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Manchester Maulers - FOF 2007
For some reason I have the desire to record my dynasty as I finally get going with a serious FOF 2007 career. We'll see how this goes.
The settings: I'm using fictional players and teams, evened out economics, going with a 200 injury setting and I'm going with an empty cupboard approach. Not because I'm looking for the extra challenge but because that is the easiest way for me to get into a new team, where it feels like all of the players are mine. The league is roughly based on the Super League multiplayer league, although I switched some cities and nicknames around to match my preferences. My team is the Manchester Maulers, I want a team that will play in the snow sometimes. Here is how the league looks: Code:
One of our division rivals, Providence, lost in the championship in the first season. The Maulers went 9-7 after a complete draft where I generally selected the oldest of the decent players. Our average age was 31.6, the next oldest was 27.1. So we'll have the 18th pick in our first draft. First things first, I want to bring in a new staff to start fresh. In general I plan on sticking with staff with no experience or not currently with a team. The new staff's ability to work with young talent will be paramount. Here is who I came up with, all signed for 3 years: Head Coach - Carlton Ramirez, 38, 2.02/yr Average Motivation Average Discipline Good Offensive Play Calling Poor Defensive Play Calling Very Good Injury Avoidance Not too impressive right now, but hoping he can grow into the role. Offensive Coordinator - Willie Burns, 46, 1.75/yr Average with Quarterbacks and Young Talent Good with everything else Not much too choose from here, he'll be gone once I get a decent QB. Defensive Coordinator - Mitchell Murray, 42, 1.75/yr Poor with Kickers Fair with Secondary Good with everything else Should work for now, kickers will probably be a revolving door for awhile anyway. Head Scout - Kelvin Wilcox, 66, 310K/yr Good with Young Talent, QBs and RBs Excellent with Defensive Linemen Fair with Offensive Linemen Average with everything else Very slim pickings here. Looks like my initial focus will be developing my defensive line. |
2007 Draft
This probably would have been a good season to have an early pick as the top two players on the draft board are quarterbacks with 8.7 and 8.5 adjusted ratings. The lower rated one, George Elam from the U of Maryland would be my pick, he's got size, speed and he's better developed. 6 quarterbacks in all appear on the first page. But with the first overall pick the Wilmington Wolves drafted a cornerback. Not sure that was a good choice as their quarterback last year threw 2 TDs and 18 Ints for the season. Picks 2-4 all were quarterbacks, with Elam going within the division to Hartford. 5 quarterbacks in all go before our pick. What I find when my pick comes around is not very impressive. The top player is a running back that I would ordinarily be interested in, nice speed and strength combo, but he does me no good currently. And my scout seems to think 3/4 of the draft is overrated. The only players I would even consider taking at this point are two who did not workout, a cornerback who is 8th on the overall board but frankly looks more like a second rounder and a defensive tackle who is 12th on the board, the 3rd DT and has a 98 volatility. A move down seems to make sense here, and Birmingham's pick at 24 looks like a target as they need a quarterback and could move up to get the one who is 4th overall on the board. Birmingham agrees to send their 3rd and 6th to us in order to swap first rounders. Well, Birmingham decided the quarterback was not the way to go and drafted the cornerback I had eyed instead. But at 24 the defensive tackle is still available, so I trust my scout and draft Jimmie Salomon as our very first pick. He's 6'3" 305# out of Virginia Tech and should be at least above average against the run and pass. I got a bit of a surprise when my second round pick came up. I had targeted 2 safeties and a center who had been down on the third page when I picked in the first round. Instead of all three being available, only one of the safeties was left so I decided to grab him. Here's how the complete draft ended up looking: 1.24 - LDT Jessie Salomon, Virginia Tech, 6'3" 305 - High volatility and no workout makes him a risk, but my scout thinks he can be an everydown threat in the middle. 2.18 - SS Quinn Goffee, California, 5'10" 203 - 7th safety on the board when picked, but great combines with a top broad jump and position drill score. Needs to develop a lot still, but my scout sees him as underrated, he can defend the run and pass and has great punt return skills. 3.18 - RDE Adam Rogers, Butler, 6'5", 305 - Some great looking pass rush skills and he can play the run, the main concern with him is a lack of endurance. Could be moved to defensive tackle. 3.28 - RT Earnest Ellard, East Carolina, 6'7", 326 - More potential as a run blocker than pass protector, decent combine, but I wasn't seeing many good options with this pick. 4.18 - NT Brent Bishop, Boise St., 6'3", 303 - Purely a run defender, looks like Rogers will stay at DE. Scout sees him as underrated. Sizewise my defensive linemen are looking like clones. 5.18 - WLB Ernest Myers, Kansas St., 6'1", 240 - Agile with decent speed although he could use more strength. 6.18 - TE Marco Arrowsmith, Fresno St., 6'1" 245 - No blocking ability to speak of, but good receiving skills, except for a tendency to drop balls. Among the faster and more agile tight ends, scout sees him as underrated. 6.25 - QB Kirk Dorash, Pittsburgh, 6'1", 214 - One of the fastest QBs in the draft, is far better at screen and deep passes than short to intermediate. Hopefully can develop into a future backup, but could easily be the starter this year. 7.18 - WR Nicky Piccolo, Indiana, 6'1", 211 - A pick entirely based on combine scores as he was the fastest and strongest wide receiver still available with 20 reps. Only 5% developed and his bars look like a third receiver. |
This has been going a bit slower than I expected, sick wife requiring attention.
I'll throw a shot up of the roster as it looks post training camp when I get home tonight. For general observations though, my first 3 picks, Salomon, Goffee and Rogers all held their ratings pretty well. Actually, Rogers has a 26 endurance rating, which is more than I expected. He could be quite a player. The rest of the draft though was pretty poor, Ellard and Myers are pretty much busts, Bishop is probably going to be beat out by one of my undrafted guys and my QB, Dorash, is rated as slightly worse than two of the undrafted QBs I picked up. Scout sees him as 10/47 I'm seriously questioning whether this team will score 100 points all year. |
Here's how the roster is looking:
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Not much to see here. I'll let the three better QBs battle it out to start. LT Winfred Clements actually looks like he has some potential, but he's very raw right now. I like DT Donald Burns better than Bishop, the guy I drafted, as a run stuffer. And CB Don Ballard looks like he could end up a nickleback. We'll see if we can win a game. I'm not optimistic about the changes though. |
I sent Kirk Dorash to the summer league to give him some playing time.
Having the 2nd pick in the upcoming draft, I am quite happy to see 3 quarterbacks occupying the top three spots on the draft list. The top quarterback and the one I would really prefer is Kenny Blackwell out of Albany St (local guy even) and he's nearly maxxed out in everything. The second quarterback, George Borcherding, actually looks good as well, with poor timing and average scrambling his only weaknesses. But he's only 5'10" while the number one guy is 6'5". I know it doesn't make a difference in the game, but I hate using quarterbacks under 6'. The third quarterback, Paul Pierce out of Boston College (retired from basketball?) is rated a bit below the others, only 7.0 adjusted as opposed to 7.9 for Borcherding and 8.3 for Blackwell. Boise has the number one pick, but they drafted a quarterback with the 4th overall pick last season. That guy looks about as good as Pierce, but quite a bit behind Blackwell's potential. I don't know if Boise will go for Blackwell or if someone else will trade up to get him, so I'll have to decide if I want to take the chance he'll fall or go get him. And if I don't move up and Blackwell goes first, do I really want Borcherding knowing his height will always bother me? And if not, who do I target in trading down? After those two the draft is fairly thin. A decision to sleep on I think. |
Here are the three quarterbacks sitting atop the draft
   I decided I'm not going to trade up to #1. The way I see it, one of three things can happen with the first pick:
The way I see it, I'd be giving up at least three very high draft picks to move up to get Blackwell. Yeah, all evidence we've seen in the game indicates getting that superstud quarterback would be worth it. Part of me is just plain curious to see what Boise does. Ideally if I trade down it will be to get a stud outside linebacker that is the 5th overall ranked player. |
Trust me... draft a QB. DOn't trade down past 1.3(Pierce>Borcherding). :p
I would def. trade up to get Blackwell. He is a lot better than the other QBs--well worth the lost picks. How much does it cost to move to #1? |
It would have only required my second round pick to move up. And yeah, knowing what I do about the game, I should have moved up to get him. But I didn't pull the trigger and Boise didn't trade out of the spot either. And they selected the linebacker I was looking at as a potential trade down target, Mario Routt. If they were not taking a quarterback, he was the pick here, really the only other elite player.
