So, here’s an assessment of our total roster going into the 2096 season. We come off back to back conference titles, albeit with no trophy to show for it. But that seems to place us in “go for it” mode, pretty obviously (despite my misgivings that this team really isn’t all that good). Regardless, this is typically a pretty fun exercise.
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Player # Pos Start Exp Current Estimate Future Estimate Cntrct
Gelenaw, Shane 114 QB 8 68 68 1 yr.
Reynolds, Shane 111 QB 5 13 25 ---
Gelenaw has developed nicely into a run-first but throw-well-enough guy. Not what I typically build around, but it’s been fun. Last season he scaled back on the running as we handed off to Wells more for some reason. It’s tough to me to track my gameplan as I am forced to submit files from two computers, and that makes things tricky to track unless I save every single thing in a Dropbox location with names (and I’m frequently too lazy to do that). So, in short, I intended to use the same gameplan the last two seasons, but I’m not certain that I did so.
Reynolds is a high-affinity backup with no talent who should re-sign for nothing. If not, we’ll likely just plug in with somebody similar. Have to take advantage of the no-injury setup here… so don’t invest any resources into unused backups.
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Player # Pos Start Exp Current Estimate Future Estimate Cntrct
Wells, Terry 231 RB 7 78 78 1 yr.
Soward, Tyler 237 RB 3 31 32 ---
Sullivan, Theodore 334 FB 8 53 53 2 yrs.
Mysteriously great season for Wells last season. So, we’re… basically all set here? Soward is a long-term chem guy (96 ldr/100 pers), Sullivan is a solid blocker. If a good RB2 candidate comes along, fine, but Soward only got 26 carries last year, so that’s hardly a priority, as long as we can afford Wells.
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Player # Pos Start Exp Current Estimate Future Estimate Cntrct
Ristic, Asher 448 TE 9 53 53 2 yrs.
Lindsay, Cory 488 TE 7 48 48 2 yrs.
Barnes, Burt 442 TE 8 44 44 1 yr.
Grebene, Brody 481 TE 2 33 61 3 yrs.
Solid, but unspectacular. I wanted to “start” Grebene last season, but my last-minute roster shuffling caused him to get Rexed to inactive. He’s a chem problem long term (96 ldr/65 pers – and yes, that is still enough of a mismatch to make him a bad long term fit… I rarely am willing get by with a position leader with personality that low). So, he may end up being a cut if we find a better fit longer term – he’s only rotation-caliber at best anyhow.
TE would be a good spot to stumble into a long term asset here, with my top three guys all being paid handsomely and on the back half of their careers.
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Player # Pos Start Exp Current Estimate Future Estimate Cntrct
Eschbach, Ray 502 FL 5 47 47 4 yrs.
Gaines, Edward 585 FL 7 46 46 3 yrs.
Miller, Brett 512 FL 8 34 34 ---
Griffin, Vince 529 FL 7 34 34 1 yr.
Everett, Cornelius 517 SE 6 56 56 2 yrs.
Joseph, Amos 582 SE 4 45 45 ---
Weird situation here. Nobody is actually great – Everett is our highest-rated guy, but with a zero endurance, he seems to under-deliver. I just re-upped with Eschbach and Gaines, so they are sort o locked in, despite being pretty mediocre. I used Joseph (89 GD not much else) in the slot last year, to pretty good effect (8.5 ypt) but he’s looking for $11m/yr to re-sign. I might do just as well with Everett getting those targets.
If we could find some way to add a WR1/WR2 caliber guy to this group, I would be very happy. If not, we will likely just continue to spread it around among this B-minus lot. Grinding out a 7 ypa air game, with a good TD/Int ratio, to complement a good ground game seems like a “good enough,” if not overwhelming, recipe for success.
As always, I will fall for some phony-bars rookie in round 3 or 4, who ends up being basically useless. It’s something of a tradition for me.
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Player # Pos Start Exp Current Estimate Future Estimate Cntrct
Hucke, Ty 652 C 7 53 53 2 yrs.
Gillespie, Elliot 661 C 3 19 49 1 yr.
Meek, DeAndre 775 RG 5 46 46 ---
Henderson, Demetrius 769 RG 2 36 45 3 yrs.
Ballard, Evan 777 RG 4 33 46 1 yr.
Tatum, Alfredo 873 LT 10 69 69 2 yrs.
Darche, Quentin 872 RT 4 48 48 1 yr.
Bates, Joe 863 RT 10 6 6 1 yr.
The line, I guess, is in good shape for right now. The twist is that Bates, our leader, is pissed off about playing time (despite that 6/6 skill rating) and won’t re-sign. So, I should plan for this to be his last season as our chem anchor.
