I generally don't worry about putting my best return men out for that job. Unlike real football (where I might guess returning is one of the more hazardous things to do in the game) I don't have any sense that it's anot more likely to cause an injury than just being in for, say, the extra point attempt.

As for re-signing the CB -- the big thing is that a player looks at his last completed year of stats to determine (in part) his estaimte of his own worth. So, if Kuehler thinks that with these ratings and last year's stats he's a $6m/yr player (about what he's looking for) I'm guessing the ticket goes up to maybe $8m/yr after he clocks in with a season that looks certain to have far better stats overall. I think the thing to do is get out of the regular season, and then start making offers for a long term deal.

I thought that you could wait out a franchised player to drive his demands down, but I tested it in FOF 2004 and that doesn't work. I believe I was thinking of FOF 2001. In single player, I disallow the franchise tag(and renegotiations), so I'm rusty in that area for MP leagues.

Your plan to resign him before the end of the season sounds like the right one.

I forgot that you stole that guy from SCA, too.

:disgust:

Yeah, two star players with reasonable contracts for:


Pretty sick. That's one of the more lopsided trades I've ever seen.

That was a pretty horrible moment for our league, actually. SCA was a playoff caliber team that overreacted to some injuries.

Maybe overreacted is an understatement. He completely liquidated the team and got poor value for every player during his liquidation auction (expected, since he declared he was outright cutting players that didn't get auction offers).

Quik was savvy enough to add two really good players at this point...

edit: fortunately this was an isolated situation in what has been an otherwise highly competitive league.

I kinda take pride in the fact that I didn't participate in that, yet still have had success.

I wish I could match you on both accounts.

Week 12: New Jersey 97-3) at Chesapeake (9-1)

A solid team coming to town – but they have lost their top RB to an injury, so it’s tough to know what to expect. We won’t be stacking the line like we might have against Lee Olson – we will instead run a pretty vanilla, balanced defense.


A great effort from our guys, in probably the best defensive game we have played this season. Sedor was solid, and the offense moved the ball well, but our ability to keep them in check with our defense was the real key. We got them without their franchise player, of course, but still it was a good solid win at home.

Our best run blocker, C Winston Turnbull, will miss a few games with an injured foot, so we will do yet another OL shuffle to cover for him. Initially, I will try reserve C Wendell Lambeau in that role, as he hasn’t really seen much playing time.

Ouch. About what I was expecting, but still...ouch.

Sedor is a monster. He absolutely killed us with both his arm and his legs. I hate him (and I mean that in the nicest way possible).

Good luck the rest of the way, Quik! (though I'm not sure how much luck you'll really need!).

[u]Week 13: Norwich (5-6) at Chesapeake (10-1)

We are heavy favorites at home, and while we have tweaked the defense a bit, we are mostly on autopilot here.


Our lowest-scoring game of the season, but we slink away with a win… barely. A late missed FG by Norwich keeps us on top.

Can’t blame it on the offensive line, and not on turnovers, nor on crazy weather – we were just played tough. At this point, we’ll take the win, but will tweak a thing or two before we travel to Bar Harbor.


FB Bill Wunderlich is hurt for a couple of weeks, so we will reshuffle the backfield some more, and expect to see FB Emerson toting the ball a bit, along with rookie reserve Sam Cook.

Week 14: Chesapeake (11-1) at Bar Harbor (7-5)

We hope to rebound this week a bit – I’ll plan to let Sedor open the offense up a bit more this week, and we’ll try to bear down and stop the Bar Harbor running game.



Now, we are without both of our fullbacks, and this is a bigger problem than before. Emerson is perfectly well suited to be a starter – but with him added to the “out” list along with Wunderlich, now we have a real issue. I hate to be foraging in the free agent market this late in the season, but I really don’t see any other choice.

The defense is again solid – I’m not wild about allowing 140 yards on the ground, but BRH is a solid rushing team and we kept them in control all day long, it seems, especially coming up with a couple big red zone stops in the early going.

