"It's Tight To Death, Shawty." (An FOF2K7 Dynasty)
 

My latest little FOF kick is an offense that uses 2 tight ends on every snap of the game. (See this thread for details and a sample game plan.) So, I figured I'd play out a bit of a dynasty that focuses heavily on tight ends, attempts to tighten up the game with some house rules, and uses a very tight salary cap. It's tight to death, shawty.

• Universe in Year 14, starting in 2021. I controlled the team myself 2008-2019. I let the AI control everything starting in 2020. My first QB was about to retire at that point, so I thought it would be kind of fun to start from scratch with a team that already has records and whatnot in place.
• Empty Cupboard. Released everyone. Starting from scratch. Only players who come into the league in 2021 or later will be on my roster.
• IHOF Structure. My team is Tucker
• Injuries: 250
• Cap Increase Range: 99 to 99
• MAIN STREET LEVEL--I know this sounds weird, but I'm seeing some things that indicate that at Main Street level, it's easier for the AI teams to manage themselves financially. I suspect that with stringent financial rules on myself, this will actually make the game more challenging, not less.
  

Salary Cap

• I will begin by operating at all times under the constraint of using 50% or less of the salary cap. If this turns out to be too easy or too hard, I can change it as we go along.

Staff Hiring

• All staff must be hired to 5-year deals.
• No replacing staff under contract.
• If a staff position in open in the third week, a requested offer may be given.

Franchise/Summer/FA1:1

• Franchise tag may be used, but it must be on a player with loyalty >0, not on an angry or worse player, and never for consecutive years.
• Summer league player must be from fourth round or later.
• Renegotiations can be done in these circumstances:
  • Final year of contract, and must be requested offer only (If he's requesting one year, then he's gonna be a FA and get that type of contract from me on the open market.)
    
  • Cap outs
  • Holdouts
    

Early Free Agency

• All contracts offered to unrestricted free agents must contain at least 50% bonus, with one exception: one-year minsal deals are allowed if the player will take them--but no longer than one year.

Trading

• AI-offered trades may be accepted.
• Draft pick trades are allowed, but all picks received from the AI must be current year only.
  

Training Camp

• No more than 53 players carried to camp.

In-Season

• AI will control all depth charts.
• Injury rate is 250
• My offensive game plan will only use the sets with at least two tight ends.
  

2021 Amateur Draft
 

1(24)--CB Carlton Gambrell (23/27)--3 red combines, 2 blue, 51% developed--should become a VG corner eventually
2(23)--WR Bruce Meeker (24/59)--3 blue combines--Could be a "good enough" WR.
3(25)--QB Ben Banks (13/37)--3 blue combines, 41% developed-knows 2 of the 2-TE formations
4(24)--LT Donovan Slechta (19/25)--3 blue combines
5(23)--C Scottie Schultz (25/60)--1 red, 2 blue
6(25)--P Andy Fuller (15/29)--1 red, 3 blue
7(14)--FL Antoine Ellis (19/44)--no combine guy, blue in both showing

2021 Camp Results
 

1st round pick Gambrell was +8. No shocker there. 7th round pick WR ellis also gave a +4. (For those reading from IHOF, his pre-draft bars looked extremely similar to those of J.R. Janjic.) Rather surprising no change from 2nd round WR Meeker. I was expecting a drop there. Season 1 will run in the morning.

Oh, and Banks learned a third 2-TE formation (but was -3 in camp). Still, he looks like the starter.

2021 Roster
 

In short, we sucked. Not much to say about this. One interesting thing to note is that the formation situation may cause me to stick with Banks at QB much longer than I might have otherwise.

2022 Offseason
 

No retirements.

Sent 7th-round WR Ellis to summer league.

CB Gambrell +4 in FA1:1

We have the 1.1, and there's a stud QB with 76 intelligence. He is starting out with only 2 of the 2-TE formations and he's 8% developed, so there's no question that he's going to struggle big-time early on, but he's a must.

2022 Amateur Draft & Camp
 

Rnd 1 - Antoine Hickman, QB, Michigan (13/58)-5 blue, one red--As I said above, this will take some time.
Rnd 2 - Lincoln Massie, DE, New Mexico (34/56)--VU, no cmobine, one blue--great bar signature
Rnd 3 - Irving Goddard, TE, Washington State (20/37)--VU--
3 blue
Rnd 4 - Randal Cochrane, CB, Cal. - Northridge (17/33)--2 blue
Rnd 5 - Louie Dimitrenko, T, Ohio State (20/54)--1 red, 2 blue, 1 green
Rnd 6 - Karl Castillo, DT, Washington (17/52)
Rnd 7 - Ken George, DE, Texas Tech (16/42)--Converted from DT. Had a great dash and great pass rush tech bar




Top Ten Most Likely Breakouts:

Name Team Pos Change
George, Ken Tucker LDE 12
Hickman, Antoine Tucker QB 8
Goddard, Irving Tucker TE 6
Gambrell, Carlton Tucker LCB 4
Kollars, Clay Tucker RB 2
Viano, Leo Tucker K 1
Gunn, Steven Tucker LCB 1
Sellers, Thomas Tucker WILB 1
Oliver, O.J. Tucker RG 1
Ingram, Irving Tucker FB 1

Major hits in this draft, and the CB keeps on creepin'.

