Alright, Let's Do this Thing! FOF7 Rise of the Jaguars

[Abe Sargent]

Week 14 – We lose at Washington 20-19. Borltes? 19 of 27, 243, 1:1. Poffenroth caught the score. 1.5 sacks by DT Brown, and 1 byBerdanrdini. 3 KRB by Leggin. Rushign score by backup RB Woods.

Tennesse won too – we are both 9-4.

Week 15 – We defeat the Colts 20-9 and the Titans win 21-14 over the Texans. Bortles, MVP, 23 of 37 for 214 and 1:1. Menzies caught that score. FS Bernardini returned a paick 38 for a score and CB Hutchigns another pick. Sacks by Burton and Grossman. FF by Burton and recorved by DT Kantowski. 3 KRB by Satre.

Week 16 – We head ot New York and upend the Giants 31-7. Willingham is Game MVP with 27 carries, 170 yards, 1 score, 8 catches, 65 yards, 1 score. WR Menzies catches one and Borltes rushes for one. Borltes was injures in the gam,e after going 21 of 30 for 172 and 2:0. Pick by MLB Morris. Sacks by Whalen, Velazquez and Burton. 4 KRB by Matthews, 3 by Satre.

We have two major post-game injuries. C Myron Leggin is out for a month with a hyperextended knee. Meanwhile QB Bortles is out for a month with a severe wrist sprain.

I cut Jerald O’Neill to sign QB Kurt Bailey, a 2nd year guy to be my 4th Qb. QB Schaefer and C Pieper will start.

The Titans won too.

The winner of our game, at Tennessee, determines the winner of the AFC South.

We lose 17-34. QB Schaefer was 27 of 42 for 312 and 1:0. He his Poffenroth for a score. RB Woods added a score on the ground Sack by Ezra Wilkerson. 5 KRB by Satre.

[Abe Sargent]

The 2026 NFL Playoffs


AFC:

#1 Seed 13-3 New England Patriots
#2 Seed 12-4 Tenessee Titans
#3 Seed 12-4 Cleveland Browns
#4 Seed 11-5 Kansas City Chiefs
#5 Seed 12-4 Cincinnati Bengals
#6 Seed 11-5 Jacksonville Jaguars

That’s a tough AFC!

We head to Cleveland, whom we just trounced earlier this year.


This time we beat them barely. 34-31.

QB Schaefer, MVP, 30 of 50, 398, 3:2. Wild had 167 and 2, Poffenroth had 173 and 1. RB Willingham had 23 for 158 and 1. Pick by Morris. Sack by Burton. 4 KRB by Starks, Matthews, and 3 by Satre.

Not a bad day in Ohio!

The Bengals lose 41-16 to the Chiefs. The Cardinals lose in New Orelans and the Packers in Washington.

We are the only wild card team to have won.

[Abe Sargent]

Week 2 – Divisional Round

We head to New England and the Chiefs head to Tennessee.


We win 36-24

Schaaefer – 29 of 50, 284, 1:0, MVP
Wild 123 yards
DR Menzies the score
RB Willingham rushes for 24 carreis 141 yards and a TD
Picks by Hopkins (and a score), hanks, Hutchings, and Bernardini. 5 KRB by Satre.

The Chiefs survive the Titans and win in the road as well, 31-28

In the NFC we have the Saints and Redskins winning.

[Abe Sargent]

The NFL Conference Championships!

In the AFC you have #6 wild card 11-5 Jags against #4 seed 11-5 Chiefs.

In the NFC you have #4 against #2.

We have a bunch of people knocked to probable in the last game – DT Keith, LT Matthews, SS Whalen – all will start.

We are favored by 2.

We cover the spread. By one point. 27-24.

WR Wild is MVP with 13 grabs, 203 yards, and 1 score. FB woo the other. Schaefer was 31 for 49 and 389 and 2:5. Willingham was 28 for 95 and a score. Pick by Hopkins. Sack by Velazquez. 5 KRB by C Pierer and 3 by Starks and Matthews.

Now we have a decision to make. Bortles is back. New Orleans won the Super Bowl last year, and they won again.


If Schaefer had a strong game last game, I’d keep him in. But he had a very uneven performance. Both are ranked 43/43. C Leggin is back too.

[Abe Sargent]

The 2026 NFL Super Bowl


Your AFC Champion #6 Wild Card 11-5 Jacksonville Jaguars

Vs

Your NFC Champion #4 Seed 9-7 NFC South Winner New Orleans Saints

The Saints won last year – can they repeat? Or will the Jaguars win another?

The last Bowl the Jags won was 2020. They lost in 2022.

The Jags are favored by a touchdown.


Super Bowl MVP?

RB Shaquille Wllingham 19 carries, 152 yard,s 3 scores, 4 grabs for 52 more yards

Picks by Hanks, Hutchings, and Bernardini

24 of 35, 257,and 0:2. Bortles was not good.

Sacks by SLB Wilkerson, DE Burton

4 KRB by Satre, Matthews, and 3 by Starks



Another Super Bowl!

[Abe Sargent]

Season Awards:


Super Bowl MVP:

RB Shaquille Willingham


All Pro 1st Team:

RB Shaquille Willingham
OG Marquis Satre
DE Gregory Burton
SS Jermaine Whalen

All Pro 2nd Team:

OT Myron Starks
FS Quentin Bernardini

Fastest Man:

WR Joshua Wild

Somebody got robbed of an award – I’ll show you later.


In the meantime, I have three players here for the first time – Bernardini, Whalen, and Burton. Welcome to the list!

[Abe Sargent]

Stats!


QB Blake Bortles – 365 of 510, 71.6%, 4099 yards, 25:16, 98.5 rating, 33 sacks, 5 fumbles, 15 starts

Not a great year. Looks like the beginning of the end. He was strong lightning-out-of-a-bottle Borltes for a few games, and then bam! He ate kryptonite or something.


Rushing

RB Shaquille Willingham – 305 for 1788 yards and 5.86 ypc and 15 rush scores; 84 cacthes for 679 yards and 3 scores

He led the league in rushing yards by 160, by 2 for rushing scor,es and was the 3rd highest ypc among 16 game starters. No one comes close to him catching the ball either.


Catching?

WR Joshua Wild – 92 for 1272 and 7 scores
WR Maxwell Poffenroth – 11 starts, 50 for 777 and 7
WR Cedric Banks – 49 for 630 and 1
TE Brett Kovacs – 37 for 357 and 3

Not a great year. Borltes being down dropped us, and Poffenroth’s injury didn’t help.


Special Teams:

K Robert Blincoe – 27 of 34, long of 52, 54 of 57 PAT.

P Herman Chapman, 75 punts, 42.1 avg, 27 in the 20

WR Darnell Menzies – 35 PR, 10.3 avg; 30 KR and 26.6 avg

Among qualifiers, Darnell was 7th most in punt return yardage, and 2nd highest without a score. He had the 4th highest non-scoring KR avg too.

Defense

DE Gregory Burton – 10.5 sacks, 4 blocked, 20 hurries, 16 QBKD, 2 pasdef
DE Cesar Velazquez, 7.5 sacks, 5 blocks, 22 hurries, 10 QBKD
DT Calvin Keith, 6 sacks, 2 hurries
DT Randy Frederick – 1 sack, 3 blocks, 6 hurries
DE Nate Brown, 3.5 sacks, 2 block, 10 hurr, 1 QBKD
DT Quentin Grossman, 3.5 sacks, 2 block, 2 hurries


Grossman actually had a better year not starting! The Keith experiment worked, and the rookie was solid. Frederick is clearly better as a rotation guy. He had 5 sacks his first year in that capacity. Borotn;s year wasn;t any better than before, but the rest of the league was low.

SLB Ezra Wilkerson – 59 solo and 28 assists; 1.5 sacks, 3 hurries, 1 QBKD, 6 pasdef
MLB Lance Morris – 97 solo tackles, 23 assists; 1 block, 2 hurries, 4 picks, 10 pasdef, 2 FF
WLB Avery Haldar

Avery blanked.

SS Jermaine Whalen – 97 solo, 33 assists, 4 sacks, 1 hurry, 5 picks, 7 pasdef, 1 INT RET TD, 2 FF, 2 FumRec
FS Quentin Bernardini – 59 and 22 tack; 3 sacks, 7 picks, 2 returned for score,s 14 pasdef, 2 FF
CB Allen Hutchings – 5 picks, 5 pasdef
CB Colton Hanks – 1 pick, 14 pasdef

CB Shane Hopkins – 2 picks, 6 pasdef, 1 INT RET TD

We had better sack numbers from my safieties than my LB or some of my D Line. That’s not what you want folks! If you are only going to have one pick, have a metric ton of passes defensed Hanks. I get ya. Whalen and Bernardini are nasty.

Get ready though….

BLOCKING MY CAPTAIN

OG Marquis Satre – 49 KRB, 7 pancakes, 5 sacks allowed
OT Brant Matthews, 45 KRB, 2 pancakes, 16 sacks allowed
OT Myron Starks, 39 KRB, 6 pancakes, 4 sacks allowed
C Myron Leggin – 38 KRB and 5 pancakes and 4 sacks allowed
OG Mark Meadows – 19 and 1 and 9 sacks allowed
TE Brett Kovacs, 11 KRB, 1 pancacke, 0 sacks

Dang!

Remmeber when I drafted Brant Matthews and he sucked, and I called it my worst draft ever? Well, he outplayed himself:

He had just 72 KRO, He converted 62.5% of them – that’s higher than anyone else on my team. For his career, Satre runs around 42% (He was 50% this year). The only issue is the sack number.

Lots of sacks means you likely won’t get the nod, that’s the issue. Even if he had the 2nd most KRB for OT this year.

But that’s not the true issue. OC Myron Leggin was. He finishes the year with the most KRB among C and had more pancakes and the same sacks allowed as the 2nd guy, who got the nod. He even had a much better KR%. I have no clue what they were looking at:

C Myron Leggin – 38 KRB out of 85 KRO for a 44.7%, 5 pancakes, 4 sacks allowed
C Burt Cooper, 37 KRB of 95 KRO for a 38.2%, 4 pancakes, 4 sacks allowed

Copper came in 2nd in pvoting and Myron didn’t make it at all, despite leading.

Here’s the guy they chose #1:

C Blaine Victor, 34 KRB out of 89 KRO, 38.2%, 4 pancakes, 0 sacks allowed

Now I’ll grant you that a 16 start season without a sack may be good enough to make the cut. But why would you elevate Cooper over Leggin?

Who would you choose? DUH!

