Front Office Football Central - FOF 2007 - Highlander Challenge, Take Two

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FOF 2007 - Highlander Challenge, Take Two

Highlander II

(Yes, the title is itself self-defeating…)

Okay, some time ago, I gave a run at a house rules challenge career, styled the Highlander Challenge. From the opening from that thread:

Quote:

Originally Posted by QuikSand (Post 1671005)

The Highlander Challenge
It’s been a while since I played a public, documented, solo FOF career. I thought I would give it a shot once again. I will again make a try to come up with a set of rules that make the game a long-term challenge for me – what I want is for the game to be interesting to play, challenging to win, but allow me to play “all out” within the rules that I have adopted up front. You may have heard me refer to this as a holy grail… it’s tougher than it seems.

So, my current thinking is that I’ll try a set of rules where I am allowed to do lots of different things – but none of them more than once per season. Thus, the play-on-words title of the challenge, which I hope won’t be lost on quite everyone.

So, here are the limitations for the career. In any given season:
-there can be only one unrestricted free agent signed to a one-year contract
-there can be only one unrestricted free agent signed to a two-year contract
-there can be only one unrestricted free agent signed to a three-year contract
-there can be only one unrestricted free agent signed to a four-year contract
-there can be only one unrestricted free agent signed to a five-year contract
-there can be only one unrestricted free agent signed to a six-year contract
-there can be only one unrestricted free agent signed to a seven-year contract
-there can be only one year on any new offer made to a restricted free agent
-there can be only one renegotiation before the season starts
-there can be only one renegotiation toward the end of the season
-there can be only one trade, either within the current draft or AI-initiated

Yes, I include my own out-of-contract players among the limits for FA signees. I am also aware that the ability to sign contracts for longer than three years generally means committing either huge money or else stuffing huge backends to the deals forcing a release some way through – so in essence, it will be very difficult for me to keep players around in this career, I expect. That is absolutely by design – the worry I’m targeting here is that I generally find it far too easy to just re-sign lots and lots of decent role players for minsal or a bit more year after year – and all of my solo teams turn into cohesion monsters as a result.

So, basically – my rookie draftees are mine through their rookie contract and for whatever I can sign them to as restricted free agents – meaning that I can get an easy four years out of most of them who turn out to be worth keeping. Past that, I will have a pretty limited ability to keep players around.

I’m also limiting my ability to sign undrafted rookies here. I’ll have to bend these rules as I initially build a team (empty cupboard will demand it) and fill in with one year rookies, but my intention is to have these limits apply to those players too.

I gave that setup my usual run, built up a team, and then got bored (as always). But it wasn’t a totally value-less experience. Looking back, I think I had some take-aways worth reviving. So, without further ado, I’m going to make one major twist to these rules, retain the undercurrent of “one” and try something like this again. Here’s the new set of rules:
In any given season:

-there can be only one year on any new offer made to a restricted free agent
-there can be only one renegotiation on my terms
-there can be only one renegotiation on the player’s terms
-there can be only one trade, either within the current draft or AI-initiated
-there can be only one free agent offer outstanding at any time

So, the last rule is the main idea. I won’t sign any players other than during the 16 stages of free agency, and when doing so I am (hopefully) going to have to make some real prioritization decisions. By limiting renegotiations, I think I’m going to have to get value out of pretty much every draft pick.

Here’s my thinking on math. In every season, I get 5 late round draft picks who will essentially sign 3 year deals and then get a free 1-yr RFA extension. That’s a rotating battery of 20 players. So from our top 2 draft picks each season plus whatever handful of free agent signings we collect, we need to occupy another 30 or so roster slots. That seems like it’s manageable – if I’m mostly signing guys to 3yr contracts, you might need something like 10 guys a year. With 16 stages of free agency, I think that sounds manageable. All this is subject to future tweaking if it turns out I simply cannot field a legal roster, or get pushed to ridiculous things simply by the need to accumulate bodies.

So, here’s the deal. I’m not going to be building a new team here – which is my usual m.o. for this sort of thing. Rather, I am going to try to take an already mature team that I previously built, and try to use these rules to create a challenging environment to maintain the established team. This is the usual weak point in my dynasty threads – no matter how good the rules are, I always enjoy building a roster and team from nearly nothing. What I lose interest in is the maintenance of the established team. So I’m going to try and start at that point in this case, and see if the new rules accomplish my intended goal – to keep this interesting.

The Team
I’m not going to belabor this unreasonably, but here’s a quick catch up on where this franchise stands. This league started as the 2010 default NFL files, as I was trying (fruitlessly) to get my younger brother interested in this game when we were together last year. I recently picked it up for this purpose, and played forward a bit. The last couple of years I have begun to use the 1-FA-at-a-time limitation, but not as a coherent set of real house rules.

Here’s how the team has progressed thus far, all fairly standard:

Code:

Year  Team  Eval  Perf  Diff  Proft FrVal Record    Playoffs  

2019  CLE   84    90    73    85    75    14-3-0    Division Final         

2018  CLE   80    83    74    83    72    14-5-0    Conference Champion    

2017  CLE   79    90    74    78    67    16-2-0    Conference Final       

2016  CLE   72    74    76    74    64    14-6-0    Conference Champion    

2015  CLE   76    86    76    77    55    12-5-0    Division Final         

2014  CLE   69    52    76    82    55    8-8-0     None                   

2013  CLE   65    28    75    87    57    6-10-0    None                   

2012  CLE   71    60    77    82    57    10-6-0    None                   

2011  CLE   61    34    76    76    59    6-9-1     None                   

2010  CLE   62    45    75    71    63    8-8-0     None                   

2009  CLE   53    5     75    75    67    4-12-0    None

All very familiar, a few seasons as a middling contender, and then we emerge as a power team for good. The last 5 years I think we have earned 3 #1 seeds, but have yet to cash it all in for a ring. Also as usual for my teams, we are at this point very high in cohesion and good chemistry as well.

Here’s the current roster ratings, sorted by current rating to give you an idea of where our real talent lies:

Code:

 Cleveland Browns Roster, Scout Overview

   

  Player                #   Pos   Start Exp  Current Estimate  Future Estimate Cntrct 

Ballard, Grady          19  RDE   RDE   7    72                72                4 yrs

##Lyons, Seth           35  SS          8    72                72                2 yrs

Porter, Roman           28  LCB   LCB   5    70                70                2 yrs

Cole, Rico              8   FL    FL    6    65                65                4 yrs

Fields, Adam            97  LDE   LDE   10   62                62                3 yrs

%%Pearson, Luther       67  RT          4    56                56                1 yr.