Week 15: Chesapeake (12-1) at South Carolina (3-10)

Anything but a grotesque ass-kicking would be very disappointing here.


That’ll do just fine, fellas.

We have some roster issues to resolve between now and the next game, but we seem to be playing pretty well right now, and are definitely on target for a bye week and a good playoff position. This team is right where we want it to be at the moment.

Week 16: Las Vegas (3-11) at Chesapeake (13-1)

We have wrapped up the #1 seed in the conference, so these last two games will be just to keep the engines humming. I decide not to bench all my top players, and we will see Sedor and company go at it again this week, injury risk be damned!


An excellent showing, and once again our defense is playing at a high level. It’s easy to see the offensive stars – Sedor, 5TDs – and get excited, but this week, the CHE front seven held tough and kept the Vegas running backs in check.

With this game, Sedor has bumped his season-long passer rating to exactly 100.0 – heh. Career best for him, and best posted by a QB from this team in its history.


We play Dodge City next week, in what initially looked like a big season-ending showdown, but has lost its luster – they are locked into a wild card slot, and our seeding is already set as well.

Week 17: Dodge City (10-5) at Chesapeake (15-1)

So, we are to the season wrap, a meaningless game for both teams. Sedor will start this game for us, with most of our starters in, but we will expect to see some action from backups, and if things go fairly well, Sedor will sit out a good chunk of the game, and turn things over to sophomore signal caller Alex Gerhardt.


Not our most impressive effort, and the running game was a bit disappointing for us. But, we end up with a win in our finale, and we get a little playing time for young QB Gerhardt, who acquits himself just fine. Now, we get a couple weeks to get ourselves healthy and ready for our playoff opener at home.

We are tops in league scoring, and among the bottom handful in points allowed – so it looks like our strong regular season record is well-supported. This year, we managed to do it even without an absurd rating in turnover differential, which really helped fuel our success last year.


Here’s the season-ending Team Summary info:


So, we managed to rein things in with an improved defensive performance in the second half, and end up among the better-rated units in the league, which is good. Our offense remains in top form, as Sedor’s dual threat run/pass makes him as tough to defend as “big yellow guy” in electric football. The trio of Craps Copley, Burt Pearson, and George Ellis give our offense a nice balance, and our line plays together well and keeps things working for everyone.

On defense, DE Jamel Lazaro, our last-ditch veteran pickup there, had his best season in several years, and John Galvan played well at the other DE spot for us this year. Our young players got spot duty, but we got nearly all our pass rush results from those two and our man inside, Bryant Lents. The secondary played pretty well overall, with each of our four starters getting double digit passes defensed (a stat I tend to value) and all seeming to continue there growth. CB Lewis Kuehler in particular stepped forward with his best season yet, and probably will see a fat contract extension as a result.

Perhaps more analysis to come, but for now, we will sit back, watch these other guys beat one another up, and wait for our first opponent.

Wild Card Week

So, Dodge City wins their wild card round game, and it looks like they will be coming to Chesapeake as the #5 seed to play us for a third time this year. However, a last minute field goal by Seal beach gives them a narrow win, and as the #6 seed – it will be them, instead.

Here’s the season summary of the Seal Beach Sting Rays:

Code:

---

---

Another pretty heavy-passing team, who also spreads the ball around a lot. They have a very low roster rating (40, 28^th out of 32) and pretty weak cohesion as well. On paper, they look like longshots to win at Chesapeake – and the in-game line is 13 points, so that backs up the impression.

We should be ready for a pass-heavy attack, and we may need to tweak the offense around a few players, but overall, we’re pretty ready to match up man-on-man and see who gets it done.

Divisional Playoff: Seal Beach at Chesapeake

The nearly-perfect regular season is behind us, and now we have to finish the job. Step one is to win a game we’re supposed to win, at home. We don’t have any major wrinkles in the gameplan this week – I don’t know if we’ll bee too successful on the ground with both our major ball carriers still dinged up a bit, but I’ve decided to keep things in a fair balance.