[Abe Sargent]

Team Awards:

Offensive Player of the Year: C Myron Leggin – He earned it! Damn it, I’ll give it to him! He led all C in KRb and had a large KR% to help get there, so good job Myron!

Defensive Player of the Year: FS Quentin Bernardini – He had a ton of picks, and passes defensed and sacks and forced fumbles and he was a force in the secondary and elsewhere with equal aplomb. He ins;t one of those fragile free safeties who avoids contact!

Special Teams Player of the Year – WR Darnell Menzies – Once again, some strong retrun stuff – thanks!

Rookie of the Year: DT Calvin Smith – He came in and started despite a low selection in the draft, and gave us a 6 sack season, which is pretty solid for a 1st year guy at DT.

Heart Award: DT Quentin Grossman – It can’t be easy being demoted on the football team, but he is content, never upset, came in and did strong work for us, and set an example of do what is required every day. Thanks buddy!

[Abe Sargent]

End of the 2026 Season:

Performance – 63
Value – 100
Profit – 91
Roster – 25

Score – 79

How did I get 63 for winning the Super Bowl?


Retirements:

We have three – DT Grossman, CB Shane Hopkins, and OT Bryce Talaridou

Both Hopkins and Grossman were with us their entire career, from wonb to tomb! Thanks for your work

Hopkins was never a major player. He finishes with 36 picks, and 102 passes defensed. He had one All-Pro season in 2019.

He does retire 1st in our record books for picks in a career, and 1st in tackles, passes defensed, and so forth. I expect our safety tandem to blow those records away though.

Again, Grossman was never that stud who would nail you a bajillion sacks or anything, but he retires with 48 sacks, 13 blcoked passes, 70 hurries, 36 QB knockdowns, and and a nice lineage at DT for us.



Other retirements:

RB Isaiah Tucker from the Titans, a major 7 time All Pro League MVP guy. He was originally with the Jets
TE Eric Ebron
TE Leonard Erickson – 4 time All Pro,
WR Kelvin Benjamin
WR Jordan Matthews
WR Mike Evans – Retires as Legend of the Game
C Travis Frederick
LG Deion Theophilakos – One of ours heads home
OT Lane Johnson
OT Jake Matthews
OT Greg Robinson
DT Aaron Donald
DT Quentin Grossman – bye!
MLB CJ Mosley
OLB Khalil Mack
CB Shane Hopkins – bye!
CB Byran Meadows – Remember when our starters were Meadows and Hopkins?
FS Terrence Brooks

[Abe Sargent]

We made 196 mill last year. 99.8% attendance

We are worth 1.379 bill – 4th most

6th best stadium, 2nd best roster, 13th best support, 7th worst economy


Staff Draft!

We pick 5th –

I skip a better OC who was horrible at play calling.

I make no other changes. Yay!

RFA:

QB Kurt Bailey
FL Juan Sharber


UFA:

TE Delaroche
WE Menzies
WR Banks
RG Meadows
DE Nate Brown
DT Kantowski
WLB Avery Haldar

No one major.

I have 41 on my roster.

[Abe Sargent]

I head to FA

I have these folks in the last year of their current deal:

RB Jermaine Woods
RB Erick Winslett
TE Brett Kovacs
C Myron Leggin
LG Marquis Satre
LT Brant Matthews
K Robert Blincoe
DE Cesar Velazquez
MLB Lance Morris
CB Allen Hutchings
FS Myles Clinton
LS Kent Ikuma
QB Peters


I extend Kent a year.


This year in the draft we have the 32nd pick at the tail end of every round plus no other picks save for the 5.31.

I begin by extending the deal of OG Satre and DE Velazquez by a year each. Apparently we may be on year-to-year deals for them from here on out.

MLB Morris was good for me, even last year, but there’s no way the 42/42 guy deserves an extension.

That leaves three problems that I want to do:

I want to sign CB Allen Hutchings to a long deal; extend C Leggin by a few years, and sign OT Matthews.

Now, they are all wanting some serious cash-age.

C Leggin wants to be brought up to 11.6, 13 and 14 mill from 7.7. OT Matthews wants to head to 6 mill and CB Hutchings wants to leap to 9, then 12, 13, 15 and then 17 million at the top end.

There are some interesting FA out there, so I want to check out their prices and such, so I pass the first week of FA by.


The top player In FA is RG Thurman Horton, a 5th year guy from the Texans who wants 58 mill over 4 years and is ranked 78/78. Grabbing him is a great pull. Firstly, when Satre retires, it leaves me a strong OG option. Second, I could let C Leggin go, and sign this guy for my staring roster, and then draft a C (or sign one) and add depth that way.

And if I don’t like the splash the cash on Horton, there are some 51/51 or 52/52 guys that are in eh late 2 mill-3 mill cap range and currently 7 year vets. I can target them

Another option:

CB Tristan Hutton – 7th year vet, 58/58 ability, wants 9, and 12, 12, and 13. 48 mill over 4 years. He is the best D Back in the FA pool. He started every game with the Patriots after being drafted 16 picks in 92 starts. 81 pasdef is nice – last year he had 4 and 18. He had 22 pasdef as a rookie, and then 7, 12, 12, 10, and 18. He’s been an all league CB once. And remember, he’s a 7th year vet at the age of 29.

Meanwhile I can just sign CB Allen Hutchings to a 5 year 68 mill deal. Both have a similar beginning – Allen goes 8/8, and then 12, 13, and then 15 vs 13 for CB an finally has a last year.

Allen has 25 starts and 9 picks in three years. He has just 9 pasdef. You could make a compelling argument that Hutton is a singing worth doing, but Hutchings is younger. And the next highest DBack on the FA list is 45/45. Now I can chase Hutton, and if I lose, then reup Hutchings. That is an option. Or I can just bite the bullet with the guy.

Now, if you want a cheaper Leggin, FA has a 5th year vet center from the Titans who is 56/56. He wants 2 years at 5.44 mill. He’s gotten 31, 31, and 36 KRBs in the last three years as a starter – with 12 sacks allowed. You know he has the goods. In fact, I’d say he’s a great FA bargain. The Titans drafted him in the 6th round – pretty solid deal.

What about LB? I need a WLB and maybe an upgrade at MLB considering Morris’ age. Say hello to the best WLB on the board, Albert Eamigh, a 5th year vet from the Bengals who clocks in at 49/49, and wants 3, 3.7, and 4 mill. We have a 48/48 guy, a 47/47 guy who wants more, a 45/45 guy who wants even more, etc.

[Abe Sargent]

Let me scout the draft to see if we have solid LB depth or anything. Because the top MLB is 44/44 9th year vet who plays SILB in a 3-4.

LB in the draft ain;t deep. I see the top two OLB and ILB going in the first due to need, but they aren’t quality folks we have five stud-like OT, 2 stud-ish QB, Some strong RB love, a solid WR or two. We even have two OG studs. No one of these is getting to 1.32, maybe I could trade to 1.26 or something is one falls deep. So I need to just have roster agility and not rely on anyone falling.

Whoa, I interview the 5th best OG on the board because he has great bars, but his combines aren’t a perfect match, expecting him to fall and he comes back underrated. OG David Blades. That might be a guy we can get.

I do scout some LB in case they fall. Wilkerson did his year.

Alright, my current roster has OG starting. We have a conflict issue at O Line too. Our leader retired and the new one, OT Starks, is causing some fuss.

Can I clean up some cap space in any obvious places? I could cut RB Jermaine Woods, he’s good though. I could cut MLB Morris, but I’d like some form of coverage first. And we have a major contract coming up next year – FS Bernardini and we will have to face the question of re-upping RB Shaquille Willingham. Both are going to want cash cash.

Any other cash free?

I could obviously take Leggin or Hutchings to FA but I doubt Hutchings is making any changes. That would free up a cash commitment this year though. But next, I need my FS and RB on. So I am not extending folks like QB Peters, FS Myles Clinton or MLB Morris through next year.

I move Hutchings contract to a more cap friend low salary high bonus deal and he agrees. It’s cap hits of 9.2, 9.2, 9.2, 12.2, and 16.3.

That’s not too bad, I’m not overly wounded by that deal in future years.

Now who is next?

I do something similar with Leggin and extend him with 9 mill cap hits this and next year, and then 13 the final year.

I will hold off on any extension of OT Matthews until post-draft.

For now, let’s begin to look toward FA:

One of the top two OGs in the low 50s was placed on IR each of the last two years. I release MLB Morris. Instead, I off:

LG Kennedy Bauer from the Falcons
WLB Albert Eamigh, from the Falcons
MLB Jameson Broyles from the Bengals

I would like to bring in a 3rd WR (we lost 3) but its just too pricey.

Stage 2 – The big name OG Horton heads to Indy. That big name CB Hutton is heading to Detroit.

Stage 3 – Quiet

Stage 4 – WR Cedric Banks heads to Arizona on a 2 year 8 mill deal.

Stage 5 – We sign OG Bauer. Meanwhile two of our D Line – DT Kantowski and DE Brown are signs to the Pats and Bengals, respectively.

Stage 6 – We sign WLB Albert Eamigh.

Stage 7 – Quiet

Stage 8 – OG Mark Matthews is heading to Cincinnati and TE Delaroche to Arizona.

Stage 9 – No major news

Stage 10 – Broyles signs.

I’m looking for a depth WR, CB or maybe S that is great at returning, but I can’t find one I can afford. Menzies wants a 3 year deal worth 2+ mill each year.

Let’s head to the draft

[Abe Sargent]

The 2027 NFL Amateur Draft

Positions of Depth and starting I need:

TE
3xWR
OT
DTx2
DE
CBx2


Carolina gets the draft rolling by grabbing a stud QB.

As the draft gets underway, a lot of talent goes early, but my target OG David Blades is on the board, and he’s there as things get later in the draft. I make no moves, and I snatch him at 1.32.

There are a lot of great players that roll off in the 2nd, but i wait for depth and need. There’s a nice DT on the board, and since I need two, that just makes sense. In the late third, I like two players.

I really like SE Bryce Haynes and CB Harry Morton. Both fill major needs. I need more WR. So I draft Haynes. But it was neck and neck.

CB Morton goes to the Colts at 4.11. Ah well. At the end of the 4th I like….let’s ignore need and go with BAP, one of the top two Centers has dropped, so I grab him.

In the 5th I have the last two picks at 5.31 and 5.32. I like a DE and MLB

I finish with a SE and RB.