Church, Lorenzo         79  LT    LT    3    56                56                1 yr.

Manley, Bennie          4   K           4    54                54                1 yr.

Scott, Pete             38  RCB   RCB   6    54                54                3 yrs

Long, Johnny            50  SILB  SILB  5    53                53                5 yrs

Cassidy, Adrian         60  RG    RG    9    53                53                2 yrs

Young, Warren           56  C     C     3    52                52                1 yr.

McGee, Bruce            73  LG    LG    6    52                52                4 yrs

Nixon, Marc             80  TE    TE    5    50                50                2 yrs

DeVore, Albert          93  WLB   WLB   3    50                50                2 yrs

Wolfe, Clyde            82  FL          5    49                49                4 yrs

Jarvis, Herman          10  RB    RB    2    45                45                3 yrs

Burton, Darryl          47  P           2    45                45                2 yrs

Rayburn, Kerry          92  NT    NT    9    45                45                1 yr.

%%Carter, Mack          41  FS          4    44                44                3 yrs

Lane, Kendrick          81  SE    SE    4    44                44                3 yrs

Griffith, Steven        20  SE          9    43                43                1 yr.

Mieske, Kris            30  FS    SS    9    43                43                3 yrs

Clancy, Bob             45  RCB         8    42                42                1 yr.

Everett, Nathan         54  WLB         5    41                41                2 yrs

Seiferling, Monty       98  LDE         7    40                40                2 yrs

Bernal, Richard         83  FL          7    39                39                3 yrs

Sturch, Gus             13  QB    QB    10   38                38                4 yrs

Ackerman, Broderick     37  FB    FB    5    38                38                1 yr.

Russell, Zach           40  RB          8    38                38                2 yrs

Batson, Chester         51  C           10   38                38                3 yrs

Sanders, Darrin         77  RDE         8    38                38                2 yrs

McElroy, Winston        58  WILB  WILB  4    37                45                1 yr.

Hazeltine, Jorge        69  LG          6    37                37                3 yrs

Ferguson, D'Brickashaw  78  LT    RT    14   37                37                1 yr.

Owens, Karl             88  TE          4    36                36                2 yrs

Glenn, Jerald           95  NT          1    36                56                4 yrs

Porras, Percy           29  RB          5    35                35                1 yr.

Grauer, Juan            39  SLB   SLB   1    33                40                3 yrs

Manusky, Jerry          49  FS    FS    10   33                33                2 yrs

Christy, Spencer        94  NT          2    32                48                2 yrs

Harmon, Gilbert         99  LDE         1    28                38                4 yrs

Emanuel, Walter         91  SILB        2    26                26                3 yrs

Schwartz, Carl          1   QB          3    25                39                1 yr.

##Hill, Grant           15  TE          2    25                33                3 yrs

Ross, Gene              52  SLB         8    24                24                1 yr.

Muskie, Grady           31  SE          1    23                33                4 yrs

##Sweeney, Mitchell     3   QB          4    22                25                2 yrs

Roosevelt, Tom          43  FS          1    22                34                3 yrs

Clayton, Winston        27  LCB         9    21                21                1 yr.

##Spatz, Richie         90  RDE         1    16                48                3 yrs

Abraham, Melvin         14  QB          1    15                38                3 yrs

##Elliott, Troy         61  LT          9    9                 9                 2 yrs

##Clemons, Chris        36  FL          11   8                 18                2 yrs

   

$$ - player is suspended, ## - player is inactive,  

** = player is injured, %% - player is on IR.  

   

Players Under Contract: 54

Inactive: 6

On Active Roster: 46

   

Salary Cap: $154,000,000

Cap Room: $25,200,000

Maximum for New Player: $25,760,000

Cap Room Lost (to old contracts): $650,000

   

Cap Room Lost Next Year (to old contracts): $1,290,000

Cap Room Required Next Year: $105,820,000

Basically, we have a short list of true star caliber players here. RDE Grady Ballard is actually putting up big numbers while playing the true RDE slot in our 3-4 (no mean feat), and his counterpart Adam Fields is occasionally a dominant pass rusher from the left side. Both were first round picks, and both will likely play here until they fade away.

The rest of the defense is pretty pedestrian. 70/70 CB Roman Porter (1.18) is very solid in bars but doesn’t put up big stats, 72/72 SS Seth Lyons (1.13) is very good, and the rest of our DB are basically role player types (I have had two massive VSOD busts at the LB position, and have yet to field even an average-looking group there). Regardless, we tend to have a very good defense by the numbers, as our python style seems to work well.

On offense, I have tried to make this a run-first team, thinking this could be the next frontier for my personal FOF future. 8th year RB Zach Russell is a former workhorse (9600 carries on 4.5 ypc for us) who is now the balanced-skill change-of-pace behind our supposed big-hitter RB Herman Jarvis (1.13). Jarvis is only getting us 4 ypc in his first two years, but we are playing from ahead a lot and I figure we’re running into a lot of run expectations. At some point, I’d like to fiddle with formations and gameplanning to try to develop a more serious running game, perhaps an attachment to this team will foster that. Right now we are not really doing much that’s creative – just running a lot and throwing mostly short stuff.

In the air game, we have a good-enough guy at QB in 38/38 Gus Sturch (2.5), who is now a cohesion plus and a decent short game type (48 in short passing, 66 in accuracy). I have a younger QB who is blooming in 25/39 Carl Schwartz (5.2, ran a sub-4.4 40 dash) and who might be a better play long term, but since we are winning with Sturch I have been reluctant to make a big change there.

At WR, we have only two guys of note. 65/65 Rico Cole (1.10) is our main duty guy, decent in everything, but has not really taken off – career ypc of only 8.2 is underwhelming, and we don’t throw enough to get him big gross numbers (only one 1,000 yard season). 44/44 Kendrick Lane (7.29) has moved in as our other starter, and is a mostly BPR guy, which is just being laid bare as the whole key to the corrent passing game in FOF. So, he’s turning out to be pretty good, despite having no other skill but running in a straight line. YPT over 9 the last two season as a starter, but he’ll never catch more than 50 balls I guess, unless we really change the approach here.

