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09-21-2005, 12:33 PM
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#1 | ||
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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FOF - The MinSal Challenge
Just a quick little exploratory FOF career – here, I plan to follow one simple rule. We will only sign players who are willing to play for a minimum salary contract. No drafting, no bonuses, no negotiating. And no bidding for high quality free agents – my players will all play for the minimum salary allowable for their experience level, or they will go elsewhere.
After an initial draft, and one familiar QuikSim season, we clear out the entire roster, and launch this team from scratch, “empty cupboard” style. |
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09-21-2005, 12:33 PM
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#2 |
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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2005 Free Agency
With no players signed at all, this initial period will be our first team skeleton. For this career, here are the available salaries. I am going to turn off inflation, so these will become very familiar over time: R: 2: 330 3: 400 4: 490 5-7: 580 8-9: 700 10+: 810 Playing within these limits, I am once again going to try to do the usual “team optimization” routine, and will try to manage the team's intangibles. Specifically, I will try to land a few low-skill veteran players who we can try to build the team around from a chemistry perspective – and we will endeavor to build a strong affinity team from that foundation. On my first look, it's pretty clear that most anyone of any quality is just not looking to sign for minsal in the early stages -- even semi-decent players are looking for a chance to make a little bit more than that, and won't even listen to my offers. SO, we will probably have to do a lot of our work in the late FA period, after the draft – where we will also be looking to sign a bunch of undrafted rookies to two year minsal deals. In the early going, I find a sort of “sweet spot” with third year players, for whatever reason, and get a handful of decent guys to sign two year deals with us. So, that's a nice start – especially since we seem to have landed a few guys who can really play at some of the tougher positions. CB Jimmie Parrish is a likely starter, and so are DT Marcus Buckley and LT Mark Knight. The next soft spot seems to be with older players, many of whom will sign three year deals with us at minsal. So, by the end of the first FA stages, we have a roster up to 15 players, including a pretty high quality pass-catching tight end and a fairly passable sextet along the defensive line. In fact, at the moment, we have six players on the defensive line, al of whom look passable, and who are led by 12th year DT Ryan Martinez, who is the ideal position leader for us – veteran, high leadership, mentor, and high personality. Regrettably, none of the others have an affinity with him – but my early success here suggests that we won't have too much trouble picking up passable veterans to play at DL. So far, though, we have zero linebackers. It looks like we have our secondary leader also in hard-hitting 12th year safety J.J. Molenar, though not a mentor, he fits the bill otherwise. Still work to do on the OL and across the offense. In the late FA stages (after we sit out the draft completely, trading al our picks to Arizona for nothing) we go to work filling out the roster more completely. We are pretty quickly up to 25 players, including our first two bodies to step in at QB - 5th year Derick Lathon and 16th year Wade Matsui. Neither guy is worth writing home about, not surprisingly, but I think this is going to end up being a pretty run-heavy team anyway. Rookie J.B. Bauer also signs up, and he actually might turn out to be our guy for these two years, who knows? I go through each position group, grabbing a few guys everywhere, and soon enough, we have a full roster of 65 players, and we are all ready for training camp. I'm not going to follow my players in any detail through camps in this career – I have little choice but to focus on the short run, anyway. Following training camp, here is the scout's view of our roster: [code]Cleveland Browns Roster, Scout Overview Player # Pos Start Exp Current Estimate Future Estimate Cntrct ##Matsui, Wade 2 QB 16 32 37 3 yrs ##Lathon, Derrick 5 QB 7 29 47 3 yrs Swift, Christian 19 QB 6 27 50 3 yrs Bauer, J.B. 15 QB QB 1 22 41 2 yrs Andersen, Brian 16 QB 1 21 50 2 yrs Diana, Louie 23 RB RB 3 38 47 2 yrs Woodson, Quentin 48 RB 13 34 34 3 yrs Godfrey, Ty 21 RB 3 28 37 2 yrs McDuffie, William 41 FB FB 10 34 40 2 yrs Dema, Van 88 TE TE 7 55 55 3 yrs Witkop, Lance 83 TE 12 38 44 3 yrs Spivey, Alex 82 TE 6 36 51 3 yrs Becker, Stanley 86 FL FL 3 35 50 2 yrs Howe, Howie 87 FL 4 32 38 3 yrs Tippett, Bill 89 SE SE 10 40 40 3 yrs ##Hudson, Lee 85 SE 3 33 45 2 yrs Cate, Stanley 81 SE 13 31 31 3 yrs ##Gale, Moe 84 SE 4 25 41 3 yrs Jackson, Tyrus 80 SE 1 23 40 2 yrs Sherman, Oliver 56 C C 6 23 48 3 yrs MacClelland, Aaron 52 C 1 17 32 2 yrs Longo, Perry 60 LG LG 5 26 40 3 yrs Harden, Antonio 62 RG RG 1 17 27 2 yrs Malinowski, Juan 67 RG 1 3 33 2 yrs Knight, Mark 70 LT LT 3 30 46 2 yrs Russell, Kendrick 74 RT RT 9 22 36 3 yrs Dole, Kim 66 RT 8 18 25 3 yrs Ross, Freddie 8 P 1 43 60 2 yrs Horton, Jorge 17 K 17 36 36 1 yr. Pringle, Harold 75 LDE LDE 7 31 43 3 yrs Gilmore, Wally 79 LDE 4 27 32 3 yrs McDaniel, Craig 73 RDE RDE 10 32 32 3 yrs Houston, Rick 91 RDE 6 29 39 3 yrs ##Draft, James 71 RDE 1 23 35 2 yrs Dougherty, Chester 97 LDT 6 34 38 3 yrs Martinez, Ryan 78 LDT LDT 12 33 33 3 yrs ##Galloway, Ty 94 LDT 7 32 39 3 yrs ##Buckley, Marcus 76 LDT 3 27 44 2 yrs ##Jeffries, Zack 77 LDT 3 26 42 2 yrs Davison, Julio 72 RDT RDT 12 35 36 3 yrs Franz, Doug 96 MLB MLB 10 35 39 3 yrs Powell, Kennedy 93 MLB 1 11 29 2 yrs Marincic, Scottie 59 SLB SLB 11 34 40 3 yrs Bailey, Winfred 54 WLB WLB 8 26 36 3 yrs Taylor, Ed 95 WLB 5 25 36 3 yrs Glenn, Troy 26 LCB LCB 8 45 45 3 yrs Ekernas, Jim 35 LCB 7 37 37 3 yrs Conway, Jackie 22 LCB 5 31 51 3 yrs ##Ross, Tommy 27 LCB 3 28 50 2 yrs ##Aronovitch, Raymond 32 LCB 3 27 48 2 yrs Tubbs, Bo 31 RCB RCB 14 33 39 3 yrs Beattie, Justin 28 RCB 7 31 31 3 yrs ##Parrish, Jimmie 49 RCB 3 27 46 2 yrs ##Raymond, Riddick 30 RCB 1 18 36 2 yrs ##Brooks, Zack 37 RCB 1 18 42 2 yrs ##Humphries, Sammy 45 RCB 1 14 35 2 yrs Molenaar, J.J. 43 SS SS 12 37 38 3 yrs Dickson, Jeremy 36 FS FS 6 34 43 3 yrs Barker, Mickey 33 FS 5 30 41 3 yrs $$ - player is in starting lineup, ## - player is inactive. Players Under Contract: 59 Inactive: 14 On Active Roster: 45 Salary Cap: $86,500,000 Cap Room: $18,170,000 Maximum for New Player: $18,410,000 Cap Room Lost (to old contracts): $38,440,000 Cap Room Lost Next Year (to old contracts): $0 Cap Room Required Next Year: $32,280,000 [code] Among the more interesting battles will be at QB, where right now I give the edge to Christian Swift ahead of the rest of the pack. We'll probably cut Matsui, and perhaps go with four. RB Louie Diana was brought in as a kick returner, but I now think he will be our primary ball carrier, even though Woodson has the better focused ratings. The offensive line will be a weak spot, no two ways about it. We have boosted affinity there to try to get some benefit that way, but this is not a talented lot. Defensively, the LB corps is the weakness, though Doug Franz ought to be okay in the middle – expect big tackle totals. I had expected CB to be a problem – not so at all. We may bring up SS Molenaar to play as our weak-side linebacker, and use a CB in one of the starting safety slots, to best take advantage of our talents. Into the season we go – no detail here, we'll just lay out the results: Code:
Okay, so we are basically a little worse than average at everything so far. No surprises – we'll see if things come together with another season with basically the same team next year. |
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09-21-2005, 12:33 PM
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#3 |
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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2006 Season
Three retirments – RB Quentin Woodson, CB Bo Woods, and TE Lance Witkop. Woodson and Witkop were position group leaders, so we have some work to do to mend up affinities. Priority improvement areas are OL, LB, and perhaps RB. But we'll take what we can get, all told. In the late FA stages, we sign WR Money Clinton to become our new position leader at WR/TE. He is a decent, reserve-quality guy – nothing too special, admittedly. RB Richard Faith becomes our RB position leader – only a 4th year guy, so maybe he can remain in that role for a while with us. Other significant signings: LB Carlton Lee probably becomes our starting SLB S Tyrus Barlow will start at SS, and may be our best DB QB Mack Marquardt becomes our top backup QB RB Emmanuel Roberts will battle for playing time We have been utterly incapable of doing any contract extensions, which makes sense I suppose. Pretty much nobody is willing to accept a guarantee that they won’t make more than minsal in a future year. Code:
Suddenly, we are a team all about the defense. Awful on offense, but we ranked 3rd in yards per carry and 2nd in yards per attempt. Wow. LB Carlton Lee has a great season, and free agent signee Dave Cotchery stepped in at MLB, with Doug Franz still seeing plenty of playing time. But we had five defensive backs put together double-digit passes defensed, and I just did not see that coming at all. Most of these guys are signed for one more season together – we’ll endeavor to get the team up one more notch next season. |
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09-21-2005, 12:34 PM
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#4 |
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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2007 season
Going into free agency, most of our veteran players are coming into their final season of an initial three-year deal. Here is the group who are out of contract already: Code:
WR Stanley Becker has been our most reliable receiver with lee Hudson as our other regular starter, CB Jimmie Parrish has been very solid at CB, and Mark Knight has been okay for us at left tackle. But, all these guys look good enough o be asking for some real money, so unless we get really lucky and watch them sit idly by unclaimed through all of free agency, I don’t expect they’ll be up for a minsal renewal with us. Now, I have some guys who can play at CB, but WR is going to be a top priority for replacement players this year. Our passing game has been weak enough as is, without depleting our best targets. WR Lee Hudson is signed first, but he is the only one who gets a new deal in the first 16 weeks of free agency. Notable FA signings: C Josh Northrop – solid run blocker, may become our starter at C LT Dwayne Bryja – possible starter, but decent balanced lineman DE Bernie Oltmanns – decent balanced DE, solid reserve guy FB Danny McInnis – probable starter for us, though weak run blocker WR Dallas Gaylor – decent talent, best option affordable WR Earl Winslett – missed the cut two seasons ago, but is decent TE Glenn Ellison – solid young player, mixed skills RB Bert Robinson – potentially big signing, solid starting RB LB Kenny Galloway – solid player, possible starter LB Dave Fisher – solid run stopper, possible starter at WLB QB Lamar Haygood – reserve guy, long term possible starter I have been begging to land LB Heath Hamilton – he’d be a new position leader, and is a very good player… please let him drop his demand just every so slightly and accept my puny offer. No dice. Same goes for WR Stanley Becker – he wants just a shade more than minsal, and I can’t get him to accept my bids of any length. Frustratingly close, though. Veteran Holdouts: S Tyrus Barlow, LB Carlton Lee – neither is a surprise. (I’m guessing this will be an annual feature of this challenge) After camp, S Barlow ends his holdout, but Lee continues. It looks like FA signee Kenny Galloway is likely to step in to start for us at the SLB slot in Lee’s absence. As we head into the season – here is the full roster: Code:
And in our third season –we will hope to break the .500 plane for the first time, before we start to break up this original team too much: Code:
Well, an 0-4 start pretty well wiped out our hope of finishing with nine wins – but from that point on we were actually 7-5, so it’s not a total loss. Our stats only barely resemble those from last season – where is that almighty defense? On offense, Robinson at RB is a nice step up, and he is a more complete back than we have had previously. Swift was effective – but not prolific – in the passing game. We have Tyrus Jackson signed for one more season, and he might turn out to be our best receiving asset for next season. But the losses will be huge – little doubt that QB Swift will be gone, as will probably 15-20 other meaningful players for us. Some will probably eventually re-sign, but many are bound to be like my guys from last year – just a little bit too good to accept a minsal deal any more, and therefore just barely out of our reach. |
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09-21-2005, 12:35 PM
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#5 |
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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2008 season
Okay, now we have our challenges ahead – we have a legion of veteran players out of contract, and most will be unwilling to re-sign with us, I expect. So, we will lose cohesion, and possibly overall talent as well. Here’s the universe of the unsigned: Code:
So, obviously losing QB Swift will be a big deal, but it seems inevitable to me. Even I he goes unclaimed, he still likely won’t consider a new minsal deal. So, I expect Marquardt and Haygood to be our prime combatants for the starting job this season, unless we land a free agent who moves past them both. The secondary is likely to be completely ravaged. Form the initial demands, my guess is that Tyros Barlow might be our only returning player – possibly joined by safety Mickey barker, who has played in three games in three seasons. This could be very, very bleak. PLAYER RESIGNINGS DE Craig McDaniel K Jeremy Flood TE Alex Spivey LB Ed Taylor S Mickey Barker LB Doug Franz DT Ryan Martinez WR Moe Gale CB Justin Beattie NEW FREE AGENTS SIGNED DE Thurman Donaldson – 3rd year, solid, pretty good in run defense CB Mo Stone – 3rd year guy, modest skills, reserve or last resort CB Dennis Wohlabaugh – same story, decent enough to be reserve DE Benjamin Hazuga – 3rd year guy, some complementary skills, looks okay T Billy Joe Shea, T Nate Folse – both decent run blocking RTs CB Tommy Ross – old friend, return skills, decent cover man CB Ian Norton – versatile cover man, possible starter at CB for us S Winfred Arbuckle – solid veteran, good fit for our secondary LB Thurman Butler – run stopping standout, solid fit for us LB Blaine Witt – versatile linebacker, should make the team G George Gotchy – rookie, looks promising as interior run blocker C Randy Cobb – solid pass-blocking center, too good to pass up DE Ron Doyle – probable starter, solid skills, balanced RB Jeremy Tomczak – void in hole rec his only demerit – solid VETERAN HOLDOUTS LB Dave Cotchery – Slightly better than the recently re-signed Dave Franz, so we already have a contingency play in place for his absence My starting center and left guard are gone to richer contracts, so we have to add the OL to the list of crisis areas. I land two free agent tackles switch one to become a right guard, and we at least have a passable group of starters. Would be better to land one more guy later on, though. At week five of the late FA stages, QB Christian Swift is finally getting an offer – but I know he won’t listen to my minsal deals anyway. He signs his offer with Philadelphia, officially closing his chapter with us. At this point, we need to fill in with the best we can get – I have 46 players on hand right now. Another problem is the offensive line – right now, we have a massive affinity structure built all around RT Kendrick Russell, but now Russell looks like he may not be willing to re-sign with us. Russell may be lousy enough to slip through camp and be re-signable afterwards, but that’s quite a risk to take. We do land one standout free agent, in LB Lance Ringrose. Nominally a strong-side linebacker, I see in him potential as a great pass rusher. SS Rusty Back is another good fit, and comes aboard in the final stages after finally dropping his demands to our level. We head into training camp, hoping to find a couple of our current position leaders still available on the other side, especially RT Kendrick Russell. AFTER-CAMP SIGNINGS The good news is that T Russell does not get signed. The bad news is that he still isn’t open to a minsal deal, so I’m stuck. That elevates new signee Billy Joe Shea to a leadership role, where we’d have three affinities and one conflict. I take a moment to work on this, but come up with nothing. Big loss. Also, it’s very frustrating to see CB Troy Glenn, a three year standout with us, still sitting unclaimed as a free agent, but asking for a $50,000 bonus that we can’t give him. Same situation applies to S Jeremy Dickson (over $50K) and CB Jim Ekernas (over $20K). So, we lose a lot of affinity and cohesion at CB also, and have massive DB turnover as expected. I think our talent level is about where it has been, but this turnover is probably going to set us back a lot this year. Mack Marquardt gets the starting nod at QB, and there ought to be a battle between Bert Robinson and new face Jeremy Tomczak for the bulk of the carries from the RB slot. Lance Ringrose will probably step right in and take over at MLB, making Dave Cotchery’s holdout that much more irrelevant. The secondary – we’ll just do what we can there, as we have a whole new wave of guys to trot out there this year. I’m shifting to a 3-4 front this year after a little thought, so that makes things a bit different. I just think our overall talent at LB has passed that at DL, so we’ll shift to where we are deepest. Here is the roster review at the start of the season: Code:
Our roster rating is 2 out of 100, a distant last in the whole league. That is not really a surprise, though. In the season, we get to 5-3 and it looks like we have put it together a bit – but then we lose four straight and it all slips away. Sitting at 6-7, you just can’t afford to lose one more game by one point, but we do, and our hopes of a winning season are gone. Two final wing get us to .500 for the year, but we miss the playoffs and are again unable to break in for that the ninth win. Code:
So, I was horrified about the pass defense and the secondary, and it turns out that is the team’s strong suit this year. Great. Carlton lee had a superb season as our strong-side pass rushing linebacker, while Ron Doyle turned out to be a great find at DE for us. Suddenl;y, the defense looks pretty stable. Offensively, a decent season from Marquardt, but he’s likely gone now, so he gets no real chance to settle in. Robinson and Tomczak sort of split time, with Tomczak used as a utility guy and slot receiver – he (like Robinson) tops 1,000 total yards despite missing two games with an injury. Dallas Gaylor quietly became a top target for us, and was playing well with Moe Gale until Gale got hurt later in the season. So, it’s another decent season, but at least not a big backslide. Is this team capable of making a big step forward? The defensive front might be the best we have had, and if the offense can come together behind a new QB, we might have a shot to get something done in the year or two ahead. |
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09-21-2005, 12:51 PM
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#6 |
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Coordinator
Join Date: May 2003
Location: Utah
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Very interesting read and challange, I like the idea
__________________
"forgetting what is in the past, I strive for the future" |
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09-21-2005, 01:12 PM
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#7 |
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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Well, I don't expect the 'read" to get all that fascinating, as I never had any real intention of doing much with this, and am not really motivated to detail each and every move too much.