The 2027 Jacksonville Jaguars Draft Class

1st – OG David Blades, Baylor
2nd – DT Maurice Clinton, Carson-Newman
3rd – WR Bryce Haynes, Evansville
4th – C Jason Nichols, Michigan
5th – DE Edwin Alston, Clemson; MLB Carl Goode, South Carolina
6th – WR Carlton Eckberg, Boston College
7th – RB Demetrius Stehlik, Temple


And we are ranked with a A grade.

None of our players are on the green page.

[Abe Sargent]

We have 51 players and I’ll trim some fat here in a moment.

I still need: TE, WR, OT, DT, CBx2

I make offers to:

UFA TE Allen Brandon
UFA WR Steven Simkowitz
UFA CB Trenton Craig

3nd year vet RT JB Rivers. He was a 5th rounder for the Bills, cut, picked up by the 49ers, then the Seahawks, they all let him go. I’m grabbing him next.

FB Devon Goodwin

2nd year vet DT Brett Galloway

I cut OG Berggren, to free up a spot at OG and to get rid of a extreme conflict RB Winslett and C Pieper. All were in the last year, and I wasn’t going to up any of them.


Stage 1 - We sign FB Goodwin and CB Craig. I cut FB Woo.

Stage 2 – We sign WR Simkowitz,

Stage 3 – We sign the DT and OT targets.

Stage 4 – I make a late offer – I have been following WR Menzies, and his price dropped to a reliable amount for a specialist. I offer him a three year deal for 4.9 mill

He signs with us. Anyone else I want to bring in pre-Camp?


I bring in two RB, a FB, LT, and SLB

[Abe Sargent]

Alright let’s go to Camp.

Post camp I extend LT Brant Matthews by two years.

I trim some of the extra fat from my roster, many of the UFA brought in to strengthen it in case of a dropping rookie or signee. I also cut LT Alan Raymond,

Post-camp, my LB are in an odd place. The second best LB on my roster is SLB Casey Joyner, that 4.24 pick from three years ago is now fully a 51/51 body. You could move Joyner to another spot, although why bother? Banish him to WLB? Nah I just signed one – WLB Albert Eamigh, who’49/49 is just barely worse. Spelling my major LB is a solid spot on the roster and providing great injury coverage is a boon. That’s one of the reasons I drafted him.

I sign UFA TE Joseph Fisher


Let’s start the pre-season!

We have a few injuries and start 2-1.

After game three LS Kent Ikuma is knocked to doubtful with turf toe.

Then we have our 4th game and win against Minnesota to go 3-1 on the pre-season.

We have a few injuries of note.

DE Burton will be out with a dislocated shoulder for 7 weeks
C Myron leggin joins LS Ikuma with doubtful turf toe.
RG Casey Pasto is out for 3 weeks with a hyperextended elbow


And…

[Abe Sargent]

QB Blake Bortles. ......


Is out…




With reconstructive knee surgery. For the season.

[Abe Sargent]

Good news?

Here’s OG David Blades:






The Blades of Doom!

Alright, you can see that he’s a solid 40/67 guy, with no major weaknesses, although he’ll likely not rank up a large amount of pancake blocks. But he was a solid investment at the RG spot for us at 1.32. Now, we’ve had late 1st O Line before that underperformed, like OG Steven Kelley or OT Cedric Goldhammer. But he has survived so far.

[Abe Sargent]

Here’s the C we drafted back in the 4th round as a BAP. He’ll start as a rookie under C Leggin is done with his Turf Toe, and then be a major back up for us in the inner Line.



This was a quality pick up for us, in case of an extend Leggin injury later. You can develop and trade him, or move him to OG later on, and have some flexibility. I’d rather have a starter quality guy in the 4.32 spot at a place I don’t have need than some 20/35 bum at CB.

I took DT Maurice Clinton at the end of the 2nd to be an immediate player to push for playing time. We started him in preseason, and although he ebbed to 27/49, I’ll still start him as the season progresses

Watch undrafted 1st year SLB Jared Gati, he’s 33/48 right now.

In last year’s news, RB Gaston is now 55/55, and SE Poffenroth 57/69 and DT Keith 38/49.

[Abe Sargent]

I place Bortles on IR. I sign QB Kenneth Berggren, a 23/33 guy as our 3rd string.

I move QB Hardy Schaefer to our starting spot.

Schaefer is a 44/44 QB who has been with us for 7 years. We drafted him at the 4.32 spot. He has started a few games here and there, and never looked that un-Blake like. Let’s take for a spin. This year ,and perhaps into the future, the team is his.

I make some cuts and roster mods:

RB Roderick Greer
WR Steven Simkowitz
WLB Marcos Karr

What do others think of our starters?

12th worst QB
11th best RB
12th worst FB
13th best TE
4th best WR
3rd worst C
11th best OG
12th best OT
7th worst P
13th worst K
3rd worst DE
5th worst DT
9th worst MLB
2nd best OLB
12th best CB
THE best S

Now this is with injuries to Bortles, Leggin, and Burton hurting our rankings. But you get the idea.

We are the youngest team in the league.

This is going to be the first season without Bortles. Bortles ebbed last year. His 4099 yards was 3rd least in history, and those two season were cut short by injury. His 25 TD the lowest ever, other than that 11 game season in 2023. The next lowest was 30 in his 2nd year as a QB. His 98.5 rating is 3rd lowest ever, since his first two seasons. So you could see it. But still…

In Bortles we trust. And maybe he’ll be fine post-injury.

[Abe Sargent]

Week 1 – We head the tunnel in North Florida to face the Colts and leave losers 30-6. Schaefer was 29 of 52 for 292 and 0:0. Willingham was held to 28 yards. No picks, no forced fumbles, Schaefer fumbled four times, No sacks, no body did anything of note.

The only good thing I can tell you is that C Leggin is back from turf toe injury.

Week 2 – Next up is Tampa Bay. Whom we beat 30-24. Schaefer is MVP with 25 of 31 for 218 and 2:1, and he hits Willingham and Poffenroth for scores, and Willingham has 19 for 103 on the ground. A pick by CB Allen Hutchings. DE Alston, starting for Burton, had a fumble recovery and return for a score – 84 yards. DE by DT Frederick and SLB Wilkerson. 1 sack by Wilkerson, Alston, and 5 KRB by Satre, 3 each by Leggin and Starks.

Week 3 – We head to Denver….and win 34-9. Schaefer is Game MVP with 30 of 37 for 347 and 3:0. Wild has 8 grabs, 103 yards, and 1 score, TE Kocavs and RB Woods the other two. No picks, but four Forced fumbles with three recoveries, one of which, by DT Frederick, is returned for a score. FF by CB Hutchings and DE Alston and WLB Eamigh. Sacks by Alston, Velazquez and backup DE Chris Goeken. 3 KRb by Starks and Satre and rookie David Blades.

We do have a few post-game injuries:

FS Popson – questionable, 3 weeks, pulled groin
SS Jermaine Whalen – questionable, 4 weeks, knee
RT Myron starks, strained hammy, questionable.

I’ll bench Popson. Everyone else stands.


Week 4 – We host the 1-2 Jets. We win 30-10 to go to 3-1. Shaquille Willingham is Game MVP with 25 for 152 on the ground, 6 for 52 in the air. Meanwhile Schaefer was 21 for 33, 213, and 3:1, hitting Wild, Menzies and FB Goodwin for score.s No picks or sacks. But 4 KRB by Satre, Starks and Leggin and 3 by Matthews.

No major injuries.

[Abe Sargent]

Week 5 – We host the 0-4 Dolphins. We win 38-10. QB Schaefer was MVP with 33 of 42 for 292 and 3:1, and hit Willingham, Goodwin and Poffenroth for scores. Willingham also had 90 yards and 2 scores on the ground. Picks by Hanks, Hanks, and….Velazquez. 2 sacks by the guy too, and 1 by Bernardini. 7 KRB out of 7 KRO by Starks, 4 KRB by Brant Matthews.

In injury news:

TE Kovacs, LT Matthews, RB Gaston, all knocked around
DE Alston is questionable with a broken toe for a few weeks.

Week 6 – We head to 5-0 Indianapolis, our sole loss on the season. They just clock us 33-10. I’ll skip the stats.

From injury – LS Kent Ikuma, RT Starks, RB Gaston, FS Popson.

Week 7 – We take out our anger on the formerly 4-2 Titans 44-17. The Colts lose to the Jets. Schaefer, MVP, with 26 of 35, 273, and 1:0. He jots Wild for a score. Willingham is 23 for 157 and 2 scores – RB Gaston and QB Schaefer have rushing scores. Sacks by Wilkerson and rotational DT Brett Galloway. 5 KRB by Leggin, 4 by Satre and Matthews, 3 by Starks.

Schaefer broke his nose in the game, and is probable for next week.

Week 8 – BYE – and in good timing as well.

Back from injury –

DE Burton
SS Whalen
DE Alston
QB Schaefer

Week 9 – We head to Buffalo. And while it is close, we ultimately lose to them 40-38 to go 5-3 on the season. Schaefer was 24 for 31 and 246 4:1 and connected with Poffenroth twice and FB Goodwin and TE Courtney Beyer for scores. Sacks by Burton and DT Frederick. 5 KRB by Satre

Injury:

LG Satre – probable
MLB Broyles - questionable

[Abe Sargent]

Week 10 – Next up, we travel to Boston for a battle with the 4-4 Patriots. We win 38-18. Schaefer 25 of 30 for 3609 and 4:2 - TD to Wild with 176 yards, Willingham, Kovacs, and RB Gaston - Gaston rushed for a score too. Pick by FS Bernardini. Sack by Burton. 3 KRB by Blades, Starks, Satre.

QB Schaefer is probable along with C Leggin

Week 11 – We host Houston and….lose 20-23. They held our running game in check – Willingham was just 64 yards on the day, and Schaefer’s 33 for 46 and 303, 1:2 performance wasn’t enough. Wild had 105 yards on 6 catches and WR Menzies the lone score from Schaefer. RB Gaston rushed for a score too. No picks, 2 FF by Bernardini and DT Keith. Recovered by DT Maurice Clinton, Meanwhile 2 sacks by Keith, 1 by Bernardini and Burton. 3 KRB by Satre and 3 by Starks

Week 12 – Next up – the 4-6 Panthers come to Jacksonville and leave losers 24-10. Schaefer, MVP, 29 of 38, 270 and 2:1. Wild had 144 yards, scores to TE Kovacs and Willingham, FB Goodwin with a rushing score. Picks by Hanks, backup CB Graham DeWine and Bernardini. 3 KRB by OG Blades and Satre.

DE Velazquez is questionable for a couple of weeks with a bruised ribcage.

