FOF 2004 Challenge Career - "Seventh Heaven"
 

Seventh Heaven Challenge

With a tip of the cap to Toddzilla, bad-example and others for the suggestion…

Okay, it won’t exactly be an empty cupboard challenge, but it ought to be pretty close. The rule for this challenge will be this:

The only players allowed on the team are those drafted in the seventh round

My assumption is that this will mean I’ll take over some pathetic franchise, deal away all its early picks to rack up seventh rounders, and trade away or cut most of its players. Then, between whatever decent scrubs we can find among the veteran free agents who were former 7ths and what we can draft on our own at the bottom of the draft – that’s what we will work with.

I think I’ll wait until I see some of the “foundation” players available before I make decisions about game plans and so forth.


The year is 2020, I’m starting in the universe vacated following the end (?) of my Savin’ the Ravens career. Therefore, there might be some familiar players from there who show up here – it’s at least possible (though a quick run through that Ravens roster yields very few former 7th rounder who look to be worth a damn, so it’s not like we’ll be porting that team right over to our new home).

I move to take over the Jaguars – a franchise with an overall record 40 games below .500 and no titles. We’ll see if we can get things moving in the right direction here with a bit of effort.

Our New Front Office, In the Spirit of the Rules

I think it only fitting that I wait until the last round of staff hiring to bring aboard my new front office staff – and then, we’ll only go for guys with no experience. My new front office ends up:

Scout: Norm Shepard, 44 – Good with YT, RB, WR, PK … weakness is LB (fair)
Head Coach: Cole Pritchett, 39 – VG Disc, InjAv … everything else rated Good
Off Coord: Emmitt Bates, 37 – Good with QB, RB, WR… Average with rest
Def Coord: Ernie Stanton, 45 – VG with LB and DB … Good with rest

Not too bad – but the scout selections were very limited.

Roster Building

Well, the initial Jags roster contains a few players whom we can keep on contract:

LB Roman Beeck is a 4th year former 7th round pick who has earned slivers of playing time at the sam slot. He does not look like a future position leader or anything (leadership rating of 9) but we will likely keep him around.

TE Wayne Conley, also a 4th year guy, is signed for four more years, and looks like a solid starter. 650 yards last season is good for a TE, and we expect to see him used heavily. There’s one vote for importing the Ravens 2TE offense to Jacksonville.

DE Nate Cavoretto has barely clung to a slot here, but might make it a while longer now.

Those three are hardly a real foundation, but we’ll do what we can.


Interestingly, as we start off the FA period, I get a trade offer – a 1st round pick plus a former 7th round pick at TE for our star left tackle. Done! We welcome aboard TE Ken Medzihradsky, and silently pray that we can do better than this for our #2 TE slot.

I start mulching through the laborious trade process, picking up draft picks and whatnot for the players on our inherited roster. We’re going to start clean here, for the most part, and we’ll get what we can for these guys – specifically current and future year 7th round picks.

We get to Denver, and find a jackpot – an obvious breakout DT, who also looks like he will be a solid position leader for us. I love him, and I back up the brinks truck to get him – four top picks, and we land DT Darren Griffin, to become the centerpiece of the Jacksonville defense, hopefully for a very long time.


So, I am armed pretty well with a complement of draft picks, and we start looking at the veteran free agents. Without belaboring this too much – I go about this methodically, not wanting to clutter the team with dead weight all over the place.

The first free agent I come across is almost laughable – CB Darryl Campbell has pretty good skills in man to man coverage, but is listed as “out” due to impaired vision, for an unknown duration. A blind cornerback – I love it! He does, however, look like a future position leader for us, so I go ahead and make a multiyear offer, hoping to get him playable at some point, where he would become a real value signing.

My first round of pursuits are for veterans who we believe can become the position leaders for the team. I think to build this team successfully, I’ll at least need to avoid conflicts – so I want to get the leaders installed early. I go after affordable, high-leadership types who ought to be able to hold the leadership role for a long time.


And in the late stages of free agency, we make what has to be the biggest move of our offseason, with the possible exception of acquiring anchor DT Griffin. We work out a contract with QB Irving Warholic, a 6th year veteran from the Giants, who has seen limited duty but looks pretty good to our scouts (45/66). He will certainly step right into our starting job, and ought to be the centerpiece for the Jags’ offense. Warholic’s strongest ratings are in the intangibles – 3rd down passing, timing, and sensing the pass rush. He’s a 30/51 in avoiding interceptions, so he has a weakness – a pretty big one. But overall, this is a pretty skilled QB who ought to keep us from having a truly dreadful first few seasons, I think. He signs a four year deal, and cements the starting job quickly.

WR Dexter Duran is a 12th year player who has bounced around but racked up 5,676 yards receiving in the process. He’s a prototype decent ratings, low route running guy who will never be an impact player. I offer him a one year deal, and we’ll see whether he makes it, or yields to younger talent.


So, I fill in with a lot of pretty marginal players elsewhere – including quite a lot of 3rd year guys on one year contracts (where I’ll have an unimpeded option to extend after this year if I like what I see there). We get to the draft with 39 players signed – and we have some more dealing to go to continue to acquire 7th rounders. I’d like to bring in about 20 rookies to compete for jobs this season.

From the roster we have on hand, our top needs seem to be: DE, OT, RB, WR and MLB. We also need to acquire a punter and kicker as well, but that shouldn’t pose any real problem.


So, we sift through this dirt, and look for what we can find… the results are fairly uninspiring, based on the first ratings adjustment. I think we’ll have a few guys who get some playing time, but I don’t see a lot of breakouts.

It’s interesting to figure out what to do with a QB like Andy Shockley – fast guy who had a bump in his ratings on first look. One thought would be to switch him to RB, where he might be effective and we have nobody of note (and maybe also consider this for QB Andy Hanson). Thing is – does he (Shockley) have a meaningful future at QB? Is there much chance that we’ll really put him on the field to find out? (Sometimes this is the downside of playing not-quite-empty cupboard … it’s tougher to just hand over the mantle to a young guy like this when I have a veteran rated 45 right now who can play)

With QB Andy Hanson, it turns out any position switching is basically a moot point – he’s 244 lbs, and a switch to RB would only go through at 61%, so he’d lose too much anyway. But with Shockley, I decide to give him a look – the new RB Andy Shockley, switched at 68%, is rated 20/50, but has a nice mix of skills. He also looks like he can be a really solid punt and kick returner – so this looks like a good move for us, and we’ll stick with him at RB, probably as our starter. (Didn’t see that one coming)


In late free agency, we sign up veteran tackle Kennedy Tate. He’s a run-blocking specialist, not exactly what I want with my OT generally, but he steps in as the new position leader for us (a benefit) and is a mentor at OT as well. Seems like a solid addition for the former 7th round pick who can play a bit if needed (though he can’t pass block to save his life).

That bumps us to 61 players (including one rookie holdout, RT Shawn Duran) – which is basically our limit. We have on carryover veteran (injured and can’t be cut or traded) whom we expect to deal after training camp.