But I, too, like the concept -- and the level of challenge does seem pretty high, which is good. |
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09-21-2005, 01:13 PM
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#8 |
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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DE Terrance Schwab
CB Bryce Molnar – possible starter, great cover man LB Tim Van Brocklin – solid player, starter quality LB Arnie Duncan – pass rusher, start at DE probably C Graham Taninecz – nice undrafted rookie QB Marc Guilbeaux QB Rob Fitzgerald FB Lincoln Flake TE Sherman Hillman – looks like a great player DT Drew Nevers – looks like solid DE pass rusher LB Emmett Binnette LB Cory Moland QB Phil Lesch K Trent Poole So, Jonathan Schulz signs a three year deal, and rockets to the top of our QB depth chart. Sixth year guy, very little experience thus far. Some good ratings in third down passing and a few pass ranges – but this isn’t a guy I’m thrilled about being our starter. Might end up being the best we can get, though. Mack Marquardt is no longer asking for a $14m bonus, but he’s still way out of our price range. On nice twist is that LB Carlton Lee has dropped his big money demands, and now listens to our offer for a new deal. His ratings are sliding, but he had a really good season for us last year, and deserves to stick around – a three year deal will give him that chance. A late addition to our multi-headed QB monster is Phil Lesch – has a void in screen passing, but has some other decent skills, knows lots of formations, and is very smart. A 12th year guy, he has a career passer rating of 70.2 in 449 attempts – he might now be our most likely starter. After training camp, we reach out to LB Dave Cotchery, who just wouldn’t budge in the FA period. He’s still available, but seems to believe that he is still worth a couple hundred thousand dollars more than I can offer him – so we’re screwed. We head into the season with only five affinities with new position leader DT Warren Coughlin. We have five guys at QB, none of whom inspire much confidence. My scout actually likes Lamar Haygood the best, but not by much. I think Phil Lesch gets the first shot at starting, and rookie Marc Guilbeaux might be #2 on my list of options. At the end of preseason, we manage to work things out with LB Dave Cotchery, who finally agrees to our contract offer. So, we work out our affinity situation with the front seven after all. And we head into the season with rookie QB Marc Guilbeaux as our starter, with Lesch out for a few weeks with an injury. Guilbeaux gets us to 2-1 in this time, and then we fall apart with Lesch under center. At 3-4, the season is in the balance – so we have to decide who gives us the better chance to succeed now and down the line. We make the switch, and go with the rookie Guilbeaux. Two losses under Guilbeaux now has all but wiped out this season, as we stand at 3-6. Our passing game is a disgrace, though other aspects of the team’s performance aren’t that bad. Guilbeaux throws four TDs to lead us to a win over Cinti, and that seals the deal. It turns out the team just falls apart from that point on, and we end the season at a miserable 4-12. Code:
This team really needs one more quality cornerback, and our defensive personnel would actually be pretty solid. As it stands, we ended up above average in both run and pass defense, which isn’t all bad. Not dominant, and we don’t get great pass pressure or cause a lot of turnovers, but we are playing pretty decent defense overall. On offense – shaky. RBs Robinson and Tomczak again were a main part of the offense, with TE Hillman becoming our top target in the absence of any legitimate WR threats. With a slightly more effective QB, this offense might have been average – as it was, we weren’t even very close. Little doubt in my mind that going forward, we really need to add at least one impact player on offense to get things going – and Robinson is out of contract next year, so we start out moving in the wrong direction already. |
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09-21-2005, 01:14 PM
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#9 |
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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2010 season
So… I re-hire my scout, but will be looking to replace him soon, I think. I‘m not focusing much on the front office staff, but we will try to do better there when we can. LB Thurman Butler has retired – decent player, but we can afford to lose some talent at LB, it’s becoming our strongest position overall. Players up for new contracts (likely departures): Code:
This crop won’t kill us, though our OL is probably in for a big shift – it’s been hard to find playable left tackles, and while Bryja wasn’t great, he was competent. Losing starters Northrop and Monroe also will hurt – that’s the biggest problem here, I suspect. My initial look suggests that we can probably re-sign CB Wohlabaugh from that lot, but we might not be able to lure back anyone else. PLAYERS RE-SIGNED CB Dennis Wohlabaugh FREE AGENT SIGNINGS C Lorenzo Patten LT Percy Hampton – 3rd year player, likely starter LT Don Branch WR Dallas Gaylor – former Brown, solid player, likely FL starter S Nick Monpoto RB Marcus Sanders – straight-ahead rusher, might be solid P Julio Chung QB Tommy Maumau RB Leland Poole RB Perry Harvey RB Glenn Moll RB Danny McInnis – possible position leader (backup plan) TE Kendall Preston TE Chad Worth WR Lance Small G Lamont Lane DE Irving Herndon LB Chuck Patterson LB Daryl Qaderi S Tom Herrington VETERAN HOLDLOUTS none Three early signings of young players (3rd year guys seem to be a “sweet spot” for us in this career – they are the most reliable guys we can sign in the early stages of free agency) give us needed relief on the offensive line. I once again sense that we are going to be a mess in our D& affinity situation, as Dave Cotchery is not happy about our contract offers, and he’s the centerpiece of the whole structure there. I can’t find a suitable replacement to become position leader, so we may have to do the same stunt as last year – just wait him out. In late free agency, in the final stages, it’s once again time for fill-in players. We sometimes find a few decent guys who slip down to the minsal level here – so we will be hunting. We end up signing a gaggle of running backs – and will have options ahead there. Bert Robinson won’t re-sign, so we will have to rebuild our affinity situation there, too. Bt we may carry three or four usable backs this year, anticipating Tomczak’s departure after the season anyway. After training camp, I check out our affinity situation. On the D7, around DT Warren Coughlin, we have six affinities. I think I need to let go of un-cooperative (and aging) LB Cotchery, and just move on. At the RB Group, our new leader is Earl Waite, and we have three immediate affinities with him – that will do fine. Heading into the season, here is the new roster: Code:
The biggest changes this year will be in the offensive skill positions, I think. We will have Leland Poole as our primary ball carrier, with Tomczak in the supporting role and seeing the field in lots of passing situations. I don’t have Tomczak slotted in the WR depth chart this season, as Gaylor and Small give us two pretty solid options as legitimate flankers (where I had been using Tomczak). We’ll see. Tough call at QB – all four guys could be the starter, really. Lesch really looks to me like the most skilled guy, but he was dreadful last year so it’s hard to install him. We invested in Guilbeaux, but he really hasn’t taken a meaningful step forward, I don’t think. Tough call. In preseason, I declare Guilbeaux the winner of the QB starting job, and we will slot Lesch behind him. Maumau looked okay, too, so he is also an option – though none of these guys are complete players. In our opener, we get crushed and RB Poole goes down, so we are suddenly thin at one of our deepest positions. After an 0-3 start, Guilbeaux goes down, and we are sinking fast. Lesch gets another shot, and leads us to our first win (and the first signs of life from this offense). We remove any doubt by demonstrating clearly that we are teh suck. We remain pretty solid on defense, but utterly incapable of passing the ball. Lesch is terrible, and things don’t get better with Maumau – another lost season down the tubes. Code:
Our pass defense faded a bit late in the season, but on balance we were fairly effective again on defense. Rookie DB Monpoto had a nice year playing either as safety or as a nickelback, and probably fits in for us down the road, wherever we can slot him. LB Tim Van Brocklin was outstanding as our WILB, as our only obvious defensive liability was the totally anemic pass rush. Offensively, a mess. We should just run the ball 90% of the time, I’m thinking. Perhaps we could win some games with a super-conservative offense? Our receivers aren’t terrible, but perhaps the total lack of cohesion there hurts us too much. Our passers are just unworthy of mention – none look terrible by the ratings, but none do anything worthwhile on the field, either. Ugh. |
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09-21-2005, 01:18 PM
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#10 |
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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2011 season
What to do, what to do? Is it just about getting a quality QB? Or should we just play to our strengths, give in to the idea that we won’t be any good passing the ball anyway, and try to become a pound-it-out team? I’m thinking the latter – and this year we will try to go in that direction. We will run the ball more, use more TE-heavy formations, and see if we can get things rolling with the running game and (hopefully) good defensive play. I max out on offers to a new scout and coach. The coach seems like a step up for us – excellent ratings in playcalling (both) and avoiding injuries. Looks like a home run. Code:
There is our list of players out of contract. We are slated to lose a lot on defense – three valuable starters from the front seven (with another one already ruined by injury to boot) and potentially all four best defensive backs. We have done well in the past with the defense, but we’ve done it in three year cycles – and we just ended one of them. Ouch. We just zip ahead to the late FA stages this time – I’m not detailing every player acquisition, and I’ll wait until the asking prices have dropped before I start investing time in the search. I am figuring that CB Wohlabaugh is likely to be my DB position leader, and will target acquisitions to work well with him in that role. He has already re-signed once with us, maybe he can be that “career” guy for us – decent enough to get reserve playing time, installed as a long term leader, and always willing to take the minimum to come back. He’s only a 6th year guy now – could be promising. However, searching in free agency, we sign CB Troy Glenn, an original Brown, who will become our leader there. He creates a couple of affinities, including one with Wohlabaugh. After training camp, we want to re-sign G Shea, who has been our position leader. That works out painlessly, we just lose the continuity of his last contract. Alas. There are several solid players (including several of my old guys who never signed anywhere) who continue to demand contracts over minsal. At some point, we might be able to bring a guy or two off the waiver wire and into the lineup – especially on the defensive line, where we are in big trouble as it stands. Code:
There’s our lineup as we start off preseason. This year, we are going to be, primarily, a two-TE offense, using those formations quite a lot when we’re in most situations. RB Moll, a guy we signed last year then cut, had an offseason breakout – and with us again, he figures to be our top running threat. Leland Poole, then, will be the utility back and receiving threat from the backfield and even from split out wide. I make one last pass through the free agent list. To my surprise, there are a few guys worth a look here. G Courtney Fulcher is a run blocking guard who will be a great addition, and whose asking price finally dropped to minsal. And, we manage to sign QB Christian Swift – now three years removed from his last season with Cleveland – to a one year deal. Swift immediately jumps to the top of the QB depth chart, though I intend to stick with the run-heavy attack. Okay, we are off and running now. In our first two games, we split two close results – and Swift has thrown 68 passes. Not exactly the “Ground Chuck” offense here, but two more wins get us to 3-1, and we’re not going to question the method now. Christian Swift has 7 TDs to 3 interceptions, and our offense looks the best it ever had, perhaps. Two more wins, and we are at 5-1, the best record this franchise has ever posted. A new coach, a new offensive gameplan, and a return from an old friend at QB – suddenly, this team seems to have turned the corner. Really. The run ends at midseason, but we cannot complain about 6-2 under any circumstance. Code:
Well, well. A division title, a bye week – this is the life! And how did we do it? I don’t even know! I guess putting two tight ends on the field makes sense – they are better players than our receivers or fullbacks. And we clearly benefitted from the QB serendipity – getting Swift, even if it’s only for one year (I have to think it will be) was certainly a boon. But we didn’t really pound the ball – we ran it a lot, but we weren’t really all that good at running, overall. The RB committee was fine, but didn’t get much help from a crappy line other than G Courtney Fulcher, clearly the best guy we’ve got up there, and another easy one-year wonder for us. And the defense, truth be told, slipped a bit. No real surprise there, we had lots of turnover, but it was a bit disappointing. Actually, Hite and Chew are pretty good fits for this scheme, and them playing together for the next couple years gives us a chance to improve on this performance. We also got a bit more QB pressure than last year – with another stunningly good year from LB Carlton Lee, who was basically pressed into service by injuries. In the playoffs, we go one and out, unfortunately – losing our opener to the Jets 21-20. No real woe, we just got edged out in a very even game. But the season has to be considered a great success – our first winning year, and a playoff berth to boot! |
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09-21-2005, 01:19 PM
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#11 |
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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Considering the rules…
With that, I have to start thinking about whether it ought to be within my rules to sign a minsal free agent player after training camp. Generally, I have only been looking to do when when it’s my own player, especially a key position group leader. But here, we signed two key players – a run-blocking guard and a quarterback, neither of whom would take our deal in late free agency. I’m guessing that an aggressive use of this tactic would result in a fairly wide-open backdoor – where the best way to play would be to leave five or six slots open on the roster, and just sign the best guys out there after the season starts. Heck – that might be the best way to fill your starting QB position, rather than going with the chumps who are willing to sign for minsal all along. Something to consider… I think going forward, I’m not going to make any real signings after camp, other than those motivated by affinity considerations (essentially the way I had been playing up until this season). |
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09-22-2005, 07:57 AM
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#12 |
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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2012 season
Retirements! Five! RB Leland Poole and LB Carlton Lee have been very solid for us, and both are surprises. WR Money Clinton leaves us without our WR leader. And we lose two tight ends, Kendall Preston and Chad Worth. Ouch – worst list ever there. Out of contract this offseason: Code:
Biggest pain is at TE – all three of our real contributors last year have left, so we will basically be rebuilding from scratch. However, there are always pretty decent tight ends available, so I’m not too worried there. QB Swift is almost certainly not coming back, so we will have to scrap together a starter there – maybe Guilbeaux will re-sign and come back – I still think he might be a guy we could use for a few years. We will be watching the wire, for certain. We lose a lot of guys on the defensive line, but not a lot of talent. If Coughlin re-signs, that will help with continuity, but none of these guys were key starters. Nevers comes back from a serious injury, and is a lesser player now. At LB, Van Brocklin has been very good, but we have been effective with our depth there and have had no trouble getting decent players to trot out every year. On the OL, I’d like to re-sign Shea, but if that seems unlikely, we will probably rebuild the chemistry there as well. Fulcher will head for big money, and Hittle is gone as well, I’m sure – so we have flexibility (to put a positive spin on it). Ideal offseason will see us landing one more solid running back, a quarterback who can play, and perhaps one good run-blocking interior lineman. We gin up the search in the late FA period, and fill in our roster. QB Christian Swift is just slightly out of our reach, it seems – he’s asking for less than 2x minsal, but he won’t listen to our offers. So, it looks like we’ll have a number of second-rate options this season. I am intrigued by Marcus Settles – he is very good at avoiding interceptions, and doesn’t have any total voids. But he doesn’t have any other major rating over 40 – so he’s nothing too special. I am thinking he might end up being a nice “system” QB for us, a guy who won’t lose the game. We’ll see. Code:
So, it looks like a battle between Settles and Maumau for the starting job, and Settles has the slight advantage of being younger and signed for three years. In preseason, though, it’s Maumau who looks much better – and he gets the nod for the opener. Our early season is okay – three close wins and one massive beatdown at the hand of a really good Washington team. Scott Dunlap is turning into our top running threat – he has more big play ability than anyone we have had in a while. However, things turn ugly – after a 4-1 start, we basically collapse, and at 4-6 I make the QB switch – not that it will matter too much. Settles leads us to two straight wins, and at 6-6 we can start thinking about the playoff race again. From 7-7, we still have a shot, but two losses end the season and our hopes, as we fall short of .500 once again. Code:
Well, on offense we were shaky as usual. The run-heavy game plan is probably best for us, and both QBs were pretty effective when playing within themselves. I expect we can work with Settles for the next couple of seasons - heck, he may even be limited (in skills) enough to be a long-termer for us. WR Dallas Gaylor put up a career year (beating his high water mark during his previous “last year’ with us) and will now go out and try to get a real WR job somewhere. Moe Gale is the only WR who will return next year, so we will have issues there, I guess. Our line simply needs to do a better job – it wasn’t awful, but only LT Percy Hampton was above average – and he’s out the door now anyway. But this year, we were in the top ten in yards per rush and yards per attempt – so we can’t really complain about the offense at all. Defensively – we really dropped off. The pass rush didn’t get anything done, really, as I was a bit disappointed with DT Thomas Bennett, starting as the RDE. But hardly anyone else really mounted any pass rushing threat at all, so he’s not the problem. We have historically been a top-rated defense, but this year it all fell apart. We had injuries all year among the DBs, and never got any consistency there – perhaps that played a big role. Anyway – we have decent talent in the secondary, and just need to get them to settle down and play up to their potential. I don’t think this team is really that bad – if we get lucky a little bit with the incoming group (perhaps landing a solid receiver, one or two offensive tackles, and perhaps an impact player on the defensive front) we could be right back into the thick of things. |
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09-22-2005, 07:58 AM
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#13 |
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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2013 season