Week 13 – We host the 9-2 Bengals. And they just take us down 38-35. Willingham had 115 yards on the ground. RB Gaston and QB Schaefer had rushing scores and Schaefer was also 28 of 43 for 323 and 1:0. Poffenroth had 7 grabs, 132 yards and a score. Sack by SLB Joyner. 4 KRB by OT Matthews, 3 by Satre.

Injury:

DE Alston is out for 3 weeks with a concussion
CB Trenton Craig questionable for two.
RT Starks questionable for one

[Abe Sargent]

Week 14 – We take down the Falcons 40-32. K Blincoe was 4 of 4, and Schaefer MVP with 25 of 33 for 307 and 2:0. Poffenroth was 9 for 167 and 2 scores. Fumble recovery by DE Burton for a score. FF by CB Hanks and Velazquez, recovered by Bernardini. 1 sack each by MLB Nygaard, OLB Gati, Velazquez and DT Calvin Keith. KRB By OT Matthews.

Multiple probables but no major injury additions . The Colts lost the last two weeks and are now 9-4 to our 8-5.


Week 15 – We head to Tennessee. We thump them hard 44-19. The Colts manage to win. FS Bernardini is NFL Defensive Player of the Week with 3 picks, 2 returned for scores! Backup CB Trenton Craig with a 4th pick of the Titans. Schaefer was 26 of 35 for 224 and 1:0 and hit Willingham for a score, Gaston rushed for one, and we had sacks by Velazquez, DT Keith, and DE Burton,

TE Kovacs is questionable for a week.

Week 16 – We head to New Orleans in a battle of the Super Bowl!!! We beat them in the Super Bowl last year, and they won the year before. So, who wins today? 49-20, us!

Willingham has 2 rushing scores, and Schaefer is MVP with 25 of 33 for 324 and 3:! And his Wild for 127 yards and 2 scores, Poffenroth for a score, and Willingham for 105 yards in the air. Picks by CB Allen Hutchings, CB Graham DeWine retuned 12 yards for a score, and FS Bernardini, returned 52 for another. 3 KRB by Starks.


The Colts won too.

We head to Houston and the Colts host the Titans. Our foes are playing spoiler or for a .500 season (both are 7-8). We are one game behind the Ravens in the Wild Card hunt for the #5 spot, and there is a 9 win team, the Browns, in the chase. If we lose, I don’t know if the Browns or us make it in at 10-6.

Let’s play the Texans!

The Browns won…we won 27-10, the Colts won – lots of folks won.

QB Schaefer was MVP and had 27 of 39 for 276 and 2:0, connecting with Wild for 92 and a score and FB Goodwin for another. Picks by Hutchings, Bernardini, Hutchings and Hanks. DT Keith with a sack. 3 KRB by C Leggin.

In injury news RB Jermaine Woods is out for the postseason with a broken jaw. I place him on IR and activate our 4th man, rookie RB Stehlik.

DE Chris Goeken is out for 2 weeks, and I sub him out. DE Alston just got back from his injury.

[Abe Sargent]

The 2027 NFL Postseason


The AFC:

#1 Seed 12-4 Baltimore Ravens
#2 Seed 12-4 Indianapolis Colts
#3 Seed 10-6 Kansas City Chiefs
#4 Seed 7-9 Buffalo Bills
#5 Seed 12-4 Cincinnati Bengals
#6 Seed 11-5 Jacksonville Jaguars

And we leave behind the 10-6 Browns.

Unfortunately we miss the honor of being the wild card team that plays a 7-win team. It would have been nice to send them packing.

Instead we travel to KC.

Now, Schaefer is not unfamiliar with the playoffs. We were the #6 seed last year too, and Schaefer guided us to the Super Bowl (sometimes a bit unevenly).

Oddsmakers are a bit uneven what to do with us. Yes, we are down our starting QB, and yet, that’s nothing new. Yes, we ar the #6 seed, but that is nothing new either. They settle on giving us a 6 point advantage.

Luckily we cover the spread. By a lot. We win 33-6.

Willingham is injured early, and Jermaine Woods is out too, so we turn to Kendrick Gaston, the 7th round rookie from last year, and he is MVP with 35 carries, 160 yards, and 1 score. He catches 5 balls for 51 yards too. Schaefer is 23 of 27 for 300 and 1:2. Poffenroth caught a score. FB Goodwin has a rushing TD. Picks by Hanks and Hutchings. 3 KRB by Satre, Leggin and Matthews.


For next week, Willingham is questionable.

Cincinnati crushed Buffalo 33-3. We also had wins in the NFC for Chicago over Green bay and 49ers over Giants – 3 out of four wild card teams won this weekend.

[Abe Sargent]

Week 2 – Divisional Weekend:

We head to Indianapolis. 2 of our loses this season were against the Colts.

We know them. They know us. So let’s get this thing started!


Once again we are never in the game against the Colts. They just have our number. 34-8.




Baltimore wins 20-17, setting up a match between equally 12-4 teams that were the top two seeds in the conference for the right to represent the AFC in the Super Bowl.

Phily eats the 49ers, Chicago the Bucs. Chicago is a #6 wild card against the #1 seed Eagles.


Conference Champs
Baltimore over Colts 33-25. Bears over Eagles 31-19

Scrappy vs the Raven-nators. The best QB in the league against the underdog wild card Bears.
Who wins the Super Bowl?

The Ravens 27-0

[Abe Sargent]

Get ready for a surprising set of awards:




NFL MVP:

QB Hardy Schaefer

NFL Offensive Player of the year:

QB Hardy Schaefer

NFL Defensive Player of the year:

FS Quentin Bernardini

All Pro 1st Team

QB Hardy Schaefer
FS Quentin Bernardini

All Pro 2nd Team

FB Devon Goodwin
WR Joshua Wild
OG Marquis Satre
OT Myron Starks


Now many of these are no surprise – Wild, Satre, Bernardini, Starks have all been here before, and no one is likely shocked to see Bernardini as the DMVP of the league.

And FB Goodwin has a strong year, you’ll see.

But QB Hardy Schaefer???

Uh oh…

[Abe Sargent]

STATS!

QB Hardy Schaefer – 440 for 608, 72.4%, 4572 yards, 33:11, 104.2 RB Rating, 35 sacks, 10 fumbles, 2 rush TD

Schaefer was 3rd most in yards, tied for 2nd most in TD, Was the most QB rating and had the best % completion by 3% over the next dork. But I felt like Schaefer never had those great games like Bortles would where he had like 400 passing yards and 5:1 Or 4:0 day. But he still had 500 yards more this season than Bortles last. To be fair this may suggest that the success of Bortles was more about people like Marqise Lee, Joshua Wild and my O Line than Bortles.

Rushing

RB Shaquille Willingham – 269 for 1369 and 6 rushing TD, 5.09 ypc, 87 grabs for 606 yards and 5 scores
RB Kendrick Gaston, 117 for 464 and 6 scores; 18 for 183 yards and a score in the air

Shaquille’s number shave returned to normal where I like my offense. I’m missing the rushing scores, but the receiving ones are fine.

Receiving

WR Joshua Wild – 103 for 1390 and 8 TD Grabs
WR Maxwell Poffenroth – 81 for 999 and 8 scores
TE Brett Kovacs 0 59 for 474 and 3
FB Devon Goodman – 46 for 308 and 4


One of the things about Schaefer in the past is that he always hit Kovacs for a ton of catches They had a real thing going. Each year, Kovacs’ best games of the season would be when Schaefer came in for Bortles. This year? A bit, yes. Kovacs 50 grabs the 2nd most he ever had after 59 his 2nd year, and he had 37 and 34 the last two years. So he’s back a bit. FB Goodwin evolved into a security blanket.


Special Teams:

K Robert Blincoe – 34 of 40, long of 53, 57 of 58 PAT

P Herman Chapman – 67 punts, 42.8 average, and 26 inside the 20

WR Darnell Menzies – 39 PR, 11.0 average, 2 PR RET TD, 28 KR, 25.8 KR Avg,

Two PR scores, and a great KR average again and Menzies is becoming our secret return weapon

FB Devon Goodman was one of our gunners, and he had 22 special teams tackles, 2 FF


Defense:

DE Cesar Velazquez, 6 sacks, 5 blocks, 17 hurries, 4 QBKD
DE Gregory Burton, 9 games, 5 sacks, 5 blocks, 17 hurries, 11 QB KD, 2 FF, 1 FUM REC TD
DT Calvin Keith, 5.5 sacks, 2 blocks, 12 hurries, 3 QBKD
DE Edwin Alston, 12 games, 2.5 sacks, 3 hurries, 2 QBKD, 2 FF, 1 FUM REC TD
DT Maurice Clinton, 1.5 sacks, 3 blocks, 7 hurries, 2 FumRec

With Burton and Alston splitting playing time, Velazquez wasn’t enough by himself to keep things honest. Weak effort.

SLB Ezra Wilkerson, 74 solo tackes, 21 assists, 2 sacks, 3 hurries, 2 QBKD, 11 pasdef, 2 FF
MLB Jameson Broyles, 87 solo, 28 asst, 7 pasdef
WLB Albert Eamigh – 27 and 8, 0.5 sacks, 1 pasdef

Dang, not a good year for my MLB or WLB. We need a better long-term solution in the middle. Period. Wilkerson had a great year in coverage though.


SS Jermaine Whalen, 59 solo and 24 assist; 1 hurry, 6 pasdef
FS Quentin Bernardini, 83 solo, and 25 assist, 2 sacks, 1 hurry, 7 INT< 3 INT RET TD, 19 pasdef, 2 FF, 2 FumRec,
CB Allen Hutchings, 4 picks, 13 pasdef
CB Colton Hanks, 4 picks, 9 pasdef
CB Graham DeWine, 2 picks, 1 INT RET TD, 6 pasdef

Our coaches regularly like to switch Whalen and Bernardini in their FS and SS roles on the depth chart. This year they liked to run Bernardini more often from the strong spot. That switching was very successful for Bernardini as well. 19 pasdef was tied for most in the league, but I think the change up through off Whalen’s game a bit. I may move back to more static roles for them going forward.


Blocking

OG Marquis Satre – 43 KRB, 2 pancakes, 3 sacks allowed
OT Myron Starks, 40 KRB, 6 pancakes, 9 sacks allowed
OT Brant Matthews, 27 KRB 2 panckes and 8 sacks allowed
C Myron Leggin, 23 KRB and 7 sacks allowed
OG David Blades, 22 KRB and 7 sacks allowed
FB Devon Goodwin, 10 KRB
TE Brett Kovacs, 8 KRb and 2 pancakes

Satre’s pancake numbers fall as his abilities drop, but they guy is still an all-pro OG. He’s down to 68/68, and I don’t care. Everyone else is solid to go.

