Free Agency
As I prepare for the free agency period, my first move is to release DT Drew Worsham. That clears up about ten million in cap space for us – and that’s what we need to make this offseason work properly. We’ll have to replace Worsham (who was very, very solid) but we ought to be okay with this much cap room to work with.
I start out the process with three offers to my own players:
QB Deion Brock looks like he might be very affordable - $10m or so over 4 yrs.
RB Gus Stewart will be costly – my offer is $24m for 3 yrs.
CB Randy Furr looks affordable, to my surprise - $4m for 3 yrs.
DT Marshall Porter is my first free agent target. He’s excellent against the run, and has been pretty stable with his health. He would be a suitable replacement for the departed Drew Worsham – and would keep us in pretty good shape across the defensive line.
The big issue down the line is going to be QB Glenn Dixon. He is looking for a very big contract – ramping up to over $10 million per season by its end.
In the very first week of free agency, Arizona snaps up my star LB Gino Michl. Good addition for them, but costly – about $6m per year.
Our pursuits all go well – and by week five we have everyone signed. Gus Stewart is the last to come aboard, but we lock him up.
T Irv Wilson and WR Ted Pendleton both are signed away – to no surprise. We’ll work to replace Pendleton, who was a solid complementary player for us. Tackle will be tough, though.
DT Dusty Laudenback is a solid and promising defensive player, and comes cheaply for a three year deal. Nice addition for us.
S Herman Washington looks pretty solid – a possible starter for us, after Kirk Weed (still unsigned) departs. Maybe even sooner – he’s probably more ready to play right now than the declining Weed is.
RB Greg Tatum will be our next attempt to secure a solid, productive #2 running back. He’s not a utility man, just a straight-ahead runner, with a 1,000-yards season just two years ago for St. Louis.
LB Lewis Wynn will give us some extra depth at LB, and will probably become a gunner for us on special teams – solid cheap pickup.
So far, I have to be pretty pleased – plus, we have a good deal of space left under our cap for whatever we need to do. At QB, we have Deion Brock locked up for four years, which makes the re-signing of young Glenn Dixon a little bit puzzling. Do we pay big money for a young guy who looks pretty good, while we have a very solid veteran ready to play for the foreseeable future? Do we sign Dixon and start him ahead of Brock? Do we sign Dixon and then try to deal him (next year, perhaps)? Options are wide open.
We have $3.5 million in usable cap space, and 42 signed players (plus 7 draft picks coming in). That leaves us with 4 holes to fill. I decide to wait until after the rookie draft, see what we pick up there, and then spend the rest of our budget at our remaining need areas. I’m still open to using nearly all the remaining cap space on QB Glenn Dixon, too – if I’m pleased with what we can find among the rookie class for this season.
2023 Rookie Draft
My main target area is LT – I’d love to grab a solid starter there with our top pick. I’ll also be looking for useful players at ILB and CB, especially if we can’t get a high quality tackle as hoped. Landing a nice reserve-quality TE/FB would be helpful, too, somewhere in the draft.
The guy I want in this draft is T Harvey James, ranked #9 overall by weighted ratings. Looks like a superb pas blocker, just what we want on the left side. If he goes early, then it’s a real drop to the next tackle – Juan Steel might be a second-rounder, but not worthy of the top of the draft, I don’t think.
Harvey James goes at #11 to Carolina – there go our hopes of landing him in round one. I decide to use our first pick on Luke Culhane, a speedy defensive back out of Oregon who looks like he has the skills to play either safety or corner. Plus, he has a great built-in nickname, which always works for me. “Cool Hand” it is.
By the end of round two, there’s nobody worth pursuing hotly at tackle – so we will just have to make do there, once again.
Code:
Amateur Draft Report:
Rnd 1 - Luke Culhane, S, Oregon
Rnd 2 - Floyd Taylor, WR, Michigan
Rnd 3 - Myron Lindsay, ILB, Michigan Tech
Rnd 4 - Joey Rice, DE, Kentucky Wesleyan
Rnd 5 - Wendell Wright, T, Indiana
Rnd 6 - Brent Sloane, RB, Arizona
Rnd 7 - Richie Naeole, FB, Mississippi
WR Taylor is a speed burner type, a kick returner, but probably not a prolific receiver. Good complement to Pritchett, I hope – future starter, I think.