The OL is solid, but not worth detailing here. Mostly run-first guys, pretty good chemistry.

So… we are a very solid SP team. Nothing remotely BEL-worthy of course, but interesting to play so far. I actually enjoy playing with a team that wins in a fashion other than 400 yards passing, so watching this team run the ball 40 times a game and end up with the most effective pass defense in the league and a top seed most years is kinda cool. I would like it very much if at some point I could field a successful MP FOF team with this philosophy.

Here’s the 2019 Team Summary screen, which is always a pretty nice snapshot to present for quick familiarity:

Code:



Front Office Football 2007

2019 Summary for Cleveland Browns

   

Year                2019                                      

Record              14-3                                      

Winning Pct.        .823                                      

All-Time            106-69-1                                  

Winning Pct.        .605                                      

Playoffs            6-5                                       

Playoff Visits      5                                         

Bowl Wins           0                                         

Head Coach          Na'il Diggs                               

Record              78-29                                     

Winning Pct.        .728                                      

Off. Coord.         V. Ellison                                

Def. Coord.         M. McWilliams                             

   

Cleveland Browns        Team      Rank  

Rushes per Game         33.7      1           

Rushing Yards           136.3     4           

Yards Per Carry         4.05      21          

Pass Attempts           26.3      32          

Completions             16.1      32          

Completion Pct.         61.3      15          

Passing Yards           203.0     27          

Yards Per Attempt       7.71      3           

Yards Per Catch         12.59     1           

Total Yardage Gained    331.0     14          

3rd Down Conversions    39.1      8           

Points Per Game         24.9      4           

Pass Rush Pct.          26.2      1           

Pass Defense Pct.       69.2      2           

Turnovers               22        14          

Turnover Margin         +7        7 (T)       

   

Opponents               Team      Rank  

Rushes per Game         24.5      6 (T)       

Rushing Yards           107.2     13          

Yards Per Carry         4.38      26          

Pass Attempts           35.8      24          

Completions             17.6      1           

Completion Pct.         49.3      1           

Passing Yards           184.1     2           

Yards Per Attempt       5.15      1           

Yards Per Catch         10.45     11          

Total Yardage Gained    276.0     2           

3rd Down Conversions    31.5      4 (T)       

Points Per Game         13.7      2           

Pass Rush Pct.          17.0      5 (T)       

Pass Defense Pct.       57.4      26          

Turnovers               29        8           

   

Week  Team  Versus        Oppnt  

1     27    at BAL        7       

2     30    at SFO        7       

3     17    SDO           13      

4     17    at BUF        14      

5     37    PIT           17      

6     41    MIA           14      

7     23    NYJ           16      

8     10    at NED        6       

9     34    BAL           6       

11    20    at CIN        3       

12    3     at STL        27      

13    38    at HOU        7       

14    20    SEA           14      

15    30    CIN           14      

16    28    ARI           31      

17    24    at PIT        23      

$$CS  17    SDO           20      

   

Passing                 Pos   Att   Comp  Yards Y/Att TD    Int   Rate  

13 G. Sturch            QB    400   249   3131  7.83  27    11    97.6    

**Team                  ---   421   258   3248  7.71  27    13    93.8    

$$Opp                   ---   572   282   2946  5.15  14    15    61.8    

   

Rushing                 Pos   Att   Yards Y/Att TD    Fum  

10 H. Jarvis            RB    271   1028  3.79  6     10      

40 Z. Russell           RB    204   922   4.52  5     8       

13 G. Sturch            QB    60    220   3.67  2     4       

**Team                  ---   539   2181  4.05  13    25      

$$Opp                   ---   392   1715  4.38  10    28      

   

Receiving               Pos   Targ  Catch Yards Y/Ctc Y/Tar Drop  TD  

8 R. Cole               WR    114   56    753   13.45 6.61  4     5       

80 M. Nixon             TE    61    45    442   9.82  7.25  2     5       

82 C. Wolfe             WR    52    35    636   18.17 12.23 2     8       

81 K. Lane              WR    60    35    547   15.63 9.12  3     2       

40 Z. Russell           RB    35    22    181   8.23  5.17  2     3       

20 S. Griffith          WR    37    21    208   9.90  5.62  4     2       

   

Defense                 Pos   Tack  Asst  Sack  Hurr  Ints  Defn  PDPct  

50 J. Long              ILB   70    28    0.0   0     2     4     77.4    

93 A. DeVore            OLB   70    24    11.0  7     0     2     74.5    

30 K. Mieske            S     62    16    0.0   0     0     11    79.6    

35 S. Lyons             S     59    22    1.0   0     2     21    89.4    

19 G. Ballard           DE    49    15    9.5   35    0     1     82.5    

38 P. Scott             CB    42    18    0.0   0     3     11    82.3    

28 R. Porter            CB    37    11    0.0   0     3     10    84.2    

27 W. Clayton           CB    35    3     0.0   0     0     1     70.7    

58 W. McElroy           ILB   29    2     0.0   0     0     0     77.5    

92 K. Rayburn           DT    27    14    3.5   7     0     0     81.8    

45 B. Clancy            CB    26    10    0.0   0     3     7     85.0    

49 J. Manusky           S     24    10    0.0   0     0     3     79.4    

97 A. Fields            DE    22    12    1.0   26    0     1     82.7    

54 N. Everett           OLB   21    8     1.0   4     1     0     74.4    

91 W. Emanuel           ILB   21    6     0.0   0     1     1     84.1    

43 T. Roosevelt         S     16    3     0.0   0     0     1     78.8

By the way, I have no real explanation for LB DeVore gathering sacks like that. He’s the weakside guy, so that’s the simple version, but he only posted a PR% of 4.1, so the 11 sacks was still a total anomaly. He’s a decent player, good pass rushing bars, but nothing I’m building around I assure you (he actually was a busted 1st round pick of mine that I didn’t bother signing, then redrafted him the following season in round three). Basically, I figure the assignment of 11 sacks to the lame WLB and only 1 to the good LDE is just some sort of quirky clerical error, and that makes more football sense than any other explanation I’ve got.

The Holy Grail of FOF house rules is, for me, to create a set of rules that I can put in place, and then play absolutely “all out” within them and have a long term enjoyable challenge. With the Highlander roster building rules above, and perhaps the implied constraints of remaining a run-first team, I’m hoping that it remains fun to run this team, even though the building is essentially behind us at this point.

