[QuikSand]

2019 preseason

Our team cleared $31m last season, which is pretty solid. We are about 12th in franchise value, which should boost in a few years in our new digs.

My scout and coach are both out of their contracts. The scout, Brad Mason, is an easy call—I’ll pay whatever it takes. I offer him $1.4m for 5yrs, which would make him the highest-paid scout in the league, by about 10%. At coach, I have more thinking to do. My current guy has gotten us to four Superbowls, but I’m not entirely sold on him. However, after poring through the available cast, I end up retaining Reggie Killens. Both guys are brought back for another run at the ring.

In the pre-season announcements, I see the first game-generated player who gets admitted into the Hall of Fame. RB Aaron Valentino gets in with 16,434 yards rushing and 151 TDs in his 12 seasons—the yards stand as second best in league history, while the TD mark holds it top spot. As loyal readers will know, he spent some of that career with our own Cleveland Browns, helping us to our first two titles. He is, however, admitted as a New York Giant—as he started his career there and played more years for them than anyone.

We have 33 players already signed for this year, meaning we’ll have some holes to fill. This year, we do not have a lot of cap room to work with, though—only $21.4m at this point (though we’ll get that mysterious bump). We have lost two players to retirement—LB Antione Buhl just wore down after several productive seasons, and WR Jumbo Jeffries was glad to get another go-round with his buddy Morse before hanging them up. Both losses are replaceable. We may extand an offer to Jeffries to come aboard as receivers coach.

The players we have who are free agents are a solid lot, but really nobody essential. RB Gino Stanton once looked like the go-to guy for this franchise, but his rising star was largely eclipsed by Corey Harper, and he now sits on the pile about to be sent forth into the free agent marketplace. S Kenneth Cassidy is alongtime backup, but never evolved much past that role and can be replaced. The other mature free agents are all fill-in players we signed last year, knowing they would only stay for one season. Among younger players, FB Barry Jacobson is the standout—he’s a nearly-flawless player who can run, block, and do it all. I’ll try to hold on to him, if possible. My two young LBs Brock Hopkins and Jared Hoffman are both up—both would e nice to keep, but their demands will likely preclude that. The rest of the youngsters will be allowed to depart fairly quietly.

I really do not have an obvious franchise target. I opt to tag QB Cedric Helton, a decent backup QB who filled in last season. He might be worth paying the one-year tender this year, or else dealing after the draft. In either case, he has some modest value.

I get an intriguing trade offer—a first round pick for CB John Donaldson. While I like Donaldson, it is a position of strength, and he’ll be due to ask for a huge salary increase next season. I decide to take the deal, and hopefully use the #25 overall pick to grab a quality youngster—possibly even at CB. I also accept a deal for G J.B. Gaskins, getting a 3rd round pick for him. I have exceptional quality at C, and I intend to start one of my C reserves at G, making my decent-quality G (who would leave next year anyway) expendable—I’ll fill the 3rd G slot with a rookie FA.

I let the FA period get started, and I have no part in it early. Superbowl winning QB Ernest Montemayor is in the FA pool, but Chicago seems to be willing to pay to keep him. Though he is fading fast. My RB Gino Stanton gets a $13m/yr offer from Miami—and he has to think about it. He eventually signs, as does TE Darrel Kalter, who heads to Pittsburgh.

I sew up FB Jacobson, who is a RFA but is critical to keep. I have a long look at the contract of QB Jesse Morse—who is making $14m this year and will be up for free agency next season. To renegotiate him means bumping him to around $20, for this season—and I think I’d rather use that money to make an improvement this year. RB Corey Harper is also up for free agency next year—but he’ll be restricted, so I won’t need to franchise him.

We pick up a couple fill-in players at S and T. Neither will be a major contributor, but they are both solid depth providers. In the late stages, I see that a few solid CBs have not received offers. I put up $27m over 4 years to a pretty solid CB Percy Reddick. I put in a comparable offer for WR Calvin Kummerfeldt, who has also dropped his demands a good deal since the FA period has left him in the cold. Both players sign my offer sheets, and come aboard as solid improvements to our staff. CB Reddick is not quite as telented as John Donaldson, but he should fit well into a 3-man rotation with Randall Terrell and Kerry deMarco.

With picks at 25 and 35, I am hoping to address some need areas. DE is a high priority for this team—the FA pool was again devoid of major talent there. I probably need a youth infusion at safety, and could use an additional contributor at LB as well. If a strong OT shows up, that is another area where I need quality, but not necessarily quantity.

This looks like a generally pretty thin draft, a real disappointment. I settle on a pretty good tackle as my first pick, but I am pretty disappointed with the quality of my picks early.

Amateur Draft Report:

Rnd 1 - Jamal Hughey, T, Florida
Rnd 1 - Kelvin McNamee, S, Washington
Rnd 2 - Lester Forbes, LB, Rutgers
Rnd 3 - Jimmie Dowell, G, Monmouth, NJ
Rnd 3 - Quinn Woody, S, UNLV
Rnd 4 - Ricky Hancock, DT, Boston College
Rnd 5 - Ricardo Douglas, LB, South Carolina
Rnd 6 - Bubba Phenix, RB, Michigan
Rnd 6 - Jake Hardy, TE, Iowa
Rnd 7 - Kyle Kirby, QB, North Carolina
Rnd 7 - Kenyon Reed, WR, Arizona

I hadn’t planned to draft two safeties, but I was honestly torn between McNamee and Woody in late round one… then saw Woody drop and drop. Nobody else here is a real standout—a solid draft, I suppose, but nothing too exciting.