But I happily select Blackwell with the second pick and will hope he becomes Jordan while Routt becomes Bowie. Now I have another source of intrigue here. The top receiver in the draft is Blackwell's teammate from Albany St, Greg Binkow. His adjusted grade is only 5.9 so he might be there with my second round pick. Great combine scores (2nd fastest WR, strongest and 3rd best agility) but his ratings don't look like much and my scout sees him as overrated. Not sure if I'll make a move on him. There is also a safety and running back I really like. Borcherding went 4th and Pierce 5th. Quarterbacks also go 6th, 7th and 9th. Wow, 6 in the top 10. The running back and safety went 18th and 19th, oh well. Looking at the team needs, I pegged the 29th pick as where I needed to trade up to in order to get Binkow, just ahead of Raleigh, who needed a receiver. Well, Syracuse took him at 28. Oh well, he probably wasn't worth trading up anyway. I wanted to add some help for Blackwell in the second round, but there just wasn't anything worth taking at WR or OL. Instead, I went with my scout's strength and drafted DE Conrad Carpenter out of Appalachian St. Complete draft: 1. QB Kenny Blackwell, Albany St., 6'6" 243 - The new face of the franchise, he looks like a once a decade type QB. And he went to school nearby, which I always like. 2. LDE Conrad Carpenter, Appalachian St., 6'4" 267 - Fast bookend for RDE Adam Rogers, has excellent pass rush technique and can hold his own against the run. My defensive line should be pretty set now. 3. WLB Marshall Howard, Virginia Tech, 5'10" 226 - Undersized and a bit undeveloped linebacker (25%) who didn't workout, but my scout thinks he has first round ratings. Worth the risk here. 4. SE Phillip Clements, Houston, 5'9" 190 - Quite the smurf with minimal endurance and only average speed, but looks like a clutch 3rd down receiver who can run routes. 5. LG John Boyer, Miami FL, 6'4" 310 - Strength is pass protection, hopefully will be an adequate run blocker too. 6. RT Rufus Short, Appalachian St., 6'4" 309 - Our second Mountaineer, a bit less developed and weaker than we'd prefer, but has potential against the run and pass. 7. RB Victor Chelius, Illinois, 6'0" 229 - Scout sees him as very overrated, but has some of the best combine scores of running backs left, a bit of speed and is an excellent kick returner. Pretty happy with how the draft went. I think I'll need to find a new scout next year to emphasize the offense and help Blackwell. |
After signing some players to get the roster up to 60, we entered training camp with our top two pick still unsigned. I caved after training camp, giving them the short, rich deals they want so I could see how everyone is looking.
Pretty quiet draft this year, which is good. No big gainers or losers and most importantly, Blackwell looks just fine.  Not quite maxxed out, but should be good enough to be a dominant quarterback. That exceptional affinity with Podvebsek probably ensures his spot as a backup fullback for quite awhile. The rest of the roster: Code:
Blackwell should make the offense better, but he doesn't have anyone to throw to. The defense is in much better shape at least in the front 7. 3-4 wins seems likely. |
You need to triple affinity that bad boy--99 personality. :p
Tell me if I'm annoying you with my backseat GMing. :p Maybe I should do another Mule Creek season. Do you have a QB Mentor? |
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No, I'm going strictly empty cupboard here, so I won't be seeing any mentors for awhile. I'm in pretty good shape for affinities right now, there are currently no conflicts on the team. Definitely going to keep an eye out for a couple more leaders that Blackwell will like, but I'm not one to go hunting by birthdate to find the affinities either. Not minding the comments at all, it's always good to get more perspective from other sources. |
Not doing too badly at midseason all things considered:
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Front Office Football 2007Our biggest weakness has been the passing game where Blackwell is doing better with his legs than his arm. The lack of receivers has not helped though. Blackwell has also suffered a 3 minor injuries. Nothing that has caused him to miss time, but hopefully this won't become a trend. The offensive line is really doing a fantastic job. 4 out of 5 starters are over 40% run blocking, 2 of those being the rookies I drafted. They're really outperforming their ratings. 2nd year RB Shaw, 7th round pick Chelius and Blackwell are forming a bit of a three headed monster. The defense is also exceeding expectations, currently number 1 if you go by yards allowed. It's probably not surprising the defense is ahead of the offense though considering how much emphasis I've put there in the draft. |
Hmm, just realized I never adjusted my playing time after the preseason, so everyone was at 50%. Well, it worked, maybe I shouldn't change. *shrug*
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Well, those three wins were nice in the first half, but the second half saw 8 losses. Blackwell was really bad, hopefully better receivers will help that. He can't blame the offensive line, the only starter who really struggled there was my LT, Clements. No one else gave up more than 4 sacks and they did well with the run blocking too.
The defense also slipped in the second half. But SLB Marshall Howard is looking like a third round steal. My playing time slip probably cost him a shot at the DROY. Code:
Front Office Football 2007We ended up tied with Oklahoma City for the worst record, but they'll get the first pick on strength of schedule. We'll be hoping for a stud LT, WR or CB with that second pick. |
Typical uneventful offseason with no retirement, no staff changes and no free agents. Next year my staff's contracts will run out and I'l reevaluate them.
RT Rufus Short was sent to the Summer League. He did well last year, hopefully he can put a permanent grip on the position. The draft is looking pretty cut and dry this year. With the second pick, there are two guys at the top, both I could use. The top player is DE Buddy Tibbetts out of Penn St. Quite the monster sizewise (6'6" 307) with a 4.68 dash. Should be over 80 in all ratings. Not really a need, but I'd take him. But hopefully Oklahoma City selects Tibbetts so I get LT Randall Roberge. Maxxed out run blocker with other skills just lower. He'd fill out my offensive line nicely. Not much to speak of for receivers unfortunately with no one I would want to take in the first round. Actually the best receiver is a tight end who may be worth trading into the bottom of the first to get. Oklahoma ended up selecting...a defensive tackle who was fourth overall on the board. I'd say that was an AI oversight. OK needed a defensive tackle, but Tibbetts could have been switched just fine. Well, Roberge was first on my board and that's still who I took with the second pick. Baton Rouge took Tibbetts third. How the draft went: 1. LT Randall Roberge, North Carolina AT&T, 6'5" 316 - Should be keeping Blackwell's blindside safe for a long time. 2. FL Phil Burnett, Northwestern, 6'0" 194 - My top ranked receiver in the draft, I was quite happy to see him available with the first pick in the second. Can make plays after the catch with his 4.46 speed and isn't afraid to go over the middle. Sure hands as well, he should be our top receiver. 3. WLB Roosevelt Perrigo, Stephen F. Austin, 6'5" 244 - May have overreached here, but I wasn't thrilled with anyone at this spot and linebacker was a need. Will hopefully be good against the run if nothing else. 4. C Ty Hergett, New Hampshire, 6'3" 297 - Very undeveloped, but a good skill set. He won't have to start right away as I'm happy with my current center, but will like be sent to the summer league. Couldn't resist a good instate player. 5. SE Kris Richard, Arizona, 5'10 181 - Had considered him in the third round, I was very happy to get him here. Scout sees him as very underrated, looks like a lesser version of Burnett. 6. LCB Alonzo Randal, Illinois, 5'11" 197 - I need some depth in the secondary, he's pretty slow for a corner and is better against the run than the pass. Excellent kick and punt returner, maybe will get switched to safety. 7. RCB Julio Rust, Western Michigan, 6'0" 202 - More depth, hopefully he'll exceed expectations since he has good combine scores. Well, hopefully the talent drafted on offense will help Blackwell, we'll see how it looks after training camp. |
Post training camp, this is a good time to evaluate how the roster stands. We have the two top players on the green page currently in Blackwell and Roberge :)
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Front Office Football 2007More help on offense and more experience on defense makes me think we can bump our record up to 5-6 wins this year. |
Not a pretty picture at midseason, sitting at 2-6. The defense has taken a big step back and the offense really hasn't made any progress. The lack of receivers is still an issue. 2nd round pick Burnett missed the first four games with a wrist injury and hasn't provided a spark yet. Roberge has been playing well, leading the team in key run blocks while giving up 5 sacks so far.