[Abe Sargent]

Team Awards:

Offensive Player of the Year: QB Hardy Schaefer – He had a compellingly good season behind a strong offensive line and with two great WRs out there and 3 55+ RBs. This is the result. He created an interesting QB controversy after Bortles heads down for the year in the pre-season. But he gest this award, no question.

Defensive Player of the Year: FS Quentin Bernardini – I’m not usually a fan of giving out these awards to the same player multiple years in row. But he earned this with his play at all levels o the game – tackles, sacks, FF, fumble recoveries, picks, pass defended, and being awesome.

Special Teams Player of the Year: WR Darnell Menzies - With 2 return scores, and great returns overall, Menzies is one of the best returners in the game right now.

Rookie of the Year: OG David Blades – 22 KRB out of 61 KRO for a solid 36.1 blocking percentage, with 7 sacks allowed. That’s not a bad record at all, and is a good foundation to build upon. What do you have next?

Heart Award: DE Edwin Alston – Hey look, OG Blades and DT Clinton were drafted to immediately start and fill holes on our line. Alston was a 5.31 pick that was forced by circumstances into the starting role when Burton went down with a pre-season injury for 7 weeks. He didn’t suck out there. He provided the needed depth and injury coverage from the first game on.

Welcome to the team!

[Abe Sargent]

End of the Season:

Performance – 63
Value – 90
Profit – 81
Roster Strength – 24

Score – 73

“After hosting a joint press conference, QB Blake Bortles and DE Cesar Velazquez of the Jacksonville Jaguars both announced their retirement. As part of their dominating careers for the team on offense and defense, their mutual retirement leaves leadership questions for the franchise moving forward.

QB Blake Bortles will be an instant Hall of Fame contender. With five Super Bowl Appearance, and 3 victories, the three time Super Bowl champion led the Jaguars, as received the NFL MVP award in 2016, 2018, 2020, 2021, and 2022. He was one of the dominating players of his era.

But that era will always be marked by injuries. In the 2016 season, after leading the Jaguars to the playoffs, he was injured for the season, and QB Nick Foles had to take over, and got the Jaguars to the Super Bowl, which they then lost to the Seahawks. Multiple times QB Bortles would be injured, including the 2026 season when Blake was out for the playoffs, where QB Hardy Schaefer took over and took the Jaguars through a difficult gauntlet of AFC teams to the Super Bowl before Bortles returned to win it, albeit without any dominance.

Bortles’s history of injury caught up to him when in 2027, he was injured in the preseason and was placed on injured reserve for blowing out his knee badly and needing reconstruction surgery on it. While many were expecting Bortles to contend with Farve’s career numbers over the next two years for the Jaguars, including career TD and passing yardage numbers. Instead, he finishes with 57950 passing yards and 490 passing touchdowns. His career, cut short by injury, at the age of 36, was still one of the best. He finished with a career best 108.7 QB Rating.

Meanwhile DE Cesar Velazquez was one of the strongest defensive linemen during his era. Retiring at the age of 35, Velazquez received 5 All Pro awards, and one the NFL Defensive Player of the Year award in 2019. Additionally, he led the league in sacks three times – his best the 22.5 sacks he got in 2019. He was a threat to quarterbacks everywhere, and dropped opposing throwers 146.5 times in his career. He blocked 51 passes, was recorded for 242 hurries and knocked the QB down an additional 208 times. He retires with five more sacks that DE Michael Strahan, and is right above him on the career chart.

While the loss of both players will be felt keenly, QB Hardy Schaefer was NFL MVP last year spelling for Bortles and DE Gregory Burton was an All Pro two years ago. Both players are expected to be leaned on as the Jaguars turn over from an old dynasty to a new one.”



Other retirements of note:

QB Russell Wilson
QB Andy Dalton
QB Andrew Luck
WR Stedman Bailey – 2 All Pros, 15460 receiving yards, 102 receiving TDs
C Khaled Holmers
SLB Martin Galloway – 4 time All Pro (12th year vet,) ex Defensive Rookie of the Year
SS Jimmie Ward

It’s a sad day

New Hall fo Fame – Get ready:

QB Aaron Rodgers, Russell Okung, Gerald McCoy, AJ Green, Earl Thomas, Rob Gronkowski, Aldon Smith, Brian Winters, Morris Claiborne

[Abe Sargent]

We made 122 mill last year; 97.1% attendance

Value is 1.403 bill, and that’s now 9th most.

4th best stadium
19th best roster
14th best support
26th best economy


I retain all four staff I hired a few years ago when I got the 3rd highest pick in the staff draft – all of their contracts are coming up next year, so this’ll increase our staff costs tremendously, but we have good folks and I want to keep the party going.

Staff Draft

We pick 8th


I ignore a HC candidate who has 2 more suitability that ours, because I don’t like where he;s better and worse.

I hire the Redskins’ former strength coach for us, he’s a bit better.

I massage tickets

RFA:

QB Kenneth Berggren
TE Joseph Fisher
RG Casey Pasto
DT Brett Galloway
SLB Jared Gati
CB Trenton Craig


UFA:

QB Frankie Peters
RB Jermaine Woods
FB Devon Goodman
TE Brett Kovacs
K Robert Blincoe
FS Myles Clinton

No one on this roster is that valuable who is leading, and retirements have left me with a massive quantity of cash to resign players I like.

Which is good, we have major contracts coming up…

No franchise please. Thanks

[Abe Sargent]

Hello FA

Please give me some good stuff!

Feh. I looked over these folks. Not really seeing it.

The benefit of not having a QB that’ll take up a huge chunk of my Cap is that I can spend it on other folks to strengthen my roster elsewhere. I can use Schaefer as a bridge from Bortles to our next person.

Major contracts ending this year, 2028:

OG Satre
QB Hardy Schaefer
RB Shaquille Willingham
LS Kent Ikuma
FS Quentin Bernardini
RCB Graham DeWine
SLB Casey Joyner
DT Randy Frederick
P Herman Chapman
RG Kennedy Bauer
WR Joshua Wild


Never mind.

Schaefer wants a jump in cash from 3-5 mill to 17 mill and up. Hey look, become the NFL MVP and I guess everything changes. That sucks. That gives me a one year clock.

There is QB Damien Hoffman in the draft, and I interview, he looks legit.

He’s the only major player out there, and likely goes 1.1, That’s way too high to trade up to from 1.26.

Miami has the #1 pick. I call up the Gm. Just to check things out. However, Miami too a 21/76 QB at the 1.3 spot last year, so they might not even be in play. We’ll see as we get closer.

I’ll play that game later. It’d likely cost me two future 1st rounders.

Wild has ebbed to 69/69 – still a great guy. I extend his deal by two years.

I extend OG Satre and LS Ikuma by a year each

I sign RFA SLB Jared Gati and RG Casey Pasto

I could play FS Bernardini, then franchise and sign him next year, and save myself a ton of cash. But he’s worth it. I extend his deal for a new 5 year 76 mill deal. I move a lot of his deal to bonus, and it’s a very future-friendly cap hit.

I extend SLB Casey Joyner by 3 years.

I like Willingham. But he’s pricey. I could let him go this year, and then moved to RB Gaston. Or I could slide into to extend Willingham and keep him for the long haul.

I end the first stage of FA

[Abe Sargent]

We need:

FB, K, QBx2, RB, Tex2, DE, DT, CBx2, S

Of those, these starters – TE, K, FB, DE, maybe DT, maybe Qb. I could also use a stud/starter at WLB or a halfway decent MLB.

There is a one year gap DE available, 14 year vet Arnie Mettert, 57/57. From the Marquis Satre draft, and drafted two spots earlier. Looking for one big score. I could grab him to start across from Burton for a year he just wants 3.6 mill. I do it, I make that offer.

A lot of the areas that I want for starting, TE, DT, QB they just don’t have in FA.

I have the money, and not a lot of options in FA. I don’t need a 51/51 RB, a 49/49 SS a 64/64 12th year vet at CB, etc.

I just don’t have a lot of holes. I make an offer to backup QB Will Stanton to be my new backup. He’s 34/34 and a 5th year vet, and he has some affinities.

I’m not overspending for Kovacs, just like before. He went an entire offseason before I bought him back. If someone pays him a salary starting at…9.25 mill and going up from there, they can do so.

I want to make plays for TE, K, and FB later as prices drop. I still want to be cap sensitive.


Stage 2 – Nothing major. I have to increase the offer to DE Mettert to jump over others.

Stage 3 – We sign Mettert for 1 year, 4.28 mill

That’s a good signing – it immediately plugs the hole that DE Velazquez made for just one year, and not a super-major commitment, so I can come back next year in FA and try to find better, or develop via the draft and have two years of taking shots at the DE spot in the draft.

Stage 4 – RB Jermaine Woods is heading to Buffalo. Good luck!

Stage 5 – Quiet

At FB, there are two options we like. There’s a great 63/63 FB, 7th year vet out there, and then we can resign our guy Goodwin from last year. Both are fine. I want a strong FB as I have a week QB situation, and anything to strengthen that works. I make an offer to FB Percy Olivares. Yes, he’s pricier than I’d normally want, and he wants to sign for four years, and he’s a bit older, but he would immediately be the best FB we’ve had on our roster, ever. He wants to sign next week. He’ll also be a backfield leader for us.

I head to the draft review, I want to check out kickers. Any major ones I could steal? You can use the 3.32 pick to take them, most P/K go in the 4th.I interview three and all come back uneven at best.

I spend some time with the draft and whoa. The 5th DT on the board, Isaiah Christensen has great bars, but not the highest combines, and he interviewed as underrated. I like that a lot. That might be a future pick for me. There’s also mega-TE Todd Mills, who has a potential affinity, and very very nice looking bars.

Stage 6 – We sign FB Olivares and QB Stanton. We have signed the 2nd and 18th players on the Grey Sheet, a list of the best players in FA ranked by position, skill, and more.

Stage 7 - I make an offer, one year, for 17th year vet K Justin Tucker for a vet min salary.

I also make an offer to TE Bernie Chellgren a 94 special teams 30/30 TE, 6th year vet.

Stage 8 – We bring in TE Chellgren for 2 years 2.53 mill

Stage 9 – K Tucker heads to Jacksonville. WR Roman Fahey one of ours is heading to Washington and another of our, RG Mark Meadows is heading to Minnesota.

Stage 10 – Not a lot of action. TE Kovacs still wants massively incredible money. 4 year 36 mill contract? No!