2020
So, I’ll kick off the 2020 season. I really don’t intend to detail a whole lot of offseason stuff here. Since most of my decision slots are just one-offs, I think it will be a fairly easy grid for each offseason – I’ll try to write things up that way, and see if it flows well enough. Probably add some season-ending commentary or something, that’s about it.

Season Reset – 2020
Retirements: WR Steven Griffin (faded former starter), T D’Brickashaw Ferguson (injury fill-in)
Roster situation: 40 signed, 3 RFAs, $48m cap room (32%)
Draft picks: 8 total, our 7 plus 3.19 from trading away angry backup QB last season
Top priorities: LB, OT, CB, TE

Stg FA Pursued Terms Notes
1.2 RT Luther Pearson 3/6.9 CB Clancy best guy left open for now
1.3
1.4 Pearson re-signs, CHI after DT Rayburn
1.5 DT Kerry Rayburn 3/3.3 SFO signs K Manley, MIA signs CB Clancy
1.6 RB Percy Porras 3/min lock up affinity leader
1.7 LB Gene Ross 3/min cohesion and affinity plus
1.8 CB W Clayton 3/min ST guy, cohesion and affinity
1.9 FB B Ackerman 3/min love skill set, cohesion plus
1.10 OLB JR Matthews 4/24 injury risk, quality guy, all base sal
1.11 FS Terry Ferguson 3/2.4 great PR, zone guy, affinity, good depth
1.12 ILB Winston McElroy 3/2.9 solid run stopper, affinity, cohesion

Pick Pos Name Adj 4TBAJP Dev O/U Pre Post Notes
1.18 WR Darnell Fiedler 6.1 +!!! ! 8% dni 25/52 26/59 ran 4.39/6.73, wow
2.30 FB Kenneth Norton 5.0 ++++++ 26% dni 27/65 31/66 possible TE move
3.19 traded to JAX to move up in round one
3.30 traded to JAX to move up in round one
4.30 C Richard Tapp 4.3 !! + 9% dni 13/64 15/53 run-bl, ran 4.96
5.30 K Andy Ford 3.3 - +++ 51% dni 32/58 30/50 got greedy, lost CB in 6th
6.30 RT Kelly Yardley 4.3 !+--- 23% dni 13/42 18/41 4.87 dash wow
7.30 WR Kenneth Chandler 4.0 – 31% dni 18/47 19/39 nice bars, ST, affinty

Stg FA Pursued Terms Notes Signed
2.1
2.2
2.3
2.4
2.5

Offseason Commentary:

Coming off a year where I didn't restrict my extensions and re-signings, we had more players than we really needed. I plan to weed out some chaff after camp, but this gives us some latitude to move up in the draft as well, not necessarily needing 8 picks. I covet a top CB, try to trade up to pick 1.11, but can't get it done. My target guy goes at pick 13 to Detroit, and I now am focusing on an undeveloped 4-red WR, who looks really good as well. Moving from 30 to 18 costs us our two third rounders, but that's fine by me, I think. Taking the WR here is a bald BPA play, and contrary to the run-and-defense approach, but this is a guy who probably goes at pick 1.3 or so in a serious league – hard to pass up the value just to take the best LB available. I make a gaffe later, thinking a CB I liked would last forever, and missing him to inexplicably take a kicker in round 5.

And in an interesting twist:

Quote:

From: The League Office
The league office has decided to suspend Adam Fields of Cleveland for the 2020 season.
Fields tested positive for alcohol use, in violation of the league's strict anti-drug policy.

So, that's something I wasn't planning for. We're deep with mediocre DE, so I don't think it will be a killer, but the bookends there were one thing I felt I could count on from this team. Ouch.

I move FB Norton to TE, where he charts at 27/65 pre-camp. And we are at 58 players already, leaving little reason to pursue more free agents other than just to see what they might be able to do in camp. I decide that to partially offset the advantage opf carrying over so many pre-extended contracts, I'm not going to pursue anyone in late free agency, and will just carry these 58 guys into training camp. Slight opportunity lost now, and this might accelerate the fill-the-roster challenge that I am still hoping for eventually.

2020 Season Snapshot
Roster Rating: 74
Cohesion: 72-100(92)-92-98
AffIndex: 88
Last Year's Results: 14-2, #1 seed, lost in divisional game
Goal for Season: #1 seed and champs
Keys to Success: Maintain pass pressure, turnovers, run 150+/gm

Code:

2020 Summary for Cleveland Browns

   

Year                2020                                      

Record              14-2                                      

Winning Pct.        .875                                      

All-Time            120-71-1                                  

Winning Pct.        .627                                      

Playoffs            6-5                                       

Playoff Visits      6                                         

Bowl Wins           0                                         

Head Coach          Na'il Diggs                               

Record              92-31                                     

Winning Pct.        .747                                      

Off. Coord.         V. Ellison                                

Def. Coord.         M. McWilliams                             

   

Cleveland Browns        Team      Rank  

Rushes per Game         33.0      2           

Rushing Yards           122.9     10          

Yards Per Carry         3.73      28          

Pass Attempts           27.8      29          

Completions             17.6      30          

Completion Pct.         63.5      13          

Passing Yards           203.9     23          

Yards Per Attempt       7.35      4           

Yards Per Catch         11.57     3 (T)       

Total Yardage Gained    317.2     20          

3rd Down Conversions    41.0      8           

Points Per Game         24.3      4           

Pass Rush Pct.          24.8      2           

Pass Defense Pct.       78.8      1           

Turnovers               14        3           

Turnover Margin         +12       2 (T)       

   

Opponents               Team      Rank  

Rushes per Game         25.7      9           

Rushing Yards           124.5     24          

Yards Per Carry         4.85      32          

Pass Attempts           36.4      26          

Completions             18.0      4 (T)       

Completion Pct.         49.4      1           

Passing Yards           173.4     3           

Yards Per Attempt       4.76      1           

Yards Per Catch         9.63      1           

Total Yardage Gained    286.0     3           

3rd Down Conversions    32.3      2           

Points Per Game         12.8      1           

Pass Rush Pct.          17.5      8           

Pass Defense Pct.       44.6      12          

Turnovers               26        9 (T)       

   