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Front Office Football 2007 |
The second half didn't get any better and we are going to have the number one pick next season after our 3rd consectutive 3-13 season.
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Front Office Football 2007Well, let's look at the bright spots. Blackwell cut down on his interceptions, although he was still the lowest rated quarterback in the league. The running game did well as Shaw, Chelius and Blackwell all ran at over 4.5 yards per carry. The offensive line looked good, led by the rookie Roberge with 25 of 69 run blocks. I badly need a receiver to step up here to help Blackwell. The defense regressed. We suffered one serious injury blow as DE Carpenter went down with a degenerative hip condition, likely ending his career (Out 113 weeks). My defensive tackles racked up tackles, but the team still gave up a ton of rushing yards. Not much of a pass rush to speak of either. I think the secondary and middle linebacker are the two major weaknesses on defense. I really don't have a legitimate starter in the secondary yet. My third round picks the last two seasons, Howard and Perrigo, are at least showing promise at the outside linebacker spots. Howard is probably my best playmaker right now. Next season will be time to reevaluate my staff and I'm really hoping for a stud WR with that first pick. |
Conrad Carpenter did indeed retire, ending his career after two seasons. That hurts, I figured he could be a starter for quite awhile.
Time for a staff housecleaning. Here is the new regime. Head Coach Floyd Qualls, Age 35, the youngest head coach in the league. Good ratings at everything except defensive play calling, where he's average. But that's still an upgrade. Offensive Coordinator Lance Ellingsen, Age 35, the youngest offensive coordinator in the league. I'm excited about Ellingsen, he could really help implement a power running game as he is very good with running backs and the offensive line. He's good with quarterbacks, receivers, and young talent. Average with kickers but who cares. Hopefully he can work with Blackwell better than the last guy. Also a head coach candidate, just slightly worse than Qualls. Defensive Coordinator Marlon Nixon, Age 45 Good with young talent, linebackers and secondary, average with the defensive line. Not as good as the other two, but there wasn't much to choose from. Head Scout Preston Richardson, Age 34 Good ratings everywhere except for Fair at quarterback and running back and Very Good at defensive line. Should be a significant upgrade. C Ty Hergett was sent to the Summer League. I have a bit of a logjam at center that I'm not sure how to handle yet. I went into last year with Harris Bennett as my starter as he had been doing well. Not quite as impressive last year though and he was replaced at midseason by my long snapper, Van Jamison. Mostly because Jamison was disgruntled and I wanted to keep him happy. Well, he actually played very well, run blocking at about 40% and doing decent in pass blocking. Most likely Bennett will be dropped this year as he's my offensive line leader with no personality to speak of. But I really want to see if he might breakout as his play has far exceeded his ratings. |
Drafts like this make using the number one pick a no brainer.
1. RDE Shawn Choate, Duke, 6'2" 255 - The consensus number one player with completely maxxed out ratings. 4.62 speed, 6.96 agility, 41 bench press, 10 ft broad jump. Should be a wrecking ball. 2. FL Stephen Schwartz, New Hampshire, 5'10" 186 - A very easy second pick as well. Local college star with super combines, most notably 25 bench press reps. A major deep threat who will go over the middle on third down. Great return man as well. Main weakness is running after the catch, but I can live with that. 3. RCB Rondell Talley, Stanford, 5'11" 195 - Purely a cover corner with excellent man to man skills and a knack for picks. 4. FS Tracy DeVine, Georgia, 6'1" 211 - Might be moved to strong safety, good against the run and in man defense, although his hands are not much. 5. RDT Vincent Simmons, Wake Forest 6'4" 318 - Depth, an excellent run defender and may get a chance to do some pass rushing. 6. QB Ty Bergen, Louisiana St, 6'0" 204 - Haven't had anyone step up as my backup yet, so Bergen will get a chance. No ability on screen passes, not too great sensing the rush, but the other ratings look pretty good. Likely Summer League candidate. 7. TE Dan Corbett, Northeastern, 6'4" 266 - Receiving skills look better than anyone I have here, if nothing else he can long snap. I can't wait to see what Choate can do. DE wasn't a priority, but you don't get a shot at a monster like this too often. Hopefully the two second round picks I've used on receivers will start paying dividends this year. If not, my worries may start shifting to Blackwell. |
Now that's a number one draft pick
 Good time to post a pic of how Blackwell is looking now as well.  Not quite the stud I envisioned when I drafted him, but he still has the 5th most potential of any quarterback, although he's now trailing fellow draftee Pierce, who is unhappy on the bench in Memphis behind the very top potential quarterback in the league, Benjamin Heap. George Elam, a guy I loved in the first draft, is also rated higher for division rival Hartford. Letting last year's starting center, Harris Bennett, go freed up the offensive line leadership for LG Myron Hutchins, adding another affinity for Blackwell. |
The future is looking bright, our roster is no longer last in the league. Hopefully Blackwell can take another step. I'm going to take a closer look at Chelius at running back during the preseason. I like Shaw, but his lack of endurance makes me think he's good for 200 carries tops and he really catches the ball too much for too little yardage. Chelius looks like he'll be able to do more when he catches it. Schwartz and Burnett will be my starting receivers, ready or not. The offensive line is looking solid although I'm not sure if Hergett or Jamison will be starting at center.
On defense, I'm expecting super stud rookie Choate to help against the run and pass. I think the run defense will be much better with Choate and Hickman, a free agent castoff I picked up last year, as the starters and Rogers is moving to a pass rush specialist role. My young linebackers should be better, although there is still a big hole in the middle. Chelios will get the chance to start there, if nothing else maybe he can knock some balls loose. That's and endurance are his only ratings over 35. Talley instantly becomes my best cover corner, and I'm moving Goffee over to free safety this year as he's pretty useless against the run. Still not much talent in the secondary though. I also brought in a new kicker, rookie Vincent Bullock from Auburn. Not as strong a leg as Sanderson had, but hopefully more accurate, at least eventually. How the roster is shaping up: Code:
Front Office Football 2007I'm hoping for 6-10, maybe 7-9. |
Looks like you need to add a corner or two and a middle linebacker in the off season.
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Yeah, definitely hurting back there. Hopefully Talley will be good enough to be a second corner, but otherwise I have nothing for cornerbacks and maybe less at middle linebacker. |
Well, we finally broke past the 4 win mark, at midseason no less.
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Front Office Football 2007We're making some progress at least. How the game goes is dictated by how the defense plays. In the 4 wins, we've given up 7, 7, 10 and 21 points and in each loss we've allowed at least 27 points. Rookie Choate is having a big impact with 8.5 sacks already. The secondary is also playing slightly better. Same story on the offense as the last couple years. We can run the ball, but Blackwell can't break past 5 yards per attempt. I'm officially concerned about him now. My receivers are just not that bad. But he has had a few good games at least. We're fighting for a playoff spot, that's as good as I could have hoped for at this stage. Providence is in control of the division at 7-1, we're tied with Hartford for second at 4-4, trailing the wild card by one game. |
WOw, kinda surprising you're 4-4 with that awful passing offense(32nd y/a) and passing defense(28th y/a).
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Playoffs? PLAYOFFS?
Yeah, that 4-4 record was a bit of an abberation. Code:
Front Office Football 2007Ok, first the bright spots. We had our first three appearances in the postseason awards this year. 1st All Pro Offensive Tackle Randall Roberge - 34 of 86 RBs, 11 PKs, 7 SkA 2nd All Pro Defensive Tackle Jimmie Salomon - 62 Tackles, 8 Sacks 2nd All Pro Defensive End Shawn Choate - 40 Tackles, 13 Sacks (No DRoY though, a 5th round linebacker had 69 tackles, 9.5 sacks, 3 interceptions) The running game worked well too, 1st in yards per carry. Shaw ended up carrying the load as Chelius suffered a concussion in preseason, allowing Shaw to win and hold the job. But Blackwell made no progress. Honestly, his receivers are not bad enough to explain 4.52 yards per attempt. I'll have the second pick in the draft once again next year, so I could use that on a receiver, but I would much rather put that pick to use on defense. Speaking of defense, I had a couple excellent performances there, but overall the defense was just bad, particularly in the second half. Of course, the lack of offensive production is not helping matters. I don't think this unit is far from being respectable, if I can add a decent middle linebacker and cornerback, that should be enough. Free agency begins next year, so the offseason should get more interesting now. I don't intend to be a big player in free agency, preferring to build more through the draft. But the salaries on the team will start going up and all of these high picks I'm accumulating could make the salary cap tricky eventually. |
That's more like it, lol.