Three retirements – RB Perry Harvey was done anyway, LB Louis Duveneck was a replaceable guy, but CB Troy Glenn was my DB position leader, and his departure leaves us messed up there a bit. Our departing crop this year is about the usual – both starting offensive tackles and most of the wide receiving corps will be the biggest concerns: Code:
DE Irving Herndon is also our position leader, so if he won’t re-sign (likely that he will not) we will have to accommodate there as well. I would probably be better off signing guys who will stay on forever as leaders here (the Money Clinton route) so I don’t have to keep re-inventing the wheel each offseason at one or two position groups. QB James Nixon is a guy worth getting a little excited about – former 6th round pick, somehow witting available, and willing to take a 3 year deal with us. My scout rates him 22/55 – a possibly important pickup for us. After much fiddling, I decide that sticking with CB Wohlabaugh as our position leader makes the most sense. He’s got good enough skills to play if needed, he has a strong personality, and he has just signed his third Cleveland contract for minsal – he could be a lifer. Trouble is, we have no affinity around him. I’ll work on that, even at the expense of our reserve talent. On the defensive front, I can’t get DE Herndon to re-sign, so we are up in the air there. LB A.J. Mulcahy becomes the new leader, and we have six players who click with him out of the box – a good transition. It costs LB Johnston his job, but he had been very disappointing anyway. WR Kendall Plumtree is a guy I have coveted the last couple of year, but he has never quite been willing to sign with us. Now he does – and takes the position group leadership role. In the preseason, we have a huge change in plans, as QB Marcus Settles is felled with a hip injury. Out for the year, maybe for next year too – which puts a real dent in what I thought might be my “long term QB’ for this team. The battle goes to third year men James Nixon and Dale Richardson. Nixon’s upside make him the clear favorite, and he will take the top spot – but he doesn’t have the same “don’t lose the game” mentality that Settles did. As we start the regular season, here’s the roster: Code:
Our roster rating is still the league lowest, at a 2. Our DB cohesion is slightly into the top half of the league – the rest are in the lower tier, with our passing cohesion near the bottom. Clearly that won’t be winning games for us. Is this a winning team? Hard to say. With Settles in at QB, I had some hopes that we might win with defense and the running game. Now, I fear that we may have more mistakes to overcome. We get LB Van Brocklin back for another stint which is good, though he is declining, and I still think the defense ought to be better than average. We’ll see how effectively we block and run the ball – that probably makes the big difference this year. Week one – a win, but we lose QB Nixon to a knee. Ouch. Through the early season, we are losing at least one player every week to a serious injury – so we are doing a lot of shuffling. We still manage to reach 3-3, with QB Dale Richardson earning a 96 rating so far. Tough to sit that guy down – he’ll stay at the reins, I guess. But, after a dreadful game against the Jets, I hook him, and we will try Nixon again. At 5-6 on the season, we need a late run to at least make .500 for the year. We split two, and at 6-7, we’d need to run the table to make a winning season. A loss in week 16 gives us eight, and we close with another to settle in right at 7-9 – pretty much where we were headed all along, it seems. Code:
It’s hard to justify Nixon at QB, since his stats are all inferior to those of Richardson, at the end of the day. I had been worried about Richardson’s interceptions, but he ended up with a lower rate than did Nixon. Probably an open competition for next season. Scott Dunlap eventually proved to be the most effective RB, but all these guys have various assets and liabilities. I think we might be better with a guy who is okay at everything, rather than this lot. Moll is gone after this season anyway, so we will be looking, most likely. The run defense was solid, the pass defense a bit weak. no real pressure on the QB (though DE Bennett was pretty effective, he didn’t actually register many sacks, once again), and our DBs again failed to live up to their apparent ratings. We anticipate another shakeup offseason on defense – so there will be vacant roster slots just waiting for some help, especially in the front seven. |
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09-22-2005, 08:03 AM
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#14 |
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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2014 season
Retirements – three linebackers, most notably Daryl Qaderi, who had been with us for four seasons, and we had counted on him as a solid run-stopper. Tough loss – and we now only have three linebackers signed to a contract of any sort for this season – including the injury-prone Tim Van Brocklin, who only managed two games for us last year. That will be an area of priority – we may have to consider switching back to the 4-3 front unless we get some help. For this season, I think I want to start in a new direction. (…did he just say nude erection?) It just looks like this team is stagnating – and that we really can’t win with the formula I have been using. I have built pretty high levels of affinity, but we have been unable to keep many players past their initial contract with us – therefore, we end up with pretty low cohesion. If it’s a given that we are always going to have a pretty lousy roster overall, I’m thinking that perhaps building up some cohesion might be a more effective way to get ahead, rather than just chasing an endless series of marginally talented players. I’m going to try to put this to work right away on the OL, and perhaps in the defensive secondary as well – both spots where we might have long-time position leaders already in place who might stick around for the long haul. Code:
There is our list of players out of contract – we’ll make our usual efforts to get a few to stay, but I don’t hold out a lot of hope. Priorities for this offseason include a new stack of linebackers and defensive linemen (obviously), a running back we might be able to slot at RB1, a punt returner or two, and some offensive linemen who might be willing to stick around for the long haul and play alongside G Billy Joe Shea (our 11th year position leader). If we can lock up a few defensive backs with the same idea in mind, then we’ll pursue that as well. As if we didn’t have enough LB problems – O.J Daniels, our run-stopping beast, is holding out. We need him, and will just have to hope for the best, but plan for the worst. After training camp, we have a pretty new look to the defensive front, and I’d be thinking 4-3 if there were four defensive linemen worth a damn on this roster. Could be trouble this season up front, I fear. At least LB O.J. Daniels is back now, ending his holdout – so there’s one starting job accounted for. We expect to suit up 3rd year back Kirk Gaines as our feature running back this season – he has elusiveness, and is okay in every other key rating for a running back. We’re ready for another season. I didn’t really fulfill my goal of stocking the OL and DB groups with long-termers, I don’t think – though we may have made some progress there with CB X-Man Brewer, a guy I like a bit who gets along with Wohlabaugh. Might not have a great ceiling, but he ought to be a nice reserve player, and hopefully he’ll re-sign after this initial deal. I am sufficiently impressed with QB James Nixon’s ratings to insert him as the starter yet again. At 44/59 he might be the most highly-rated QB we have had in some time. Code:
In the early going, we just can’t get the offense really moving – Nixon has 6 TDs to no picks in four games, but we can’t score enough to win more than two games. As I had feared, the defense doesn’t seem to be able to stop the run, which is a real concern. A last second Hail Mary pass gets us a win over Baltimore, and pushes us to 4-3 on the year. Two more wins give us a nice 6-3 record, possibly the best situation we have ever had, save our one aberration season. With James Nixon posting the best QB season we have ever seen (14/4 ration, 96 rating) there may be something cooking in Cleveland. Finally. We get to 8-2, with a completely patched-over secondary, due to yet another run of injuries. Kirk Gaines has topped 1,000 yards on the year – the first time in a while we have seen that mark reached. Two close wins, and we reach 11-4, good enough for a nearly certain playoff berth and we’re in the hunt for a bye week. Baltimore beats us in our finale, and they pull even with us in the standings – we end up at 11-5, and will be playing in the wild card weekend. But we’re in. Code:
So, we fade a little bit down the stretch, but this is probably our best offensive season yet. Nixon was brilliant (five picks in the final four games mar the season he was having to that point) leading the attack, and Gaines might have been the most balanced runner we have had. We spread the ball around among our receivers, despite having no injuries there (the #3 and #4 guys got practically the same number of passes thrown their way as the #1 and #2 guys). On defense, we regressed a bit – we are getting almost no pressure on the passer at all. But we are playing pretty well in the secondary (despite getting many injuries there) and we end up at least average on balance. A solid turnover margin helps things, and we end up giving up fewer points than most of the league, despite a semi-shaky defense by the numbers. The stage is set for a postseason offing… And the Chiefs bring a quick end to that, with a 17-9 win in our opener. Nixon throws two picks in the loss, we can’t run, and while our defense plays pretty well… it’s not enough. It’s our season turned inside out, regrettably. Solid effort for the year – and QB Nixon and RB Gaines are signed for one more year each, so perhaps we have another run in us next season… |
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09-22-2005, 08:04 AM
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#15 | |
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lolzcat
Join Date: May 2001
Location: williamsburg, va
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Just a note that I'm reading and enjoying the challenge of this dynasty... less 'engaging' than some of the others, but more interesting in the challenge factor.