Well, that went just about as well as we could have possible asked for. The defense was lights-out, and the offense was pretty effective. Just to highlight the defense’s brilliant effort, here’s the Seal Beach drive chart:


So, that’s that – we hold them to three 3-and-outs to start the game, and to punts on their first seven possessions. That, gang, is what I’m talkin’ about.

Elsewhere in the league, upsets abound – hated division rival Dodge City knocked off the perennial conference champions from Hell Creek, setting up an intra-divisional tilt for the Conference Championship. While I’m happy to see this outcome, it does raise in my mind the long-standing reservations about the propriety of playoff systems – our 15-1 squad worked all year to basically earn home field in this one game against Dodge City… and if they beat us next week by even one point, all is forgiven, and they move on and we go home. Alas – we will endeavor to moot that point.

Across the way, two-time defending champions Hudson Valley were also upset, leaving Capital City and New Jersey to contend for the other conference title. We had Hudson Valley in our sights all along, and will be denied any shot of being the team to topple them from their reign – but we’re okay with that.


Some tinkering ahead with the lineup and gameplan, but by and large we already know what we’re up against with Dodge City. They have a venerable but still very effective feature-fullback in Robert Roger, and a passing game that is pretty efficient, if not that often very prolific. If we don’t force mistakes, it could be its usual close affair – this season, we beat them twice, but by a total of only five points.

Step by step "live" updates of the conferenc championship game are available here:

http://www.thefobl.com/forums/showthread.php?t=22419

Roffle!

Conference Championship: Dodge City at Chesapeake

Dodge City, Robert Roger, and a third game against the team who really played us toughest of any foes all year. Okay, we’re ready. Nothing too special in the gameplan this week, either, except we will try to take fewer risks is we get ahead than usual, as I expect this to be a tightly played game. Ours are usually close, and marred with ugliness.


Oh. Need a moment here.

Anyway – in a very tough game, where we were guilty of just tragic penalties and were the beneficiaries of two missed FGs by the Dodge City specialist (who was 96% on the season, incidentally), we are still up against the wall in the closing minutes… and we needed a HERO:

The setup… it’s tied 17-17, late in the fourth, and Roger is grinding away with ruthless efficiency getting his 4 yards a pop, lining DGC up for the game winning kick…


Jeff McCartney with as big a play as it’s possible to make – turns their easy FG chance into a dream, as the Vigs take their shot at it all, and come away with the defense heading out onto the field. That’s one of the all time great moments in Chili Dog history, right there.

After that, Sedor and the boys were fired up…


Ballgame. Wow.


On to the title game, and we’ll be up against Capital City, who eked out a close win in their game as well, 20-14 over New Jersey. Cap City was in the big game a few years ago, but came up short to Norwich. They have been among the very top teams for the last few seasons – and get another shot this year. Their 9th year stud QB Richie Herndon is among the best in the league, and they will run a balanced offense, for the most part, with yet another feature-FB for us to face in Peter Ashmore.

We are made 9 point favorites in the game, and we will look to put the last finishing touch on an excellent season. I have a few injury-related decisions to make with the final depth chart, but we can expect more of what got us here.

Roster Note


It has been a pretty long time since the Chili Dogs won their first league championship – that was in the 2005 season. We have had a lot of turnover, even though we were pretty loyal to a number of our veteran players. Even in the last couple of seasons, we have seen some long-timers drift off the team one way or another.

But we do still have a few ring-wearers – guys who are now angling for a second championship with the franchise. A moment for these centerpiece players:


DB Mark Carr has been a staple with us since the initial dispersal draft, playing plenty at both corner and safety. He’s slotted as our dime cover man this year, and has nearly twice as many passes blocked as anyone else for this team in its history (96 to Schwantz’s 49). A career PDPct of over 20 is a mark of achievement, and he’s been a true standout both in coverage and as a kick returner, where he has one of the best resumes of any player in the league (4,000 KR yards, 3 TDs, and a 25.6 yard average).

