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07-26-2005, 09:25 AM
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#51 | ||
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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2031 postseason summary
Divisional Playoff: NY Giants (10-7) at St. Louis Rams (12-3-1) – We are 13 point favorites here, a daunting endorsement from the oddsmakers. Our defensive front is healthy, but our secondary is dinged up a bit. Here, it’s an odd situation, as we can’t get our running game going, lose the time of possession battle, and despite a late rally, drop our second straight playoff opener at home despite the top seed. NY Giants 17, St. Louis Rams 14. One and done, again. It’s Detroit (?!?!) over Denver in the Superbowl – with the Broncos nearly making the improbable run from the WC round, and Detroit winning despite being one of the weakest records in the entire playoffs. Oh, well. My main drive here is to develop the roster and have general success with the team – but it is a bit disappointing to come up completely empty in the postseason twice now, both times after very strong seasons. Where from here? I’m still pretty interested in this team… so who knows? |
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07-26-2005, 12:54 PM
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#52 | |
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lolzcat
Join Date: May 2001
Location: williamsburg, va
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Booooooooooooooooo!
This is one of the more engaging dynasties of yours, which tells me as a fan of the dynasty i 'feel' more of a challenge... It seems that your knowledge of the game makes that difficult, but it's happening here, even if you're still generally having good regular season records...
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07-26-2005, 01:03 PM
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#53 |
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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I really appreciate the feedback. I generally feel that my dynasties all start to follw the same old story -- gradual build up to a powerhouse, and then the team isn't very interesting any longer.
On my end, my increased attention to chemistry (I have never focused this much on that stuff before) has kept my interest level fairly high. But hearing from a reader or two does reinforce my interest as well. So, thanks. |
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07-26-2005, 01:23 PM
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#54 |
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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2032 offseason
Just to catch up, here is the summary of our performance thus far: Code:
One retirement this year – S Josh Benton. Not a surprise, but it leaves us with two holes to fill, at starting SS and also safety mentor. The latter may be less important now that FS Lorenzo Barrett is well on his way to full development, but if second year man Dwight Fisher is going to see starting duty, then we definitely need to back him up with a mentor who can play a little bit. Our two coordinators are done with their initial contracts – I will attempt to re-hire both. Both re-up for another five years, so we put that behind us for a while. Seems like our injury problems lessened a bit last season, so my head coach is safe. Incidentally, from last year we end up with our first real representation on the awards list: Code:
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07-26-2005, 01:23 PM
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#55 |
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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Early Free Agency
As usual, we have only a paltry few players signed to contracts coming into the season – this year it’s 13. The list of key players on the open market is growing – this year I’d say it shapes up this way: A LIST: QB Dwight Fisk, LB Daryl Jeffries B LIST: RB Moe Jamison, DE Courtney Largent, LG Gino Reeves My biggest worry here is Moe Jamison, who is really too good to be signing year by year, and by rights ought to get a fat multi year offer from someone. I think we could live without Gino Reeves as well, though I’m awfully hesitant to break up that offensive line that played so well for us last season. If we lose Fisk or Jeffries, we’ll have a big shock to the team continuity – I want to keep both players, even if the price keeps going up. One additional note – QB Dwight Fisk has himself become a mentor, so my need for a backup who can mentor along a younger player is lessened. This could spell the end of the line for Alvin Gammon – whose skills are declining, and whose attraction has lied, in part, in his mentoring. Once again, I will refresh the team’s affinity grid – for my benefit as much as the readers’: Code:
This assumes that we will retain all our incumbent position leaders – which may be in some doubt, actually. RB Hunter Royals really adds nothing except keeping Jamison and Spry from feuding – if Jamison departs, we may bring aboard a RB/FB who might foster some more affinity within the group. At WR, Jeff Sasa has been our leader for years, and is fine – but we are carrying more WRs than I prefer, and I might have to explore what might happen if we lost Sasa, who isn’t good enough to get onto the field, really. In addition to targeting our key returning players, we also want to add a quality player at the safety position this year. Ideally, we’d get a starting-caliber player or key reserve who can also serve as a mentor. I find a great candidate in 15th year veteran Ralph Robinson – who would become our starting strong safety – but doesn’t have long to go. FS Lamont Whiting is also a good player, but he’d have a conflict with our position leader CB Ian Mayer, so I rule him out. We make an initial bid on Robinson, and will hope to bring him aboard for a one or two year stint with us. LB Daryl Jeffries has initial demands for $9 million per year. My offer has to get to $9 million before he considers it – but we are in, at least, for the initial bidding. Last year he snapped up my first offer right away – if there won’t be any competition, I’d prefer to whittle it down a few weeks, and save some scratch. QB Dwight Fisk is our other must-have player, and he is looking for a solid, but not that massive contract, worth over $8m a year. That seems odd to me – after an MVP season, his demands actually dropped. Anyway, I put in a matching $9m offer to Sims, and he takes it under advisement. In my mind, DE Courtney Largent is another player I don’t want to eave to chance. He is solid on the field, and is the lynchpin for a lot of affinity on the defensive front. Replacing both those roles would prove expensive, I am certain. His mentoring is also a plus, in the event we ever have a promising DE to bring along. I put in an initial offer of $4 million for him – more than I’d expect to pay down the line, but I am seeking to avoid any big surprise there. RB Moe Jamison is looking for $6 million a year – and is jut out of my price range. We’d be fine going with Bo Spry again, as he fits our system well, but if Jamison’s demands drop over time, we will certainly take him seriously. LB Orlando McNeil ants to sign in stage two, so I want to have an offer on the table for him. He’s a solid player, an affinity guy, and an ILB mentor – that’s just too tough to pass up, even if he seems to be brittle (though that wasn’t the case prior to last season). I put in a few more initial offers to other solid players whose demands aren’t ridiculous – and we head into early free agency. Once again, I am not looking to make any big additions here in the early stages – we will have a look around at week 15 or so, and if there are guys who could help us still waiting by the phone, we will look for values there. But in general, until we lose a key player somewhere, I don’t feel a lot of urgency to add players to the roster, other than at SS where we already have our target. |
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07-26-2005, 01:24 PM
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#56 |
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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EARLY FA RESULTS (Weeks 1-6)
Immediate re-signings: QB Dwight Fisk, LB Daryl Jeffries, LB Orlando McNeil Re-signed, no competition: CB Ian Meyer, LB Adam Bauer, CB Benjamin Gumphrey Re-signed, over competition: none New players signed: S Ralph Robinson Signed away: RB Moe Jamison, CB Fred Moulton, P Kevin Blade RB Moe Jamison does indeed get his fat offer, and $7m is more than we can handle there for certain. I also don’t think we can match $6m for CB Moulton – he waited too long on his big offer last year, I expect he won’t make the same mistake this time. Both are locked up and out the door in week three. I cannot justify $4 million for TE Cary Schultz – the position just doesn’t seem that tough to fill with a capable player, and he has been injury prone to boot. If Seattle wants to give him a fat deal – have at it, we’ll find someone to step in and do fine, I reckon. I have my eye on 3rd year man Bennie Havran, and see a couple potential prospects in the rookie class, too. I won’t pay $1 million for an injury-prone punter – we will find a rookie, simple as that. |
