Rebuilding The Raiders: The First FOF7 Dynasty Thread
 

Wow. Looking around the default rosters, the Raiders are a pretty clear choice for "biggest challenge."

I start out and...

Roster = #32
Stadium = #29
Fan Support = #28
Franchise Value = #32

I'm going to move relatively quickly, at least early on.

Injuries at 150. Combine Accuracy at 50. Cap Increase Range default. Chemistry off.

I'm going to let the coaches handle all depth charts.

EDIT: Here are a couple of house rules that I've been using pretty much all the way through that I'm now adding as "official" ones, given how I'm actually playing:

• All contracts offered--both to free agents and for contract renegotiations--must be for at least the requested number of years. (No reducing the number of years, in other words.) One exception: for renegs, cap-outs (full or partial) are allowed.
• During the offseason, offers to free agents may only be made during the following stages: FA1:2, FA2:1, and the pre-TC stage. (This will cause me to have to offer a little more to guys who are unwanted, but it allows the pre-TC stage for clean-up offers to fill out the roster.)

2013 SUMMARY

Yeah, we suck.

Stadium Stage: Just tried to renovate turf to improve it from "Fair."
Staff Draft: I end up with an entirely new staff, focused heavily on scouting, young talent, and player development.
Ticket Prices: Loving the new Rex button there.

No one is franchised.

We have the 1(1). Heading to bed now. Couple of stud WRs available and a "maybe" at QB.

Congratulations on starting the first FOF7 dynasty - may there be many more to follow!

FA1:1--The Great Purge. In short, if you suck and are making $1M or more, you're gone. It's not quite Empty Cupboard, but we're down to just 9 guys rated 50 or more future:

RB DMC
FB Reece
C Wisniewski
LT Willie Smith
RT Menelik Watson
K Janikowski
LDE Houston
SILB Burris
LCB Hayden

The good news is that I have a ton of cap room.

2014 Free Agency

I decide to SPEND

Jay Cutler and Luke McCown are the top QBs available, and there are a couple of intriguing QBs in the draft class. I think I'm going to play it safe at 1.1 and go with one of the can't miss WRs and try to sign McCown, who wants far less than Cutler. Given that I have DMC and 3/5 of a strong o-line, I decide to fill it out by signing two guards also.

I posted this in the main thread: I got creamed early on. Both of my guard targets and my top TE target went to AI teams. Nice!

Dagnabbit! Make that my top TWO TE targets. I missed on the 2nd guy I tried to sign, too. :rant:

Signees in FA:


OK. So at least now we look competitive. On to the draft.

Quick Q as this is all new. You're using real NFL names. Did game come with those? If not, how did you insert them all?

Yes real names are in the default file, you have the option to start with fictional :)

2014 Draftees

Rnd 1 - Caleb Garrett, WR, Canisius, 39/58...looks like a stud
Rnd 2 - Erick James, QB, Michigan--VU QB, 18/49..not sure what i have here
Rnd 3 - Jamie Mathis, TE, Louisiana State--22/52..i don't hvae terribly high hopes for him
Rnd 4 - Jackson Horn, OLB, Kentucky--14/27...his combines looked good at least!
Rnd 5 - Corey Howe, DE, Texas Christian--11/39...PRT guy
Rnd 6 - Keith Stone, RB, Georgia Tech--21/24..he needs to grow to be worth anything
Rnd 7 - Chance Bettis, S, North Carolina--10/30..meh

Turf renovations passed. Yay.

No big bumps or drops in TC, but after Preseason Week 2, I notice some significant changes. Most notably FA QB signee McCown drops from 50ish to 39/39 and rookie James jumps from 50ish future to 62 future. The AI is handling depth charts, and bumps him up to #1, at least for the preseason. 1.1 pick Garret jumps to 51/71, which isn't a big surprise. His combines were off the charts.

