So, for more background,
here's where we were last season, statistically. I am reluctant to use this, as I failed to submit my file and had a very messed up roster for the regular season, but there are at least some takeaways, I think.
7.5 ypa passing is okay (but not great) for a pass-a-lot team, but the 19/12 ratio is totally unacceptable. Ideally, if we're going to pass the ball 600 times, I want to get at least 8 ypa, and more like 35+ TDs. (The prior season, Gunn put up 505/8.7/48/11 and was among the candidates for OPOY). We had to deal off our WR2 for cap reasons, that may have played a big role, but honestly the point of the offense is mainly to get the ball to Duran (still 9.5 ypt in an off year), and to try to keep things honest otherwise.
Defensively, it's hard to tell from these stats, but I feel we were just not good enough. The in-game summary would be better, but sadly that won't come up without loading old files, etc. So, I'll just say that my overall thinking here is: it's an old team, with some young skill players to build around. We're basically ready to go now, but need to have some quality guys behind our current old starters, that's my main focus.
Main areas I'm trying to target for future contributors: DL, LB, TE, S, C
Thus far in the rookie draft, we have ticked off the top two slots in order. That's not a retrofitted list, that's honestly where I was looking anyway.
From here, I know I'm not good enough of a drafter to be likely to land anything too serious in rounds 4 or beyond, so I will be playing some chemistry fit guys in hopes of finding some rotation-caliber types who can stick around a while based on having one skill, special teams, or whatnot. That's more or less my m.o. in this game. I do have a fair number of day-three draft picks from years gone by still on my team, but I am pretty merciless with guys who don't look like long term fits, especially on defense where it's laborious to manufacture starts for them.