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07-26-2005, 01:24 PM
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#57 |
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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MIDDLE FA RESULTS (Weeks 7-17)
Immediate re-signings: Re-signed, no competition: DE Ronnie Copeland, WR Gino Brannan Re-signed, over competition: New players signed: RB Ricardo Rayburn Signed away: WR Ronald Ratto, TE Cary Schultz, DE Vince Serwicki I keep whittling away at DE Courtney Largent’s offer – by week 8, it’s down to $3 million, as we are the only team in the bidding. Seattle plucks away WR Ratto – he is a decent reserve guy, but with the development of young Louis Woodson (a guy I inexplicably like) he was pretty much surplus to us. TE Cary Schultz finally accepts the Seahawks’ $20 million offer – it had been hanging for four or five weeks, and I suspected he might lose it soon. The ‘Hawks sill have a few of our familiar faces in their passing game next year. Seattle then swoops in and grabs DE Vince Serwicki – their third FA grab from our roster this year. Serwicki was a decent DE, put up acceptable numbers, but I didn’t want to pay him $2 million – Seattle did, apparently. I am eyeing LB Everett Kramer for that reserve pass rushing role – he I better suited to play at DE than at LB, really. DE Courtney Largent finally signs, for $2.5 million. I’m happy – we pared $1.5m off the deal as he waited for a better offer that never came. I want to see what we can do with the RB/FB group, so I have a look at the affinity structure there. RB Spry and FB Sutter are guys I want to return – and RB Pringle is worth a look, too, after sitting out all last season. Turns out we have a complete affinity mess here – it will be tough to find a veteran who does anything here beyond a single affinity bridge. I do some searching for potential group leaders – Bo Spry gets a veto, but everyone else is negotiable. I sign and release Royals, to clear out his leadership effects – and Bo Spry actually becomes our position leader. That might be okay – we can corral younger players around him, and Spry can probably be the guy we plan on keeping long term. With a 95 leadership rating, unless we go out of our way to replace him, he ought to remain the group leader. That works, I think. I have a look at the free agent gaggle of running backs, and I think I find just the guy we need – Ricardo Rayburn is a 10th year veteran, posted one 1,000-yard season some time ago with the Browns, but remains a decent player and a standout punt returner to boot. I have been trying to improve our return game – Rayburn could be jus the guy to help us. His cost? The minimum of $610,000. |
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07-26-2005, 01:24 PM
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#58 |
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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So, we get to the last few weeks of free agency before the rookie draft. Here’ I like to put in a few modest offers to my remaining guys, and take a look for value players who have not been signed on the open market, but could help us out. A contributor at CB might be wise (after losing Moulton) and we probably need another DE, too.
LAST FA RESULTS (Weeks 18-20) Immediate re-signings: Re-signed, no competition: C Jon Wallace, LB Jeff Dole Re-signed, over competition: New players signed: CB Corwin Ferrell Signed away: RB Benjamin Pringle CB Corwin Ferrell is a good ballhawker and will play our coverage scheme well – so I overlook his lack of tackling skills. Solid reserve for us, giving depth at the position where we might need it. RB Pringle’s signing was immediate – but no effect, as I didn’t expect to keep him anyway, as his potential role has just been filled by Rayburn. DE Van Rivera is a better and more balanced DE than we are used to getting – he was a first round pick and five year full time starter for Pittsburgh, but has gone unpursued in the open market. I suspect he steps right in to start for us at RDE, and is a better run stopper than we usually have at that spot. Sturdy, pretty talented, and an affinity to boot – great signing for us, it seems. For a measly $1.0 million. We head into the rookie draft with 29 player signed, and probably 18 guy unsigned whom we intend to re-up with. If that count is accurate, then 7 rookies would pretty much fill up the roster. |
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07-26-2005, 02:08 PM
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#59 |
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Pro Starter
Join Date: Apr 2004
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great dynasty. i am enjoying reading it.
for gameplan on defense , you mention your changing the secondary only? what are you changing it too? for offense and defense, do you hit recommend and then change the defense secondary only? thanks |
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07-26-2005, 02:22 PM
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#60 |
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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2031 Rookie Draft
For this year’s rookie class, I think our top immediate needs are at DB, TE, DE and LB. For a particularly good fit, I will go anywhere – the top selection has to be a “long term answer” for the team, but past that we are fine getting role players and speculative guys. Giving a look at affinities and chemistry – I realize that I have made a critical oversight. Anointing Bo Spry as position leader worked fine within the backs group, but it creates a conflict with QB Dwight Fisk – and Fisk isn’t going anywhere. So, I need to re-evaluate what to do at the RB position. Regrettably, I am discovering this as the rookie draft is starting, meaning that I don’t have a handle on my affinity structure for that group. I have painted myself into a bit of a corner here… Alas – the affinity situation at RB/FB simply could not be more tangled, and I see no easy answers, short of clearing out the whole lot of them. I’m just not going to worry about it with the rookie class – and we will endeavor to fix it all afterwards. Heh. Our slot is #28 in this draft – we’ll be looking for “best fit” at that point, I’m sure. This might be a good circumstance to move up, and I will try to find some likely targets for the middle of the round. My first impression is that this is a very, very weak draft. All the more reason to try to move up if we can find a suitable target player. Or… as it turns out, maybe it’s a good year to trade down or even out. My top target player, a solid safety with a good match in his skill set, get taken at #14 (higher than I expected), I decide it’s probably time to look ahead. I do find a linebacker I like a good deal – the question is when can we get him? I think 1(28) is too high, but I doubt he’d last another full round. Sounds like an ideal spot to trade down. We swap with Carolina, and move down to the middle of round two for a switch of first round picks next year. My target LB is 2nd on the list of remaining OLBs – I resolve that if the guy ahead of him goes, we trade up for the next pick. Everything goes perfectly according to plan – until my LB gets taken with the pick exactly one spot ahead of us, at 2(13). Ouch. So it goes, I guess. After that, the hatches are open – we trade out of both second round picks, and accumulate selections for next year instead, getting two additional second rounders in the 2032 draft. Code:
For all intents and purposes, we sit out this draft. These two guys are speculative affinity picks – both might pan out to be good enough to get reserve duty. But after missing on my LB in round two, I basically pack it in and wait until next year. |
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07-26-2005, 02:23 PM
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#61 | |
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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Quote:
Yes, I have just clicked "recommend" and than have adjusted to a 100% bump and run coverage -- built around the first few DBs we got for the team way back when, and I've just stuck with it since then. |
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07-26-2005, 02:59 PM
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#62 | ||
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lolzcat
Join Date: May 2001
Location: williamsburg, va
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Quote:
No Problem... When I had time (that has been stolen by the IHOF) to do dynasties, reader feedback always kept me motivated to write. So now I tend to try to stick to reading no more than 2-3 dynasties (admittedly I gravitate to yours because the style you use is very appealing to me for whatever reason) and try to "immurse" myself in the dynasty... And, I like to try and give feedback now and then even if it is just "hey, still reading!"... So, if my feedback gets obnoxious, just let me know...