Preseason Over. Here's the 2014 Roster:


I'm ok with the AI starting McCown at QB for now. I guess if things get really bad and I want James to start, I can just cut McCown. :D

As far as our outlook, I have no idea. We're tied for #12 in roster strength, but only at 44, but our cohesion has to stink. 6 starters on each side of the ball are new to the team this season.

2014 Weeks 1-4

We start out 3-1, our lone loss being to NE on the road, but that loss may have been crippling. High-dollar FA signee and #1 WR DeSean Jackson goes down with a Compound Leg Fracture in Week 4. Could be a career-ender.

McCown has an 81.4 passer rating after 4 games. DMC has rushed for 404 yards and also has 125 receiving yards. Rookie WR Garrett has 232 yards, but is going to be asked to step up significantly with Jackson gone.

Noticed a VERY nice feature for SP just now: the AI will make Out-injured guys inactive for you without signing anyone new. In other words, it is shuffling the Active/Inactive stuff for me. Very nice time-saver. It'll allow me to play at a higher injury setting without the annoyance of doing that crap manually. :thumbsup:

2014 Games 5-8

Another 3-1 to run the record to 6-2, but I'm not really sure how. Stats suggest either good dice rolls or the turnover ratio. We're #15 in offense, #12 in ppg, #17 in defense, #4 in defense ppg. The only numbers that stand out are that we only have 8 turnovers (tied for 4th best) and the margin is +6 (tied for 5th best). DM hasn't fumbled a single time and has 751 rushing yards. McCown is doing the "game manager" thing well enough for me: 82.7 rating, 1760 yards passing, only 6 picks to date.

And I now confirm what someone said earlier in the main thread: when these guys are healed, they are automatically put back on the Active roster. For SP for me...that...is....WONDERFUL.

2014 Games 9-12

We go 1-3 over this stretch to fall to 7-5 and in a very tight AFC West. SD is 7-5, we are 7-5, and Den/KC are both 6-6. McCown stunk it up over this stretch. His best passer rating in four starts was 69.1. He's down to 72.4 for the year but seems like our best option for making the playoffs...

2014 Games 13-16
DMC puts the team on his back and leads us to a division title at 11-5. We go 4-0 over this stretch as McFadden goes for 167, 130, 137, and 109 yards. Lowest ypc in any game in the last quarter of the season is 5.19.

2014 Playoffs...

That was short-lived. Peyton and the Broncos come to town and put us in our place in the WC Round, 34-10. It was 31-0 at halftime.

I'm not sure what to make of these numbers. They don't look like the results of a legit playoff team. The defense seemed to do a good job in keeping people from scoring, but I'm not really sure why. McFadden was clearly the team MVP on offense:

SS Chris Clemons is our only award winner. With 6 picks, 2 pick-sixes, and 107 tackles, he wins 1st team honors.

No retirements. Jackson gets the "Watch Closely" label. With all those bonuses handed out for FA signings, we lost ~$60M, one of only 5 teams to lose money, and were #32 in finances. Hello, bottom of staff draft.

I think since all of our guys had multiple years left on their deals, none of them got poached. By the time our pick came around, our guys were far and away the best options left at their respective staff positions.

Not many money-saving renegs available to me in FA1:1. We could cap some guys out, but I'm wary of doing that en masse with the high-salary contracts. Right now, it looks like CB is the only strong position of need...depending on what happens with Jackson at WR, of course. And given that Jackson is our highest-salaried player, I definitely don't want to cap him out while I'm running the risk of him dying. Looking over the WRs and CBs available in FA, there's not really anyone that I'm gaga about anyway, so no cap outs. I'll pursue CB Brandon Flowers, who has a relatively modest salary request. If he doesn't sign, it looks like I'll have to stand pat with 29/29 Taiwan Jones as our 2nd CB. Definitely a position to look at for our 1(24) pick. Seems relatively certain that I'll grab a CB or WR there.

Flowers (46/46) signed at CB. Headed to the draft.