What are Blackwell's career stats? |
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Passing Pos Att Comp Yards Y/Att TD Int Rate I'm not sure any progress was made this season. Considering his receivers got better just from more experience if nothing else, I was expecting to see some improvement. One thing that I think is hurting Blackwell is a lack of Getting Downfield ability from his receiving targets. RB Seth Shaw in particular is hurting the cause here. Shaw has a fairly high route running skill, but a 1 for getting downfield, thus the fat 3.88 yards per catch this season. Shaw is a free agent this year, and as much as I like his running skills, I'll probably let him go to force Blackwell to look elsewhere. And we finally have a receiver worthy of the 2nd pick in the draft available this season. Two actually. Most likely I can trade down a bit and still grab one of them. Considering I've spent 2nd round picks each of the last two years on receivers, I hate to spend a first round pick now, but one of those second rounders, Burnett, looks like he might be the type where instead of the red growing to meet the green, the green is going to shrink to meet the red. |
2011 Offseason
No staff changes this year. QB Ty Bergen was sent to the summer league, hopefully he can step up to be the backup this year. I have some free agency work this year. Last year I forgot to renegotiate contracts with the unrestricted free agents I have this year. Not a big deal, there's no one too vital and I have plenty of cap room to bring back who I want. I can also bring in some free agents finally, although my pursuit will mostly be limited to role players. A starter at fullback and another kicker are strong possibilities. First my own free agent renegotiations. I have two important players who are free agents after this year, DT Jimmie Salomon and LB Marshall Howard. Salomon wants a 5 year deal for 21.88 million. Done. Howard surprisingly wants a bigger deal, 4 years, 27.86 million. That one makes me hesitate more, but I can afford it and it will end before it becomes a potential problem, so I agree. FB Podbevsek, WR Prieto, C Jamison, G Hofmann, DE Harvey, DT Burns, OLB Monroe, OLB Myers and S Goffee, are all offered one year deals while DE Rogers is looking for a 3 year deal, which seems reasonable for a pass rush specialist. Some of the people I'm letting leave include RB Shaw, FB Burroughs, TE Arrowsmith, T Ellard, DE Hickman, DT Bishop, MLB Hall and CB Pritchett will be allowed to look for other jobs. Not sure what I'll do yet with P Harding. Not a whole lot out there for 5 yr free agents. I found mentors at quarterback and wide receiver, but both would have caused affinity issues. But I am trying to bring in fullback Tony Moss, a promising looking blocker who could be a special teams ace, punter Casey Bishop, who averaged 45.1 yards per punt for division rival Wilmington, and cornerback Carl Zitnik, who gives me a needed veteran if nothing else. I managed to sign all of my targets except the punter, who resigned with Wilmington. So I decided to resign mine as well for this season. Entering the draft, I have my eye on the top two receivers in the draft. Jeff Koopman is the 5th overall ranked player, with blazing 4.33 speed, 6.78 agility and 23 reps. All of his receiving skills are rated highly, with getting downfield and big play his lowest ratings, but still above average. He also has low endurance and my scout thinks he is very overrated. Roderick Bingham is the 17 ranked player with slightly lower combine scores than Koopman, but my scout believes he is underrated. He will drop an occasional ball, but has outstanding endurance and, more important for us, maxxed out getting downfield ability. I think he's our man. But I don't need to use the second pick to get him. Anaheim has the 7th pick and needs a defensive end, which happens to be the top player in the draft after San Jose takes a quarterback with the first pick. So I offer Anaheim the 2nd pick in exchange for the 7th and a first rounder next year and they accept. So I wait and....Koopman goes third, Bingham goes 6th. Oops. Well, time for some best player available. 1.7 RB Deion Ackerman, Indiana, 6'0" 238 - A huge running back with 4.35 speed. No elusiveness, he'll just run you over. An average receiver, but excellent in blitz pickup. Scout thinks he is very overrated. I think he could be fun behind my line. My other options were offensive or defensive tackle. Bleh. 2.2 TE David Borders, Arkansas Pine Bluff, 6'4" 265 - Another target for Blackwell, Borders should be a great blocker and he can gain some yardage after the catch too. Very underrated according to my scout, and 0 intelligence. 2.15 SLB Gino Lomelino, Dartmouth, 6'4" 250 - An instate Ivy Leaguer that I'm planning to move to middle linebacker. Pretty average skills all the way down except for a maxxed out play diagnosis. I wanted to make sure I got Lomelino, so once he was the top ranked outside linebacker left, I traded this year's and next year's 3rd round picks to move up to the 15th pick in round 2. 4.2 LDE Ernie McDaniel, Michigan St., 6'4" 284 - Nice looking pass rusher who lacks endurance to play every down. Looks very similar to Rogers when I drafted him. 5.2 WLB Moe Barlow, Oklahoma St., 6'0" 227 - Undersized and underrated backer, good pass coverage and pass rush technique. Maybe could switch to safety. 6.2 LT Sammie Harvey, Wisconsin, 6'5" 326 - A project, but he has good combine scores and could make a good backup. 7.2 LCB Jonathan Graham, Southern Methodist, 5'10 178 - Small, but a hard hitter with some coverage skills. Well, I'm really not happy that I missed out on the top wide receivers, but I filled some other holes at least. With the addition of Ackerman, I may not need to pass the ball. |
After signing some rookies to fill out the rest of the lineup, we moved into training camp. Here's how the roster looks after camp.
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Front Office Football 2007I'm not sure what to make of our new running back, Ackerman. His overall rating isn't too high, but he still looks to me like he should be an excellent runner. There are actually 5 other running backs who were taken in the first round that are currently rated over him. We'll see how the season plays out. Second round pick TE Borders will start immediately. His route running isn't as high as I'd like, but everything else looks good there. And the second 2nd rounder Lomelino made the switch beautifully to middle linebacker. DE McDaniel and WLB Barlow have good potential too. Our roster strength is now up to 69, still in the lower third though. Blackwell is still lacking for consistent receiving targets and the secondary is a bit week, but I'm going to be disappointed if I don't see serious improvement. |
Midseason 2011
First, we made one trade before the season began, sending C Ty Hergett to Wilmington in return for a 4th round draft pick. Mainly did this because Hergett had taken over the offensive line leadership from Myron Hutchins, costing me an affinity with Blackwell. And Jamison has done well enough as a starter. Code:
Front Office Football 2007An interesting season, although the record is showing no change at 2-6. This has been our worst season as far as injuries go, with two starters on defense, OLB Perriog and CB Talley out for the season. Choate has also missed a few games and Blackwell even sat out a game. Ironically, that was the first game we won, with Bergen doing a decent job in his place. We are finally seeing some improvement in Blackwell, including his first 300 yard game. Unfortunately the running game has slipped a bit to compensate for our improved passing game. The result has been a sporadic offense. The defense has remained pretty bad, with a few exceptions. We're still giving up too many rushing yards although I'm not entirely sure why. May be the lack of run defenders in the secondary. I actually think we're better than our record indicates this time around and still expect this team to win 5 or 6 games. |
Damn I'm spinning my wheels here. 4-12 again this season, with the same lack of a passing game and inability to stop the passing game killing my team.
Blackwell made some progress this season, throwing more touchdowns than interceptions and getting his average per attempt over 5, but I expect a lot more from a 4th year quarterback. Blackwell also missed three starts due to injury. He only has a year left on his contract, so I could have a tough decision to make on him. Our rookie running back Ackerman was decent, but really not any better than the guys he replaced. And my receivers are still non-descript, with the leader barely breaking 600 yards. I have some stars on defense at least, but they can't elevate the crap that I also have, especially in the secondary. The good news is we are going into next season with the 5th and 8th picks in the first round, so we should be able to add some help. A receiver and defensive back would probably be ideal. Code:
Front Office Football 2007 |
Here's how our roster is looking going into free agency.