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07-26-2005, 03:11 PM
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#63 | |
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Pro Starter
Join Date: Apr 2004
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Quote:
thanks so your CB's, SS and FS has great rating for bump and run coverage. |
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07-26-2005, 03:19 PM
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#64 | |
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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Quote:
Well, the nature of this challenge is that I don't really have all that many superstar-caliber players, so hardly anybody would rate as "great." But I have been trying to pick guys who fit my scheme. Going into training camp in 2031, here are the BNR ratings for my main secondary players: CB Depth Chart Gumphrey 69 (just bumped up) Ikuma 32/46 (is very solid in most everything else) Gonzalez 73/75 (good in BNR and interceptions, little else) Farrell 44/54 Meyer 53 S Depth Chart Barrett 78/80 Robinson 74 Fisher 50/66 Buchanan 50/69 (marginal elsewhere) Rushing 50/60 (only a few decent ratings, but the right ones) So - nobody here is a total monster. Actually, Ikuma is my best all-around guy, but as he developed, it became clear that bump and run coverage is actually his weak spot, not his strong spot like most of my guys. So it goes - after his rookie contrct ends, I doubt I will pay for Ikuma, as I'll be paying a lot for his strong abilities in other coverages. I have thought about switching to zone (mostly for Ikuma) with this team, but now I am pretty well slotted with bump, and am instinctively looking for bump coverage now with my guys. |
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07-27-2005, 09:52 AM
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#65 |
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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Late Free Agency
Incidentally, right after the draft concludes, I notice that CB Benjamin Gumphrey has taken a big bump up in his ratings – my scout now rates him 60/62. He’s been a long-timer for us, and a mentor at CB, but he looks better than ever as he readies for his 11th season. I hope that doesn’t make him hard to re-sign next season, though. My first active task in late FA is to work things out at the RB position. I have messed this up badly – but it looks like I have a guy who can fix things, within reason. RB Randy Munoz is a decent reserve-caliber back, who would become our position leader – and gain an affinity with Dwight Fisk. This would eliminate the trouble brewing between RB Spry and QB Fisk – this is the second time was have had to use the kid gloves to dance around a problem with Bo Spry. I get in an offer, and expect to sign him easily – he isn’t that good, really. Assuming Munoz signs, here is our revised affinity chart: Code:
As always, I welcome a contributor to the front seven – DE Philip Ahn is just such a guy. He’s a pretty pure run stopper, so I intend to slot him behind Green at DT, and he can be a reserve DE also. Solid addition, I think. TE Bennie Havran is a guy I targeted a while ago, and we are pleased to grab him here. I expect we might carry three tight ends into the season, and all will have chances to play. Havran may be the favorite for the starting job. Since we are going to have cap space available, I decide to watch TE Kris Erickson, a very good TE who will miss this year due to injury. A pre-emptive signing might engender some goodwill for us, and help him to sign with is next season if he returns from his injuries in good form. We get a deal done – and will wait until next year to see if it bears any fruit. We eventually work out a one year deal with G Gino Reeves, whose demands stayed high, but eventually settles for a $3m deal with us. I knew he wasn’t going to get the big offers – so we waited until late to get it done with him, but were not worried about this. LB Shawn Reader is another perfect target for us – a solid run-stopper, and very good in our bump coverage. He looks like another Orlando McNeil, maybe a shade better. I’m surprised he is still awaiting a deal, but we snap him up and bring him aboard – our front seven this year might be the deepest we have had. RB Bernard McDonald has been the league’s offensive player of the year twice – and last season he rushed for over 1,300 yards for Buffalo. He is sitting in the free agent pile – not all that impressive ratings, admittedly, but he looks like a pretty solid player. He will get along well with Munoz, and he can return punts as well as run and catch. Another solid pickup, I think. RB Kendrick Anderson was a solid starter for Arizona last season (1,230 yards rushing) and he, too, will come aboard to compete for a slot in the RB stable. We wrap things up, re-signing Marc Swann as our backup QB – so this means adieu to Alvin Gammon. Swann is solid, gets along well with WR Sasa, and might have potential to get better with playing time. We’ll be in good hands with him in reserve. We carry 59 player into training camp – and are as close to the salary cap as we have ever been, with only $630,000 in space left. We can afford one or maybe two cheap vets as fill-ins, but not much. The one guy who basically got left out was LB Everett Kramer. I’d like to have signed him, but he was looking for more than $2 million – and at the end of the line, we just couldn’t afford him. He and Gammon are two guys we’d have kept if we had the cap space. |
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07-27-2005, 09:52 AM
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#66 |
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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Training Camp
We don’t have many rookies to see in this year’s training camp – but I will share the snapshot nonetheless. Code:
Nothing much to report here. We got a pleasant bump from TE Bennie Havran, which is nice to see as we maybe counting on him this season. And DE Troy didn’t reveal any serious downside – so we ought to be okay. no major breakouts – a small bump from T Lodgson might get him a roster spot, but that’s about it. C Harden and TE Erickson are already shuffled off to injured reserve – leaving us to winnow the roster down to 55 players total. I expect preseason will make some of that easier, as we might lose a marginal player to an injury, potentially freeing up a spot. The final cuts include RB Ricardo Rayburn (a casualty of my affinity mixup at RB), TE Roosevelt Springer (essentially a wasted draft pick), LB Jeff Dole, and LT Brandon Harper. I hate to cut Harper, but we were just too stacked along the OL, and we needed to thin out a body. We head into the season with a roster rating of 75 – the highest we have attainted, and ranked sixth in the league. Our cohesion is at 73-85-85-67, we are actually above average in the two middle catgeories. So, these elements may no longer be working against us. This season, I have to think we will again be among the better teams in the league. I’m now looking at 2030 as the aberration – I expect that we will win ten games or more, depending on how the ball bounces and how the injury situation shapes up. Our goal has to be to win at least one playoff game – baby steps, I guess. Here is a last look at the roster, including the starting lineups to begin the season: Code:
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07-27-2005, 09:53 AM
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#67 |
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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That's 36 affinities, but who's counting?
