs before, so I resist the admittedly very strong temptation to do so here. DE Wire is third on the remaining list of available players, but I don’t want to miss him and have my whole draft plan go awry. We grab our solid DL with pick three, and go from there. We quickly suit up Gerald Wire to become our starting nose tackle, and he makes the transition well. I think this is a more pressing need, and a more important position, than DE, and he will fit in here for us very nicely.

When we are on the clock again, CB Kingsblood is listed second on the CB board, but about 40 players down the overall list, as CB is a weak position in this draft. I don’t want to reach here – and will hope to see him in round two, maybe we will trade up if it looks necessary.

I make another patented trade-down, trying to get one of my value players in early round two rather than lat round one, and save some dough in the process. The guy I am targeting is rangy OT Jim Zytniak, who looks like a nice pass blocking prospect. He is rated 4th among remaining tackles, but 6th overall – I hope there is no serious run on linemen right now. He is up to #2 overall when our pick at 2(3) comes up – looks like this gambit paid off for us. With complete mystery about Kenny Thomason’s prospects for this year and beyond, I feel we need to have a usable player at LT – we’ll take a shot with Zytniak, who makes the switch from RT to LT pretty seamlessly, and shows a strong affinity already.


Amateur Draft Report:

Rnd 1 - Gerald Wire, DT, Oregon
Rnd 2 - Jim Zytniak, T, Wisconsin
Rnd 2 - Orlando Kingsblood, CB, Clemson
Rnd 3 - Duane Moore, DE, Southern California
Rnd 4 - Herb Cole, RB, Miami, Florida
Rnd 4 - Dan Maltman, ILB, Massachusetts
Rnd 5 - Wendell Blackshear, DE, New Hampshire
Rnd 6 - Lincoln Ross, WR, Memphis
Rnd 7 - Tom McGee, QB, Vanderbilt


The second round rolls on, and no CB gets taken, meaning my target player Orlando Kingsblood is falling. My enthusiasm is actually rising, as I really want to land this intriguing prospect, and I eventually decide to move up and remove any doubt. It costs us a fourth rounder, but I don’t want to see another good fit player slip away here.

We now have a whole round to wait, but then have three picks in late round three and early round four. I could move up if that makes sense – I look for solid target players at this point. I am pretty much unmoved by the guys anywhere near the top of the board – I think it will be mostly roster-fillers from here on out, so we’ll wait and look for bargains later.

DE Duane Moore (22/38) is a well-developed run-stopper for our DL, a decent pickup this late in the draft. LB Dan Maltman (29/44) proabbly will slide into our depth chart at the sam slot, and be a reserve for McConnell there. He’s not a run stopper, but has solid complementary ability potential in pass rushing and coverage. RB Herb Cole, mentioned earlier, isn’t much of a rusher, but might have a utility role ahead, as he has great receiving skills.

DE Wendell Blackshear (21/30) has some signs as a breakout – without an improvement, he’s basically a wasted pick. We take a chance. WR Lincoln Ross is a guy with some kick return skills, and who might battle for reserve playing time for us at split end. QB Tom McGee sat near the top of the draft board from rounds three onward – I finally grab him with our last pick, a decent speculative selection, I think.

Clearly, the key to the whole rookie class will be NT Wire, but I am very pleased with this group right now, and if we get a few guys to break well, this could register as a rookie class good enough to make up for our recent duds.

[QuikSand]

Late Free Agency

An interesting development in free agency – DT Kevin Green suffered an injury last season, and is now available as a free agent. He is no longer even credible as a run stopper, but seems to have very good pass rushing skills, it seems. After one year away, maybe we could get something out of him back here where e had his greatest success. I put in an offer.

CB Jesse Gerhardt looks like a decent backup guy for us – no affinity, but we need someone with some coverage skills, and he will be in the mix for us somewhere, I reckon.


With one week left in late free agency, we have 49 players signed, plus two unsigned rookies. We have some cap space, but with DT Wire still unsigned, that takes up a good chunk of our apparent cap room.

LB Emmanual Chustz is the cap casualty this year – he insists on over $2 million, and we just can’t come up with it. It takes a pretty fat offer to get S Conrad Flannery to return, but he was a very good starter last year, and we expect him to return to that good form, for over $2 million this year.

We bid farewell to QB Marc Swann, who demands over $1.5 million this year – instead we bring aboard 5th year man O.J. Edge to bee our presumed backup, with returning second year man Kendall Turner looking for a chance to continue developing (he has real potential).

I load up with some expendable unsigned rookies, and we head into camp with 63 players – more than we are used to.

[QuikSand]

Training Camp


Even more at stake in this camp than usual, with a lot of rookies we need to pan out well…


Player # Pos Start Exp CE FE CE FE dCE dFE
Fisk, Dwight 9 QB 9 64 64 64 64 0 0
Edge, O.J. 11 QB 5 26 53 28 53 2 0
Turner, Kendall 7 QB 2 22 53 26 53 4 0
McGee, Tom 8 QB 1 23 50 26 45 3 -5
Jamison, Moe 33 RB 11 40 42 40 42 0 0
Spry, Bo 43 RB 7 31 31 31 31 0 0
Munoz, Randy 48 RB 8 27 27 27 27 0 0
Cole, Herb 29 RB 1 26 40 26 37 0 -3
Chandler, Deon 36 RB 1 18 37 18 33 0 -4
Libin, Allen 41 FB 10 49 51 49 51 0 0
Ballard, Jerald 81 FB 1 21 45 21 41 0 -4
Barber, Maurice 84 TE 7 53 58 53 58 0 0
Havran, Bennie 83 TE 6 50 50 50 50 0 0
Gillespie, Sammie 32 TE 3 25 47 27 47 2 0
Brannan, Gino 86 FL 12 36 42 36 42 0 0
Massicott, Cedric 82 FL 6 34 39 34 39 0 0
Henson, Tommy 45 FL 3 25 39 27 39 2 0
McCarthy, Kevin 28 FL 1 15 38 16 34 1 -4
Woodson, Louis 17 SE 5 43 43 43 43 0 0
Heinz, Kenyon 89 SE 3 24 37 25 37 1 0
Ross, Lincoln 80 SE 1 16 40 17 37 1 -3
Tate, Toby 44 SE 1 10 33 12 31 2 -2
Glover, Wes 30 SE 1 10 32 10 28 0 -4
Embry, Vincent 58 C 4 45 48 46 48 1 0
Wallace, Jon 59 C 15 27 33 27 33 0 0
McWilliams, O.J. 51 C 1 21 40 22 38 1 -2
Sutton, Stanley 65 LG 9 42 44 42 44 0 0
Lynch, T.J. 63 LG 6 30 32 33 33 3 1
Singleton, Shaun 70 RG 2 42 73 45 73 3 0
Donaldson, Terry 75 RG 2 20 45 22 45 2 0
**Thomason, Kenny 69 LT 5 67 67 67 67 0 0
Zytniak, Jim 74 LT 1 12 59 17 56 5 -3
Cates, George 66 RT 6 46 50 46 50 0 0
Clemons, Jon 61 RT 5 25 33 27 33 2 0
Horton, Erik 3 P 1 74 75 76 77 2 2
Wallace, Charles 5 K 9 39 44 39 44 0 0
Largent, Courtney 93 LDE 13 39 39 39 39 0 0
Troy, Calvin 77 LDE 4 25 39 26 39 1 0
Rivera, Van 95 RDE 9 39 44 39 44 0 0
Blackshear, Wendell 94 RDE 1 21 31 24 34 3 3
Lowe, Orlando 92 RDT 9 45 46 45 46 0 0
Green, Kelvin 78 RDT 7 43 48 43 48 0 0
Wire, Gerald 99 NT 1 38 85 38 85 0 0
Parker, Ethan 79 NT 2 29 43 30 43 1 0
Moore, Duane 76 NT 1 24 44 25 44 1 0
Jeffries, Daryl 90 WILB 9 64 68 64 68 0 0
Reader, Shawn 98 MLB 10 52 56 52 56 0 0
Bauer, Adam 52 MLB 10 39 44 39 44 0 0
McConnell, Clarence 50 SLB 6 57 57 57 57 0 0
Maltman, Dan 55 SLB 1 30 48 32 49 2 1
Mahoney, Sean 53 SLB 3 15 33 17 33 2 0
Benton, Lamar 20 SLB 1 9 36 11 39 2 3
Guarino, Jon 57 WLB 1 19 39 21 42 2 3
Gonzalez, Lonnie 24 LCB 7 29 33 29 33 0 0
Kingsblood, Orlando 37 LCB 1 22 54 25 54 3 0
Stokes, Juan 49 LCB 1 7 34 9 32 2 -2
Shaw, Aaron 39 RCB 3 60 64 61 64 1 0
Gerhardt, Jesse 40 RCB 5 36 45 38 45 2 0
Stone, Ross 42 RCB 3 20 28 21 28 1 0
Mathews, Emmanuel 22 RCB 2 18 39 20 39 2 0
Pearson, Brock 31 SS 5 44 44 44 44 0 0
Flannery, Conrad 26 FS 4 52 52 52 52 0 0
Samuels, Juan 46 FS 2 25 36 26 36 1 0


Lots of bad news to go around. A number of fringe players showed booms, but nobody from the top picks. CB Kingsblood held firm, which is okay, but T Zytniak took a hit, as did quite a lot of our speculation picks.

DE Blackshear and LB Maltman might turn out to be nice contributors from later in the draft. Maltman has great coverage skills, and might end up being rather useful if he can ever work up his ability to play against the run.

We get DT Gerald Wire signed – and he looks tremendous, and I am pleased with his apparent potential as a run stopper. That is the key for the NT slot in this defense.


Getting ready for preseason, we try out a few twists with the lineup. Our big early problem is depth at WR – we have lost two reserves to injuries already, and now are looking at very slim pickings at the position. It looks like our entire complement at WR this year will be starters Brannan and Woodson, Massicott and Henson (both very limited) and rookie RB Herb Cole, who I now suspect will be our primary slot receiver.

The good news is that LT Kenny Thomason is seemingly coming along, and he is listed as probable for our regular season opener. The bad news is that he is clearly a reduced player from his old self. He will suit up as our starter, but is no longer a premier player by any stretch. LT Zytniak is simply not ready to play, but the job is probably his next year.


I am not all that confident about this team – indeed, our secondary is clearly the weakest it has been that I can recall, we are barely holding together with mediocre offensive linemen, and our skill positions are terribly depleted.

Our roster rating, despite all this, is 64, a little above the median. Our cohesion is pretty good, at 100-88-98-73. We suffered a loss in our secondary this year, after losing some veterans, but we are rapidly improving with the defensive front, and are now one of the most cohesive groups around there.

I think this is a slightly lesser team than we have been fielding the last couple of years, and unless we catch some breaks, I wouldn’t be surprised to see us struggle to make the postseason. I don’t think this is a 12-win team. We’ll do our best…

[QuikSand]

2035 season

We open with a win at Seattle – a fine start amidst our own swirling doubts. I’m still not totally sold yet. We get to 3-1 in the early going, but the biggest surprise is that Seattle has started out 1-3, after being a powerhouse the last two seasons. Good news for our division, we hope. In the early going, our running game is going great guns – we lead the league in both yards rushing and yard per carry. We are steering an increasing amount of our rushes behind RG Singleton, with good results.

We drop two in a row, and slide to 3-3 on the season. An injury to LB Daryl Jeffries has us very worried, but it looks like it will only sideline him a few weeks. We are 4-4 at the halfway point – here are the team stats:


St. Louis Rams Team Rank
Rushes 223 22
Rushing Yards 1118 8
Yards Per Carry 5.01 2
Pass Attempts 248 24
Completions 154 19 (T)
Passing Yards 1843 17
Yards Per Attempt 7.43 11
3rd Down Conversions 40.6 25
Points Per Game 24.5 5
Turnovers 17 25 (T)
Turnover Margin -4 20 (T)

Opponents Team Rank
Rushes 237 18
Rushing Yards 1083 25
Yards Per Carry 4.56 30 (T)
Pass Attempts 262 15
Completions 144 4
Passing Yards 1869 17
Yards Per Attempt 7.13 19
3rd Down Conversions 47.2 22
Points Per Game 22.8 25
Turnovers 13 13 (T)


We are soft up the middle, not stopping the run at all. DT Wire has been injured, but not that effective even when he has played. The offense is playing surprisingly well, but we need help from the defense or we will not get above .500 this year.

RB Bo Spry is down for the year now, as well, so we will have to rely on Jamison to carry the load – and there’s little indication that he is up to full time duty. Herb Cole is not much of a rusher, but he’s going to see some backfield time to spell Jamison.

Two losses drop us to 4-6 and have our hopes sinking, and we drop two of our next there to ice the demise – we’re out of the playoff hunt at this point. We do a little shuffling of the roster, including giving the QB reins to Kendall Turner for a game and a half until he breaks his leg, and limp home to our first losing record in a few seasons.


2035 Summary for St. Louis Rams

Record: 7-9
Winning Pct.: .437

St. Louis Rams Team Rank
Rushes 429 25
Rushing Yards 1912 15
Yards Per Carry 4.45 4
Pass Attempts 502 19
Completions 309 21 (T)
Passing Yards 3665 16
Yards Per Attempt 7.30 12
3rd Down Conversions 42.1 22
Points Per Game 22.6 7
Turnovers 27 23 (T)
Turnover Margin -6 23

Opponents Team Rank
Rushes 479 25
Rushing Yards 2105 24
Yards Per Carry 4.39 25
Pass Attempts 543 24 (T)
Completions 316 15 (T)
Passing Yards 3714 24
Yards Per Attempt 6.83 13 (T)
3rd Down Conversions 47.5 27
Points Per Game 21.1 22
Turnovers 21 17 (T)

Week Team Versus Oppnt
1 20 at SEA 17
2 10 at PIT 22
3 24 at NOS 17
4 43 SFO 17
5 17 at NYG 24
6 27 at WAS 28
8 21 DAL 34
9 34 PHI 24
10 13 at ARI 16
11 13 SEA 18
12 35 at CLE 7
13 24 DET 27
14 24 BAL 34
15 24 at SFO 17
16 20 CIN 17
17 14 ARI 20

Passing Pos Att Comp Yards Y/Att TD Int
9 Fisk QB 468 286 3442 7.35 22 13
7 Turner QB 34 23 223 6.55 3 1
**Team --- 502 309 3665 7.30 25 14

Rushing Pos Att Yards Y/Att TD
33 Jamison RB 176 699 3.97 6
43 Spry RB 118 638 5.40 5
9 Fisk QB 63 302 4.79 3
18 Cole RB 53 187 3.52 1
**Team --- 429 1912 4.45 15

Receiving Pos Targ Catch Yards Y/Ctc YAC TD
86 Brannan WR 121 67 945 14.1 127 9
17 Woodson WR 93 53 779 14.6 136 4
18 Cole RB 59 37 409 11.0 71 2
33 Jamison RB 46 33 317 9.6 74 3
41 Libin FB 46 33 196 5.9 115 3
83 Havran TE 43 28 330 11.7 111 1
82 Massicott WR 37 21 318 15.1 66 0
**Team --- 502 309 3665 11.8 882 25

Defense Pos Tack Asst Sack Hurr Ints Defn
90 Jeffries ILB 104 59 2.5 2 1 11
50 McConnell OLB 88 32 4.0 9 0 3
26 Flannery S 74 40 0.5 0 1 12
52 Bauer ILB 69 28 0.0 0 0 5
98 Reader ILB 65 22 2.0 1 0 5
39 Shaw CB 64 23 0.0 0 3 14
37 Kingsblood CB 41 8 0.0 0 1 4
31 Pearson S 40 11 1.0 0 0 1
95 Rivera DE 37 8 2.0 14 0 0
24 Gonzalez CB 34 7 0.0 0 2 3
99 Wire DT 33 7 2.0 14 0 1
93 Largent DE 31 14 11.5 17 0 1
22 Mathews CB 27 4 0.0 0 2 0
40 Gerhardt CB 26 11 0.0 0 1 2
78 Green DT 25 10 4.5 18 0 0
46 Samuels S 18 4 0.0 0 0 0
**Team --- 874 294 32.0 82 11 64


Well, by most indications, this was a disappointing season. The offense actually played better than expected, but ran out of steam later in the season as we lost talent. The defense never really played that well, and we just yielded too much up the gut. On balance, a tough year by the numbers.

WRs Brannan and Woodson had solid seasons, mostly as they had little competition for passes thrown their way. Brannan has never had 121 passes to him, though Woodson’s targets were roughly on par.


Blocking Statistics

Player Pos Team GP GS KRB KRO BPct SkA PPly SPct RPly OPct
Singleton, Shaun G STL 16 16 26 88 29.5 2 534 0.3 428 20.5
Cates, George T STL 15 15 22 55 40.0 10 473 2.1 377 14.5
Embry, Vincent C STL 16 16 17 67 25.3 9 534 1.6 424 15.8
Thomason, Kenny T STL 16 16 16 49 32.6 8 524 1.5 421 11.6
Sutton, Stanley G STL 12 12 15 51 29.4 1 381 0.2 314 16.2
Libin, Allen FB STL 16 14 11 20 55.0 2 350 0.5 304 6.5
Donaldson, Terry G STL 12 4 4 14 28.5 1 155 0.6 116 12.0
Havran, Bennie TE STL 16 16 2 8 25.0 0 364 0.0 321 2.4
Wallace, Jon C STL 3 0 1 2 50.0 0 4 0.0 8 25.0
Barber, Maurice TE STL 16 1 1 9 11.1 0 140 0.0 133 6.7
Zytniak, Jim T STL 8 1 0 8 0.0 0 69 0.0 55 14.5


The line this year, after lots of turnover, was down – no shock there. Kenny Thomason held his own at LT, but is a shadow of his once-impressive self. 33 sacks allowed isn’t a disaster, but it’s a notch higher than when we have been at our best. Shifting the running game to the right side is different for me, but not a major issue overall – Singleton was a bit disappointing, actually, with his run-blocking under 30% for the year. He’s supposed to be the snowplow up there.

DE Courtney Largent had a very solid year, and DT Kelvin Green proved effective as a situational pass rusher and reserve DL. Linebackers Jeffries and McConnell both played well, as long as I don’t think about their contracts I am happy with them.

We have to do better than 11 interceptions – our defense lacks playmakers, and that is a real problem. We have four secondary starters who are all okay, but nobody is a superstar anchor player. We need someone to center the whole thing – someone behind LB Jeffries. Brock Pearson is a position leader, but is not the answer as a starter at safety for us.


The Giants defeat Denver in the Superbowl, ending Houston’s streak after they lost in the AFC Championship game.

In season awards, StL is shut out, deservedly so.


So, a tough season… and perhaps a call for a different approach. I don’t think we can occupy a third of our salary cap with three players, and not feel the consequences. And I now have to wonder if perhaps I have taken the affinity idea too far – if we’re foregoing quality players just because we’d rather have any old guy with an affinity, we might be denying our team the edge it needs to be its best. Tough call.

[CraigSca]

Good stuff, Quik. It's interesting to watch you struggle, trying to get this team over the top. As someone who has never excelled at FOF (since FOF2, anyway), it's "fun" to watch you have to dig deep to put together a good team to circumvent your difficult house rules (something I've never had to institute).

Good luck bouncing back after the 7-9 season! Keep this up, it's proving to be a very good read.

[QuikSand]

Glad you are enjoying.

A general note to anyone reading... I feel like I am at a crossroads here, and am interested in any opinions. This past season, I feel like the team really got put into a box by the high demands of a few star players. I think the team would probably have fared better if I had let at least one guy go (LB McConnell, at least) and just spent that cap space on the best quality guys I could find. Intead, I chose to focus more on retaining our name players and filling in with affinity guys as best I could. The result was a disappointing season, overall. I also have been drafting almost exclusively affinity players, sometimes at the expense of better guys who would be neutral in that regard -- and I feel that reduction in quality young talent is having an effect as well.

So, the question is... shoudl I back off some of these unwritten "rules" that I have been following, try to load up the team a bit more with better talent and less affinity... or should I essentialy "stay the course" and see if we can develop a championship team with this basic formula? I am open to either, really -- while my "play to win" instinct is regretting this past season, I also recognize that it truly is more fun to struggle than it is to crush the league (as things usually end up in these careers)... so maybe it's a better experience for me and you if I keep at it the way I am, more or less.

In any event... I plan to start the next season some time today (if I get an opportunity) and will take any input under advisement.

[wade moore]

My thoughts -

I think that the way you have played so far fits with what I perceive to be the 'spirit' of this challenge. The idea that you are going to have to pay a ton of money for one year to keep your key guys... Or sacrifice them and lose cohesion... unfortunately, I think we've seen that it is hard for you to really hurt your cohesion, even with this challenge... so, I like the fact that you are having to drop loads of cash on these key guys...

For the affinity thing... it's kind of a neat little side-bar to me, but I could really go either way on it.. the only real draw I think it has for me is it ensures that it will be at least a little more challenging to put a team of quality guys together. I tend to lose interest in these things when the team runs away things...

[QuikSand]

Looks like we are going to stick with the same plan, for the most part. My idea is to pay QB Fisk and LB Jeffries, and probably to let LB McConnell go if he gets an offer. We'll still try to work the affinity angle as a foundation to the team as well, but I might let in a few more non-affinity contributors where it makes some sense to do so.

[wade moore]

Sounds good.. of course it would be silly to sign guys for the sake of consistency and blow the team out of the water, but it's nice to see a couple of long-term stars stick around...

[QuikSand]

2036 offseason

We once again start with the list of retirements – and are surprised to see nobody from our squad is there. That has been unusual.

My front office is intact and remains under contract – so no changes there.


Without much else to do, I put in a plan for a monstrous new stadium. I don’t really care too much about the facility, but it’s something to do, at least.

[QuikSand]

Free Agency Planning

We have our usual situation – most of the roster is up for a new contract, as usual. We don’t have any tumult among our position leaders, though, so nothing alarming there.


I will mention the RB/FB group a moment – as this has been a continuing battle. RB Bo Spry has become our centerpiece running back, and has been effective. He is not a truly spectacular player – just has a few key ratings and seems to do a good enough job. He’s a solid 8th year player, and seems to be fine after an injury last season. With a leadership rating of 95, he’s a natural group leader.

Trouble is – he conflicts with our established QB Dwight Fisk. So, for that reason, I don’t want him to be our group leader – meaning that I have to carry a player who will outshine Spry’s leadership and remain the RB/FB group leader. For the last three seasons, that role has fallen to Randy Munoz, a 9th year guy with 99 leadership. Munoz is essentially a no-talent player, though, and has yet to carry the ball even once for us. So, in essence, we are sacrificing a roster spot to carry Spry. Further, Munoz has a very low personality score (6), meaning that many of the players we bring in seeking affinity don’t even register on the charts – further wasting an opportunity.

Without my allegiance to Bo Spry, we could probably have a nice network of cozy partners at the RB and FB slots. As it is, we have five players on the roster, and only one mild affinity. It’s a wasted opportunity – I will once again be looking for a better position leader, but will expect to have to settle once again for Munoz and his lackluster “leadership” efforts.


One additional planning note – CB Orlando Kingsblood, following his solid rookie year, is hurt and listed as out for 17 weeks. He probably will have to go onto IR for us, but at the most will be a marginal contributor for us this season. So, we will be looking for help at CB once again, even though we like our two young guys there (Kingsblood and Aaron Shaw, who will be expecting a lucrative contract as a RFA this season).


As usual, our top two target players will be QB Fisk and LB Jeffries. Last year, it cost us $22 million to pay those two guys – almost a third of the team’s entire salary cap. LB Clarence McConnell was another $6 million – he’s another guy we have kept around for years with good results.

This year, retaining the top two will remain a priority – we are just too invested in them to let either one walk away. But if McConnell is again looking for big money, he is the guy we will be willing to let go. I don’t think we can afford to spend big money on a solid second linebacker – we have done pretty well with signing veterans who have played well enough for us there, and have a young player or two who can fill in as needed.


A LIST: QB Dwight Fisk, LB Daryl Jeffries
B LIST: DE Courtney Largent, CB Aaron Shaw, LB Shawn Reader, S Conrad Flannery, RT George Cates, WR Louis Woodson

The B list above are the guys who we expect we might get some competition for, and for whom we would be willing to really bid. I have removed LB McConnell from the list this year – if he gets a rich offer, we expect to let him pursue it, and we’ll work to replace him if needed.


Great news with Daryl Jeffries – his initial demand this year is under $6 million a year this season – meaning that even if we get into a bidding war, we can probably expect to re-up with him for around half of what he got last season. That’s a bonus for us. I wonder why that might be – why was his asking price (and the bidding level, all presumably generated by the same routine in the game) so different from year to year? He missed one game last season to injury, but had a very solid season and has suffered no erosion of ratings that I can see. Odd… but good fortune for us.

A fairly affordable deal with Jeffries might help us re-sign CB Shaw, who will be expensive. Shaw is looking for over $7 million a season – we can wait him out, but I don’t expect him to end up being cheap.

QB Fisk is looking for a solid deal – I put in an initial deal worth $8 million, about what he usually costs us. LB Clarence McConnell is looking for $6 million again – we’ll let him float for now.

RT George Cates is going to be tougher than I had expected – after a solid starting season for us last year, he now is thinking he’s worth about $5 million a year – so my plans to bid for him are on hold for now, and we may again be looking for a cheap fill-in starter on the right side of the line.


As always, we will have our eye on the affinity system – here is our planning grid, once again:


AFFINITY ANALYSIS

# Sign Begin End Affs Conflict Leaders
1 Aries 3/21 4/20 3 8 11
2 Taurus 4/21 5/21 4 12 7 OL
3 Gemini 5/22 6/21 1 8 6 RB
4 Cancer 6/22 7/23 2 12 9
5 Leo 7/24 8/23 6 9 10
6 Virgo 8/24 9/23 5 9 3 DB
7 Libra 9/24 10/23 1011 2 D7
8 Scorpio 10/24 11/22 1 3 12 WR
9 Sagittarius 11/23 12/22 5 6 4
10 Capricorn 12/23 1/20 7 11 5
11 Aquarius 1/21 2/18 7 10 1
12 Pisces 2/19 3/20 2 4 8

POS Affinity Affinity Conflict

RB 3-4 10-11 8-9
WR 3-4 5-6 2-3
OL 6-7 2-3 9-10
D7 12-1 1-2 4-5
DB 7-8 11-12 5-6

QB 3-4 best; 1-2,6-7,7-8,10-11,11-12,12-1 good

[QuikSand]

INITIAL FA STAGES (Weeks 1-4)
Immediate re-signings: LB Daryl Jeffries, FB Allen Libin, WR Gino Brannan
Re-signings, no competition: LB Shawn Reader, WR Cedric Massicott, WR Louis Woodson, S Brock Pearson, DE Courtney Largent
Re-signings, with competition: S Conrad Flannery
New players signed: LB Jimmie Keith
Players signed away: LB Clarence McConnell, G George Cates

Like last year, we have some interest expressed on some of our players. I don’t intend to give chase at $5 million for R George Cates or $6 million for LB Clarence McConnell, but we have a battle on our hands for S Conrad Flannery, who has been very effective for us the last two seasons. I put in our offer of $2.6 million – and we will hope to re-sign him, a solid starter and affinity guy for our secondary. It takes until week four, but he re-up with us.

No surprise – San Francisco inks LB Clarence McConnell to a multi year deal worth over $6 million per season. He’s been a solid player for us, but I resigned myself early to losing him, rather than committing that much cash to the position.


LB Jimmie Keith is a great addition for us – young (3rd year guy), experienced in a 3-4 system (listed as a WILB) and good both stopping the run and in bump coverage. Can’t come more custom-made for our defense than this guy. Losing McConnell will make depth at LB even more important than ever – Keith will be excellent for us, perhaps even as a starter alongside Jeffries, if we decide to slide LB Reader to play the strong side (pretty likely, I think).

[QuikSand]

MIDDLE FA STAGES (Weeks 5-15)
Re-signings, no competition: QB Dwight Fisk, DE Van Rivera, TE Bennie Havran, QB O.J. Edge, TE Maurice Barber
Re-signings, with competition:
New players signed: TE Wes Jenkins
Players signed away:


QB Fisk sat on my offer for a while, but eventually signed, with no competing offers out there. It’s a $7m deal, split evenly between salary and bonus (my new norm for big money contracts).


TE Wes Jenkins is something of a novelty signing – we’re trying a backdoor here. He’s a decent tight end, and a 12th year guy with 85 leadership. If he could switch to FB and assume leadership in that group, he would gain an affinity with Bo Spry and he’d probably free up a dead roster spot at that position group. If he can’t make that switch, or he doesn’t become our position leader at FB, then he’s of no value to us, and we’ll let him go.

We give him a look at FB – but he does not assume the leadership role, and we dismiss him. Sorry, pal, good luck on the FA market.


We have a crisis that I didn’t even recognize until now – potentially very serious. C Jon Wallace, our six-year veteran leader along the OL, is listed as “Angry” and will not even listen to a contract with us. Big problem – we have massive affinities based on him being our position leader. Time to move quickly to replace him – hopefully with a guy who will foster a similar structure. Ouch!

I have a potential plan. 11th year guard Brock Wyden is a solid player, but is injured – he won’t get any fat offers this year, and if he took over as our position leader, we’d remains status quo. His personality isn’t as strong as Wallace’s, but we’d retain all the affinities. So, that is one option – sign Wyden, probably put him on IR, and maintain our affinities. I am quite certain that Wyden would become our position leader, so I think this is a good backup plan.

It’s also at least possible that we just tear down this offensive line, and basically start over. We could use RG Shaun Singleton (currently the only non-affinity guy we’re pretty committed to) as the base player, bring in a new leader who will work with him, and go from there. It’s a possibility – Wallace is a 16th year guy anyway, so this isn’t really that far-fetched, a change was gong to come eventually, anyhow.

[QuikSand]

FINAL FA STAGES (Weeks 16-20)
Re-signings, no competition: DL Kelvin Green, DT Orlando Lowe
Re-signings, with competition:
New players signed: C Drew Bullock, G Reuben Sulfstead, T Walt Woods
Players signed away:

C Drew Bullock is a guy who will become our new OL position leader – I decide that going with injured Brock Wyden is not the way to go. Bullock is a starting-caliber center, a mentor at the position, and will get along just great with his neighbor to the right, Shaun Singleton. He will make our affinity structure a blank slate – but my first analysis tells me that this is our expected situation for the OL:


POS Affinity Affinity Conflict
OL 7-8 11-12 12-1


He ought to work out okay with our QBs, and he will have enough personality to develop some strong affinities with guys we work in around him. So – a new project is underway, as we are going to reshape our entire offensive line now.

Who’s out? Nobody has a conflict with Bullock, but guys who aren’t starting caliber and are not affinity guys will probably not be re-signed, and that is most everyone.

Who’s in? We scour the FA market for passable offensive linemen who will get along well with Bullock, to at least build an affinity groundwork. The first candidate is LG Reuben Sulfstead, a 6th year run-blocker who looks solid enough, and ought to be solid for our interior, and will no doubt get along swimmingly with Bullock. Third year LT Walt Woods looks like a decent, though not awe-inspiring, addition to the left side, and may be our default starter there. Right tackle looks pretty bleak – so we don’t have any pursuits there as of now.


We get in late offers to defensive linemen Green and Lowe, both of whom are solid reserves for us, and secure my general level of comfort with the defensive front before the draft.


With the anticipated “changing of the guard” at OL, here is our revised affinity chart – just in time for guiding our rookie selections in the upcoming draft.


AFFINITY ANALYSIS

# Sign Begin End Affs Conflict Leaders
1 Aries 3/21 4/20 3 8 11
2 Taurus 4/21 5/21 4 12 7
3 Gemini 5/22 6/21 1 8 6 RB
4 Cancer 6/22 7/23 2 12 9
5 Leo 7/24 8/23 6 9 10 OL
6 Virgo 8/24 9/23 5 9 3 DB
7 Libra 9/24 10/23 1011 2 D7
8 Scorpio 10/24 11/22 1 3 12 WR
9 Sagittarius 11/23 12/22 5 6 4
10 Capricorn 12/23 1/20 7 11 5
11 Aquarius 1/21 2/18 7 10 1
12 Pisces 2/19 3/20 2 4 8

POS Affinity Affinity Conflict

RB 3-4 10-11 8-9
WR 3-4 5-6 2-3
OL 8-9 11-12 12-1
D7 12-1 1-2 4-5
DB 7-8 11-12 5-6

QB 3-4, 11-12 best; 1-2,7-8,10-11 good

[QuikSand]

Rookie Draft

At this point, we have zero healthy players at CB signed to contracts. I remain optimistic that we will return Aaron Shaw to the starting lineup this year, but he might not be around long term is he’s looking for big money, so CB may well be a priority this year. Signing promising young players has worked pretty well for us, as it’s fairly tough to get quality free agents here without paying a lot.

WR is another emerging need, as we have been thin there lately, and could really benefit from one more quality target for Fisk. And with the new look offensive line, now would be a good time to try to find contributors who would fit that system well. Right tackle seems to be the pressing need right now, but help anywhere would be useful.


We have our top own picks at #13 this year, so we will have some opportunities to get solid contributors there. I don’t expect much from our extra fourth round pick, but it might be a trading chit.


I LOVE a safety in this draft, Joey Beecroft. Problem is, he is rated the #2 overall prospect, and can’t possibly fall more than a few picks. He looks like a sure thing, a standout player—and possibly a candidate to move to CB, as he has all the coverage skills, including a maxed-out rating for bump coverage. Is this a guy we’d be willing to deal up to get?

There are, actually, quite a number of top rookies in this draft who happen to fit our affinity schemes (Beecroft among them) so I’m thinking that a move up several spots might be ideal. To move up to Atlanta’s slot at #6, for instance, we’d need to give them three picks from this year and next – a price which doesn’t seem unreasonable to me. I’d certainly do it to get Beecroft, and I’d look at it seriously for WR Calvin Wayne (45/77), DE Kevin Finley (48/68), or DL Lenny Wedge (42/70) – all of whom would project to be affinity guys for us.

When Atlanta is on the clock, DB Beecroft is still there. The defensive linemen are both gone, and so is WR Wayne. Atlanta takes another defensive end, and I feel I have to pull the trigger and get Beecroft, who just looks perfect for us. We give San francisco three fourth round picks (two from this year and one next year) to move up six slots, and we secure the rights to the promising young defensive back.

Our scout rates Beecroft at 60/84 (and that is without any return skills), and he has the best combine rating of any safety in three of four areas (he’s ranked fifth in his test score). This guy looks like a home run. At 205 pounds, he might switch well to play cornerback, but at either position, he looks like the playmaker we have been craving.

Once he is added to our roster, our scout adjusts his sights – 59/85 is the new grade, a good sign. His projected switch at CB is at 91%… I will need to give that some thought, but my first inclination is to slot him at strong safety, where he will be in coverage but also involved in the run defense. I also suspect he will be a more affordable long term signee at S than at CB.


Amateur Draft Report:

Rnd 1 - Joey Beecroft, S, SW Missouri St.
Rnd 2 - Roger Barrett, FB, Colorado
Rnd 3 - Luther Schofer, CB, Minnesota - Duluth
Rnd 5 - Leo Doyle, WR, Florida
Rnd 6 - Howard Logan, DT, Wisconsin
Rnd 7 - Andy Reeves, S, Central Michigan


I am not looking for help at FB, but a superstar-caliber guy is sitting thee in round two, and it’s very tough to pass him up. He’d be an affinity guy at either FB or TE, and he looks like a monster addition at either spot. My need positions are still WR and DB, but I can’t find a top candidate for those spots here, so I bite the bullet and take Roger Barrett (59/81). At 240 lbs, there’s little chance that he converts to play RB, but he might be good enough to get carries for us.