We head into training camp, and I think my starting gameplan for this team is taking shape. I think on offense, we are going to try to work around Warholic’s strengths – he’s a short passing guy, so we’ll use the 2TE base offense from the Ravens team to start out with. I plan to shuffle the defense though, and make this defense a 3-4 front, with Darren Griffin the monster in the middle. The secondary will play mostly loose man coverage, which seems like the best fit for the talent we have on hand – especially if we ever get CB Darryl Campbell into playing shape (he’s rated 88/100 in MTM).

After training camp, here’s the snapshot of our roster, ready to take on the season:


Ignore CB Jerry Lindsay and his $1.2m contract – he’s still injured and I cent get him off the team yet. Soon, though.


What do we see here? A few semi-ordered thoughts…

-I wish I had a mentor QB for Bernard Blackburn, who has a lot to learn but might turn out to be pretty good

-I was fleetingly excited before camp about our RB situation – now, not so much… it’s just the blue bar mirage striking again, especially with Andy Shockley

-Kennedy Tate might have to start for us at left tackle after all – hope Irving’s a lefty

-We didn’t get anything worth a damn from the two rookie LBs I was counting on to start

-CB Raymond Longworth looks pretty good, but has a void in man coverage… tough call there

Season Preview

A wreck. With no cohesion to speak of (of course), and a roster that rates a solid 3 out of 100 (last), we shouldn’t be winning many games here in Jacksonville. This is a building year – we have a number of veterans on one year deals, and will just be finding our way here. It’s hard to imagine much more than a handful of wins, I don’t expect.

I’m going to actually manage the depth chart, since there are some specific things I want to do with this team. We’ll see how long the hands-on approach lasts, though.


2020 Season

The early returns suggest that our defense is ahead of our offense – we hold teams to under 20 points in our first two games, but we can’t score and lose both. We do get a win in week four over Cinti – powered by a late KO return TD from CB Stanley Foreman. But overall, this team really is not competitive at all, as our offense is clearly among the league’s weakest.

At 1-6, we make a few roster shifts, including subbing in rookie QB Bernard Blackburn for the injured Irving Warholic. Clearly, we have little to lose this year. In week 9, we put forth our best offensive effort of the year behind 3 TDs from Blackburn (only to lose to a 2-minute comeback). I decide to leave Blackburn in a while, even after the bye week has healed Warholic okay.

The offense certainly does seem livelier with Blackburn in the saddle, oddly enough. We squeak out a win at Minnesota in week 12, after a game-winning FG drive led by his 3-for-3 passing. Hey, a 3-13 season clearly isn’t anything to shout about, so we’ll take our solace where we can – we might have ourselves a quarterback after all.


So, we get an all-world season out of our monster nose tackle Darren griffin, who basically benefited from the perfect storm for tackle totals: crappy team on offense put us on defense a lot, the defense isn’t that good either, nobody around him is that good at tackling, and – voila! I don’t think I have ever had a 100-tackle DT before, but the stage was set for him here. Has to be an all-pro pick, right? Maybe DPOY?

As for the QB position – what’s not to like about the turnaround under the rookie? I honestly was halfway disappointed when I saw Warholic available, as I just assumed he’d be the best we could do (and finding and cultivating my own QB is a fun part of these challenge careers for me) – I’m sort of glad to see the rookie step up and get the job done pretty well, all told.

Other bright spots? C Heath price had a solid year as the best of a very weak OL group… 3rd year S Brenden Lavender played pretty well… and converted FB Wesley Franz carries his weight okay leading the running game.

But let’s not get carried away – this is a terrible team right now, and our prospects for big improvement any time very soon are pretty slim.


In the postseason, the Ravens lose in the divisional round, and the Bears win the title.

DT Darren Griffin does indeed get named as a first team all-pro, but loses out for DPOY to a 122-tackle LB. (Ravens send two, LB Rickey Owens and WR Kirk Fox)

2021 offseason

So, one dreadful season in the bag – now we have to make some decisions.

One bit of good news – CB Darryl Campbell is still with us, and he seems to have made a full recovery from his vision problems. If true, that adds a potential impact player for us, and locks us in to the man coverage scheme for a while. Great news!

Our top free agent players are LB Sammy McKyer and Roman Beeck, both of whom were decent starters last season for us. Neither is a star-caliber player, but unless we can land promising youngsters, these are the best we’ll have on hand. We’ll try to re-sign both – and I don’t expect either to generate a ton of interest.


There is one impact free agent in this year’s group, though – WR Norm McNown, a 7th year flanker who rates 61/61 by my scout, and would make a wonderful #1 target in our offense, I’m quite certain. I don’t see much reason not to back up the bank truck to get him, really – but our problem is that eating a lot of dead cap space from last year’s trades and cuts has us in a bit of a pinch this season. So, we’ll have to make a cheap first year and the real money down the line – SOP in the NFL, anyway.

We head into free agency with not a ton of cap space, but I think we can make room if we really need it. We get our deal done with WR McNown right away – he ought to be a serious impact signing – 1,200 yards for sure if he’s healthy. DT Leon Poston also signs up – he’s a great run-stopper, and might get into a platoon role for us at DE. Finally, we land CB Joey Staat (an old friend from the Ravens roster) who comes aboard as an affinity addition and reasonable backup.

LB Sammy McKyer gets an offer from, of all places, Baltimore, and we need to make a call. He’s slated to earn more than $2m this year and nearly $3m per season there – do we want to invest enough to re-sign him? I work out a three year offer, cheap this year, but trouble next year, and hope to keep him around. He’s a starter and a mentor, and worth holding onto with such a narrow pool of players to draw from anyway.

I thought my offer would be god enough – but I was wrong, and he heads to Baltimore. They paid more in bonus than I had offered, but it had to be a tough decision. Alas – we are weakened by the loss. We then surprisingly lose FB Alonzo Chelios to a quick offer from Carolina – I didn’t even see that coming.

So, we head to the draft, with 48 players already signed to a bloated lineup, and a ton of draft picks in round seven once again. We zip ahead to round seven, where we will again invite in a score of guys to have a look. This year, we’re still really looking for help at DE and RB, and probably LB as well.


Looks like a lot of junk to me. The obvious exception being CB Larry Myers, who jumped six points – a great sign. Sky’s the limit there, and his best coverage is man – where we are still trying to focus.

We inch up to 67 players on the roster – so we will have plenty of cutting to do ahead. Here’s the post-camp roster, by my scout:


So, I pare down a bit – and we are ready for the preseason.

Season Preview

More of the same, probably not quite as bad. I expect to see pretty big numbers from WR McNown, as he will be our only serious downfield target. On defense, I expect another big season from Darren Griffin, as the tackling skills around him won’t be significantly better. We’ll hope to see a healthy CB Darryl Campbell (heh) but we have options at CB even if he can’t stay around.

Overall, I’d peg us as a 5-11 team, more or less. Next year should be the step forward.


2021 season

We open with a home win over the Colts, after being 9 point dogs. But both TE Conley and WR McNown are hurt – that can’t be good. Things do settle down, though – we lose some close ones, and some not so close, and get to the halfway point at 2-6. The defense is playing pretty well, but we are turning the ball over a lot, and we’re just not good enough to overcome that.