LB Lindsay is a quick and agile ‘backer, who has good run-stopping skills. DE Rice has loads of potential – a longshot to pay off. LT Wright might help fill a hole is we really need it. RB Sloane looked like the best player available there, and FB Naeole might be bumped to play tight end – he has the size to do that, I think.
Late Free Agency
Great news – QB Glenn Dixon is interested in re-signing with us, and it shows in his contract demands, which have become MUCH more reasonable. I work out a five year deal with him – that will take him through Deion Brock’s contract and then one year beyond. Outstanding news – I really wanted to keep both guys around.
With all our rookies except Culhane (whom we have now slotted at cornerback) signed, we have 48 players under contract, and $4.3 million in cap space.
WR Mickey Shelton is a pretty solid player, a 12th year veteran who could add an awful lot to our squad. Our receiving corps is pretty enthused about his addition – we think he will become a mentor and leader for us, not to mention a very solid reserve player. Great signing.
New deals with S Kirk Weed and CB Monty Diaz ought to keep our secondary pretty stable – both are solid veterans who can still play. Weed is losing a step rapidly, but can still help us – and he didn’t get any other offers, so he comes cheaply.
I pursue T Marc Michels, a decent 3rd year player who might have to start for us this season. He’s been a little stubborn, wanting more than he is really worth, but he’s a lot cheaper than the creaky veterans who were our other option. C Justin nelson will probably become out utility backup lineman, getting a little playing time across the board as injuries arise.
Finally, as we need help on the defensive line, we offer a new one year deal to Jerome Jaramillo. The one-dimensional pass rusher was solid for us for three years from 2017-19, and has the rare skill among D-linemen: he stays healthy. I expect to use him as our left side DE in passing situations – and he might well add six or eight sacks for us, while playing for peanuts.
My toughest roster cut is WR Cornelius Tilton – he’s been with us for 11 years, but has really slipped in his ability, and spent most of last season on the inactive list. Sine we have signed another leader and mentor to our receiver group, Tilton can’t justify his $1.2 million salary. Regrettably, I still cannot get DB Luke Culhane signed before training camp, which was the point.
Training Camp
Code:
Player # Pos Start Exp C F C F ChgC ChgF
Dixon, Glenn 19 QB 4 60 70 60 70 0 0
Brock, Deion 2 QB 11 57 57 57 57 0 0
Fulton, Lenny 18 QB 1 23 50 27 54 4 4
Bryant, Tyrus 16 QB 1 5 40 7 36 2 -4
Stewart, Gus 39 RB 10 65 66 65 66 0 0
Tatum, Greg 43 RB 5 49 49 50 50 1 1
Sims, Daryl 37 RB 5 32 34 33 34 1 0
Sloane, Brent 40 RB 1 25 36 27 36 2 0
Hansen, Desmond 49 RB 1 25 39 26 36 1 -3
Beers, Preston 48 FB 5 56 56 56 56 0 0
Naeole, Richie 38 FB 1 25 37 27 35 2 -2
Sellers, Karl 80 TE 8 80 80 80 80 0 0
Johnston, Donnell 81 TE 2 21 40 24 40 3 0
Carrillo, Donovan 47 TE 1 11 52 13 46 2 -6
Parker, Dwayne 88 FL 3 38 43 40 43 2 0
Taylor, Floyd 84 FL 1 32 41 31 40 -1 -1
Shelton, Mickey 82 SE 12 64 65 64 65 0 0