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Front Office Football 2007I'm not seeing much help available in the upcoming draft at wide receiver, but there are several excellent defensive backs available, so I think both of those first round picks will be used on the secondary. |
2012 Free Agency and Draft
We ended up adding only one significant free agent, WR Corey Shenkarow, a former first round pick from Harrisburg. He has had over 800 yards receiving each of the past two seasons and has a 97 rating for route running. But a 0 for 3rd downs. He'll start opposite of Schwartz. QB Junior Sigler was the top choice in the draft, going to a Louisville team that seems to be playing empty cupboard at the moment. One of the safeties I was eyeing went 2nd, followed by an offensive tackle and quarterback, leaving me in great shape with the 5th and 8th picks. No receivers worth drafting unfortunately, but here's what we ended up with. 1.5 RCB Gino O'Neill, Valparaiso, 6'2" 205 - I got the player I would have taken number one. Tall, fast (4.32), should be an elite ballhawk who can help against the run as well. 1.8 RDT Bryan Ascensao, Illinois, 5'11" 301 - I seriously considered another cornerback who was available here, but decided to go with a fire hydrant instead. Should be a great compliment to Saloman, hopefully even better. 98 volatility is a bit of a concern though. 2.4 SS Ricky Jennings, Fresno St., 5'11 197 - Another defensive back I was interested in before the draft, he gives me the big hitter I need from the secondary and should be able to help in pass coverage as well. 4.6 P Rick Kaiser, Oklahoma, 6'2" 211 - Should be a great punter without any weaknesses, I like drafting punters early to keep around for 15 years. 4.11 LCB Robert Compton, North Carolina St., 5'10 185 - Much better against the run than the pass, may look at moving him to free safety. 5.5 QB Robert Huerta, Fresno St., 6'2" 213 - Jennings' teammate, I targeted him before the draft and finally pulled the trigger in the 5th round. Much better throwing a deep ball than shorter routes, his other skills are decent except for sensing the rush and scrambling. Smart with a high position score, I'm going to play him in every preseason game and send him to the summer league to see how he develops. 6.4 SLB Jack Lewis, Northwestern, 6'4" 245 - No workout, mixed bag on ratings, should be a decent backup. 7.3 LCB Lamont Ferguson, Northern Illinois, 6'2 200 - Nice combine scores and could be an excellent punt returner. Here's the roster coming out of training camp: Code:
Front Office Football 2007The top three picks held out of training camp, but after getting them signed, they're looking fine. I'm a bit disappointed in how the punter turned out, but he should still be a decent one. The identity of the team is definitely being built on the defensive side of the ball. We should make some major strides there. Hopefully Blackwell can continue his improvement now that I've added a decent receiver to the mix. If he doesn't, I may very well be looking at other quarterback options next year as Blackwell wanted 9 million a season to renegotiate his contract before free agency. I'm not giving that for the 72.1 rating he posted last season. 6-10 will be my official prediction going into the season. Baby steps. |
2012 Midseason
So this is what an offense looks like :) Code:
Front Office Football 2007Blackwell has finally stepped and started living up to his potential it seems. Shenkarow seems to have helped as he's on pace for our first 1,000 yard season. Huerta has also been showing potential as the backup. He had a good preseason and came in the last game to the lead the team to victory over previously unbeaten Hartford. Ackerman has improved as well with 3 100 yard games so far. On defense, the rookies Ascencao and O'Neill have been outstanding. The one negative so far has been a torn rotator cuff for 2nd round pick Ricky Jennings, keeping him out for the year. We have a legitimate shot at the playoffs I think, but we're only 3rd in our division currently. |
Unfortunately, we slid a little bit in the second half, ending with an 8-8 record and out of the playoffs. But I can't complain too much about our performance. 6 of our last 7 opponents were playoff teams and 5 of our last 6 games were on the road. We also suffered through quite a rash of injuries, especially in the secondary and on the offensive line.
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Front Office Football 2007Blackwell took another step up at quarterback, breaking 3,000 yards for the first time and posting a respectable 83.6 rating. Just in time for a new contract. I really liked what I saw from rookie Robert Huerta though. I'm almost thinking I may franchise Blackwell and make him prove it before giving him a big contract. We'll see how much he demands. Ackerman had a good first half of the season, but seemed to fade down the stretch. Maybe due to injuries on the offensive line. Shenkarow did an excellent job providing a go to man in the passing game. It would be nice to get a more reliable second option though. TE Borders is looking like a disappointment with only 122 yards receiving. He's an excellent blocker, but not worth the second round pick I used on him. I ended the season with three offensive tackles on the IR. Roberge had another good season with 41.9% run blocking and only 3 sacks allowed, but he missed 5 starts. Right tackle needs to be addressed, although Marcus Csonka was respectable there when pressed into duty. Hutchins had a great year at left guard, 39.4% run blocking and only 4 sacks allowed. He's also a mentor now and a popular leader on the offensive line. Not bad for an undrafted guy. Jimmy Farrell took over at center halfway through the year and did well. He's not a longterm solution there though, as he'll likely take over the leadership on the offensive line if he sticks around much longer. My kickers did well, particularly placekicker Vincent Bullock. He hit 29 of 32 field goals, with all of his misses outside 40 yards. I love that. Punter Rick Kaiser was middle of the road, but I'll take that from a rookie. The defensive line did a good job. Rookie Ascencao was excellent with 49 tackles and 6.5 sacks. Saloman disappeared next to him though. Choate was very productive when healthy, but he's missed a decent amount of time to injuries the last two seasons. Rogers had an excellent year as a pass rush specialist. Howard and Lomelino are both solid at linebacker and Barlow didn't embarrass himself as a starter. I should be keeping this group intact for awhile. O'Neill really elevated the secondary, usually going one on one with the other team's top receiver. Seubert is the second corner for now, but he's better off as the nickel. It doesn't look like Talley is going to be able to stay healthy enough to do much as he's only started 7 games in 2 seasons. The safeties are still unsettled, hopefully Jennings can rebound from his injury. We should be able to contend for a playoff spot next year. I'm not sure if we can catch Hartford in the division though, they have a star quarterback and running back leading them. They also have salary cap issues, it will be interesting to see how they handle it. Oh yeah, we were shut out of the rewards this season. Can't complain much about it, except maybe for kicker and defensive rookie. |
2013 Predraft
We have our first retirement as DT Donald Burns hangs it up after only 6 seasons. I guess he didn't like getting relegated to backup duty. That's a shame, he would have been a good backup. My entire coaching staff is up for new contracts. With the growth shown by the team, I offer them all new 3 year deals that they accept. Going into free agency, I sent QB Huerta to the Summer League and decided to franchise Blackwell. To be honest, he's not my favorite player at this point, but I think I have to stick with him. We enter free agency and check Blackwell's demands to renegotiate his deal. 4 years, 60 million. Ouch. I'll have to think about that. We extension we do sign though is for LT Roberge, 5 years, 92 million. He's a rock that I want to keep on the line. Looking at our needs to potentially be addressed in the offseason, right tackle and wide receiver seem to be the biggest areas of concern on offense. On defense, I could really use a second starter behind O'Neill at corner. With the 15th pick in the draft, tackle looks like our likely first round pick based on the draft preview. There are 6 tackles on the first page, and I'd be happy with 5 of them. There is also a guard I could draft and look at moving to tackle. After that I'll probably be going bpa as there isn't much helpful looking at receiver or corner. |
2013 Free Agency and Draft