We just continue to lose close games – it’s not like a 7-9 record would matter much, but it still is frustrating. The team basically shuts down in the final weeks, and we have awfully little to show for our two seasons of effort right now.


A turnover margin of –26… I don’t think I’ve ever witnessed that before. Ouch.

QB Blackburn suddenly looked down and discovered he’s just a low-skills youngster, and a la Wile E Coyote, plummeted to earth in a puffy cloud. Great. The offense was among the least productive both running and passing, so we’re balanced at least.

Both of our top targets in the passing game missed some time, and managed to fall short of our hopes. McNown with 848 yards is okay, and he did play much of the season while listed as “probable,” but we’d still prefer a bigger return there. Duran ended up being the most stable guy, and his re-signing was basically an afterthought.

On defense, DT Griffin also got hurt, and missed a few games – nothing too serious, though. CB Daryl Campbell played nearly all season, and was solid for us – though nobody on this defense seems to make any big plays. Larry Myers got some spot duty, and will work back in next year, I suspect.


We get no mention at all on the league awards list. DE Reggie Fletcher of Cleveland is named first team all pro, with 18.5 sacks.

2022 offseason

So, we come into this season with renewed concern at QB, a roster full of similar concerns, and no really easy path toward vast improvement. We hold the pick at 1.1 in the draft, which will go for naught anyway.

There is one very strong DE in the free agent class this year, whom we will clearly have to pursue. Peter Hartman has been playing for Green Bay, and my scout rates him at 75/75 in his 7th year. He posted double digit sacks each of the last three seasons, and will become an immediate impact player for us, I expect. He wants big money, but where else are we going to spend our cap space, really? We’ll get him.

We also pursue QB Norm Borders, who might compete for playing time, and TE Rickey Foley, who could end up being a nice target in a 2 TE system.

LB Roman Beeck, a guy we let get away last season, is available now – and we grab him. We are fairly weak at LB, and he’s a solid addition – never should have let him walk anyway. We also sign WLB Rufus Graham, who may be a solid fit for us as a potential starter or utility reserve.

WR Adrian Howe has bounced around the league a while – never posting a 1,000-yards season, but has been good enough to stay afloat for 12 seasons. We ink him, and will give him a shot probably in our slot role.

S John Gray is a decent skills guy, typical veteran reserve, not an impact player, but a decent fit for out man coverage system.


So – a pretty active free agency stretch for us, and we will have to make quite a number of cuts to get under our roster limits this year – we are up to 61 players signed before the draft even starts.


In the draft – we once again have a number of 7th round picks, and will take our usual chances with them.


So, on first glance, I’m giessing we have a couple guys who will get incrementally better – C Ransom, WR Raymond, CB Twisp. We mighthave one guy with some real potential in DT Stan Hill, who moves seamlessly over to the NT position we’d need. Plenty of guys here who will just draw cap space until they get mercilessly cut, as usual.

Here’s the post-camp roster – lots of paring down ahead:


The paring-down process is pretty tedious, but we manage to get things organized fairly well. I move CB Larry Myers to the right side, where I think he will become our starter – he’s a guy with some promise, and I want to clear the way for him. I can’t get a starting role for C Louie Ransom, but will try to get him in as an OL super-sub this year, and hope he develops.

Season Preview

I don’t think this team will be very good, but we did make one major addition in DE Peter Hartman, so our pass rush ought to escape its anemic levels of the past. I’m hopeful that our corps of LB will be improved, but I don’t forecast great things overall from this defense.

Offensively, we expect to go with young Bernard Blackburn at QB again, and hope to see him take a step forward after a bad season last year. Our running game shouldn’t be much, but we have adequate player in the passing game to make something happen.

I’m hoping for 6 wins, and a good step forward in the composite stats – maybe we can be above average in yards allowed per carry, and around average in yards per attempt on offense.

- - -

2022 Season

We get two close losses in our 0-3 start, followed by (finally) a close win. With a mis-season rush, we actually get to 5-5 on the year, and are looking like a whole different team. We slide down from .500, but we do manage to tally seven wins on the year and accomplish our main objective for season three – a move toward respectability.


So, by the numbers – we can’t run, we can’t pass, but we have one huckuva defense. Wow. And our best defensive player, NT Griffin, missed about six games to injuries, even.

Blackburn returned to respectability this year, and managed to stay even with his TD/Int ratio. Something to build on, as he is now pretty well cemented as our starter, I think. TE Wayne Conley had a huge year (that we had been waiting for) nearly topping the 1,000 yard mark. Young WR Jon Raymond is likely to take over the starting role at split end next year, and ought to be a nice big play guy for us, I think.

Defensively, I switched to something of a “gadget” setup, and I like the results. We basically didn’t blitz at all this year – evidenced by the paltry sack/hurry numbers of our linebackers. Our front three did almost all the damage – reasonable number of sacks and hurries, and our pass coverage seemed better, I think. CB Darryl Campbell had an outstanding 25 passes defensed – this isn’t a big pay secondary, but I like the results this year, at least.


In the season awards, DE Peter Hartman is named to the first team, and TE Wayne Conley has to settle for second team (TE Dominic Mitchell from Baltimore posted 877 yards and 4 TDs and gets first team on the strength of his blocking record– WTF?).

2023 offseason

Now there’s at least some reason to think we have this thing pointed in the right direction, at least. A 7-9 season and a defense that is actually playing well. If we can just get the offense up to average, we’ll be somewhere.

This year, we start off with news that WR Dexter Duran has retired. We’ll be fine – Jon Raymond has the starting SE job sewn up anyway.


We have a lot of players to re-sign this year – several of our most important players are up for new contracts, including DT Darren Griffin and QB Bernard Blackburn. Plus, most of our first draft class selections are out of contract and restricted free agents in their 4th season now. At least Blackburn is restricted, so we can wait him out.

We get a deal done with DT Griffin, to pay him $40m over four years. We also lock up several cheap veterans, and maintain some stability there as well.


QB Floyd Garrett – yet another mediocre signal caller, might have more upside as he’s only a 3rd year guy with a season starting under his belt (albeit a dreadful one).

FB Alonzo Chelios is a guy who got away a couple seasons ago, but he’s better than our current FB options, and signs a three year deal with us, likely to step in and start.

RG Arnold King is a 3rd year player (another guy we missed in our own draft picks) who looks okay, and might get a shot at LG for us.

WR Amos Hyatt, a 4th year guy, is another one we must have missed, but might stick with us as a reserve.


We lose RG Butch Guarino in free agency – I just waited and he grabbed a deal from Seattle. Decent reserve guy, not a great loss, but I should have kept him around.

DE Kirk O’Neal is a guy I didn’t really pursue for the $2m he was seeking – we’re fairly deep at DE, and we’ll do okay with younger players.


We move to the draft, and will have a solid number of picks once again – we’d love to land another player or two to try out at RB, and maybe even a linebacker who has some future.



Well, DB Donnell McNeil looks like he’ll be a pleasant surprise – I grabbed him for his incidentals, but if he’s on the improve (and the first look says he really is) then we have something there after all. I move him to LCB, where he converts at 93% (to 28/53), and looks to still be nearly topped-out in man coverage, interceptions, punt returning, and special teams. This guy could be very, very valuable.