The AI offers a 2nd round pick for WR Meeker. WR Ellis has better endurance already, and it creeping. He might end up the better of the two, and this offense only needs one WR. I could use the pick. We accept the offer.

Overall, it looks like we have our QB1/TE1/WR1 combo in place now. QB Antoine Hickman, TE Irving Goddard, and WR Antoine Ellis hope to be the cornerstone of our offensive attack...but methinks we'll just suck again this year, and maybe next.

2022 Roster
 

Still the league's worst roster by a long way. Modest goal this year: win a game.

...and I'll be danged if we didn't win the opener. We picked off five passes. S Percy Thornton (undrafted free agent) had four of 'em. Nice!

OUch. This could kill our mega-creeper CB:


Carlton Gambrell, LCB - Ankle Surgery, Out, full strength in 2023.

He was up to 49/49 (from original 23/27) and counting.

Lo and behold, we won three. Not bad given that we only used two offensive formations all year long, as best as I can tell.

S Thornton's 9 picks earn first team All Pro honors for him. Of course, he had four in just one game. :)

2023 Offseason
 

No retirements.

Summer League: 7th-round DE Ken George

FA1:1 Changes..some nice ones:


Looks like Gambrell may be ok. He has four weeks left on his injury, and still went the big +6.
Kollars has been a nice and steady creeper at RB. He was 23/25 and is now up to 39/39. Not sure he gets much better than that, but he may be decent.

No surprises on any of the others.

We have the #4 pick in the draft, and there are some interesting options. I don't think we'll trade up, but depending on what happens, we might try to trade down.

Yup. The guys that really caught my eye went #1 and #2. However, there are a couple more guys I like ok but am pretty sure I can get a bit further down. So I trade...

1(4)
4(1)

for

1(8)
2(8)
6(9)

1(8)--SLB-->SILB Bucky Tobeck (37/74->38/81 (on position switch)--3 red, 3 blue--Will probably move to ILB. Great bars everywhere except pass rushing.
2(3)--LDT Arnie Barber (26/42)--2 red, 2 blue--Looks like our nose tackle for a long time. Should creep a good amount.
2(8)--FB-->TE Bruce Woods (22/71-->22/65 (on position switch)--3 blue, 1 red--6'3" 265 pounds. Methinks we now have our two tight ends.
2(31)--SLB-->WLB Kerry Sauceda (28/44)--4 blue--He is now our 3-4 WLB.
3(2)--G Troy Insley (31/43)--one red, 2 blue--He should creep quite a bit.
5(4)--C Jared Chov (24/59)--2 red, 2 blue--I'm ok, not great, at C. If this 280-pounder can gain weight, he probably moves to guard. If not, he's gunning to be our center long-term.
6(3)--RDE Tyrell Capodaglio (12/42) --3 blues--We're set at DE, but can always use a solid backup.
6(9)--RT Reggie Burke (7/34)--2 blues and he's 6'7" 338 lbs--Worth a shot this late.
7(2)--QB Jonathan Jozwiak (8/24)--doesn't look like anything special, but he's best combines left by my analyzer weights, plus best adjusted rating left, plus knows 12 formations including three 2-TE ones. Could be a decent backup for us.

Heh. WR Antoine Ellis holds out for some pretty big bucks. I show him the money, but this could get interesting in a hurry. With this signing, I ahve less than 10% of the cap available. And we're not exactly a good team.

Camp...

You gotta be kidding me.

If every 7th round pick is obviously a super-creeper, this "challenge" will really never be one. Like most, sadly.

Yeah, I'm hoping that's just some good luck. Of course, if they'll all hold out for big bucks by year 3 like the WR did, the cap will likely hurt me. At least that's my hope here...

HEh. The funny thing is that I didn't even notice it until you pointed it out.

2023 Roster
 

Still the worst roster on paper, but not by a wide margin. We might be able to win five or six games this year.

...or not. 2-14.


With just a few injuries, we rarely had our top guys all on the field in any given week. The good news is that we'll draft in the top two next year.

2024 Offseason
 

5th-round pick C Chov goes to summer league.