The second best fullback goes with a pick only about six or eight slots later – reaffirming that Barrett would not have lasted much longer in this draft. I was right not to trade down.

In round three, I am looking at the top-rated tackle Bo Myre (3/53) but despite his solid combine scores as the quickest lineman in the draft, I am very put off by his current ability summary. Honestly… 3? He can’t possibly be worth a damn right now, and how long would it take him to develop into a player we could use? Maybe three years – his whole rookie contract? I don’t think he is the right buy for us, but I will be intrigued to watch him down the line.

My top choice left at WR is still down the list, so we take the best fit remaining at CB, in Luther Schofer (14/50). My guess is that Schofer develops into a guy we can use as a #3 or #4 cornerback in our system, decent ratings in bump and interceptions, plus a big hitter.

WR Leo Doyle (15/40) is probably deceiving me, but looks like a nice pickup for us in the late rounds – affinity receiver, with some actual skill right where I’d want it for a reserve player. I don’t know that he will change our overall feelings about the position (not enough depth) but he’ll be one more guy to use there, hopefully.

DL Howard Logan projects as a pass rusher – we may move him to DE, and see if he can earn a slot out there, as a situational reserve. S Andy Reeves is probably just an affinity fill-in, though he does have an eye for the interception, which is valuable at safety.


On another note – here is an electoral update:


From: The County Government

Your proposal for new stadium construction was submitted to the voters of your county for a decision.

The issue failed. We hope that you do not view this as a referendum on the viability of football in St. Louis, but we understand
that you are now free to seek a new stadium elsewhere. Please try again next year, however. You may find the voters more amenable.

Here's the final vote tally:

Rejected: 288,931 - 67.2%
In Favor: 140,706 - 32.7%

[Izulde]

Ouch. Having to rework your offensive line like that is going to put a small hurt on your chemistry.

So are you going to stay in St. Louis or move elsewhere now that the stadium got voted down? :D

[QuikSand]

Ouch. Having to rework your offensive line like that is going to put a small hurt on your chemistry.

True... but it proved to be pretty entertaining (for me) to go through. I liked it enough, I might just do the same thing at another position next season. Running backs, anyone?

[QuikSand]

Late Free Agency

I need to think about our plan for the offensive line. Right now, I have four guys signed who are definitely starters (or at least in the mix) for the year ahead. They are (with their current scout ratings):

LT Woods (37) – LG Sulfsted (48) – C Bullock (46) – RG Singleton (65)

So, we basically need to add a starter at right tackle, and at least one or two decent guys who could be backups as needed. I think guys like LT Kenny Thomason and LG Stanley Sutton might get a look for at least a reserve spot, since they have played well for us, but my fill-ins will be affinity guys, even from the URFA ranks if need be. I put in a few offers, and we will accumulate a few young players – hoping that we get some good news from training camp.

CB Shaun Faine looks like a decent enough young corner, and though he is best at zone coverage, I want him for his all-around skills. He’s cheap, also, which doesn’t hurt.


We do have some money to spend, though. We have 38 signed players (and one rookie holdout), and $29 million in cap space. I figure CB Aaron Shaw will set us back about $4 million, but we’ll still have some space to make a move or two. CB seems like a logical place to spend some money, even on a one-year guy to start, if there is a candidate.

The best fit I can find at CB is veteran Lincoln Horner, a 13th year guy who we approach for $2.5 million. I expect he can start for us this season across from Shaw, but I don’t think he’s a guy we would plan around long term. He has a career PDPct of 19.4 – not spectacular, but his best coverage is bump, so he might even better that figure with us. He has been very dependable – so that helps.


CB Aaron Shaw finally accepts our offer – but it sets us back $6.6 million, even more than he was asking for (per year) for a long term deal. He will become a free agent next season, and I expect it will be tough to sign him again. CB will continue to be a need area, I suspect, especially since we’ve basically committed to keeping rookie Joey Beecroft at safety instead.


I am a bit worried about RB Bo Spry – I think he had a skills dropoff after the draft, and so I decide we need to bring in a couple new faces at the RB position, to give us some options. We might use our rookie FB in the rushing game a bit, too – but in case Spry is done, we’ll have options with versatile veteran Morris Lovejoy and intriguing fifth year man Dave Burns. This could mark the ushering-in of a new dawn at RB, if Spry is no longer the foundation player for us.

We didn’t make a big free agent splash at wide receiver either, but I have hopes for converted rookie RB Darrin Donovan, who could have potential to help us with our depth, at least.


We head into training camp with 68 committed players. We will hope for good results from the training camp… perhaps a breakout player on the OL?

- - -

Training Camp


Player # Pos Start Exp CE FE CE FE dCE dFE
Fisk, Dwight 9 QB 10 65 65 65 65 0 0
Turner, Kendall 7 QB 3 34 54 37 54 3 0
Edge, O.J. 11 QB 6 27 51 29 51 2 0
Lovejoy, Morris 49 RB 11 50 50 50 50 0 0
Burns, Dave 47 RB 5 42 42 42 42 0 0
Munoz, Randy 48 RB 9 26 26 26 26 0 0
Spry, Bo 43 RB 8 25 25 25 25 0 0
Cole, Herb 18 RB 2 24 31 25 31 1 0
McCue, Seth 40 RB 1 22 33 22 31 0 -2
Sheldon, Derek 32 RB 1 18 37 18 33 0 -4
Barrett, Roger 44 FB 1 59 80 62 78 3 -2
Libin, Allen 41 FB 11 45 45 45 45 0 0
Newberry, Jack 38 FB 1 12 43 14 44 2 1
Havran, Bennie 83 TE 7 50 50 50 50 0 0
Barber, Maurice 84 TE 8 48 53 48 53 0 0
Brannan, Gino 86 FL 13 34 39 34 39 0 0
Massicott, Cedric 82 FL 7 34 39 34 39 0 0
Henson, Tommy 45 FL 4 28 38 29 38 1 0
Donovan, Darrin 27 FL 1 22 55 23 50 1 -5
Woodson, Louis 17 SE 6 43 44 43 44 0 0
Doyle, Leo 87 SE 1 19 42 20 39 1 -3
Ross, Lincoln 80 SE 2 16 34 17 34 1 0
Bullock, Drew 56 C 14 46 46 46 46 0 0
Penrod, Neil 58 C 1 15 37 18 37 3 0
Fisk, Shawn 54 C 1 5 28 6 27 1 -1
Sulfsted, Reuben 73 LG 6 48 48 51 51 3 3
Singleton, Shaun 70 RG 3 65 75 65 75 0 0
Mankey, Jesse 66 RG 3 31 37 35 37 4 0
Donaldson, Terry 75 RG 3 24 43 27 43 3 0
Woods, Walt 64 LT 3 37 49 39 49 2 0
Thomason, Kenny 69 LT 6 38 40 38 40 0 0
Lambeau, Dwight 60 LT 3 24 56 27 56 3 0
Zytniak, Jim 74 LT 2 18 53 21 53 3 0
Rosado, Burt 67 LT 1 12 21 13 22 1 1
Singleton, Sammie 68 RT 1 17 28 19 28 2 0
McCreery, Walt 62 RT 1 4 36 7 32 3 -4
Horton, Erik 3 P 2 86 86 88 88 2 2
Wallace, Charles 5 K 10 40 45 40 45 0 0
Largent, Courtney 93 LDE 14 37 37 37 37 0 0
Logan, Howard 72 LDE 1 18 38 19 34 1 -4
Rivera, Van 95 RDE 10 38 43 38 43 0 0
Blackshear, Wendell 94 RDE 2 25 37 27 37 2 0
McGee, Ken 71 LDT 1 23 28 24 29 1 1
Lowe, Orlando 92 RDT 10 45 49 45 49 0 0
Green, Kelvin 78 RDT 8 38 41 38 41 0 0
Wire, Gerald 99 NT 2 45 85 49 85 4 0
Parker, Ethan 79 NT 3 34 44 35 44 1 0
Moore, Duane 76 NT 2 27 44 28 44 1 0
Jeffries, Daryl 90 WILB 10 64 68 64 68 0 0
Keith, Jimmie 91 WILB 3 39 42 42 42 3 0
Reader, Shawn 98 MLB 11 48 52 48 52 0 0
Bauer, Adam 52 MLB 11 33 39 33 39 0 0
Bridges, Heath 96 MLB 1 15 27 17 27 2 0
Maltman, Dan 55 SLB 2 33 49 35 49 2 0
Mahoney, Sean 53 SLB 4 18 33 19 33 1 0
Benton, Lamar 20 SLB 2 12 40 15 40 3 0
Guarino, Jon 57 WLB 2 23 45 26 45 3 0
Crossman, Gabe 50 WLB 1 18 35 19 35 1 0
Horner, Lincoln 30 LCB 13 44 51 44 51 0 0
**Kingsblood, Orlando 37 LCB 2 36 55 39 55 3 0
Gonzalez, Lonnie 24 LCB 8 29 33 29 33 0 0
Shaw, Aaron 39 RCB 4 63 65 63 65 0 0
Faine, Shawn 35 RCB 3 38 48 41 48 3 0
Mathews, Emmanuel 22 RCB 3 22 35 24 35 2 0
Schofer, Luther 29 RCB 1 14 49 17 49 3 0
Beecroft, Joey 25 SS 1 59 84 58 85 -1 1
Pearson, Brock 31 SS 6 44 44 44 44 0 0
Bennewith, Clyde 21 SS 1 19 31 19 29 0 -2
Flannery, Conrad 26 FS 5 53 53 53 53 0 0
Samuels, Juan 46 FS 3 26 35 27 35 1 0
Reeves, Andy 23 FS 1 14 32 15 31 1 -1


I am hoping for good news form the rookies – and a +1 from rookie safety Joey Beecroft is great news indeed. He will be a star for us, I’m sure of it.

No other big news from the rookie class, though we did get a veteran bump from projected starting LG Reuben Sulfsted, which is good to see.


I have apparently made a miscalculation somewhere, as QB O.J. Edge does not get along with our new OL leader Drew Bullock. I am pretty committed to avoiding personality conflicts, so I decide to let Edge go. We sign venerable Victor Hopson, a 16th year veteran with over 46,000 yards passing to his credit, to serve as a backup to Dwight Fisk. Young Kendall Turner may still be our #2 choice if that comes to pass, but Hopson won’t embarrass us. He’s a double affinity guy to boot.

At WR, Leo Doyle looks like a marginal reserve, but URFA Darrin Donovan might have some potential. I expect both will make the roster, but I think Donovan might see more playing time. neither will really alter our overall dearth of quality talent there, though, Dwight Fisk has reason to be unnerved.



Also, it seems I booted my affinity analysis for the OL, accidentally mis-slotting my new position leader. It’s not a crisis, but it means that we picked up a guy or two thinking they would be affinity contributors when they are, in fact, in the same sign as Bullock. So, sorry to Jessie Mankey and Sammie Singleton, but we won’t be needing your services after all.


In the process of whittling down the roster, one thing becomes painfully clear – RB Bo Spry is in real jeopardy of not making the team. He has been solid for us for years, but after last season’s injury, he has degraded a full notch or so, and now even his handful of solid ratings are pretty marginal. Dave Burns is clearly more equipped to be our primary ball carrier – even undrafted rookie Seth McCue might be better than Spry. I hold off – but am willing to pull the trigger unless something changes my mind in preseason.


In the preseason, we try to get a god look at our squad. I am understandably very concerned about the offensive line, after such a quick transition, but the best we can do is suit them up and send them out there. We retain two starters – LT Kenny Thomason will be playing at either LT or RT, while RG Shaun Singleton ought to be our main bulldozer up front for the inside running game.

We wrap up the preseason with four players on IR, and need to make four more cuts to get down to 53. We are carrying five running backs and two fullbacks – and this is a pinch spot. I decide that the guy to go will be… Seth McCue. Bo Spry rushed for nearly 5 yards a carry in the preseason (refusing to get hurt, I might add) and earned the right to come back and keep his job, for now. I also release FB Allen Libin, whose role is clearly going to be assumed by top rookie Barrett.

Among our other final cuts is CB Lonnie Gonzalez – longtime guy for us, but just doesn’t put up the stats that I’d want to see. For the non-affinity contributor, we are looking for more, and Shawn Faine is cheaper and on paper, a better player.

As we ready for the season – here is our final cut of the roster. I will once again show the affinity structure, which has undergone some changes this year, to be sure:


St. Louis Rams Roster, Attitude Advisory

Player # Pos Start Playing Time Chemistry
Hopson, Victor 15 QB Content 2 Affinities with l
Fisk, Dwight 9 QB QB Content 1 Affinity with lea
Turner, Kendall 7 QB Content
Lovejoy, Morris 49 RB FB Content Mild Affinity
##Munoz, Randy 48 RB Content Backfield Leader
Spry, Bo 43 RB RB Content
Burns, Dave 47 RB Content
**Barrett, Roger 44 FB Content Mild Affinity
Barber, Maurice 84 TE TE Content Affinity
Havran, Bennie 83 TE Content Affinity
Brannan, Gino 86 FL FL Content
Massicott, Cedric 82 FL Content Receivers Leader
Henson, Tommy 45 FL Content Affinity
Donovan, Darrin 27 FL Content
Woodson, Louis 17 SE SE Content Affinity
Doyle, Leo 87 SE Content Affinity
Bullock, Drew 56 C C Content Offensive Line Lead
Fisk, Shawn 54 C Content Strong Affinity
**Penrod, Neil 58 C Content Affinity
Sulfsted, Reuben 73 LG LG Content Strong Affinity
##Lindsay, Kurt 61 LG Content Affinity
Donaldson, Terry 75 RG Content
Singleton, Shaun 70 RG RG Content Strong Affinity
Thomason, Kenny 69 LT RT Content
Lambeau, Dwight 60 LT Content
Woods, Walt 64 LT LT Content Affinity
##Zytniak, Jim 74 LT Content
Horton, Erik 3 P Content
Wallace, Charles 5 K Content
Largent, Courtney 93 LDE LDE Content Defensive Front Lea
##Logan, Howard 72 LDE Content Affinity
Rivera, Van 95 RDE RDE Content Affinity
Blackshear, Wendell 94 RDE Content Affinity
Lowe, Orlando 92 RDT Disgruntled Affinity
Green, Kelvin 78 RDT Content
Parker, Ethan 79 NT Unhappy Affinity
Wire, Gerald 99 NT NT Content Mild Affinity
**Moore, Duane 76 NT Content Affinity
Jeffries, Daryl 90 WILB WILB Content
Keith, Jimmie 91 WILB SILB Content Mild Affinity
Bauer, Adam 52 MLB WLB Content Affinity
Reader, Shawn 98 MLB SLB Content Affinity
Mahoney, Sean 53 SLB Content Mild Affinity
Maltman, Dan 55 SLB Content Mild Affinity
Benton, Lamar 20 SLB Content Affinity
##Guarino, Jon 57 WLB Content Affinity
Horner, Lincoln 30 LCB LCB Content
**Kingsblood, Orlando 37 LCB Content Strong Affinity
Shaw, Aaron 39 RCB RCB Content Strong Affinity
Faine, Shawn 35 RCB Content
Schofer, Luther 29 RCB Content Strong Affinity
**Bennewith, Clyde 21 RCB Content Affinity
Pearson, Brock 31 SS Content Secondary Leader
Beecroft, Joey 25 SS SS Content Affinity
Flannery, Conrad 26 FS FS Content Strong Affinity
##Samuels, Juan 46 FS Content Affinity
##Reeves, Andy 23 FS Content Strong Affinity


We have 38 affinities on the team, which is at or near a high mark for us. Essentially, we have a few star players, and a few needed contributors who remain on the team without the benefit of affinity, everyone else gets along great. (I expect next year, we will have a project with the RB group to manage)


For the season ahead – I don’t know quite what to expect. With the massive change at the OL, I am expecting that our offense will suffer overall. We might be no better than average on that side of things. Last year, our defense was disappointing, and while I like some moves we made, it’s tough to argue that we are head and shoulders better. DT Wire is developed more, and we are excited about safety Beecroft stepping in, but I’m still not thrilled about our CB group, nor do I think we are going to have a terribly effective pas rush overall.

Our roster rating is 70, right about average. Our cohesion has changed, though: 100-81-87-62, as we have dropped dramatically toward the bottom with out OL after the intentional turnover.

Is this a team capable of a winning record? Probably, but I wouldn’t stake too much on it…


One more thing. Defensive rookie of the year, Joey Beecroft. Write it down.

[QuikSand]

2036 season

We start off right with a win at San Fran, with Fisk throwing for 4 TDs and Bo Spry, back in as our starting halfback, toting it for 93 yards. Morris Lovejoy is settling in as our utility back, and picks up 65 yards as a part-time everything. Spry breaks his hand in the opener, though, so we will have to shuffle the RB grouping around. (If he had this injury in preseason, he probably would have landed on IR)

I the opener, we also have lost CB Lincoln Horner for the year – the guy we signed to be the one-year stopgap at CB for us. This looks like a career-ending injury for him – boy, we wish we still had Lonnie Gonzalez around. Rookie CB Luther Schofer is going to see the field a lot this year, as he is now slotted as our main nickelback.


After a 3-0 start, Dwight Fisk gets dinged up a bit. He hobbles out to start against Detroit, but they beat us as our offense stalls badly. We get to 5-1 on the season, but we lose RB Lovejoy for the year. Fortunately, we are getting good productivity out of Bo Spry, Dave Burns, and Roger Barrett – so we still have plenty of weapons from the backfield.

We execute more or less the perfect game of football in week 7, beating Minnesota 34-3. The running game clicks, Fisk is 20 of 23, and we smother the Vikes with our defense. It’s unreal – I came into this season thinking it might be a lost cause, but here we are at 7-1 looking like a very tough team to beat!

Arizona does just that, though, in week 8, and pulls even with us for the division lead. Here are our midway stats:


Front Office Football 2004
2036 Summary for St. Louis Rams

Record: 6-2
Winning Pct.: .750

St. Louis Rams Team Rank
Rushes 298 1
Rushing Yards 1341 1
Yards Per Carry 4.50 6
Pass Attempts 230 20 (T)
Completions 158 10
Passing Yards 1660 18
Yards Per Attempt 7.21 15
3rd Down Conversions 45.0 13
Points Per Game 26.2 3
Turnovers 12 17 (T)
Turnover Margin +7 7

Opponents Team Rank
Rushes 180 3
Rushing Yards 747 8
Yards Per Carry 4.15 21
Pass Attempts 263 24
Completions 139 12
Passing Yards 1840 23
Yards Per Attempt 6.99 17
3rd Down Conversions 30.2 1
Points Per Game 15.6 3
Turnovers 19 4 (T)


We are still a bit suspect on defense by the numbers, but we aren’t giving up a lot of points, largely since our offense has been playing pretty well. These don’t look like the stats of a mighty champion, though – we may have a bit of regression to the mean ahead.


We run the streak out to 10-2, and position ourselves as a serious playoff contender, with the best record in football. A bout of the flu strikes while we visit Miami and we lose a tough game there, but the next loss to Arizona I much tougher – we slip back into a tie with them for the division lead. We suffer a third straight loss at home, and are suddenly in free fall. I don’t even know what to think. We get a much-needed win in our finale over Seattle, but our earlier perch all the way atop the conference standings is long gone, as we settle for the #5 seed, a familiar slot for us. It does seem strange, though to end up still tied for the league’s best record, and be a #5 seed. Ugh.


2036 Summary for St. Louis Rams

Record: 11-5
Winning Pct.: .687

St. Louis Rams Team Rank
Rushes 542 1
Rushing Yards 2393 2
Yards Per Carry 4.41 4
Pass Attempts 476 29
Completions 295 27
Passing Yards 3342 28
Yards Per Attempt 7.02 19
3rd Down Conversions 43.8 16
Points Per Game 24.2 4
Turnovers 28 21 (T)
Turnover Margin -4 19 (T)

Opponents Team Rank
Rushes 401 3
Rushing Yards 1501 2
Yards Per Carry 3.74 3
Pass Attempts 546 24 (T)
Completions 311 8
Passing Yards 3660 14
Yards Per Attempt 6.70 8 (T)
3rd Down Conversions 35.3 1
Points Per Game 18.2 7
Turnovers 24 15 (T)

Week Team Versus Oppnt
1 38 at SFO 24
2 28 NYJ 24
3 31 WAS 21
4 13 at DET 16
5 23 GBY 10
6 23 CHI 3
7 34 at MIN 3
8 20 at ARI 24
10 32 SFO 22
11 26 SEA 23
12 13 at BUF 10
13 31 at NOS 10
14 17 at MIA 20
15 25 ARI 35
16 10 NED 37
17 24 at SEA 10
$$WC at TBY

Passing Pos Att Comp Yards Y/Att TD Int
9 Fisk QB 476 295 3342 7.02 25 16
**Team --- 476 295 3342 7.02 25 16

Rushing Pos Att Yards Y/Att TD
43 Spry RB 204 678 3.32 7
47 Burns RB 182 851 4.67 4
9 Fisk QB 76 512 6.73 3
44 Barrett FB 70 278 3.97 3
**Team --- 542 2393 4.41 18

Receiving Pos Targ Catch Yards Y/Ctc YAC TD
86 Brannan WR 82 53 647 12.2 97 5
44 Barrett FB 70 50 411 8.2 270 2
17 Woodson WR 66 40 559 13.9 71 5
47 Burns RB 60 40 316 7.9 150 2
27 Donovan WR 47 27 426 15.7 98 1
84 Barber TE 32 22 303 13.7 96 2
87 Doyle WR 40 20 245 12.2 21 2
43 Spry RB 32 18 203 11.2 104 2
**Team --- 475 295 3342 11.3 957 25

Defense Pos Tack Asst Sack Hurr Ints Defn
90 Jeffries ILB 110 37 2.0 1 0 10
26 Flannery S 94 41 0.0 0 2 13
91 Keith ILB 68 25 0.0 1 0 4
52 Bauer ILB 65 16 0.0 0 0 3
25 Beecroft S 53 23 1.0 2 3 10
39 Shaw CB 51 18 0.0 0 4 12
35 Faine CB 51 14 0.0 0 6 10
98 Reader ILB 40 12 1.5 4 0 3
93 Largent DE 33 8 7.5 23 0 0
99 Wire DT 29 12 4.0 6 0 0
31 Pearson S 26 10 1.0 2 0 3
53 Mahoney OLB 22 11 3.0 0 0 1
55 Maltman OLB 18 8 1.0 2 1 3
**Team --- 783 262 26.0 62 17 73



So, from QB Fisk we get another solid but not spectacular season. After two glorious years in 2031-32, he has reverted to being a good, but not great QB. I think the loss of a top target receiver has really hurt him – we need to make that a higher priority.

Bo Spry ground out yardage, but the 3.38 yards per carry simply doesn’t get it done. We will have to re-evaluate the RB group for next year, and Spry’s future is in some doubt. Dave Burns was capable as the reserve RB, suggesting that it’s not all the fault of the new-look O-line. FB Barrett was much more involved in the offense than any FB we have had – and to good effect. Nice pickup for us there. WR Brannan and Woodson again led the way in the passing game, though we did more underneath this year than in prior seasons. Darrin Donovan was an intriguing third receiver target – productive, but not a mismatch for opposing defense, either.

As for the offensive line:


Blocking Statistics

Player Pos Team GP GS KRB KRO BPct SkA PPly SPct RPly OPct
Singleton, Shaun G STL 16 16 42 128 32.8 2 490 0.4 534 23.9
Sulfsted, Reuben G STL 14 14 31 74 41.8 5 438 1.1 468 15.8
Bullock, Drew C STL 14 14 24 78 30.7 2 422 0.4 467 16.7
Thomason, Kenny T STL 16 16 24 67 35.8 5 490 1.0 526 12.7
Woods, Walt T STL 16 16 17 69 24.6 3 488 0.6 526 13.1
Barrett, Roger FB STL 15 12 7 23 30.4 0 340 0.0 433 5.3
Barber, Maurice TE STL 16 11 5 9 55.5 0 263 0.0 320 2.8
Havran, Bennie TE STL 16 6 2 9 22.2 0 177 0.0 220 4.0
Donaldson, Terry G STL 6 2 2 7 28.5 0 57 0.0 79 8.8
Fisk, Shawn C STL 7 2 2 9 22.2 0 71 0.0 86 10.4
Lambeau, Dwight T STL 6 0 1 1 100.0 0 9 0.0 24 4.1


Only 17 sacks allowed – that is crazy! Shaun Singleton has become a star-caliber lineman for us, and this group put together a season every bit as good as our far more veteran and cohesive line from the last few seasons. We will continue to work on this unit, but the early returns are more than encouraging.


On defense, Daryl Jeffries was again the obvious leader, but with a bit more help from a secondary that played better this season. CB Faine turned out to be a very solid starter, coming to us cheaply off the free agent rolls. Our four starting DBs each had double digit passes defensed – a nice statistic to watch, I think. Our pass rush was off pretty significantly, but that seemed to be plenty offset by the improved work from the secondary. Overall – the defense put together a very solid season for us, a big improvement on last season.


How good is this team? I have no idea, but there’s reason for Rams fans to be watching the playoffs again…

[QuikSand]

2036 Postseason Summary

Well, everyone has to play – it’s the playoffs after all. So, we trot our Fisk, Jeffries, Wire, and everyone capable of suiting up. We’ll try our best to limp through a week, and see if we can’t get healthier with the sweet medicine of victory!

Wild Card Round: St. Louis (11-5) at Tampa Bay (10-6) – We are favored by 3 on the road here, and if we can slow down their running game, I like our chances. We get a comfortable win with a lot of oddball big plays – a kickoff return TD from Tommy Henson, a fumble recovered for a TD by LT Kenny Thomason, and an interception return for TD by rookie Joey Beecroft – his third pick of the afternoon. St. Louis 28, Tama Bay 13.

Divisional Playoff: St. Louis (12-5) at Philadelphia (11-5) – The Eagles are powered by a mammoth offensive line and a solid defense, and are two point favorites in this game. We are much healthier than last week, and hope to bring our best game here. Philly gets an early lead with a long TD drive, and stays in command throughout, winning it 21-14 and moving to the conference title game.


Philly goes on to beat Houston in the Superbowl.


G Shaun Singleton gets honors as the first team right guard – a great recognition for him. He is our only mention on the awards list.


Good season, a bit better than I had expected, and certainly gives us hope that we are able to go through some significant changes and still put together a good effort. We’ll continue with the OL project-in-progress, and will have a few young players who will be tough to keep together this coming year…

[wade moore]

First comment...

This has to be just about the most run-oriented team I have ever seen you run, which is intrigueing to me... especially considering the lack of productivity out of Spry.. I'm definately a little baffled that he did not lose his starting job though...

[QuikSand]

Loyalty is a funny thing, isn't it?

[wade moore]

Loyalty is a funny thing, isn't it?
Gotcha ;).

[QuikSand]

2037 offseason

Time for a check of our record thus far:


GM Performance for QuikSand of the St. Louis Rams

Year Team Eval Perf Diff Proft FrVal Record Playoffs
2036 STL 46 66 86 37 22 12-6-0 Division Final
2035 STL 38 34 88 39 23 7-9-0 None
2034 STL 50 66 87 43 28 11-7-0 Division Final
2033 STL 53 66 88 51 21 12-6-0 Division Final
2032 STL 50 63 87 47 22 10-7-0 Wild Card Round
2031 STL 53 83 86 42 18 12-4-1 Division Final
2030 STL 37 22 87 47 12 7-9-0 None
2029 STL 58 90 86 53 2 13-4-0 Division Final
2028 STL 53 54 86 61 12 8-8-0 None
2027 STL 52 36 86 70 7 7-9-0 None



Our only retirement is QB Victor Hopson, who was essentially a last-minute fill-in last season – not a guy we had any plans around.


We submit a stadium plan in a new city – and will stealthily seek to work out a new deal to house this club. We can barely draw here in St. Louis, so the move seems warranted. More on that later, when we see the results.


Our coaching trio are all up for new contracts – so this could end up being a transition year. Our hiring limits, set by ownership, might prevent us from returning our guys. Turns out everyone re-signs, and we remain intact. No worries.

[QuikSand]

Free Agency Planning

Okay, last year we re-assembled the offensive line around new leader C Drew Bullock and impressive young guard Shaun Singleton. This year, Singleton is a restricted free agent – I generally sign my rookies from round two and up to 3 year deals, specifically so we can get this chance to re-sign them in an unfettered fashion. Singleton will not come cheaply – the bidding starts at $6 million – but we expect to get him back when it’s all said and done.

Thinking ahead, it might also be wise to be looking for a veteran OL who could take over the OL leadership once we lose Bullock, who is already in his 14th season. We’ll have to grapple with this sooner or later – if we can lock up a decent guy now, that would save me the trouble down the road.


This may be the year for a rebuild of the RB/FB position group. RB Bo Spry is wearing down, and may not be re-signable. If he leaves, it opens us wide for change. RB Dave Burns was a solid ball carrier for us last season, and might get a look for a job going forward, but decent veteran running backs just aren’t hard to come by in a veteran league, so I’m not too worried there. Burns is a mentor and has fairly high leadership – so it’s possible he becomes the guy we decide to hang onto. FB Roger Barrett is a keeper, and that might guide our affinity planning at this position as well.


Once again, we will move aggressively to retain our centerpiece players, QB Dwight Fisk and LB Daryl Jeffries. I also feel like we need to retain our best CB, who will have his first open market year this year. Past that, I don’t want to get into any bidding wars – we will try to retain some continuity, but I’m open to losing incidental players if it happens.


A LIST: QB Dwight Fisk, LB Daryl Jeffries
B LIST: CB Aaron Shaw, G Shaun Singleton (RFA), S Conrad Flannery, LB Shawn Reader, WR Louis Woodson

My best guess is that we will end up cap-strapped this season, especially if we end up spending $10 million on CB Shaw and G Singleton, as I expect it might require…

[QuikSand]

INITIAL FA STAGES (Weeks 1-4)
Immediate re-signings:
Re-signings, no competition: DE Courtney Largent, C Drew Bullock
Re-signings, with competition: LB Daryl Jeffries
New players signed:
Players signed away:

We get some early competition for LB Daryl Jeffries, but his asking price is under $5 million, and I expect we will be okay with our $5m bid. Baltimore is leading the early bidding on both him and (in week two) QB Fisk, but I believe my offers will keep both key players. Jeffries signs with us in week three, but Fisk is still considering his offer from the Ravens.

We do lock up two group leaders in Largent and Bullock, securing our chemistry structures along both sides of the trenches.

But not as much action here as we are used to seeing… we are in competition for CB Aaron Shaw and S Conrad Flannery after a couple of weeks, and these situations remain unresolved.

[QuikSand]

MIDDLE FA STAGES (Weeks 5-15)
Re-signings, no competition: RB Dave Burns, LG Reuben Sulfsted
Re-signings, with competition: QB Dwight Fisk, S Conrad Flannery, CB Aaron Shaw, WR Louis Woodson
New players signed: CB Derrick Bush
Players signed away: TE Maurice Barber, RB Morris Lovejoy

QB Dwight Fisk finally agrees to our offer, so we have our two central players back, and their total cost remains pretty reasonable. S Conrad Flannery also accepts our offer, but at $3.8 million, he’s more pricey than I had planned.

TE Maurice Barber signs a deal with Buffalo, who is also pursuing WR Louis Woodson. We cannot afford to lose Woodson, our most talented receiver, so I make a solid bid and retain him.

CB Aaron Shaw finally decides to accept our contract of $6.6 million, and turns down a long term deal with Jacksonville to do it. We are spending money, but it’s in the places where we expected to have to spend it. No real problems yet.


I am positively elated with the signing of CB Derrick Bush, who looks like an absolutely perfect fit for us. 7th year guy, he’s expert in bump coverage (98 rating) that we run, and he drops right into our affinity scheme. Wow. At a position where we have been scrambling a bit for decent guys, this guy walked right off the drawing board for us, and is basically playing for peanuts.


We re-sign RB Dave Burns, and I am leaning strongly toward building around him as a long-term guy. He’s good enough to b either a #1 or #2 option at RB, he is a mentor, and if we get him into the position leadership role, he will have a good bond with young FB Roger Barrett. That sounds good to me – his weakness is his low personality score (19) which might make for some weak chemistry, and his vulnerable leadership score (76) which might preclude some veteran players who would wrest the leadership from him. In any event – we are now looking at the running backs group with Burns in mind as the presumed leader – which means that Spry and Munoz will both be off the team this year.

RB Morris Lovejoy got a solid offer from Tampa – I like the idea of a versatile utility running back, but after his season-long injury last year, I didn’t know if we could count on him – we may look to draft a RB for that sort of duty.

[QuikSand]

FINAL FA STAGES (Weeks 16-20)
Re-signings, no competition: WR Gino Brannan, WR Cedric Massicott, WR Tommy Henson, TE Bennie Havran, LB Adam Bauer
Re-signings, with competition:
New players signed: WR Ron Sarmiento
Players signed away:


WR Ron Sarmiento is a decent receiver – we outbid Seattle for him, and he might manage to earn the backup split end job, essentially the #4 receiver. The contract is bonus-free, and if we get younger at WR, he might be a casualty as well – he does not represent a significant move at the position, just some insurance.

The rest of our re-signings are just routine guys who don’t have another option, and come back to us once again.


We head toward the rookie draft with 28 player signed, and $24.8 million in usable cap space (after deducting the $3m or so we expect to pay our rookie class). We do expect to have to spend to re-sign G Singleton and LB Reader, and there will be a few more who get a bit over a million – but I think our cap situation will be manageable this season on balance.

[QuikSand]

Rookie Draft

Dwight Fisk is craving an impact receiver, but at pick #28, I don’t know if we’re likely to see anyone who will make a big, immediate difference. That would be our ideal scenario, though, to get a pass-catching target right off the bat. Heath McIntyre, Jr. (24/54) looks like a solid prospect but did not impress at the combines. RB Earl Smallwood might convert to WR effectively, or he might be able to contribute as a utility back/slot receiver for us – but he isn’t a first round selection in my view, either.

In addition to WR, we would welcome a quality addition to our OL, especially at tackle. I think DE would be another target position, as we are seeing Courtney Largent and Van Rivera enter their waning years, and we could stand to have someone locked up long term there.


As our pick approaches, I don’t see anyone to really be enthused about – certainly not a trade-up situation. The best fits for us at DL and WR are both reaches and are both unsupported by combine scores, making me nervous anyway. I am surprised to see RB Earl Smallwood selected at pick #21 – I was thinking he might make a nice second round pick for us, but no dice there. More evidence this is a weak draft.

From #28, we trade down into the middle of round two, and will be looking for a bargain guy to slide to us there. I get exactly the guy I was hoping to get here – WR McIntyre comes aboard at a much more reasonable slot here, and will certainly get a shot to contribute for us right away.

Our scout adjusts his view of McIntyre down by 5 points immediately after the selection, so I am a bit worried that he will be a real bust/ He does, however, at least have some return skills, so he should not be a total loss, even if he doesn’t provide a great boost to the receiving corps.


Amateur Draft Report:

Rnd 2 - Heath McIntyre Jr., WR, Temple
Rnd 3 - William Borders, TE, Brigham Young
Rnd 4 - Tommy Holmes, S, Wake Forest


I trade out of our late round two pick, and we will have two extra second rounders next season – hopefully in a better draft overall.