Stage 12 – K Blincoe signed with the Vikings

[Abe Sargent]

Let’s hit this thang up!

The NFL 2028 Amateur Draft


Miami goes first, doesn’t need QB, and takes RB instead. The Jets take the next choice. The Jets have a 36/36 starting QB on their roster. Probably won’t pass.

I get the Jets GM on the horn.

Theoretically, I might want their 1.2 pick. What might it cost?

I don’t know if FOF uses the draft trade chart or not. Assuming it does,

1.2 is worth 2600 points. 1.26 is worth 700. I need to send them more than 1900 points. Our 2.27 is 310. I could toss in all three 5s, and that would be around 100 more not a lot more points for the picks.

Now I don’t know the exact value. Assume I off my 1st, 2nd, and next year’s 1st. Okay, we have a potential offer –

I trade them my 1nd and 2nd round picks this year, my 1st and 2nd next, and my 2nd in two years. That they’ll take.

Is it worth it? I denude my ability to take a first round talent to help out next year. I make the deal.

Because it’s fun!

We select QB Damien Hoffman, from Tennessee Tech, 5 volatility, as scouted, and strong combines. He was the top player on the board.

I’ll see you guys in the 3rd round!

I still need 2xCb, S, WRx2, DT, RB,

At the 3rd round, none of our positions of need are available. But the 2nd best QB in the draft hasn’t even been taken yet. There are clearly some value in drafting him – in case my guy busts, I have him too. And there really ins;t anyone here that I want/need unless I want to grab yet another fallen C.

Actually, if I’m going to blow a pick, why not take a P?

Then I start need drafting bodies

The 2028 Jacksonville Jaguars Draft

1.2 – QB Damien Hoffman
3.27 – P Wally Collier
4.28 – DT Rick Greer
5.10 CB Jonah Dennis
5.22 FS Tony Markel
5.29 WR Casey Meyer
6.26 TE Sebastian Treftz
7.27 RB Rob Velthoen

[Abe Sargent]

“I think we would all agree that you are allowed to make bold plays like this when your job isn’t on the line. After winning 3 Super Bowl rings in five appearances, GM Marquis D’Avigoine is in no danger of getting a pink card. So he might as well swing for the fences with QB Damien Hoffman.

He had great intangibles, physical stats, and more. And the Jaguars mortgaged two drafts to move up and grab him as the heir apparent for Blake Bortles. And they don’t even have to play him now, they can just let him grow for a year behind QB Hardy Schaefer.

But this is a risk Any player can bust. And we all know this is especially true of Qb. Many a fallen GM has been beaten on the rocks of the high hopes for the right QB to turn things around. Essentially, the Jaguars are admitting that their roster is good enough that they can afford to make this trade and survive.

Other teams didn’t, but they wern’t as we’ll stocked. The Redskins gave up a bevy of picks for the pick that would become Robert Griffith III, and that didn’t turn out well. But the Jaguars have a much better team, the picks not as important. And they have a savvy GM who keeps surprising the league – he’ll trade up and back and then keep steady – who knows where he’ll end up. But for now, the entire NFL is waiting to see what QB Hoffman, who is not from a major football school but small Tennessee Tech, can do on the biggest stage. If this gamble works, then GM D’Avigoine can put his name alongside legendary GMs of the past. If it blows up, then the gold may begin to tarnish on his legacy for the Jaguars.

In other picks, the Jaguars suited some needs, and took a strong P as well. The draft is a decent enough B+.”


QB Hoffman is listed as the top player on the Green Page.


Did you know that: QB Damien Hoffman is the son of Scott Hoffman, from Illinois, who played for Florida and Purdue?

[Abe Sargent]

In our continuing post-draft coverage, we have with us today former GM of the Texans Maurice Claiborne. He ran the Texans for four years, and after being let go, was actually hired by GM of the Jaguars Marquis D'Avigone for two years as a lead scout until his retirement two years ago, and now he advises us on regular events around the league.

Welcome to the program Maurice!

Thanks again Sarah, its always a pleasure.

Absolutely. Maurice, the entire country today has been buzzing about the news of the trade that the Jaguars had with the Jets for the selection of Damien Hoffman. This is an extremely bold decision by GM D'Avignon. Sure Blake Bortles retired this off season after being injured for the entire season last year, but they just had a long time vet on their roster start for them, and do so well that QB Hardy Schaefer won the NFL MVP award, and now he moves up and takes a guy like Hoffman. And he traded a lot of picks to do so.

Sarah, you are right, it's a difficult move to unpack. But I think that Schaefer's success led to this move in an odd way. Let me see if I can explain the thinking here. Bortles had great, sometimes downright obscene statistics from his position. Naturally, you think he was this great player, and he as NFL MVP 5 times. Clearly, there were results. But he was never a guy who you would call durable. He didn't finish a lot of seasons without missing at least one game. There were multiple post-season games as well that he missed. And whenever he came in for Bortles, to finish a game ,to spell him for a game or two, or longer, Hardy Schaefer looked pretty solid. In fact, he looked downright Bortles-esque.

Now earlier you could simple point to the fact that Schaefer didn't have a lot of starts or games, or opponents didn't play him long enough to get a feel for his game, or whatever. But last year, he started the entire season and layoffs for the Jaguars, and his numbers were very consistent. This proved that the Jaguars had a very strong system, because with all due respect to Schaefer, no one thinks he was this hidden John Elway who was on the bench for 7 years for the Jaguars and just suddenly bloomed.

The Jaguars created an impressive offensive juggernaut of a system. Marqise Lee? Probably a future hall of fame guy. Joshua Wild has that talent level so far. You have new draftee Poffenroth who has some Lee-like skills and talent. You easily have two of the top ten receivers in the league catching your passes. That's huge. Now add in a generational talent like offensive guard Marquis Satre on the line, joined by fellow All Pro talent offensive tackle Myron Starks, probably one of the best two or three centers in the league with Myron Leggin, and strong talent with David Blades from last year's draft, and so forth.

The Jags easily have the best offensive line in the game. They have the best receivers in the game, and they have built a strong running game. In that system, a backup QB can look like a MVP level talent.

Right, Maurice, and I get that. But if that's the case, why make the play for Hoffman? Why not stick with Schaefer who is working? Or another equally average talent who won't cost a lot of money down the road?

You are right Sarah. A lot of folks would do just that. And that''s why that aren't a Hall of Fame level GM like D'Avignon. Let me see if I can explain by showing what he learned about 1st round busts with OT Brant Matthews.

If you'll recall, the Jags drafted Matthews in the 1st a few years ago and thought he was the greatest thing since Marquis Satre to block a player. Great talent, great potential, and great skill set. Top 3 OT potential. Then he came to camp. Maybe instead of Top 3 he was a top 5. Then top 10. They came out of camp and hit preseason and man did he look not-good.

And eventually they benched him and played other OT that year. And later, in a future year after he had figured out the league they started him because they really didn't have anyone else. And you what? He didn't suck. He has a solid, though not spectacular year. And then another.

So the Jaguars came to terms with extending his deal, since Matthews knew he wasn't the best OT in the world, and he wasn;t asking for that much money. Matthews has been playing like a good, solid, 3rd round OT. No, he's no allpro, but he works. He's maybe the 25th or 30th best OT in the league in any given season, but he's not paid top money and he hasn;t screed up.

And I think the Matthews thing had the Jaguars thinking. If they traded for Hoffman, and he wasn't as good as everyone though, the team won't hurt. When you have built a team that is so fool-proof that even Ryan Leaf could drive it, then you don't need to risk an great 1st round pick busting into a Ryan Leaf.

Now imagine that if your Ryan Leaf ended up being Peyton Manning? What could you do with that offense?

So that's sort of the thought process behind this move i think. It's virtually risk free. Because look what Schaefer did with it.

That's a very interesting angle on this situation Maurice. Thanks for sharing!

Sure thing Sarah. Now, the next player I want to discuss is the linebacker taken in the late first....

[Abe Sargent]

The Browns tried, but failed to move to Beaumont TX. And since the Beaumont Browns sort of rolls off the tongue I suppose it’s okay. But they failed.

LFA!

Post draft, we have 54 players on the roster.

Let’s look at the new Free Agency to see if we have any stars in the making out there.

I make an offer to UFA RB Mickey Kasay; UFA MLB Christopher Newsome, UFA LT Skip Corona

2nd year WR Lonnie Yarborough
5th year vet RCB Ian Heath

TE Kovacs still wants 4 years and 28 mill. Closer, but no.

Stage 1 – We sign FB Kasay, and FL Yarborough. I edge up my offer to MLB Newsome, whom others are offering spots too.

Stage 2 – LT Corona, MLB Newsome, and RCB Heath sign with us.

Someone has offered TE Kovacs a 25.79 mill deal.

So here’s the question. Do I want/need Kovacs enough to pay him 5-6 mill a year for four years.

I make two changes. First, I let Kovacs go. I would love to keep a player for most or all of their career. But Kovacs wants way too much for his talent level or production. Then I extend TE Courtney Beyer, a 41/41 TE I have, I extend him by 4 years for 11.33 mill. Which is more feasible, and Courtney can be my top TE or my 2nd, based on how the market, drafts, etc work.

Stage 3 Kovacs signs with the 49ers.

Stage 4 – Quiet

Stage 5? Anyone who fell? I have 4 mill in cap space and 60 players.

For example, there’s a 43/43 5th year FS on the board – Albert Corbett. 4th year SS at 43/43.

We let FS Myles Clinton go, and I doubt anyone signs him, and he’ll quietly retire. He’s down to 24/24, ad 10th year vets that are that low tend to not get signed. He was drafted in the 7th round of the same drat that gave us WR Wild. Is was funny that the two players left from that draft on our roster were the first and last. Now he’s gone, the 10th year vet.

Post FA Corbett is pretty cheap, he wants 2 years at 3.96 mill, for a 40s guy for the rotation. Hes solid everywhere but has a 17 in picks. He only has 3 interceptions in 4 seasons for the Bills. He’d be a solid dime-nickel back who doesn’t get you picks, just passes defended, and coverage for injury and tiredness. That’s not bad. And I have the money. Who would I trim? Rookie FS Tony Markel? Maybe have 5 S and 5 CB instead of the normal 4 and 6? I make the deal. FS Corbett joins us.

[Abe Sargent]

CAMP

We sell 57,400 season tix

I cut P Chapman

Let’s head to preseason

We go 2-2 in the preseason

Any changes to existing players?