I move DE McGillicuddy to ILB (9/33) and move RB Mack Stargell to split end (15/48). Both guys have some shot to make the team – Stargell especially, as we are trying to add some return specialists and he’s a great special teamer too, it appears.


In late free agency, we lose DE George Finch – unexpected. That thins out our ranks a good deal along the DL, but we will be okay, I think.

We have 63 players heading into training camp – and we’ll be letting both RB Wesley Franz and WR Arnie Grier walk – neither is doing much as a position leader, and we need the roster slots, candidly.

After training camp – here’s the snapshot:

2023 season preview

I don’t see enough talent on this team to really take a big step forward (our roster rating is a 36, second lowest in the league ahead of only Chicago, who are in putrid shape) – but I suspect that we might be a shade better on offense than last year. If the defense can hold its ground, we could improve… but I don’t expect much more than 6-7 wins, really. I would like to see some semblance of a legitimate running game, and we’ll shuffle RBs in an effort to find something along those lines.

One strategic change – with the losses at DE, I am moving NT Griffin out to play at DE this year – we’ll see how that works out. We’ll put run-stopping DT Postin in the nose slot, and Griffin outside, where his well-rounded skills might lead to more pressure.


2023 season

In our opener, we win, but lose TE Wayne Conley for most of the season. Week two’s win costs us Peter Hartman, but only for a few weeks. We like the wins, but not the cost so far.

In week four, we get to 3-1 by beating Cincinnati – who are already starting QB Marco Seelig, a post-camp casualty from our roster. He’s off to a blazing start for them, but we manage to get the win regardless.

We get DE Hartman back, only to see him go down to another injury – this bodes poorly, I fear. We slide mid season to 4-6, after getting off to such a fast start, it’s disappointing. RB Vince Schultz is up over 4 yards a carry, though, which is refreshing. DE Hartman plays a couple of games, and is out again – three month-long injuries in one season spells trouble, in my book. Our DE problems are far worse than I had imagined – I have reserve LB Darryl Fullerton out there at DE, but he’s a poor player, candidly.

It’s hard to believe that we started out 4-1, and had to rally just to get back to 6-10 on the season, following a terrible 9-game losing streak.


Well, DE Peter Hartman, one of our most talented players, is suddenly Glass Joe and obviously can’t be trusted. We will need to add some help at DE right away. This was our worst season by far for injuries – they really hurt us badly.

Our offense was incrementally better – Schultz seems like a credible starter, and Creamer was far better than Simmons in the reserve role. TE Foley stepped into the starting role and caught a lot of passes (in this offense, no shock) and we got production from our wideouts in the usual degrees. Bernard Blackburn had his first solid, professional season for us – a passer rating of 78 is progress, but still reflects the underneath-passing focus of this offense. I think next year, we’ll let him turn it loose a bit, and just open up the offense and see what they can do.

Defensively, DT Griffin remains a standout – his numbers ought to earn him a slot on the all-pro roster again. CB Darryl Campbell isn’t letting hotshot Donnell McNeil take his job without a fight – he posts 24 passes defenses this year to again rank among the league leaders. LB Rufus graham, playing out of position at WILB, has become our main tackler and best run defender – he and LB Roman Beeck are essential to our defensive front being successful.

By the numbers – this team isn’t bad. Defensively still strong both ways, and as we had hoped, we’re average on defense. This isn’t really a 6-10 team, I don’t think. Don’t know if we’ll be getting much better any time soon, but there are signs that this year was an aberration.

2024 offseason

Okay, we’re getting into crunch time here. The backbone players on this team – guys like DT Griffin – are getting up there in years, and we can’t count on them forever. We need to start winning some games before they are gone. It looks like we’ve all but lost DE Peter Hartman anyway – injury may take some before retirement.

WR Adrian Howe is our retirement victim this year – solid slot receiver for us the last couple seasons, he had a productive career as a complete job-jumper. Never 1,000 yards in any season, but he ends up with 8,200+ for his 13-year career – pretty much a solid role player throughout, it seems. He also never played more than two seasons for any club. This leaves us a bit thin at WR, now – where 10th year man Norm McNown remains our top target, and developing Jon Raymond is now entrenched at SE.


In free agency, we have a few key guys up for contracts – most notably LT Lamar Bellis, TE Wayne Conley, and RFA CB Larry Myers. I expect to re-sign all three – even though Bellis doesn’t get along well with QB Blackburn – we just don’t have many options there.

Looking at the open FA market, I am disappointed – nobody really worth pursuing too hotly, it seems. I think that’s just how it’s going to be – we will have to make improvements from within, though the draft.

5th year C Jim Straight is a solid starting-caliber player, and we lock him up to a contract, probably to use him as a super-sub or maybe as a guard.

I’ll watch DE Kirk O’Neal – he’s a 13th year guy in decline, but when we (foolishly?) let him go last year it sent us into an injury-plagued mess at DE, and having a decent guy like him around would be helpful. He at least stays healthy, generally – but he is asking or a pretty fat contract, for his scouted skill level.


How long should we tie up QB Irving Warholic as our presumed backup QB? He’s up for a new deal, and I see him as our second best option. I figure we will once again lock him up to a multi-year deal, to give us the security of having a solid reserve – especially since we haven’t really picked up a young guy with a particularly bright future recently (except for Marco Seelig, who has inexplicably burst onto the scene as the starter in Cinti, and whom we let walk away for nothing last year after a fairly unimpressive training camp).


We do sign DE O’Neal and QB Warholic, as expected, to round out our notable FA forays.


Into the draft – we hold a slightly lesser batch of 7th round picks, but will take our usual stabs at grabbing helpful young players.


Well, this might be our best rookie class yet!

FS Ted Bratsch looks great, and after a 97% switch to CB, he bumps up even more to 32/60… but he was a +11 boom after the draft ended. We might have future growth from all three guys from the defensive front, right where we really need the help. And we won’t let Bernie Wells walk away, either – not after a +2 jump on closer inspection.

LB Cardona slides to the WILB slot, and jumps a bit in ratings to 18/41, a good sign as well. He looks like he might end up being a productive run stopper for us, and we need one or two young guys to fill that role inside. Parella, after switching to SILB, now rates as a 26/36 player. Those two could end up playing side by side for us down the road.


TE Rickey Foley announces a holdout – following his season as a starter, he feel underpaid. I need to keep him around, as Wayne Conley might be an injury risk, and Foley’s demands are not absurd – so we give in and offer his requested extension.

After our training camp, we are a little less boated than usual, but still will have to make a number of cuts.


On the rookie watch: QB Wells +3, DE Powell +3, LB Parrella +3, Cardona +0, CB Bratsch –1. So, we get three bumps out of five players we thought might give them – not too bad, really. All five guys will make the team, surely.

Season Preview

This team just might be ready to make a move. Our QB is putting things together, and our running game took shape last year. We have gotten good results from our defense thus far, and have at least one new player who ought to help right away in CB Bratsch. Last year we finished 6-10, but had stats to support a better result – with roughly the same effort and a little better luck, this team could be an 8 or 9 win team. If we improve on our effort – and maybe get Peter Hartman and Wayne Conley back into the fold for a healthy season– we might even be better than that.