Week  Team  Versus        Oppnt  

1     27    CIN           10      

2     24    at WAS        0       

3     27    DEN           0       

4     16    TEN           10      

5     20    at JAX        24      

6     19    at HOU        9       

7     16    BAL           22      

8     37    IND           7       

9     12    at PIT        9       

11    20    at CIN        10      

12    33    at PHI        13      

13    27    at NYJ        23      

14    30    NYK           17      

15    29    PIT           17      

16    31    DAL           17      

17    20    at BAL        17      

   

Passing                 Pos   Att   Comp  Yards Y/Att TD    Int   Rate  

13 G. Sturch            QB    415   260   3010  7.25  20    7     93.5    

**Team                  ---   444   282   3262  7.35  21    7     94.8    

$$Opp                   ---   583   288   2774  4.76  11    17    57.2    

   

Rushing                 Pos   Att   Yards Y/Att TD    Fum  

10 H. Jarvis            RB    270   971   3.60  5     5       

40 Z. Russell           RB    208   787   3.78  7     5       

13 G. Sturch            QB    43    195   4.53  0     5       

**Team                  ---   528   1967  3.73  12    18      

$$Opp                   ---   411   1992  4.85  10    19      

   

Receiving               Pos   Targ  Catch Yards Y/Ctc Y/Tar Drop  TD  

8 R. Cole               WR    117   75    1067  14.23 9.12  6     6       

81 K. Lane              WR    70    41    603   14.71 8.61  5     2       

40 Z. Russell           RB    52    39    245   6.28  4.71  4     5       

18 D. Fiedler           WR    59    33    316   9.58  5.36  4     1       

80 M. Nixon             TE    48    30    292   9.73  6.08  1     1       

82 C. Wolfe             WR    40    24    388   16.17 9.70  2     2       

   

Defense                 Pos   Tack  Asst  Sack  Hurr  Ints  Defn  PDPct  

35 S. Lyons             S     95    17    0.0   0     5     16    86.0    

50 J. Long              ILB   81    28    0.0   1     2     9     78.5    

93 A. DeVore            OLB   59    20    4.5   10    0     9     80.0    

38 P. Scott             CB    54    17    0.0   0     3     11    82.3    

41 M. Carter            S     48    18    0.0   0     1     18    84.9    

28 R. Porter            CB    31    6     0.0   0     2     9     83.6    

27 W. Clayton           CB    28    10    0.0   0     1     1     79.9    

77 D. Sanders           DE    28    5     7.0   8     0     1     81.3    

33 T. Ferguson          S     27    19    0.0   0     0     10    83.4    

59 J. Matthews          OLB   25    3     1.0   0     1     2     77.6    

94 S. Christy           DT    25    9     2.0   7     1     1     83.1    

30 K. Mieske            CB    24    8     0.5   0     0     1     77.7    

19 G. Ballard           DE    24    7     10.0  20    0     1     82.8    

58 W. McElroy           ILB   24    11    0.0   0     0     0     76.5    

91 W. Emanuel           ILB   23    5     0.0   0     0     1     75.5    

43 T. Roosevelt         S     21    11    0.0   0     0     1     75.5    

52 G. Ross              OLB   19    3     0.0   2     1     3     81.2    

95 J. Glenn             DT    19    13    3.0   13    0     0     82.1    

92 K. Rayburn           DT    18    3     3.5   9     0     0     81.2

Well, the running game wasn't what I had hoped for, but we accomplished the true goal of the regular season – we're the #1 seed again. DE Ballard was having a great year at LDE, but after 9 games came down with impaired vision, and the dreaded out-unknown, and is still sidelined. That our defense was still this great without both our top pass rushers for most of the year suggests we have things clicking nicely over there. Our pass attack remains efficient, and we posted Cole's first 1,000 yard season.

Our 205 points allowed is obviously league best, as is our +183 points margin. We ought to be the favorites to win it all, on paper.
So... of course, we're one and out in the postseason, losing in our opener to 9-7 Buffalo on an overtime field goal. So, that's that.

Requested Reneg: CB Porter, 5/48(15)
Open Reneg: S Lyons, 4/28(9)
Trade: trade up from 1.30 to 1.18

2021
Season Reset – 2020
Retirements: none (wow)
Roster situation: 38 signed, 2 RFAs, $44m cap room (29%)
Draft picks: our 7 at slot 30
Top priorities: LB, CB, DE

Free agent overview:

Code:

Cleveland Browns Roster, Scout Overview

   

  Player                #   Pos   Start Exp  Current Estimate  Future Estimate Cntrct 

Church, Lorenzo         79  LT          5    58                58                ---  

Young, Warren           56  C           5    53                53                ---  

Nixon, Marc             80  TE          7    50                50                ---  

DeVore, Albert          93  WLB         5    48                48                ---  

Cassidy, Adrian         60  RG          11   46                46                ---  

Burton, Darryl          47  P           4    42                42                ---  

Seiferling, Monty       98  LDE         9    39                39                ---  

Sanders, Darrin         77  RDE         10   38                38                ---  

Christy, Spencer        94  NT          4    37                49                ---  

Owens, Karl             88  TE          6    35                35                ---  

Russell, Zach           40  RB          10   34                34                ---  

Schwartz, Carl          1   QB          5    29                39                ---  

Manusky, Jerry          49  FS          12   28                28                ---  

Sweeney, Mitchell       3   QB          6    24                24                ---  

Clemons, Chris          36  FL          13   7                 15                ---

I don't really know who in this crop will get pursued by other teams, but my own needs probably dictate that we pursue our offensive linemen, in order probably T Church and then C Young,both of whom wanted long term RFA deals last year but I had to offer only one season due to my rules.