I decided to jump a little stronger into free agency this season, trying to fill some of our holes with cheap veterans. We brought in four new players. QB Adam Francois - A former 5th round pick for Syracuse, he only has 8 passes in his career, but he's a mentor, so hopefully he can help Huerta. WR Jorge Lemieux - He's been a backup for Memphis, with 2,147 yards in 4 seasons. Can make plays after the catch, something this team sorely lacks. C Chester Hicks - A third round pick for San Antonio, he had a nice season the only year he started with 37.4% run blocks and only 4 sacks allowed, but played as a backup last year for Harrisburg. I need insurance in case my other center, Jimmy Farrell, takes over the offensive line leadership, forcing me to cut him. CB Erik Jarvis - 7th year player who has been bouncing around, he defensed at least 10 passes each of the past two seasons. Going into the draft, there were 3 top tier offensive tackles and then two on the next tier that I would still consider using a first round pick on. Luckily I got the third of the top three. 1. RT Kendall McGeorge, Northwestern, 6'8" 344 - Quite the mountain, but agile his forte is pass blocking. Should make a good bookend for Roberge. 2. FL Jason Holdman, Michigan St., 5'7" 185 - Small and not overly fast, but can hopefully get open and make some plays. Can return kicks too. Hopefully can replace Shenkarow or play opposite him eventually. 3. CB Adrian Reilly, South Carolina, 6'0" 211 - Put up decent combine numbers and looks like he can cover, just don't expect many interceptions from him. 4. C Alfred Molina, Oregon St., 6'3" 300 - Doctor Octopus. Didn't workout, but pretty well developed already with an emphasis on pass blocking. 5. RB Sherman Bell, Temple, 5'10" 215 - Powerful runner, good position score, worth taking a flyer on as a backup. 6. OLB Terrance Armstrong, Texas, 6'3" 258 - Big linebacker with skills against the run and pass blocking. Decent combine as well. Could be moved to defensive end. 7. DE Deion Battle, Iona, 6'4" 282 - Only real standout rating is play diagnosis, but the best combines of any defensive end available at that point. Here's how the the roster is looking after training camp: Code:
Front Office Football 2007We've managed to achieve triple affinity with Blackwell as Stephen Schwartz became the leader of my receiving core, providing an exceptional affinity there. The roster is looking good, up to 92 now, second only behind Memphis. 2nd place in the division and a wildcard berth seems like a likely goal. Providence is still going to be tough with one of the best offenses in the league, but Wilmington will be breaking in a 1st round quarterback and Hartford just had to gut much of their roster in a salary purge. |
2013 Season
It looks like we finally have all the pieces in place for a serious contender. The team rolled out to a 9-0 start behind some excellent defense and efficient offense. We hit a bump in the tenth game, losing to division rival Providence, but we also Theismanned their all pro quarterback, knocking him out for the season with a compound leg fracture. We suffered some injuries during this stretch as well, going 1-3 before rebounding to win our last 3 games, good enough for our first division title and the number 2 seed in the conference. Code:
Front Office Football 2007Blackwell performed pretty well, but it's clear he will not be an all pro type quarterback. 3,000 yards, not many interceptions and a mid 80s rating seems like what to expect. Huerta got in the final game of the year and threw 3 TDs, so I'm set at backup as well. Ackerman missed 3 games with injuries but still broke 1,000 yards and added 8 touchdowns. His backups were pretty disappointing though, neither breaking 3.5 ypc. The receiving core remained nondescript and Shenkarow took a step back toward mediocrity. Not much to complain about from my blockers as they all were 30% or better on the run blocks and kept their sack percentages under 2. Moss threw in 14 KRBs and 2 pancakes from the fullback position even. Ascencao and Choate both missed significant time on the defensive line but put up 7 and 6.5 sacks respectively. Choate concerns me in that he's missed at least 5 games each of the last three years and next season is the last year of his contract. If I have to pay him as the best defensive end in football, as his ratings suggest, he might be gone. 7th round pick Battle was a nice surprise adding 5 sacks in limited duty. I'll give him a closer look next year. SLB Howard had his best year yet and should get all pro consideration. Barlow also played well enough. Lomelino had some injury issues he struggled through all year. 3rd round pick Reilly ended up starting opposite O'Neill at corner and held his own, even returning his only two interceptions for touchdowns. At safety, Goffee was having his best year ever with 6 interceptions before breaking his ankle in the 13th game. Strong safety is still unsettled as Ricky Jennings has been unable to step up to grab the spot and has been generally outplayed by veteran DeVine. We're looking good heading into the playoffs, relatively healthy, and looking at a likely clash with 15-1 Oklahoma City in the conference finals. |
Divisional Playoffs
8-8 Syracuse won their division and managed to get by the second place team in our division, 10-6 Hartford, 20-17. They're led by Donnell Sutter, their quarterback since the league began, who threw 26 TDs and 24 Ints this year. High risk, high reward. They also have a running back, Alan Schacht, who has rushed for at least 1,100 yards in each of six seasons since he was drafted. On defense they had a pair of double digit sackers, DE James Hill (14) and DE Fred Sumter (10.5). But they had one of the worst defenses, particularly against the pass. We opened the game with a 12 play, 60 yard dink and dunk drive that stalled at the 19, resulting in a 36 yard drive for an early 3-0 lead. After exchanging 3 and outs, Syracuse put together their own long drive, going 80 yards and ending the drive with a 1 yard touchdown plunge for the 7-3 lead. That's where we stayed through the first half. Syracuse came out quickly in the second half, marching downfield and culminating in a 33 yard strike to WR Lincoln Martin to extend their lead to 14-3. Our offense continued to struggle, moving the ball some but unable to even get into field goal range until the fourth quarter. We finally managed to get another field goal with 10 minutes left to get to 14-6. But Syracuse responded with a long drive of their own, moving 60 yards until we finally stopped them at our 11 with 2:29 left. But they shanked a field goal that would have ended it, giving us a chance. Blackwell was hurried twice by James Hill and then sacked by Hill to set up a 4th and 15. But Blackwell found Lemieux across the middle for 20 yards and a first. An incompletion and two penalties backed us up to a 2nd and 25, but Blackwell found Lemieux again, this time on a 45 yard bomb to give us a first at the Syracuse 35 with 1 minute left and no timeouts. But two incompletions and a desperation pass intercepted in the endzone ended our playoffs earlier than expected. 15-1 Oklahoma City lost their first round game as well, so we wouldn't have met them anyway. That team had maybe the best defense I've ever seen, holding opponents to 8.7 points and 249 yards per game. LB Marshall Howard was named first team all pro, LT Robert Roberge was named 2nd team. Disappointing end to the year, but we're looking good heading into next season and beyond. |
2014 Pre Training Camp
Adding a house rule starting this year. No signing free agents who became free agents because they were released. Only those who had contracts expire. Not much of interest going into free agency. No retirements, the staff is all signed and will return. Financially, the team dropped into the red for the first time, losing 27 million last season, mostly because of the large bonuses for Blackwell and Roberge. I decided to send last year's 7th round pick, DE Deion Battle, to the summer league. He showed enough potential that I want to take a closer look at him. We have only 25 players signed to start the year and 50 million in cap room. With no one major up for contracts, I can bring back pretty much whoever I want. First the extensions for those with 1 year on their contracts. Marshall Howard, 6 years, 58 million. Probably my best defensive player, he's worth it. Shawn Choate wants 47 million for 3 years. Just not worth it unless he proves he can stay healthy. I'll take my chances with him next year. WR Shenkarow, TE Borders and MLB Lomelino are all eligible too, but I don't see a need to extend any of their contracts. Notable free agents I decide to let walk: QB Adam Francois - Only brought in as a mentor, he's disgruntled so I'll just find someone else who will accept the role. C Chester Hicks - Never grabbed starting spot. DE BJ Harvey - Been a fringe player, but with Battle stepping up he's my fourth DE and not worth carrying at his price. CB Erik Jarvis - Didn't make an impact as a free agent last year, I have better, cheaper options. FS Alonzo Randle - Just don't have a spot for him with other veterans already on the roster. DE Adam Rogers is the only free agent I'm bringing back who costs much more than the minimum, at about 2.5 million a year for 2 years. Worthwhiel for a pass rush specialist. The free agent crop was thin enough that I only brought in one player, RG Perry Webster. He barely played last year but put up good numbers in 2012 for Sacramento. I'll let him compete for the starting job on the right side. I head into the draft with the 29th pick. About all I'm hoping for is to find a solid starter. WR, TE, OG, MLB and S are probably positions I'd consider needs with early picks. 1. WR Fernando Lincoln, North Carolina St., 5'11" 177 - 4.47 speed, 7.04 agility, and a 9 on the intelligence score. Runs great routes and can make some moves after he catches the ball. Should start immediately. 2. TE Buddy Lecis, North Carolina St., 6'4" 262 - Big safety valve receiver, not a seam splitter but should find openings in the middle of the field. Extremely intelligent. And Lincoln's college teammate. 3. SS Lawrence England, Northwester, 5'9" 196 - Not sure why, but he intrigued me. Excellent against the run and in man to man, his other skills are pretty lacking. But good combines and perhaps a special teams ace. Scout sees him as underrated and he has affinity with my secondary leader. 4. WR Glen Mills, Texas Tech, 6'1" 200 - 4.46 speed, but excellent bars, with only adjustment, courage and returns being below average. We'll see if the bars lie. 5. DE Bernard Broomfield, Stony Brook, 6'4" 275 - Looks very similar to Battle in last year's draft with excellent diagnosis skills and a decent combine. 6. FS Fernando Lewis, Michigan St., 6'0" 209 - Decent coverage skills and a good special teams player. Should be an ideal backup safety. 7. OT Norbert Chandler, North Carolina, 6'1" 300 - Slow as molassas, but could be a good pass protector. May be moved to guard. Hopefully I've taken care of adding targets for Blackwell. I'm tired of using high draft picks on receivers. |