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07-27-2005, 02:31 PM
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#68 |
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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2032 season
I make one strange decision as the season starts – I need a second active OLB, it turns out, so I switch Orlando McNeil to play the WLB slot (where I have him starting already). My hope is that with a year’s experience, he will develop well there – but it’s risky. We win our opener at home against Seattle – those thieving pigdogs. WR Ratto and TE Schultz combined for 10 catches against us, but we win the day overall behind a nice effort from Dwight Fisk. We get to 5-1 on the year, but are still behind 7-0 Arizona, so the division race is going to be tough this year, no matter what. A loss to Philadelphia gets us to 6-2 at the halfway point – and two games out in the division. So far, injuries have been a modest issue (thankfully) and we see our key offensive numbers looking good. We are giving up too many yards rushing for my tastes, but overall the stats support us as a solid overall power team. Arizona comes to our place and gets a 30-24 win – making the division race all that much tougher. We’ll need to pretty much run the table and hope for a letdown by the Cards – more likely, we will end up angling for that #5 seed, and a playoff life on the road. A loss to Seattle now has us down to 6-4 – and more properly thinking about just getting into the playoffs at all! Next, we lose at home to Buffalo – and it’s like the wheels have fallen off the proverbial wagon. We split our next two games, and at 7-6 the playoff picture is coming into focus. Fortunately for us, the NFC has been dominated by three teams – meaning some mediocre records are bound to get in. As of 13 games deep, the two wild cards would go to 7-6 teams, and we’re one of them. So, we control our own destiny – and probably get in even at 9-7. An OT win over San Fran gets us an eighth win, and we thump New England to get to nine. We are likely in as a wild card at this point, with one game to go. Which is good, since Dwight Fisk is gone for the season with a rotator cuff. This year we have not suffered serious injury issues – but this one hurts us badly. 8th year man Tommy Peterson is available, and comes aboard – he will back up Marc Swann for us down the stretch here. Ironically, the year we gave up on Alvin Gammon, he inks a cheap deal with Miami when we really could have used him. In the finale, we get a win over Arizona to move to 10-6, and secure the #5 seed. That is encouraging, at least – as Marc Swann plays pretty well for us, going 25 of 35 for 305 yards and 2 TDs, no picks. We are in pretty good shape other than Fisk, as we prepare for another postseason berth – heading to Philadelphia for our first ever road playoff game. Code:
Okay – Dwight Fisk is the real thing (setting aside the injury) as he posts yet another outstanding season for us. Our tradition of very high productivity from the RB spot continues – Bo Spry is back as starter, and is back well above the 1,000 yard mark. Chad Burns delivers on his promise with a 1,000 yard season as well, leading the receiving corps with his best year yet. Since the OL was such a focus last season – here’s an update there: Code:
We were not quite as dominant up front as last year – but once again the combination of solid run blocking and excellent pass protection is tough to beat. Only 23 sacks is very good, with even more pass plays than last season. Defensively – we managed to maintain our solid sack total (over 2.5 per game) but got 28.5 just from the starting threesome up front. We were tough against the pass – but why? CB Gumphrey had a solid season, but only one regular from our secondary was over 20 in the PDPct rating. We didn’t pick off many passes – only 12 all year – and that probably played a role in the low ratings, but overall low yards per attempt allowed. LB Daryl Jeffries reaffirms his superstar status, racking up huge numbers on a fairly intact defense (for once). LB Shawn Reader was another excellent pickup – we really hope he will return next year, as those two are great together on the inside. Statistically, we were a pretty powerful team – perhaps better than the 10-6 record suggests. Practically, and without Fisk, I don’t know how much I like our chances on the road in the playoffs. |
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07-27-2005, 02:32 PM
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#69 |
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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Postseason Summary
Wild Card Round: St. Louis (10-7) at Philadelphia (12-4) – We put together a solid effort here, and are tied with the Eagles 10-10 at the half, but they grind out a couple second half drives, and put away the win in the early fourth quarter. Eagles 20, Rams 10. Our offense just didn’t have its usual punch, and while Swann is a solid backup, he can’t win it by himself. Philadelphia actually goes on to win it all, over the Jets in the Superbowl. Another year on the books, and another one-and-out in the playoffs. not as much a surprise here, but still disappointing. Now, we will have to sit back and see what happens with QB Fisk – his injury is pretty serious, and it could have long term effects. That would alter our course a good deal, I think – I like Marc Swann fine, but I’m not sure he’s the answer for us long term. We could get back into the rent-a-guy mode, which I had candidly expected would be central to this team all along. On the season awards list, we again get QB Dwight Fisk (2nd team) and LB Daryl Jeffries (1st team) laurels – but that has become pretty secondary at this point. |
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07-28-2005, 02:04 PM
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#70 |
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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2033 offseason
We have five retirements from the team this year – with some impact. CB Ian Meyer has been the centerpiece for a very strong affinity within our DB unit – so his loss will be felt. not surprising, but a problem nonetheless. TE Bryan Brown has been a nice special teamer and reserve for us for several years – no star, but a reliable reserve and contributor. RB Bernard McDonald was a decent reserve RB for us, but replaceable at this point in his (apparently waning) career. S Ralph Robinson is the second straight one-and-done guys at SS for us. Ideally, we’d like to bring aboard a guy who can stay for a few years – S might be a draft target spot again this season, unless we hit the right guy in free agency. C Robbie Harden was just a speculative pickup – hoping he might return from his injuries and be willing to sign with us this year. No dice. Our other speculative pickup, TE Kris Erickson, is now healthy – but is also just a shadow of his former self. It’s possible we sign him, but he certainly wasn’t worth the effort (paying him last year to sit on IF in hopes of fostering a good deal for this year). My scout now rates him 42/45 – maybe good enough for a look. QB Dwight Fisk, on the other hand, looks great. So, his recovery from injury seems complete – and we expect to bid aggressively for his return. That is very good news. We keep our front office intact, and are quickly preparing for another busy offseason of free agency moves. This year, we are sitting on a few extra draft picks, also – we have pick #9 in round one, and have three late second rounders (including our own, at slot #23). My hope would be to use an extra pick or two as leverage to trade up and secure a key contributor – maybe we can get two starters from this draft? |
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07-28-2005, 02:05 PM
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#71 |
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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Free Agency Preparations