When we started building this defense, our first two linebackers were Steven Watkins and John Galvan – and both remain important in this defense to this day. Galvan remains a starter, now occupying a DE slot for us, while Watkins is our super-sub linebacker, getting plenty of playing time even in his 14th season. They rank #1 (Galvan, 620) and #2 (Watkins, 616) in team history in tackles, and are both essential parts of any discussion about Chili Dog greats.

We started this team with a novelty approach along the offensive line, using late round picks to grab affinity guys, rather than investing in top talent. John Houtz was one of that original lot, brought in for his pass blocking skills, and our immediate starter at center. He has since become an “elder statesman” as the group leader of the since-re-visioned offensive line group, and while his main contributions are of the field, he still suits up and gets in there sometimes, as he gets on in years.

FB Charles Emerson was our top draft pick in 2005, and we envisioned for him a diverse role rather like we use Bill Wunderlich now. He never became the diverse would-be feature FB that we might have been looking for, but it’s tough to criticize him at this point – he has become a great blocking asset and a superb leader for the backfield affinity group. Very solid player, great team influence, and knows his role.

Shortly after picking FB Emerson, we invested a second top pick in OT Stanley Tilton, who was very underdeveloped at the time, but came around with a little care. Tilton now rates as one of the very top left tackles in the league, and has been a stalwart contributor for our Chili Dogs, in various roles, over the years. 100 key run blocks, a career Sack% of 1.2 at the critical left tackle position – he’s been a very successful player for us. He’s probably headed to free agency this offseason, so this game likely caps off his Chili Dog career.


There’s the list – six guys. Six rings. Let’s make it twelve.

FOFL Championship Today!

We're ready, setting up a twist or two for the final game, but I don't think you (or Capital City) need to expect any major twists. This basic approach has worked for us through most of this year... so we're gonna dance with the one that brung us, as it were.

Live updates:

http://www.thefobl.com/forums/showthread.php?t=22438

2012 Championship Game

We’re ready, and we go into the rainy title game with a fairly vanilla gameplan. We didn’t sell out completely to stop the passing attack from CAP, but we will be ready.

Both RB Copley and LB McKenzie will start, though listed as questionable. I’m not wild about it, but next week isn’t our top priority.

We’re 9 point favorites, and we’d like to play that way.



The first half really looked bleak – we were getting outplayed left and right, they were surprising us with a lot of outside running, and our offense was completely off balance. One drive got us 3 points, and we were lucky to not be behind by two touchdowns at the half.

In the second half, it was another story entirely, as our defense started to lock down, and we stormed for TDs on our first three possessions, basically turning the game upside down from there. Everything basically just clicked, and aside from a little last-minute suspense, we just owned the second half and took the win.


Perhaps more to come with analysis and the like, but for now…


Congratulations to your FOFL Champion Chesapeake Chili Dogs!

Congratulations Quik!

And now that the long-suffering 4th-year player has a championship ring I'd be more than happy to see Sedor ride off into the sunset for a well-earned rest...

W00t!!! Congratz QS!
Can't wait for the repeat next season.

Thanks, but we can do without the pressure. We ought to be back in pretty good shape to defend, but one step at a time. Let us finish this champagne first, please!

Yes of course. Congratz! Great season all around.

Chesapeake Chili Dogs, 2013

Well, we have managed to top off the 2012 season with the title victory. A nearly-perfect season, as a lot of things came together for us… and we escaped two very tough playoff games that could have seen us coming up just short.

Now, we have to look forward… and focus on the new season approaching. With a veteran team coming off a big title march, I’m worried about retirements – probably just perception, but it seems that many guys get the big win and take a walk.

This year’s watch list includes, notably, 11th year RB Craps Copley and 15th year DE Jamel Lazaro – both would be tough to replace if they departed. We have several other guys out there who could walk away, but these two would probably be the toughest to absorb – and obviously Lazaro is a very real possibility. We had to stretch out his contract to afford him this year, and only a year two would make it at all economical for us. As for RB Copley, he had a banner year, and barring a big decline comes back to use as a guy who ought to be a key offensive cog once again.