I keep reading DMC as Demarcus Cousins :D

2015 Draft

When the 1(24) is up, my CB option makes me feel more confident than my top WR options, so he's the pick. Here's the draft in its entirety:

From: Front Office Football

Amateur Draft Report:

Rnd 1 - Harry Snyder, CB, Virginia--34/66
Rnd 2 - Grayson Amey, WR, Vanderbilt--19/22--4 blue combines. I hope guys like this can grow significantly in FOF7.
Rnd 3 - Zion Matthews, OLB, Vanderbilt--10/25--Drafted as ILB, moved to WLB. Has 3-4 WLB skillz, it appears.
Rnd 4 - Nicolas Woolley, DE, Miami, Ohio--15/29
Rnd 5 - Scott Bookas, S, Colorado State--13/27
Rnd 6 - Ralph Gallo, C, Northwestern St., La.--13/37
Rnd 7 - Fred Fries, RB, Alabama St.--14/23

2 holdouts.

SS Chris Clemons, a free agent signed last year and set to make a $1.5M salary and cost $1.9M in cap room, is asking for a four-year deal that is a little more than twice that amount on a per-year basis.

SILB Miles Burris, on the last season of a cheap 4-year rookie contract, wants huge starter money.

By capping out DMC, I have *just* enough cap room to give these guys what they want and do the one contract extension for next year that needs to happen. However, I'll start next offseason at or over the cap.

With those moves I can afford nothing in FA2 besides rookie minsal guys. I offer a few guys with PR/KR skills and a couple more semi-interesting guys.

No big rookie movement in either direction in TC. (They do change a little there. It looks like after Pre2 is the "big stage" now, though.)

Heh. KC offers me the 1st round pick belonging to STL next year and a young mediocre DE for QB Erick James. The Rams went 4-12 last year and are starting a rookie QB (albeit a very promising one drafted a 1.3) this year. Interesting to see, but James is 18/49-->36/62 so far. A bird in the hand and all that. No deal.

Jackson holds at 64/64. {wipes sweat from brow}

In other news...

Rnd 1 - Harry Snyder, CB, Virginia--34/66-->40/69
Rnd 2 - Grayson Amey, WR, Vanderbilt--19/22-->22/28
Rnd 3 - Zion Matthews, OLB, Vanderbilt--10/25-->12/20
Rnd 4 - Nicolas Woolley, DE, Miami, Ohio--15/29-->20/36
Rnd 5 - Scott Bookas, S, Colorado State--13/27-->14/21
Rnd 6 - Ralph Gallo, C, Northwestern St., La.--13/37--16/31
Rnd 7 - Fred Fries, RB, Alabama St.--14/23-->15/22

Starting LT Jared Veldheer tears a biceps muscle in the last game of the preseason and is on the IR for the season. :(

Here's what we look like heading into the regular season:


It would appear that the Erick James era is about to begin in Oakland. We have a young QB, talented receivers, and a solid-looking defense. The roster rating has us in the middle of the pack.

2015 Games 1-4

1-3 Record. James looked
solid (89.0 rating) in two starts, but got a concussion in game 2. The defense has bad overall numbers, but much of that game in a 51-45 shootout loss to Detroit where they gave up over 600 yards of offense. :eek:

2015 Games 5-8
QB Erick James returned in Week 7. We are 2-2 in this stretch, 3-5 for the season. The defense is still #32 in yardage allowed and scoring. That Detroit game isn't looking like as much of an aberration now. Opponents have completed 68.3% of their passes against us so far...

2015 Games 9-12

Another 2-2 stretch, 5-7 for the season. Not much of interest to report. The offense is playing pretty well, not great. The defense is still playing badly, though they are up to #31 in yards allowed (still #32 in ppg).

2015 Games 13-16

We close out with another 2-2 stretch to finish 7-9.


McFadden had a big ratings drop and corresponding stats drop. He is probably done as a Raider. I can't imagine that I'll be able to justify his 6M salary next year. James is up to 41/61 at the end of the season.

On defense, clearly we need some help.

No awards for us.

K Janikowski retires, and I let TE Kellen Davis head into free agency. He wanted too much to extend his deal.