As in the past, we will have a few high priority guys to re-sign. A LIST: QB Dwight Fisk, LB Daryl Jeffries B LIST: DE Courtney Largent, WR Chad Burns, CB Benjamin Gumphrey, LB Shawn Reader, DE Van Rivera, G Gino Reeves I expect a bit of shakeup on our DL this season (we have a couple unhappy guys who probably will not accept contracts from us), so re-signing Largent and Rivera to return as our starting defensive ends is important, I think. LB Shawn Reader is a hopeful listing here – but h rightfully deserves a fat deal elsewhere, and we can’t afford to pay him too much. WR Chad Burns is a standout player and affinity guy – too good to let him get away, we’ll try not to. On our initial look – if we re-sign WR Chad Burns, it will be a miracle. He sets his price at $9 million a year – there’s just no way we can get even close to that mark, so we will wait and hope others are scared off too. LB Daryl Jeffries again is looking for less than the previous season. I can’t complain – my initial offer is $6.9 million. QB Dwight Fisk is my other immediate target – my offer to him is for $8 million. I hope to lock both guys up quickly again – that bring a lot of certainty to our planning. DE Courtney Largent is asking for $6 million a year, and CB Benjamin Gumphrey is asking for $4 million. Losing those two would be painful (especially Largent, a position leader) but I don’t think I can offer those prices – we will have to wait on them, and hope to work things out later. LB Shawn Reader, on the other hand, looks like he might come cheaply. He’s willing to listen to an offer for less than $1.5 million – and I get mine in right away. He’d be great to bring back. DE Van Rivera also seems pretty amenable to a fair deal, and a $1.7m offer makes his cut. Those are two guys I expected to have trouble with – maybe not. I get in a round of offers to a few more players, and decide to have a look around with the open market. Here is the affinity schedule from last season – I’m not updating the DB situation right now, as I don’t know where it might land. We might do well to locate a player from the same group as CB Meyer was, and rebuild as much of that leadership as we can. Code:
We have four players in our current secondary from the Virgo group – meaning that we could create multiple affinities by bringing about a leader from either the Sagittarius group (like Meyer was) or the Leo group. Regrettably, I don’t find quite what I’m looking for…the best I can do is with SS Ricky Lanner, who will probably not see the field for us. He is cheap, at least – so we put in our offer in hopes of stabilizing the group, at least. I am sick and tired of having marginal punt returner on this team – so this year I resolve to grab somebody who can get the job done. I’ll get a rookie if need be, but I’d prefer a usable veteran. I find WR Mel Howell, who would be great, but is probably out of our price range. I will have to look among the rookie class for my answer, it seems. |
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07-28-2005, 02:06 PM
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#72 |
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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EARLY FREE AGENCY (Stages 1-4)
Immediate re-signings: LB Daryl Jeffries, CB Lonnie Gonzalez Re-signed, no opposition: QB Dwight Fisk, LB Shawn Reader, WR Gino Brannan Re-signed with opposition: G Gino Reeves New players signed: Player signed away: WR Chad Burns, CB Bart Ikuma We had to overpay G Gino Reeves pretty seriously ($6 million) but I just felt he was awfully important to our whole OL scheme. We’re going to have a new starter at RG this year for sure – so keeping Reeve is a grasp for continuity as much as possible. Bug ticket, though. Burns and Ikuma ere easy calls – both landed fat deals, way out of our price range. I liked Burns’ skill and affinity – but we can’t be paying $8 million for any wideout when we are already doing okay there as it is. We will be looking for a decent-quality split end in the draft, or as a cheap free agent. |
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07-28-2005, 02:06 PM
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#73 |
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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MIDDLE FREE AGENCY (Stages 5-16)
Re-signed, no opposition: DE Van Rivera, DE Ronnie Copeland, LB Orlando McNeil, G Stanley Sutton Re-signed with opposition: DE Courtney Largent New players signed: SS Ricky Lanner Player signed away: FB Bruce Sutter I am surprised by FB Sutter – but he did have a pretty good year last season, and quickly snaps up an offer for about $1.5 million a year from Tampa. Re-upping with our two defensive ends is comforting – and neither was terribly expensive. But Largent then gets an offer – and I will have to fight for him too – there’s way too much affinity at stake to lose him now. It takes $6 million – far more than I had planned – but we get Largent re-signed as well. I am starting to think that we are going to find ourselves in some cap trouble this year. With four fat salaries already paid out, I’m doing the math – we have 21 players signed, and $25.5m in cap space left. We could trade away our top pick in the draft to make up some room – but I’m starting to think we will have some casualties this year, perhaps more than in any year before. |
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07-28-2005, 02:06 PM
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#74 |
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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LAST FREE AGENCY (Stages 17-20)
Re-signed, no opposition: Re-signed with opposition: C Jon Wallace New players signed: Player signed away: C Greg Gomez C Jon Wallace gets an offer from New England – but fortunately gives us a week to get into the mix. We work it out with him for $1.2 million – but then C Greg Gomez takes a deal from Pittsburgh, so we lose a valued backup. I resolve to sit back, and wait on pretty much everyone – I am getting increasingly worried about our cap situation, and don’t want to tie up more money in bonuses. I am, however, starting to think we may go into this year with fewer than 53 players. We get to the rookie draft with 22 players signed, and $24 million in cap room. I think we are going to need to get rookie who can contribute this year – whether trading down is the way to do that, or just making smart picks with the slots we have, I don’t know yet. We’ll keep building affinities, too, wherever we can do so. |
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07-28-2005, 02:06 PM
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#75 |
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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Rookie Draft
Since the chemistry effects have taken center stage for this career, I will re-print my affinity analysis grid – we’ll again use that as a guide for young players. I will not draft anyone who will cause a conflict, and we will try to enhance affinities where we can. Code:
As far as team needs go – we could use a starting-caliber cornerback, and if we can lock up a quality guy with our top pick, I expect we will do so. We could use a playmaker at TE, and a late second rounder might do well there. An addition for the front seven would be helpful – we have had some luck with second and third round picks spent at LB, and might be looking there as well. We have a gap at RG, and a positive addition there would be good also. With losses at WR, that is another spot where a solid youngster would be very welcome. Several holes to fill. At pick nine, the top CB and the top two guards are both gone, leaving us without an obvious selection. I have a sleeper I like at CB, and a guard I like who ought to drop a bit longer – so I decide to trade down in round one, hoping to still grab the OG I want after another handful of picks. We deal with Atlanta, move down in round one, and move to the middle of round two – hoping to make two calculated grabs with those picks. My G goes with pick #14, leaving us fairly empty-handed at #19. Another draft day miscalculation – I just didn’t think he would be gone by this point. So, we decide to swing a pretty big deal – we send this year’s #19 and two of our second rounders to Jacksonville for their pick at #27 and their first rounder next year. Should provide some cap space, and hopefully get us invested into a better-fit draft than this one for us. At 27, we are on the clock again, and once again I missed out on a solid “sleeper” pick who I thought would be there. I am, however, really tempted to move down again – the CB I like best of the remaining lot is still listed third at the group – he has to last a while longer. On the overall list, he is tenth. he’s not even an affinity guy – so it’s not like he is an absolutely perfect fit for us after all. We move down to 2(1) and gain an edge in next year’s draft – and hope to see our CB land in our laps there. At 2(1), I again have the urge to trade down – but I have to finaly resist it, and select our guy, CB Aaron Shaw. He graded out well at the combine, and has a pretty good match at the skills we covet, so I think he will be fine for us. We wait 18 more slots to pick again, but I think we will get some value in round two this year, the way things are looking. Code:
WR Kenyon Heinz looks like he will be a solid addition to our receiving corps, though he is not a serious punt returner, which would have been nice. My guess is that he can become our third wideout option, as the reserve flanker/slot receiver. In round three, I am torn between my sleeper CB and a solid FB who could possibly switch to become our starting TE. I decide to go for the CB, and will hope to see the FB in a later slot. CB Cedric Evans does not look like a breakout, but he does look like he can be a solid contributor, with the right coverage strengths and a position affinity. FB Sammie Gillespie is my target player in round five (after dealing up to make sure we don’t miss him) – my hope is that he smoothly switches to TE, and can perhaps even become a starter there. With our late picks, we grab what we need – affinity roster-fillers. CB Ross Stone has a shot to help out as a punt returner, so he’s an easy pickup. LB Sean Mahoney has some skills to contribute, possibly as a reserve on the weak side. |
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07-28-2005, 02:07 PM
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#76 |
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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Late Free Agency
A lot of work to do now. We have all our rookie signed quickly, so that brings us to 28 players under contract, and $21.6 left to spend under the cap. I want to do some math here to back out what we have to work with – here’s my quick back-of-envelope figuring: Key players to return: 2.5 CB Gumphrey 1.0 DE Ahn 2.0 RT Benedict 1.0 WR Branch 2.5 LB McConnell 0.5 TE Havran 1.0 LB Bauer 0.5 RB Anderson 0.7 RB Spry 0.4 LB Schnebele 0.3 RT Lodgson 0.4 C Hamlin 0.5 SS Buahanan 0.5 RB Munoz 0.7 WR Sasa If we re-sign all these players for these amounts, we would get to 43 players, with $7 million left to spend. That’s not quite as dire as I had imagined – and it gives us some wiggle room with a few of the guys like Gumphrey and McConnell where my numbers might be low. We will still need to fill the backup QB job (probably will cost us $1 million or so, either Swann or some other veteran) and then we will have enough cash to probably sign a fleet of undrafted rookies and perhaps a veteran or two. We ought to be okay. We get some cheap stuff done without much trouble, and I pick up a rookie whom I really like – RB Tommy Henson is a good punt returner, and we will give him a tryout with our WR group, where he will be a better fit. Turns out he doesn’t have the necessarty personality strength to build an affinity with Jeff Sasa, but his return skills might earn him an active roster spot anyway. In week six of the late stages, we are up to 46 players signed – now, to try to work things out with our final tough nuts. RT Dusty Benedict and SLB Clarence McConnell are both playing hardball with contract talks. As a contingency, we put in a bid for LT Antoine Brock – and he could end up playing at RT for us this year if we can’t get a deal done with Benedict. I make another bid for LB Emanuel Chustz, a decent-looking outside linebacker who could get some time at DE for us, if needed. C David Bailey is a typical journeyman center – a capable backup for any spot, and I suspect he will see some action this year for us, as we are expecting turnover on the OL. Into week 8, we have 50 players signed, and $7.1 million left. We won’t have much room to spare, that much is clear. Just to meet the position requirements, we must fill spots at QB, FB, and P. And we still would like to work out deals with LB McConnell and RT Benedict. RT Dusty Benedict, a guy we picked up off the scrap heap and built into a starter, just won’t budge on any one year deal at all – even for $3 million in mostly bonus money. It looks like a lost cause there. A cheap offer for RT Jon Clemons will give us a bit more insurance there, as we are now resigned to moving on without Benedict. LB Clarence McConnell is in a similar situation – it looks like he is so dead set on a long term deal, that no one year offer will satisfy him. He, finally, relents – at a price of $3.8 million. Unreal. We get in a qualifying $1.2 million offer to QB Marc Swann, and expect that he will return as well. That leaves us with $1.7 million to spend, in theory. I put in a bid for a couple young DBs who might fit into our mix, and get in an offer to a punter and FB to fill out the roster. |
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07-28-2005, 02:08 PM
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#77 |
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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Training Camp
We have had success with the boosted training room time in camp, so we stick with that, hoping to keep injuries under control. Code:
This might be our worst-looking rookie class, with WR Heinz leading the charge as a likely bust, and CB Evans right there with him. CB Aaron Shaw held up well, though, so we might have something there at least. We did get a few bumps from veteran players, too, so it’s not a total washout. We do have a trade offer for DE Phillip Ahn, which I might be inclined to accept. We are offered a 2nd round pick for him. However, I think there’s a very good chance that he will become our starting DT next season (assuming Kelvin Green departs as a free agent, which I think is very likely) and I want to keep Ahn around for that contingency. I think we are a little shallow in the secondary – rookie CB Shaw will step in and start right away, and we will be relying on Lonnie Gonzalez as our nickelback. One loss to a CB puts us in a tight spot. We’ll be using afterthought pickup Brock Pearson as our starting strong safety – he’s not as good as the geezers we have been using the last two years, but he might stick around, at least. As we start out for the year, here’s the snapshot: Code:
I count 35 affinities, and of course no conflicts. As we head into preseason, our cohesion ratings are rising again – up to 84-93-80-79, and above average in everything. In a career where my main idea was to have to deal with massive turnover, it seems that our player turnover has been only about average – if that. The biggest issue on that front are the expiring rookie contracts like those of DT Green, who is likely to leave after this season. Our roster rating is down to 48 for some reason – a good deal lower than the last couple of years. I don’t have a great explanation for it, but I still think we have a pretty competitive lineup. My expectations for the season are tough to pin down, once again – we have been up and down the last few seasons, but never too far gone. I think we are a ten win team, and with some luck, perhaps better than that. We will again be chasing the goal of a playoff win, of course. Incidentally – those were misleading cohesion ratings – after the teams have set their lineups for the preseason, we are down to 74-73-75-57, with nothing in the top third in any area, not even the OL. Sorry for the headfake. |
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07-28-2005, 03:32 PM
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#78 | |
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lolzcat
Join Date: May 2001
Location: williamsburg, va
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Here's what disturbs me most (and I bet disturbs you, and you have mentioned).. you don't just have starters not getting attention on the FA market, but STARS... QB Fisk has one the league MVP, yet he does not even get a single offer outside of your team?!
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07-28-2005, 04:16 PM
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#79 |
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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Well, to be fair... each year I have put in a pretty attractive offer to Fisk right away. No, he has not gotten other offers from other teams, but (sadly) the league is basically flooded with quality quarterbacks... if I weren't committing to Fisk, I could easily pick up two 60/60 or better guys each year for modest salaries, and have talent (if not cohesion) at the position pretty cheaply.