Our goal is to make the playoffs this year. I don’t think it’s a sure thing at all, but I think it is possible.


Strategically, only one change – I’m going to a more comventional setup of formations. We won’t be depending on the 2TE setup as much as before, and we expect to see our Wrs get a little more love from the change. We’ll also let the downfield passing game rise in our priorities more than in the past. Don’t know how big a deal this will be. The defensive gameplan (which I don’t change week to week either) will remain the same as last year – 3-4 front, man coverage, low blitzing.


2024 Season

We start off with a solid road win over Indy, but they were picking 1(1) this year, so no need to get too enthused about that. And of course, we lose Peter Hartman right away, for 6 weeks with an elbow. We’ll just need to be prepared to never see him be productive again, I’m increasingly convinced.

I decide to go with the rookie Powell as our second starter at DE, and hope to see him develop with the playing time. We don’t have great options otherwise, really. Veteran Kirk O’Neal will split time with DT Poston at the other DE slot.

In week two, we beat Detroit, and Bernard Blackburn pulls off an unlikely 80-yard RUN for a TD. Wow. Two more wins, and we stand at 4-0 for the season… we had a fast start last year, too, so we need to contain our enthusiasm here. But our defense is playing just lights-out football right now.


We get to 7-0, and I’ll post the snapshot team summary here:


I post the summary now, because QB Blackburn (93 passer rating) is injured with a torn ankle ligament, and lost for the remainder of the season. So, we’ll presumably go with Warholic from here, and we’ll see if the team can maintain its mighty roll.

Warholic is 18 of 22 in his re-debut, and I’m awfully glad we re-upped with him, but our offense sputtered a bit against Buffalo to a 21-20 win. TE Wayne Conley goes down next, suggesting that we might have two star players on the outs with serious injury problems.

We get another 1-popint victory, with our game MVP being none other than… Peter Hartman, with 3 sacks! He’s back – but for how long this time?

Irving Warholic keeps racking up 4th quarter heroics, as we need them to continue our win streak to 11-0. Three of his four starts have been by late scores to win by two points or less. The run continues…

Until week 15 – we lose at home to Tennessee, and slip to 13-1. Wow. Warholic got hurt, so rookie Bernie Wells came in, and was just awful. And there goes the perfect season, which was so improbably within reach. We summarily drop our last two games with Wells in at QB, and head to the preseason looking like dead weight without a legitimate QB to accompany this otherwise juggernaut of a team. But it appears that the bye week will give Warholic enough time to resume the starting duties – so we might be a tough out after all.


Well, what an unbelievable season. A 13-0 run, after going 6-10 the previous season. I thought we’d improve, but I didn’t see this coming at all.

Blackburn was heading for a career year, and Warholic filled in adequately and kept things moving. RB Schultz has entrenched himself as a workhorse starter at RB, and had a very nice season for us – he’s not flashy, just a straight-ahead runner, but effective. WR Jon Raymond ends up topping our receiving list for his first time, perhaps due to the injury to TE Conley (who led us up until his injury). Great season for the OL – all six qualifying players were over 30% on KRBs and under 1.0% on sacks allowed. Nice work.

Defensively, the numbers held up – and Peter Hartman actually played in 10 games, after we had all but written him off for good. DT Griffin has to get an all-pro nod once again, with big numbers from the middle for us. We had some shuffling on the D7, but all told they held up beautifully. The secondary played well, too – having four CBs we like is a nice situation to be in.


Postseason Summary

Divisional Playoff: Buffalo (9-8) at Jacksonville (13-3) – We beat them by one in the regular season, now we are ready to beat them again. QB Warholic and TE Conley are back, and we’ll try to get a good playoff debut. This is a wild one – Warholic leads us for two 4th quarter TDs to even things up, but Buffalo scored in OT to win it 30-24.

So, we are one and done in the playoffs – disappointing after the red hot start, but understandable.

Baltimore goes on to win the title over Green Bay. Oddly, the Superbowl MVP is QB Quentin Bernard, a guy I drafted when at Baltimore back in 2015, but dealt away (I think). The Ravens signed him off the FA scrap heap, and he started 12 games and won the big one for them.

DT Darren Griffin, first team, is our only all-pro honoree.

Nice season, there, but I think so far this is turning out to be one of your more difficult challenges.

True - this is difficult. And from the looks of things, it won't be getting too much easier -- as I'm having trouble keeping my few quality veterans healthy.

However, one thing I'm noticing is that with the few options available to me, my roster is very stable -- so if I kept at this for another five seasons or so, what I lose from quality player injuries would probably be made up for by crazy cohesion. In a few years, this team's cohesion will likely be towering well over the rest of the league's. Not an unusual result in a career frought with many roster restrictions - I usually see the same thing with an IMT career, for instance.

2025 offseason

Well, it seems we have arrived. With a fairly healthy team, we were nearly unstoppable last year, even though we did win a number of games by razor-thin margins. But we were pretty dominant statistically, too – telling me that this team is at least partially for real.

But if three of our best players remain injury risks (we’ll see how QB Blackburn looks this year) then we’ll be walking a thin line, I think, as we don’t have great overall talent.


Incidentally, I got an intriguing message from the Team Owner at the outset of this season:


Franchise value, eh? He has a point, we are third-last there, but what am I to do? Raise ticket prices, I guess… we keep the front office intact (why not?) and move ahead.

Interestingly enough, it seems that our big problem is not with ticket prices being too low – but rather too high. We only had attendance of 9,800 per game last year, somehow – so I’ll drop prices to try to get people to show up again. We’ll see if that fixes the problem.


DE Kirk O’Neal ha retired – no real surprise there. Opens the door even wider for young DE Steven Powell to continue to grow into the role, in the absence of a formidable presence to prevent him from getting playing time.

Well, QB Bernard Blackburn looks all right, so we will hope that he is ready to step back into the starting job. Plus, we had a chemistry shift at OL, and he likes the new leader there, G Nathan Fox.


The best free agent out there is LT Dale Durham, and he would upset our OL chemistry, which is suddenly pretty good. He’s solid but old – I decide to stay away, and try to bring along my younger guys instead.

Another interesting guy in free agency is QB Marco Seelig, who must have been cut by Cincinnati (how can that make any sense at all?) after two seasons as their starter. I decide to sit back, but if his demands drop a bit, we may try to pick him back up again – he’s a little wild, but has more playing experience than most guys his age.

DE Irving Dupuis is a solid pickup for us – a veteran affinity DE who can stop the run a bit. 3rd year TE Erik Keading is a decent receiver with some blocking skills – might be an improvement for us in the 3rd TE spot, and a guy who could help us later on. Finally, DE George Finch was a guy we let walk away – but now I’m keeping an eye out for this pass-rush specialist who could help us a bit in a platoon.


We get through early free agency without any real hitches. We have to outbid Pittsburgh for LB Conrad Greenham, but it’s not a serious offer we’re up against. DT J.B. Hegamin signs with Philly – we can live without him, as he has been buried on our depth chart a while anyway, and DE Dupuis fills much the same need.