Third round pick William Borders (26/59) will get a shot at tight end, where we have lost a veteran and need a young addition. I deal my last two picks to move up into round four, and we select an intriguing DB Tommy Holmes (25/49) who might have some upside potential and was likely to go before our fifth rounder.

Not much to see here – in a weak draft, we largely move our capital into next season. And what we got with our three picks doesn’t look like a real impact right away, in any event.


On the electoral front:


Your proposal to move to Memphis was
submitted to the voters of its county for
a decision.

The issue failed.

Here's the final vote tally:

Rejected: 535,581 - 62.1%
In Favor: 326,989 - 37.8%


We are clearly a team that is unwanted. We might give Memphis another shot (with a less luxurious stadium plan), or we might try to locate a city even more desperate for home team sports.

[QuikSand]

Late Free Agency

Time to bring the team together.

We have 32 players signed, including all three rookies. Young Heath McIntyre is the son of a HOF linebacker, a guy who, coincidentally, played his last season in St. Louis for the Rams. I’m not sure that his son will live up to that billing, but we’ll be hoping for the best from him – we really could use a shot in the arm of the passing game.

C Jackie Wooden is a very solid veteran lineman, a 16th year powerful run blocker, and so far, unpursued. he’s looking for a little more than $2 million a year – I put in an offer to try to sneak him for a bit less. My hope would be to start him at C, and then use our position leader Bullock as the top reserve at all three interior positions.

At the moment, we only have two backs signed for our backfield – RB Dave Burns, and FB Roger Barrett. We must have at least two more guys, and I am somewhat unimpressed by the legion of undrafted rookies. One option will be to yank FB/TE William Borders back to play FB, as I am pretty enthusiastic about undrafted tight end Irv Peterson, who at 289 pounds has tremendous blocking strength, but clearly wants nothing to do with the FB spot.


C Jackie Wooden immediately accepts our offer, giving us a nice added force on the O-line. We also sign LB Shawn Reader to a new deal, as he was probably our best remaining unrestricted guy.

I go ahead and re-position FB Borders as a fullback, and intend to offer Portly Irv Peterson a roster spot at tight end. It’s intriguing to think about a 300 pound pass target.


Our deal with G Shaun Singleton totals $6.5 million. Wow. Once again, he is less willing to work out a one year deal than he would be to take a long term deal with bonus money. Regardless, we lock him up, and prepare him for a lot of work ahead.

As we close down the late FA period, and have most of our restricted free agents re-signed, the last troubling guy is LT Walt Woods. He wants a multi-year deal at $2.1m per season – which isn’t ridiculous. But he just isn’t listening to my one year offers at all. Not even at $3 million. Losing him could easily leave us with Dwight Lambeau starting on the left side, and that doesn’t seem adequate to me – so I reluctantly put in an offer to extend Kenny Thomason (again) and suspect he will start at LT for us one more season – not really what I had in mind, honestly.


We head into training camp with 60 players signed – a perfect complement for the upcoming preseason. We waive goodbye to RB Bo Spry and LT Walt Woods.

[QuikSand]

Training Camp

I shift our emphasis in camp a bit more toward the run, as it looks like our line is geared that way once again. We will run a pretty balanced offense, I suspect, but the power running game will be pretty prominent, as we ought to be pretty strong right up the middle. Without a key addition at WR, it will be tough to really pitch the ball around all that much – we will probably again depend on the usual suspects for the receiving game.


Player # Pos Start Exp CE FE CE FE dCE dFE
Fisk, Dwight 9 QB 11 67 67 67 67 0 0
Turner, Kendall 7 QB 4 44 55 49 55 5 0
Hubble, Bryant 18 QB 1 12 36 13 32 1 -4
Burns, Dave 47 RB 6 35 35 35 35 0 0
Hawkins, Dan 49 RB 1 27 35 28 34 1 -1
Lavelli, Robert 34 RB 1 22 36 22 33 0 -3
Street, Rodney 28 RB 1 18 32 18 30 0 -2
Barrett, Roger 44 FB 2 69 77 73 77 4 0
Borders, William 42 FB 1 26 60 28 59 2 -1
Havran, Bennie 83 TE 8 45 45 45 45 0 0
Peterson, Irv 85 TE 1 29 47 32 48 3 1
Massicott, Cedric 82 FL 8 33 38 33 38 0 0
Henson, Tommy 86 FL 14 29 32 31 37 2 5
Donovan, Darrin 27 FL 2 29 47 31 47 2 0
Brannan, Gino 45 FL 5 29 37 29 32 0 -5
McIntyre Jr., Heath 89 FL 1 24 49 26 44 2 -5
Woodson, Louis 17 SE 7 40 43 40 43 0 0
Sarmiento, Ron 84 SE 4 37 42 40 42 3 0
Doyle, Leo 87 SE 2 26 36 27 36 1 0
Wooden, Jackie 51 C 16 58 67 58 67 0 0
Bullock, Drew 56 C 15 43 43 43 43 0 0
Penrod, Neil 58 C 2 19 37 21 37 2 0
Fisk, Shawn 54 C 2 9 27 11 27 2 0
Sulfsted, Reuben 73 LG 7 53 53 53 53 0 0
Lindsay, Kurt 61 LG 4 16 25 18 25 2 0
Singleton, Shaun 70 RG 4 67 76 67 76 0 0
Thomason, Kenny 69 LT 7 39 41 39 41 0 0
Lambeau, Dwight 60 LT 4 29 56 32 56 3 0
Zytniak, Jim 74 LT 3 18 45 21 45 3 0
Horton, Erik 3 P 3 83 83 83 83 0 0
Wallace, Charles 5 K 11 41 45 41 45 0 0
Largent, Courtney 93 LDE 15 31 32 31 32 0 0
Logan, Howard 72 LDE 2 20 32 20 32 0 0
Rivera, Van 95 RDE 11 38 43 38 43 0 0
Blackshear, Wendell 94 RDE 3 31 40 34 40 3 0
Lowe, Orlando 92 RDT 11 42 43 42 43 0 0
Green, Kelvin 78 RDT 9 39 44 39 44 0 0
Wire, Gerald 99 NT 3 52 85 54 85 2 0
Parker, Ethan 79 NT 4 40 45 42 45 2 0
Moore, Duane 76 NT 3 29 44 31 44 2 0
Jeffries, Daryl 90 WILB 11 64 68 64 68 0 0
Keith, Jimmie 91 WILB 4 46 46 46 46 0 0
Reader, Shawn 98 MLB 12 48 52 48 52 0 0
Bauer, Adam 52 MLB 12 28 33 28 33 0 0
Maltman, Dan 55 SLB 3 37 49 39 49 2 0
Benton, Lamar 20 SLB 3 17 41 20 41 3 0
Guarino, Jon 57 WLB 3 28 47 30 47 2 0
Kingsblood, Orlando 37 LCB 3 39 55 42 55 3 0
Shaw, Aaron 39 RCB 5 64 65 64 65 0 0
Bush, Derrick 41 RCB 7 51 51 51 51 0 0
Faine, Shawn 35 RCB 4 49 49 49 49 0 0
Schofer, Luther 29 RCB 2 20 48 24 48 4 0
Bennewith, Clyde 21 RCB 2 17 32 19 32 2 0
Beecroft, Joey 25 SS 2 68 85 73 85 5 0
Pearson, Brock 31 SS 7 43 43 43 43 0 0
Flannery, Conrad 26 FS 6 54 54 54 54 0 0
Samuels, Juan 46 FS 4 25 34 26 34 1 0
Holmes, Tommy 33 FS 1 24 46 25 42 1 -4
Reeves, Andy 23 FS 2 16 31 18 31 2 0
Gaines, Bo 36 FS 1 13 32 15 36 2 4


We get lousy news from our top draftees – all lost ground in training camp, boding poorly for down the road. The best news is from fringe players – like S Bo Gaines, who even after his great camp still looks very marginal. TE Portly Irv Peterson rewarded my faith, and bumped a little bit – he ought to be fine as a backup tight end for us.


We have an intriguing trade offer in – a first round pick for backup QB Kendall Turner. I like Turner, and think he has a future – he is developing much like Dwight Fisk did when he was young. A first rounder, though, is a lot to pass up. I haven’t given much though to trades in this career, largely because almost none of our players are eligible to be traded – but this is too good to pass up, and we accept the deal.

Part of the reason we do the trade is that Grant Griswold is a decent, double-affinity QB on the free agent wire, and I feel that he would probably be okay as our backup this year. Turner is, of course, on a one year deal – we’ll see if Philadelphia elects to sign him to a long-term deal, or if he reappears in the free agent market next offseason. (Anyone betting on the former here?)


We did get a nice veteran bump-up from WR Tommy Henson, making him a factor in our considerations as well. He has been an effective return man, but a little-used option at WR for us, but this year he became a position mentor, and got this rating bump. He, Darrin Donovan, and Heath McIntyre are all competing to do largely the same jobs – none is likely to become a monster from the third WR spot, but I think Henson might have that job to start the year.



From: Director of Operations

St. Louis sold 14,500 season tickets for the season out of a capacity of 66,000.


The local fans are a disgrace, and we are in an urgent need to relocate this team, for all that’s right in fake sports.


In the preseason, we will trot out our usual gang of youngsters and projects, and will be watching the RB “battle” closely. Somebody has to make the team – Lavelli and Street probably have the inside track. If Lavelli can prove he’s good enough to get some carries, he probably wins the #2 RB job. Street has an affinity and can play some special teams, but seems spotty in his ratings – he will get some chances as well.

Grant Griswold looks pretty decent in our preseason debut, and running backs Robert Lavelli and Dan Hawkins both run well for us. After the four games, I think we are going to carry two rookie running backs, and I think both Lavelli and Street will make the team, unless I have more trouble making cuts than I expect.

Our preseason losses are S Brock Pearson (IR with broken leg) and LB Jon Guarino (IR with hammy) – and I am worried about our defensive depth, especially up front. LB Reader will miss several weeks with an elbow problem – it looks like we might be going to Dan Maltman as a starter. I’m enthusiastic about him, and maybe it’s his time to shine.


Here is the roster as we head into the first regular season game, including the starting lineups indicated.


St. Louis Rams Roster, Attitude Advisory

Player # Pos Start Playing Time Chemistry
Fisk, Dwight 9 QB QB Content
Griswold, Grant 11 QB Content 1 Affinity with lea
Hubble, Bryant 18 QB Content 1 Affinity with lea
Burns, Dave 47 RB RB Content Backfield Leader
##Street, Rodney 28 RB Content Affinity
Lavelli, Robert 34 RB Content
Barrett, Roger 44 FB FB Content Mild Affinity
Borders, William 42 FB Content Mild Affinity
Havran, Bennie 83 TE TE Content Affinity
Peterson, Portly Irv 85 TE Content
Brannan, Gino 86 FL FL Content
##Massicott, Cedric 82 FL Content Receivers Leader
Henson, Tommy 45 FL Content Affinity
Donovan, Darrin 27 FL Content
##McIntyre Jr., Heath 89 FL Content Strong Affinity
Woodson, Louis 17 SE SE Content Affinity
Doyle, Leo 87 SE Content Affinity
Wooden, Jackie 51 C C Content Affinity
Bullock, Drew 56 C Content Offensive Line Lead
Fisk, Shawn 54 C Content Strong Affinity
Sulfsted, Reuben 73 LG LG Content Strong Affinity
##Lindsay, Kurt 61 LG Content Affinity
Singleton, Shaun 70 RG RG Content Strong Affinity
Thomason, Kenny 69 LT LT Content
Lambeau, Dwight 60 LT RT Unhappy
Zytniak, Jim 74 LT Content
Horton, Erik 3 P Content
Wallace, Charles 5 K Content
Largent, Courtney 93 LDE Content Defensive Front Lea
##Logan, Howard 72 LDE Content Affinity
Rivera, Van 95 RDE RDE Disgruntled Affinity
Blackshear, Wendell 94 RDE Disgruntled Affinity
Lowe, Orlando 92 RDT Disgruntled Affinity
Green, Kelvin 78 RDT LDE Content
Parker, Ethan 79 NT Content Affinity
Wire, Gerald 99 NT NT Content Mild Affinity
Moore, Duane 76 NT Content Affinity
Jeffries, Daryl 90 WILB WILB Content
Keith, Jimmie 91 WILB SILB Content Mild Affinity
Bauer, Adam 52 MLB WLB Content Affinity
**Reader, Shawn 98 MLB Content Affinity
Maltman, Dan 55 SLB SLB Content Mild Affinity
Benton, Lamar 20 SLB Disgruntled Affinity
**Guarino, Jon 57 WLB Content Affinity
Kingsblood, Orlando 37 LCB Content Strong Affinity
Bush, Derrick 41 RCB LCB Content Affinity
Shaw, Aaron 39 RCB RCB Content Strong Affinity
Faine, Shawn 35 RCB Content
##Schofer, Luther 29 RCB Content Strong Affinity
Bennewith, Clyde 21 RCB Content Affinity
**Pearson, Brock 31 SS Content Secondary Leader
Beecroft, Joey 25 SS SS Content Affinity
Flannery, Conrad 26 FS FS Content Strong Affinity
##Samuels, Juan 46 FS Content Affinity
Holmes, Tommy 33 FS Content Strong Affinity


Our affinity count remains high – 36 this year. We have a few phantom affinities due to low personality scores, and a couple of spots where we just haven’t landed quality affinity guys yet (OT) but on balance, I’m pleased with the structure we have here.


A forecast for this season? I guess more of the same. I hope the defense can remain as strong as last season – injuries might play a big role, but the secondary’s play will be critical. We need more pass rush, and will hope that a more visible role from Kelvin Green can help there – we will jumble the lineup if needed. On offense, the rushing duties will fall to Burns and Barrett – I doubt we get a 1,000 yard back, but our goal is to rush for 2,000 yards, whoever does it.

Our roster rating is 62, again about in the middle. Carolina is tops, and San Fran is tops in our division. Cohesion stands at 100-81-99-72, which is a mixed bag but still improving.

My best guess is that this is, once again, a playoff-caliber team, but not a major title threat. Maybe another 10-win season and a decent playoff berth is where the bidding starts. Past that would be a pleasant surprise.

[QuikSand]

2037 season

We start off at 2-2, with no major injuries contributing to our situation. RB Burns is getting the lion’s share of the carries, and I decide to tweak the setting to get Barrett more involved. Gino Brannan continues to be Fisk’s top receiving target, despite visibly declining ratings. Our defense is playing just brilliantly so far, and now Shawn Reader is back to help out the defensive front.

After another loss, we suffer a serious injury – Daryl Jeffries, out for the year with a serious hamstring pull. This is bad news – he has been our heart and soul on defense, and this is the first extended period we will be without him. It’s listed as a 19-week injury, definitely an IR case. We sign old friend Emmanuel Chustz for the balance of the season – he will probably get some fill-in time as a key reserve, much needed.

We get a few wins, and reach the midpoint at a respectable 5-3. Here are the team stats halfway through:


2037 Summary for St. Louis Rams

Record: 5-3
Winning Pct.: .625

St. Louis Rams Team Rank
Rushes 260 3
Rushing Yards 1152 3
Yards Per Carry 4.43 9
Pass Attempts 252 13
Completions 157 10 (T)
Passing Yards 1919 9
Yards Per Attempt 7.61 11
3rd Down Conversions 46.6 9
Points Per Game 20.5 15 (T)
Turnovers 12 23 (T)
Turnover Margin -2 19 (T)

Opponents Team Rank
Rushes 191 9
Rushing Yards 706 8
Yards Per Carry 3.69 11 (T)
Pass Attempts 273 28
Completions 159 27
Passing Yards 1715 17
Yards Per Attempt 6.28 2 (T)
3rd Down Conversions 40.5 7
Points Per Game 17.5 7
Turnovers 10 12 (T)


We are basically playing a little bit above average in most respects, and we are once again very tough defending against the pass. I’d like to see our run stopping improve a bit, but overall it’s very tough to argue with these numbers. If we get some turnovers to swing our way, we could get on a nice little roll.

I was worried about my position leader C Drew Bullock getting angry for essentially being benched – but he has barely had time to notice, since he has been starting pretty much every week for someone’s injury. He’s fine.

Dwight Fisk has his first really big game beating Atlanta, as he goes to Henson (6-81, 1TD) and Donovan (4-134, 2TD) more than ever. Good game, maybe a sign of things to come? But in the following week, it’s Fisk who gets hurt. He will miss a few games, as our winning streak dries up in a hurry. At 6-4, we are two games behind Seattle in the division, and are trying to stay alive in the wild card race. Good time for a bye week, for certain.

We suffer two close losses with Grant Griswold at the helm – and right now, it’s very tough to look back on the deal that sent away our solid backup QB prospect. Griswold hasn’t exactly been falling down like Chevy Chase out there, but 5 TDs and 5 interceptions in three weeks isn’t the ratio that this team needs to win. They have all been close losses, too – suggesting that just a little edge might have turned one or more of them. We need Fisk back, and now.

Behind Fisk, we get a win in Houston – no mean feat. That makes us 7-6, and again in the hunt. Dave Burns lights things up with over 200 yards from scrimmage – and after 11 games, he is already approaching 1,000 yards for the year. He has gotten a bit more than 60% of the carries for us, and has played pretty well in his first season as the main ball carrier.

A loss to Seattle (who has been crashing) drops us to 7-7, and all but eliminates us from the division race. We need to run off two wins to get in this time – 9-7 might do the trick, but 8-8 certainly will not.

So, we pound Tennessee, and get win #8. A win at home against San Francisco would give us a shot – but it depends on other games. We hold up our end of the deal with the win, but Minnesota wins their last game, and we end up on the outside of a four-way tie for 6th in the division – meaning we and Carolina go home, while Minnesota and Washington go play. Ugh.


2037 Summary for St. Louis Rams

Record: 9-7
Winning Pct.: .562

St. Louis Rams Team Rank
Rushes 498 7
Rushing Yards 2246 4
Yards Per Carry 4.51 6
Pass Attempts 502 24
Completions 303 25
Passing Yards 3768 13
Yards Per Attempt 7.50 8
3rd Down Conversions 43.4 16
Points Per Game 22.5 9
Turnovers 23 19
Turnover Margin -1 18 (T)

Opponents Team Rank
Rushes 396 5
Rushing Yards 1552 5
Yards Per Carry 3.91 9 (T)
Pass Attempts 544 24
Completions 313 12 (T)
Passing Yards 3519 6
Yards Per Attempt 6.46 2
3rd Down Conversions 39.5 6
Points Per Game 19.3 11 (T)
Turnovers 22 15 (T)

Week Team Versus Oppnt
1 25 at ARI 35
2 20 JAX 3
3 10 NYG 17
4 14 at NOS 7
5 24 CAR 27
6 24 TBY 21
7 34 at SFO 20
8 13 ARI 10
9 30 at ATL 21
10 20 SEA 23
12 24 IND 27
13 17 at CHI 24
14 26 at HOU 16
15 17 at SEA 21
16 32 at TEN 13
17 30 SFO 24

Passing Pos Att Comp Yards Y/Att TD Int
9 Fisk QB 413 254 3116 7.54 20 12
11 Griswold QB 89 49 652 7.32 5 5
**Team --- 502 303 3768 7.50 25 17

Rushing Pos Att Yards Y/Att TD
47 Burns RB 307 1263 4.11 9
44 Barrett FB 98 411 4.19 3
9 Fisk QB 56 384 6.85 1
**Team --- 498 2246 4.51 13

Receiving Pos Targ Catch Yards Y/Ctc YAC TD
86 Brannan WR 95 56 859 15.3 92 4
44 Barrett FB 72 51 502 9.8 225 4
47 Burns RB 62 45 362 8.0 118 4
27 Donovan WR 64 37 594 16.0 92 5
17 Woodson WR 69 35 449 12.8 80 4
45 Henson WR 48 25 393 15.7 43 2
85 Peterson TE 35 23 293 12.7 57 2
83 Havran TE 33 20 242 12.1 58 0
**Team --- 502 303 3768 12.4 779 25

Defense Pos Tack Asst Sack Hurr Ints Defn
91 Keith ILB 108 36 1.0 5 0 5
25 Beecroft S 79 26 0.0 2 2 11
55 Maltman OLB 65 18 3.5 5 0 11
26 Flannery S 60 32 1.5 0 1 10
39 Shaw CB 57 13 0.5 0 3 5
41 Bush CB 53 15 0.0 0 0 14
98 Reader ILB 44 15 1.0 2 1 6
52 Bauer ILB 42 17 3.5 1 0 1
99 Wire DT 39 16 6.0 12 0 0
35 Faine CB 31 5 0.0 1 2 8
90 Jeffries ILB 28 16 1.5 0 0 3
78 Green DT 27 7 10.5 25 0 0
95 Rivera DE 26 9 2.0 4 0 0
37 Kingsblood CB 23 3 0.0 0 2 4
86 Brannan WR 18 0 0.0 0 0 0
**Team --- 808 237 38.0 74 13 80


So, a review of the numbers. The offense maintained its solid effort all year – even with the down spell, we ended up top ten rushing and passing, a nice benchmark. We easily hit our target of 2,000 rushing yards – got there in 14 games. Dave Burns furthers the notion that the RB position on this team is simply plug-and-play… anyone can do fine, it seems. It’s nice not to have to spend any money on a key position like that. Roger Barrett approaches 1,000 total yards, despite not getting quite the piece of the rushing pie that I had expected/promised.

Among our receivers, Gino Brannan was still top dog, but his days are numbered. He was one of the first free agents we signed on this team – a decent-enough guy for a one year deal, and he just stuck around – forever. Now, he’s a 14th year veteran, and is showing his age. He still has the high “route running” rating, but the rest is slipping, and I half expect a retirement. Darrin Donovan is ready to take over the starting flanker job, but I will be open to a wholesale change at the position as well – that could be our next affinity-rebuilding project.

Small kudos to Portly Irv Peterson, who may well be on his way to becoming our starting TE with a decent year filling in for a twice-injured Bennie Havran. Could happen…

As for the offensive line:


Blocking Statistics

Player Pos Team GP GS KRB KRO BPct SkA PPly SPct RPly OPct
Singleton, Shaun G STL 15 15 44 108 40.7 7 500 1.4 457 23.6
Wooden, Jackie C STL 14 14 28 91 30.7 2 468 0.4 435 20.9
Sulfsted, Reuben G STL 12 12 18 60 30.0 5 373 1.3 338 17.7
Bullock, Drew C STL 16 10 16 37 43.2 2 360 0.5 355 10.4
Lambeau, Dwight T STL 16 16 14 50 28.0 13 523 2.4 485 10.3
Thomason, Kenny T STL 13 13 13 42 30.9 6 386 1.5 349 12.0


We see another solid effort from the line – with essentially a six-man rotation in play. A lot more sacks yielded this year, for some reason – Lambeau let through his share (and then some) but everyone was disappointing, save Jackie Wooden and Drew Bullock – who had perhaps his best season, as a perpetual fill-in starter at four different positions.


On defense, it seems we did rejuvenate the pass rush a bit with Kelvin green taking over for a rapidly-aging Courtney Largent at DE. Green posted a solid 7.2 PRPct, his best since his glory days with us in 2032-33. However, it does look like both Courtney Largent and Van Rivera are basically done – neither one was at all productive for us this season, and both are showing their wear. Gerald Wire is emerging as a major force for our front, now contributing in the pass rush as well. I expect a huge season next year from him.

With a jumble at LB, we got a notable season from young LB Dan Maltman – he is not a major run stopper, but is outstanding in coverage, and was solid in the pass rush. He might not give back the Sam job after this season. (Becoming a personal favorite of mine – I like that name “Maltman” too) Jimmie Keith played very well, and might have to suit up for an even bigger role for us down the line – he’s a long-term keeper for this team, too.

We were tough to pass against, but again we did not really stir up many picks and make big plays. That is the missing element from this bend-don’t-break defense we seem to have – we need a few guys who break your back. S Joey Beecroft is fully developed as a star for us, and he can be that guy soon – for now, the group at CB is doing rather well, I’ll admit, as we have gotten some real luck with free agents who have fit perfectly for us. A minsal Derrick Bush and his 14 passes defensed was like mana from heaven.


So – a slightly disappointing season, made so by the close call in the playoff hunt. But we are about where I thought we would be – in the upper half of the league, but not in the top tier of serious contenders.


Seattle goes to the Superbowl, and loses their third in five seasons, this time to Buffalo.


Our lone rep on the Pro Bowl team is, once again, G Shaun Singleton, who is named to the second team.

We wrap up the season with big questions surrounding LB Daryl Jeffries – who has been with us since the beginning, but who remains seriously injured as we finish here.

[QuikSand]

Fascinating. I got fired.

I’m glad I have a chance to ignore it… but I’m shocked. No warnings, no probationary period, just “get out!” We never drew many fans – I wonder if that is somehow a function of the number and quality of players that are actually signed on my team as we begin each new season? (I don’t recall ever having such attendance problems in any career – and that would be this biggest difference in this particular one)

In any event, I trudge onward…

[wade moore]

Are you telling me that you will not accept a firing?

[Izulde]

So now what are you going to do? Try the Affinity Project with the next team you get hired?

[QuikSand]

In the game, there is an "out" where you can choose to essentially ignore being fired. That is what I have chosen to do here -- as I am convinced that my firing is a curious result of the empty rosters we are starting every year with, which I think underlies the team's ticket sales for some reason.

[QuikSand]

2038 offseason

Our usual routine as we kick off the new year is to check the retirement list for departures. We’ll get to that in a moment. Now, we need to check on the status of LB Daryl Jeffries – our very first draft pick, and our foundation defensive player. Coming off an awful injury – here is the transition from last year to this year:


End of 2037 Overall 63/68 Run Defense 82/90 BNR Coverage 87/98
Start of 2038 Overall 63/68 Run Defense 82/90 BNR Coverage 87/98

He is all recovered, with no immediate ill effects. He may prove to be more injury-prone now, but at least he is the same guy we have counted on for 11 seasons. Good news.


Retirements? We have three. C Jackie Wooden was a venerable signing, we knew we’d get only one or maybe two seasons from him – but he is one and out after all.

LB Adam Bauer was essentially a solid run-stopper, and we used him as a backup to our inside LBs, and a sometime-starter at the weak OLB slot. Never great, but he did one thing well. His last seven seasons were spent in St. Louis.

WR Cedric Massicott was on the team these last three years for one main reason – he’s an anchor for affinity. Now he’s gone, and it might bring about a major upheaval at the position group. At the moment, this makes Tommy Henson our position leader (and mentor), and we have three affinities with him. That may be the way to go, or we could look at bringing in a new face with a leadership role in mind, and build around him. I’m open either way.


LB Orlando McNeil, incidentally, has been inducted into the Hall of Fame. Of his 15 seasons, he spent three (his last) with us, playing solidly as an inside linebacker mostly. 1,277 tackles in 14 seasons and a career TkPct of 15.8 – yep, that’s a HOF career all right.

Another short-time Ram QB Vince Winslett is also inducted – he played here for only a half season, but had a long and fruitful career as well, playing for 9 different teams.

A couple of years ago, I missed the inductions of short-time Rams CB Karl Hulton and RB Bernard McDonald as well.


I think it is time for a change at head coach. I resolve to stick with my policy of hiring only “new” staff members (no experience) and my best bet seems to be Joe Martinez, 58. His strong suits are avoid injuries (VG) and defensive playcalling (VG) – we will make do with less on the offensive side (though he is seemingly better than our outgoing coach).

Terry Stevens leaves us with a record of 73-46-1, five playoff appearances in seven seasons, and a legacy of playoff whimpers. We will hope for the best wit Joe Martinez, who accepts our offer and comes aboard.

[QuikSand]

Free Agency Preparation

Okay, we have some work to do with this team. The offensive line needs more building – especially at both tackles. We need to add quality, affinity, or preferably both.


We also lost our position leader at WR, and are adrift there. A possible candidate to take the helm is incumbent Tommy Henson (6th year, 97 leadership). However, he lacks affinity with any of the guys I consider “keys” to this team – WR Louis Woodson, WR Gino Brannan, and WR Darrin Donovan are all going to be on this team – and Henson links to none of them. (He is the same sign as Woodson) We would get a bigger hit if we could bring aboard a veteran leader from the Scorpio group (months 10-11) who would generate affinity with at least a couple more guys than that.


Player # Pos Start HT WT Exp Birthdate Affinities Conflict

Havran, Bennie 83 TE 6-1 243 9 04/08/2007 5-6 10-11 1-2
Peterson, Portly Irv 85 TE 6-7 289 2 04/21/2014 2-3 6-7 9-10
Brannan, Gino 86 FL 5-8 189 15 05/06/2002 2-3 6-7 9-10
Henson, Tommy 45 FL 6-2 230 6 05/27/2010 3-4 10-11 8-9
Donovan, Darrin 27 FL 5-11 216 3 12/11/2013 7-8 8-9 6-7
McIntyre Jr., Heath 89 FL 6-1 210 2 04/15/2014 5-6 10-11 1-2
Woodson, Louis 17 SE 6-4 216 8 06/20/2008 3-4 10-11 8-9
Doyle, Leo 87 SE 6-3 209 3 03/22/2014 5-6 10-11 1-2


So, with that group – where could we strike it rich? A Scorpio (10-11) gains affinities with five guys, potentially, and that’s what we built this group around.

We could just focus on the guys who have secured a long term slot with us, though – right now, I’d say that might be Henson, Donovan, and Peterson. The best match for those guys would be a Pisces (2-3) who would gain two affinities, and wouldn’t conflict with anyone on the team currently. He’d have to outdo Henson for the leadership role, so this would have to be an established (veteran) player with high leadership. Is there such a guy out there?

In short – nope.

So, what if we keep Henson installed as the leader? We can count on the affinities with our two young draft picks, McIntyre and Doyle for this year. Doyle probably leaves after this season, and McIntyre after two years – neither seems to be a long term keeper other than the affinity connection. So, we’d be building for an affinity future, basically – we’d be looking for guys who work with Henson (who could stay on the team for a long time) and gain affinity by attrition. Gino Brannan can’t have more than one or two more years left – assuming he stays with us, which isn’t even certain. And Louis Woodson has the benefit of incumbency, but is not a spectacular star in his own right.

Looking over the grid above, I don’t see a better strategy than to build things around Henson. And I don’t see any player in free agency who would make a lot more sense – Henson has moderate skills so he will remain cheap, he’s already a mentor, and he has solid return skills – it’s tough to complain about a guy like that wedging into your long range planning. Pop in one more bonus – he gets along great with Dwight Fisk, too. Gravy.


We have another affinity situation on our hands. DE Courtney Largent is unhappy about his benching from last season (understandably, I’ll admit) and is not interested in re-signing with us. There is some chance that he might sign after training camp – but for right now, I have to assume that he is leaving us for good.

Where will that leave us along the front seven, where we have affinities with nearly everyone? In hot water, simply put.

I can’t even tell who would become the new position leader – possibly DT Gerald Wire (4th year, 99 leadership) or more likely LB Shawn Reader (13th year, 71 leadership). Either guy is a Capricorn (12-1) and would have no affinity with the many other Capricorns in the group. Clearly, the key is to maintain the system we have by replacing Largent as leader (if necessary) with another guy from the same sign as him – a Libra (9-10). Who is out there who could do the trick?

I have one candidate, and this comes after a rigorous search. WLB Joel Fecht is an 8th year player, with an 84 rating for leadership. My guess is that he gets the nod over Wire/Reader, but I can’t be too certain. I think our best bet is to cross our fingers, and hope that we can smooth things over with Courtney Largent following training camp, assuming nobody signs him before then. But we have rough seas ahead once he goes, and that can’t possibly take all that long to happen.

Our revised affinity chart now reads thusly:


AFFINITY ANALYSIS

# Sign Begin End Affs Conflict Leaders
1 Aries 3/21 4/20 3 8 11
2 Taurus 4/21 5/21 4 12 7
3 Gemini 5/22 6/21 1 8 6
4 Cancer 6/22 7/23 2 12 9 WR
5 Leo 7/24 8/23 6 9 10
6 Virgo 8/24 9/23 5 9 3 DB,OL
7 Libra 9/24 10/23 1011 2 D7
8 Scorpio 10/24 11/22 1 3 12 RB
9 Sagittarius 11/23 12/22 5 6 4
10 Capricorn 12/23 1/20 7 11 5
11 Aquarius 1/21 2/18 7 10 1
12 Pisces 2/19 3/20 2 4 8

POS Affinity Affinity Conflict

RB 3-4 5-6 2-3
WR 3-4 10-11 8-9
OL 7-8 11-12 5-6
D7 12-1 1-2 4-5
DB 7-8 11-12 5-6

QB 3-4,7-8,11-12 best; 1-2,10-11,12-1 good


Okay, back to the regular thought process, so rudely interrupted…


We have a now-familiar list of priority players for the team in place – as out A list gets older, their contract demands are falling, and that has lessened our burden of carrying them both each year a bit.

A LIST: QB Dwight Fisk, LB Daryl Jeffries
B LIST: G Shaun Singleton, CB Aaron Shaw, S Conrad Flannery, LB Shawn Reader, CB Derrick Bush, LB Jimmie Keith

In my mind, the weak link here might be S Flannery, who has been getting interest from elsewhere in recent years. I like him, he plays pretty well, but he is a big part of the reason why we don’t have a lot of big plays in our secondary – maybe a more interception-prone player at free safety would bring our turnover rates back up?

If CB Aaron Shaw again seeks monster money, he could end up departing, too – though I really think he is the key to the whole secondary right now, which has proven to be a strength two years running.

[QuikSand]

INITIAL FA STAGES (Weeks 1-4)
Immediate re-signings: G Reuben Sulfsted,
Re-signings, no competition: DT Ethan Parker, QB Dwight Fisk
Re-signings, with competition: G Shaun Singleton, LB Daryl Jeffries
New players signed: T Walt Woods, WR Curtis Wingo, DT Albert O’Connell
Players signed away:

We have immediate battles for G Shaun Singleton and CB Aaron Shaw – both guys are looking for over $5 million. S Conrad Flannery is also being pursued – and I decide to try to wait him out for now, knowing that this might be our farewell. Singleton re-signs with us in week two, but a bidding battle erupts over Flannery.

In week three, QB Fisk and LB Jeffries both sign. Good news, they only cost us about $11 million between the two of them.

LT Walt Woods, after his one-year sojourn to Minnesota, returns as a key FA acquisition for us. A 5th year tackle, he has solid and balanced skills, and we hope he can settle the position for us. I don’t mind paying him a few million a year if he can stick around and play well there – so we hope this is the beginning of something good. Tackle was a major need area – and he is perfect for us.

DT Albert O’Connell is a fourth year player, who looks like another solid reserve for us. Good pass rushing ability – he’ll probably get time at DE if we need him.

We’ve been searching for a few seasons for a guy who might make an impact at WR for us – and maybe we have found him in 5th year man Curtis Wingo. He may be ideally suited to work as our slot receiver – high ratings in third down catching and avoid drops suggest a sure-handed target to work in traffic. He has posted about 700 yards in each of the last two seasons. A good fit for our new look receiving corps.


Incidentally, QB Kendall Turner is sitting in the free agent pool, folowing a solid season as Philly’s starter. He wants $10 million a year – and nobody seems interested right now, shockingly enough.