2014 Post Training Camp
Here's how the roster is looking out of training camp. Code:
Front Office Football 2007Nothing too surprising out of the draft as everyone looks about as expected. We made it through the preseason with only one significant injury as OG Jon Boyer tore a wrist tendon. The injury will keep him out half a year, but I don't want to hold a roster spot for him that long so I placed him on injured reserve. The team is looking pretty similar to last year's 13-3 squad. The only new starters are first round pick Lincoln at SE, Perry Webster at RG and Deion Battle at LDE in non pass rush situations. I'm also using a kickoff specialist for the first time with rookie Alfred Patton, who has a 100 for kickoff distance. Bullock is a good field goal kicker, but his leg is lacking on kickoffs. There was one worrisome sign in preseason as backup QB Huerta really struggled, looking pretty awful. His ratings are steadily declining and I'm now worried if I have to use him. Hartford and quarterback George Elam is looking like our main competition in the division this season. They went on quite a free agent spending spree and could be good if all of their new players gel. Providence will likely struggle early as their quarterback has 5 more weeks of recovery from his compound leg fracture and they lost their star receiver Paul Conley to a knee injury in preseason. Wilmington is still quite young on the offensive side of the ball. Anything short of a division title and an appearance in the conference championship game will be a disappointment. |
Well, this will definitely go down on the disappointing side as we missed the playoffs, but it was largely numerous injuries that did us in.
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Front Office Football 2007The season started out very well, we were 7-3 after 10 games, having swept Providence and winning in Hartford, so the team seemed to be in control of the division. We had suffered a few injuries at that point, Shenkarow missed several games with a broken leg, Bullock, my field goal kicker, blew out his ACL, forcing me to use the kickoff specialist on field goals, and the weakside linebacker Barlow was out for the season with a hamstring injury. Annoyances, but nothing we couldn't work around. But in week 12, our two best offensive players went down. QB Blackwell suffered a hamstring injury that put him on the bench for the rest of the year and LT Roberge tore his patellar tendon to end his season. Compounding this were subsequent injuries to my top 3 safeties, forcing me to start both of the rookies I drafted this year. The healthy players fought valiently, but it came down to a home game against Hartford in the final week to either win the division or miss the playoffs. My beatup secondary couldn't handle Hartford QB George Elam and the offensive line was a sieve and we fell 30-13, missing the playoffs despite a 10-6 record. Hartford went on to reach the Super Bowl before falling to Raleigh 30-21. One award for the team this year: 1st team all pro left tackle Randall Roberge, 32 of 79 krbs, 7 pancakes, 4 sacks allowed Blackwell was having his best season yet, raising his QB rating again as he has ever year since he entered the league. To be honest, Huerta didn't do that bad when he was forced to play considering his lack of experience. But he's a statue in the pocket, getting sacked more in 5 starts than Blackwell did in 11. Of course, not having my left tackle didn't help. But between Huerta's mediocre performance and a significant injury to Blackwell, it may be worth looking for new blood among my quarterback depth. RB Ackerman had an outstanding season and was a contender for Player of the Year before the late slide. 21 TDs and 1,635 yards from scrimmage. Sherman Bell is looking like an adequate backup. With the injury to Shenkarow, Jorge Lemeiux really stepped up to lead the receiving corp with our first 1,000 yard season. Rookie Fernando Lincoln looked promising as well with 600 yards, although 11 drops are too many. The offensive line had a good season, led by Roberge. Right tackle McGeorge didn't give up any sacks. Free agent Perry Webster had 33 krbs. Center Jimmy Farrell was a bit of a concern, allowing 10 sacks and left guard Hutchins was the only lineman with under 30% run blocking at 29.4%, but his pass protection is outstanding. Bad year for the kickers, my kickoff specialist Alfred Patton was 13 of 19 on field goals and all of punter Rick Kaiser's stats fell to the bottom third of the league. I'll probably give Kaiser another year, but a new kicker might be needed. My 5 main defensive linemen combined for 21.5 sacks. Ugh. They get decent pressure but can't seem to finish the deal. DE Choate is a puzzle and up for a new contract. I'm leaning toward letting him test the market and walk if someone offers him a monster contract. His production is just not matching his ratings. The linebackers were pretty non-descript. Howard had a solid year, but his lowest tackle numbers ever. I had a revolving door on the weakside with Barlow's injury, even bringing former starter Ernest Myers back. Lomelino is proving to be extraordinarily average and might be a target for replacement. The secondary was disappointing as well. Only one player managed even 2 interceptions. I'm happy with Reilly and O'Neill as my starting corners but everything else is subject to change. I wouldn't mind rolling with Goffee and DeVine as my starting safeties, but they haven't shown much ability to stay healthy. Looking closer at the defense, I'm actually not sure how we ended up 3rd in points allowed. Perhaps I'm not giving the defensive line enough credit. Oh well, there's still work to be done to reach the Super Bowl. |
2015 Draft and Free Agency
No retirements this year. Checking my financial situation, we did pretty well last year, only losing about 2 million for the season. Close enough to breaking even for me. My scout, Preston Richardson, was the only member of my staff up. Only 39 and rated good or very good at everything except quarterback and running back, two positions where we are set. I ended up in a bidding war to retain him at 950,000 a year for 4 seasons, a very nice pay raise for him. WR Glenn Mills was sent to the summer league. He was buried on the depth chart last year, but hopefully he can challenge Schwartz for our 4th receiver spot. Going into free agency I ended up caving in and franchising DE Shawn Choate and subsequently signing him to a 4 year/72 million dollar contract. I don't think he is worth the money, but I think I can squeeze in the contract and I hate to break up a defense that did so well last year. RB Ackerman (6 years/34 million) and DT Saloman (4 years/20 million) also received contract extensions. That should keep both players through their productive years. We were inactive in free agency as I was happy retaining most of my veteran players. 3 starters did leave the team, but I already had replacements for them lined up. FB Tony Moss was the only departure that really hurt, but I couldn't justify giving him the 5 year contract he was seeking. C Jimmy Farrell took over my offensive line leadership as I had expected, forcing me to jettison him to keep my affinities. And TE Borders never lived up to his potential so I let him walk without a fight. We ended up with the 19th pick in a draft where I expected to go heavy on the defensive side. Luckily this was a good draft for such a plan, with a number of good looking linebackers and secondary players. 1. WLB Ryan Marcotte (41/69), Wake Forest, 5'11" 223 - Undersized linebacker who wowwed us at the combine. 33 reps and 10 foot broadjump. Excellent pass rusher, should be quite the playmaker. 2. CB Cris Zvereva (22/57), Northwestern, 6'3" 201 - Big, smart corner who is excellent against the run. May get moved to safety eventually, but I think he'll be my nickelback this year. 3. RG Grady Covington (20/70), Colorado, 6'2" 283 - A bit underdeveloped, but strong, agile and equally adept run and pass blocking. Likely summer league candidate and will probably backup for a couple seasons before hopefully becoming a starter. 