Heading out for a run. 2016 season (and probably a few more) later today.

Excellent as usual Ben!

Up to #27 in finances. We maintain our staff once again.

VERY lucky break: lots of teams in the middle of the pack. 10 went 7-9 last year, and we were #2 in tiebreakers among them, so we wind up with the #8 overall pick.

I expect better things from your franchise now that you have removed the taint that is Kellen Davis.

Looks like #1/#2 picks from your first draft are already big contributors. Obviously bodes well to hit on those picks.

Hey Ben,

Thanks for doing this...

Are you doing gameplanning at all (sorry if I missed it) -- or is everything rex'd?

I'm doing the game planning myself. I really enjoy that aspect of FOF.

After renegs and extensions in the 2016 offseason, I have roughly $11.5M to spend in free agency. Needs appear to be:

RB--With a good OL, I want to try going with a back good at HR and not much else. Jalen Parmele is a FA and is 81 HR, 75 End, and has a pretty cheap asking price. Seems like he could be a fit.
K--no FAs look terribly interesting. I may end up with a 45/45 cheap type.
WLB--FA Connor Barwin (62 PRT, 65 PRS), I got my eye on you!!!
S--Earl Thomas looks like a solid option here. After him, FA looks pretty barren.

I signed all four guys above. Overall ratings are...

RB Parmele: 45/45
K Hopkins: 47/47
WLB Barwin: 57/57
FS Thomas: 48/48

I'm hoping adding a legit pass-rusher and a safety with strong zone skills will beef up the defense. And I'm very curious about Parmele as a RB. It seems so far that the o-line is more important to the running game in this version. If that's actually true, I'd think it would logically follow that a good o-line would go well with a hole recognition back.

On to the draft...

2016 Amateur Draft

So I signed a RB fairly cheaply in FA, but there's a monster-stud rookie RB. If he falls past #3 or so, I might try to trade up. There's also a guy who looks like he could be a monster at SLB or SILB. It may be that when one of those guys goes, I trade up to get the other...

First five picks are OT, QB, QB, WR, CB. Woot!

Bill Callahan! Ha!

Heh. And 6-7 are ILB (not the OLB I like), DE. Both of my top targets are there.

Tough call. The RB looks like an uber-stud who could last a long time for a RB, but defense seems to be our greater need. Our DC sucks at interviewing, so I don't worry about the VO for the guy I get. Here's the whole draft:

Rnd 1 - Peyton Farrell, OLB, Colorado--41/65
Rnd 2 - Tanner Munn, G, Louisville--32/88--combine-skipper. Couldn't resist those BARZ!!!1
Rnd 3 - Roman Dillon, FB, Pittsburgh--23/60--My FB is getting old, and this guy had pretty strong combine scores.
Rnd 4 - Kirk Douthett, CB, Pittsburgh--13/33
Rnd 5 - Gael Sherman, TE, North Carolina State--16/38
Rnd 6 - Kennedy Rosenkrantz, WR, Hawaii--12/26
Rnd 7 - Nicky Hitchcock, S, Kentucky--14/37



(FWIW, the RB I liked, Ricky Forney, went #9, right after my pick.)

(Oh, DEN gets the RB. He is 56/77 and only 36% developed. MONSTER! Hope I don't regret picking Farrell.)

FA2 and Preseason are largely uneventful. Here's where we are heading to the regular season.


On paper, we appear to be a very solid team, one without any obvious holes. We're tied with four other teams for 2nd overall roster rating.

2016 Games 1-4
We open the season 3-1 but the defense is still dreadful: #32 in ppg and #30 in yards allowed. James has an 88.5 passer rating. No major injuries.

2016 Games 5-8
1-3 over this stretch, dropping us to 4-4. The worst news is just as the defense--especially the pass defense--was improving, LCB D.J. Hayden (78/78) has gone down for the year with a Ruptured Elbow Tendon.

2016 Games 9-12
2-2, and QB James dislocates his shoulder in game 12, ending his season.