RB Willingham dropped to 52/52; FB Olivares, to 49/49 – which sucks. Wild is at 69/69, Satre 67/67, OG Blades is up to 62/67, Starks faded to 59/59, DE Mettert is now 45/45, WLB Eamigh rose to 50/50, CB Hanks down to 44/44, SS Whalen down to 53/53. Lots of bad news I suppose.

[Abe Sargent]

Alright, now, here’s the one you’ve been waiting for

QB Damien Hoffman –





So, let’s take a look. He’s 32/82 right now. If he settles in the 75/75 range, I’ll be doing gymnastics. In my sleep, not in real life, cause I’m 38.

The Hoff will be starting for us, and he has no weaknesses, other than scrambling. Now he’ll start out with a high cap because of where we took him, which was okay, cause I had the cap room, and it won’t be as much of a cap leap when I sign him to a long term deal in three years. That’ll be nasty. For now, enjoy the Hoff and all he has to offer.

[Abe Sargent]

I massage my roster:

I cut

RB Mickey Kasay
FL Yarborough
LT Corona
MLB Carl Goode
MLB Ricky Nygaard
WR Casey Meyer
RG Casey Pasto


We are starting RB Gaston, and then no additional changes that we didn’t talk about before.

Roster Strength:

11th worst QB
12th best RB
19th best FB
19th best TE
2nd best WR
2nd best C
6th best OG
14th best OT
4th worst P
26th best K
3rd best DE
7th worst DT
Worst MLB
3rd best OLB
17th best Cb
2nd best S


7th youngest team in the NFL

[Abe Sargent]

Week 1 – We host and smash the Titans 33-9. Hoffman in his first game 20 of 31 for 282 and 3:2 and his WR Poffenroth for 7 times for 96 yards and 2 scores and then Gaston for the 3rd. Pick by backup CB ian Heath. OC Leggin and OG Blades had 5 KRB and Satre and Starks 3. DE Burton and DT Frederick each had 1.5 sacks. 1 sack by DT Keith.

We finish with no major injuries.

Week 2 - Next we travel up north to D-Town. We come back winners 23-16. QB Hoffman is Game MVP for the first time with 25 of 41 for 248 and 3:2. He hit Poffenroth, Wild and TE Beyer for scores. Pick by FS Bernardini. FF and recovery by SLB Ezra Wilkerson. 1.5 scks each by DT Keith and 1 year patch p DE Arnie Mettert. 1 sacks by DE Edwin Alston.

A few probables, nothing major.

Week 3 - Next we head to Cincinnati to take on a bruiser of the AFC. We fight well, but ultimately lose 31-36. Think this was a Hoffman issue? Think again! 24 of 45 for 365 and 2:0. Wild had 165 yards and Poffenroth 110 and a score. FB Olivares the other TD score. Gaston was 2 scores on the ground. FF by SS Whalen. No sacks on the day, OG Blades with 4 KRB.

FS Bernardini is questionable with sprained knee for two weeks. We’ll keep him in.

That’s not a bad, unexpected loss for my team. I keep waiting for that bad 12 of 34, 156 yards 0:2 game. He hasn’t had any yet.

Week 4 – We host and defeat Jacksonville 44-28. Hoffman, Game MVP, has 28 of 42 for 414 4:2. Poffenroth rocks 12 catches for 194 yards and 2 scores, Wild 90 yards, and RB Willingham and TE Beyer the other two grabs, Willingham, has 16 for 129 and 1 scores and Gaston 19 for 82 on the ground. They are a pretty solid two-headed monster Gaston is more of the smash mouth guy and Willingham the dancer. Backup S Roger Popson with a pick after he subs in for an injured Whalen. Sack by DT Clinton, and Popson. 5 KRB by Starks, 4 by Blades, and 3 by Leggin.

SS Whalen is out for two weeks with a strained foot ligament and I’ll put in Corbett whom we signed into the starting role from backup.

We finish the 1st quarter of the season a strong 3-1. I’d be really happy with a 12-4 season!

Week 5 – BYE

Bernardini’s injury has healed.

[Abe Sargent]

Week 6 - We host the 5-0 Colts. An ugly game follows. We win 16-14. Gaston is MVP with 16 for 76, and then 4 for 44 yards. Willingham had a rushing score on the day with 13 for 68 and caught 5 for 32 in the air. Man, these RBs are a strong tandem. Hoffman was kept to 27 of 39 for 249 and 0:0. Pick by a newly healed Bernardini. 1.5 sacks by Burton. 5 KRB by Leggin.

SS Whalen is back from injury.

Week 7 – We head to Tennessee. Our foes are an anemic 1-4. We are favored by 8. We win 27-20. Sorry spread! Gaston is Game MVP with 16 for 98 and a score. Hoffman has a lowly 18 of 35 for 207 and 1:2. TD toss to Wild. No picks. RB Willingham falls on a fumble and returns it for a score in the 4th quarter. Sacks by Burton and DE Arnie Mettert, 5 KRB by Blades ad 3 by Satre.

No major injuries, although C Jason Nichols is probable for a few weeks. The Colt lost to the Chiefs and we move in front of the division at 5-1.

Week 8 – Now we head to the Chiefs. We win 27-11. Hoffman, MVP, 28 of 39 for 399 and 2:2, Wild was 8 of 135 and 2 scores and Poffenroth 8 for 128. RB Gaston had a rushing score. Pick by CB Ian Heath. Sacks by backup S Albert Corbett and DE Burton. 4 KRB by Starks and 3 by Satre.


Week 9 – We edge Denver 27-20. Hoffman, MVP, with 24 of 34 and 233 and 2:0 ratio. Poffenroth had 10 for 86 and a score and Wild 5 for 97 and the other. Gaston rushed for 23 and 123 yards plus a rush TD. Two picks by CB Hutchings. No sacks on the day. Ready for OG Blades? He had 9 KRB and 1 pancake! That’s Satre numbers! 4 KRB for Leggin and Satre, and 3 for Starks.

Man Blades – you are not slowing down your sophomore effort!

We have a few injuries:

RB Hutchings – probable – broken nose
DT Randy Frederick – questionable, ankle, 2 weeks
RT JB Rivers, probable, knee, 2 weeks

Nothing major, we’ll be fine

We finish the 1st half of the season a strong 7-1.

Here’s an interesting stat, at the halfway mark both of our RB are over 500 yards – Willingham at 514 and Gaston 616. Would it be possible to have two 1000 yard RBs?

The Bengals who beat us? 8-0!

[Abe Sargent]

Week 10 – We head to San Diego as we open the 2nd half of the season. We win 30-13. Hoffman, MVP, 26 of 31, 315, 1:0, Wild had 157 yards and WR Carlton Eckberg the score. Gaston had 19 for 88 and 1, score, Willingham the other score. Picks by Hanks and Hutchings. 1,5 sacks by DE Burton. 4 KRB by Starks and 3 by Blades

K Justin Tucker is doubtful with abdominal strain, but we’ll start him anyway, since I don’t want to sign a new K.

Week 11 – We head to 5-4 Houston. We head there and lose 28-31. Our running game went nowhere. Hoffman was 25 out of 35 for 230 and 3:2, and found Wild for 122 yard and a score and WR Menzies the other. Bernardini had a pick. Sacks by DE Mettert, MLB Broyles, S Bernardini, and 3 KRB by C Leggin. Menzies had an 86 yard Kickoff return for a score too.

A few injuries in the game. Satre is probable with a broken nose, and Wild with elbow bursitis,

Week 12 – We host the 6-4 Vikings. They beat us 35-33. Gaston got 3 rushing scores, and Hoffman was 40 of 48 and for 415 but 1:4. Wild 181 and Poffenroth 111. Score to RB Stehlik – CB Hutchings with a pick, Sacs by DT Frederick and Clinton. 3 passes defended by SLB Wilkerson.

We drop to 8-3. Still a game up of the Colt sat 7-4


Week 13 – We host the 6-5 Pats and blow through them 37-10. RB Gaston had 20 for 122 and a score, and yet Willingham is Game MVP with 12 for 84 and 2 scores. Meanwhile Hoffman was a slow 22 of 31 for 184 and 1:0. Wild caught the lone score. CB Hutchings with a pick. 2 sacks by Burton, 1 by DE Alston. 5 KRb by Blades, 3 each by Satre, Matthews, and Starks.

Starks was banged up and is questionable with rib damage. We’ll keep him in.

We finish the next third 9-3 and the Colts lots to the Texans and are now 7-5, and the Texans also 7-5. 2 games back.

[Abe Sargent]

Week 14 – We head to Chicago and return winners 35-10. Hoffman, MVP, with 21 of 23, for 251 and 3:!. He hit Poffenroth and Wild and Willingham for TDs, and Gaston ruses for another. A pick by Hutchings is returned 38 yards for a score. 5 KRB by Satre

Houston won, the Colts lost again, and now the Texans are the major issue. They have a chance too, they arrive in Jacksonville to take us on. Win, and they drop us one game closer with two games left.

Week 15 – It’s a great chance for the Texans, so we don’t let them anywhere near it – 37-17. Colts lost too. We win the division with 2 games to go. NFL Defensive Player of the Week is CB Allen Hutchings with 2 picks, and CB Hanks added a 3rd. 2 sacks by DE MEttert, and 1 each by CB Hutchings, DE Burton, DT Frederick and DT Rick Greer. 3 KRB by Satre, Leggin and Starks. Hoffman rocked 28 of 34 for 276 and 4:0 and Wild had 2 scores, and FB Olivares and TE Beyer the other two.

Week 16 – Are you ready for a big game? We host the 12-2 Green Bay Packers. Then we finish at Indianapolis. Are you kidding me? How did we do that? 55-3? That’s is just….i am just grinning all over right now. NFL Offensive Player of the Week is QB Damien Hoffman, 27 for 35 and 423 yards and 4:0 ratio Gaston was injured early, and Willingham just ran all over 31 carries, 135 yards, 2 scores on the ground. Gaston had a 3rd. Hoffman hit Wild for 162 and a score, Poffenroth for 65 and 2, and TE Bernie Chellgren for 1 . Whalen with a pick. 2 sacks by DT Keith. 3 KRB by Starks, Blades, and Matthews.


TE Chellgren is probable with shoulder tendonitis, SLB Casey Joyner questionable with a sprained knee and DT Rick Greer broke his thumb and is probable for a few weeks. Gaston broke his nose and is probable.

If Willingham collects 23 yards in the final game, both RB would have gotten 1000 rushing yards.