FA1:1 Movers...
I didn't see Cochrane being the big creeper (+17) that he has been so far. We've now got too solid corners. Massie, Goddard, and HIckman's climbs were expected.

EDIT: Left the game open without saving, and a little power outage pushed me back to 2024 Franchise/Ticket stage, so a new draft class is getting generated. Man, I was really getting excited about that TE.

I thought I'd give a picture of what I mean here. This is the current FA class, sans P and K. In my past SP experiences, classes have much more talent than this.

See edit above...short power outage and had to re-generate draft class. Stud RB. I'll be taking him.

Hmmm....there's a also a studly-looking (by combines, not bars) tight end. He's not as good as the guy in the first iteration of the class, but if he's still there at around 1(20), I might try to trade up for him.

1(1) RB Irv Gillespie (70/81)--3 red, 3 blue--Uh, yeah.

The TE is still there. I trade 2(2) and 3(1) for 1(22) and 5(21).

1(22) TE Hardy Gosselin (34/47)--3 red, 2 blue--Should creep a ton.

4(2) WILB Victor Richardson (13/31)--3 blue--He's iffy, but we really suck at ILB.

5(1) SLB Ike Casteel (12/23)--3 blue--See Richardson...we also suck at SLB.

5(21) LT Phil Tatum (22/38)--1 red, 1 blue--Another big position of need.

6(2) RT Marlon Young (14/45)--no combine--I tend to doubt his VU, but at this point, worth a shot.

7(1) LDE Donny McKenzie (17/28)--3 blue--Don't really have a need at DE, but he was BPA this late.

Heh..

All these high picks need to start producing...and very soon. We've only got around $2M in cap room left after signing our draftees. We can get into FA1 next year, but at this rate, it doesn't look like it can be a significant way to build a team at halfcap.

Camp results...

No surprise on Gosselin. Nice on Casteel and Richardson, but maybe not enough.


Roster rating is no longer the worst in the league. Up to 4th-worst now. Progress!

So my stud 1(1) RB is going to miss the first 5 weeks of the season with a shoulder injury. Lovely. The good news is that we look at least competitive this year.

Five wins..

I love your dynasties because they're so detailed and yet, they don't overly focus on the mundane.

Thanks, DC.
Trying to squeeze out another season or two before heading to bed. Halfcap is now officially an issue. We're going to be skirting pretty close to it this year, the first time we might be able to make a meaningful foray into free agency. Perfect!

FA1:1 Changes...

No real surprises. Just creepers doing what they do, and whiffed picks doing what they do.


The bolded house rule above could have a significant impact on my ability to build cohesion. Lots of guys in final year requested just one year.

As for the draft class, we're at #5, and from the looks of the class, we may go stud OT, or trade down.

So, yeah: tough decisions already. I have three good starters who are set to become RFAs, and all want real money:

DE Massey (75/75): $8.5M this year
CB Cochrane (57/57): $3.42M
DE George (53/53): $3.06M

After the more obvious cap outs and cuts, we have $13.45M max for new player.

The starters who got cut...

WLB Sauceda--2nd round pick who didn't pan out.
G O.J. Oliver--I have three guards at roughly the same talent level. He's the most expensive.

I also had to cut basically all players in year 5 not set to start this year. The most notable is RB Clay Kollars (41/41), who is now sitting at #3 in the depth chart. It's looking like #3 = rookie on this team.

The cuts get us down to 34 players under contract. Doing a little cypherin', I calculate that I can spend roughly $6.85M on non-minsal players. That's just enough to sign my two less expensive RFAs. Checking free agency, there are no better options at DE or CB in year 5 (actually in any year), so I sign both guys and don't participate in FA. On to the draft...

2025 Draft
 

Now that we're through four drafts and free agency, we have some actual specific needs. The top ones are:

OT
OLB
ILB
S

There are two studly tackles in teh top five adjusted rating players, and I have the #5 pick. I'm hoping I can get one of them...


,,,and sure enough, when my pick comes up, the better one is still there.

1(5) LT Gino Conley (60/86)--3 red, 2 blue, 43% developed--looks like a monster
2(6) SLB K.C. Barlow (19/61)--1 red, 3 blue--Not necessarily ideal, but should be pretty solid.
3(5) RT Stanley Lovallo (17/45)--1 red, 4 blue--I could use starters at both tackles, so why not?
4(6) WLB-->WILB Kyle Adams (18/32)--3 blues--Looks like he could be fairly heavily masked, and I need a starter at WILB.
5(5) FS Ronald Kinney (9/30)--One red agility combine, and blue Sol. No guarantees, but I need safety.
6(6) C Donald Kinney (24/74)-one red, 2 blue...I think he'll drop, but I don't think he'll drop *that* much. I don't need a starter, but hard to pass up the possibility here.
7(5) SLB->WLB Percy McConnell(17/39)--Decent bars, no combine, and as I said, I need linebackers.