[QuikSand]

MIDDLE FA STAGES (Weeks 5-15)
Re-signings, no competition: RB Dave Burns, S Brock Pearson, WR Tommy Henson
Re-signings, with competition:
New players signed: RT Nate Collier
Players signed away: DE Van Rivera, K Charles Wallace, S Juan Samuels, LB Emmanuel Chustz

As S Conrad Flannery is getting several offers, I decide to hedge my bets, and put in a $3.4 million offer for him – all salary. If I need the cap space, I can cut him later, but this allows us to at least hold on to him, rather than let him walk and later discover that we could have afforded him. When I bump the offer to $3.8, he grumbles and thinks it over… but it takes him a long time to decide what to do…

New signing RT Nate Collier figures to be our other bookend tackle, a 4th year natural right tackle who (like Walt Woods, signed a few weeks earlier) also has decent, balanced skills. Last season, he posted a solid year for the Lions – and we move in and grab him, adding another solid affinity player to our OL foundation. Bingo.

DE Van Rivera gets a pretty nice offer from Arizona, and I expect this is our goodbye. He is declining in skills, and I am comfortable with the cadre of younger players we have who can handle the DE duties as need be. Only 5.5 sacks in the last three years – it’s time for him to move on.

CB Shawn Faine gets an offer from Philadelphia, but he isn’t too expensive, and we get in a fair tender of our own to secure him. No affinity, but he delivers on the field.

We lose our kicker – Charles Wallace has been fine, but is easily replaceable, and I wasn’t going to bid over $1.2 million for him. Best of luck in San Fran, pally.

We lock up new deals with position leaders RB Dave Burns and S Brock Pearson – both cheap deals, easy to work out. WR Tommy Henson follow suit the following week.

Denver gets S Juan Samuels, a marginal guy who we can pretty easily replace. LB Chustz takes an offer also – he was a nice fill-in last year midseason, but isn’t a long termer either.

In week 10, after waiting and waiting, CB Aaron Shaw announces he’s returning to the Rams, for our $5.8 million offer. That leaves S Flannery as the biggest unknown hanging out there.

We respond to Washington’s bid for WR Louis Woodson, and get him inked to a new deal as well. Meanwhile, Conrad Flannery sits and waits… and waits…

[QuikSand]

FINAL FA STAGES (Weeks 16-20)
Re-signings, no competition: C Drew Bullock
Re-signings, with competition:
New players signed:
Players signed away:

Setting aside the costs of our rookie class, we have about $24m to spend. I think our cap situation is going to be okay this year – the toughest guy among the RFAs will probably be LB Maltman, but getting him done ought to be within reason, he’s not exactly a star player yet. Our biggest ticket players remaining are probably CB Derrick Bush ($2m?), LB Shawn Reader ($2m?), and LB Jimmie Keith ($3m?). I don’t foresee a problem affording all three of them, even if we do spend on S Flannery – I think we are doing okay this year after all.

C Drew Bullock is the last of our position leaders to re-up. No competition, we just waited him out a bit.

In week 16, after a seemingly interminable period of pondering, safety Conrad Flannery decides what to do – he takes our all-salary offer after all. It’s good to return our starting cadre of DBs, assuming we get Bush as well, and we will hope to reassemble one of the league’s top secondaries for another year.


I have my eye on G Stephen Rodstrom, a decent reserve-caliber guard who could probably suit up as a backup for us. He is, however, a key player for us – probably next year. He will assume the leadership for our O-line position, and maintain all our affinities. If we sign him right now, we would become our leader – and he doesn’t have as strong a personality as Drew Bullock. So, we basically want to tuck him away, and hopefully we won’t need him for another year or two. Fortunately, he does not attract an offer in the FA period, so we don’t have to worry about him getting locked into a long term contract elsewhere – as we may need him.


That gets us to the rookie draft. We have 26 players signed, nine picks in this draft (including two firsts and three seconds) and enough cash to re-sign all our critical components. Now looks like a chance to do some real building.

[QuikSand]

Rookie Draft

We have two pretty dire need positions – wide receiver and defensive end. Both have been needs for a while, both have gone mostly unfilled. We have a few DTs who can play some DE, but really lack a quality DE who is a natural at the position. At WR, Dwight Fisk has been suffering with mediocre guys for a long time – he could really use a feature target. With a lot of equity in this draft, we ought to be able to move up if needed to land the guy(s) who solve our problems.

A few guys I highlight before the draft – affinity guys who would probably make good picks for us (and when I’d expect them to be taken):

DE Walt Male (37/80) – very solid, will go in first few picks
CB Sammy McGarrity (35/65) – possible breakout, well suited, middle first round
WR Kendall Groll (29/60) – might be shaky, probably late first/early second round
OLB Lewis Quinn (14/63) – run stopper, moves inside, probably late first/early second round
DT Rod Schwartz (23/54) – run stopper, good agility, can move to DE, second round
CB Earnest Sutton (23/58) – decent, but weak combine, second round
DE Blake Lucas (10/46) – run stopper but undeveloped, second round
RG Rico Foley (25/59) – well developed pass blocker, second round
S Myron Begian (17/42) – decent skills match, special teamer, middle rounds
DT Ross Coffey (17/39) – speculative pass rusher, will move to DE, middle rounds
LG Thomas Crichton (8/53) – future run blocker, bad combine, middle rounds
RB Stan Frint (18/37) – potential as RB or WR, versatile skills, late rounds


After all that sorting through, it seems to me we have a choice to make. We either are going to end up with a bunch of so-so affinity guys with our early picks, or we will abandon the affinity idea and just get the best players we can. Or, option three seems to be to move up and try to draft DE Walt Male, one of the very top players and a perfect fit. Is he worth three picks to go get? Perhaps he is…

I test the waters – seeing what it would take to move up to pick 3 overall. I’m not even certain that Male would be there for us at 3, but this is just a fishing expedition. I try our two first rounders (18 and 23) along with a second rounder – they won’t budge. What to do? And the more I look, the more convinced I become that Male will not last past pick number two – there is a QB I Expect to go at the top, but the other top listed players are OL and I don’t see anyone jumping off the page – Male looks like the #2 prospect to me, so Atlanta probably doesn’t even get us high enough.

The only guy who really excited me from the list of affinity targets (above) is CB McGarrity, and candidly we are already so deep at CB it’s tough to justify spending the pick there. I am convinced that taking DE Male is the way to go – now we have to figure out how to do it.

I put together a pretty big offer, in my mind – two firsts, two seconds, and a third – and Cleveland tells us to get lost. I don’t think we will get this deal done at this point – so we may be looking to deal out of this draft and into next year’s, as I don’t see five early picks for us here, and moving way up just seems too tough.


Well, I was right about one thing – DE Male didn’t last past #2. The QB did not go with the first pick, an offensive tackle did, but DE Male did get taken by Cleveland after all, those bastards. Bah, it was a funny name for a football star anyway.

CB Sammie McGarrity gets taken with pick #11, so there goes my main interest in this draft. I don’t think there is a quality affinity guy worth taking in the first round now – we’ll either go BPA or deal into next year.

With out pick at #16, the best-looking affinity prospect on the board is WR Kendall Groll, and I am thoroughly unconvinced that he will live up to billing. I reach the obvious conclusion, and make a big deal with Chicago – sending them our two first rounders to get their firsts for the next two seasons. So much for the big draft splash this year – now we will sit back and focus on fill-in players.

When we get into round two, WR Kendall Groll continues to fall, and I begin to take note. I eventually swing a deal with Oakland to move into their early second round pick, and grab the WR – I don’t know if he will be an impact player, but he’s got a shot to be better than most of the guys we have.


Amateur Draft Report:

Rnd 2 - Kendall Groll, WR, Alabama St.
Rnd 2 - Lewis Quinn, ILB, Evansville
Rnd 3 - Stanley Woodard, T, Washington State
Rnd 5 - Ross Coffey, DE, Miami, Florida
Rnd 6 - Myron Begian, S, Syracuse
Rnd 7 - Corwin Fredrickson, RB, Wisconsin


After eight more picks, we are up for selections at 2(16) and 2(18). We missed out on DL Schwartz, but run-stopping LB Lewis Quinn is still there, and near the top of the prospects list at this point.

I can’t spend the next pick, so we trade down a round and pick up a fourth next year. In round three, we grab T Stanley Woodard (23/43), a pretty well-developed run blocking lineman. DL Ross Coffey is a speculative pass rusher who we will try at DE, and DB Myron Begian is a decent reserve with reasonable potential. RB Corwin Frederickson is yet another utility guy, with some nice receiving skills.

[QuikSand]

Late Free Agency

With all our draftees signed, we have 32 players on hand. We need to assemble the rest of the team here.

We have a massive boom in 12th year DT Orlando Dole, a guy we had been basically ready to let go of. Suddenly, he is a monster! We put in an offer to re-sign him… and are eager to see him take the field.

We scatter around offers to our remaining free agents, signing our restricted young players and re-upping with desired veterans.

We also land a couple veterans, including a new backup QB Tyrone Currie, a couple journeyman reserve linemen, and venerable CB Preston
Contreras – who gave us one good season a few years ago, but is in his final stages, we suspect. We also land sixth year safety George Melaragni, a guy who could see the field as a key reserve and special teamer.

With some depth issues at DE< I also pursue DE Philip Ahn. Ahn looks like a dominant run stopper, but he has never lived up to his apparent ratings. If ever there was a case study suggesting that “weight does matter” in this game, Ahn would be that guy – he’s only 251 pounds, but is rated 60/66 in run defense. Play him at defensive tackle, and you get… well, you get what you’d expect from a 25 pound defensive tackle.

At this point, our toughest decision is probably with WR Gino Brannan. He has played more games for the Rams than anyone (including the 20-some years we simmed before I took over) and while he is declining, he does still have the highest current “route running” rating of anyone on the team. Last year, I felt like he was overtaken for the starting flanker job by young Darrin Donovan. This year, Brannan has declined again, and we have drafted a potential replacement for him at the flanker job in Kendall Groll, plus we have signed a solid free agent in Curtis Wingo. If we keep him on the roster, I don’t think we even put Brannan onto the depth chart. It’s time to cut the cord – though this will cost us in cohesion, I recognize. We don’t make an offer to him.


So, we will head into training camp with 60 players signed, after a few more rookie signees come aboard. My plan is to re-sign DE Courtney Largent right after training camp – he will not accept a deal right now, and we will lose our continuity there, but he is downright essential to us as a position leader right now. If he will not sign after camp, we will be in panic mode. But we’ll jump off that bridge when we come to it… he’s got to retire some day, after all.

[QuikSand]

Training Camp

Without any true “big splash” rookies, and (in my mind) little hope for any big breakouts, this is a less fascinating training camp than we have gotten used to. Alas, here is the summary:


Player # Pos Start Exp CE FE CE FE dCE dFE
Fisk, Dwight 9 QB 12 63 63 63 63 0 0
Currie, Tyrone 14 QB 7 44 52 48 52 4 0
McDaniel, Artie 16 QB 1 18 45 23 52 5 7
Palm, Kenyon 8 QB 1 13 45 16 53 3 8
Burns, Dave 47 RB 7 35 35 35 35 0 0
Lavelli, Robert 34 RB 2 24 31 25 31 1 0
Fredrickson, Corwin 43 RB 1 25 40 25 37 0 -3
Street, Rodney 28 RB 2 18 29 19 29 1 0
Barrett, Roger 44 FB 3 77 77 80 80 3 3
Borders, William 42 FB 2 31 59 34 59 3 0
Havran, Bennie 83 TE 9 40 40 40 40 0 0
Peterson, Portly Irv 85 TE 2 36 48 39 48 3 0
Wingo, Curtis 80 FL 5 44 46 44 46 0 0
Donovan, Darrin 27 FL 3 35 43 37 43 2 0
Henson, Tommy 45 FL 6 32 37 32 37 0 0
Groll, Kendall 84 FL 1 29 56 31 51 2 -5
McIntyre Jr., Heath 89 FL 2 26 39 27 39 1 0
Woodson, Louis 17 SE 8 41 44 41 44 0 0
Doyle, Leo 87 SE 3 32 34 34 34 2 0
Fecht, Kirk 51 C 11 42 50 42 50 0 0
Bullock, Drew 56 C 16 35 35 35 35 0 0
Fisk, Shawn 54 C 3 13 27 15 27 2 0
Sulfsted, Reuben 73 LG 8 54 54 54 54 0 0
Singleton, Shaun 70 RG 5 70 76 70 76 0 0
Woods, Walt 63 LT 5 50 50 50 50 0 0
Fattel, Kurt 77 LT 5 40 49 41 49 1 0
Woodard, Stanley 64 LT 1 23 44 25 44 2 0
Collier, Nate 67 RT 4 38 54 41 54 3 0
Horton, Erik 3 P 4 80 80 80 80 0 0
Burroughs, Mo 13 K 1 30 66 31 61 1 -5
Ahn, Phillip 75 LDE 12 37 42 37 42 0 0
Largent, Courtney 93 LDE 16 28 29 28 29 0 0
Logan, Howard 72 LDE 3 20 30 21 30 1 0
Coffey, Ross 95 LDE 1 16 39 17 35 1 -4
Jamison, Joseph 96 RDE 1 17 24 19 27 2 3
Hopper, Raymond 97 RDE 1 17 36 18 33 1 -3
Lowe, Orlando 92 RDT 12 80 81 80 81 0 0
O'Connell, Albert 71 RDT 4 51 51 51 51 0 0
Green, Kelvin 78 RDT 10 39 45 39 45 0 0
Wire, Gerald 99 NT 4 61 84 64 84 3 0
Parker, Ethan 79 NT 5 45 45 45 45 0 0
Moore, Duane 76 NT 4 32 42 34 42 2 0
Jeffries, Daryl 90 WILB 12 57 62 57 62 0 0
Keith, Jimmie 91 WILB 5 47 47 47 47 0 0
Reader, Shawn 98 MLB 13 42 47 42 47 0 0
Maltman, Dan 55 SLB 4 44 49 46 49 2 0
Benton, Lamar 20 SLB 4 23 42 25 42 2 0
Guarino, Jon 57 WLB 4 26 39 28 39 2 0
Quinn, Lewis 59 WLB 1 16 65 18 60 2 -5
Kingsblood, Orlando 37 LCB 4 45 55 47 55 2 0
Contreras, Preston 49 LCB 13 42 45 42 45 0 0
Shaw, Aaron 39 RCB 6 64 65 64 65 0 0
Faine, Shawn 35 RCB 5 49 49 49 49 0 0
Bush, Derrick 41 RCB 8 48 48 48 48 0 0
Schofer, Luther 29 RCB 3 24 48 26 48 2 0
Beecroft, Joey 25 SS 3 80 85 84 85 4 0
Pearson, Brock 31 SS 8 37 37 37 37 0 0
Begian, Myron 48 SS 1 17 40 19 38 2 -2
Flannery, Conrad 26 FS 7 54 54 54 54 0 0
Melaragni, George 32 FS 6 45 47 45 47 0 0
Holmes, Tommy 33 FS 2 26 38 28 38 2 0


Nothing much to see here among our draftees – WR Kendall Groll took a nosedive (as I had feared he would) and LB Quinn did much the same – looks like a pretty empty draft class for us after all. Meanwhile, DE Walt Male looks like a powerful and impressive prospect – we probably would have been better off trading the whole draft to move up and get him in some conspicuous Ditka-esque fashion. Alas.


I do one quick check, and confirm that DT Gerald Wire has temporarily assumed the D7 leadership role on our team in Largent’s absence. Good to know for now. But, gladly, we work out a new deal with DE Courtney Largent, and reinstate him as our position leader. (It’s admittedly pretty cool to sign a guy and see a note listing the fifteen guys who will have affinities with him if he signs…)


Back to the rookies – the biggest news in camp are the two waiver wire quarterbacks, both of whom had great training camps. Artie McDaniel looks a lot like Kendall Turner – decent skills to start out with, some initial growth in training camp, and with playing time he’ll probably develop pretty nicely. (Seattle has signed Turner this year, incidentally, which might be interesting) McDaniel does have a pretty good rating in avoiding interceptions and has some potential elsewhere – I think he might end up being pretty good.

The other breakout QB on hand is a double affinity guy, Kenyon Palm. He is a different type of player – some very high ratings in the “lower tier” (sense rush 98, scramble frequency 93, two-minute offense 10/83) but he is all but empty in the “upper tier” (most of his pass distance ratings are under 40 potential). I have had surprising luck with guys like this in the past, and I do not dismiss the possibility that he might turn out to be the better of these two intriguing young quarterbacks.

For now, 7th year man Tyron Currie has the backup job, but we will keep both of these youngsters active and under Fisk’s mentorship – and we will certainly hope that one or both continues to develop into a possible future starter. Remember, Fisk himself was an undrafted rookie who started out much the same way – good rookie camp, earned some playing time, and took off from there.


By the way – observe the mighty development of one Orlando Lowe, who now looks like a positively dominant (note, that is the adjective “dominant” rather than the verb “dominate” … it really isn’t that tough) pass rusher and defensive lineman. I was very worried about our defensive line and pass rush – now suddenly we just gained a superstar player here. He probably won’t last (big money next year, I’d guess) but for now, this is a windfall.


Cut-downs are going to be pretty hard on this team, I can tell already. A few preseason injuries might make that easier, but I still expect some tough calls.

We end up with two easy IR placements, DE Jamison and S Pearson (for the second straight year). LT Kurt Fattell is hurt for a few weeks, but honestly I think he is too important to our OL – as potentially our #6 man, to let him go onto IR. I will look for cutdowns, but might have to revisit this decision.

My final list of cuts: RB Fredrickson, DE Logan, WR Doyle, DT Moore, RB Street. Not easy to get down to 53 (well, 55) but we are there, and will keep our OL depth on tap for later, in case we need someone to help out (fairly likely, if past is prologue).


Here is the opening day roster:


Player # Pos Start OnTm EndCnt Exp Cap Cost Save if Rls
Fisk, Dwight 9 QB QB 2027 2038 12 $7,200,000 $3,390,000
Currie, Tyrone 14 QB 2038 2038 7 $1,200,000 $390,000
Palm, Kenyon 8 QB 2038 2038 1 $210,000 $0
McDaniel, Artie 16 QB 2038 2038 1 $210,000 $0
Burns, Dave 47 RB RB 2036 2038 7 $800,000 $390,000
Lavelli, Robert 34 RB 2037 2038 2 $320,000 $110,000
Barrett, Roger 44 FB FB 2036 2038 3 $1,240,000 $610,000
Borders, William 42 FB 2037 2039 2 $550,000 $170,000
Havran, Bennie 83 TE 2032 2038 9 $650,000 $440,000
Peterson, Portly Irv 85 TE TE 2037 2038 2 $280,000 $70,000
Wingo, Curtis 80 FL 2038 2038 5 $900,000 $380,000
##McIntyre Jr., Heath 89 FL 2037 2039 2 $840,000 $280,000
Groll, Kendall 84 FL FL 2038 2040 1 $830,000 $200,000
Henson, Tommy 45 FL 2033 2038 6 $600,000 $390,000
Donovan, Darrin 27 FL 2036 2038 3 $600,000 $190,000
Woodson, Louis 17 SE SE 2031 2038 8 $1,200,000 $440,000
Bullock, Drew 56 C C 2036 2038 16 $1,040,000 $490,000
Fecht, Kirk 51 C 2038 2038 11 $900,000 $490,000
Fisk, Shawn 54 C 2036 2038 3 $350,000 $140,000
Sulfsted, Reuben 73 LG LG 2036 2038 8 $1,320,000 $540,000
Singleton, Shaun 70 RG RG 2034 2038 5 $5,400,000 $2,490,000
Woods, Walt 63 LT LT 2038 2038 5 $1,600,000 $590,000
##Fattel, Kurt 77 LT 2038 2038 5 $1,000,000 $290,000
Woodard, Stanley 64 LT 2038 2040 1 $420,000 $40,000
Collier, Nate 67 RT RT 2038 2038 4 $1,200,000 $390,000
Horton, Erik 3 P 2035 2038 4 $1,400,000 $490,000
Burroughs, Mo 13 K 2038 2038 1 $210,000 $0
Largent, Courtney 93 LDE 2038 2038 16 $910,000 $490,000
Ahn, Phillip 75 LDE 2038 2038 12 $850,000 $640,000
##Coffey, Ross 95 LDE 2038 2040 1 $290,000 $40,000
**Jamison, Joseph 96 RDE 2038 2038 1 $210,000 $0
Lowe, Orlando 92 RDT RDE 2034 2038 12 $1,300,000 $490,000
Green, Kelvin 78 RDT LDE 2035 2038 10 $950,000 $400,000
##O'Connell, Albert 71 RDT 2038 2038 4 $800,000 $290,000
Wire, Gerald 99 NT NT 2035 2039 4 $4,760,000 $1,850,000
Parker, Ethan 79 NT 2034 2038 5 $850,000 $390,000
Jeffries, Daryl 90 WILB WILB 2027 2038 12 $3,500,000 $1,540,000
Keith, Jimmie 91 WILB SILB 2036 2038 5 $3,000,000 $1,290,000
Reader, Shawn 98 MLB WLB 2032 2038 13 $950,000 $490,000
Maltman, Dan 55 SLB SLB 2035 2038 4 $800,000 $290,000
Benton, Lamar 20 SLB 2035 2038 4 $420,000 $210,000
Quinn, Lewis 59 WLB 2038 2040 1 $670,000 $110,000
##Guarino, Jon 57 WLB 2035 2038 4 $420,000 $210,000
Contreras, Preston 49 LCB 2038 2038 13 $850,000 $640,000
Kingsblood, Orlando 37 LCB 2035 2038 4 $650,000 $210,000
Shaw, Aaron 39 RCB RCB 2033 2038 6 $5,800,000 $2,690,000
Bush, Derrick 41 RCB LCB 2037 2038 8 $2,900,000 $2,690,000
Faine, Shawn 35 RCB 2036 2038 5 $900,000 $690,000
Schofer, Luther 29 RCB 2036 2038 3 $680,000 $290,000
Beecroft, Joey 25 SS SS 2036 2040 3 $2,910,000 $1,180,000
**Pearson, Brock 31 SS 2033 2038 8 $900,000 $690,000
Begian, Myron 48 SS 2038 2040 1 $270,000 $40,000
Flannery, Conrad 26 FS FS 2034 2038 7 $3,800,000 $3,590,000
##Melaragni, George 32 FS 2038 2038 6 $1,200,000 $390,000
##Holmes, Tommy 33 FS 2037 2039 2 $460,000 $170,000

$$ - player is in starting lineup, ## - player is inactive.

Players Under Contract: 55
Inactive: 7
On Active Roster: 46

Salary Cap: $75,000,000
Cap Room: $890,000
Maximum for New Player: $1,100,000
Cap Room Lost (to old contracts): $60,000

Cap Room Lost Next Year (to old contracts): $0
Cap Room Required Next Year: $14,080,000


I thought the contract view might be interesting, since I usually just offer up the affinity stuff here, and that can’t possibly be interesting any longer. We are, of course, once again chock full of affinities, with a total of only ten players on the roster without a chemistry bonus (including the kicker and punter, of course).


This year, I feel like we had one of our best offseasons ever, the empty draft notwithstanding. I feel like we added players in most of our need areas, we had a huge veteran breakout at a key deficiency slot, and I feel like our overall defensive depth is the best it has ever been.

I love our moves on the offensive line – we are back to full strength and full affinity there, after only a couple of years of transition, and we have a core of four guys (guards Singleton and Sulfsted, tackles Woods, Collier, and Fattel) who could conceivably stay together for ten years – and all fit under the same affinity group.

With all that, I am hoping for a step forward this season. Dwight Fisk and Daryl Jeffries are both in their 12th season – we don’t have an endless amount of time with them. I would like to win a title for those two guys while they are still key players – and this might be our best shot ever at doing so. I have been pretty content to keep at it with a “pretty good” team – but we want to strike while the iron is hot – and I believe it is.

Roster rating of 83 backs me up – we look deeper and better than before. Our cohesion is down a bit with some key losses and hiccups, but at it’s still 100-81-96-94, not a disaster at all. In fact, we lost a little edge on offense, but I’m surprised we stayed so high even after letting Gino Brannan leave.

We are looking for a division title, a bye week, and a serious run in the playoffs. Big talk for a team who has never even seen a conference championship game, eh?

[QuikSand]

2038 season

Our opener is a 10-7 loss to Seattle – exactly the wrong foot to get out on. A 6-3 win in the next week starts us thinking – are we going to be like this all year? Single digit scores? What gives?

In the early going, at 3-1, our pass defense is again tight as a drum, and our rushing game is sharp. At the halfway point, we are 6-2, looking pretty good, but trailing in the division by two games – t Arizona, for heaven’s sake!


2038 Summary for St. Louis Rams

Record: 6-2
Winning Pct.: .750

St. Louis Rams Team Rank
Rushes 271 2 (T)
Rushing Yards 1217 3
Yards Per Carry 4.49 4
Pass Attempts 232 31
Completions 140 31
Passing Yards 1802 19 (T)
Yards Per Attempt 7.76 6
3rd Down Conversions 49.0 6
Points Per Game 21.7 12
Turnovers 14 19 (T)
Turnover Margin -5 26 (T)

Opponents Team Rank
Rushes 202 4 (T)
Rushing Yards 699 1
Yards Per Carry 3.46 1
Pass Attempts 301 30
Completions 172 22
Passing Yards 2028 26
Yards Per Attempt 6.73 14
3rd Down Conversions 47.0 26
Points Per Game 15.6 4
Turnovers 9 22 (T)


So far, so good – we have shuffled the defensive line to cover injuries, and remain the top run stoppers in the league. Our pass defense took a hit in a couple of games, but we are still solid there, I think. We are moving the ball on offense, and the passing game is picking up steam as the season goes on. Fisk has two new receiving targets, and is getting fond of both Groll and Wingo. We only have 4 interceptions, though – what does it take to make some plays back there, guys?

In week 10, we win at home over Arizona, giving them their first loss of the season, and getting back into the division hunt. But we lose to Seattle, and the setback is difficult there. Even worse, Dwight Fisk is dinged up – we will go with our backup for one week, but if things don’t go well, we may push him back into service.

We get a win over San Diego behind Tyrone Currie and good work from FB Barrett (100 total yards, 3 TDs), and that certainly helps – but Fisk is still listed as doubtful. Another win behind Currie, and Fisk is cleared to go – but we are still two games behind 11-1 Arizona at this point.

All we can do is keep winning, and hope to see the Cards collapse a bit. If we beat them again, we will have the head-to-head tiebreaker, of course, and we get to play them, in Tempe, in our season finale – high drama, potentially. The Cards oblige us, and they lose to Oakland – so we are now in striking distance.

We pave San Fran and see a new twist – we are 11-3, and now in a three-way tie for the division. While we hold the tiebreaker over Arizona, we neglected to keep our eyes on Seattle, who has already swept us to gain the edge on us. Since they just beat the Cards, they have the edge overall in the toughest division race in recent memory. All three teams will make the playoffs, but there’s a big drop from #1 seed to #5 or #6, to be sure.

In Week 16, QB Dwight Fisk again has an injured thumb, but he has to play, plain and simple. We suffer a terrible loss to Oakland at home, which eliminates our division title chances. Now, the best we can hope for is the #5 seed, so this final game against Arizona is basically meaningless to us. Ugly loss there.

In the finale, I send out rookie QB Palm to lead the team (since the consequence is basically zero, and Fisk remains questionable) – and we come away with a big road victory. We had nothing to gain, they had everything to lose, and we got it done. Where was this when we were facing Oakland last week? * sigh * What’s even worse is that Seattle lost their last game, too, so a win against the damned Raiders would have given us the #1 seed, too. Ugh.


2038 Summary for St. Louis Rams

Record: 12-4
Winning Pct.: .750

St. Louis Rams Team Rank
Rushes 550 1
Rushing Yards 2389 2
Yards Per Carry 4.34 8
Pass Attempts 496 29
Completions 299 25 (T)
Passing Yards 3676 13
Yards Per Attempt 7.41 6
3rd Down Conversions 48.4 5 (T)
Points Per Game 22.1 8 (T)
Turnovers 23 13 (T)
Turnover Margin -4 19 (T)

Opponents Team Rank
Rushes 384 1
Rushing Yards 1482 1
Yards Per Carry 3.85 6
Pass Attempts 557 27
Completions 304 6 (T)
Passing Yards 3530 15
Yards Per Attempt 6.33 7 (T)
3rd Down Conversions 41.8 14
Points Per Game 15.9 3
Turnovers 19 24 (T)

Week Team Versus Oppnt
1 7 SEA 10
2 6 at KCY 3
3 23 CAR 16
4 30 SFO 13
5 16 at NYG 24
6 38 at WAS 28
8 23 DAL 10
9 31 PHI 21
10 16 ARI 14
11 21 at SEA 26
12 27 at SDO 10
13 29 at MIN 17
14 23 DEN 14
15 28 at SFO 13
16 13 OAK 17
17 24 at ARI 19
$$WC at WAS

Passing Pos Att Comp Yards Y/Att TD Int
9 Fisk QB 391 238 2947 7.53 21 12
14 Currie QB 82 45 505 6.15 2 2
**Team --- 496 299 3676 7.41 24 14

Rushing Pos Att Yards Y/Att TD
47 Burns RB 340 1471 4.32 7
44 Barrett FB 118 470 3.98 3
9 Fisk QB 57 289 5.07 2
**Team --- 550 2389 4.34 13

Receiving Pos Targ Catch Yards Y/Ctc YAC TD
44 Barrett FB 98 65 541 8.3 230 7
85 Peterson TE 88 57 593 10.4 124 6
17 Woodson WR 72 42 639 15.2 134 1
84 Groll WR 61 33 495 15.0 82 2
80 Wingo WR 59 32 539 16.8 55 4
27 Donovan WR 47 26 421 16.1 72 2
47 Burns RB 45 25 241 9.6 51 0
**Team --- 496 299 3676 12.2 796 24

Defense Pos Tack Asst Sack Hurr Ints Defn
90 Jeffries ILB 96 28 5.0 1 0 10
26 Flannery S 88 23 1.0 0 1 9
25 Beecroft S 81 27 1.0 2 3 15
91 Keith ILB 71 32 1.0 1 0 3
55 Maltman OLB 65 20 10.5 7 0 15
39 Shaw CB 58 20 0.0 0 3 14
35 Faine CB 52 7 0.0 1 0 3
98 Reader ILB 38 10 1.5 1 0 2
92 Lowe DT 36 12 6.0 19 0 0
41 Bush CB 35 12 0.0 0 1 12
99 Wire DT 24 11 5.0 18 0 0
78 Green DT 21 4 5.5 16 0 0
**Team --- 803 231 46.0 82 8 88


Okay – where do we start? QB Dwight Fisk battled injuries for about half this season, and seems to have a lingering thumb problem. We really could use a week off. By the numbers, not a bad season – incidentally, he has yet to have a single year where he completed fewer than 60% of his passes. That is a remarkable stat, to me, but maybe it’s hard to put it into context.

In his one game, Kenyon Palm completed 16 of 23 for 224 yards and one score for a 115 rating, all in a win over Arizona. Not bad, kid… good to see.

Our running game was solid once again – even as Dave Burns is starting to show some signs of wear and tear (ratings decline, I think). Career high in rushing yards, of course, and a very successful season for a guy whom absolutely nobody wants at all. FB Barrett got his 1,000 yards (just barely) in a very effective season as our second running option. We did run from the FB position a bit more this year – but I think I intend to back off that, as I think it generates clunky runs up the gut – better, I reckon, to use the FB out of the HB slot.

Six guys caught 400 yards in passes – none managed 700. Balance, I guess. Woodson was hurt for about three games, so that dinged his numbers, but I am encouraged by Groll in particular – if he hangs on to a few more balls thrown his way (and as he develops, he ought to) he could end up being very productive for us. He may work out to be just fine for us after all, despite my initial reservations.


Blocking Statistics

Player Pos Team GP GS KRB KRO BPct SkA PPly SPct RPly OPct
Singleton, Shaun G STL 16 16 43 127 33.8 3 513 0.5 546 23.2
Sulfsted, Reuben G STL 16 16 33 87 37.9 5 486 1.0 519 16.7
Bullock, Drew C STL 16 16 31 80 38.7 4 505 0.7 541 14.7
Woods, Walt T STL 16 16 29 69 42.0 4 513 0.7 544 12.6
Collier, Nate T STL 16 16 25 70 35.7 1 513 0.1 547 12.7
Borders, William FB STL 16 1 7 25 28.0 0 194 0.0 234 10.6
Barrett, Roger FB STL 16 14 4 12 33.3 0 416 0.0 476 2.5
Peterson, Portly Irv TE STL 16 14 3 14 21.4 0 331 0.0 383 3.6
Fecht, Kirk C STL 15 0 2 4 50.0 0 34 0.0 36 11.1
Havran, Bennie TE STL 15 1 1 4 25.0 0 84 0.0 101 3.9
Woodard, Stanley T STL 2 0 1 1 100.0 0 0 0.0 8 12.5


The line stayed pretty healthy this season, and we got very, very good protection in the passing game again – 17 sacks is a low for this franchise, and I am basically elated. Actually, this is probably the best set of OL stats we have gotten from this team – and I had thought we reached a high water mark about five or six seasons ago. From this group, other than Bullock, the other four starters are all young enough to have many years ahead, too. Signing G Rodstrom or someone else to take the leadership role, will be the key – this group is all set to rally around on cornerstone guy. We will, of course, just hope that Bullock (and his very high personality rating) returns for another season… or two!

So – the offense gets pretty high marks. It is amusing to think how good this team might be if we had invested in a few quality skill players, eh? Drop a star RB and a stud WR on this team – they might end up with 2,000 and 1,500 yards, respectively, and Fisk might be an all-pro every year.


On defense, we have to be pleased, in the top tier in both stopping the run and the pass. We don’t cause many turnovers, a nagging grievance of mine, but it’s really hard to fault this group overall.

We had three defensive tackles starting at the DE/DT slots all season, with a fourth (O’Connell) rotating in for injuries. It worked okay – Lowe (6.7), Green (5.7), O’Connell (8.5), and Wire (5.6) were all effective in rushing the passer. But what got into Dan Maltman? 10.5 sacks? Crazy stuff – he is turning into a very nice player for us, and I really did not see it coming at all. His run defense rating (his weak spot) is now up to a passable 49 – definitely on the rise, as it was down in the 20s when he was a rookie (with no evident growth potential then). He is now definitely locked in as a starter, as long as his salary demands don’t skyrocket.

Daryl Jeffries keeps it together as our main man inside, leading the team in tackles for the 10th time in his 12 years. He also doesn’t get enough credit for his good work in coverage, as he posts about 10 passes defensed in a typical year.

In the secondary – CB Shaw, CB Bush, and S Beecroft all had PDPct rating over 20, even though nobody posted more than three picks. Jut good solid defense again. S Conrad Flannery was the relative weak spot, though he wasn’t awful. Among the stingiest pass defenses in the league for the third straight season – not bad at all.


Here we go into the playoffs – QB Fisk and DL Lowe are both hurt, but Fisk will play (Lowe probably has to sit out a game). We’ll hope for the best, but the long road hurts our chances of the season I wanted to have here.

[QuikSand]

Postseaon Summary

Wild Card Game: St. Louis (12-4) at Washington (9-7) – We are four point favorites on the road, and unless Fisk falls apart, I feel good about a win here. Fisk is nursing that thumb, which looks like it might not be healing. Regardless, we stifle the Redskins offense all day, and get out of town with a solid 20-7 win, capped with an interception TD by Shawn Faine – and we are on to the divisional playoffs.


Divisional Playoffs: St. Louis (13-4) at Tampa Bay (13-3) – This is no picnic, after battling through our tough division, to face the Bucs at their place. While I like our line, you have to LOVE theirs, which is a collection of all stars, seemingly. We probably need to pass to get past them – and Fisk is still listed as questionable.