So, we watch the clock, waiting for the list of retirements to click…

Sweet, congrats on the championship. Is the league converting to 2k7 soon?

Any chance you can post a roster dump? I know it gives away some information, though scout deviation is small in 2k4.

Also, Sedor screenshot?

The Chesapeake retirement list:

DB Mark Carr – original C-Dog, long time contributor, and revered member of the CHE all-time team.

TE Stacey Jan – solid veteran addition for the last two years, who really helped us invest in the 2TE formations that have been a centerpiece of our offense.

…and that’s it. RB Copley is back, DE Lazaro is back, that’s good to see. We’ll


We had two players who had nice ratings gains through the 2012 season, and both figure centrally into our long-term planning.

DT Bryan Lents had his best year, and his ratings continue to creep upwards – by our scout, he jumped up 5 points in overall potential during the season, as he posted 45+23 tackles, 4.5 sacks, and stayed healthy for 16 starts.

RG Marvin Brandon, a long term creeper for us, also tagged on 5 points of potential by our scouts, and is clearly now a top-tier talent for us. Last year he was 43% with KRBs, and allowed only one sack – not much more you can ask for there.

It appears that we are playing the already-started 2013 season in FOF 2004, and will be voting on the upgrade for the following season.


Ah, what the heck...



The biggest thing missing there is his speed - he has been on the league's fastest man rankings the last couple years after clicking about a 4.37 forty. He's easily the fasest guy on this team.

Wow @ Sedor. I'm surprised someone gave up the opportunity to draft him. I'd have to get a ridiculous package to pass on a QB like him(I forget what you gave).

Do you think speed correlates with rushing ability outside of it's effect on scrambling frequency? I've always thought it did and I also think that hidden athletic ability(and also skills like getting downfield, etc for RBs and WRs) has some influence on kick, punt and interception return success. I've never tested it though.

Which positions are you going to upgrade this off season? I'd think WR might be a need based on the team summary, but I must confess I've lost the thread of the Dynasty somewhat as I read it in spurts.

I know quik spent a fairly high draft pick (1.5) on Burt Pearson two seasons ago - and I know his is really starting to round into a form as a stud #1. I suspect he'll have a big year this season. CHE also has some good complementary receivers...that said, I would be suprised if he passed on a good one if it fell to him...

As far as FOFL is concerned, we are playing this season in FOF2K4 and unless something wretched happens we'll move to 2K7 for 2014 (end of February 2007 in real life).

As for Sedor -- yeah, wow indeed. He was a prototype monster prospect with the best QB combine the league had seen, and he has lived up to billing, at least in his skill ratings. I can't recall the particulars of the deal, but I know it included two firsat round picks (including a pick at someplace like 1.8) in the current year, plus a future first round pick, and I think a couple more picks as well. But three firsts for this guy was a bargain in retrospect.

As for his speed -- I don't honestly know what make him such a great rusher. It certainly stands to reason that Sedor has "under the hood" ratings that are pretty decent in the RB-only areas, and that the great speed is a tipoff for that. But since he is such a skilled QB, it never occured to me to try him at any other position, like I might have with a late-round flyer at QB with ungodly speed. QB rushes tend to be "breakaway" type plays anyway, so QBs tend to have pretty good YPC figures regardless -- add in the fact that Sedor obviously (1) carries the ball a lot, and (2) has good skills to do so, and you end up with this league's first genuine rushing threat from the QB position - he will pretty likely assume the team career rushing leadership role in a few years, after Copley retires.

I don't think I'm tipping my hand too much to be pretty candid once again this offseason.

Chesapeake is, right now, pretty blessed with a WR corps that is strong both in quality and quantity:


Pearson is locked in as the long term starter at the flanker slot, and Ellis is a very productive split end. Both Ellis and last year's 2nd round pick Fields are creeping for us, so I have every expectation that, barring injuries, three seasons from now, we will still have that trio in place as our key guys -- Pearson/Ellis/Fields.