Stg FA Pursued Terms Notes
1.2 C Young 3/7.2 no bidders on any other CLE players yet
1.3
1.4 offers in on TE Nixon, G Cassidy
1.5 G Cassidy to SFO
1.6 C Young finally re-signs here
1.7 TE Nixon 3/min trying to outbid GBY
1.8 TE Nixon re-signs here
1.9 T Church 6/36 S Manusky signed by HOU (?!?)
1.10 QB Schwartz 3/min
1.11 DE Seiferling 3/4.5
1.12 RB Russell 3/min fading, but value to us

Pick Pos Name Adj 4TBAJP Dev O/U Pre Post Notes
1.30 DE Tim Newton 5.8 ! !-- 54% dni 47/63 50/60 4.61 dash, can't pass up
2.30 RG Robert Starnes 5.1 ! + 43% dni 12/44 15/42 4.95 dash, need, aff
3.30 DE Cornelius Hernandez 5.2 ++ 25% VU 17/41 20/42 scout rec, affinity
4.30 QB Brian Murray 5.7 ~+~~~+ 23% HTR 9/52 11/43 top guy on board, 3xAff
5.30 RB Kelly Brennan 3.6 ---+ 39% VO 19/32 28/41 End/Elus combo, aff
6.30 CB Roger Slay 4.1 + – 25% VO 18/54 19/46 Coverage bars for depth
7.30 CB Victor Carr 3.8 -+--- 53% VO 16/44 17/38 Coverage bars for depth

[u]
Stg FA Pursued Terms Notes [u]
2.1 WR Clemons 3/min affinity gimp, signs immediately
2.2 LB DeVore 5/20 need to outbid NO now, DE Sanders also getting bid
2.3 RG Christian Durham 4/14 aff add to OL, all base salary, 3rd yr guy 59/59
2.4 QB Mitchell Sweeney 3/min 3xAff, retail guy for cohesion I guess
2.5 TE Karl Owens 3/min Aff, cohesion, versatile ST and reserve guy

Requested Reneg: WR Kendrick Lane, 5/22
Open Reneg: WR Rico Cole (holdout)
Trade:

Offseason Commentary:

This was probably the most uninspiring draft I have had in a long time. DE Newton looks like a one-trick pass rusher (no major problem with that) but I had hoped to land a good-looking affinity FB/TE guy in round two, and missed. After that, nothing of real interest...was actually tedious just to go through. Committing to affinity does that sometimes, and since I hope/expect to carry all these draft picks for 4 years under these rules, I'm figuring cohesion and chemistry will need to aid me.

(training camp run)

Okay, we get a VSOL out of the blue for RB Kelly Brennan, which should give us some flexibility. He gained in weird places (big time KR now, which is nice) but his overall rating will overstate his actual utility as a RB. Right now, Jarvis and Russell are both rated 42/42, and now Brennan at 28/41. In time, this could be trouble, as I don't expect Brennan (zero brk spd, and zero hole rec) to actually be productive carrying the ball.

Since I also let the staff set the depth chart, I might need 4 QB for the foreseeable future, as Schwartz is up to 29/35, and Sturch is only 32/32. If I want my experienced starter to take the snaps, I may have to deactivate Schwartz (who actually may be the better option, it's just tough to bench the bye-week-team starter.

2021 Season Snapshot
Roster Rating: 52 (but t12th – watch out for Detroit)
Cohesion: 78-100(96)-92-97
AffIndex: 97
Last Year's Results: 14-2, #1 seed, lost in divisional game
Goal for Season: #1 seed and champs
Keys to Success: Maintain pass pressure, turnovers, run 150+/gm
Yes, the summary is basically the same as last season. If we end up a power team in the regular season and then fizzle in the playoffs once more, I might shake things up (like at QB). But for now, we just hope that this team remains a “contender” and eventually cashes in its chips.

Code:

2021 Summary for Cleveland Browns

   

Year                2021                                      

Record              10-7                                      

Winning Pct.        .588                                      

All-Time            130-77-1                                  

Winning Pct.        .627                                      

Playoffs            6-7                                       

Playoff Visits      7                                         

Bowl Wins           0                                         

Head Coach          Na'il Diggs                               

Record              102-39                                    

Winning Pct.        .723                                      

Off. Coord.         V. Ellison                                

Def. Coord.         M. McWilliams                             

   

Cleveland Browns        Team      Rank  

Rushes per Game         32.7      1           

Rushing Yards           140.9     3           

Yards Per Carry         4.31      14          

Pass Attempts           27.8      32          

Completions             18.7      30 (T)      

Completion Pct.         67.2      3           

Passing Yards           233.3     11          

Yards Per Attempt       8.39      1           

Yards Per Catch         12.48     1           

Total Yardage Gained    361.6     5           

3rd Down Conversions    42.3      4           

Points Per Game         26.9      3           

Pass Rush Pct.          25.0      1           

Pass Defense Pct.       66.0      1           

Turnovers               19        9 (T)       

Turnover Margin         +3        13 (T)      

   

Opponents               Team      Rank  

Rushes per Game         26.3      14          

Rushing Yards           141.3     28 (T)      

Yards Per Carry         5.37      32          

Pass Attempts           31.6      10          

Completions             16.6      1           

Completion Pct.         52.7      1           

Passing Yards           177.2     1           

Yards Per Attempt       5.61      1           

Yards Per Catch         10.66     17          

Total Yardage Gained    305.9     10          

3rd Down Conversions    33.7      8           

Points Per Game         18.0      11          

Pass Rush Pct.          18.3      13 (T)      

Pass Defense Pct.       33.8      3           

Turnovers               22        19 (T)      

   

Week  Team  Versus        Oppnt  

1     24    at PIT        27      

2     45    MIN           10      

3     14    at JAX        27      

5     48    DEN           14      

6     28    OAK           13      

7     14    at SDO        17      

8     24    at KCY        19      

9     34    BAL           24      

10    24    PIT           9       

11    13    CIN           6       

12    34    at CHI        20      

13    31    NYJ           3       

14    23    at DET        27      

15    17    at BAL        24      

16    30    GBY           14      

17    27    at CIN        34      

$$WC  9     at BUF        27      

   

Passing                 Pos   Att   Comp  Yards Y/Att TD    Int   Rate  

13 G. Sturch            QB    426   287   3575  8.39  30    10    106.9   

**Team                  ---   445   299   3733  8.39  32    10    107.6   

$$Opp                   ---   505   266   2835  5.61  19    13    71.2    

   

Rushing                 Pos   Att   Yards Y/Att TD    Fum  

40 Z. Russell           RB    295   1299  4.40  8     6       

10 H. Jarvis            RB    149   582   3.91  3     4       

13 G. Sturch            QB    61    240   3.93  2     7       

**Team                  ---   523   2254  4.31  13    24      

$$Opp                   ---   421   2261  5.37  12    21      

   

