[stkelly52]

2029
We took a couple of weeks to bask in the exhilarating of our championship, but that is all the time that we can afford to take. We need to get back to work getting the team ready for next season, and there is much that needs to be done. There are major shake ups going on in Atlanta. Last season everything came together perfectly for one magical year; but things are going to be more difficult for us this year. Our entire staff is at the conclusion of their contracts, and it is unlikely that we will be able to reacquire their services. The Falcons have been loosing money hand over fist. We have not had a profitable season since 2010. Since I have taken over the team we have lost over $230 million. That is a lot of money and our owner just is not able to keep putting that kind of money into the team. My owner has contacted me to let me know that we will no longer be allowed to spend this way. We are going to have many limits on what we are allowed to spend our money on. We are not likely going to be able to pay any large signing bonuses this year.

While I really want to keep my entire staff, there is just no way to pull off the deal. I do manage to resign my DC for a very low price. My offensive coordinator may well be the best OC in the game today. He agreed to a pay cut, but he is still the highest paid OC in the league. My coach received several other bids that I was just not able to compete with. I had no choice but to wish him the best and look in another direction. I pick up a new young coach with no professional experience. He is the lowest paid head coach in the game. For my scout, there is just no way to keep my old scout. He is eventually signed to a deal that makes him the highest paid scout. Instead I find a bargain, picking up an above average scout for a below average price.

I was paying 17 million a year in salary to my coaches, but that figure is down to about 10 million
I was paying 740,000 for my lead scout, but I will now pay just 250,000.
All told this should save us about 21 million a year. This is not quite enough to get us back in the black again, but it will greatly help.

Now I take a look at my roster to see if there are any players that I want to franchise. I have three starters from last year that are available for free agency, a WR, a TE and a LT. There is no way that I will franchise an average WR or TE. The LT is a bit on the older side, and he is starting to begin his decline. I am not sure that I want to pay 8 million in this time of financial hardship for a player like this. But at the same time, I don't have anyone ready to jump in and take his place. I decide that I will franchise him, and if I can't make a reasonable renegotiated deal with him, then I will have to trade him away.

I go through free agency attempting to be as frugal as possible. I don't pick up any major new players for my roster. However, I do lose several players that I just can't afford to pay. This will particularly hurt on defense.

During the draft, I don't have a first round pick, and my second round pick is late in the draft. By the time that I get around to my pick, there really isn't much to choose from. I pick the best players that I can find, but only one looks like he will become a future starter. In the 6th round I picked up a FB that looked like he might develop into a decent backup. After training camp, he really broke out and now looks like he could be our starter as soon as next year. Right now I have a great FB on my roster, but in his 4 years in the league, he has missed 21 games, and 16 games in the last two seasons. I don't have a lot of patience for players who are injury prone, so I don't expect to resign him.