Hastings and Torpey are both on the trade block right now, and our sense of "need" at the WR position is largely a function of whether we deal either of them. If they both stay, which would be fine, then we are definitely set at WR for this year, and would only be looking there if there's a true standout. If we deal one, then WR tiucks up my list of priorities a bit - if we deal both, then we'll definitely be looking for a young guy to bring in.


Overall, our main target areas are probably pass rushers (I took defensive ends in rounds 2 and 3 last year, but am not pleased with either guy, really) and ball carriers (our top two guys there are fine right now, but we really would benefit from an injection of promising youth). The way this team has been built, it would take a true impact player at another position to really get into our serious consideration for playing time -- we have kept the OL and DB groups close to intact for the last few years, and that has been a significant benefit for us, I believe. (CB Kuehler's acquisition was basically motivated by the loss of CB Webb to a serious injury, otherwise we were all set at CB)

Right now, we are perilously old at linebacker, too -- so I'm open to acquiring a long-term investment there. We have two LB studs in McKenzie and Ewart, abd right now we have a rotation-caliber group for the WLB slot, but not a soul at the position who is young with potential.

Our ideal draft (with picks as currently held) would probably be something like this:

1.32 - BPA at need position of RB / DE / LB
3.9 - sleeper player at almost any position
6th and 7th rounds - roster fillers, probably affinity guys

Last season, we were very active during the draft, and that may prevail again here -- I have dealt with FOFL drafts in one of two ways -- either trading way up to get completely out of the later rounds, or delving deeply into the minutae and probably overinvesting in the marginal day two players. Last season, I definitely did the latter, and the team probably is worse off for it (two of my top three picks turned out to be marginal guys who might not have been worth signing) but I admittedly had a good deal of fun doing it. So, this year -- I wouldn't be at all surprised to find us dealing down from 1.32, maybe trading away a veteran or two, and once again heading to camp with a handful of speculative draft picks from round 2-4, where I seem to be having the most fun (if nothing else).

2012 Season Awards

The list of award-winners (in-game) has been announced, and I am modestly surprised that the available superfecta of honors are all bestowed on our leader, Brent Sedor:


Sedor was not the most prolific passer in the league, nor was he the highest-rated (his 99.6 rating was 3rd best)… but his 761 yards rushing (a league record from any QB) certainly makes the difference in the in-game determination, and he sweeps the available honors for the superfecta.

Incidentally, Brent Sedor is on the heels of Craps Copley for the honor of Chesapeake’s all-time leading rusher – he has 2,548 yards, and Copley is atop that list with 2,763 yards, basically all from the past two seasons. Admittedly, we had a lot of lean years running the ball around here, but that’s still an interesting curiosity.

K David Everhart got a second team honor, without even having to punt to get it. Everhart was 32 of 39 in FGs last year, for 82%, which is very solid. We don’t have him signed, so he will be a free agent this year – we’ll see if we can bring him back fairly painlessly.

That is a great WR corps(for MP anyway). No wonder you spread the ball around so much.

Cap Situation

Here’s our cap-sorted roster…


We expect to be able to work down a few contracts:

DL Toby Tubbs is not a $3m+ player, and he will either renegotiate down, or be dismissed. I’m expecting we will winnow down maybe $1.5m there.

WR Tyrone Hastings is probably out of a job, with the emergence of young Kent Fields in the slot position, so we will either reneg him down, trade him, or both.

… and who knows where else there will be bits and pieces to squeeze.


My best guess is that we will be able to play a minor role in free agency this year, but probably will not be able to really afford a major splash anywhere.

New Stadium in Chesapeake

Among the other big news for the franchise, we have broken ground on a new stadium, which sets the benchmark for this league. 58,000 total seats, with 360 luxury boxes ought to generate a healthy revenue stream – and we now have “excellent” condition with everything. It’s an outdoor, artificial turf stadium, and we will be looking forward to seeing things work out well financially for us as we make payments on this beast.