Receiving               Pos   Targ  Catch Yards Y/Ctc Y/Tar Drop  TD  

8 R. Cole               WR    114   77    980   12.73 8.60  4     11      

18 D. Fiedler           WR    101   62    963   15.53 9.53  4     7       

40 Z. Russell           RB    54    41    364   8.88  6.74  0     4       

48 K. Norton            TE    38    23    192   8.35  5.05  3     1       

81 K. Lane              WR    28    22    391   17.77 13.96 0     3       

82 C. Wolfe             WR    35    18    233   12.94 6.66  6     2       

80 M. Nixon             TE    21    17    219   12.88 10.43 1     1       

37 B. Ackerman          FB    17    16    187   11.69 11.00 1     1       

   

Defense                 Pos   Tack  Asst  Sack  Hurr  Ints  Defn  PDPct  

35 S. Lyons             S     93    37    0.0   1     1     12    81.4    

50 J. Long              ILB   66    19    0.5   1     0     4     76.2    

28 R. Porter            CB    59    21    0.0   1     3     17    84.1    

93 A. DeVore            OLB   49    18    4.0   7     1     7     81.4    

38 P. Scott             CB    48    17    1.0   0     3     6     79.6    

33 T. Ferguson          S     47    9     0.0   0     3     6     82.5    

41 M. Carter            S     47    11    0.0   0     1     10    81.3    

19 G. Ballard           DE    45    14    11.5  26    0     0     81.2    

46 R. Slay              CB    38    14    0.0   0     0     1     76.0    

58 W. McElroy           ILB   28    6     0.0   0     0     1     77.0    

91 W. Emanuel           ILB   27    10    0.0   0     1     1     75.9    

43 T. Roosevelt         S     26    3     0.0   0     0     0     76.1    

95 J. Glenn             DT    21    10    4.0   16    0     0     81.0    

97 A. Fields            DE    17    9     2.5   11    0     1     82.8    

94 S. Christy           DT    17    9     1.5   8     0     0     82.5    

49 T. Newton            DE    16    7     7.0   14    0     0     82.0

Well, give our hopes, I wasn't happy at 0-1, 1-2, nor 3-3. Nor 10-6. But we still make the playoffs, and on paper look like a fairly tough out.

However, Buffalo wraps us up with another one-and-out postseason, and it may be time to take a look around a bit.

On offense, Storch actually posted his best season by far, 8.4-30-10. Zach Russell oddly regained his starting job and again posted awfully solid numbers on 4.4 ypc. And young WR Fiedler looks like he'll do awfully well for us in time, posting better than 9 ypc in year two – great sign there.

Basically, the defense posted the measurables I wanted also – tops in both PR% and PD%, and best in the league in ypa allowed. DE Newton, by the way, ends the season rated 100 and 98 in pass rushing bars, he could be a terror as soon as next season. Hmmm... plus 142 in points, and basically all the stats I covet. So, why were we only 10-7 again? Bad dice rolls, mostly?

Anyway, moving on...

By the way, I definitely need to make at least pone change to the rules here. Maybe this:

-there can be only one new non-rookie player added in late free agency

Just too many quality 3rd and 4th year guys out there (plus cut veterans) to play that segment of the season "wide open." I landed a need player last year, but deferred on signing any of 3-4 other impact players who surely would have accepted cam friendly deals by stage 2:3 or so. FOF handles this situation poorly, I need a rule to limit it, I think.

I think I am also going to do away with renegotiations altogether. Just don't think this is tough enough otherwise.

Possibly dead. Two boring drafts in a row, plus a general lack of urgency or excitement may have coupled with a somewhat busy schedule to doom this.

Placeholder thoughts, if so:
-I like the one-at-a-time idea in general
-Definitely do away with renegs altogether
-Maybe also do away with any re-signing of RFAs - dump them into FA2?

I don't think the rules I have in place now create any meaningful challenge, but this might be a start -- especially for a team that's trying to build, rather than just maintain (as I have been here, sort of).

So, I broke out of my rut by abandoning the write-up, and just playing on. No intention to detail the small scale stuff here, but here's a quick catch-up -- more for purposes of evaluating the rules, than assessing the team.

For 2022, new head coach (Walter Jones?!?), unimpressive draft, and another very familiar outcome. We were 15-0 playing against 12-3 Pittsburgh, we lose to them to drop the perfect record, and the lose to them again in the divisional game to notch yet another one-and-out payoffs. In 2023, we are a 12-4 #1 seed, make the title game but lose again. Nothing spectacular either season.

Skipping renegs finally caught up to me in 2024, where I had four starters all up for new contracts at once. Despite my run-first team approach, I decided to make WR Fiedler my priority, and in the four weeks it took to re-up with him, we watched our star SS and starting MLB get signed elsewhere. Along with another couple of random defections, this was the first offseason where I didn't get basically everything I wanted. I did use some cap space on a new star-caliber CB (six year deal, which seems like a major factor in this setup long term), but watched my defense drop from dominant to decent, and we slipped to a 10-6 wild card spot (following several straight bye weeks).

In the 2025 offseason, I had another dilemma - had to target re-signing my young CB Huffman, lost another couple of valuable pieces in free agency, and had to repair my chemistry setup, suffering a major loss in cohesion in the midst. We managed a 10-6 division title, and yet another one-and-out in the postseason.

We enter 2026 with 12 rookies (two trade-downs, the only way I had to fill my roster) and only 52 players, after it took 5 weeks for DE Tim Newton to re-up with us. More turnover, and certainly less ability for me to simply have my way with the offseason goings on.

I'm re-interested in playing this out... but some early indications are that this setup is pretty easy to follow, and provides some substantial challenge. What I don't know is whether I'm compounding the challenge unreasonably by my own non-rule-based insistence (this run-first approach, and staff-depth-charting chiefly) --but right at the moment, I'm honestly not sure if this team in three years will be more likely to win 14 or 7 games. That's fairly encouraging.

Well, a quick update here, just as a check-in on this concept. Here's the progression playing under the rules I basically left off with... playing pretty much wide open, except no renegs and only one FA offer at a time, ever.