We don’t get a lot on the ground, but we don’t abandon it either – and with two scoring drives in the second quarter, we actually take control. We hang 20 on the Bucs, and our defense comes to play – we take a 20-10 win to secure our berth in the NFC Championship. At last.


Conference Championship: St. Louis (14-4) at Seattle (13-4) – They beat us twice this year already – now it’s our third chance, and the one that really counts. Fisk is upgraded to probable – great news. LB Dan Maltman is out with an ankle – done for the year. We will need a good game to win this one on the road – but it’s within our grasp.

Seattle, behind QB Marc Swann (old friend), executes a nearly flawless game – no turnovers, hardly any penalties, and they just click click click. We end up trailing early, we can’t get anything going, and we end up far outclassed here, losing 28-7. Seattle moves on, and we go home – end of story.

We also suffer another injury, as LG Reuben Sulfstead tears up his ankle ligament – and this looks like a bad one. The OL continuity idea might have suffered a blow there, I fear.


In the Superbowl, Seattle faces Houston again – who beat them in both 2033 and 2034. The Seahawks finally get theirs this time, and head into the rafters with a 38-31 win.


G Shaun Singleton, our main man in the middle, is named to his third straight pro bowl – but this time he is not our only rep, as FB Roger Barrett goes as the second teamer.


Well – our best season yet, and I thought it would be. Have to be disappointed that we came so close to earning that top seed, which has proven to be awfully elusive for us. Looking ahead, I just want to keep as much of this team together as we can, as I think we are smack in the middle of our “window of opportunity,” and would hate to see it slip by.

[wade moore]

I really think if you could get a true stud at WR, that would seal a championship... good performance, nice to see what you got out of the rookie, but he is not a superstar by any means..

This "not quite there" quality of the team is quite gripping.... Each year I find myself thinking "we're finally there" and we don't quite make it.. it's entertaining ;)...

[QuikSand]

Glad you are still entertained... I know I have been. I don't know if perhaps I am subconsciously "holding back" with this team to some degree -- maybe if I pushed for top talent more than affinities and so forth, we could have a title or two already. But I am enjoying the limitations of the affinity system as a sort of "house rule" and this has, ultimately, become one of my more balanced careers, I think. I like how this team stays pretty good, but has troubles of some sort most every year -- it seems more realistic to me than being right in the title hunt year in and year out.

In any event... more to come.

[QuikSand]

2039 offseason

We have two retirements, one is no surprise at all, the other is a big shock.

DE Courtney Largent retires after a 16 year career, playing his last nine years with us. He posted 105 career sacks, including 57 with our Rams. Solid player, great leader – we have a whole collection of guys who have played here, in part, because they got to play with Courtney Largent.

Safety George Melarangi was an odd name to see here – an 8th year guy, we brought him in as a good for our system, but he didn’t play much. he might have had a real shot at a starting job this season – but walked away from football instead. Oh, well.


Who is missing from this list? Center Drew Bullock, that’s who! Bullock is back for a 17th season, and that means we get a chance to return our whole OL structure from last year. Regrettably, LG Reuben Sulfstead has suffered badly from his injury in the playoffs – and he probably won’t fit any longer as our starter. That stinks. But the whole group gets along swimmingly – and that will continue into this season.

LB Dan Maltman, our other guy who ended last season with a bad injury, looks okay – down one point, but not a major drop. We hope he continues to be on the rise as an emerging star player for us.


We are currently without a scout – which is a little bit interesting. Our incumbent scout has retired, leaving us empty at the position. Just for yuks, I’ll take a look at the before/after of our roster ratings – to see how my incoming scout changes things.

The new scout, Kurt Jones, is rated as “average” in most categories – but “good” with DL and “very good” with LB. (Best we could do after losing out in the bidding for one other guy, and within my rules to only use fresh staffers)

My plan was to try to keep an eye on this to detect any “bump” in ratings due to better scouting – but there is no adjustment, at least not immediately upon my hiring my scout. So, perhaps I’m not yet seeing players through his eyes. It turns out that the new look at my players kicks in right after we start the free agency process – seems that is a “pivot point” in the game as it generates the rookie class, and apparently makes other updates as well. Here is the snapshot of the transition:


Player # Pos Start Exp CE FE CE FE dCE dFE
Fisk, Dwight 9 QB 13 61 61 63 63 2 2
Currie, Tyrone 14 QB 8 50 53 48 51 -2 -2
McDaniel, Artie 16 QB 2 30 46 35 55 5 9
Palm, Kenyon 8 QB 2 22 47 26 57 4 10
Burns, Dave 47 RB 8 34 34 36 36 2 2
Lavelli, Robert 34 RB 3 28 34 26 29 -2 -5
Barrett, Roger 44 FB 4 81 81 78 78 -3 -3
Borders, William 42 FB 3 39 60 36 58 -3 -2
Peterson, Portly Irv 85 TE 3 49 49 50 50 1 1
Havran, Bennie 83 TE 10 40 40 40 40 0 0
Wingo, Curtis 80 FL 6 46 47 44 46 -2 -1
Groll, Kendall 84 FL 2 44 57 40 48 -4 -9
Donovan, Darrin 27 FL 4 40 47 38 42 -2 -5
Henson, Tommy 45 FL 7 34 39 32 37 -2 -2
McIntyre Jr., Heath 89 FL 3 29 46 26 36 -3 -10
Woodson, Louis 17 SE 9 43 44 41 44 -2 0
Fecht, Kirk 51 C 12 46 50 43 50 -3 0
Bullock, Drew 56 C 17 35 35 35 35 0 0
Fisk, Shawn 54 C 4 18 28 18 27 0 -1
Sulfsted, Reuben 73 LG 9 23 23 25 25 2 2
Singleton, Shaun 70 RG 6 67 73 69 77 2 4
Woods, Walt 63 LT 6 50 51 51 51 1 0
Fattel, Kurt 77 LT 6 43 49 42 48 -1 -1
Woodard, Stanley 64 LT 2 28 45 27 44 -1 -1
Collier, Nate 67 RT 5 54 57 52 54 -2 -3
Horton, Erik 3 P 5 92 92 84 84 -8 -8
Burroughs, Mo 13 K 2 44 67 40 59 -4 -8
Ahn, Phillip 75 LDE 13 38 40 35 40 -3 0
Coffey, Ross 95 LDE 2 19 40 18 32 -1 -8
Jamison, Joseph 96 RDE 2 19 25 20 29 1 4
Lowe, Orlando 92 RDT 13 80 80 80 80 0 0
O'Connell, Albert 71 RDT 5 50 50 51 51 1 1
Green, Kelvin 78 RDT 11 42 45 39 45 -3 0
Wire, Gerald 99 NT 5 77 85 73 84 -4 -1
Parker, Ethan 79 NT 6 44 44 46 46 2 2
Jeffries, Daryl 90 WILB 13 63 63 57 62 -6 -1
Keith, Jimmie 91 WILB 6 45 45 47 47 2 2
Reader, Shawn 98 MLB 14 46 47 42 47 -4 0
Maltman, Dan 55 SLB 5 50 50 51 51 1 1
Benton, Lamar 20 SLB 5 26 40 28 42 2 2
Guarino, Jon 57 WLB 5 27 37 29 40 2 3
Quinn, Lewis 59 WLB 2 21 64 20 57 -1 -7
Kingsblood, Orlando 37 LCB 5 50 55 51 55 1 0
Contreras, Preston 49 LCB 14 45 46 42 45 -3 -1
Shaw, Aaron 39 RCB 7 62 64 65 65 3 1
Faine, Shawn 35 RCB 6 48 48 50 50 2 2
Bush, Derrick 41 RCB 9 52 52 48 48 -4 -4
Schofer, Luther 29 RCB 4 30 49 28 48 -2 -1
Beecroft, Joey 25 SS 4 93 93 89 89 -4 -4
Pearson, Brock 31 SS 9 36 36 37 37 1 1
Begian, Myron 48 SS 2 21 42 19 38 -2 -4
Flannery, Conrad 26 FS 8 53 53 54 54 1 1
Holmes, Tommy 33 FS 3 30 43 28 36 -2 -7


Wow. A lot of negative numbers there – but guys just scattered all over the place. I think some of it is guys making developmental leaps (look at our two young quarterbacks – who grew the most of anyone) There are also some big negatives for young players – guys like WR Kendall Groll and LB Lewis Quinn, young players who had initial camp drops, both took a big hit here. interesting – I still don’t know whether that “before” view was essentially still through my old scout’s eyes (as I suspect), or something else – but this proved to be pretty interesting to see.

What do I make of a guy like WR Heath McIintyre? He had a –10 drop here, and looks like a pretty marginal player anyway. I don’t think that his apparent red/green bars actually moved commensurately with the –10 adjustment, though… so I am puzzled here. On the other hand, the two young quarterbacks both DID see a big jump in their red bars. Both of these guys are going to be good – only question left is how good, and how well we can bring them along.


And just in case you noticed – yes, I did actually change his name to “Portly Irv.” I’m here for fun, I’m not a robot you know.

[QuikSand]

INITIAL FA STAGES (Weeks 1-4)
Immediate re-signings:
Re-signings, no competition: LB Jimmie Keith, S Brock Pearson, RB Dave Burns, WR Tommy Henson, LB Daryl Jeffries, DT Albert O’Connell, QB Dwight Fisk
Re-signings, with competition:
New players signed: CB Kyle Knight
Players signed away: DT Orlando Lowe, CB Shawn Faine

Week one is no good for us – nobody signs, and we are already in trouble with several players. G Shaun Singleton is being offered $6 million a year by Atlanta, LB Jeffries $4 million a year by Dallas, and CB Aaron Shaw $7 million a year by San Diego. I don’t think we can match all these offers – the checkbook is going to run out at some point.

CB Aaron Shaw won’t even listen to a $7.5 million one year offer – and so my plan to spend on him might have to take a backseat. I don’t see any other way, really.

DT Orlando Lowe abruptly accepts a fat three year deal from Tampa Bay – I am not that surprised. He broke out last year to become a huge ratings freak – but had some injury troubles. Best of luck. * cough * juiced * cough *

CB Shawn Faine is another departure, also no surprise. Solid player, but once he started seeking bigger money, he’s out of our price range.

S Conrad Flannery has a big offer in from Jacksonville – over $4 million a season. Solid starter, affinity guy, but is he worth outbidding them for? His last three seasons have all been below 20.0 PDPct, and he has a total of 5 picks in his five seasons with us – I am thinking he is expendable. Though I have to be worried about our secondary, which has been a team strength, and we are just watching it get whittled away. I decide not to bid on Flannery.

We do, in weeks 3 and 4, see LB Jeffries and QB Fisk both re-sign… and we will only be paying those two a total of $8 million this year – well down from the $22 million high water mark years ago. Jeffries is declining a bit, but Fisk is still holding on to his great ratings.

I sense real trouble ahead at the CB position, with both of my starters Shaw and Bush seeking big money – so I am pleased to see a pretty solid coverman Kyle Knight available in free agency, and not demanding too much loot. An $800K deal for a guy who could actually start for us at CB is a great bargain.

[QuikSand]

MIDDLE FA STAGES (Weeks 5-15)
Re-signings, no competition: C Drew Bullock, LB Jon Guarino, C Kirk Fecht, LB Dan Maltman, CB Preston Contreras, CB Orlando Kingsblood
Re-signings, with competition: CB Aaron Shaw, G Shaun Singleton, T Nate Collier, T Walt Woods
New players signed: WR Dwayne Patter
Players signed away: WR Louis Woodson, S Conrad Flannery, P Erik Horton, WR Curtis Wingo

CB Aaron Shaw is still mulling over his options through four weeks – and I hope he continues to do so, perhaps outlasting the bids he has in front of him. I try again to make a one year offer, and he at least includes our $7.2 million tender on his consideration list, though it pales next to the 6 and 7 year offers he has on the table from other teams.

Denver surprises me as they move quickly and sign WR Louis Woodson – it’s not even a fat deal ($1m for one year) but he accepted before I could get in an offer of my own. Yet another solid (but non-affinity) guy who departs this year – in what is looking like a year of some real erosion.

As expected, S Conrad Flannery accepts his deal from Jacksonville, and he leaves for greener pastures as well. My guess is that leaves the battle for the starting FS job between Brock Pearson and one of our reserve cornerbacks – perhaps Orlando Kingsblood. In fact, I think Kingsblood is probably the frontrunner, based on his run stopping skills.

I am very, very surprised when CB Aaron Shaw accepts our $7.2 million offer. He turned down big signing bonuses to stay – but landing him will certainly help to stabilize the secondary. G Shawn Singleton is next – and he, too, will have a good stabilizing influence.

My next surprise, though, is losing WR Curtis Wingo. He wasn’t asking for much, but I once again waited too long, and he signed to go play with Louis Woodson in Denver. Ouch. We suddenly are going to have a lot of work to do with our receiving corps, just after I felt like we had made some real strides in putting that back together – I had been slotting Wingo for a long term future with us. There are costs involved when I am trying to wait these guys out, in order to save $100K here or there. Ugh.

I am suddenly motivated to get out offers to a number of our remaining decent (but not star) players, and we re-sign several in short order. Nobody else was after C Fecht, CB Contreras, LB Guarino, or CB Kingsblood – but we wrap them all up nonetheless.

LB Dan Maltman gets a solid deal for $2.8 million and takes it quickly – I didn’t want to see him get an offer and bolt unannounced, either.


The big worry now is T Walt Woods – he is a pretty solid player, and at left tackle, the demands can tend to jump a bit. Last year he signed for less than $2 million, but now he’s looking for $5 million a year. I have been waiting him out, but now Buffalo has an offer in to his liking – six years, nearly $29 million total. If he signs that, he’s probably gone for good.

I mull over our options – including Kurt Fattel and young Stanley Woodard, both left tackles who will be on the team this year (probably). Neither is as solid as Woods, though – and I like to have two solid left tackles anyway. Plus, we may end up needing one of those guys to play left guard this year, anyway. I decide to pay Woods – and get in an offer worth $5 million to try to lure him back. It takes until week 12, but he eventually re-signs on the one year deal.

T Nate Collier also accepts our deal, though he had another offer on the table. Our one year tender wins out, but he will make $1.5m, a step up from last season as well.


WR Dwayne Patter is a decent sixth year split end, and looks like he could step in and become our starter at that slot. Not a huge playmaker, but a solid guy who should fit in well, I think. If we had to slot them now, I’d probably have Groll as the flanker, Patter as the split end, and Donovan as the slot receiver. This may once again be an area we watch closely in the draft.

[QuikSand]

FINAL FA STAGES (Weeks 16-20)
Re-signings, no competition: DT Kelvin Green
Re-signings, with competition:
New players signed:
Players signed away: LB Lamar Benton

As we close in on the rookie draft, we have had a few more departures than expected – so the team is taking on a bit of a different look. We still only have one true defensive end signed, and Ross Coffey is unlikely to merit playing time – so there are two active roster slots to consider. DTs Kelvin Green and Albert O’Connell will probably play at DE, but we do need a couple guys to be in active roles while actually slotted at DE.

I like 9th year DE Lonnie Vance, but will hope to wait him out and sign him at less than the $1.5m or so he demands right now. DE Dwayne Zawlinski is another possibility, a decent run stopper slotted at DE, and will probably sign for under a million later on. With a few veteran options, I will sit back and wait things out – and look for help in the rookie class as usual.


There’s a free agent cornerback who could be our next great find for the team – former first round pick Bryan Alexander is a 5th year guy my scout rates 56/60. He has solid skills in our coverage scheme, and looks like a pretty big hitter. I’m thinking he could become a starting CB, or perhaps free safety. He is looking for about $3 million a year – if we wait him out and that drops a bit, he could make a great addition, if we can afford him. On hold.


LB Lamar Benton was a guy I figured to sign cheaply in the late free agency period – but I waited too long, and he took an offer from Green Bay. Not a superior player, but a nice reserve – another stupid loss.

Really, the last guy we have left out there vulnerable to a bid is CB Derrick Bush. He’s asking for over $3m a year – and nobody has come knocking yet. This seems like an obvious case for waiting him out – but I’ll be upset if a cheap bidder sneaks in and grabs him, as I currently still want him as a starter.


We head into the rookie draft sitting on 30 players under contract - a bit more than usual at this stage. We have nine picks in this draft, including the #4 overall, courtesy of a lousy year for the Bears. We have about $14.5 million in space on top of what we need to sign our rookies – so we ought to have enough flexibility to work things out with CB Bush, sign one or two veteran defensive ends, and work out deals with restricted free agents like FB Barrett, WR Donovan, and our young blossoming quarterbacks.

[Bee]

One of the interesting things about this approach to me is the amount of effort you need to spend in free agency. I'm curious if you've noticed any other issues in free agency other than the weakness of the computer AI in going after your free agents.

[QuikSand]

Well, certainly free agency is the real core of this career. I pick up players through the draft, but it's the free agency process that shapes the team.

The biggest single thing is that there is a complete "herd" mentality with player evaluation in the game. In general, it seems like there is a general routine for determing a player's value - and that routine is only slightly adjusted for a given circumstance. A FA player has certain ratings and stats, and the game makes a calculation as to what he will demand in salary. Then, if he's lucky, one or morw teams will decide he's worth pursuing -- but the offers will essentially be all in a tight group, right around his demands. It's not a dreadful system, but it lacks a certain "life" that could come from a greater range of things happening.

In a multi player league, with 32 teams actually thinking on their own about what a player is worth, there might well be a whole series of diffrent approaches. One team might want to give the players a solid long term deal, another might want to sign him short term, another might wait for now, but watch closely and be ready to battle if others get into the bidding. Over time, we ought to see some real storylines evolve. In single player, with more or less one formul being used to determine player value, than seemingly just tewaked a bit up or down after each successive use, we see teh same thing time after time -- here's the guy, he wants 4yrs, $20 million, and the orrers come in... 4yrs, $19.5m... 4yrs, $19.8m... 4yrs, $20,4m... 4yrs, $21.1m... and so forth. Nobody shows up with a 1yr, $7m offer... or anything else really out of the ordinary.

Look at my starting CB Bush from this career, right now. He has good ratings, and is clearly a solid starter. For 20 weeks, he sat there asking for 3 years, $9m-plus. And nobody through he was worth it. Eachw eek he shaved some tiny speck off his demands, to no avail. So, he will sit there... probably until either (1) my team comes through and offers him something, or (2) he just sits through training camp unsigned, still holding form to his $3m+ demands, and then glumly accepts a $700K one year deal from the team whose name is seemingly randomly drawn as the one to go out and scoop up free agents first this year after camp. (Which is the best description I can offer)

Not a major greivance -- but as I'm watching pretty closely, I am getting accustomed to concluding "nothing to see here" most of the time. It's a complex system, I'm sure it's fairly difficult to model... but it just doesn't withstand very close scrutiny.

[QuikSand]

2038 Rookie Draft


The last few years, I have focused increasingly on the affinity system with my top draft picks, and now I’m at the point where I basically refuse to draft players who won’t gain affinities. This has caused me to trade down or out of drafts when there were no good fits – one result is getting future first rounders, and this year we have the #4 overall pick as a result. Great. Last year would have been the year to have this high pick, as there was a great-looking affinity DE who went #2 – too high for us, it turns out. From #4, I could trade up to get any player I want – so we will look at the board, and see who fits.

Again, our ideal positions to help out would probably be DE and WR, more or less the same as last season. We need help on the OL (left guard would be ideal, but a tackle is always welcome too) and are short at LB. We are not deep enough anywhere to turn down a solid producer who fits our system – so I will remain flexible in that respect.


The fifth-ranked DE, Ttrone Meynardie, looks pretty good (25/58), and seems to be pretty balanced run/pass. Combines look shaky – nothing to suggest a step forward. Maybe, but certainly not very early. Past him it’s a real drop to Myron Tatum (19/43), who is nothing special. DE is looking bleak for us.

At DT though, I like Ellis Emley (21/64) a good deal, and he looks to be among the more speedy player at the position – a move to DE makes sense for him, and for me. At 293 lbs, he ought to switch just fine. He’s listed sixth on the DT list – I’m thinking he may be a good second rounder, but we might have to move up/down to get him in early-middle round two.

DT J.B. Mahoney (30/60) is rated just ahead of Emley, and is a different sort of guy (more complementary skills) but might also make a decent pick for us – and at 299, he’d switch to DE with no problem either.

There are several linebackers among the top-rated guys who are affinity fits for us – more on that later, but I don’t expect to go there until at least round two.

The best WR in the draft, Wally Terrell (44/78) misses our affinity band by a couple of days – so no fit there, either. He looks very fast, and might turn out to be very, very good. I am unmoved by the prospects available at WR for us – it looks like another famine situation for us.

So – is there anyone we want to select with the #4 pick? How can we put this plainly? No, there is not.

The guy we want to take is C D.J. Erickson (24/80), the top-rated center in the draft, and a serious prospect for the OL. Great pass-blocker, and a very, very strong guy – for what that’s worth, with one of the best combine scores in the lift of anyone at any position. At 296 lbs, I suspect he’d switch to LG fine, but if not, he could be a natural replacement for Drew Bullock at his natural position of center. Perfect fit – we will try to find the “sweet spot” to grab this guy, who is initially listed 19th on the overall board. I’m thinking the middle of round one makes sense – and probably gives us a shot to gain some future draft equity in the deal.

We swing a deal with the Chiefs, to move to pick 14, and move up next year from the 3rd to the 1st round. Seems reasonable to me – and we have a shot to still get our target guy at #14, I suspect.

After 13 picks, our guy at center is still there – listed 9th overall. Can we wait even longer? We have pick 28, but that seems like a stretch. The second guy who now has my eye is S Preston Holmes (35/68) who would target a need area, and presumably step in to start for us at free safety. Another good fit there – and now my thinking is “how do we get both of these guys in this draft?” I swing a deal with the Redskins to move down in round one, give them a few later picks, and acquire their second rounder as well. I think the second rounder might be the trade equity we’d need to move up to get S Holmes, perhaps.

With picks 22 and 28 at the ready, we watch the first round unfold. Both of our guys look safe, and both make it to our selection at #22. At this point, C Erickson is ranked #3 overall, and S Holmes #6 (but behind another safety, which gives me some comfort). I take Erickson at 22, and watch to see if we can dodge five more picks without guy still there.


Amateur Draft Report:

Rnd 1 - D.J. Erickson, C, Alabama St.
Rnd 1 - Preston Holmes, S, Northern Illinois
Rnd 2 - J.T. Swift, OLB, Colorado State
Rnd 3 - Bill Glover, DT, Penn State
Rnd 4 - Frank Lantz, S, Boston College
Rnd 6 - Sammy Hopper, C, Florida State


This whole thing actually works out, for once. After seemingly missing every time I tried to work out some draft timing, we get exactly what we want here – two first round picks who fit great, and we gain some future equity in the deal as well. Outstanding.

LB J.T. Swift (16/55) has potential as a run stopper and in coverage – a good match for us, and an easy pickup in late round two. I trade out of our other second round pick, getting Minnesota’s second next year for it straight up.

DT Bill Glover (14/46) looks like a decent prospect – but might be too heavy for the DE slot. We’ll try to switch him anyway, but he looks okay regardless. DB Frank Lantz will probably move to CB, and looks like our typical decent reserve cover man. C Sammy Hopper (16/38) is a so-so reserve OL prospect – ought to switch to guard easily.


Early returns are good for C Erickson, and even better for late pick Sammy Hopper, who jumped up to 21/52 as soon as we got a closer look at him. Hopper looks like he will make the move to LG more easily than Erickson, so we switch him – he lands there at 15/46, but I am still pleased.

[QuikSand]

Late Free Agency

Well, CB Derrick Bush has re-evaluated his contract stance, and is now asking for only a bit over a million to sign – I can barely get my offer in quickly enough. He signs after only two weeks – a great move to wait him out, it seems.

I co confirm that rookie T Glover is just too fat to move to DE – so we still need to add at least two players at the DE position. We put in a bid for DE Lonnie Vance, who ought to fill much the same role that we once used Van Rivera for – solid starting-caliber RDE, decent enough against the run and pass to start or back up. DE Dwayne Zawilinski is our other DE free agent – more of a run stopper, but be, too, ought to be solid as a reserve or as a platoon guy.

We also re-sign LB Shawn reader – his slot was in some doubt, but he adds a lot of cohesion, and is still a pretty solid player. No affinity any longer, but still a solid contributor.


We will bid adieu to TE Bennie Havran – he has lost his starting job to Portly, and I have a couple youngsters aboard for a look as backups, who ought to be okay. QB Tyrone Currie will also not be re-signed, as I am fine with our two young guns in the #2 and #2 QB jobs. DE Philip Ahn is gone – he was not happy with his playing time last year, so he wasn’t coming back anyway.

That gives us 62 players under contract, plus three unsigned rookies, as we head to training camp. I am not wild about our defensive front – losing Orlando Lowe was a net loss of one star-caliber player, which we couldn’t recoup. But we’ll hope to put together enough pressure to get by, and once again be tough against the passing game.

[QuikSand]

Training Camp

Two first round picks, guys we are enthusiastic about – a lot to see in this year’s camp…


Player # Pos Start Exp CE FE CE FE dCE dFE
Fisk, Dwight 9 QB 13 60 60 60 60 0 0
McDaniel, Artie 16 QB 2 35 55 39 55 4 0
Palm, Kenyon 8 QB 2 26 58 29 58 3 0
Burns, Dave 47 RB 8 32 32 32 32 0 0
Lavelli, Robert 34 RB 3 25 29 26 29 1 0
Kong, Isaac 32 RB 1 22 33 23 33 1 0
Edwards, Bill 24 RB 1 18 28 18 27 0 -1
Summers, Lamar 20 RB 1 16 26 17 28 1 2
Andrews, Eddie 21 RB 1 15 29 15 27 0 -2
Gedney, Darryl 86 RB 1 10 17 11 17 1 0
Barrett, Roger 44 FB 4 78 78 78 78 0 0
Borders, William 42 FB 3 37 60 39 60 2 0
Peterson, Portly Irv 85 TE 3 51 51 51 51 0 0
Cunningham, Edward 88 TE 1 11 42 13 39 2 -3
Kitts, Ryan 82 TE 1 8 38 9 32 1 -6
Groll, Kendall 84 FL 2 41 48 44 48 3 0
Donovan, Darrin 27 FL 4 38 42 38 42 0 0
Henson, Tommy 45 FL 7 32 37 32 37 0 0
McIntyre Jr., Heath 89 FL 3 27 37 28 37 1 0
Johnston, Preston 30 FL 1 13 31 15 32 2 1
Cornyn, Duane 22 FL 1 13 31 14 29 1 -2
Patter, Dwayne 81 SE 6 39 43 39 43 0 0
Fecht, Kirk 51 C 12 38 45 38 45 0 0
Bullock, Drew 56 C 17 35 35 35 35 0 0
Erickson, D.J. 52 C 1 24 81 23 83 -1 2
Fisk, Shawn 54 C 4 17 27 19 27 2 0
**Sulfsted, Reuben 73 LG 9 25 25 25 25 0 0
Hopper, Sammy 53 LG 1 15 46 19 46 4 0
Singleton, Shaun 70 RG 6 69 77 69 77 0 0
Woods, Walt 63 LT 6 52 52 52 52 0 0
Fattel, Kurt 77 LT 6 42 49 42 49 0 0
Woodard, Stanley 64 LT 2 26 43 30 43 4 0
Collier, Nate 67 RT 5 52 53 53 53 1 0
Robbins, Skip 3 P 1 34 49 39 58 5 9
Burroughs, Mo 13 K 2 39 58 41 58 2 0
Zawilinski, Dwayne 76 LDE 9 41 46 41 46 0 0
Coffey, Ross 95 LDE 2 19 33 20 33 1 0
Vance, Lonnie 93 RDE 9 47 47 47 47 0 0
Jamison, Joseph 96 RDE 2 21 29 22 29 1 0
O'Connell, Albert 71 RDT 5 51 51 51 51 0 0
Green, Kelvin 78 RDT 11 39 43 39 43 0 0
Wire, Gerald 99 NT 5 72 85 75 85 3 0
Glover, Bill 97 NT 1 14 44 17 41 3 -3
Clark, Will 74 NT 1 11 35 12 31 1 -4
Jeffries, Daryl 90 WILB 13 51 56 51 56 0 0
Keith, Jimmie 91 WILB 6 47 47 47 47 0 0
Reader, Shawn 98 MLB 14 37 42 37 42 0 0
Maltman, Dan 55 SLB 5 51 51 51 51 0 0
Swift, J.T. 94 SLB 1 16 53 16 50 0 -3
Guarino, Jon 57 WLB 5 30 40 32 40 2 0
Quinn, Lewis 59 WLB 2 20 58 24 58 4 0
Kingsblood, Orlando 37 LCB 5 50 55 54 55 4 0
Knight, Kyle 36 LCB 4 49 49 49 49 0 0
Contreras, Preston 49 LCB 14 39 43 39 43 0 0
Lantz, Frank 46 LCB 1 22 51 25 48 3 -3
Shaw, Aaron 39 RCB 7 65 65 65 65 0 0
Bush, Derrick 41 RCB 9 48 48 48 48 0 0
Schofer, Luther 29 RCB 4 29 48 31 48 2 0
Gaylor, Brad 35 RCB 1 16 33 17 30 1 -3
Beecroft, Joey 25 SS 4 89 89 89 89 0 0
Pearson, Brock 31 SS 9 29 29 29 29 0 0
Begian, Myron 48 SS 2 19 38 22 38 3 0
Patterson, Clay 43 SS 1 13 35 14 33 1 -2
Wallin, Casey 38 SS 1 8 36 10 36 2 0
Holmes, Preston 26 FS 1 34 66 33 61 -1 -5
Holmes, Tommy 33 FS 3 28 37 30 37 2 0


Well, the good news is that we got a +9 bump from a rookie, one of the biggest I have ever seen. Bad news is, he’s a punter.

OL D.J. Erickson did bump up also, though – a good sign that he is going to be the real thing. I expect we will start him at center right away, and just let him be our main in the middle heretofore. That is, assuming we ever get him signed.

Bad news with our defensive signees – but I am not that shocked. SS Holmes still looks good to me, and I still expect him to start this year – but his ceiling might be a bit lower than we had hoped initially.


As usual, the battle for roster slots at RB is tough. Nobody here really looks that good. Lavelli has been okay, but doesn’t get enough playing time to justify a non-affinity slot, I don’t think. Lamar Summers had a good camp, but is really nothing special even if he bumps a couple more times. The winner is going to be Isaac “King” Kong, who has a shot at taking the #2 job away from Lavelli with a good preseason.

In preseason, Isaac Kong looks great in the first two games, and then blows out his knee in the third. Sorry, pal – see you next year.

Oddly, rookie center Erickson has exactly zero ratings for both run blocking and pass protection, currently. He has loads of potential, but I think it’s best to bring him along more slowly – we will have him back up mentor Bullock for this season, contrary to my original plans. Heh – ratings of 0/59 and 0/100… interesting.


Here is the final cut of the roster, as we head into the regular season:


St. Louis Rams Roster, Attitude Advisory

Player # Pos Start Playing Time Chemistry
Fisk, Dwight 9 QB QB Content 1 Affinity with lea
Palm, Kenyon 8 QB Content 2 Affinities with l
McDaniel, Artie 16 QB Content
Burns, Dave 47 RB RB Content Backfield Leader
Lavelli, Robert 34 RB Content
**Kong, Isaac 32 RB Content Mild Affinity
Barrett, Roger 44 FB FB Content Mild Affinity
Borders, William 42 FB Content Mild Affinity
Peterson, Portly Irv 85 TE TE Content
Cunningham, Edward 88 TE Content Mild Affinity
Henson, Tommy 45 FL Content Receivers Leader
Donovan, Darrin 27 FL Content
##McIntyre Jr., Heath 89 FL Content Affinity
Groll, Kendall 84 FL FL Content Affinity
**Johnston, Preston 30 FL Content Affinity
Patter, Dwayne 81 SE SE Content Mild Affinity
Bullock, Drew 56 C C Content Offensive Line Lead
Fecht, Kirk 51 C Disgruntled Strong Affinity
##Fisk, Shawn 54 C Content Strong Affinity
Erickson, D.J. 52 C Content Affinity
**Sulfsted, Reuben 73 LG Content Strong Affinity
Hopper, Sammy 53 LG Content Strong Affinity
Singleton, Shaun 70 RG RG Content Strong Affinity
Fattel, Kurt 77 LT LG Content Strong Affinity
Woods, Walt 63 LT LT Content Affinity
##Woodard, Stanley 64 LT Content Strong Affinity
Collier, Nate 67 RT RT Content Strong Affinity
Robbins, Skip 3 P Content
Burroughs, Mo 13 K Content
Zawilinski, Dwayne 76 LDE LDE Content Mild Affinity
Coffey, Ross 95 LDE Content Affinity
Vance, Lonnie 93 RDE RDE Content Affinity
Green, Kelvin 78 RDT Content
O'Connell, Albert 71 RDT Content Mild Affinity
Wire, Gerald 99 NT NT Content Defensive Front Lea
##Clark, Will 74 NT Content Affinity
Glover, Bill 97 NT Content Affinity
Swift, J.T. 94 SILB Content Mild Affinity
Jeffries, Daryl 90 WILB WILB Content
Keith, Jimmie 91 WILB SILB Content Mild Affinity
Reader, Shawn 98 MLB Content
Maltman, Dan 55 SLB SLB Content
Guarino, Jon 57 WLB Content Mild Affinity
Quinn, Lewis 59 WLB WLB Content Mild Affinity
**Contreras, Preston 49 LCB Content Strong Affinity
Kingsblood, Orlando 37 LCB Content Strong Affinity
##Knight, Kyle 36 LCB Content Strong Affinity
Lantz, Frank 46 LCB Content Strong Affinity
Bush, Derrick 41 RCB LCB Content Affinity
Shaw, Aaron 39 RCB RCB Content Strong Affinity
Schofer, Luther 29 RCB Disgruntled Strong Affinity
##Pearson, Brock 31 SS Content Secondary Leader
Beecroft, Joey 25 SS SS Content Affinity
Begian, Myron 48 SS Content Strong Affinity
Wallin, Casey 38 SS Content Strong Affinity
##Holmes, Tommy 33 FS Content Strong Affinity
Holmes, Preston 26 FS FS Content Strong Affinity


We have reached complete affinity among our defensive secondary and offensive line – a goal I had been weakly aiming toward. I doubt it matters, but it is interesting to see.

For this year, I don’t feel quite as enthused as I did last season – I part because of the loss of DT Orlando Lowe, who was a big nice surprise last season, and also in part because of our losses at WR, which I let happen under my nose. Overall, I think the team is in good shape, but I don’t have that “the year’ feel that I did, to some degree, last season. There still is urgency, especially for Daryl Jeffries – who holds on to his starting job, but is clearly not the player he once was.

Our roster rating is 65, down a grade from last year, but tops in our division (Seattle fell like a rock, oddly enough). Our cohesion stands at 100-85-85-91 – good enough to be one o the very top teams overall. I’m a bit surprised we are still on top with the passing group, even after losing our two longtime starting wideouts in consecutive seasons.

I am thinking this is a 10-6 team, or thereabouts. We’ll see how the OL plays, and whether the secondary can possibly step up a bit this year and make some big plays. (I hate that I’m angry with them, but I really think we need some more turnovers and scoring from our defense to be a top tier team – this is essentially why Conrad Flannery is gone) If we win ten games – we have a shot, and maybe we can make something of it this time.