Pritchett, Don 89 SE 6 64 64 64 64 0 0
Fender, Ethan 87 SE 2 24 30 26 30 2 0
Beyer, Jackie 57 C 4 72 72 72 72 0 0
Nelson, Justin 53 C 5 61 61 66 66 5 5
Somerville, Moe 68 RG 7 74 74 74 74 0 0
Cunningham, Ted 56 RG 5 50 53 50 53 0 0
Sandmeyer, Casey 67 RG 2 8 31 10 31 2 0
Michels, Marc 75 LT 3 39 48 42 48 3 0
Wynn, Kim 63 LT 1 20 33 24 40 4 7
Baugh, Glenn 69 LT 2 6 49 10 49 4 0
Walsh, Tommie 66 LT 1 8 34 9 31 1 -3
Raymond, Travis 65 LT 1 9 31 9 26 0 -5
Wright, Wendell 71 LT 1 8 25 8 21 0 -4
Glaspie, Nathan 78 RT 11 34 34 34 34 0 0
James, Ellis 64 RT 1 19 26 20 27 1 1
Palmer, Roy 15 P 2 60 72 63 72 3 0
Bass, Peter 14 K 3 74 74 74 74 0 0
McCombs, Randal 94 LDE 9 30 30 30 30 0 0
Hutton, Trevor 72 LDE 1 17 33 19 33 2 0
Rice, Joey 74 LDE 1 12 44 14 40 2 -4
Finch, Zach 77 RDE 4 70 73 74 74 4 1
Jaramillo, Jerome 98 RDE 10 38 38 38 38 0 0
Porter, Marshall 73 LDT 8 64 64 64 64 0 0
Laudenback, Dusty 95 LDT 6 41 49 43 49 2 0
Alston, Leo 90 LDT 12 26 29 26 29 0 0
Campbell, Kevin 96 LDT 1 16 36 18 33 2 -3
Heap, Riddick 99 RDT 2 47 62 51 62 4 0
Lindsay, Myron 59 WILB 1 12 47 16 45 4 -2
Wallace, Andrew 55 MLB 12 50 50 50 50 0 0
May, Steven 50 SLB 10 56 56 56 56 0 0
Wynn, Lewis 92 SLB 8 50 50 50 50 0 0
Dodge, Kurt 91 SLB 13 41 41 41 41 0 0
Adamson, David 51 WLB 6 54 62 56 62 2 0
Enochs, Ty 28 LCB 9 47 47 47 47 0 0
Furr, Randy 32 LCB 11 43 45 43 45 0 0
Diaz, Monty 34 LCB 12 42 42 42 42 0 0
Culhane, Luke 44 RCB 1 21 70 21 64 0 -6
Weed, Kirk 24 SS 15 40 40 40 40 0 0
Washington, Herman 27 SS 4 35 48 39 48 4 0
Eskridge, Kenneth 20 FS 12 66 66 66 66 0 0
Helmuth, Pat 35 FS 6 43 54 46 54 3 0
Well, Luke Culhane lost a good bit of his glimmer in training camp – but we will still try to sign him. I have just had dreadful results when drafting defensive backs early – safety Kenneth Eskridge panned out great, but I’ve missed in the first two rounds much more than I have hit.
At LT, it looks like a giant mess – but rookie Kim Wynn looked sharp in camp, and might get a bone fide look at the position. But I’m not really thrilled with any of my options there – it’s still a need area.
QB Lenny Fulton, an undrafted rookie pick up, looks like he has pretty nice potential – might be yet another decent young QB we bring into the league and then watch him go play for someone else for a long career.
Season Analysis
Our cohesion remains a major asset – we are top five in every category: 100(84)-85-93-100(66). Our secondary is becoming absurd – we are WAY ahead of anyone else in terms of cohesion there. Culhane will get some playing time, but needs to be broken in with all these veterans back there.
We have the second highest roster rating of 88, behind only St. Louis. Rivals Pittsburgh and Miami are both pretty well placed – so they ought to be in the mix again. Baltimore rates a 44 – perhaps dropping off a bit from last year’s playoff run team.
We have to be thinking about winning it all. We win it all two years ago, and have gathered four rings in the last eight seasons. Last year, we were a very dominant team, but got stung in the playoffs. This season, we return most of the important cogs in that machine – and will be looking for a top seed once again. No quarter!