Skill-wise, I’d be fine letting this group play together a while – Tatum is good, Hucke is a big run blocker, and the rest are all fine. G Meek needs a new deal, he’s not great but cohesion makes him valuable to me, so I’d guess I’ll like him more than anyone else.
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Player # Pos Start Exp Current Estimate Future Estimate Cntrct
Wilhite, Trevor 904 P 2 39 49 3 yrs.
Goodwin, Jimmie 1003K 10 53 53 2 yrs.
Whatever. Drafted both slots last year, but my veteran K was better than the rookie turned out to be. So it goes.
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Player # Pos Start Exp Current Estimate Future Estimate Cntrct
Baxter, A.J. 1198LDE 6 93 93 3 yrs.
McKenzie, Ike 1196LDE 5 62 62 2 yrs.
Durham, Mo 1149RDE 10 65 65 2 yrs.
Pugh, Isaiah 1159RDE 7 65 65 1 yr.
Dunn, Bucky 1295NT 2 61 69 3 yrs.
Heath, Conner 1292NT 3 55 55 2 yrs.
Our pride and joy right here. Baxter was a BPA draftee who was too good to overlook at pick 14 a few years ago, bumped up from his 70-something projection, and is now a top-tie guy. I don’t know… 47 tackles and 11 sacks doesn’t seem like it’s really worth the $42m in cap room he occupies, but he’s so good and has such high endurance, than we don’t have to go deep at the D& position just because of him. Everyone else is solid – Durham is declining but we’re in fine shape here. LB Shields will try to gain weight and move to DE for this year – he’s the longish term chemistry anchor for this group now (73/96) and has a 96 in PRTech, so he’s usable as a situational pass rusher.
Honestly, given the talent of this bunch, I’m a bit disappointed that we aren’t an overpowering pass rush by the numbers, but I’m hopeful we’ll see things bump up this season and beyond.
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Player # Pos Start Exp Current Estimate Future Estimate Cntrct
Zastudil, Byron 1357SILB 10 54 54 1 yr.
Kerr, Heath 1354WILB 2 45 45 3 yrs.
Myre, Darien 1355MLB 7 41 41 2 yrs.
Lofton, Jonathan 1405SLB 4 76 76 1 yr.
Wicks, Melvin 1451SLB 6 51 51 2 yrs.
Shields, Don 1458SLB 6 47 47 2 yrs.
Voetberg, Bucky 1415WLB 3 30 30 2 yrs.
We run a 3-4, and with Shields all but moved to DE, this is actually a fairly thin position. Lofton is a stud, but a non-affinity guy (from a missed draft pick, my bad) and everyone is capable here. LB is a place where talent tends to fall, so I don’t rule out looking here when pick 1.31 comes around.
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Player # Pos Start Exp Current Estimate Future Estimate Cntrct
Hudson, Dillon 1530LCB 7 66 66 1 yr.
Frierson, Byron 1528RCB 2 60 62 3 yrs.
Hardin, Irv 1525RCB 3 56 62 2 yrs.
Mueller, Shaquille 1532RCB 4 50 50 1 yr.
DiMatteo, Doug 1543RCB 2 47 61 3 yrs.
Littlejohn, Brian 1647SS 5 54 54 2 yrs.
Nichols, Cody 1639SS 3 48 48 2 yrs.
Barker, Owen 1636FS 12 46 46 1 yr.
Walker, DeAndre 1627FS 4 43 43 2 yrs.
Foss, Chris 1645FS 8 41 41 2 yrs.
Finnegan, Jamal 1646FS 10 33 33 1 yr.
Pearson, Randall 666 LS 2 20 20 ---
So, this group is deep but not excellent. Hudson is a CB1 (from the 3rd round, yay me) and the rotation behind him are all good enough to play in any situation (Mueller doesn’t play zone well, but I can work around that). Littlejohn is good enough and a KR stud (over 30 yd avg last two years) so he just got extended. Barker is a fading semi-star, we could use a long term asset at S as well.
Players Under Contract: 44
Inactive: 0
On Active Roster: 44
Salary Cap: $579,500,000
Cap Room: $97,450,000
Maximum for New Player: $77,020,000
Cap Room Lost (to old contracts): $1,800,000
So… close to 20% of the cap available, and we’re effectively at 51 players already. Add in the RFAs/bums that I expect to sign (WR Joseph, RB Soward, QB Reynolds) and we’re already at our limit.
So, mentally, in free agency I’m looking for:
-impact player anywhere, naturally
-quality depth in places where we need it (OL, WR, LB, S)
-high chem guys who could make the roster once half my draft go poof