Welcome to the team, Jamal Bush! A huge breakout here, +30, and he suddenly looks like an impact player for us, right where we needed it most, at DE. Potentially a huge find for us right there.


We have bad news on the other side of the coin, though – WR Norm McNown has taken a sudden hit to his ratings (no injury, just age, I guess) and is suddenly not worth a damn – my scout now sees him as a 19/19 player. So, we’re going to need some of these young receivers sooner than I had imagined – I was hoping to replace McNown after a couple of years – now, he might be a pre-season cut. Bernie Gomez and Patrick Sims both look like they have promise – at least one of them is probably in line for serious playing time this season, like it or not.


After training camp, here is our roster of 63 players:


I had to double check, but indeed – QB Irving Warholic got a veteran “boom” this year, and now has even better ratings. I don’t know if that’s a response to his sudden playing time last season after being bench-bound for a while, but that does give us some more QB flexibility, especially if Blackburn is going to be injury-prone.

WR Norm McNown is a regrettable cut – whatever happened to him happened very quickly, and he’s no longer good enough to even take the field. I’ve seen age-related deterioration, but that is unusual – he does have 91 volatility, though, for those keeping track of such things. Jon Raymond will now be the clear class of our WR corps, and we will throw “a couple of guys: out there at the flanker and slot receiver positions, it seems. Two rookie receivers showed a bump prior to camp, but only Bernie Gomez also bumped up in training camp – so he probably gets the starting WR job right out of the box. I have to think this will harm our passing game, though it might mean better numbers for Raymond – perhaps we will finally have our first 1,000-yards receiver this year?

I’m very excited about DE Jamal Bush, who jumped 5 more points in camp and looks like a very solid starting-caliber player for us right away. I’ll probably use him across from Hartman when both are healthy, despite both being officially slotted for the right side.

We are pretty thin at the safety position – all of our talented CBs are pretty weak in run stopping, so there’s no easy way to slide someone over to play FS, for instance. I’ll probably go with Nathan and Becker as our two safety starters again this year, but neither is exactly a standout.

Season Preview

As I thought the 6-10 team was better than its record, I have to concede that the 13-3 team from last year was really not quite as good as its record, either. The truth lies somewhere in the middle, I suspect. Our roster rating has elevated into the league’s upper tier – we’re rated 9th overall, at 63, but tops in our division. Our cohesion is rising – now we’re up to 68-100(98)-90-62.

We lose our most talented overall receiver, and have remaining questions with the health of several key veterans. But our secondary is looking good, and we add a solid young player on the DL, which should help in our scheme. My guess is we’re roughly back where we were last year – probably a playoff team, probably not a threat to the ’72 Dolphins, though.

Incidentally, it’s pretty hard not to put Warholic into the starting job, but Blackburn was playing very well when he was hurt last year. Good to have depth, but if we sputter, we might have a QB controversy on our hands.

We’ll shoot for a division crown and a playoff win… and hopefully a couple more, too.

2026 season

We win our opener with a 4Q comeback, and another squeaker in the second week – the two road wins, though, are solid in the standings. We open the throttle and crush Buffalo (revenge) in week three, and seem to be on track.

We lose at home to Tennessee, but still look okay for the year, despite nagging injuries to NT Darren Griffin, our last remaining star who had been reliably on the field of late. With Warholic in for a dinged-up Blackburn, we lose to KC also, and become a bit worried about a slide. We lose another game to winless Denver, and I am genuinely worried – our defense is just not playing up to par at all.


Nothing awful here, but these are the stats of an average team – we are used to being substantially better than that on defense, at least. Griffin missing a lot of time is hurting our run defense, for certain, but we need to see more production everywhere.

We got 3-1 in the next few games, including a big won over 9-2 Baltimore, and looks to be getting our act together a bit. But Peter Hartman suffers his usual injury, and we drop two of our next three games without him. At 9-6, we have the division sewn up, and have no real shot at a bye week, so we’ll settle in as the likely #3-4 seed.


So, we righted the ship a bit, improving down the stretch with our run offense and pass defense, but I’m a bit worried that we failed to really nail down the Run D problem very well. My teams don’t often allow over 4 yards a carry, much less almost 4.4.

We did indeed post our first 1,000-yard receiver – and almost our second, just one yard short! TE Conley was the guy who lead the way, while Jon Raymond did dominate the WR corps and post a career year as well. Stargell, Hyatt, and Gomez spread things around on the other WR slots – Gomez might have a real future with us, I think. RB Schultz had a productive year again, getting close to the 4.5 mark (to me, a solid indicator of real effectiveness).

The OL played pretty well again this year, despite some injuries:


We let through a lot more sacks than usual, which probably helps to explain some of the problems we faced on offense. C Jim Straight played at left guard and left tackle, while everyone else basically played in position.

Defensively, I’m disappointed with the run-stopping ability, but hope that it’s injury-driven more than anything else. I don’t like to see our safeties both near the top of the tackle listings, really.

Good season from rookie DE Bush – 8.5 sacks and 20 hurries is nice. Staying healthy for 16 games even more so. We have high hopes – DE is a tough position to pull from the 7th round, to be sure.

CB Darryl Campbell might be a key player for us – I dropped him to the nickelback slot to start the year, and we had real trouble against the pass. He got back in as a starter later in the season, and we got better. He always posts good numbers of PD – over 20 again this year even in somewhat limited action – and he’s again over 20 in PDPct, despite having only 2 interceptions (as usual). He’s a solid shut-down corner, and probably has earned the right to keep starting as long as he wishes to. An 11th year player – I hope that’s at least for a few more seasons.


Postseason Summary

We’re without Peter Hartman, but generally healthy elsewhere. Ready for a win in the playoffs this year.

Wild Card Round: San Diego (10-6) at Jacksonville (10-6) – A wild, wild game – Don Coryell III’s all-pass Chargers get a late three-minute drive to take the lead at 1:30 left, but they leave us too much time, and we drive to set up the game-winning FG from Justin Oldham to win it, 36-34. Thriller!

Divisional Playoff: Jacksonville (11-6) at Kansas City (11-5) – We patch up okay against the Chiefs, and will try to pound it inside against their front four. Schultz bangs out 105 yards on the ground, and Blackburn goes to the air for 316 and 3 TD, and we get a solid 37-10 won on the road to advance.

Conference Championship: Jacksonville (12-6) at Pittsburgh (15-2) – The mighty Stillers are 7 point favorites at home, and look very balanced and tough (with, of course, a one-year bargain bin QB). It’s a low-scoring slugfest – we lead 10-6 at the half, but the Stillers put together a great drive in the fourth quarter, and come away with a nice 15-13 win to send them to the Superbowl.


A solid season for us, obviously – we are a solid team and a meaningful title contender, but not quite an elite team. We lost to the eventual champs, as Pittsburgh beat San Fran 12-7 in another closely-played game.


For the season, we are represented by first team all-pro TE Wayne Conley (finally) as our only selection for Hawai’i. No disappointment, but we just don’t get much respect even when our team plays well.

