So, I'll take a look at our DB group now - because our chemistry woes have now been abated with the trade for CB Douglas. That ought to lock him up as our long term group leader (95 leadership) for the foreseeable future.
The new question that poses is - can he overtake CB Everett, rendering him neutral and potentially keep-able? I had been assuming that Everett had to go because his leadership (7th/76Ldr) was going to be too much for my presumed long-term leader (SS Thomas, 3rd/82Ldr) to ever eclipse. I wish I knew exactly when Everett would yield to Douglas - my guess is it will be in two more years (6/95 > 8+/75) but I could be off by a year either way. That means I would probably need to make a re-signing decision first, and only then hopefully see Everett drop out of the picture.
Here's what kinda sucks with no cap constraints... there's really no market for a guy like Everett. I paid him like a monster, I'd be eating $60m in signing bonus, he remains a very solid CB1, and a receiving team would get him at only $18m (market value maybe $30-40m?) but since most teams have plenty of cap space, who cares?
Anyway, with Douglas as the leader, I'll lay out the plan from here:
Code:
Group Ldr/Prs Exp Role Name Notes
8/9 33/57 7 CB2/3 Sammie Metzenbaum could play safety too
8/9 72/99 3 CB4 Gregory Baskerville big bump, ST
8/9 21/98 4 CB3-5 Tony Rumans big zone, good dime guy
8/9 62/55 6 CB3-5 Diego Wordehoff big zone. ST
11/12 6/10 3 CB4-6 Nicholas Barlow release... no longer a fit for our leader
8/9 100/98 2 CB2-4 Richie Keeler big statics, please boom
8/9 31/68 5 S2/3 Malcolm Crane mediocre balanced... bubble guy as FA now
8/9 36/88 3 S2/3 Levi McGee maybe SS rotation
7/8 82/97 3 Bench Thomas Thomas some run/zone, weak
8/9 3/35 2 SS2 Cole Thomas Run D, bump, Int
11/12 95/73 4 SS1 Riley Douglas Rotation SS, chemistry leader
This puts S Thomas Thomas onto the bench, likely forever. Hey, in a zero injury league, somebody has to ride the pine. Might as well be a dude with his starts in hand, no skills top merit a real contract, and a 97 personality... right?
On the other hand, CB Barlow will be the odd man out. Kinda weird skills anyhow (90+ man but weak in other coverages? what do I do with a guy like that?) and very weak in chemistry anyhow... he'll be a fairly easy goodbye.