Not to threadjack this great read, but I've always wondered a few things about new stadium deals. In my SP leagues, I tend to focus new stadium design at about 75K seats, with 300 luxury boxes. Is there any benefit to restricting the seating to the 58K you used? Maybe a sort of 'Fenway Effect' where you can jack up the prices on the cheap seats since the product is scarse? Or is that a typo, and should read 85K? If so...nice digs!

Oh, and quik, the check is in the mail. Sorry for my tardiness on that front.

I don't have any particular insight into the stadium or financial aspects of this game. I don't even recall putting in for this new stadium, honestly -- but I clearly did, and we have been paying finance payments on it for five years.

It was more costly to build a larger stadium, but past that I have never examined the costs/benefits of building anything short of a supermax facility. Seems dumb not to go with the best quality setup you can, but as far as size ... *shurg*

Welcome Back, Coach Baker!

Blake Baker, reigning Coach of the Year in the FOFL for fairly obvious reasons, has re-upped with the club for a new 5-year contract. Courtesy of the FOFL site and the wizardry of cuervo’s database-driven pages, here’s the picture of our main man:

Blake Baker

It’s great to have him back – he is clearly an excellent gameday coach, and we ought to be in good hands for the near future at least. At 62, his prime may not last through the end of this contract, but for right now, he’s the guy we want in charge.

Free Agency Begins, Draft Class Revealed

Always a big stage in the league’s offseason – today we triggered into the real action. The rookie class has been revealed, and the actual free agency field has been set. Now it’s time to start looking through things, and finding what’s what.

This is also a meaningful time for player development, so we have a look there, too. Good news from a few of our youngsters on this front – we have nine guys on the roster who saw a bump of at least one point in this stage. We did see a –3 drop for Brent Sedor, but he still looks good enough to let him keep his chinstrap and all.


Anyway – we won’t start FA in earnest until Tuesday, so I’ve got some time to do some planning.

Hmm, looks like Sedor's dash is now at 4.34. Quite improved off his combine of 4.42.

Who are some of the big Free Agents and top draft prospects available?

There are a few top-tier players out there at DT, DE, and RB... and I expect the bidding to be fierce for them. Even after a few cap-clearing moves, we only have something like $8-10m in space, while there are teams who have upwards of $25-40m, so unless there's an unexpected silence from several below-cap teams, we won't be making a really serious splash in free agency this year.

Honestly, we have a solid starter at just about every position, with the possible exceptions of one DT slot and the weak side linebacker. There are places where we have depth, and places where we need help in the longer term, but it's not as though we are sitting here itching for a guy who has to go out and play right away (like we were feeling last season at this time at DE).

If we land a bigshot player, that would be great, but very much unexpected. Far more likely, we will just be looking to add in a few role players, try to draft some guys who can contribute for us now and down the line, and be happy with that.

(I've made this sort of pledge about a "quiet offseason" before, and have generally been unable to stick with it. We'll see.)

Free Agency Begins

So we are underway in free agency, and have a few transactions to report.

First, we have made a small trade, and have sent away two players – backup QB Harry Ross, and DL Toby Tubbs. Ross has been a solid backup for us, but the emergence of young Alex Gerhardt made it hard to justify Ross’s substantial salary, as I feel Gerhardt is ready for the #2 job now. Tubbs split time at the DT position last year, but he too had become too highly-priced for our needs.

Fortunately, in the very first stage of free agency, we have landed a player who probably steps right into the role held by Tubbs. DE Johnny White is a mentor and affinity guy for us, and he rates 78/85 in run defense, according to our scout. My expectation will be to slot him at a DT, just like we did with Tubbs. White is signed on a cap-friendly deal for two years, more or less the same setup we had for Tubbs. With his signing, I now have a roster that includes a good-enough starter at every single position, so our focus now is either making improvements, or else adding depth.

We have some cap space, and will still be fishing around, trying to make something of it. I think it’s unlikely that we will land an impact player – the bidding is pretty fast and furious, and with cap issues ahead for us as is, I don’t think we can make a long term commitment like what is probably required to land one of the remaining star players out there.