[QuikSand]

2039 season

We get off to a rather sluggish start at 1-2, and lose Dwight Fisk for a few weeks in the third game, a loss to 3-0 Carolina. Kenyon Palm gets the call, and will get another shot at leading the offense – I think I have settled on him as “our guy” and the future at QB, over Artie “the Smarty” McDaniel. They are both on their way to being good – I will hope to get a trade offer for McDaniel soon, but expect to groom Palm as the next starter here.

We run the ball well to help Palm out to two wins – he is now 3-0 as a starter. We get Fisk back, tear off a couple more wins, and end up knotted with Arizona to get to our halfway point. A check on the team stats:


2039 Summary for St. Louis Rams

Record: 5-2-1
Winning Pct.: .687

St. Louis Rams Team Rank
Rushes 248 1
Rushing Yards 1032 3
Yards Per Carry 4.16 9
Pass Attempts 231 24 (T)
Completions 135 26
Passing Yards 1776 13
Yards Per Attempt 7.68 7
3rd Down Conversions 40.9 21
Points Per Game 21.3 13
Turnovers 6 5
Turnover Margin +6 5 (T)

Opponents Team Rank
Rushes 221 23
Rushing Yards 874 23
Yards Per Carry 3.95 15 (T)
Pass Attempts 288 29
Completions 160 20 (T)
Passing Yards 1822 20
Yards Per Attempt 6.32 6
3rd Down Conversions 47.8 27
Points Per Game 17.2 8
Turnovers 12 8 (T)


Well, this is mostly the stat line we are used to seeing – we run the ball often and pretty well, we are efficient passing, and we are darned tough to pass against. Our run defense could use some shoring up, but on balance – not bad. Good to se our turnover margin in the plus so far, for a change. We have racked up some injuries, but overall are managing okay.


We get past the worry over a half-game season with our tie, by tying San Francisco in the next game, slipping to 5-2-2. That put us one game and a half behind… well, Seattle of course. We go up to Seattle, and are without RB Dave Burns for the first time in his tenure – he is now out for the season. We will use FB Barrett as our primary ball carrier, with Robert Lavelli as the reserve. Might get tough. For backup, we sign veteran Kendrick Anderson, who will probably go into the depth chart at #3, but might overtake Lavelli if he struggles.

With a 21-16 win at Seattle, we get back into the hunt, just a half game back. Roger Barrett rumbled for 131 yards – his best game to date, easily. We grind out 230 yards rushing in the next game, a win over Cleveland, and are actually looking pretty sharp. But we lose on the road to Dallas, and that puts us a full game behind Seattle again.

Now, we lose S Joey Beecroft to an injury – awful to see that. The team is literally falling apart – we have had to place two more running backs onto IR, and have hoboes off the street wearing jerseys in the 20s and 30s. It’s crazy. But we keep playing pretty well, regardless.

We are 8-3-2, and travel to face Arizona, who are 8-4-1, a half game behind us. We need to win to at least keep pace with Seattle – a loss here basically eliminates us, we suspect. We pound them, 30-7, and are gleeful as we see Seattle lose to San Francisco – as of right now, we are on top of the division, with two games to play.

We are home for Cincinnati, and then stay home for Seattle – we are in control. This game I much like last year’s week 16 debacle against Oakland – except we manage to squeak out a 26-23 win at the whistle, literally. So, the tale is set for the season finale – home to Seattle, but it’s anticlimactic – Seattle lost their last two games, and now has fallen to 10-5. We are the division winners already! We’re going to have to play in the wild card round either way – so this game actually is close to meaningless. Disappointing, but good news regardless.

Kenyon Palm leads us to yet another win in the finale, and we lock up a curious but solid 11-3-2 record. That’s good enough for the #4 seed in the conference – so we will get a home playoff game, for a change.


2039 Summary for St. Louis Rams

Record: 11-3-2
Winning Pct.: .750

St. Louis Rams Team Rank
Rushes 521 1
Rushing Yards 2315 2
Yards Per Carry 4.44 3
Pass Attempts 477 32
Completions 296 30
Passing Yards 3655 15
Yards Per Attempt 7.66 7 (T)
3rd Down Conversions 46.1 5
Points Per Game 24.0 1
Turnovers 16 4 (T)
Turnover Margin +8 7 (T)

Opponents Team Rank
Rushes 423 7
Rushing Yards 1616 5
Yards Per Carry 3.82 8
Pass Attempts 562 27 (T)
Completions 321 13
Passing Yards 3661 15
Yards Per Attempt 6.51 8
3rd Down Conversions 43.8 20
Points Per Game 17.6 9
Turnovers 24 13 (T)

Week Team Versus Oppnt
1 21 SFO 24
2 30 at PIT 10
3 21 CAR 24
4 17 at DET 13
5 16 GBY 10
6 27 CHI 21
7 22 at MIN 19
8 17 ARI 17
10 27 at SFO 27
11 21 at SEA 16
12 34 at CLE 13
13 13 at DAL 20
14 28 BAL 18
15 30 at ARI 7
16 26 CIN 23
17 34 SEA 20
$$WC PHI

Passing Pos Att Comp Yards Y/Att TD Int
9 Fisk QB 392 249 3164 8.07 21 9
8 Palm QB 85 47 491 5.77 5 0
**Team --- 477 296 3655 7.66 26 9

Rushing Pos Att Yards Y/Att TD
44 Barrett FB 183 848 4.63 8
47 Burns RB 167 703 4.20 3
28 Anderson RB 54 253 4.68 2
9 Fisk QB 35 173 4.94 1
34 Lavelli RB 35 142 4.05 1
**Team --- 521 2315 4.44 15

Receiving Pos Targ Catch Yards Y/Ctc YAC TD
44 Barrett FB 85 58 530 9.1 233 6
85 Peterson TE 101 57 678 11.8 179 3
45 Henson WR 63 39 574 14.7 83 4
81 Patter WR 63 36 505 14.0 67 5
84 Groll WR 55 33 561 17.0 92 6
27 Donovan WR 44 26 462 17.7 47 2
47 Burns RB 27 21 183 8.7 46 0
**Team --- 477 296 3655 12.3 834 26

Defense Pos Tack Asst Sack Hurr Ints Defn
91 Keith ILB 107 31 1.0 4 0 4
90 Jeffries ILB 74 41 0.0 1 0 4
55 Maltman OLB 73 18 6.0 7 1 16
39 Shaw CB 69 15 0.0 0 3 28
25 Beecroft S 68 29 2.0 0 3 12
41 Bush CB 43 14 1.0 0 2 12
26 Holmes S 42 21 0.0 0 1 4
99 Wire DT 40 19 4.5 18 0 1
94 Swift ILB 35 13 1.0 2 0 2
37 Kingsblood CB 34 14 0.0 1 3 3
76 Zawilinski DE 33 13 3.0 3 0 0
98 Reader ILB 27 10 0.0 0 0 2
29 Schofer CB 24 11 0.0 0 1 7
71 O'Connell DT 23 21 6.5 12 0 0
57 Guarino OLB 19 7 0.0 0 0 2
**Team --- 832 291 33.0 64 14 100


Well, I’ll start with FB Roger Barrett – who might have just put together one of the best seasons that will go completely under the radar that we’ll see. He probably will earn a pro bowl berth as a FB, but this was an effort worthy of anything we have gotten from any HB, as well – 4.6 yard a carry is great, and over 6 yards per pass thrown his way isn’t bad, either. He’s not a home run threat, but certainly helps the offense stay on the field. He made $2 million this year – more than I am ever inclined to pay a fullback. How much do we pay him next year? Do we slot him as the top ball carrier, and let our halfbacks do crap like return punts and stuff? I’m open to that…

Dwight Fisk had one of his best seasons, with a passer rating of 96. he is not a gaudy number guy in this offense, but steadily completes 63% of his passes, and wins games too. Kenyon Palm still has yet to (1) lose a game he started, or (2) throw an interception in a real game. QB position seems fine, thanks.

Portly Irv Peterson is the most productive guy we have had at TE on this team, I think – he saw 100 passes partially due to the dearth of quality receivers, but still he made a lot out of them. WR Tommy Henson is on the team as a leader and utility guy – I’m surprised he ended up leading the WR corps in catches, but he is a very able fill-in when guys get injured, and he started 6 games this year at split end for Patter – and ended up with 39 catches on the season.


Blocking Statistics

Player Pos Team GP GS KRB KRO BPct SkA PPly SPct RPly OPct
Singleton, Shaun G STL 16 16 59 123 47.9 3 494 0.6 511 24.0
Woods, Walt T STL 16 16 37 89 41.5 1 493 0.2 509 17.4
Bullock, Drew C STL 16 16 29 61 47.5 1 494 0.2 519 11.7
Fattel, Kurt T STL 16 16 28 84 33.3 6 492 1.2 513 16.3
Collier, Nate T STL 13 12 17 44 38.6 6 375 1.6 372 11.8
Erickson, D.J. C STL 16 4 8 19 42.1 0 119 0.0 151 12.5
Peterson, Portly Irv TE STL 16 15 6 18 33.3 0 391 0.0 437 4.1
Borders, William FB STL 14 3 5 11 45.4 0 162 0.0 173 6.3
Barrett, Roger FB STL 16 14 3 12 25.0 0 339 0.0 391 3.0
Halsey, Nate FB STL 2 2 2 4 50.0 0 37 0.0 42 9.5
Cunningham, Edward TE STL 16 0 2 5 40.0 0 118 0.0 160 3.1
Fecht, Kirk C STL 3 0 1 2 50.0 0 0 0.0 9 22.2
Hopper, Sammy G STL 8 0 1 3 33.3 0 3 0.0 21 14.2


This season ended up being another great performance from G Shaun Singleton, as he set a new high for run blocks. We gave up only 17 sacks – again, among the very best in the league. Nobody was really disappointing – Kurt Fattel (playing out of position at LG and RT) was the weakest link, and his season was certainly solid. Drew Bullock really doesn’t have much left in terms of pure skill – but he continues to put forth very solid numbers playing at either C or G. You can pay a lot of salary for a guy to be your superstar OL, and not ever get a year with 47.5% KRBs and 0.2% sacks allowed.


On defense, Jimmie Keith has established himself as the main inside force for us – Jeffries is now an injury-prone contributor, but not the dominant force he used to be. Dan Maltman is a great do-everything guy for us, and is in for the long haul, I think. I am pleased with our linebacking corps, including young guys Quinn and Swift, both of whom ought to fit in okay as time goes on.

Up front, we had to do a lot of rotating, to handle injuries – we just need more guys up there, period. Gerald Wire can’t stay in place, and neither of the old guys we brought aboard gave us a full season – we were patching all the way. LB Maltman will be starting at DE I the playoffs, since we are way too stretched already – and that’s a waste of his coverage skills, really (another year with double digit passes defensed).

The secondary again held opponents to s low yards per attempt – CB Aaron Shaw took a leap forward with 28 passes defensed, a new team record. Our secondary has been good ever since he arrived – he is no small part of that. Beecroft played well, and will be back for the playoffs, and I like the season we got from Orlando Kingsblood, a versatile guy who can play any DB position, I’m convinced.


We have to be looking at this as a great opportunity – banged up as we are, we still have a home playoff game and a shot to move onward. We’ll pull together, and try to make it happen.

[QuikSand]

Postseason Summary

Wild Card Game: Philadelphia (10-6) at St. Louis (11-3-2) – The Eagles have monstrous lines on both sides of the ball, and that’s what drives them. This is not an easy game, but our running attack keeps us basically in control, and a big TD drive in the fourth quarter gives us the final margin, 23-14.

Divisional Playoff: St. Louis (12-3-2) at Minnesota (14-2) – Tough game, heading to the mighty Vikes, the team who seemed to get lucky and get their run of the big time one year free agent after camp this year. Funny how that team often comes from nowhere to get really good, eh?

We lead 13-10 at the half, but a fumble early in the third costs us dearly, and then our offense just stalls. The Vikes run up two more scores, and get away with a solid 23-13 win. We go home, once again a bridesmaid.


It’s Houston over Carolina in the Superbowl, as Houston wins the AFC for the fifth time in seven seasons, with three titles in that same stretch. That’s a pretty impressive run for them. I check them out a bit – their top passer, top rusher, second and third receivers, and their top two tacklers were all guys who were not on the team last year. Weird.


Season awards – any takers on Shaun Singleton getting his nod once again? I thought so… first team, of course. FB Roger Barrett joins him there, too. LT Walt Woods is named to the second team, and CB Aaron Shaw is as well – both of them for the first time.


Well, we exceeded my own expectations, but in the end, it was really just more of the same. The team battled through injuries like we hadn’t seen in years, and in the final analysis – landed in the playoffs, but not really a threat. Like most years. * sigh *

[Buzzbee]

QS - Curious if being a bridesmaid is proving challenging enough for you. This isn't quite the 'dominant powerhouse' you are used to building and therefore seems a bit more challenging, but it seems like it is becoming a little repetitive. I didn't know if you were getting that feeling too and perhaps becoming bored with it.

Also, as a pure shits and giggles type of experiment, you should consider starting a career with the Chesapeake Chaingang and see how successful you can become with a team full of conflict, kind of the opposite of this dynasty. Not sure what house rules you might have to employ, as I'm not sure how much impact all the negativity would have. Conflict/Convict/Chaingang. Seems like a natural.

[Izulde]

If it were me, I'd say it *is* challenging... you keep having that sensation that you're so damn close... and only fall just short. It makes you want to keep playing until you get over the hump.

[QuikSand]

Also, as a pure shits and giggles type of experiment, you should consider starting a career with the Chesapeake Chaingang and see how successful you can become with a team full of conflict, kind of the opposite of this dynasty. Not sure what house rules you might have to employ, as I'm not sure how much impact all the negativity would have. Conflict/Convict/Chaingang. Seems like a natural.

Great idea.

I'm not really bored with this quite yet, but I suspect that's more a function of momentum than anything else. If I took three or four days off, I might never come back. But for right now, I am pretty immersed, and the fact that the team has not catapulted to the top has kept that the case, I think.

[QuikSand]

If it were me, I'd say it *is* challenging... you keep having that sensation that you're so damn close... and only fall just short. It makes you want to keep playing until you get over the hump.

True, but I am more of a regular season guy than a playoffs guy -- in general, I can get bored with a team thatr has regularly become a top title threat, even if it (for whatever reason) fails to win title after title -- just getting to that level of dominance is enough for me to feel the team has "arrived."

Here, the fact that we really have never been the best team in the league (even though we had a #1 seed a couple of times) suggests to me that the team has not really topped out... and that has me still interested.

[Barkeep49]

I have to admit I gave this a read a week or so ago and haven't done more than glance at it since but based on what I know of you in the past QS, I would suggest one reason you like this is because you have had to make constant decisions. While you can do well it's immersive in the sense that it seems like you have to at least think about things.

[Buzzbee]

Another benefit of a 'Chaingang' dynasty is that it might give us a little better insight on how much chemistry does affect performance. So far we have 'gut feelings' that our teams perform better with affinities, but it is certainly possible that we are simply finding what we are looking for. Since no one ever tries to create conflict, we've never seen the other side of the fence.

I'm guessing it might take a few trial runs to get a feel for how far the pendulum swings, and what house rules might be required to get the pendulum where you like it.

[QuikSand]

I have to admit I gave this a read a week or so ago and haven't done more than glance at it since but based on what I know of you in the past QS, I would suggest one reason you like this is because you have had to make constant decisions. While you can do well it's immersive in the sense that it seems like you have to at least think about things.

Very well put - exactly right. I love having to make decisions, and at least having the sense that those decisions matter.

I'm not sure how much the whole affinity thing has actually affected team performance... but it has kept me very much in decision-making mode.

[QuikSand]

2040 offseason

We are watching QB Dwight Fisk and LB Daryl Jeffries wrap up their excellent careers, and are in our last chances to get them a Superbowl ring. They both now enter their 14th seasons – both having come aboard as part of our first rookie class. Jeffries was our top pick, Fisk was an undrafted rookie who caught on and kept getting better. Now, they are among the league career leaders in major stats – and they both see a capstone to their excellent careers.


We have two retirements. Center Drew Bullock simply has to hang it up here, right? Nope – he is back for an 18th season.

CB Preston Contreras was with us the last two seasons, but was not much of a factor on the field, as he was injured too often. LB Shawn reader has given us the last 8 of his 14 years, and has been a great contributor through that time, playing inside and out, always well.


We submit another stadium plan to the good people of Memphis. Far more modest, we are trying to win this time. Since nobody comes to our games anyway, the stadium doesn’t need to be huge, really.


Our front office is all on contract, and I’m pleased with them – we will stand pat there.

[QuikSand]

Free Agency Planning


Well, we have averted an OL crisis for one more year, so we come into this season with our affinity situations intact.

Here is the snapshot of our player transition in the early season:


Player # Pos Exp CE FE CE FE dCE dFE
Fisk, Dwight 9 QB 14 60 60 60 60 0 0
McDaniel, Artie 16 QB 3 46 55 51 59 5 4
Palm, Kenyon 8 QB 3 37 57 40 62 3 5
Anderson, Kendrick 28 RB 11 34 34 34 34 0 0
Burns, Dave 47 RB 9 32 32 32 32 0 0
Lavelli, Robert 34 RB 4 28 29 28 29 0 0
Kong, Isaac 32 RB 2 23 33 23 33 0 0
Pieters, J.C. 43 RB 3 22 28 21 28 -1 0
Barrett, Roger 44 FB 5 78 78 77 77 -1 -1
Borders, William 42 FB 4 42 60 41 59 -1 -1
Halsey, Nate 23 FB 6 30 36 30 36 0 0
Peterson, Portly Irv 85 TE 4 51 51 51 51 0 0
Cunningham, Edward 88 TE 2 14 39 14 36 0 -3
Groll, Kendall 84 FL 3 50 50 48 48 -2 -2
Donovan, Darrin 27 FL 5 38 42 37 41 -1 -1
Henson, Tommy 45 FL 8 32 37 32 37 0 0
McIntyre Jr., Heath 89 FL 4 29 36 28 34 -1 -2
Johnston, Preston 30 FL 2 16 32 17 32 1 0
Patter, Dwayne 81 SE 7 39 43 39 43 0 0
Fecht, Kirk 51 C 13 38 45 38 45 0 0
Erickson, D.J. 52 C 2 37 83 36 84 -1 1
Bullock, Drew 56 C 18 35 35 35 35 0 0
Fisk, Shawn 54 C 5 19 27 19 27 0 0
Sulfsted, Reuben 73 LG 10 25 25 25 25 0 0
Hopper, Sammy 53 LG 2 20 46 20 47 0 1
Singleton, Shaun 70 RG 7 70 77 71 77 1 0
Woods, Walt 63 LT 7 52 52 53 53 1 1
Fattel, Kurt 77 LT 7 42 49 42 49 0 0
Woodard, Stanley 64 LT 3 33 43 32 44 -1 1
Collier, Nate 67 RT 6 53 53 53 53 0 0
Robbins, Skip 3 P 2 46 59 51 65 5 6
Burroughs, Mo 13 K 3 48 58 44 54 -4 -4
Zawilinski, Dwayne 76 LDE 10 41 46 41 46 0 0
Coffey, Ross 95 LDE 3 21 32 20 30 -1 -2
Vance, Lonnie 93 RDE 10 47 47 47 47 0 0
O'Connell, Albert 71 RDT 6 51 51 50 56 -1 5
Green, Kelvin 78 RDT 12 38 42 38 42 0 0
Wire, Gerald 99 NT 6 80 84 80 84 0 0
Glover, Bill 97 NT 2 22 41 21 40 -1 -1
Clark, Will 74 NT 2 12 31 12 28 0 -3
Swift, J.T. 94 SILB 2 25 54 24 52 -1 -2
Jeffries, Daryl 90 WILB 14 52 56 52 56 0 0
Keith, Jimmie 91 WILB 7 47 47 47 47 0 0
Maltman, Dan 55 SLB 6 51 51 51 51 0 0
Guarino, Jon 57 WLB 6 33 40 33 40 0 0
Quinn, Lewis 59 WLB 3 29 57 28 55 -1 -2
Kingsblood, Orlando 37 LCB 6 58 58 58 61 0 3
**Knight, Kyle 36 LCB 5 49 49 48 49 -1 0
Lantz, Frank 46 LCB 2 25 48 24 45 -1 -3
Shaw, Aaron 39 RCB 8 65 65 65 65 0 0
Bush, Derrick 41 RCB 10 48 48 48 48 0 0
Schofer, Luther 29 RCB 5 35 48 33 48 -2 0
Beecroft, Joey 25 SS 5 89 89 88 88 -1 -1
Pearson, Brock 31 SS 10 29 29 28 33 -1 4
Begian, Myron 48 SS 3 23 38 23 37 0 -1
Wallin, Casey 38 SS 2 12 36 12 35 0 -1
Holmes, Preston 26 FS 2 41 61 39 57 -2 -4
Holmes, Tommy 33 FS 4 33 37 32 36 -1 -1


Once again, the biggest mover on the whole team is the punter. Figures. I do like what we see from CB Orlando Kingsblood, though – but he now thinks he’s a big money player, so this could be the end with him.


Planning for this year won’t be too tough. We mostly need to retain as many of our key players as we can – we will probably have most of the same struggles as last season, I expect.

We need to make some improvements, and they need to come at some of the familiar spots. Wide receiver? Check. Defensive end? Oh, yeah. Maybe running back? Maybe. Did I mention defensive end?


So, as far as our re-signing priorities – here’s my thinking:

A LIST: QB Dwight Fisk, LB Daryl Jeffries,
B LIST: CB Aaron Shaw, G Shaun Singleton, LB Dan Maltman, LT Walt Woods

I’m narrowing down the B list here – these are the guys that I intend to bid aggressively on, no matter what we see from other teams. I’m figuring it will cost us about $28 million to land these six players – so that will be our core, for certain.

I am not including DT Gerald Wire on the list – he’s a highly skilled player, and I anticipate big bidding. I don’t think we will pay for him – he looks like he is becoming injury prone, and we need a solid presence in the middle of our line. I will be looking for a better match, either by free agency or with a draft pick.

Incidentally, we have picks 5, 17, and 28 in this draft – so we ought to have chances to make some fill-ins or improvements there. I already have a DE candidate (finally) for that top pick, and it also looks like we might be able to get a receiver, another long-desired spot to fill. So there is some hope there.

[QuikSand]

INITIAL FA STAGES (Weeks 1-4)
Immediate re-signings: LB Daryl Jeffries, QB Dwight Fisk
Re-signings, no competition: LB Dan Maltman, LT Walt Woods, LB Jimmie Keith
Re-signings, with competition: CB Aaron Shaw
New players signed: WR Marc Gordon, DT Tracy Mayes
Players signed away: DT Gerald Wire, CB Orlando Kingsblood


My initial offers to my six priority players total only $26 million – much of the savings comes from Daryl Jeffries demands, which are now down to a very modest $1.1m of so. That will really help, as he is a “must stay” guy in my eyes, after all these years. If he was somehow asking for $5 million, I’d pay it – looks like we will get a big hometown discount there. If we come in below my $28m estimate, I will be thrilled.

I decide that this year is a good opportunity to try to make a big-splash free agent signing. I plan to do so with an all-salary offer – meaning we can back out if it turns out it hurts our sap situation too much. I think I have the perfect guy in WR Keith Middlehurst – a 5th year star-caliber wideout from the Patriots, who posted 1,656 yards in his pro bowl campaign last year. He’d be a huge impact player for us, right where we need it. He is asking for a monster contract, though – it will probably take $10 million or more to get him. Can we possibly afford that? I put in out offer – turns out we need $11.5 million to even make his list – ouch. It’s tough to imagine going into this season with an $11.5 million contract, but if we land him (unlikely, I’d think), we will have options.


Okay – week one. BOOM, Gerald Wire is gone, signed by Arizona for huge money, $55m over 6 years. Good luck to you, big fella. No shock here. We’ll see you twice a year, if you can play.

This raises a problem, as this makes DT Albert O’Connell our position leader. He has only two affinities – we have essentially built the position structure around LB Dan Maltman assuming the leadership role, and I knew (in the back of my mind) that this was going to cost us O’Connell. Trouble is, O’Connell is probably the most steady of our pass-rushing defensive linemen, and was certainly going to be a starter this season. Puts even more pressure on us, but I will put in a salary-only offer for him and release him, just to clear up the affinity system – he has to go now, I’m just too committed at that position group.

I give this some thought, and have an alternative solution. DT Tracy Mayes is a free agent, a 14th year guy, with high enough leadership (88) that he’s wrest the mantle away from O’Connell. If we sign him, we’d get back where we want to be – he’d purportedly have affinities with nine guys (though his personality score of only 4 might make some of those nonexistent). I decide that for now, signing Mayes is an easier path than cutting O’Connell – Mayes could be good enough to see spot duty, even, though he’s not a star by any stretch. Better idea, I think.


WR Marc Gordon looks like a great addition for this team – even though he doesn’t have superior receiving skills (36/38 in RR). He has very high ratings in the secondary stuff (big plays, courage, adjust), and is a standout special teamer – this is, to me, the perfect fourth wide receiver. He also happens to have high leadership skills and is a mentor at the WR slot. He could start, or he could be anywhere on the depth chart --- I love guys like this, and hope he sticks around a long time.


We are in deep with WR Keith Middlehurst, who couldn’t possibly like our one year deal compared to the monster offer on the table for him right now from Green Bay, which probably has more in signing bonus that our entire deal. But we are ahead, at least in terms of average dollars per year – so that’s something, I guess, and we never know how backloaded the GB offer might be. We’re on the board at least.

If we somehow manage to ink Middlehurst, this suddenly becomes a seriously tight financial year, but also perhaps a “win now” mentality, as he might be a huge difference-maker for this team, right where we need it. I have trouble fathoming what a big-time receiver might add to our already very solid offense.

Okay, in week two, we can set that little dream aside – as Denver (again) grabs Middlehurst with an $86 million contract for 7 years. Wow. Well, nothing ventured, nothing lost – at least this might free up one of the guys they stole from us last season.


We do get good news from CB Aaron Shaw, who re-signs amidst long term offers, once again. I can’t necessarily justify this in FOF terms, but my intuitive feel for this team is that Shaw is the real “difference-maker” in our secondary, the shut-down corner who makes everything work out for everyone. We have had a top rated secondary ever since he became a key player, and I like keeping him, even at substantial cost. I think he brings out the best in our role players.

CB Orlando Kingsblood is a guy I like a lot, but Denver (of course) is after him, and I don’t know if we will comfortably afford a $5 million deal for him. I decide to try to work out a salary-only deal, meaning we’d cut him if it turns out to be too expensive at the end of the line.

What about RT Nate Collier? $3 million a year? Seven sacks over two years, and a 36% KRB rate is work keeping, I think – he gets an offer as well, for more than I had planned to spend. It takes $3.5m just to make his list, and we are behind Cinti still. With the silly pursuit of Middlehurst over, we can actually pursue guys like this, at least.


Denver successfully signs CB Kingsblood, so we have a loss there. But we do get LT Woods and LB Keith to agree to terms – both guys I really wanted to return. That’s good news at least.

[QuikSand]

MIDDLE FA STAGES (Weeks 5-15)
Re-signings, no competition: G Shaun Singleton, CB Derrick Bush, WR Dwayne Patter
Re-signings, with competition: FB Roger Barrett, DT Albert O’Connell, RT Nate Collier
New players signed:
Players signed away: WR Darrin Donovan

We have to fight for FB Roger Barrett, but after last year, I think it’s worthwhile. I have gotten spoiled by not spending any money in the RB group, but I’m thinking that Barrett probably is now our feature back, and a $2.8m deal isn’t outlandish.

We actually whittle down G Singleton’s deal a bit after he gets no other offers, and he signs with us, too. With that, I have all six of our priority re-signings done, for just under $25 million – not bad. Six guys for a third of the salary cap – that might be a useful rule of thumb, even.

We get DT O’Connell re-signed, and all is well with our D7 affinity now – we have 8 affinities in that group at this point (pending some re-signings still) – the only guy whose personality was too low to register was LB Jimmie Keith, but I hope that is a temporary thing, as he will be okay with Maltman as the leader in time (though maybe not, as Maltman’s personality score is low also).

CB Derrick Bush re-ups with us, and probably drops right back into his starting slot alongside Shaw. These two are key for us, especially as we have lost Orlando Kingsblood and the retired Preston Contreras. our depth will be les than we’re used to at CB this year, I think. With that in mind, I get in a decent offer to lock up CB Luther Schofer, who is a solid reserve for us, and might end up in nickel packages this year.

CB Kyle Knight is still injured form last year – he had an offer on the table, but he waited too long and it slipped away. I might re-sign him later on, but am worried about the injury – he’s a 3rd or 4th CB type of guy if he returns okay probably on par with Schofer, more or less.


RT Nate Collier finally signs with us in week 10 – tough to wait that one out, as he has played very well for us. I think our OL will be solid and deep this season, but returning starters always make us more comfortable.


WR Darrin Donovan suddenly takes an offer sheet from Philadelphia – so there’s a loss. He has been solid, and seemingly getting incrementally better, each year – but probably had a ceiling. Not a huge loss, and he was one of our few remaining non-affinity players as well. With the signing of Marc Gordon (who could easily step in to start as our slot receiver) I am less worried about this loss – but we will take a look for another veteran we might bring aboard fairly cheaply. Alas, we let Curtis Wingo get away in the early stages – I decide to get in my bid for split end Dawyne Patter, but don’t have a target addition to bring aboard, really. That probably moves Marc Gordon up into the slot role for this year, battling Tommy Henson for playing time.

This would be a great year to add a versatile utility back to the mix – a guy who could add depth at both RB and WR. I love grabbing these guys late in the draft, but a veteran would be fine, also. Kendrick Anderson, who played a fairly creditable season for us last year, is probably the best veteran candidate – we’ll look at the rookie class before paying another veteran salary at the RB group.

[QuikSand]

FINAL FA STAGES (Weeks 16-20)
Re-signings, no competition: WR Dwayne Patter, C Drew Bullock, DE Lonnie Vance, S Brock Pearson, WR Tommy Henson
Re-signings, with competition:
New players signed:
Players signed away: DE Dwayne Zawilinksi

As contract demands decline in these late stages, I make a couple offers. I don’t feel like we are particularly vulnerable on many of our unrestricted free agents – I have some veteran guys to sign, but I think squeezing them down (by waiting until after the draft) is pretty safe here.

One exception is DE Lonnie Vance, who is no star, but I’m just worried about our overall depth at the DE position, so I want to lock him up.

I also conclude that I don’t want to take a risk with WR Tommy Henson, a position leader, so I pay to get him re-signed now, rather than risk seeing him sign elsewhere out of the blue. Same goes for S Brock Pearson and C Drew Bullock – might as well lock up the centerpieces for our perfect affinity groups while we can.


I check out the remaining free agents – looking for any veterans who might be solid additions.

CB Jay Lolicht might be the next great value pickup for us at the cornerback slot – pretty decent fourth year player, solid in bump coverage (50), and decent all-around skills. He ought to fit nicely into our rotation, maybe as a dime back for us, but definitely good for depth – and he’s very cheap.


I have another veteran OL who is worth watching – RT Alonzo Locklear. This year, I don’t want to sign him, as he would take over the position leadership from Bullock, but for next year, he could come aboard and perhaps be our leader – with a high personality rating, we might maintain the strong affinities we have now. He’s a 12th year guy, and a very good fit. Plan is to tuck him away – but I’ll try to sign him if someone else comes up with a multi-year offer.


In the very last stage, DE Dwayne Zawilinski gets signed by Tampa Bay. He was not very effective for us last season – my biggest concern is just the dearth of decent defensive ends for us. It will be a top priority spot for the rookie draft, you can be sure.

[QuikSand]

2040 Rookie Draft

We have 32 players signed at this point, and a pretty heavy draft complement of nine players, including three first rounders. Our picks in round one are at 5, 17, and our own at 28 – so we have a lot of options here.

Defensive end is the single most pressing need area, but we have been looking for a big time young wide receiver for years also. Among the better-looking prospects within our affinity groups:

DT Chris Hoover (40/71) – looks like our man for the early pick, he’ll switch to DE easily, and looks like a good pass rusher. Combine was good, not great. Solid pick, certain starter, probably not a superstar. Ranked 4th at DT, 6 overall.

DT Antione Lucas (29/66) – maxed run stopper potential, could be impact player at either NT or DE, very quick (top 40 time among DTs at 4.83). Ranked 6th at DT, 11th overall.

CB Rickey Joyner (19/61) – good coverage skills and interception ability - both maxed out, strong special teams skills but void in play diagnosis and punishing hitter, good combines but outstanding. Ranked #2 at CB, 28 overall.

WR Erik Rigby (32/56) – strong complementary skills, maxed out in third down catching and adjusting to ball, very good combine, including solid 4.43 time in 40 and standout lifting mark (22). Ranked #2 at WR, 29 overall.

LB Wendell Scotti (25/58) – looks like a very good system fit, probably not heavy enough to switch to DE at 254 lbs., good special teamer. Ranked #1 at ILB, 47 overall.

LB Shane Ringrose (31/55) – strong on coverage and on special teams, good current skill levels, standout combine score in agility, tops in strength at ILB. Ranked #2 at ILB, 54 overall.


From the lower ranks of players, a few guys we see in our initial sweep:

T Ted Finley (15/51) – nominally strong tackle, weak complementary skills, poor combine – we’ll probably pass

S Don Fuchs (33/54) – solid overall skills, not great cover man, mediocre combine scores – second or third round, possibly.

RB Jimmy Barber (29/41) – nice skills match, good receiver, some special team skills, no returning skills – possible late round pick.

DE Mel Wallace (25/43) – decent current skills, mediocre potential, okay combine scores – later round pick potential.

WR Byron Torrice (19/49) – decent skill potential, punt return ability, special teamer, poor combine scores – nice late round option.

WR Bubba Murray (26/42) – low rout running but some other ratings have potential, kick return skills, good current ability, speed at combine = sleeper potential – great deep sleeper for late rounds.

FB Karl Koumentakos (23/39) – good receiving skills, may be light enough (221 lbs) to switch to HB or even WR, strong special teamer – late round option.


Okay – so, if we could map this out perfectly without trading any picks, I’d love to use our top three picks to get DL Hoover, DL Lucas, and WR Rigby. My best guess is that we’ll get Hoover, miss out on Lucas, and that we will have to take Rigby at #17. If that leaves us with the two linebackers still on the board at the end of round one, we could trade down, probably still get one of them, and still come away with one of our best drafts in years.


With our pick on the clock, I decide that the presence of “backup plan” guy Lucas gives me some flexibility to try to trade down and still get a DE here. I make a swap with the Giants, getting their picks at 1(9) and 2(9) for our picks at 1(5) and 2(30) – hoping that we will pick up one of our decent affinity guys (maybe one of those linebackers) with that early second rounder.

At pick nine, DT Cris Hoover is #2 on the remaining list – dare we try to move down again? I don’t want to risk it, and my initial ventures don’t yield much anyway (moving down from 9 to 12 or so doesn’t get you much) – so we go ahead and get our top guy with pick #9 overall. Once he’s on our roster, he shifts to 40/69 at DT, then 38/73 at RDE, which will be his final position for us. Looking good.

So – now we have two dreams to watch. If DL Antoine Lucas falls a few more picks, I think I’ll try to trade up from #17 to get him – maybe at around 12 or 13. And, WR Erik Rigby is a ways down the rankings, but he is essentially a “must have” player for us – solid potential at WR and maybe even a breakout, we can’t ask for more than that. In a perfect world, we’d just land then – but I don’t mind dealing to get both guys, if we can.

