No Running in Tom Brady's Empty Cupboard Challenge
Premise: Draft a QB in the 6th round or later (UDFA also) that wins 6 or more Super Bowls using an all passing gameplan after beginning with a random player file draft where the worst players are chosen to start the team
Conditions: Contract extensions must be exactly what the player requests, cannot sign another teams FAs, only AI initiated trades, UDFAs to fill roster, injuries off, salary cap and scouting at default
2025 - Year 6
Draft
Scouted ratings are after the draft and then before Week 1
We might have a winner for the new worst draft of this playthrough. Really a reach for Burgess in the 1st but my desperation for a TE got the better of me. Abrams looks like the best player of the draft with Turner a nice 3rd round CB. As usual most depth picks as a result of a lackluster draft with QB Joe Amari picked simply because he ran the fastest 40 yard dash and had no green combine scores. Really not sure if this years class moves the needle at all for the team, if we have better success it will be because of progression and cohesion as their wasn't a big talent influx.
Code:
Pick Player # Pos Start Exp Cur Fut
1.12 Burgess, Camden 440 TE 1 34 68
2.16 Ballard, Adam 1547LCB 1 32 57
2.17 Abrams, Sergio 768 RG 1 25 75
3.16 Turner, Dwight 1525RCB 1 36 65
4.15 Whiting, Shaquille 1637SS 1 19 49
5.14 De Jongh, Gavin 1497WLB 1 24 59
6.13 Burrell, Marshall 1457WLB 1 11 45
7.12 Amari, Joe 103 QB 1 7 26
Well I seem to be on a run of bad drafts, this year headlined but a bust with my 1st round pick, TE Camden Burgess. In addition to a big drop from the scouts for Burgess, every other draft pick went down in scouted rating. Burgess is my own fault as I didn't trust the 'overrated' interview, but most of the others are a bit surprising. Since progression is non-linear we'll see how they pan out, maybe a nice bump in year two.
Code:
Pick Player # Pos Start Exp Cur Fut
1.12 Burgess, Camden 440 TE 1 34 54
2.16 Ballard, Adam 1547LCB 1 36 54
2.17 Abrams, Sergio 768 RG 1 30 74
3.16 Turner, Dwight 1525RCB 1 41 63
4.15 Whiting, Shaquille 1637SS 1 24 44
5.14 De Jongh, Gavin 1497WLB 1 31 53
6.13 Burrell, Marshall 1457WLB 1 14 36
7.12 Amari, Joe 103 QB 1 8 25
QB Room
Some changes were made to the staff last year and Wooden might need to start. Since Schwantes didn't really improve in his 2nd year, despite better weapons and improved cohesion, maybe its time to switch back. If I trust my scouts I think I may be able to actually find a good QB in the 6th/7th round as I've done it before. Until then its between Wooden and Schwantes to lead this team to the playoffs.
Code:
Player # Pos Start Exp Cur Fut Cntrct OnTeam
Wooden, Jeffrey 102 QB 4 35 50 1 yr. 2022
Schwantes, Graham 107 QB QB 3 27 45 2 yrs. 2023
Campbell, Tristan 101 QB 2 10 39 3 yrs. 2024
Amari, Joe 103 QB 1 8 25 4 yrs. 2025
Season - 9-7, 2nd in AFC East
Schwantes struggled early in the year so I made the switch to Wooden and he took the Patriots to the playoffs for the first time. The biggest difference in their play was INTs with Wooden posting over a 1.5 to 1 TD to INT ratio. Ultimately making the playoffs would be symbolic getting bounced in the Wild Card round but either way shows the team still moving in the right direction. Given the lack of success compared to the testing I did when making the playbook I think I may need to start from scratch before next training camp. When I did it the team makeup was similar except the QB was much better because my initial idea was to see what a great QB could do. We'll see if I can have any better success making a playbook more specific to a low rated QB.
Code:
Passing Pos Att Comp Yards Y/Att TD Int Rate
2 J. Wooden QB 677 395 4328 6.39 29 19 79.9
7 G. Schwantes QB 118 70 777 6.58 5 5 75.4
**Team --- 795 465 5105 6.42 34 24 79.3
$$Opp --- 671 412 4208 6.27 20 10 83.1
Rushing Pos Att Yards Y/Att TD Fum
2 J. Wooden QB 163 732 4.49 1 7
**Team --- 191 864 4.52 4 22
$$Opp --- 461 2269 4.92 14 13
Individual Stats
Code:
Receiving Pos Targ Catch Yards Y/Ctc Y/Tar Drop TD
82 A. Devine WR 306 163 2056 12.61 6.72 18 15
86 B. Dennis WR 118 70 830 11.86 7.03 4 7
80 M. Borders TE 106 65 690 10.62 6.51 1 5
88 L. Al Shawa WR 83 51 498 9.76 6.00 3 2
33 J. Berry FB 38 31 333 10.74 8.76 0 2
83 C. Burgess TE 35 22 173 7.86 4.94 2 0
35 M. O'Neill RB 21 16 92 5.75 4.38 0 1
Defense Pos Tack Asst Sack Hurr Ints Defn PDPct
21 T. Leinaweaver S 139 33 0.5 1 1 11 75.1
58 T. Weir ILB 92 36 0.0 1 0 8 75.3
55 L. Thompson OLB 80 22 2.5 2 1 1 79.4
98 A. Everett OLB 78 30 4.0 5 1 10 79.8
32 N. Meteer CB 58 25 0.5 2 2 13 77.5
95 J. Norton DT 53 20 7.0 21 0 1 81.4
46 B. Mitchell S 53 15 0.0 0 1 6 77.9
38 E. Newhart CB 50 27 0.5 1 1 7 78.6
77 W. Stone DE 47 14 8.0 20 0 0 81.2
28 R. Walton CB 44 4 0.0 0 2 10 77.8
93 D. Shea DT 35 8 3.0 21 0 0 81.5
56 W. Sawyer DE 33 13 1.0 0 0 2 73.7
42 S. Petherick S 32 8 0.0 1 1 3 76.8
90 B. Land DE 28 11 4.5 12 0 0 81.4
97 G. De Jongh OLB 18 9 0.0 0 0 1 76.6
Team Stats
Code:
New England Patriots Team Rank
Rushes per Game 11.9 32
Rushing Yards 54.0 32
Yards Per Carry 4.52 12
Pass Attempts 49.7 1
Completions 29.1 1
Completion Pct. 58.5 29
Passing Yards 319.1 1
Yards Per Attempt 6.42 18 (T)
Yards Per Catch 10.98 13
Total Yardage Gained 358.7 11
3rd Down Conversions 36.4 16 (T)
Points Per Game 25.4 6
Pass Rush Pct. 21.1 11
Pass Defense Pct. 44.6 25 (T)
Turnovers 33 31
Turnover Margin -15 31
Opponents Team Rank
Rushes per Game 28.8 26
Rushing Yards 141.8 31
Yards Per Carry 4.92 31
Pass Attempts 41.9 32
Completions 25.8 32
Completion Pct. 61.4 18
Passing Yards 263.0 26 (T)
Yards Per Attempt 6.27 6
Yards Per Catch 10.21 5
Total Yardage Gained 392.4 32
3rd Down Conversions 35.8 18 (T)
Points Per Game 23.3 26
Pass Rush Pct. 21.7 23 (T)
Pass Defense Pct. 56.0 28
Turnovers 18 21 (T)