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09-22-2005, 08:07 AM
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#16 |
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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[/u]
RB Jesse Fox has retired – no surprise, and no real loss either. That’s our only guy hanging up the cleats this season. Here’s our list of free agents: Code:
We can probably re-sign Marcus Settles, damaged goods after his serious injuries, but still a buddy with OL leader Billy Joe Shea. Shea, on the other hand, now thinks he’s worth a big gob of cash, and that’s bad news – we may have to go with a new OL leader after all (contrary to my whole thinking). We may be able to re-up with LB A.J. Mulcahy – he’s not seeking any bonus money. If we get him to fall through the early FA periods, he might eventually settle for our minsal offer. RB Glenn Moll is once again available – he has been one of our leading rushers on a career basis – and we re-up with him for another tour of duty. I expect he will be no more than our #2 rushing option, but having a solid veteran – who also takes the leadership role – isn’t too bad. This also allows us to re-sign FB Lincoln Flake, a guy I liked but who was a problem as a position leader for us last year. CB Jumbo Grier is a guy I have watched for several years – he has always demanded just a bit too much to join up with us. Now he finally takes our offer – a 12th year guy, but he ought to be a solid addition in pass coverage, and maybe locks up a starting CB job right away. No go with LB Mulcahy – he accepts a real contract, and is a goner. So, we patch by with a defensive front that neither looks particularly talented, bit gets along all that well. We’ll see how it goes there. We set out for the season – here’s the roster: Code:
We don’t have a lots of indicators suggesting we are any good – low cohesion and a roster rating of 2… but we’re hoping for one more playoff season, led by QB Nixon and our seemingly improved running game behind Kirk Gaines. if the defense can play well within our scheme (injuries probably play a huge role in this) we might be a winning team once again – this is probably our best shot so far with this team, I have to think. In the season, we open with a tough loss at home to Pittsburgh, on a last minute field goal. We slide to a 1-4 record in the early going – and whatever was clicking for us last season sure isn’t now. 3-5 sounds a bit better – but not all that much, really. This does not look like a playoff team, by any real stretch. We are already at a miserable 3-7 when Kirk Gaines is lost for the year and possibly more with a terrible blown-out knee. So it goes. Injuries just continue to pile up on us – it has been a terrible season for them. Things end up at a pretty sad 6-10 for the year – far below our ambitions, and presumably frittering away the last shot to get something done with a QB as good as Nixon. Oh, well. Code:
So – what did we get from James Nixon, in this his final season with us? Pretty good efficiency, a 3-1 ratio, but not enough to rescue this team from sub-mediocrity. Perhaps we’d have been better opening up and letting him throw the ball more? Tough to say. In pretty much every meaningful respect, this team just looks like a 6-10 club or thereabouts. RB Gaines was fairly effective again, and Peck (playing FB for the first half of the season, then starting at HB) was okay, despite the depressed stats. I don’t think it’s wholesale failings of the OL that caused our real woes here. On defense, LB O.J. Daniels was the big tackling machine out there, as expected, as our LB corps was probably the weakest we have had in years and years. Pass pressure is hitting a real low point, though our pass coverage was actually pretty decent. CB Junior Grier was pretty decent, and we got a solid season from X-Man Brewer, who is ascending my list of favorite players. Tough to feel anything but disappointment after an inexplicably tough year – I don’t think we are likely to see a QB as skilled as Nixon again anytime soon, so frittering away his last year is a missed opportunity, for certain. |
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09-22-2005, 08:13 AM
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#17 |
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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As of now, the thread is caught up to what I have actually played.
I really thought 2015 was going to be the big breakthrough year... but for whatever reason, it all fell apart. Teams with such lousy talent to begin with just cannot stand to have several key injuries - that probbakly plays a real role. Also, I think I took for granted my LB play, and last year they just weren't very good to start out with, plus we got a couple guys injured. Recipe for serious but subtle underperformance. |
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09-22-2005, 08:35 AM
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#18 | |
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lolzcat
Join Date: May 2001
Location: williamsburg, va
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Curious why you did not throw more with the performance of Nixon?
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09-22-2005, 08:44 AM
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#19 |
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Pro Starter
Join Date: Jan 2001
Location: Burke, VA
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Are you passing all of your picks off to the same team - Arizona? - every year? If so, I'd be interested to see if this has helped them considerably.
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09-22-2005, 09:20 AM
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#20 | |
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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Quote:
I honestly don't think that this team has personnel well-suited to a passing heavy offense. Our linemen are mostly run blockers, and our receivers are/were pretty shakly, as usual. I genuinely think the best way to go, to play to our overall strengths, is to develop a pretty sound ground game and play good defense. We really didn't do either on last season... so we probably would have done better letting Nixon air it out. My mistake, perhaps. |
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09-22-2005, 09:24 AM
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#21 | |
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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Quote:
Yes, Arizona has gotten all my picks for free since I started with this. The result? Two playoff berths in 12 seasons, and one Superbowl loss (last season). Remains to be seen whether the team from last year is actually built for the long haul, or was just a fluke. They do have a very good QB drafted 1(1) four seasons ago, and a solid RB drafted 1(5) the following year -- so as long as they keep them they ought to be at least competitive. |
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09-22-2005, 10:34 AM
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#22 |
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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2016 season
Three retirements – DT Gerald Poteet (position leader), and linebackers Rondell Niechniedowicz and Brant Morley. We are close to just starting over on the defensive front – and judging by the results there recently, that might not be such a bad idea anyway. Among our position leaders, it also looks like we will lose WR Plumtree, so I am planning to work with WR Willie Madison as our likely new leader – it looks like we will be able to re-sign him, and he has a 95 leadership rating, making him a pretty stable choice there. We already have one affinity with Madison, and can go from there, I hope. It looks like we are going to once again have trouble signing G Billy Joe Shea – but we have built up so much chemistry around him that we have to bring him back, almost no matter what. CB Dennis Wohlabaugh and RB Glenn Moll are probably safe in their respective leadership roles, if not in playing time. In free agency, we have worries pretty much everywhere. I am fairly comfortable with our OL, and our secondary is in okay shape (though we need depth) so those are the exceptions. Everywhere else is up for grabs. QB Marcus Settles is still on the roster for cohesion, but has basically zero skills at this point. Shame. That makes Christian Frieswyk our default starter – and that is not an exciting prospect, really. We do manage to re-sign Dale Richardson, and that gives us a little stability – he’s a decent-enough guy who has had some limited success with us before, so he probably becomes our #1 option. Into camp, we have signed something like 600 linebackers, and it’s a total free-for-all among guys with pretty modest talents. Run-stopper Andrew Hoosier is our new position leader, and will be joined by returning friend A.J. Mulcahy (back after one season in New Orleans), but past that I don’t know who stays and who goes. We’ll probably carry nine linebackers, and use them in the DE slot sometimes. We also have a legion of running backs, all looking for a piece of the pie. Several rookies who look okay will get a shot – we’ll probably have a committee approach this season, yet again, as nobody truly stands out here. Here is the roster as we head into 2016 – a big unknown lies ahead: Code:
Off we go. Worst roster in the NFL? Check. Low cohesion in every area? Check. Unproven players at many key positions? Check. Draft picks worthless an already dealt away? Check. Sign up for your season tickets now, gang! An 0-4 start befits the current state of affairs here in Cleveland. We are actually running the ball okay behind RB Lucas, but are below average in everything else, and we are losing the turnover battle – which you just can’t do with such a marginal team to begin with. We finally squeeze out a win behind a 100-yard game from Lucas and 4 field goals from K Blanchard, the game MVP. Yay. We finish out not quite as pathetically as we started, but our final mark of 5-11 is basically one of futility. There’s very little hope here. Code:
Let’s mention RB Norman Lucas first, whose season now ranks atop the best we have seen in this franchise’s history. Nicely done, son. As for the rest of the offense – ouch. Richardson earns a 61 passer rating, none of our receivers amounted to much, and we were ranked last in every passing category. Ugh. On defense, LB Deion Carroll stepped nicely into the SLB slot, and gave us a very solid season there – effective as a pass rusher, but don’t overlook the 13 passes defensed, either. CB Junior Grier stepped up and became a coverage standout, with a 20.6 PDPct despite not getting a single pick – that’s impressive. So, our defense turned out to be average, but was hampered by being on the field way too long. Another tough season – perhaps it’s time for some re-thinking of our entire approach? |
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09-22-2005, 02:11 PM
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#23 |
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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Offseason Musings
What to do? What to do? Should I install my Chesapeake offensive attack, and go to the air, despite not having very impressive personnel at QB and WR? We could start looking at a different sort of offensive linemen, and make that switch fairly quickly. Should we go with some kind of novelty defensive scheme – maybe a 100/100 blitz package in most situations? Not something I do much of, but we just aren’t getting any pressure on the QB, and maybe that’s holding back our defense overall – more pressure presumably means more big plays, and at least some of them ought to go our way, right? I am at a loss. Maybe the challenge rules are just too tough – and that posting an occasional 8-8 season is the “victory” I’m realistically shooting for. That wouldn’t be the end of the world – just a different sort of situation than where my FOF careers usually end up. I don’t know… |
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09-22-2005, 02:23 PM
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#24 | |
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Coordinator
Join Date: May 2003
Location: Utah
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Quote:
Don't do 100/100 on the blitz.... I would say 65 - 70 but focus on blitzing the DB's get them in their, since they have the talent. As for offense, keep the 2 TE set, it has been working for you.
__________________
"forgetting what is in the past, I strive for the future" |
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09-22-2005, 03:56 PM
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#25 |
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College Prospect
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Nuremberg, Germany
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Hey Quik, I'm just checking in to say: great dynasty man! I really like you style and your dynasty's ideas. I loved "Taking The Lake Erie" and the greatest-ever "Magic Beans Challenge" (Mel Copeland, THE quarterback...).