Here's what we have done:

Code:



GM Performance for Michael & Jeff Sanderson of the Cleveland Browns

   

Year  Team  Eval  Perf  Diff  Proft FrVal Record    Playoffs  

2045  CLE   95    90    76    100   100   13-4-0    Division Final         

2044  CLE   85    78    77    87    100   13-5-0    Division Final         

2043  CLE   92    78    76    100   100   12-6-0    Conference Final       

2042  CLE   95    90    77    100   98    13-5-0    Conference Final       

2041  CLE   93    86    77    98    98    15-4-0    Conference Champion    

2040  CLE   64    63    77    54    100   12-6-0    Division Final         

2039  CLE   66    66    73    56    100   12-6-0    Division Final         

2038  CLE   73    83    74    60    99    12-6-0    Conference Final       

2037  CLE   41    78    74    0     100   13-5-0    Division Final         

2036  CLE   48    86    74    11    91    16-3-0    Bowl Winner            

2035  CLE   46    90    75    3     96    17-2-0    Bowl Winner            

2034  CLE   64    90    74    42    86    16-3-0    Bowl Winner            

2033  CLE   60    90    75    33    90    18-1-0    Bowl Winner            

2032  CLE   67    86    75    50    85    15-4-0    Conference Champion    

2031  CLE   51    90    76    13    97    17-2-0    Bowl Winner            

2030  CLE   57    81    76    30    99    15-4-0    Bowl Winner            

2029  CLE   44    90    76    0     94    15-3-0    Conference Final       

2028  CLE   42    83    75    0     97    16-3-0    Bowl Winner            

2027  CLE   46    90    74    2     100   14-3-0    Division Final         

2026  CLE   60    63    73    52    77    14-6-0    Conference Champion    

2025  CLE   74    86    72    64    88    12-6-0    Conference Final       

2024  CLE   65    57    71    59    100   10-7-0    Wild Card Round        

2023  CLE   92    86    71    100   90    14-5-0    Conference Champion    

2022  CLE   85    83    72    89    86    15-2-0    Division Final         

2021  CLE   76    63    72    85    77    10-7-0    Wild Card Round        

2020  CLE   86    90    73    89    74    14-3-0    Division Final         

2019  CLE   84    90    73    85    75    14-3-0    Division Final         

2018  CLE   80    83    74    83    72    14-5-0    Conference Champion    

2017  CLE   79    90    74    78    67    16-2-0    Conference Final       

2016  CLE   72    74    76    74    64    14-6-0    Conference Champion    

2015  CLE   76    86    76    77    55    12-5-0    Division Final         

2014  CLE   69    52    76    82    55    8-8-0     None                   

2013  CLE   65    28    75    87    57    6-10-0    None                   

2012  CLE   71    60    77    82    57    10-6-0    None                   

2011  CLE   61    34    76    76    59    6-9-1     None                   

2010  CLE   62    45    75    71    63    8-8-0     None                   

2009  CLE   53    5     75    75    67    4-12-0    None

Bottom line, we lined up a quality QB and reeled off a monstrous run for several seasons. In 2034, our QB had a CEI, but we remained atop the heap with a great WR corps, and high cohesion and chemistry, and despite slipping from regular champion to just regular bye-week-team, that's where we remain. Our current QB is scouted at 47/47, but has a career passer rating of about 113 -- that's where we are as a franchise.

Maybe we are just in an unlucky rut, or maybe there's something systematically keeping us away from playoff success at the moment, but we have managed to achieve excellent results playing under these rules.

The last 2 seasons have been played with about 48 total players on the roster, as we had a couple FA delays (guys taking 5 stages to sign with us) muck up the numbers game, but that hasn't proven to be a serious issue.

Overall, rules are too easy overall, but they do lend themselves to a quick sit down, pick it back up, and play out a whole season in 90 minutes... which sort of suits my needs right now.

I'm thinking about either reviving this career, or starting a new one with similar rules. I think the rule set that might inch even closer to the ideal is this:

-No renegotiations, period (all players hit the free market)
-No re-signing RFAs in the early FA period (they too hit the open market, in the late FA stages)
-No more than one offer outstanding to any player (including your own) in any stage of free agency
-After signing a player to a deal other than either (a) his exact request or (b) a minsal deal, skip a stage before submitting another offer to any player
-No signing of any players in any other way than the 16 stages of free agency, and the rookie draft
-No other obvious shenanigans (like swapping future draft picks)

The biggest weakness in the way I had been playing was the ability to sign some pretty good players to cap-friendly long term deals, even if that wasn't what they wanted. So, the 4th rule above is designed to make me pay a price for doing so -- losing out on one more FA signing is actually a fairly big deal in this setup, so it would at least have to be a pretty attractive player/contract to get me to pay the "sit out" price. My guess is I'd end up signing more and more guys to exactly-what-they-want deals, meaning more backloading and theoretically more cap troubles -- which would be a good thing.

This is honestly evolving into one of the better sets of rules I have played with, I think. At least for my current needs (quicker, simpler than years ago, I suppose) it's not bad.

Short follow-up: Not hard enough. Fairly quickly turned shell of new team's roster into a perennial powerhouse. I have been cycling through lower-round players and not resigning many RFAs, but my rules allowing me to acquire top talent in free agency is just too easy to abuse, even with a "stiffs at WR" policy added on top of the rules laid out above.

Okay, new thinking now -- need a cap limitation in place as well.

-No renegotiations, period (all players hit the free market)
-No re-signing RFAs in the early FA period (they too hit the open market, in the late FA stages)
-No more than one offer outstanding to any player (including your own) in any stage of free agency
-After signing a player to a deal other than either (a) his exact request or (b) a minsal deal, skip a stage before submitting another offer to any player
-No signing of any players in any other way than the 16 stages of free agency, and the rookie draft
-No acquiring future first round draft picks
-No WR rated >50 overall or >50 in BPR may be signed or re-signed
-Start each season with dead cap space equal to 1/3 of total cap

So far, this is working out really well for me. Team got behind a journeyman QB and a 1600-yard rookie RB and won a Superbowl for its first in 14 years (and the first under the tougher rules) but in the following offseason we lost our starting QB, 2nd best CB, top tier TE, and two valuable reserves as we got trapped in a bidding war, spending too much to keep our favorite CB around. Team isn't falling apart at any point, but I have actually missed the postseason once or twice, and have only been a serious title contender (i.e. 11+ wins and/or bye week) maybe one year in three.

Encouraging so far. Easy to remember, easy to play through quickly, keeps things challenging enough.

Against my usual tendency, I still occasionally dabble with this team.

Thinking about tightening things up with one big new rule -- signing a free agent from outside my roster can only be done one of two ways:

-minsal
-one year deal, no bonus

Would make it much tougher to add in veteran talent (or the pretty good 3rd-6th year guys who have become my FA staple diet of late) -- as I'd need to sign them once and then extend after that season on the open market. I like this in concept, have yet to implement in practice.