2026 offseason

I guess there is some suspense as to whether there will even BE a 2026 season for me. After all, we only had 9,000 people at our games in 2025. I confess I didn’t pay any attention to the attendance this year, but I hope someone came out to see this improving team.

Looks like we had 20-30K at every game – not very good, but better, I reckon. Maybe it’s time for the Jags to get relocated elsewhere, eh? If I stick around, I’ll put in for a huge new stadium, which sill be rejected, and we’ll look for greener pastures elsewhere. That might be fun.


So, I got fired. I wonder if I ought to stick with this team (override the firing) or go off to try something else….

Stick with the team and move them somewhere. This seems to be the most interesting of all the challenges you have tried recently.

This has been pretty chalenging, but I do confess to having that "empty" feeling that the team is more luck than skill. I got lucky with a horshot DE, and that's nice -- but it's not like I realy did anything terribly unusual to land him, I just picked the best looking guys like I do every season, and just got lucky. To me, that's less rewarding than when I make a conscious decision to sign/draft/trade for/retain a certain player, especially when it's tough to do so, and then things work out.

2026 offseason

I guess there is some suspense as to whether there will even BE a 2026 season for me. After all, we only had 9,000 people at our games in 2025. I confess I didn’t pay any attention to the attendance this year, but I hope someone came out to see this improving team.

Looks like we had 20-30K at every game – not very good, but better, I reckon. Maybe it’s time for the Jags to get relocated elsewhere, eh? If I stick around, I’ll put in for a huge new stadium, which sill be rejected, and we’ll look for greener pastures elsewhere. That might be fun.


So, I got fired. I wonder if I ought to stick with this team (override the firing) or go off to try something else….


I decide to stick around, and continue here in Jacksonville. I’m enjoying this team a bit now, and why not?

(I do go ahead and submit a plan to relocate the team, though)

One retirements – TE Ricky Foley. Foley had a couple big years for us, but was strictly a pass-catcher – we have a few guys to round out the position for us this year, I think.


Free agency – no big names up this year, really – just role players that I don’t expect to garner much attention on the market. I do my usual dealing away of draft picks, and clear our space under the cap – though we won’t be needing it, I suspect.

At this stage, I expect that pretty much any decent player out there as a free agent formerly drafted in round seven is either on my team or a guy we have passed over. Indeed, the top-rated free agent is S Rich Nathan, our own 11th year starter.

I do pursue 4th year DE Rickey Underwood, who has a little bit of skill as a pass rusher. He might be about the caliber of player that I had been hoping to see DE Steven Powell develop into – not a bad addition at a constant need area.

DE Jamal bush continues to explode, and is starting to look like not just a solid young player, but an emerging star level player. Great land for us, finally.


RG Graham Sellers, our reasonably productive long-time starter at RG, get an offer from Tampa Bay, so we overpay to keep him. Why not – he’s a stabilizing influence, and he can clear out some ground for our backs up the gut.

LB Lawrence Sellers is a long time starter for us, and we get in a bit to keep him away from Tampa as well. I wonder if they are making their offers by using the phone book?


Into the draft, with out usual assortment of picks:


Doesn’t look like we have any big breakouts, but we’ll watch the two rookie receivers for some potential. CB Blumer might make the team as a versatile player, and can help with our kick returning, a need area as well.


NT Darren Griffin is the latest player to suffer the effects of the grim reaper – our best player has been slashed overnight into a solid run stopper, with really no other skills. We’ll survive, but that’s a big loss for us. Last season he rated 86/86 overall – now, he’s posted at 56/56. Solid – but no longer our best player by any stretch.


Somehow, along the way, I just flat-out missed that S Rich Nathan was signed away – must have been a one-and-done FA offer that I just missed. Nathan isn’t a true star-caliber player or anything, but we are pretty thin at safety, and missing him actually puts us in a real bind. I’ll almost certainly have to play a CB in the FS role this year, and we’ll lose a lot in run support, I suspect. Both Ted Bratsch and Donnell McNeil have exactly zero rating in run defense, and neither is a “punishing hitter” either – so at safety, either one would basically just be an extra cover corner out there.


After training camp, we have 64 players on hand:

2026 Season Preview

No real changes in strategy – we’re in for another round of the same as last year, basically. We still are looking for a WR to step up and take the starting job alongside Jon Raymond, and expect to see the TE remain a big part of the air attack in any event. Defensively, our older players are eroding, but we expect pretty big things from young Jamal Bush as he is assuming the mantle of being our best defensive player.

I think we are a winning team – tough to say if we are a title contender. Might depend on injuries, as is so often true.

2026 Season

In preseason, we lost S Malcolm Becker, our only solid natural safety – so we are perilously thin at the position. We slot CB Ted Bratsch as a starter at strong safety, and have Conrad Schultz as our other starter – it’s the biggest weakness on this team, I think.

We win our first two games with late drives, and then blow out Buffalo to get our stats looking better. In week 5, we beat Cleveland in a big early matchup of unbeaten teams, and extend to 5-0 on the year. We reach the halfway point still unblemished – here is the capsule:


Well – we are showing an odd weakness in stopping the run, which is usually a strong suit of ours. But our offense is playing efficiently, and we are winning the turnover battle handily, both good signs. In points for and points against, we’re atop the league – not bad, that.

We reach 10-0, amidst a swelling list of injuries, but we can hardly complain about that. We finally fall at Kansas City, 23-20, and the perfect season slips away. But we finish 13-3 and in a comfortable place as the conference #1 seed, and a bye week -- which is all you can really ask for.


So, our stats for the year are basically where we were at the midpoint – strong everywhere except for run defense. Schultz had a solid season as our main duty RB, and Creamer was pretty effective as his backup – so our running game was very effective. We got a very good season from rookie WR Derek Conley, who only started about half the games but ended up with the top numbers of our receiving corps. TE Wayne Conley is hurt for the playoffs (like half the team) but had another very good season (playing in only 13 games).

Defensively, I’m guessing that the big dropoff from DT Griffin is the main culprit in our losing so much run defense – even though that’s the one skill he most retained. Regardless, seeing a star fall like that has to hurt. Bush and Hartman were both monsters from the DE slots, though – a function of picking up stuff that would have been shared with Griffin in years past, I’m guessing. 26 sacks and 97 hurries from two guys? Wow. CB Larry Myers had his best season yet, I think, and helped anchor a secondary wrought with injuries all year – 4th year CB Donnell McNeil might be done after his severe injuries this season.


Postseason Summary

Divisional Playoff – Kansas City (9-8) at Jacksonville (13-3) – We face our old nemeses again, and will try to patch together a roster full of questionable and probable players, plus a few scrap heap free agents. We’re 12-point favorites, but manage to just squeak this one out, 14-13. Blackburn goes down and Warholic leads us, but Bernard will return next week. DE Bush has 2 sacks and 8 hurries on the day.

Conference Championship – Cleveland (14-3) at Jacksonville (14-3) – By virtue of our head to head win earlier, we get this game at home, and the edge that provides. The matchup preview shows the Browns with an edge in nearly every category, but we are favored by 6 points at home. The Browns exact their revenge here, and beat us 27-14 in a rather close game – they just outplayed us on third downs and capitalized on their chances – and they move on.