Back to this one... My advice: keep going, obviously. I'm not a gameplan genius but I'd say: try to install your "air" offense, and let's see what it does. |
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09-23-2005, 11:01 AM
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#26 |
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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I think in the season ahead I am going to go with a heavier blitz package -- no, not an absurd 100/100, but something a little more heavy in getting after the passer.
As for the offense - it probably depends on the relative skill we end up with at WR. If we land a solid starter or two, I may shift to throwing the ball more. |
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09-23-2005, 01:21 PM
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#27 |
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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2017 season
We have only one retirement: LB Andrew Hoosier. His departure makes DT Wally Buenavista our position leader, and wipes out most of our affinities there. If Buenavista leaves (I’d have to cut him, he is signed for two more years), though, LB A.J. Mulcahy returns as leader, and that works better. So, we have options there to consider. Here are the players who are out of contract: Code:
Nobody there, except Billy Joe Shea, we can’t live without. There’s always work to be done, of course, but we will at least try to put together a pretty good fleet this season. OL will be an obvious need spot – and I’m not happy with our group at WR, either. Getting some talent at WR might make me feel better about opening up the offense more. In my efforts to round out the defensive front, I am thrilled with DT Thomas Bennett finally settles for our offer in the very last stage. Bennett was with us years ago – a nicely developed pass-rushing DT – and his re-signing after three seasons away is pretty exciting. He has never become the dominating pass rusher his skills suggest – but we will play him at DE and give him a chance to pin his ears back and go for it. Potentially an impact pick-up for us, on a three year deal. So, we head to training camp with a few new faces. One more noteworthy addition is third year QB Richie Glenn. Decent ratings, but a void in both short passes and sensing the rush. Tough call – but he might be our starter this year, after last year’s debacle behind Richardson. Regrettably, I didn’t pick up anyone terribly exciting at WR, so I really don’t feel like this team is ready to go to a more pass-intensive attack on offense. We will try to play more aggressively on defense and use more blitzes as well, but all told, I don’t know whether we can have much success passing the ball a lot. I do, however, think we are shifting back to the 4-3 front this year. Our stock of LB has diminished, and I like some of our defensive linemen – so we will go back to that formation and try to add some blitzing from there, to put some more heat on the QBs. After camp, we finally let go of QB Marcus Settles. He was the one guy who looked like he might have just enough talent to be a long-term starter for us at QB (but not so much that he would leave us to demand big bucks). Alas – we’ll never know, as he blew out his knee with an injury, and is now basically a waterboy. Code:
There is our post-camp roster – we’re in place for another campaign, and we will have new addition Richie Glenn at the helm, following a solid preseason. Back to a 4-3 front on defense, and we will hope to get 40+ QB sacks this year, a level we haven’t touched in several seasons. On offense, we want another good year rushing the ball, and want to again get over 2,000 yards rushing for the season. Wins? I am hoping that we can be an 8-8 team, but honestly there’s wiggle room there, probably on both sides. We win our opener (first in a while) despite giving up a kickoff return TD. Glenn and Lucas are both sharp in the win, which is clearly a key. An overtime win in week two gets us to 2-0, and feeling good so far. A rush of injuries and two losses quickly put that little euphoria to rest. We look the part of an 8-8 club for a while, but then lose three straight and now appear to be a lower-tier team after all. We are only rushing for 3.5 yards a carry behind a battered line, and the defense, though playing well, just isn’t good enough to save us from this mess. I decide for our Week 10 bye, sitting at 3-6 on the season, that it’s time to open things up on offense – it can’t get meaningfully worse than this, and we’ll at least have a feel for whether this works better for us. We suffer three close losses in the new setup – tough to draw any conclusions there. Another loss by 3 points makes it seem like fate. We end up a paltry 5-11, and really don’t manage to answer many questions, I don’t think. Code:
Regrettably, our pass defense dropped off a bit in the late season – we were on target for a top-ten finish against both the pass and run, which would have been great, considering our talent level. We posted 35 sacks on the year – an improvement, for certain, but still not enough to consider our pass rush very good. Bennett is good, though, so we have one piece of that puzzle for (hopefully) two more seasons. Losing CB Junior Grier will be tough, and I suspect that our chances of re-signing X-Man Brewer are nil, as he has developed nicely as our nickelback these last few seasons. On offense – another 1,000-yard season from RB Norman Lucas, giving him the #1 and #5 season marks for this team’s franchise and vaulting him to #2 on our career rushing leaderboard right behind Bert Robinson. A good fit for our system – and the big loser by our shift to a pass-heavy offense, I fear. And now, in all likelihood, he is gone – after his initial 2-yr deal has expired, someone will be sure to pay up for this productive back. We have never had a 1,000-yard receiver on this team, in the time I have been in charge. Believe it or not, Gene Handley’s 825 yards this season is the highest mark we have seen, better than the two good years we got from Dallas Gaylor. This team has not posted big numbers in the passing game – so if we start emphasizing that aspect, we may have records to be broken easily. This team’s offensive line yielded 48 sacks, and for most of the season we weren’t even passing very much – only 543 pass plays total. That is an unacceptable ratio, and if we’re going to try to pass the ball, we need to start picking up linemen who can be part of that approach. 9 sacks per starter (almost exactly how it played out) isn’t going to do the job. Looking ahead – I suspect we will try to drift toward a pass-heavy attack, and see if that gets us anywhere better than here. I’m starting to think that the quality of players I had gotten used to in the early years of this challenge was in part a function of the initial player file – and now that things have settled down, there are fewer star tight ends sitting around playing for minsal – lessening my inclination to use them so heavily. Next season, we may try to pick up a few extra bodies at WR, and try to spread the field a bit more. |
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09-23-2005, 02:46 PM
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#28 | |
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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Quote:
Well, after three straight playoff seasons, I note that Arizona let their starting Qb (my scout rates him 77/77, had a passer rating of 98 last season) become a free agent, and he is now sitting at the last stage of late free agency, begging for a $4m/yr deal (which he will not receive). Arizona instead signed a big dollar free agent stud -- no real complaints there, I suppose. Now, someone out there will sign Aaron O'Neill (the old Arizona guy) to a one year minsal deal after training camp, and he will probably lead that team to the playoffs - then be cast off as a free agent once again. *sigh* Sometimes I hate the background AI in this game. |
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09-23-2005, 03:59 PM
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#29 |
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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2018 season
Offseason news: four retirements, led by long-time G Billy Joe Shea. He played in 118 games for us (66 starts) making him one of the true long-timers of this franchise – though there aren’t that many. RB Glenn Moll and LB Tim Van Brocklin were guys who did multiple tours with us as well. LB Oliver Pinner never got much playing time – decent reserve, no great loss there. These losses upend our affinity structure, but I think I’m focusing less and less on that as I go along here anyway. I will continue to avoid conflicts, but spending tons of time worrying about each affinity is too taxing. Here is our list of players out of contract: Code:
Obviously, losing RB Lucas hurts, but we weren’t getting much done last year with a run-heavy offense, so we’re switching anyway – might as well look for a more versatile pass-catching back going forward. Four wide receivers on the free agent list – wow. Any of them any good? Not really. We’ll find what we can out there – as we might be looking to spread the field and use three and four wide sets this year more than we have before. That might depend on the quality of our WRs and TEs, too. My best guess is that we’ll have Levon Fee and possibly Archie Greenlee to build around at the WR slots. Real losses in the secondary – Junior Grier has been a solid three year starter, very reliable. I like X-Man Brewer a lot, but he, too, will certainly be gone now as well. We’ve plugged in guys with success back there before, so no real worries – just tough to lose two guys I counted on for a while. We make our usual foraging through the free agent pool, and come up with our usual level of replacement players. Plenty of so-so guys, players with mixed skill sets, that sort of thing. I do grab a handful of rookie running backs, many with receiving skills, with an eye toward possibly moving some of them to play WR. All our veteran wideouts have been signed elsewhere – so as I get into the late stages of free agency, we have only Levon Fee to build around there. A big WR signing for us is Willie Madison – who played with us back in 2014-15. He’s back on a three year deal, and will serve as our position leader –good to have some stability there, I think. We do manage to re-sign Nick Brownell, also – so we have three fairly proven guys on hand now, which seems better. We stock up everywhere, including a ton of intriguing young guys at RB/WR, and get ourselves ready for training camp. After training camp, I am intrigued to look at our young backs and receivers – we need to get some production from this lot right away. Butch Osborne will get a shot at some carries, and RB Reggie Cook might get some time in a utility role. I’m not wild about any of the wide receivers – flanker Terrell Bell is probably the best of that lot. We will, however, be all set in the return game this season, after neglecting that area last year a bit much. CB Roman Dreher, a candidate for a starting job, is a standout kick returner and a capable punt returner, too. S Lonnie McCarthy returns as our primary PR option, but several of these young backs/receivers will be in the mix for those roles as well. Here’s the lineup as we head into week one: Code:
The goals for this season are to see the offense come together a bit – we want to get increased effectiveness from the line in pass blocking, and to see us go for maybe 24 TD passes. On defense, we want to rack up 40 sacks, and stay among the best against the run. If we get both of those things, I think an 8 or 9 win season is certainly likely. In our opener, we carry the ball 14 times for 19 yards against Pitsburgh, and lose the all-FG battle 5-1. Three turnovers were a huge part of an otherwise fairly even game. It’s a bit better in week two, but we still lose to Atlanta, and only put up 13 points, with our lone TD coming from the defense. Is it too soon to pull the plug on the air attack? Miami thrashes us (though we do finally score an offensive TD), and the season is starting to look like a total loss already. Our offense is, by leaps and bounds, the worst in the league. Is thee any point in carrying on with this experiment? I just don’t think we have the personnel to get this job done – our line stinks, our receivers can’t catch or run routes, and our QB wouldn’t know what to do if they all did their jobs anyway. We are not just 0-3, we are a hopeless 0-3. I decide to stick with the plan, and we settle in for more of the same. At 0-8, it’s pretty clear that this is just not working at all. We are halfway through the season, and we have one of the best run-stopping defenses in the league allowing only 3.3 yards per carry (2nd best). Despite this, we have hardly even come close to winning a single game – Glenn has thrown 6 TDs and 14 interceptions, and we have a horrifying –13 turnover ratio. We are going back to the run, and we will hope to scratch out a win or two from the defense – what we’re doing here just isn’t working at all. Our first game with the focus back on the ground is, of course, a 24-20 win – but only over hapless Pittsburgh, whose only win so far has been against us anyway. Glenn did throw 33 times, so it’s not like we abandoned the passing game altogether – but we rushed 39 times for 110 yards on the day. We are clearly a better team when we are playing not to lose on offense. We are competitive on our second half games, and manage to sneak all the way to 4-10. Now, 4-10 doesn’t sound very good, I know, but when you started out 0-8 and thought the odds were pretty good you’d go 0-16… 4-10 sounds like divine intervention. We even finish off with two more wins, bringing the season total to 6-10… but it was very clearly a story of two half-seasons. What might have been if we had started off with our conservative offensive game plan… Code:
Well, congratulations to WR Nick Brownell – who, despite very pedestrian skill ratings, has topped our franchise list for receiving yards in a season. He’s signed for two more seasons, but this year (with the pass-happy first half season) was probably the best opportunity for WR totals we’re going to see here in Cleveland. QB Glenn was 9 TD/6 Int in the second half – so I guess there is some hope after all. Next season, we likely lose WR Fee, but everyone else at the skill positions is back – so who knows? The line, it turns out, allowed 47 sacks – again, way too many. Not sure if there’s any way around this under these rules – we just don’t get good play from the OL, period. Defensively – we did stop the run very nicely. DE Brayshaw is a key run stopper playing from a DT slot, and makes a huge difference for us up front. At 3.6 yards per carry – we were even better at stopping the run than our offense was bad at running the ball! w00t! CB Dreher doesn’t make interceptions, but he has proven to be very valuable – a return man, starting-caliber corner, and helps out in the run defense, too. He and Lyon ought to be a pretty solid starting tandem at CB for us the next couple of seasons. DL Bennett and Hardy both chipped in toward a pass rush, but we are still short of where I wanted to be – I really think we need to get to about 40 sacks and 80 hurries to truly be effective there – and we aren’t even close, obviously. Well – I guess the noble experiment with the all-out offense was a dud, at least with this personnel. I am starting to think that maybe we ought to try playing with an offensive line entirely of guys who have basically no skill. In theory, they might re-sign for minsal even after getting full time PT, and I might be able to build up some actual cohesion there, which seems to really matter a lot. Tough to say, but it probably couldn’t be much worse than what we are getting from the guys we keep rotating in. Oh, well. |
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09-23-2005, 11:39 PM
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#30 |
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Coordinator
Join Date: Jan 2001
Location: Not too far away
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I think other challenges of yours has shown the value of cohesion in FOF. That simply is lacking here and is, I think, your biggest obstacle. Now I admit I don't know a ton about cohesion, but what if you signed guys to 2 year contracts, making them basically back-ups, and then resigning them for 2 years as starters. Rinse and repeat. Would that improve your cohesion at all?
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09-24-2005, 07:43 AM
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#31 |
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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Thinking about cohesion, the problem here is that is really doesn't take much of anything to give a player an idea that he is worth slightly more than minimum salary. I have given up detailing all the solid-looking players in free agency who would be great signings, but who demand something like $80,000 or $120,000 in bonus, and that difference makes them completely uinsiognable by us under these rules. So, I am routinely signing guys who are marginal players at best to 2 or 3 year deals... and most of them, even the guys who don't get a lot of playing time (my 4th or 5th WR, my 5th or 6th DB, my 7th or 8th LB) end up asking for a little bit more in their next contract. It just doesn't look like I could really count on getting the same guys back for a second straight contract (and thereby boosting cohesion) unless I resort to players who have practically no measurable skills at all. And at that point, I'd be trying to win basically with nothing but cohesion.
Maybe there is a middle ground -- I speculated about trying to have a "base" of players who would be no-talent long termers, and then seed in a few decent players around them. Maybe the OL or DL would be a good place to try this. Sign a few guy with no skill but who would re-sign, build cohesion, and presumably contribute toward affinities -- if I had three or four such guys at OL and three or four such guys on the D7, that might help things along, without killing us in overall talent. Maybe... a little extra work, but it might be the only way to win here. Last edited by QuikSand : 09-24-2005 at 07:44 AM. |
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09-30-2005, 08:16 AM
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#32 |
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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I suspect that I am done with this challenge... but wanted to post a few wrap-up notes.
Basically, after all these years, I still don't have a truly winning team. A few decent seasons on the books, but basically we are a mediocre club who occasionally becomes a modest contender. Maybe we're the Arizona Cardinals? Anyway -- when I lost steam about a week ago, my thinking was that the next thing to try was some sort of cohesion-building. I had speculated about this a while, but the idea would be to (at least at a couple position groups) pick up several fairly young players with almost no talent, who had a strong affinity connection -- and to keep them around as our backups for a long period. In time, we would presumably have pretty good cohesion at those position groups, rather than the lousy ratings I have had in this career resulting from the constant churn of players. WIth a better cohesion foundation, maybe the marginal talents on this team could come together and play better than what we've seen from the (basically) best-talent-available approach that I have been using (with elements of affinity sprinkled in, but not the central theme). I'm guessing this is the last possible angle to use to try to generate a consistent winner in this system -- and other than that, it becomes something of a lottery. If you get lucky and get a few good players at key positions, especially ones who "ripen" at about the same time, then you can put together a pretty decent team for a season or two. But it seems like it realy takes luck to do so. Either that, or I have just exhausted my roster-building and game-planning skills... and someone else might be able to do a better job with one or both components there. My best guess right now is that a run-heavy attack is probably the best way to go... but personnel probably dictates the proper balance. I don't think you can really build up much talent on the OL -- so I suspect getting one-dimensional guys is better overall, necessitating an offensive slant one way or the other. That does, however, make it tough to switch the focus from year to year. Very difficult challenge -- I don't think I have ever playd a career this long that didn't end up with championship rings (or an arrow pretty clearly pointing that direction) or even consistent winning seasons. The thing remaining is to determine whether my decision-making truly had a big impact on the team. I am wondering if that's true, really -- maybe this, in effect, just becomes another "lottery" game where any reaosnable effort gets you 5-7 wins, and getting past that is more a function of luck (getting a few good key players who accept your contract offers - which is essentially out of your control) than anything else. Tough to say... but I submit this as one tough challenge concept for those who might be looking to fiddle around, and are interested in a difficult set of rules. |
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02-09-2006, 10:22 AM
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#33 |
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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I think I am going to start another MinSal team, and use this as a vehicle to try to spend more time on gameplanning. By necessity of the limits of this system, you end up with a lot of "best I can do" type guys on the team -- so it might call for some investment of time in the offensive and defensive schemes to make it work well at all.
I enjoyed this the first time through... and I expect I'll go a bit more slowly this time, to try to squeeze what I can learn out of gameplanning this thing more thoroughly than I usually do. |
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02-09-2006, 10:35 AM
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#34 |
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Mascot
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: Somewhere Grey
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This is a fun thread, QuikSand. Sounds a lot like my own pet project SP team, the Utah Bees. Salt Lake City has a small stadium, so my challenge was to consistantly make money for the team every year, which involves a lot of minimum salary players. The team started with almost 75% first and second year players and is now in its 20th season and I haven't gotten fired yet!
I'd love to find an MP league for the Bees someday. I may just have to start one. Thanks for the insight.
__________________
Toledo Titans - DFL / D.C. Feds - UFL Acting Commissioner, United Football Leagues: http://www.ufl-fof.com/ (A Return To 1985 with the USFL and WFL combined) |
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03-07-2010, 07:30 PM
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#35 |
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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I wonder if this idea might have some legs again with the game under 6.3a. If you really can gameplan a bit more intuitively toward your roster strengths, maybe you can build an adequate or better team around the sort of guys you can get for minsal (lots of guys with just a few useful skills).
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