4. DE Mike Mozart (22/64), Miami OH, 6'4" 279 - 1 for intelligence, but has good ratings besides punishing hitter. Pretty undeveloped. 5. RB Nick Shiancoe (25/49), Arizona St, 5'9" 207 - A younger version of Victor Chelius, who I let leave in free agency this year. Good receiving skills, kick returning and special teams. 6. WR Terry Coleman (19/54), S Connecticut St, 6'2" 208 - Good route runner with sure hands, but bad on third downs. Should be a decent backup and special teams player. 7. QB Marshall Henderson (10/42), Rutgers, 6'4" 220 - Almost average skills in most categories, extremely intelligent. A very raw draft class, but I have the luxury to let them develop. Only Marcotte should be a starter this year. Coming out of training camp, we have two players on the green page, our 3rd and 4th round picks :) Covington is now 29/73 (the 20/70 I listed for him was a boost from when he was in the draft. He's going to fight for the right guard spot this year. And DE Mike Mozart is there too, although his ratings fell to 22/58. One significant player falloff out of training camp as FS Quinn Goffee is looking like a backup, probably behind last year's 6th round pick Fernando Lewis. Most of the team is returning, the defense I think will be even better. If we have better luck with our injuries, we should win the division and reach the conference championship at least. Hartford should be our main competition, both Providence and Wilmington have rosters near the bottom of the league. |
2015 Season
Well, this season ended up looking oddly similar to last year. Quote:
The season started out rough as the offense really struggled to get on track. Blackwell struggled to get the ball downfield, similar to a couple of seasons ago and then went down in the 6th game with a foot injury and missed a couple of games. We were sitting at 4-5 when the defense really took over. Through a 6 game winning streak, they didn't give up more than 13 points. But the conference was strong and we went into the last week 10-5, but needing a win to secure a wild card berth. But another injury to Blackwell in the last game sunk our chances and for the second season in a row we finished 10-6 and out of the playoffs. Hartford won the division for the third time in four seasons with an 11-5 record, but Salt Lake City ended up defeating Milwaukee 41-14 to win the Super Bowl. Randall Roberge was our only award winner, finishing 1st team all pro for the third time and second consectutive season with 44 KRB in 99 opportunities. Our defense is looking solid, I really can't complain about anything there. MLB Lomelino missed most of the season with a torn knee ligament, but undrafted 2nd year player Plummer stepped in nicely. Well enough to make Lomelino expendable next season for sure. Choate rewarded our large contract with 6 sacks. But, he led the league with 34 hurries. I seem to be getting a nice spread out pass rush with 7 players getting at least 3 sacks. The offense reverted a bit. Looks like a still need a playmaker for Blackwell to throw to. And considering how injury prone Blackwell is becoming and the lack of success for Huerta as his back, I need to rethink my quarterback position. Tentative plan next year, find a mentor backup and use a 2nd or 3rd round pick on a quarterback to groom. The offensive line did a great job though, as all of my starters had better than 34% KRB and 4 or fewer sacks allowed. My rookie right guard Grady Covington was forced into duty as the starter most of the year and only allowed 2 sacks and had 36% KRB. The offense needs a bit of a shakeup if we're going to advance further. |
2016 Preseason
No retirements during the offseason. All three of my coaches are up for new contracts. I can't really complain about 3 10+ win seasons in a row at this point, so I resign them all. Last year's 4th round draft pick, DE Mike Mozart is sent to make sweet music in the summer league. No one worth franchising this season. I've been keeping a lot of veterans around as backups the last few seasons. I'm inclined to purge some of them off this year, both because we're closer to the salary cap now (27 million under entering free agency) and to bring in some new blood in their places. Entering free agency, I see that I have some major free agents coming up next year, including QB Blackwell, DT Ascencao, both starting cornerbacks O'Neill and Reilly and C Molina. I locked up O'Neill quickly to a 5 yr, 72 million deal as he's easily my best secondary player. The others I'm going to hold off on. Most likely Ascencao will be franchised next year and we'll just see what happens with Blackwell. Reilly and Molina still need to prove themselves. Some of the veterans I decide to let leave: FB Podvebesk - Been with us from the start, a mentor and a leader with affinity with Blackwell, but absolutely no value as a player at this point. I'm unconvinced about his chemistry contributions and not too worried about mentoring fullbacks. TE Corbett - Backup and long snapper, I can find a rookie for that role. WR Shenkarow - Time for new blood with more upside. G Webster - Too much money to not be starting K Bullock - 2 bad years in a row doesn't cut it. MLB Lomelino - 1st rank defense with him injured most of season OLB Barlow - Lost starting job, cheaper backups available CB Seubert - Longtime leader, but sucks on the field SS Jennings - Never fulfilled potential SS DeVine - Outplayed Jennings, but can't stay healthy In free agency we find our mentor QB, Arnie Farly, a 6th year player from Raleigh. A 72 career rating, we sign him for 2 years and he'll likely compete with Huerta to be our backup. Nothing special but fills our purpose. We also sign two other free agents, MLB Tony Wendorff, a 5th year career backup with decent looking ratings, and C Van Jamison, who was our starting center a few seasons ago. He'll be back as a backup and our long snapper. Entering the draft, I have three specific needs in mind with the early rounds. I need a playmaker on offense, that would be my likely first round pick. A young quarterback to groom, which I can take anytime after the first round, and a new kicker, which would probably come in the middle rounds. We have the 22nd pick and luckily, the draft is receiver heavy. I have used a lot of early picks on receivers the last few years without success. Fernando Lincoln, who I drafted in the first round 2 seasons ago, looks like a bust as his ratings have plummeted. The third player on the draft board is a beautiful looking receiver with nearly maxxed out ratings. If he drops to 10 or so I'll probably have to move up to get him. Otherwise, a handful of other receivers look adequate. And there is a kicker I'm drooling over that I will swipe in the 3rd if he's still there. Well, the receiver I liked went 5th, too high for me to trade up, and the kicker went early in the third, before my pick was up. I ended up trading my 2nd pick to Boise for two 3rds and a 4th as I liked a number of middle round type players. 1.22 FL Bryant Maple, (41/69) Georgia, 5'8" 189 - A smurf with sub 4.4 speed who should be a great deep threat and has YAC ability. Looks similar to Lincoln when I drafted him, so I'm hoping for better results. 3.20 LCB Darren Shapiro, (23/66) Arizona, 6'1" 211 - Big corner, solid against the run and pass and has kick return skills. May get moved to strong safety. 3.24 FL Robbie Forster, (27/62) Arkansas-Monticello, 6'1" 212 - A larger possession type target who can run after the catch. Somewhat questionable hands, but has punt return skills too. 3.25 FB Marc Lemon, (28/60) Texas, 6'2" 253 - Big skilled lead blocker with some running skills, but won't catch many balls. Didn't workout. 4.23 WLB Dwight Alcott, (18/61) Oregon St., 6'2" 247 - Most likely a middle linebacker, can stuff the run, gets confused in zone coverage and endurance is a bit lacking. 4.26 LT Cary Schultz, (20/42) Louisville, 6'3" 300 - Backup material with decent pass protection skills and a little run blocking ability. Strong enough too. 5.25 QB Blake Nekolny, (11/52) Brown, 6'5" 226 - Local kid, tall and skinny, didn't workout. Has some high ratings, but very lacking in short passes, 3rd down passing and accuracy. Great at reading defenses and hitting deep passes though. The guy I really wanted got scooped up in the 1st round to my surprise. 6.24 LDT Bryan Benney, (11/49) Southern California, 6'3" 306 - Run stuffing specialist with decent combine scores. Should be a decent backup. 7.23 RB Cornell Anderson, (24/29) Arkansas, 5'10" 206 - Had my eye on him the last few rounds and finally pulled the trigger despite not needing more running backs. A little speed and a little strength, may make it as a backup. After getting through training camp and signing all of our rookies, here is how the roster is looking Quote:
We enter the year with the second rated roster, just ahead of division rival Hartford. We had the top ranked defense last year, if anything it should be even better this season. So if the offense can be competent, we should be contenders. |
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