I wait out picks 10, 11, and 12… and Lucas is still the third guy on the overall list, with two other defensive tackles ranked head of him. I’m thinking we are going to see him at pick #17. Meanwhile, the #1 wide receiver has been selected – leaving Rigby as the top guy at his position. If some team makes a need-driven pick, he could go at any time. Thing is, he’s so far down the overall rankings, I don’t feel that this can really be that urgent.

Picks #13 and #14 are the two defensive tackles ranked ahead of Lucas – he is now #1 on the overall draft board. Time to pull the trigger, I think. We have had such tough luck at the DE spot, I can’t miss up an opportunity to lock up two starting caliber guys who will fit our system and develop together. It’s too good to be true, almost. Our fifth round pick this year seals the deal (pretty cheap, I think) and we move up to get our guy.

Now, it’s watch time with our wide receiver, buried down on the raft boards. The picks through #20 go by without incident – but I’m not really even watching for anything here – it’s not like there’s one guy ahead of him, and that guy getting picked is my signal to move up. He’s sitting right there, on top of the WR list… low-hanging fruit.

Three more picks, and I can’t take it any more. I am too wedded to this guy – we have to have him, I’d be furious if he got taken right ahead of us, when we could move up a few slots for peanuts. Actually, Buffalo demands two picks (a 6th and a 5th) but we execute the swap – and move slightly up to grab the WR we covet. it is probably a slight reach pick, considering how far down the overall list he’s sitting (seventh at this point) still, but this is a guy we really need, if he pans out.

So – exhale.

Now, we have a fairly early second round selection – that’s only seventeen spots away. I’m still thinking we will get one of our linebackers there, which would just be great.

LB Scotti is taken with pick 29 in round one – a bit sooner than I had anticipated. Ringrose is still maybe 20-25 players deep on the overall list, though – will he, too, be a “need pick” for someone ahead of us? I try to decide just how good Ringrose is likely to be – two good combine scores, but he doesn’t have much ability as a run stopper, which I really value for this team. He might fit a similar role as Dan Maltman – but I don’t need two such guys running around really. I decide that Ringrose is probably worth the second rounder – but not worth trading up to land him and pay him first round money.

Funny. In the process of talking myself out of trading up for Ringrose, I seem to have talked myself out of picking him at 2(9), where he is still available, to my modest surprise. I am also surprised, however, that CB Rickey Joyner is still on the board – I had all but given up on seeing him. This draft has now exceeded my wildest hopes. Joyner dropped slightly upon our closer look, but as a second round pick it’s not a worry.

In late round two, I see S Fuchs, a possible – but I’m just not sold on him from the combines. I decide to trade into next year’s second round, and out of this pick. Enough excitement already – my heart might not take it.


Amateur Draft Report:

Rnd 1 - Erik Rigby, WR, Michigan State
Rnd 1 - Cris Hoover, DE, UCLA
Rnd 1 - Antoine Lucas, DE, Oklahoma
Rnd 2 - Rickey Joyner, CB, San Diego
Rnd 4 - Byron Torrice, WR, California
Rnd 7 - Curtis Garrison, RB, Oregon State


With our later picks, we’re looking for contributors with affinity bonuses, as usual. In round four, I like LB Geoff Poston a lot, but I’d like him a lot more if he weighted one pound more, and could switch to DE for us – he has pass-rushing skills, but is a void in our coverage. Damn.

I decide to grab WR Byron Torrice, even though still want to get another WR later in this draft. I like Torrice’s secondary skills – returner and special teamer. However, my sleeper Bubba Murray gets taken by … who else?… Denver in round five. RB Curtis Garrison looks like a decent-enough reserve RB, with some ability in the right spots – another late round stab at RB, which has become familiar to us.


Other news:


From: Memphis Government

Your proposal to move to Memphis was
submitted to the voters of its county for
a decision.

The issue succeeded, and construction is
scheduled for completion in 2045!

Here's the final vote tally:

In Favor: 871,946 - 51.7%
Rejected: 811,022 - 48.2%


Now, that is what I’m talking about – Memphis, here we come! 2045 can’t come soon enough!


Among our rookies, DT Antoine Lucas is the only one whose personality isn’t strong enough to bear the affinity mark – not bad. We may want to check out our long term leadership at the D7 group, as things won’t get better with Maltman in charge either. Lucas is also our only holdout going into training camp.

[QuikSand]

Late Free Agency

I am elated with the rookie class – but we still need to pull the team together.

LB Lamar Benton played in Green Bay last season after starting out with us, but is available on the FA wire again, and I snap him up – we failed to draft a rookie LB, and actually Benton still looks pretty good. (Guess that’s why we went after him in the first place, eh?)

With 65 signed (and one rookie holdout) going into the final FA stage – I have a look around and see if we might be able to spend our last few million bucks. One thought would be to pick up a mentor at DE for our two rookies. I can’t find anyone who is a fit for us, though – I’m not worried, as these guys are going to be on the field in short order anyway – no need to groom them on the sidelines.

RG Rondell Clancy looks like my kind of solid reserve OL – decent player, will serves us well as our 6th or 7th guy and primary backup to Singleton at the key run blocking slot.

We actually end up spending a lot of money on QB Artie McDaniel – a guy who is developing well, and will undoubtedly be a very good QB eventually. My fondest hope is that we get a trade offer for him after camp – as I can’t afford to keep paying him millions to be our third stringer.

So, we are just overstuffed as we head to training camp – but this is undoubtedly the most exciting rookie class ever. Fingers are crossed for good news from the early workouts.

[QuikSand]

Training Camp

This is easily the biggest camp we have had – I have good feelings, but we await the results…


Player # Pos Start Exp CE FE CE FE dCE dFE
McDaniel, Artie 16 QB 3 52 59 56 59 4 0
Fisk, Dwight 9 QB 14 55 55 55 55 0 0
Palm, Kenyon 8 QB 3 41 62 45 62 4 0
Holmes, Leonard 10 QB 1 8 45 10 42 2 -3
Garrison, Curtis 49 RB 1 28 38 29 38 1 0
Lavelli, Robert 34 RB 4 28 29 28 29 0 0
Burns, Dave 47 RB 9 24 24 24 24 0 0
Kong, Isaac 32 RB 2 23 33 24 33 1 0
Barrett, Roger 44 FB 5 78 78 78 78 0 0
Borders, William 42 FB 4 42 60 45 60 3 0
Peterson, Portly Irv 85 TE 4 50 50 50 50 0 0
Gerstler, Roosevelt 80 TE 1 27 45 31 48 4 3
Roberts, Ted 4 TE 1 17 42 18 38 1 -4
Cunningham, Edward 88 TE 2 14 36 16 36 2 0
Groll, Kendall 84 FL 3 48 48 50 50 2 2
Gordon, Marc 87 FL 6 36 43 38 43 2 0
Henson, Tommy 45 FL 8 32 37 32 37 0 0
Farmer, Dexter 24 FL 1 21 56 22 51 1 -5
Johnston, Preston 30 FL 2 17 33 19 33 2 0
Mayberry, Winston 82 FL 1 15 39 16 37 1 -2
Patter, Dwayne 81 SE 7 39 43 39 43 0 0
Rigby, Erik 83 SE 1 34 60 39 63 5 3
Torrice, Byron 86 SE 1 19 45 20 39 1 -6
McCarthy, Bubba 7 SE 1 19 31 19 28 0 -3
Toews, Adrian 15 SE 1 16 36 16 30 0 -6
Erickson, D.J. 52 C 2 36 85 43 85 7 0
Bullock, Drew 56 C 18 33 33 33 33 0 0
Fisk, Shawn 54 C 5 14 20 16 20 2 0
Hopper, Sammy 53 LG 2 20 47 24 47 4 0
Parker, Harry 66 LG 1 3 13 4 15 1 2
Singleton, Shaun 70 RG 7 71 77 71 77 0 0
Clancy, Rondell 62 RG 6 45 50 45 50 0 0
Conley, Kevin 65 RG 1 17 29 17 26 0 -3
Woods, Walt 63 LT 7 53 53 53 53 0 0
Fattel, Kurt 77 LT 7 43 49 43 49 0 0
Woodard, Stanley 64 LT 3 39 53 42 53 3 0
Collier, Nate 67 RT 6 53 53 53 53 0 0
Terrell, Willie 6 P 1 38 60 38 53 0 -7
Browning, Donovan 18 K 1 51 64 55 64 4 0
Burroughs, Mo 13 K 3 45 54 47 54 2 0
McCareins, Riddick 5 K 1 31 63 32 56 1 -7
Husak, Lonnie 17 K 1 27 50 29 50 2 0
Heimulu, Lester 96 LDE 1 29 42 30 43 1 1
Lucas, Antoine 72 LDE 1 26 68 25 67 -1 -1
Coffey, Ross 95 LDE 3 20 30 22 30 2 0
Vance, Lonnie 93 RDE 10 41 41 41 41 0 0
Hoover, Cris 98 RDE 1 39 73 41 71 2 -2
Maloney, Wade 76 RDE 1 14 36 15 36 1 0
O'Connell, Albert 71 RDT 6 51 56 51 56 0 0
Mayes, Tracy 79 RDT 14 35 41 35 41 0 0
Green, Kelvin 78 RDT 12 33 36 33 36 0 0
Glover, Bill 97 NT 2 21 39 24 39 3 0
Swift, J.T. 94 SILB 2 24 52 28 52 4 0
Jeffries, Daryl 90 WILB 14 48 52 48 52 0 0
Keith, Jimmie 91 WILB 7 47 47 47 47 0 0
Maltman, Dan 55 SLB 6 50 50 50 50 0 0
Benton, Lamar 92 SLB 6 32 43 35 43 3 0
Guarino, Jon 57 WLB 6 33 40 35 40 2 0
Quinn, Lewis 59 WLB 3 31 60 35 60 4 0
Lolicht, Jay 40 LCB 4 48 55 50 55 2 0
**Knight, Kyle 36 LCB 5 48 49 48 49 0 0
Lantz, Frank 46 LCB 2 25 46 28 46 3 0
Joyner, Rickey 22 RCB 1 19 59 20 53 1 -6
Shaw, Aaron 39 RCB 8 65 65 65 65 0 0
Bush, Derrick 41 RCB 10 47 47 47 47 0 0
Schofer, Luther 29 RCB 5 33 48 35 48 2 0
Beecroft, Joey 25 SS 5 88 88 88 88 0 0
Pearson, Brock 31 SS 10 27 31 27 31 0 0
Begian, Myron 48 SS 3 23 37 25 37 2 0
Wallin, Casey 38 SS 2 12 33 13 33 1 0
Holmes, Preston 26 FS 2 39 58 42 58 3 0
Holmes, Tommy 33 FS 4 32 37 34 37 2 0


WR Erik Rigby makes the big news, with a very god camp that points to a solid career ahead. Very exciting – we have been waiting a long time for an impact wideout to land with us.

The two defensive ends both lose a shade, but I’m not that worried – both guys look pretty good to me still. Time will tell, but I’m okay there.

CB Rickey Joyner looks like he’s going to disappoint – shaky ratings in most spots, though the ones he does have match up well with our needs. Might be a decent reserve, but probably not a future starter for us without an unexpected breakout later on.


Looking ahead – we see one thing clearly, and that is the decline in RB Dave Burns’ skills. It’s a shame, but he is now essentially out of the picture for us carrying the ball – he’ll probably have to be inactive. FB Barrett will be our main ball carrier, and it’s probably wide open for who gets to be the #2. Rookie Curtis Garrison looks okay as he held up okay in training camp, while second year man Isaac Kong’s back from his injuries to get into the picture. Robert Lavelli is hanging around, but I think he’s probably on his way out. The position might be due for a washover soon – maybe we’ll make FB Barrett our new position leader next year, as he has an 85 in leadership. (One more feather in Garrison’s cap, as he would retain an affinity with Barrett).


We get down to 60 (a feat in itself) and prepare for the preseason. I’d be fine if a number of our trifling players pull injuries, and spend the season on IR – just reduces the number of cuts we eventually need to make. We get a couple injuries, and get cut down to 57 – and ready to go for the season ahead:


St. Louis Rams Roster, Contract View

Player # Pos Start OnTm EndCnt Exp Cap Cost Save if Rls
Fisk, Dwight 9 QB QB 2027 2040 14 $4,400,000 $1,990,000
McDaniel, Artie 16 QB 2038 2040 3 $3,000,000 $1,290,000
Palm, Kenyon 8 QB 2038 2040 3 $1,550,000 $190,000
##Burns, Dave 47 RB 2036 2040 9 $610,000 $400,000
Kong, Isaac 32 RB 2039 2040 2 $280,000 $70,000
Garrison, Curtis 49 RB 2040 2042 1 $250,000 $40,000
Barrett, Roger 44 FB RB 2036 2040 5 $2,800,000 $1,190,000
Borders, William 42 FB FB 2037 2040 4 $500,000 $290,000
Peterson, Portly Irv 85 TE TE 2037 2040 4 $550,000 $210,000
**Roberts, Ted 4 TE 2040 2040 1 $210,000 $0
Gerstler, Roosevelt 80 TE 2040 2040 1 $210,000 $0
Groll, Kendall 84 FL FL 2038 2040 3 $1,240,000 $610,000
Henson, Tommy 45 FL 2033 2040 8 $1,100,000 $400,000
Gordon, Marc 87 FL 2040 2040 6 $650,000 $440,000
Rigby, Erik 83 SE SE 2040 2044 1 $1,480,000 $390,000
Patter, Dwayne 81 SE 2039 2040 7 $1,100,000 $290,000
##Torrice, Byron 86 SE 2040 2042 1 $330,000 $40,000
Erickson, D.J. 52 C C 2039 2042 2 $1,760,000 $700,000
Bullock, Drew 56 C LG 2036 2040 18 $970,000 $490,000
##Fisk, Shawn 54 C 2036 2040 5 $500,000 $290,000
**Hopper, Sammy 53 LG 2039 2041 2 $380,000 $150,000
Singleton, Shaun 70 RG RG 2034 2040 7 $4,200,000 $1,890,000
Clancy, Rondell 62 RG 2040 2040 6 $700,000 $290,000
Woods, Walt 63 LT LT 2038 2040 7 $5,000,000 $2,290,000
Fattel, Kurt 77 LT 2038 2040 7 $1,000,000 $290,000
Woodard, Stanley 64 LT 2038 2040 3 $670,000 $290,000
Collier, Nate 67 RT RT 2038 2040 6 $3,500,000 $1,540,000
Terrell, Willie 6 P 2040 2040 1 $210,000 $0
Browning, Donovan 18 K 2040 2040 1 $210,000 $0
Lucas, Antoine 72 LDE LDE 2040 2043 1 $1,710,000 $410,000
##Coffey, Ross 95 LDE 2038 2040 3 $510,000 $260,000
Heimulu, Lester 96 LDE 2040 2040 1 $250,000 $40,000
Hoover, Cris 98 RDE RDE 2040 2045 1 $2,130,000 $460,000
Vance, Lonnie 93 RDE 2039 2040 10 $1,000,000 $490,000
O'Connell, Albert 71 RDT NT 2038 2040 6 $1,100,000 $390,000
##Mayes, Tracy 79 RDT 2040 2040 14 $1,000,000 $790,000
Green, Kelvin 78 RDT 2035 2040 12 $900,000 $490,000
Glover, Bill 97 NT 2039 2041 2 $550,000 $170,000
Swift, J.T. 94 SILB 2039 2041 2 $970,000 $360,000
Keith, Jimmie 91 WILB SILB 2036 2040 7 $1,200,000 $390,000
Jeffries, Daryl 90 WILB WILB 2027 2040 14 $1,100,000 $610,000
Maltman, Dan 55 SLB SLB 2035 2040 6 $4,400,000 $1,990,000
Benton, Lamar 92 SLB 2040 2040 6 $550,000 $290,000
Quinn, Lewis 59 WLB WLB 2038 2040 3 $990,000 $430,000
Guarino, Jon 57 WLB 2035 2040 6 $550,000 $340,000
Joyner, Rickey 22 LCB 2040 2042 1 $830,000 $200,000
**Knight, Kyle 36 LCB 2039 2040 5 $700,000 $290,000
Lolicht, Jay 40 LCB 2040 2040 4 $530,000 $210,000
##Lantz, Frank 46 LCB 2039 2042 2 $440,000 $150,000
Shaw, Aaron 39 RCB RCB 2033 2040 8 $5,700,000 $2,640,000
Bush, Derrick 41 RCB LCB 2037 2040 10 $1,050,000 $440,000
Schofer, Luther 29 RCB 2036 2040 5 $550,000 $340,000
Beecroft, Joey 25 SS SS 2036 2040 5 $3,790,000 $2,060,000
Pearson, Brock 31 SS 2033 2040 10 $800,000 $400,000
##Begian, Myron 48 SS 2038 2040 3 $490,000 $260,000
**Wallin, Casey 38 SS 2039 2040 2 $320,000 $70,000
Holmes, Preston 26 FS FS 2039 2042 2 $1,470,000 $620,000

$$ - player is in starting lineup, ## - player is inactive.

Players Under Contract: 57
Inactive: 7
On Active Roster: 46

Salary Cap: $75,000,000
Cap Room: $900,000
Maximum for New Player: $1,150,000
Cap Room Lost (to old contracts): $0


So, we have a lot going on here – but if there’s one area of concern, it’s the defensive line. Yes, we have two exciting young players there, but our depth is pretty poor, as DT Kelvin Green is declining, and we really don’t have much else in the pass rush. We could end up with someone like Lewis Quinn or Jon Guarino seeing meaningful playing time at DE if we suffer injuries – and even without injuries, we’ll have some pretty green guys up front.

Cohesion is now at 100-91-92-89, very strong everywhere. Apparently having a long time starter at QB helps a lot – we’re #1 there even with two very young starters at WR. Overall, our roster rating is 74, about 12th overall, and tops in the division again.

Okay – big picture. Exciting year. We want to remain in the middle of the competition for the league championship, but our shift to young players in the pass rush is a potential weakness of the team now. However, I have no such reservations about the WR corps – I think it’s the best it has ever been on this team, and that’s with a 3rd year guy and a rookie as our two starters. I like them both, and expect pretty big things right away. If the OL can play well again, our running game ought to be fine with Barrett leading the way. If the defense keeps pace, we ought to be right about where we left off – a solid, though not dominant, team capable of double digit wins almost certainly.

We will be aiming for the top once again, but my prediction would probably be 11 wins and a division title.

[QuikSand]

2040 Regular Season

We start off 3-1, and our running game looks fine – Barrett is steady as the main guy, and both Garrison and Kong are contributing a bit as well. Fisk is not off to a great start, but is starting to get the wideouts more involved each week. Dan Maltman is establishing himself as the new defensive leader – he has 21 tackles, 2 interceptions, and 10 passes defensed in four games – a red hot start.

We suffer a terrible blow, though – RG Shaun Singleton is down with a serious injury, and is listed to return in “late 2041.” Awful – this might crush a blossoming career that was off to such a great start. I’m very angry – I don’t often get to see interior linemen who make such a difference for a team, and this could certainly jeopardize his future.

We get to 6-2 on the season, and are looking pretty good overall. Here are the team stats:


Record: 6-2
Winning Pct.: .750

St. Louis Rams Team Rank
Rushes 282 1
Rushing Yards 1197 1
Yards Per Carry 4.24 8
Pass Attempts 266 6
Completions 161 6
Passing Yards 1770 8
Yards Per Attempt 6.65 20
3rd Down Conversions 46.6 6
Points Per Game 18.3 22
Turnovers 12 22 (T)
Turnover Margin -2 18 (T)

Opponents Team Rank
Rushes 174 3
Rushing Yards 686 5
Yards Per Carry 3.94 14
Pass Attempts 267 26 (T)
Completions 137 8 (T)
Passing Yards 1351 2
Yards Per Attempt 5.05 1
3rd Down Conversions 29.9 1
Points Per Game 13.0 1
Turnovers 10 15 (T)


The first number to see here is 5.05 – our pass defense has once again been unbelievably good. We aren’t getting lots of turnovers, but we are very tough to pass against. LBs Jeffries and Maltman are the team leaders in tackles, while Maltman leads in practically everything else (6 sacks, 2 int, and 13 PDs).

In week 10, we win 33-31 over Atlanta, as S Joey Beecroft manages to score on a safety with 1:39 left to break the tie, which we created with a TD drive with 4 minutes left. A win over Seattle inn the next game gives us a two game lead in the division, at 8-2. Dwight Fisk suffers his now traditional injury – and we’ll bring in the exciting Kenyon Palm for a few games.

Palm has his first tough game – a pick and a loss against Buffalo. However, he bounces back leading us to a big win the following week, and now Fisk is back and ready to take over again. We are 9-3, still up two games in the division, and are on pace now for a bye week – we just need to stay on track.

A win at 9-3 Miami helps, and we do it without injured FB Barrett. Kong has 89 yards to lead the rushing attack in his stead, but our defense wins the game practically speaking. We have been very lucky thus far at DE – where both young players are doing okay (nothing spectacular from either guy) but have yet to suffer even a minor injury. That’s a real change from the brittle veterans we are used to seeing in there. Losing Jimmie Keith, though, definitely weakens the defensive front.

In week 15, we miss our chance to clinch the division, losing 12-10 at Seattle. But we rebound again with a big win, and put the division away anyhow. We still need a win in our finale to secure a bye week, though – and we really could use it. Kenyon Palm leads us to the 20-6 win over San Fran, and we land at a solid 12-4 to get the #2 seed in the conference.


2040 Summary for St. Louis Rams

Record: 12-4
Winning Pct.: .750

St. Louis Rams Team Rank
Rushes 558 1
Rushing Yards 2272 2
Yards Per Carry 4.07 13
Pass Attempts 514 22 (T)
Completions 316 21
Passing Yards 3666 13
Yards Per Attempt 7.13 12
3rd Down Conversions 47.1 4
Points Per Game 21.1 9
Turnovers 26 20 (T)
Turnover Margin +2 15

Opponents Team Rank
Rushes 374 1 (T)
Rushing Yards 1541 2
Yards Per Carry 4.12 20
Pass Attempts 536 23
Completions 262 1
Passing Yards 2624 1
Yards Per Attempt 4.89 1
3rd Down Conversions 35.3 2
Points Per Game 13.5 1
Turnovers 28 6

Week Team Versus Oppnt
1 16 ARI 3
2 17 NYJ 23
3 20 MIN 14
4 24 at NOS 0
5 17 CAR 20
6 20 TBY 17
7 20 SFO 17
8 13 at ARI 10
9 33 at ATL 31
10 26 SEA 15
12 13 at BUF 16
13 42 at DAL 17
14 20 at MIA 13
15 10 at SEA 12
16 27 NED 3
17 20 at SFO 6

Passing Pos Att Comp Yards Y/Att TD Int
9 Fisk QB 429 263 3077 7.17 16 14
8 Palm QB 85 53 589 6.92 4 2
**Team --- 514 316 3666 7.13 20 16

Rushing Pos Att Yards Y/Att TD
44 Barrett FB 227 863 3.80 2
49 Garrison RB 148 692 4.67 3
32 Kong RB 126 493 3.91 6
**Team --- 558 2272 4.07 13

Receiving Pos Targ Catch Yards Y/Ctc YAC TD
83 Rigby WR 81 50 745 14.9 118 8
84 Groll WR 79 49 675 13.7 91 2
80 Gerstler TE 62 39 350 8.9 61 1
87 Gordon WR 66 35 521 14.8 87 2
44 Barrett FB 55 35 317 9.0 124 2
42 Borders FB 43 35 255 7.2 97 2
85 Peterson TE 43 28 324 11.5 75 1
81 Patter WR 28 16 231 14.4 26 1
**Team --- 512 316 3666 11.6 749 20

Defense Pos Tack Asst Sack Hurr Ints Defn
90 Jeffries ILB 86 29 3.0 2 0 16
55 Maltman OLB 72 22 10.0 5 3 19
25 Beecroft S 70 36 2.0 0 1 12
91 Keith ILB 56 19 3.0 1 1 3
39 Shaw CB 55 13 0.0 0 4 21
26 Holmes S 55 14 0.0 0 5 11
41 Bush CB 40 15 0.0 0 4 14
94 Swift ILB 31 12 0.0 0 0 1
72 Lucas DE 30 7 5.5 11 1 0
71 O'Connell DT 26 10 7.5 19 0 0
57 Guarino OLB 26 4 3.0 0 0 1
59 Quinn OLB 24 5 2.0 0 0 0
31 Pearson S 19 0 0.0 0 1 0
92 Benton OLB 17 4 1.0 2 2 1
29 Schofer CB 16 8 2.0 0 1 0
40 Lolicht CB 16 5 0.0 1 0 1
**Team --- 741 225 47.0 63 23 101


Okay – we’ll start with the offense. Dwight Fisk had another solid season – but amidst his ratings decline, we are seeing his stats suffer as well. This year, with an 81 rating and a TD/Int ratio of less than 2:1, was statistically his worst to date. Meanwhile, Kenyon Palm continues to be impressive – it’s now an open debate which of the two gives us a better chance to win a given game. (And I refuse to even play Artie McDaniel, whom my scouts say is the best QB on the roster)

The running game dropped off this season – but I don’t think it’s really the fault of or backs. Roger Barrett had an okay season, but dropped more than 0.8 in his yards per carry since last year – that’s a big drop. We dropped to #13 in the league in yards per carry, too – another pretty big drop. No big problem with the numbers from Garrison or Kong, either – just concern that we’re not clicking like we did with Singleton healthy;


Blocking Statistics

Player Pos Team GP GS KRB KRO BPct SkA PPly SPct RPly OPct
Erickson, D.J. C STL 16 16 29 81 35.8 5 535 0.9 552 14.6
Fattel, Kurt T STL 14 11 26 75 34.6 3 349 0.8 379 19.7
Woods, Walt T STL 16 16 26 84 30.9 2 537 0.3 556 15.1
Singleton, Shaun G STL 5 5 21 44 47.7 2 160 1.2 173 25.4
Collier, Nate T STL 15 14 21 59 35.5 2 463 0.4 468 12.6
Clancy, Rondell G STL 16 7 19 61 31.1 2 298 0.6 304 20.0
Bullock, Drew C STL 8 5 11 19 57.8 0 133 0.0 151 12.5
Borders, William FB STL 16 9 6 25 24.0 1 247 0.4 327 7.6
Woodard, Stanley T STL 5 2 6 20 30.0 2 68 2.9 88 22.7
Gerstler, Roosevelt TE STL 16 7 5 12 41.6 1 277 0.3 323 3.7
Aarhus, Earnest G STL 10 4 4 23 17.3 1 142 0.7 119 19.3
Peterson, Portly Irv TE STL 14 9 4 7 57.1 0 192 0.0 234 2.9
Barrett, Roger FB STL 16 14 1 9 11.1 0 288 0.0 310 2.9


The run blocking was actually still pretty good – but we did not have that road grader up front (Singleton) to knock ‘em down at a 40%+ clip – and the guys who got to start in his absence (like Clancy and Aarhus) just were not up to snuff. In pass protection, we were good again – only 21 sacks allowed is very solid. C Erickson seems to be on his way to asserting himself as a superior player – I’m thinking next year he will be our best lineman by the numbers.

Our young receiving corps played pretty well overall – with rookie Erik Rigby clearly putting it together as the season went on, and becoming our main target by year’s end (He had about 580 yards in the last 8 games – a 1,000+ pace after a fairly slow start). Groll and Gordon were both effective, and we got quite a lot out of our TE position as well. Not as many screen passes underneath this year – we were going downfield more, with better WR options. Overall, I like to see that.


Defensively, I have to start with LB Dan Maltman. This game really values tackles, where he was solid but not outstanding, so he might not get a pro bowl invite. But honestly – 86+29 tackles, 10 sacks, 3 interceptions, and 19 passes defensed – those are superior stats for a linebacker. What a season. He even had a 4.0 PRPct, and that’s for a linebacker who wasn’t even rushing the passer all the time (he dropped back enough to break up 19 passes, for heaven’s sake) – how impressive is that?

Part of the LB sack count is attributable to having green defensive ends. Actually, Lucas played pretty well for us this season (30+7 tackles, 5.5/3/11=4.3 PRPct) but the stats from Cris Hoover were a little disappointing (15+14 tackles, 3/4/12=3.6 PRPct). But both stayed healthy, developed their ratings, and things ought to be looking up for us at DE. At least we ought to have some new level of stability. O’Connell was okay in the middle, but we lacked the powerful run stopper that I prefer in the TD/NT slot – and may be looking for help there in the year ahead. DT Kelvin Green has become a non-factor, and his time has probably come and gone for us.

CB Aaron Shaw again put up big numbers (21.1 PDPct) in leading the secondary to another stellar year. Giving up less than 5 yards per pass play is just crazy to me – but that’s the mark we reached this year. Six players with double-digit passes defensed – including 58 from our four starting DBs, is very solid – and none of them allowed more than a 2:1 ratio of catches to PDs. We’re not a turnover machine, but we are getting better there – with 14 picks from the secondary alone, and 23 total.


This team certainly seems capable of playing very well – I love the tough pass defense as a signature (after several years being ranked near the very top in yards par attempt, I think that’s fair).

The week off is good for us, and should clear up a number of minor injuries. We will head into this postseason in pretty good shape – Mighty Houston is the favorite to win the title, but we have as good a shot as anyone from the NFC, and this might be the first year we could really defend that argument.

[QuikSand]

Postseason Summary

Divisional Playoff: Green Bay (11-6) at St. Louis (12-4) – The Packers look solid overall, and will try to pass on us, playing into our team strength. We run it right at them, with Barrett’s 127 yards leading the way, and pound them for a 30-11 victory and our second trip to the conference championship game.

Conference Championship: Carolina (13-5) at St. Louis (13-4) – RB Curtis Garrison is out, leaving Kong as our main backup RB behind Barrett. Otherwise, we are inn pretty good shape for this home stand. We go to the ground game again as our key – Barrett posts 31-156 and 2TDs to spearhead the offense, and we get away with a solid 31-23 win – earning our first ever Superbowl berth.


Superbowl: St. Louis (14-4) vs. Oakland (14-5) – I’m putting this game up onto the scoreboard, something I basically don’t ever do. We’ve worked a long time to get here… big game, to say the least.

The Raiders get a FG on their first drive, but we respond, converting two key third downs to launch a long TD drive to take the lead on a TD pass to Groll. It’s basically a two drive first quarter, with us ahead after the first.

We add a FG after getting down to their 2 yard line, and are under pressure late in the first half when Oakland penetrates deep into our territory. But, we get a fumble (caused by LB Quinn) near the goal line, and DT O’Connell comes up with the ball at our 1 yard line. Huge play! Barrett runs us out of our own goalpost’s shadow, and then breaks off a 62 yard scamper to suddenly put us into scoring position. With under a minute left in the half, we face fourth and goal form their 2, and wisely accept the FG attempt, putting us ahead 13-3 at the half.

After a swap of punts to open the second half, we get two passes to Rigby to get us into position at their 20. We end up tacking on another field goal to take a 16-3 lead. Considering we have outgained them by about 2:1, a 13-point lead does not feel nearly secure enough to me. Sure enough, Oakland marches right down the field, and wraps up the third quarter with their first TD of the day. It’s 16-10, as we head into the fourth quarter.

Oakland stops our possession with two sacks, but we stonewall them to get the ball back with 10:18 on the clock. Two first downs actually eat four minutes, and even without scoring we can gain ground. Barrett catches a key pass to convert third and long, and we get a first down at their 34. Any score here would be absolutely huge, as we’d make it a two-score margin. We get fourth and one from the 25 – a big kick looms here… and we nail it! 19-10 looks an awful lot better than 16-10 did, and now there is only 2:14 on the clock after a huge time-consuming scoring drive.

Oakland connects on a key 40 yard pass play, splitting our coverage for a big gainer. They pretty quickly go deep, and hit for the TD in the endzone. Just like that, they make it 19-17, and set up for the kickoff. With 1:19 left and only one timeout, I think they need to try an onside kick here. They try, but the ball goes out of bounds – and we take over at their 41. We run inside twice, and then assume the victory formation – Fisk takes a knee, and we lock it up!

Final score: St. Louis 19, Oakland 17


Box Score: Oakland vs St. Louis
Tucson, AZ.

Front Office Championship, 2040

Attendance: 60,300 (60,300).


Weather: 73 degrees, fair.

1Q: 11:19 OAK - Moe Everett 38 field goal.
1Q: 00:45 STL - Kendall Groll 5 pass from Dwight Fisk.
1Q: 00:45 STL - Donovan Browning extra point.
2Q: 10:07 STL - Donovan Browning 29 field goal.
2Q: 00:29 STL - Donovan Browning 19 field goal.
3Q: 05:49 STL - Donovan Browning 47 field goal.
3Q: 00:36 OAK - Ray Webb 1 run.
3Q: 00:36 OAK - Moe Everett extra point.
4Q: 02:14 STL - Donovan Browning 42 field goal.
4Q: 01:19 OAK - Quentin Thiel 37 pass from Percy Mathis.
4Q: 01:19 OAK - Moe Everett extra point.