Camp...


Very solid draft. Looks like our top five picks are going to pan out to at least some degree.

We're now middle-of-the-road in roster rating, but QB Hickman still only knows two of the formations we use. Hard to say what to expect.

Solid season, but something rather interesting at QB:


On the surface, it would appear that the two QBs performed very similarly. However, Hickman had turf toe for about 6 weeks. As a result, he ended up throwing just a small handful of passes in those games--and he performed brilliantly in those games, usually something like 9 for 10. In games where he played the entire one, his numbers didn't look nearly as good. Later-game familiars, no doubt. The backup knows four of the 2-TE formations. Hickman's intelligence (76) would indicate that he should learn more formations soon enough, but that's a good bit of info to keep in my back pocket. I'm wondering if financially, the best way to play this out might not be with some 45/45 QB who won't cost me much, but knows all five of the 2-TE formations. Hmmmm...

More details on Hickman's numbers: he had six games with a QB rating over 100. In five of those, he threw 21 passes or less. He also had six games with a rating of 75.4 or worse. In all of those, he threw at least 31 passes. It looks like he only had one full game with a strong performance: week one, 21 for 35 and a 116.2 rating.

2026 Offseason
 

Summer: WILB Adams (4th round pick)
Franchise: WR Ellis

WILB Adams gets a +5 in FA:1:1, as does TE Gosselin

The cap situation is, uh, tight. 23 players under contract, -$4.17M max for new player. Signing frnachisee Ellis to a long-term contract saves a nice chunk, but I have four starter-quality players hitting FA this year: C Chov, G Insley, P Korz, TE Woods.

I make some cuts as well as cap outs and last-year renegs.


notable cut...

WILB Richardson: He's a +6 creeper who's probably good enough to start evenutally, but he's making too much for a backup. Gone.

We freed up enough cap room so that I don't have to cut any top guys yet, and I was able to re-sign the RFAs. However, it wasn't enough to make a serious foray into FA. Instead, I just focused on one-year minsal signings to make sure I have all starting slots filled with decent players. I had *just* enough cap room to do this. Here are the guys I signed: all are for one-year minsal no-bonus deals.

RCB Mack Rayburn (42/42)--Mentor who'll be the nickel back.
WLB Ed Garrett (28/28)--Our own guy from last year. high bars in pass rushing and had 12.5 sacks.
WLB Jamal Gaither (43/43)--A higher-bar version of Garrett. 74 PrTch, 59 PrStr
FS Tyrus Brohm (46/46)--Pretty solid bars across the board, and high endurance.
SE Hardy Phelan (41/41)--WR2 rarely see the field in this offense, but wanted a decent option in case of injury to WR1.
LDE Calvin Oleary (38/42)--56/64 PrTch
SS B.J. Harper (46/46)--Solid run defense, ok passing defense.
FB Irving Ingream (42/42)--our own FB..high run blocking
RG Gerald Pickett (40/40)--nothing particularly good

Now that I suspect we won't be drafting high enough to hand-pick a stud starter at a position of need every year, I figure the best way to go is to have someone in place to start, and then if something better comes along in the draft, wonderful.

2026 Amateur Draft
 

Needs...

Really, any of the minsal positions mentioned above are needs. Plus we have several backup slots to fill.

1(23): LDE Kennedy Corbett (28/50)--5 blues--Should creep a bit and be a nice bookend at the RDE slot.
2(23): RCB Brenden Atkins (25/43)--2 red, 3 blue--eventual nickel guy at worst. Solid starter possibly.
3(23): C Timothy Gaden (21/58)--3 blues--My hope is that he can gain weight. Whether or not e can, he's moving to guard. He's 291 pounds and 88% at the moment.
4(23): SS Derrick Bronson (20/44)--2 blues--He's listed at 48% developed, and we need someone to be a capable backup/possible starter at both safety slots.
5(23): RT Teddy Jeffries (20/30)--1 red, 2 blue--Not a top-tier position of need, but we're not set for sure there, either.
6(23): SS Lance Kaplan (17/29)--1 red, 2 blue--More of a long-term project than Bronson, but still a need.
7(23): WLB Kirk Lynch (14/29)--2 blues--Massive bars in both pass rushing categories.

C Gaaden is able to gain weight. He gains nine pounds, and the switch is up to 91%. He's 22/55 post-switch, post-camp.

Camp...


Big ol' jumps at the bottom of the draft. Very nice. Bad news, though is that the QB still only knows two of the 2-TE formations. I'm thinking about adding in some GL just for variety.