Tampa Bay shellacs Cleveland in the Superbowl, 31-9.


TE Wayne Conley makes another first team appearance, and our two starting defensive ends Bush and Hartman are both there as well (a first for me, I think).


Good season – we certainly have arrived as a league power, now we need to break through and cash in one postseason. Injuries are a mounting concern, but overall we seem to be solid on the field.

Those are absurd stats from your DE's, especially the hurries. Are they just that good? It looks like you're still using very low blitz numbers, but I'm wondering if you had any ideas about how you're getting such great production from those two guys. And in a 3-4 no less.

There's a school of though (supported by what I see from this team) that adjusting the style of defensive aggression (blitzing a lot, or not) only serves to make modest overall changes in your pass rush's effectiveness. So, by not blitzing very much, as I am with this team, you still end up with a reasonably effective pass rush (realistic or not) but the stats get more consilidated among the defensive linemen. Especially now that my DT Griffin is a non-factor in the pass rush, I'm guessing that the two defensive ends, when healthy, just rack up crazy numbers as a result.

Both guys are good - Bush is getting *really* good* - but the stats are at least in part a weird outcome of a stilted gameplan, I expect.

That makes sense, or fits with my own experience at least. But it is a little frustrating when you peek behind the curtain a little bit and realize that some of the decisions you're making don't really affect game results all that much. FOF gets it better than any other sim out there, but what's fun about the game is making decisions, and I wish it felt like some of them mattered more. Congrats on Bush, that's a great breakout.

2027 offseason

So, on we go into a new year. The team has clearly established itself as a title contender, and now we’d like to cash in while some of our veteran players are still assets to the team.

The retirement list lessens that list of quality veterans, as DL Leon Poston has departed. He gave us six good seasons, mostly as a backup of platoon player at either DT or DE – a good, solid run stopper.


I forgot to watch my email last season, but it appears that my stadium improvement was somehow accepted, so we will remain in Jacksonville, I guess. At least I didn’t get fired this year, even though our attendance remained at league-low levels (though increasing to just over 30,000).


I don’t expect anything major in free agency – we have cap space to retain our own players, and I don’t expect any veteran free agents to look all that appealing.


Anyway – as expected, no real shake-ups in this offseason. On to the draft:


I’m immediately looking for help at DB, in hopes of landing someone who can play some safety for us long term. SS Harvey Conley is a good skills fit, but probably not a breakout type of guy.

Looks like the real find of this draft is another young receiver, Renaldo Vang. He had a notable combine number in there, and broke out pretty nicely – he now projects as a pretty serious threat to take a staring job for us, and definitely to contribute both on offense and special teams.

DE Jorge Cunningham is also a guy I think has a pretty high ceiling. We’ll try to work some playing time in for him, too.

I move C Dan Young to left tackle, where we really need the help. It’s not a great switch for him – but at 13/35, he will still be an asset there, I hope.


We work out a new deal for S Conrad Schultz, who was holding out after his solid season last year. He now projects as a long term starter for us, so I don’t mind paying him fairly.

After training camp – here’s our 64 player roster:



So, WR Renaldo Vang jumps directly into the mix at the WR position, and there are indications that he may have continued upside. I guess we have to get him involved, despite the promising performance from Derek Conley in his rookie season last year. Not a bad conundrum to face, understandably.

Season Preview

Well, we are pretty clearly a playoff team, and are showing signs of being a top contender. With some injury luck and a few good bounces, we ought to be a bye team and a solid title threat this year.


2027 Season

We get to 4-0, but have OL injuries that are very troubling, with two starters listed as out for our game against undefeated Miami. They nip us, 21-20, and we fall from the ranks of the unbeaten.

We are 6-2 at our halfway point, and beset by a lot of injuries. Here’s the snapshot halfway home:


Defense looks good, despite the personnel problems, but the offense is shaky and we are turning the ball over a bit much. We look solid, but not really dominant.

Down the second half, we have one inexplicable loss in Kansas City, but otherwise take care of business, and finish as a 13-3 team, tied for the best record in the conference – right where we’d want to be. However, by a fluke of tiebreakers, we are actually placed as the #3 seed, and have to play in the wild card round to advance.


32 touchdowns is a second big year for Blackburn – his previous season high was last year’s 31, but that seemed like an aberration at the time. He’s well into the 90s in passer rating both seasons, so it looks like this is indeed his new level of performance – pretty solid.

TE Wayne Conley missed eight games, or he might have posted another 1,000-yards season for us. He’ll be back for the playoffs, at least. The WR corps played pretty well – as our downfield passing game was the best we’ve seen – both of our top guys caught well over half the passes thrown his way.

On defense – 61 hurries for Jamal Bush is tops in the league – by 19. Is he just a super-dominant force in the pass rush? Or is he at least partially a product of benefiting by lack of competition – in the same way that a pretty solid MLB on a terrible defense can rack up huge tackle totals without necessarily being all that great a player? Probably the latter—though he is an outstanding talent, no denying that. But Peter Hartman missed 5 games completely (and was hurt in two more) making Bush the only serious pass rusher on the team for much of the season – and Hartman himself still managed to be the 3rd-highest hurrier in the league, despite being in for only 347 pass plays. The PRPct numbers for these guys are astronomical – Bush 15.5 and Hartman 12.9. I’ve never seen anything like it.

We get a solid effort from the rest of the defense, including our constantly-shuffled SILB and CB slots, due to injuries. All around, high marks for the defense -- #2 against the run, and #1 against the pass is awfully tough to improve upon.


Postseason Summary

Wild Card Round: Houston (9-7) at Jacksonville (13-3) – We are made a trifling 5 point favorite here at home – what gives? Well, the 21-16 final score mutes my objection, as we move on but not in impressive fashion.

Divisional Playoff: Jacksonville (14-3) at Miami (13-3) – In a thriller, we get our revenge on the Dolphins, after they come back in a classic fourth quarter track meet to tie the game and send it into OT on a 57-yard bomb – we then put together a workmanlike OT drive to get the game-winning FG and move on.

Conference Championship: Cleveland (13-5) at Jacksonville (15-3) – We’re lucky to get to play at home, and we get DE Peter Hartman back for this one too. After last week’s shootout, this one is more close to the vest – but we build up a 10-0 halftime lead, and it’s 16-0 before Cleveland scores in the late fourth quarter. A defensive virtuoso performance, and we secure a Superbowl berth at last.

Superbowl: Jacksonville (16-3) vs. Green Bay (15-3) – Might as well share the box score here:


In an apparent thriller, we reprise the script from the Miami game – Green Bay gets the big drive for 8 points to tie things in the final minutes, and send it into overtime. But we eventually get the game winner in the extra stanza, and come away winners – this time, as champions.


Great season, needless to say. They all are when you get the ring. But despite the odd #3 seeding, we basically got everything we needed – great efforts from our top players and a team that patched over its injuries very effectively all season. Cohesion is certainly on our side, but having pretty decent talent at nearly every position is a key as well, no doubt. And all from round seven of the draft.