Game MVP: STL 44 Roger Barrett

Oakland 3 0 7 7 - 17
St. Louis 7 6 3 3 - 19

Team Statistics OAK STL

First Downs 16 22

Total Rushes 16 46
Rushing Yards 65 205
Yards Per Carry 4.0 4.4
Pass Attempts 26 19
Completions 17 16
Passing Yards 252 186
Yards Per Attempt 9.6 9.7
Sacked 2 6
Yards Lost 10 41
Interceptions 0 0
Fumbles/Lost 2/1 0/0

Total Plays 44 71
Total Yards 307 350
Yards Per Play 6.9 4.9

3rd Down Plays 5/8 12/19
Avg. YTG on 3rd 7.6 8.1
4th Down Plays 0/0 0/0

Penalties 4 2
Penalty Yards 29 20

Avg. Drive Start OWN 20 OWN 29
Time Of Possession 21:28 38:32

Oakland Individual Statistics

Rushing Att Yards Avg Long TD
26 Webb 10 25 2.5 6 1
41 Wooden 4 34 8.5 20 0
13 Mathis 1 -2 -2.0 -2 0
38 Washington 1 8 8.0 8 0

Passing Att Comp Yards Yd/Att Long TD Int Sckd
13 Mathis 26 17 252 9.6 40 1 0 2

Receiving Catch Yards Avg YAC Long TD
80 Thiel 4 84 21.0 3 37 1
84 Myers 3 54 18.0 4 25 0
82 Branch 2 54 27.0 17 40 0
26 Webb 2 28 14.0 11 25 0
81 Gampper 2 9 4.5 9 6 0
22 William 1 8 8.0 1 8 0
41 Wooden 1 5 5.0 3 5 0
38 Washington 1 3 3.0 0 3 0
89 Espinal 1 7 7.0 1 7 0

Punt Returns Att Yards Avg TD
49 Cook 2 4 2.0 0

Kick Returns Att Yards Avg TD
80 Thiel 2 35 17.5 0
49 Cook 1 19 19.0 0

Punting Punts Yards Avg Long In20
9 Sandoval 3 122 40.6 47 1

Kicking FG FGA Long PAT Att
7 Everett 1 1 38 2 2

Defense Tackle Assist Sack Int IntYds IntTD
51 Fuller 10 3 0.0 0 0 0
75 McNeil 7 2 1.5 0 0 0
35 Bonnette 7 1 0.0 0 0 0
55 Galloway 6 2 1.0 0 0 0
94 Anegawa 6 2 1.0 0 0 0
49 Cook 6 2 0.0 0 0 0
78 Poole 5 3 0.5 0 0 0
28 Joyner 4 5 0.0 0 0 0
99 Barabino 4 1 0.0 0 0 0
31 Murray 3 4 1.0 0 0 0
72 Nielsen 3 3 1.0 0 0 0
29 Alexander 3 1 0.0 0 0 0
25 Seiler 2 1 0.0 0 0 0
38 Washington 1 0 0.0 0 0 0
95 Newsome 0 1 0.0 0 0 0

Miscellaneous Fumb FForc Recov MiscTD KeyRBlk SckAlwd
53 Cochrane 0 0 0 0 1 1
22 William 0 0 0 0 0 1
80 Thiel 1 0 1 0 0 0
74 Brock 0 0 0 0 1 0
41 Wooden 1 0 0 0 0 0
62 Watkins 0 0 0 0 1 0
66 Mayes 0 0 0 0 1 0
67 King 0 0 0 0 1 0

St. Louis Individual Statistics

Rushing Att Yards Avg Long TD
44 Barrett 25 158 6.3 62 0
32 Kong 11 29 2.6 10 0
9 Fisk 6 2 0.3 2 0
42 Borders 2 4 2.0 3 0
87 Gordon 1 4 4.0 4 0
83 Rigby 1 8 8.0 8 0

Passing Att Comp Yards Yd/Att Long TD Int Sckd
9 Fisk 19 16 186 9.7 18 1 0 6

Receiving Catch Yards Avg YAC Long TD
44 Barrett 4 42 10.5 22 14 0
83 Rigby 4 59 14.7 5 18 0
87 Gordon 3 46 15.3 4 16 0
85 Peterson 3 23 7.6 6 10 0
84 Groll 2 16 8.0 6 11 1

Punt Returns Att Yards Avg TD

Kick Returns Att Yards Avg TD
45 Henson 1 15 15.0 0
22 Joyner 1 16 16.0 0

Punting Punts Yards Avg Long In20
6 Terrell 2 91 45.5 46 1

Kicking FG FGA Long PAT Att
18 Browning 4 4 47 1 1

Defense Tackle Assist Sack Int IntYds IntTD
25 Beecroft 8 0 0.0 0 0 0
90 Jeffries 6 3 1.0 0 0 0
41 Bush 4 2 0.0 0 0 0
55 Maltman 3 1 1.0 0 0 0
59 Quinn 3 1 0.0 0 0 0
94 Swift 2 1 0.0 0 0 0
26 Holmes 2 1 0.0 0 0 0
39 Shaw 2 0 0.0 0 0 0
97 Glover 2 0 0.0 0 0 0
47 Burns 1 0 0.0 0 0 0
45 Henson 1 0 0.0 0 0 0
63 Woods 1 0 0.0 0 0 0
85 Peterson 1 0 0.0 0 0 0
72 Lucas 1 0 0.0 0 0 0
98 Hoover 0 1 0.0 0 0 0

Miscellaneous Fumb FForc Recov MiscTD KeyRBlk SckAlwd
52 Erickson 0 0 0 0 2 2
67 Collier 0 0 0 0 4 1
63 Woods 0 0 0 0 3 2
77 Fattel 0 0 0 0 1 1
47 Burns 0 1 0 0 0 0
68 Aarhus 0 0 0 0 1 0
71 O'Connell 0 0 1 0 0 0
42 Borders 0 0 0 0 1 0
85 Peterson 0 0 0 0 1 0
59 Quinn 0 1 0 0 0 0

Oakland Drive Chart
Quar Began Poss From Plays Yards Result
1 15:00 3:41 OWN 25 6 54 Field Goal
1 0:45 0:52 OWN 20 3 -5 Punt
2 10:07 5:55 OWN 18 12 81 Fumble
2 0:29 0:29 OWN 21 1 -2 Half
3 11:41 2:26 OWN 8 5 1 Punt
3 5:49 5:13 OWN 20 10 80 Touchdown
4 11:45 1:27 OWN 32 3 3 Punt
4 2:14 0:55 OWN 20 4 80 Touchdown

St. Louis Drive Chart
Quar Began Poss From Plays Yards Result
1 11:19 10:34 OWN 20 17 80 Touchdown
2 14:53 4:46 OPP 47 9 35 Field Goal
2 4:12 3:43 OWN 1 10 97 Field Goal
3 15:00 3:19 OWN 10 6 33 Punt
3 9:15 3:26 OWN 48 8 22 Field Goal
3 0:36 3:51 OWN 22 6 8 Punt
4 10:18 8:04 OWN 18 13 57 Field Goal
4 1:19 1:19 OPP 40 3 3 Game

Oakland Red Zone Profile
Visits TDs FGs
3 1 1

St. Louis Red Zone Profile
Visits TDs FGs
3 1 2

Oakland Rushing Breakdown

Direction Rush Yards Ave
Left 1 20 20.0
Middle 12 34 2.8
Right 2 13 6.5
None 1 -2 -2.0

Run Blocking KeyBlks BlkOpps RunPlays
62 Watkins 1 4 16
74 Brock 1 3 16
53 Cochrane 1 3 16
66 Mayes 1 3 16
67 King 1 1 16
22 William 0 1 12
81 Gampper 0 0 16
88 Borcherding 0 0 3
38 Washington 0 0 1

Oakland Passing Breakdown

Distance Pass Comp Yards Ave
Screen 4 3 12 3.0
Short (0-8 Yds) 6 4 23 3.8
Medium (9-18 Yds) 9 6 90 10.0
Long (19+ Yds) 7 4 127 18.1

Passing Attempt Comp BdThrw Dropd Defnsd Blockd Hurried Intrcpt
13 Mathis 26 17 1 2 1 0 5 0

Receiving Target Caught Dropd Yards PassPlay
80 Thiel 7 4 1 84 24
84 Myers 7 3 1 54 24
81 Gampper 4 2 0 9 23
82 Branch 2 2 0 54 14
26 Webb 2 2 0 28 19
22 William 1 1 0 8 16
41 Wooden 1 1 0 5 4
38 Washington 1 1 0 3 5
89 Espinal 1 1 0 7 7

Pass Block SckAlwd PassPlay
74 Brock 0 28
62 Watkins 0 28
53 Cochrane 1 28
66 Mayes 0 28
67 King 0 28
22 William 1 16
38 Washington 0 5

Pass Rush Sacks PsBlks Hurries PassPlay
75 McNeil 1.5 0 0 25
72 Nielsen 1.0 1 0 25
31 Murray 1.0 0 0 25
55 Galloway 1.0 0 0 18
94 Anegawa 1.0 0 0 12
78 Poole 0.5 0 0 25
35 Bonnette 0.0 0 0 25
51 Fuller 0.0 0 0 25
49 Cook 0.0 0 0 25
28 Joyner 0.0 0 0 23
91 Downs 0.0 0 0 13
79 Gunn 0.0 0 0 12
29 Alexander 0.0 0 0 11
99 Barabino 0.0 0 0 5
95 Newsome 0.0 0 0 4
25 Seiler 0.0 0 0 2

Pass Defense Caught Defnsd Intrcpt PassPlay
49 Cook 3 1 0 25
31 Murray 3 1 0 25
51 Fuller 3 0 0 25
35 Bonnette 2 0 0 25
28 Joyner 2 0 0 23
55 Galloway 2 0 0 18
25 Seiler 1 0 0 2
75 McNeil 0 0 0 25
72 Nielsen 0 0 0 25
78 Poole 0 0 0 25
91 Downs 0 0 0 13
79 Gunn 0 0 0 12
94 Anegawa 0 0 0 12
29 Alexander 0 0 0 11
99 Barabino 0 0 0 5
95 Newsome 0 0 0 4

Defense Tackles Assists RunPlay PassPlay
51 Fuller 10 3 46 25
75 McNeil 7 2 46 25
35 Bonnette 7 1 46 25
49 Cook 6 2 46 25
55 Galloway 6 2 27 18
94 Anegawa 6 2 28 12
78 Poole 5 3 46 25
28 Joyner 4 5 41 23
99 Barabino 4 1 16 5
31 Murray 3 4 43 25
72 Nielsen 3 3 46 25
29 Alexander 3 1 14 11
25 Seiler 2 1 3 2
95 Newsome 0 1 9 4
91 Downs 0 0 33 13
79 Gunn 0 0 13 12
33 Shuger 0 0 3 0

St. Louis Rushing Breakdown

Direction Rush Yards Ave
Left 13 24 1.8
Middle 23 152 6.6
Right 9 30 3.3
None 1 -1 -1.0

Run Blocking KeyBlks BlkOpps RunPlays
67 Collier 4 5 46
63 Woods 3 10 46
52 Erickson 2 7 46
68 Aarhus 1 8 46
77 Fattel 1 5 46
42 Borders 1 4 37
85 Peterson 1 2 42
44 Barrett 0 0 32
80 Gerstler 0 1 13

St. Louis Passing Breakdown

Distance Pass Comp Yards Ave
Screen 4 4 29 7.2
Short (0-8 Yds) 4 3 24 6.0
Medium (9-18 Yds) 11 9 133 12.0
Long (19+ Yds) 0 0 0 0.0

Passing Attempt Comp BdThrw Dropd Defnsd Blockd Hurried Intrcpt
9 Fisk 19 16 0 0 2 1 0 0

Receiving Target Caught Dropd Yards PassPlay
87 Gordon 4 3 0 46 16
44 Barrett 4 4 0 42 20
85 Peterson 4 3 0 23 19
83 Rigby 4 4 0 59 23
84 Groll 3 2 0 16 20

Pass Block SckAlwd PassPlay
77 Fattel 1 25
63 Woods 2 25
68 Aarhus 0 25
67 Collier 1 25
52 Erickson 2 25
44 Barrett 0 20
42 Borders 0 14

Pass Rush Sacks PsBlks Hurries PassPlay
90 Jeffries 1.0 0 0 28
55 Maltman 1.0 0 0 28
71 O'Connell 0.0 0 3 25
94 Swift 0.0 0 1 26
72 Lucas 0.0 0 1 26
41 Bush 0.0 0 0 28
39 Shaw 0.0 0 0 28
25 Beecroft 0.0 0 0 28
26 Holmes 0.0 0 0 28
98 Hoover 0.0 0 0 28
59 Quinn 0.0 0 0 18
40 Lolicht 0.0 0 0 10
97 Glover 0.0 0 0 3
29 Schofer 0.0 0 0 2
96 Heimulu 0.0 0 0 2

Pass Defense Caught Defnsd Intrcpt PassPlay
25 Beecroft 5 0 0 28
41 Bush 3 0 0 28
26 Holmes 3 0 0 28
90 Jeffries 2 0 0 28
39 Shaw 2 0 0 28
55 Maltman 1 1 0 28
94 Swift 1 0 0 26
98 Hoover 0 0 0 28
72 Lucas 0 0 0 26
71 O'Connell 0 0 0 25
59 Quinn 0 0 0 18
40 Lolicht 0 0 0 10
97 Glover 0 0 0 3
29 Schofer 0 0 0 2
96 Heimulu 0 0 0 2

Defense Tackles Assists RunPlay PassPlay
25 Beecroft 8 0 16 28
90 Jeffries 6 3 16 28
41 Bush 4 2 16 28
55 Maltman 3 1 16 28
59 Quinn 3 1 13 18
26 Holmes 2 1 16 28
94 Swift 2 1 15 26
39 Shaw 2 0 16 28
97 Glover 2 0 4 3
72 Lucas 1 0 14 26
98 Hoover 0 1 16 28
71 O'Connell 0 0 12 25
40 Lolicht 0 0 3 10
96 Heimulu 0 0 2 2
29 Schofer 0 0 1 2


Just a great game – we pounded the ball, Fisk was very accurate when we used him, and we kept things in control most of the game. Our secondary was a shade disappointing, but we kept them in check for the bulk of the game, and they couoldn’t muster too much on the ground, either. Superb effort – and it feels great to finally raise the banner!


FB Roger Barrett adds Superbowl MVP to his first team pro bowl award, and I’m glad to see LB Dan Maltman recognized as a second team all pro as well.


Well, we are finally getting the big finihs, rather than a whimpering whisper about why things didn’t work out. This might not be a superior powerhouse team – but we at least have a ring, and got to put it onto the fingers of our two foundation players’ fingers – Dwight Fisk and Daryl Jeffries have reason to be very proud, I think. * grins *

[Izulde]

Whoohoo!!!

Congratulations! :)

[Alf]

Congrats ! The long expected ring !

Now, we'll probably Fisk, Jeffries and the old Center retire. So, time for rebuilding the team for Memphis relocation.

[MIJB#19]

QS, you amaze me with how quickly this dynasty has grown into a 175-post dynasty. I haven't even had enough time to read up on the whole story yet...

[QuikSand]

We appreciate the congratulations - it's been a rather long road, indeed.

Some more to come, actually... not dead yet...

[QuikSand]

2041 offseason

Well, an update on our performance thus far here in town:


GM Performance for QuikSand of the St. Louis Rams

Year Team Eval Perf Diff Proft FrVal Record Playoffs
2040 STL 51 83 87 35 25 15-4-0 Bowl Winner
2039 STL 54 81 88 43 22 12-4-2 Division Final
2038 STL 44 66 87 35 16 14-5-0 Conference Final
2037 STL 43 45 87 45 14 9-7-0 None
2036 STL 46 66 86 37 22 12-6-0 Division Final
2035 STL 38 34 88 39 23 7-9-0 None
2034 STL 50 66 87 43 28 11-7-0 Division Final
2033 STL 53 66 88 51 21 12-6-0 Division Final
2032 STL 50 63 87 47 22 10-7-0 Wild Card Round
2031 STL 53 83 86 42 18 12-4-1 Division Final
2030 STL 37 22 87 47 12 7-9-0 None
2029 STL 58 90 86 53 2 13-4-0 Division Final
2028 STL 53 54 86 61 12 8-8-0 None
2027 STL 52 36 86 70 7 7-9-0 None


Fourteen seasons, and finally a title. Damn.

In past careers, I have experienced the “one and done” syndrome – longtime players who finally get their first title, and retire right afterwards. We’ll see if we get any of those here.

We have three retirements. Believe it or not, C Drew Bullock is not among them – he’s back for a 19th season. He had a ring before the one from last year anyway – but after a solid season for us each of the last two years, why not come back?

Dwight Fisk is back as well, though I didn’t really expect anything else. We will bring him back this year, but I don’t expect his demands to be very steep.

LB Daryl Jeffries, though, is done. Great player for us for many years – I am very glad we got a title while he was still with us. Fourteen seasons, 1,413 tackles, and a 16.3% TkPct – this guy was an institution, and leaves as the “Legend of the Game.”

DT Tracy Mayes was our one-year solution for our affinity situation along the defensive front. Didn’t see the field last year – but his departure requires us to re-invest there – hopefully with a guy who will bring stronger affinities to the table with a stronger personality. DE Lonnie Vance was another short-term solution for us along the DL – never much of a player, but he helped with our depth.


Two former Rams of ours go to the HOF – RB Moe Jamison (who had one very good season with us) and QB Victor Hopson, who had a cup of coffee here at the end of his long career.


So, to the front office. Everyone gets a free pass, eh? Head Coach Joe Martinez is up for a new contract – and how could we turn him down? At 61, he’ll get a new four year deal, following the championship run.


Incidentally, RG Shaun Singleton is nearly recovered from his elbow injury from last year, and as feared, he is not the player he once was. It looks like he will still be a decent run blocker, but his skills are now at a fraction of their old levels. Since he was on IR, he technically isn’t listed as having a championship ring, even though he clearly was a part of the team getting us there. Shame – he was clearly a great player – now he’s just an affinity guy who probably has to fight for playing time.

[QuikSand]

Free Agency Planning

Well, we have a new angle in our affinity situation. Last year, C Drew Bullock got dinged up, and I replaced him at LG – then I forgot about him, and took a couple extra weeks to get him back into the lineup – and in the process, he got unhappy. He remains unhappy now, even after starting our last several games. And, lo and behold, now we have no affinities showing up for us along the offensive line – and that’s supposed to be everyone. Ouch. Apparently, it all falls apart if the position leaded loses his good spirits – good to know. We’ll get him playing time, and get him happy in short order, I hope.


I’m also thinking about the RB group – currently all-affinity as well. But We are now basically carrying Dave Burns, and that’s a dead roster spot I’d rather use on a solid player. If we lost RB Burns, we’d either have FB Barrett or FB Borders become the leader – and both guys are in the Aries (3-4) group. With one of them as the leader, we’d still have an affinity with second year RB Curtis Garrison, but we’d lose the connection with third year man Isaac Kong. I could live with the rebuilding, but am open to options – we may not be bringing Dave Burns back for another season. I don’t see any viable free agent pickups at the moment, though – we may be looking for RB help in the draft this year, so that might guide us as well.


And, with the departure of our defensive front leader Tracy Mayes, that mantle falls to DT Albert O’Connell – which wipes out most of our affinities in the group. We need to do one of two things here – either let O’Connell go (making Dan Maltman the new leader) or else pick up a new leader who will regain affinities with our legions of Capricorns (including O’Connell, the source of the problem). I thought I had just the guy in veteran LB Bubba Quintero, but alas he wouldn’t overtake DT O’Connell’s grip on the leadership role (8th year guy, 98 leadership rating). I’m stuck – it might be the only way to get this to work out is to let go our starting nose tackle. He’s not spectacular, but with the limited number of players around who fit, it’s tough to let a guy that good get away for any reason.


Incidentally, my scout now officially ranks Dwight Fisk as our third-best quarterback. Interesting decision ahead – he has ranked McConnell first since last year, but as Fisk declines and the youngsters continue to bump up, they have now both overtaken him in current rating – while Palm still has significant unrealized potential ahead. My guess is that I’ll re-sign Palm but not McConnell this year – I just can’t justify spending $2 or $3 million on a third stringer who doesn’t have a future starting job for us already locked up. I have basically committed to Kenyon Palm, so unless McConnell comes cheaply (unlikely), we’ll probably let him walk.


So, our priority players for this year:

A LIST: QB Dwight Fisk, LB Dan Maltman
B LIST: S Joey Beecroft, CB Aaron Shaw, QB Kenyon Palm, LT Walt Woods, LB Jimmie Keith

Actually, I will probably pursue these six players at any cost – but I expect that we will once again be in for around $25 million for our top six re-signings. CB Shaw is the big unknown – his demand might start to level off soon, as he is escaping that prime FA big money window of years 5-9 or so.

[QuikSand]

INITIAL FA STAGES (Weeks 1-4)
Immediate re-signings: S Joey Beecroft
Re-signings, no competition: CB Aaron Shaw, LB Jimmie Keith, WR Marc Gordon, LB Dan Maltman
Re-signings, with competition:
New players signed: RT Alonzo Locklear, DT Lenny Wedge
Players signed away:

No real twists in the early going – a few of our guys re-sign fairly painlessly, and don’t have any big shockers along the way. So far, no bids on Dwight Fisk, while Kenyon Palm is looking for a $9 million deal.


Two nice (and potentially critical) additions:

RT Alonzo Locklear is a right tackle with decent skills, but more importantly he is the new position leader for our offensive line, a 12th year veteran with high enough personality (80) to click with everyone. Drew Bullock is apparently so angry that he won’t even sign a deal with us- so it’s time to refocus our attentions, and Locklear is the best fit we can find. Don’t misunderstand, I am very pleased with Locklear – just disappointed about how things got so fouled up with Bullock. I’m disappointed he will apparently finish his career in another uniform (actually, he probably won’t even get signed for this year by anyone, in a way even worse).

DT Lenny Wedge is a guy who we might go with if we have to let go of DT O’Connell for affinity purposes. I’m not wild about Wedge as a full-time starter, but it might be our strongest play. He is solid, and fits – but is admittedly not the dominating run stopper that I prefer in that spot.


We do have a few guys getting bids from elsewhere – so a few things to get untangled in the middle weeks this go-round.

[QuikSand]

MIDDLE FA STAGES (Weeks 5-15)
Re-signings, no competition: S Brock Pearson, WR Tommy Henson
Re-signings, with competition: CB Jay Lolicht, G Rondell Clancy, FB William Borders, LB Jon Guarino
New players signed:
Players signed away: DT Albert O’Connell

When Albert O’Connell signs with Tampa Bay, it unravels our temporary mess with the D7 affinity structure. Now, with him gone, Dan Maltman has assumed the position leadership, and we now have massive affinity there – 11 of 13 players in the group have an affinity with Maltman, and the other two are phantom affinities, just too low to register due to low personality scores. This is our best case scenario, I think.

We have to outdo other offers for CB Lolicht and G Clancy, but neither is terribly expensive. Both are key reserves, who could end up seeing even more time this year. LB Jon Guarino and FB William Borders are essentially the same story, both re-sign after getting another offer.

Later, in week 10, I put in bids for two position leaders, just to get them locked up.


We have a number of pretty important players still awaiting deals – but I take a look through the FA wire, and see if there are any new targets for contracts, now that our affinity situations are almost all set (other than the RB/FB group, I suppose).

I want to keep an eye on DE Ron Vespigani – a run-stopping lineman who would be an awfully nice guy to slide into the starting DT role. He is looking for almost $6m a year – and he is not getting it, so is sitting unclaimed in free agency. If we could wait him out and get him fairly cheaply, he could be a great guy there for us, even if only for one season. I will wait – but try to watch closely.

[QuikSand]

FINAL FA STAGES (Weeks 16-20)
Re-signings, no competition:
Re-signings, with competition:
New players signed:
Players signed away: G Earnest Aarhus

G Aarhus played sporadically last year, and was awful – no great loss there, despite the problem at RG.

I am waiting out LT Walt Woods, also – his price has dropped from $4 million to a little over $3 – and I suspect we will get him signed in the post-draft period.

WR Dwayne Patter and CB Derrick Bush are solid guys who agree to our deals pretty easily, so we lock the up as well.


A pretty uneventful offseason thus far – we haven’t had any key players scooped away, and have gotten our way on things so far, pretty much. I don’t yet have a financial forecast, in part since I don’t know how much we’re going to have to spend at the QB position.

[QuikSand]

2041 Rookie Draft

We have 28 players signed as we head into the draft – and this year we have and extra pick in round two, but no fifth or sixth rounders – so six total selections. It is admittedly worth it to be picking #32.

I don’t have a long menu of players I’m watching – but this year we don’t have the same pressing needs as usual. A defensive tackle would be nice, and perhaps we could go for a good young guard to replace Shaun Singleton at the RG slot. I will be looking for help at the RB slot, but don’t want to spend an early pick there without the guy looking like a home run. We will, most likely, just take what comes our way.

At our pick at #32, the two best prospects seem to be CB Philip Thornton (20/61) and TE Vernon Newhart (35/68). Neither one looks spectacular to me, and neither one blew away the combines – it’s a possible trade-out situation, I think. We work a deal to grab a pick next year, and pass on these two decent prospects, both of whom go in the next handful of selections.


Amateur Draft Report:

Rnd 2 - Gabe Butler, TE, Nevada
Rnd 3 - Carlton Hickman, TE, Pittsburgh
Rnd 3 - Dominic Vance, G, Minnesota
Rnd 4 - Rick Schwartz, ILB, Louisiana State
Rnd 7 - Trevor DiPietro, RB, Kansas


TE Gabe Butler (35/55) might be as good as Vernon Newhart, and had a better combine overall. Seems like a solid pick here in late round two for us, I think. In round three, though (after trading down), I like another tight end as the best player left, and select Carlton Hickman (31/60) which probably makes it a clean sweep for rookie tight ends – that’s unusual.

G Dominic Vance looks like a decent OL prospect and a good fit, while LB Rick Schwartz is a solid fit for coverage and can play some special teams. I do love late round running backs, and Trevor DiPietro looks like my cup of tea – may be useful in a utility role or even as a ball carrier.


Nothing to get too worked up about, especially after last year’s big splash.

[wade moore]

I've been away from the PC since I'm on vacation... just caught up...

CONGRATS RAMS!!!

That game felt GREAT... I knew if we just got a WR.... Interested to see what happens at QB for the next year or two...

[QuikSand]

Late Free Agency

All our rookie sign quickly – so that is done with.

There is great news right away, as QB Kenyon Palm has reduced his demands a lot – this is his last year restricted, so we waited him out without worry, and this has really paid off.

With some apparent cap space clearing up, I put in an offer for DE Ron Vespignani it’s nearly $7 million, but from the looks of things, we can probably afford it. And adding him, presumably to start at DT, could make a real difference for us. A run-stopping force at DT is probably the single gravest need on this roster right now – and he looks like just the guy- a great fit.

LB Kirk Antigua also looks like a solid fit – good run stopper, a natural ILB, he looks like he might step in the role we were getting from Shawn Reader recently, a top backup at both ILB spots, and utility man who could conceivably start at any LB position.


No surprises in these late stages,until… FB Roger Barrett unexpectedly signs a deal with New England, and just like that, he’s gone. He had been a key player for our offense, and suddenly – he is elsewhere on a three year deal. I had been waiting him out, expecting him to re-sign peacefully, and he suddenly got an opportunity for decent money and took it. Wow – I didn’t see that coming.

[QuikSand]

Training camp

We have our usual complement – 65 players – aboard for training camp. With a somewhat underwhelming rookie class, we are not really expecting a whole lot from the first year players – but a breakout is always welcome. I think our best shot might actually come from the OL guys I picked up off the undrafted scrapheap.


Player # Pos Exp CE FE CE FE dCE dFE
Palm, Kenyon 8 QB 4 59 65 64 65 5 0
McDaniel, Artie 16 QB 4 61 63 61 63 0 0
Fisk, Dwight 9 QB 15 52 52 52 52 0 0
Wilkerson, Shane 2 QB 1 14 49 17 45 3 -4
Bologna, Chris 10 QB 1 9 49 12 48 3 -1
Garrison, Curtis 49 RB 2 33 39 34 39 1 0
Kong, Isaac 32 RB 3 26 33 27 33 1 0
DiPietro, Trevor 37 RB 1 25 35 25 33 0 -2
Burns, Dave 47 RB 10 19 19 19 19 0 0
Borders, William 42 FB 5 47 60 49 60 2 0
Kinney, Vinny 11 FB 1 12 46 14 42 2 -4
Butler, Gabe 82 TE 1 40 64 44 64 4 0
Hickman, Carlton 89 TE 1 28 56 30 52 2 -4
Groll, Kendall 84 FL 4 48 48 48 48 0 0
Gordon, Marc 87 FL 7 43 43 43 43 0 0
Henson, Tommy 45 FL 9 31 37 31 37 0 0
Sall, C.J. 20 FL 1 15 39 16 32 1 -7
Neuman, Artie 88 FL 1 15 29 16 27 1 -2
Rigby, Erik 83 SE 2 54 66 58 66 4 0
Patter, Dwayne 81 SE 8 38 43 38 43 0 0
Torrice, Byron 86 SE 2 21 35 22 35 1 0
Erickson, D.J. 52 C 3 61 85 68 85 7 0
Fisk, Shawn 54 C 6 16 21 17 21 1 0
Hopper, Sammy 53 LG 3 24 44 27 44 3 0
Vance, Dominic 71 LG 1 14 51 17 51 3 0
Clancy, Rondell 62 RG 7 44 50 44 50 0 0
Singleton, Shaun 70 RG 8 34 39 34 39 0 0
Fulton, Ron 61 RG 1 12 36 14 42 2 6
Woods, Walt 63 LT 8 53 53 53 53 0 0
Woodard, Stanley 64 LT 4 44 53 47 53 3 0
Fattel, Kurt 77 LT 8 43 49 43 49 0 0
Collier, Nate 67 RT 7 53 53 53 53 0 0
Locklear, Alonzo 75 RT 13 46 48 46 48 0 0
Eastman, Cole 14 P 1 41 60 42 59 1 -1
Browning, Donovan 18 K 2 62 64 65 65 3 1
Tucker, Spencer 5 K 1 32 56 32 53 0 -3
Vespignani, Ron 90 LDE 5 64 67 64 67 0 0
Lucas, Antoine 72 LDE 2 34 67 39 67 5 0
Heimulu, Lester 96 LDE 2 33 43 35 43 2 0
Bernard, Wesley 73 LDE 1 23 34 24 34 1 0
Coffey, Ross 95 LDE 4 17 24 17 24 0 0
Hoover, Cris 98 RDE 2 44 69 47 69 3 0
Wedge, Lenny 76 RDT 6 54 56 54 56 0 0
Rudzinski, Antonio 74 RDT 1 22 34 23 34 1 0
Glover, Bill 97 NT 3 28 38 29 38 1 0
Swift, J.T. 94 SILB 3 30 50 34 50 4 0
Keith, Jimmie 91 WILB 8 38 38 38 38 0 0
Antigua, Kirk 51 MLB 4 44 51 47 51 3 0
Schwartz, Rick 99 MLB 1 18 43 18 39 0 -4
Maltman, Dan 55 SLB 7 50 50 50 50 0 0
Benton, Lamar 92 SLB 7 38 43 40 43 2 0
Quinn, Lewis 59 WLB 4 40 59 43 59 3 0
Guarino, Jon 57 WLB 7 38 40 40 40 2 0
May, Levon 58 WLB 3 24 36 25 36 1 0
Lolicht, Jay 40 LCB 5 50 55 50 55 0 0
Lantz, Frank 46 LCB 3 27 45 31 45 4 0
Joyner, Rickey 22 LCB 2 26 56 29 56 3 0
Shaw, Aaron 39 RCB 9 65 65 65 65 0 0
Schofer, Luther 29 RCB 6 41 48 44 48 3 0
Bush, Derrick 41 RCB 11 40 40 40 40 0 0
Beecroft, Joey 25 SS 6 88 88 88 88 0 0
Pearson, Brock 31 SS 11 28 28 28 28 0 0
Begian, Myron 48 SS 4 24 37 26 37 2 0
Holmes, Preston 26 FS 3 48 54 51 54 3 0
Glenn, Terry 44 FS 1 21 35 22 31 1 -4


Well, about what I suspected. Our two rookie tight ends look fine, but neither ought to set the world on fire. The rest of our rookie class, including LB Schwartz, all look like they were a bit overrated. G Vance might be okay, but it’s undrafted rookie Ron Fulton who has the best camp, and ought to make the team at least.

Our running back situation is a mess now, with Barrett gone. My best guess is that we’ll end up with Curtis garrison and Isaac Kong more or less splitting time at the HB slot, with rookie Trevor DiPietro trying to convince me he’s worth some playing time, too. I don’t think FB William Borders is a real threat as a ball carrier – but he could see some time in passing situations as well.


In the preseason, we don’t get many injuries – only one guy goes to IR. SO, we have to make tougher-then-usual cutdown decisions.

I decide to release QB Artie McDaniel – no affinity, and he’s going to be our #3 QB this year. After this year, he will be unrestricted, and doubtless will get signed elsewhere. I held him and hoped for a trade deal – no dice. He’s gone.

Here is the roster of 54 we bring into the season:


Player # Pos Start Playing Time Chemistry
Fisk, Dwight 9 QB QB Content 1 Affinity with lea
Palm, Kenyon 8 QB Content 2 Affinities with l
Wilkerson, Shane 2 QB Content 2 Affinities with l
##Burns, Dave 47 RB Content Backfield Leader
Kong, Isaac 32 RB Content Mild Affinity
Garrison, Curtis 49 RB RB Content Mild Affinity
DiPietro, Trevor 37 RB Content Affinity
Borders, William 42 FB FB Content Mild Affinity
Butler, Gabe 82 TE TE Content Mild Affinity
Hickman, Carlton 89 TE Content Affinity
Henson, Tommy 45 FL Content Receivers Leader
Gordon, Marc 87 FL Content Mild Affinity
Groll, Kendall 84 FL FL Content Affinity
Sall, C.J. 20 FL Content Mild Affinity
Patter, Dwayne 81 SE Content Mild Affinity
Rigby, Erik 83 SE SE Content Mild Affinity
Fisk, Shawn 54 C Content Strong Affinity
Erickson, D.J. 52 C C Content Affinity
**Hopper, Sammy 53 LG Content Strong Affinity
##Vance, Dominic 71 LG Content Strong Affinity
Singleton, Shaun 70 RG RG Content Strong Affinity
Clancy, Rondell 62 RG Content Strong Affinity
Fulton, Ron 61 RG Content Strong Affinity
Fattel, Kurt 77 LT LG Content Strong Affinity
Woods, Walt 63 LT LT Content Strong Affinity
##Woodard, Stanley 64 LT Content Strong Affinity
Locklear, Alonzo 75 RT Content Offensive Line Lead
Collier, Nate 67 RT RT Content Strong Affinity
Eastman, Cole 14 P Content
Browning, Donovan 18 K Content
Vespignani, Ron 90 LDE NT Content Mild Affinity
Heimulu, Lester 96 LDE Content Affinity
Lucas, Antoine 72 LDE LDE Content
##Bernard, Wesley 73 LDE Content Mild Affinity
Hoover, Cris 98 RDE RDE Content Mild Affinity
Wedge, Lenny 76 RDT Content Affinity
Glover, Bill 97 NT Content Affinity
Swift, J.T. 94 SILB SILB Content Mild Affinity
Keith, Jimmie 91 WILB WILB Content Mild Affinity
Antigua, Kirk 51 MLB Content Mild Affinity
Maltman, Dan 55 SLB SLB Content Defensive Front Lea
Benton, Lamar 92 SLB Content Affinity
Guarino, Jon 57 WLB Content Mild Affinity
Quinn, Lewis 59 WLB WLB Content Mild Affinity
##May, Levon 58 WLB Content Mild Affinity
Lolicht, Jay 40 LCB LCB Content Strong Affinity
##Lantz, Frank 46 LCB Content Strong Affinity
Joyner, Rickey 22 LCB Content Strong Affinity
##Bush, Derrick 41 RCB Content Affinity
Shaw, Aaron 39 RCB RCB Content Strong Affinity
Schofer, Luther 29 RCB Content Strong Affinity
Pearson, Brock 31 SS Content Secondary Leader
Beecroft, Joey 25 SS SS Content Affinity
Holmes, Preston 26 FS FS Content Strong Affinity


And here, we have reached a new pinnacle in affinity. Every single player on the team (other than the unaffected kicker and punter) is either in an affinity situation, or else a position leader and lynchpin to the affinity structure. The only partial exception to this is DE Antoine Lucas, who is indeed in the right sign to have an affinity with Maltman, but their personalities are too weak to register it. No easy fix there, but we are complete everywhere else.


Our roster rating is 81 – we have one of the top handful of rosters, by the numbers, in the league. I think the addition of DL Vespigiani might turn out to be very big for us – I like adding the bulk in the middle of the defense. As our young receivers develop, our attack ought to be better – the running game, we hope, will still be on par, despite the talent drain we experienced. We are the defending champions – so there’s only one possible mission for this season, and that’s to win it all again!

[QuikSand]

I confess, I am now pretty sidetracked from this career. When I have had FOF time, I have been occupied more with MP leagues, whose busy cycles are hitting right now. That and a little testing, and I don't knwo when I'll get back to this career.

My apologies... I will try to at least play through this season, but with these distractions and a busy/travel spell coming up, I don't know if this one is going much farther.

FYI

[The Shadow]

I confess, I am now pretty sidetracked from this career. When I have had FOF time, I have been occupied more with MP leagues, whose busy cycles are hitting right now. That and a little testing, and I don't knwo when I'll get back to this career.

My apologies... I will try to at least play through this season, but with these distractions and a busy/travel spell coming up, I don't know if this one is going much farther.

FYI

A little testing? Testing what? TCY2? FOF6? :D