Final game

Week 17 – We head to face the Colts. We have a bye in the first round, and Cincinnati might get the 1 spot from us due to head to head if they win and we lose. And….don’t worry, we win 41-17. MVP Is Wilf with 7 for 126 and 2, and Poffenroth was 1 score too. Willingham was 17 for 103 and 2 scores and Gaston 18 for 87. Picks by Hutchings and Bernardini. 5 KRB by Starks and Matthews, 3 by Leggin and Blades

Major injury news. KR.PR Darnell Menzies is out for the season with a high ankle sprain

We place him on IR, and activate the 3rd string TE. Treftz. In the playoffs we’ll use starts like Poffenroth and Hutchings who don’t normally return but have high bars.

[Abe Sargent]

The 2028 NFL Playoffs


Your AFC:

#1 Seed13-3 Jacksonville Jaguars
#2 Seed 12-4 Cincinnati Bengals
#3 Seed 10-6 New England Patriots
#4 Seed 9-7 Oakland Raiders
#5 Seed 10-6 Baltimore Ravens
#6 Seed 9-7 Cleveland Browns

We have a bye.


Baltimore wins in Oakland 24-19. The Browns can’t in New England 31-9

In other news, the Giant suck in St. Louis and the Vikings blow in New Orleans



Weekend 2 – Divisional Round

We host the Baltimore Ravens

The Ravens won the Super Bowl last year, and are a perennially good team. We’ll need to play well to beat them. We are favored by 6. I think the Ravens are too hot to handle and we’ll lose. Let’s see…



We win 30-24. Hoffman is Game MVP with 28 of 36 for 240 and 3:2. He hit Gaston, Wild and RB Stehlik for scores. Hanks and Bernardini with picks, Gaston had 19 for 109 on the ground, and Willingham 11 for 79. Whalen with a sack, and DT Keith, DE Burton and SLB Joyner also netted post-season sacks. Leggin rocked 5 KRB and 1 pancakes, Blades 4 RB and Satre 4 and a pancake.

The Bengals are too much for the Patriots.

In the NFC, St Louis is chilled at Green Bay and The Saints are unlovedu in Philadelphia.

[Abe Sargent]

Conference Championship!

We host the #2 seed Cincinnati Bengals, who defeated us last year.

In a non-one-cares NFC news, the Pack host the Eagles.

The Bengals are favored by 4. They have beaten us before.

And the pundits are right. They defeat us again 31-17.


Hoffman was 34 of 54, 283, 1:4. Wild had 101 yards, WR Bryce Haynes a score, Poffenroth a rushing score CB Hutchings had 2 picks. DT Keith a sack. It was never enough. We were never in this game.

Alright, before the Super Bowl, do I want to make any extensions or anything with contracts?

I extend RB Willingham for two more years. This worked too well to jettison.



The 2028 NFL Super Bowl


Your AFC Champion The #2 seed 12-4 Cincinnati Bengals

vs


Your NFC Champion #2 seed 12-4 Philadelphia Eagles




Bengals 22, Eagles 20.

Good job Cincinnati!

[Abe Sargent]

Season Awards:



Offensive Rookie of the Year:

QB Damien Hoffman


All League 1st Team:

C Myron Leggin
OG David Blades
OT Myron Starks


All League 2nd Team:

WR Joshua Wild
CB Allen Hutchings

Was Satre robbed? Was Hoffman? Get ready for the fun!

And welcome Hutchings and Leggin and Blades to official awards time.

[Abe Sargent]

STATS:

QB Damien Hoffman – 405 for 577, 70.2%, 4716 passing yards, 37:19, 102.3 rating, FOURTEEN TIMES SACKED, 5 fumbles

That is not a lie. He was sacked just 14 times all season long. That’s just unfeasible. Good job O Line. Any O Line with that sort of protection wins. We have a Line with 4 players to get All Pro nods, so yay! 3rd most passing yards, 2nd most TD, 6th best Rating, 2nd best %, great stuff from the rookie.

But again, take any of your great NFL QBs in their first season. Now give them an All Pro line that allows just 14 sacks, so you have plenty of time to figure things out. And give you two of the top ten WR catching (Wild is ranked 6th by scouts and Poffenroth 9th). Give you two RBs that each have 1000 rushing yards. And you’ll have a great statline for your rookie season as well!


Rushing:

RB Kendrick Gaston – 249 for 1156 and 12 rushing TDs;55 grabs for 478 and 1 score
RB Shaquille Willingham – 201 for 1080 and 9; 43 snags for 353 and 2 scores

That’s just incredible. You can’t make that up. It’s a Jaguars version of Warrick Dunn and Mike Alstott. That’s just good stuff there. I don’t know that I’ve ever had two 1000 yard seasons in FOF before barring injury halfway through. But it worked here.


Receiving:

WR Joshua Wild, 106 for 1581 yards and 14 scores
WR Maxwell Poffenroth, 99 for 1244 and 11 TD
WR Darnell Menzies, 34 for 419 and 1
TE Courtney Beyer, 20 and 270 and3

Not a strong season unless you are Wild and Poffenroth. Those guys though had a strong year!


Special Teams:


K Justin Tucker, 31 of 36, long of 54, 59 of 59 PAT. 5th most FG made,.

P Wally Collier, 71 punts, 43.1 average, 17 in 20. The average is that bad but that’s a woeful inside 20 #.

WR Menzies – 38 PR for 9.6 avg, 30 KR with KR RET TD< and 30.9 avg; 3rd highest KR Avg, 5th highest PR Avg among non-scorers.



Defense:

DE Gregory Burton, 10 sacks, 6 blocks 26 hurries, 20 QBKD
DE Arnie Mettert, 6 sacks, 7 blocks, 12 hurries, 10 QBKD
DT Calvin Keith, 4.5 sacks, 2 blocks, 14 hurries, 16 QBKD
DT Maurice Clinton, 2.5 sacks, 2 blocks, 4 hurries
DT Randy Frederick, 4 sacks, 5 blocks, 9 hurries, 1 QBKD

Hello there Keith, you had a nice rushing season! And Mettert was adequate. Eventually Burton is going to burst it all wide open, but I don’t know when.


MLB Jameson Broyles, 106 solo, 19 assists; 1 sack, 2 blocks, 1 hurry, 11 pasdef
SLB Ezra Wilkerson, 53 solo, 14 ass, 1.5 sacks, 3 hurries, 1QBKD, 7 pasdef
WLB Albert Eamigh, 25 and 4 tack;2 pasdef

SS Jermaine Whalen, 62 and 32 tack, 0.5 sacks, 1 pick, 6 pasdef, 3 FF
FS Quentin Bernardini, 60 and 13; 1 sack, 3 FF
CB Allen Hutchings, 1 sack, 9 picks, 1 INT RET TD, 9 pasdef
S Quentin Bernardini, 4 picks and 8 pasdef
CB Colton Hanks, 2 picks, 6 pasdef
CB Ian Heath, 1 pick, 1 pasdef

Not great years for Hanks or Whalen. MLB Broyles had an unexpectedly decent year though.


Blocking!

OG David Blades – 47 KRB, 7 pancakes, 2 sacks allowed
OT Myron Starks, 44 KRB, 7 pancakes, 3 sacks allowed
OC Myron Leggin, 38 KRB, 5 pancakes, 2 sacks allowed
OG Marquis Satre – 34 KRB and 3 panckes and 4 sacks allowed
OT Brant Matthews, 24 KRB, 1 pancake, 3 sacks allowed


First of all, its great to see OG Blades as a great 1st rounder last year. He is 72/72 and fully developed. Secondly, even with Satre eroding in skills, and getting 4th best KRB on my team this year, he still has the 19th best KRB score in the league. That’s pretty strong. And 34 KRB is no jokes. This season was still better, KRB wise, that 5 of his other seasons.

[Abe Sargent]

Team Awards:


Offensive Player of the Year: WR Joshua Wild, This was Wild’s 2nd best season in his career, and it came at a critical time as QB Hoffman had his first season. Wild was a crucial part of the team’s success in the regular season and to get to the Championships. Good luck next year!

Defensive Player of the Year: CB Allen Hutchings – Hutchings tied for the league leading 9 pickings. He notched his first All Pro award. And the 5th year pro from the late 5th round did it in style, and often secured the big moments in big games. Shoot, he even had 2 picks in the AFC Championship game!

Special Teams Player of the Year: K Justin Tucker, we don’t usually have a strong season from my K, since we tend to not kick a lot of FG, but we have a long of 54 – the 2nd longest kicked this year (tied with 3 others) and 5th most FGs made. And that’s a solid season for the 17th year vet.

Rookie of the Year: QB Damien Hoffman. Is there anything I could say about him that I missed earlier? The low number of sacks? The high %? I guess we could ask some questions – where will he go from here? Will he have the typical sophomore slump? Will he not perform as well under a lot of pressure? Will he drop from the 48/82 rating to something a lot worse? Will he be a flash in the pan who hit hot fast, but then his team faded?

Heart Award: LCB Walt Benavides, this 6th round rookie in the third year from Wayne State Univ (in Detroit) has no ability to catch the ball. You could coat his hands in stick um and he’s miss the ball with his 0 interceptions rating. But what he did do is quietly ratchet up 6 passes defended for us here a little here and there over the course of the season. So good job Benavides, whose last name I still can’t pronounce.

[Abe Sargent]

Alright here we go:


Performance – 86
Value – 94
Profit – 85
Roster – 24

82 Score


Retirements:

DE Arnie Mettert and K Justin Tucker are gone.

Welcome back Satre!

Other major retirements:

QB Derek Carr – Legend of the Game
LG Trey Brandon – 5 time All Pro
RG Steven Kelley -Former Jaguar draftee who never worked out
DE Wes Winters, 4 time All Pro, Defensive Player of the Year 2022, 171 sacks
SS Derrick Pigott, 5 time All Pro, 48 picks, 119 pasdef
SS Britt Kuykendall, 2 time All Pro, 57 picks
FS Spencer Preston, All League 1, 61 picks,

We signed a new deal as a league for 7.1 mill cap increase a year.

Hall of Fame inductee – Bashaud Breeland

We made 167 mill last year

99.1% attendance

1.621 bill, 4th highest

4th best Stadium
2nd best roster (behind Super Bowl winner Cincinnati)
12th best support
8th worst economy

[Abe Sargent]

No one comes close to our staff at 7th in the staff draft

I have 44 players under my roster, a ton of cash, and little need for money to keep my draftees since I am bereft of a 1st and 2nd this year.

RFA:

MLB Christopher Newsome


UFA:

QB Hardy Schaefer
RB Kennedy Bauer
LT Colton Parrish
RT JB Rivers
DT Randy Frederick
CB Graham DeWine


That’s no one worth franchising!

So let’s just go to FA