I make a deal with Detroit, sending my franchise QB to them in order to move from round three to round one in next year’s draft. I couldn’t afford Helton’s $12m salary, anyway.

I prepare for training camp, and I make a special note of a few players who I believe (by my current theory) will be busts in this draft. I see one CB, one WR, and a S—all of whom I am fairly certain will bust. I see a couple more similar players, who I will also watch for.

My first round pick, T Jamal Hughey, is a modest bust. He dropped about 15 points across the board. He’ll still contribute, but won’t be worth the early pick. To my surprise, my other first round pick S Kelvin McNamee is a nearly total bust. He retains some return skills, but his coverage ability is practically nil now. I’m glad I doubled up at safety in this draft, because my other guy is very solid. RB Bubba Phenix is also a total bust—he’s practically worthless, as he appears after camp. This was a very tough training camp.

Busted safety McNamee is a puzzle for me. He had excellent return ability before the draft, which shaded down a bit, but largely stayed with him. He lost practically everything in his main ratings—current ratings dropping from the 32-34 range to the 2-5 range; and potentials dropping from 65-75 to 15-25. Tough to figure.

I release McNamee after training camp, clearing some cap room in the process. We have $4m to spend, and need to pick up a defensive end, a cornerback, and probably a linebacker. I am disappointed with the selection at DE—which is becoming the thinnest position in this career. DE Earl Rice is the best I can do, and he isn’t particularly good. I also sign LB Jerome DeLorraine, who will probably be my #2 linebacker for this season. I pick up a fill-in cornerback in Matthew King, who was a good-looking free agent this year who nobody took.

After picking up King, I release CB Percy Riddick, who has become expendable. I have had a tumultuous off-season, and I’m moving willy-nilly all over the place. Riddick’s cap room allows me to go and retain LB Jared Hoffman, who will return to us and probably fit into our mix at LB, possibly as our 4th man.

Position/Player Current Est Future Est Exp Sgnd
QB Jesse Morse 16 16 13 2019
QB Kenny Parker 8 14 2 2020
QB Kyle Kirby 4 10 1 2020
RB Corey Harper 14 14 3 2019
RB Cary Gant 13 13 3 2020
RB R.J. Jenkins 8 8 2 2020
FB Barry Jacobson 14 14 4 2021
FB Al Dodge 9 9 6 2019
FB Gus Caldwell 4 8 1 2019
TE Al Hayden 9 10 2 2019
TE Jake Hardy 7 9 1 2020
WR Frank Willis 13 15 2 2020
WR Cary Harvey 12 14 6 2020
WR A.J. Quinn 12 12 6 2021
WR Horace Warren 11 12 14 2019
WR Calvin Kummerfeldt 9 10 5 2022
WR Kenyon Reed 6 6 1 2021
C Cole Unsbee 14 19 2 2021
C Ronnie Blair 16 18 4 2021
C Bernie Reynolds 8 11 3 2019
G J.C. Reid 8 12 2 2021
G Jimmie Dowell 7 11 1 2021
G Lonnie Fletcher 7 9 3 2024
T Troy Stone 14 14 6 2022
T Jamal Hughey 3 11 1 2023
T Herb Edmond 7 8 2 2025
P Blake Brady 8 8 1 2019
K Gary Jennings 7 7 1 2019
DE Cedric Corsarie 16 16 9 2020
DE Kenny Zonnefeld 7 10 3 2024
DE Earl Rice 6 6 9 2019
DT Claude Archuleta 17 19 4 2020
DT Ricky Hancock 3 14 1 2021
DT Bob Dernbach 9 12 4 2019
DT Carlos Robertson 3 9 2 2020
LB Matt Giles 15 16 5 2020
LB Billy Joe Philips 8 14 3 2020
LB Lester Forbes 4 13 1 2022
LB Jerome DeLorraine 11 12 6 2019
LB Lester Stokes 6 12 2 2019
LB Ricardo Douglas 4 12 1 2020
LB Jared Hoffman 8 11 4 2019
LB Brett Amos 6 8 1 2019
CB Randal Terrell 13 14 6 2022
CB Matthew King 12 13 5 2019
CB Kerry de Marco 9 11 6 2021
CB Kelly Griffith 3 4 1 2019
S Billy Joe Franklin 15 15 13 2019
S Lionel McGraw 14 14 9 2019
S Quinn Woody 6 14 1 2021
S Stanley Crutchfield 5 9 2 2025

It’s a team in a slightly different shape than I came into this year, and I’m not sure that’s for the better. With a close Superbowl loss, then a double-bust in the first round this year, we can’t help but feel snakebitten.

I’ll hope that we move past a bad offseason, and focus on the tasks at hand. The good news is that we have more talent at WR than ever before, and Morse should be jumping for joy with 5 legit wideouts to work with. On defense, our LB corps is a little weakened, but we hope that LB DeLorraine helps to cover those weaknesses until Philips develops more fully. (LB is a weakness of my coach—this is worth remembering)

We should be a player this year—maybe 12 wins or so, and a bye week seems reasonable. If things break well for us, I think a big run is not out of the question. I do not have the same confidence that I did during our best seasons, though, and I feel like the bottom could fall out. Pivotal year, seemingly.