I'm not happy about it, I think it's unrealistic how many highly-skilled quarterbacks are just floating around in the league... but it's not just him. |
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07-28-2005, 04:16 PM
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#80 |
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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2033 season
We get out to a great 5-0 start to the season, with a few close wins and couple of dominating ones. Our defense has been superb in the early going, complementing our offense which has been adequate, but not at its peak yet. We march to 8-1 on the year, and are looking better than I recall us looking at any point. The running game hasn’t been quite as productive as we had grown accustomed to, but the defense continues to play very well, and we are taking control of games early. In week 13, we have our first real injury crisis, as out top two defensive ends Courtney Largent and van Rivera are both out for a few weeks. We will go with a rotation including DE Alt, DE Copeland, and LB Chustz to try to patch up the position – but it will be a loss, I’m quite sure. A late game collapse against Dallas is worrisome, but our 9-3 record is still good enough for a tie with Seattle for the division lead, and we will still have a solid shot at a bye week if we can take the division crown. With the race so tight, I am playing Dwight Fisk through a thumb injury – probably depressing his stats, but it’s our best shot to win. DE Ronnie Copeland suffers a serious knee injury, depleting the position badly and raising concerns about his career. We re-acquire DE Tyrus Grider from the waiver wire, and he will actually get into the rotation for us at the DE spot now. We split our next two games, and settle at 10-4 with two games to play. Currently, that would make us the #5 seed, but we will have a shot to get back at Seattle (currently in the division lead) them as we face them in the final game of the year. If we win out, we would take the division, and would get a bye week – so it’s still all in our hands. We edge Tennessee in a game that shouldn’t have been that close, but it sets the stage for the showdown against Seattle. Our top three DEs are still all hurt and unavailable – we have our ragtag bunch of pass rusher ready to go. Fisk is back to 100%, and just in time. Seattle is made 2 point favorites in this one, and in the end they meet the line, winning it 19-17. The loss sends us to 11-5, which is good enough for the top wild card spot – but we were so close to being the top seed it hurts. Code:
Our running game was disappointing this season – Spry managed 1,000 yards but we were below average in our yards per carry, which is unusual. Dwight Fisk threw a lot more interceptions than we had come to expect – that, too, was disappointing. Perhaps the offensive line underlies a lot of this? Code:
The line certainly did not stay on par with recent years in run blocking, as the starters converted under 30% in total. The pass protection was solid, though the 23 sacks included a soft spot from LT Thomason. Some, but not all, of our offensive dropoff, probably came from here. We did stop the run better than before – the presence of DE Ahn on the line might have made a difference there, and our LB corps generally stayed healthy all season, too. DT Kelvin Green has become a major force along the DL – this is his contract year, and his numbers have just continued to ride and rise. CB Aaron Shaw was effective in his first season, and topped the team with five picks, helping out a defense that was one of the toughest against the pass all season. This is the year that our defense finally put it all together – what we’ve been waiting for! (And, of course, it’s when our offense basically falls apart that this happens) We will head into the postseason looking for that elusive win… |
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07-28-2005, 04:17 PM
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#81 |
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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Postseason Summary
Wild Card Round: St. Louis (11-5) at Chicago (10-6) – The Bears are favored by only 2 points at home, and we have a solid shot to get a win here, I think. We put together a strong offensive attack, with 413 yards of total offense, and bury the Bears 37-20 for our first playoff victory. Feels good, finally! Divisional Playoff: St. Louis (12-5) at Seattle (13-3) – We know them well, they have pilfered our players and have put together a major title contender – now we want to return the favor and beat them at their place. Dwight Fisk once again places everything on his own shoulders, with 196 yards passing and 76 more rushing… but we come up short again and lose here 24-21. A nine-play TD drive in the fourth quarter by the Seahawks drove it home, and they go on to the conference championship. Houston nips Seattle in the Superbowl. Our only appearance on the season awards table is G Gino Reeves, our first OL to make the honor. He has been excellent for us, a foundation player. Pretty good season – tough to have the best conference record in the division with us, but overall we did well, won despite some offensive problems, and finally notched a postseason win. Now, on to bigger and better things! |
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07-28-2005, 05:06 PM
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#82 |
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Head Coach
Join Date: Sep 2004
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What a frustrating series of years you've had here. Really nice dynasty too. Seamless and easy to follow.
 One thing I noticed is that there's an unexpected advantage to the one-year contracts that you sign. Simply, no contract is ever a terrible one. If a guy doesn't pan out, then hey just don't re-sign him next year. So your chances of cap trouble are, by and large, quite minimal.
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2006 Golden Scribe Nominee 2006 Golden Scribe Winner Best Non-Sport Dynasty: May Our Reign Be Green and Golden (CK Dynasty) Rookie Writer of the Year Dynasty of the Year: May Our Reign Be Green and Golden (CK Dynasty) |
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07-28-2005, 08:14 PM
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#83 | |
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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Quote:
Absolutely true. The only way I could get myself into real trouble with these rules would be with rookie contracts -- and so far, I have avoided any major early pick busts. Honestly, if you're willing to "make do" with decent, but not spectacular, players (liuke I most definitely have done in this career) these rules don't turn out to be much of a hindraance at all. Actually, if I weren't locking up my MLB adn QB with fat deals every year, I'd probably have cap space to be adding one or two very high quality players each season -- it would just be a biot random -- stud RB and LT one year, WR and QB the next, CB and DE the next year, etc. |
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07-30-2005, 10:40 PM
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#84 |
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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2034 offseason
We have three retirements from the team, one of which might have significant implications. LB Orlando McNeil had been a solid contributor, and his loss will have an on-field impact. CB Corwin Ferrell had given us some veteran depth at DB, which is always useful as well. WR Jeff Sasa has been one of those “foundation” guys I built an entire position’s affinity structure around. He gave us six seasons, never catching even as many as ten passes – but without him, our chemistry is going to be in chaos at the TE/WR group. Actually, on initial look – it’s not really chaos, but with Xavier Branch serving as our position leader, we have dropped from three affinities to zero. I will have to make an effort there. One more note – DE Ronnie Copeland has been with us a long time, but a serious injury put him in real doubt last year. He did not retire, but his injury will probably carry through this season, and the smart betting is that he’s probably done. So, not a retirement yet, but a player we need to replace just the same. We re-hire our head coach – injuries have calmed down a lot under his watch, and that was my main goal. The team continues to play pretty well, so he gets a new deal. |
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07-30-2005, 10:40 PM
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#85 |
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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Free Agency Planning
The script here is pretty familiar – we will have a few high priority re-signings, and then will probably sit back and wait on most of our other guys. This strategy has usually resulted in a few losses, but nothing wholesale, as most of my solid but not spectacular guys don’t attract much attention in the open market. We will also have to work on the TE/WR group, looking for someone who can bring that unit back together. Boy, I’d love to find a leadership guy there who can contribute on the field – especially in the return game. I hunt around, and I think I have my guy – FL Cedric Massicot is a 5th year player, very high leadership, and initial indications are that he’d develop an affinity with six players – he’s not a mentor, but he might end up securing a spot as a punt returner for us, too, which would be great. We get in an initial offer. As far as our returning players, here is my now-familiar list of key re-signings: A LIST: QB Dwight Fisk, LB Daryl Jeffries B LIST: G Gino Reeves, S Lorenzo Barrett, CB Benjamin Gumphrey, DE Courtney Largent, DE Van Rivera Missing from the list is DT Kelvin Green, as I am essentially resigned to losing him. He’s a standout player, but his contract demands of $8 million a year are just beyond what I think we can afford – so my expectation is that he simply walks. If he doesn’t get a fat offer, we may try to work him in, but I don’t expect it. S Lorenzo Barrett is another guy I want to keep, and we will work hard to do so. His initial demands are about $4m a year – I expect to have to play, but hopefully not quite that much. Assuming we replace WR Sasa with WR Massicot, our affinity structure will remain unchanged: Code:
So, that is our plan of attack – we will try to tie down WR Massicot and a number of our priority returners, and then will be looking for affordable fill-ins to work with them. We will fight, selectively, for our players, but expect to take some losses on the open market this year. |
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07-30-2005, 10:40 PM
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#86 |
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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INITIAL FA STAGES (Weeks 1-4)
Immediate re-signings: LB Daryl Jeffries, LB Shawn Reader, LB Joseph Schnebele, TE Bennie Havran, C Jon Wallace Re-signings, no competition: QB Dwight Fisk, DE Courtney Largent, WR Gino Brannan, DE Van Rivera, DE Philip Ahn, S Duane Buchanan, CB Lonnie Gonzalez Re-signings, with competition: New players signed: WR Cedric Massicot Players signed away: S Lorenzo Barrett, DT Kelvin Green I am surprised and saddened to see safety Lorenzo Barrett jump right away at an offer from Baltimore for $4 million a year. I probably would have ponied up that much (in one year) if given a chance. This will make our secondary a clear need area right away, as we had counted on him for four years to play full time at FS. Baltimore is also after CB Gumphrey – and I can’t let him walk away. I get in a pretty solid offer for the talented veteran mentor, a key contributor for us at CB. Jacksonville wins a bidding war for DT Green, paying him about $9 million a year to land the superstar tackle. We expect to slot DE Ahn inn the middle this year, where he will serve as a full-time run stopper. MIDDLE FA STAGES (Weeks 5-15) Re-signings, no competition: Re-signings, with competition: CB Benjamin Gumphrey, G Gino Reeves, LB Adam Bauer New players signed: Players signed away: WR Xavier Branch WR Xavier Branch gets a pretty solid offer, and heads for Oakland before we can react. He has been a very solid third receiver – actually more talented than starter Gino Brannan – now he probably starts for the Raiders. We do land all-star LG Gino Reeves for nearly $5 million, as he shuns an offer from Seattle (for five years). We also must respond to an offer for LB Adam Bauer, a solid run stopper who has been pretty decent for us in reserve. FINAL FA STAGES (Weeks 16-20) Re-signings, no competition: RB Bo Spry, RB Randy Munoz Re-signings, with competition: New players signed: Players signed away: RB Kendrick Anderson Denver makes an overture to RB Kendrick Anderson – a guy who was a bit disappointing for us last year as our top reserve RB. He accepts the offer, but we do lock up our other two running backs from last year, including our featured runner, Bo Spry. I put in an offer and lock up S Conrad Flannery – he looks like a pretty good fit for our secondary scheme, and I think he could become our starter to replace Lorenzo Barrett. Otherwise, we lay low and will be leaving a lot to be done in the late FA stages, after the draft. I want to have a sense of where our top rookies are going to be before we make other big commitments. |
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07-30-2005, 10:41 PM
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#87 |
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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Rookie Draft
We hold picks 18 and 28 in this draft, and have some real needs. I think getting a contributor for our defensive line would be a great priority, but it’s always tough to do. Our right tackle spot is another area where a serious addition would be very welcome. I also think that safety is a place where it would be good to add a quality young player. We are still using pretty marginal players at RB, and adding a player with some real potential might be good, too – it has been a while since we added a real new face to the mix there. I struggle to find a need player who also fits our affinity scheme – with no luck. There’s a solid-looking tackle available at 18, but his current skill is so lacking, I’m reluctant to commit to him as our multimillion dollar starter right away. I deal the 18 pick for a first rounder next year, and will hope to strike it big then. I once again get greedy, and after targeting a right guard as my top pick, I move down, sure that I can get him in early round two. I am wrong, as he is snapped up just ahead of my new top slot, and I again miss out on the guy I want. (All for the attempt to get a future third round pick, and to sign my target guy a shade cheaper) Disappointing miscalculation. I select a run-clocking RG with our early second rounder, and target a nice CB with our later second round pick. He, of course, is selected a few spots ahead of us, so I have to scrap that plan quickly. Code:
Not to cast too dark a shadow on the rookies we did select, but this draft was an unmitigated disaster. I end up missing out on almost every single player that I really wanted – the only real “target” guy I ended up actually selecting was S Juan Samuels, and I feel like I reached a bit for him in early round three (mostly out of fear that I’d lose yet another target player). The two guards are both affinity selections, and I hope they will both be productive. CB Mathews and S Samuels both are decent fits for our scheme – I think Samuels might have some shot to break out. DE Parker will probably move to play DT, where we are going to need a couple of bodies. Nothing much to get excited about here – in part because I am spending more and more of my time focusing on affinities, rather than just looking for solid players. Trying to have it both ways, and I end up making lousy picks more often than I might otherwise. |
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07-30-2005, 10:41 PM
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#88 |
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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Late Free Agency
With all but one rookie signed, we have 32 players under contract – a few more than we often do at this stage. Most of our returning players are either restricted (meaning we can wait them out) or else are guys I simply don’t expect to see get much interest. I have a look for players we might be able to pick up as value additions – and quickly see CB Preston Contreras, a standout cornerback who is still looking for a deal after a Pro Bowl season. We will keep an eye on him – he’s looking for about $5 million, and I am guessing we might be able to afford it this year. Code:
I make a bit for FB Jermaine Hawker, a veteran FB who looks like he’d be a pretty valuable third down player. DT Malcom Poplawski is a decent, reserve-quality defensive lineman, and we need a guy like him at DT – so a good, cheap signing there, too. Things go generally smoothly in the late FA stages, we don’t have any surprise losses. We work out deals with QB Swan and LB McConnell, and we get to 53 players (and still one rookie unsigned) with quite a load of cap space available. Losing DT Green and S Barrett cleared out a good deal of space, it seems. We get in a $4 million offer to CB Contreras, who might end up a starter for us this season, either at CB or even safety. RB Benjamin Pringle has never carried the ball for us, but did spend one season on IR with our team – he signs as our backup RB for this season. Pringle is a similar back to Spry, and also has some kick return skills, whish will be quite handy – a very good fit. My biggest concern is along the defensive front, where losing Ronnie Copeland leaves us with three solid linemen, all starters, and nobody of real consequence behind them in reserve. Calvin Troy and Tyrus Grider are deep reserve quality guys – my focus son affinity has held us back here, I fear. DT Poplawski is probably our fourth best guy – he will end up playing a pretty key role for us this year, as I really cannot find anyone who makes an appropriate addition. (We’d have been better off forgetting about perfect fit players, and just drafting a good DE with pick #18 this year) My final move is to pick up veteran RB Lamont Cromwell – a decent, journeyman type RB with good receiving skills. I am amazed to see that he was actually a starter last year in Pittsburgh, and posted nearly 2,000 total yards – my plan is to use him as a third down back and perhaps reserve receiver, but we will watch for him to exceed expectations. |
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07-30-2005, 10:41 PM
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#89 |
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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Training Camp
I’m not all that enthused about our rookie class, and most of the playing time battles will be among veterans this year – but we take 58 guys into camp. Here’s the synopsis: Code:
Good news from G Shawn Singleton, who gives us a nice bump in training camp. He’s a one-dimensional run blocker, but he looks like he might turn out to be very good at that – currently projects to 99 in run blocking. Late round pick Ethan Parker might be good enough to hold on to at the NT spot, too – he will probably get some reserve time at DE this year. We bear down for preseason, and will be looking for some separation to make our final cuts. Affinity is clearly no longer enough to make the team – we have let go plenty of guys who got along well. We need some productive reserves. For our lineup this year, we will have a new twist or two. First, I am going to go to the “utility player” on offense, as we will slot RB Lamont Cromwell all over the field – he will line up at RB in some passing downs, he will split out in a WR slot, he will be in our rotation at FB and TE, and we will drop him back to return some punts. He could have an interesting season. On defense, I am a little thinner than usual – our defensive front is one serious injury away from a patchwork job. In the secondary, CB Gumphrey is going to slide over and start at safety, making way for one-year pickup Contreras, who will start at CB along with young Aaron Shaw. Here is the roster as we head into week one of the regular season: Code:
Our affinity count is up to 39 – and it’s largely low personality scores that are holding us back a bit. I have only a few key players on the team who are not generating a plus in this respect. Our roster rating is up to 69, fifth highest, but far behind Denver, and then Jacksonville and Houston. We are tied with Washington for the highest roster rating in the NFC, though. Cohesion is looking up – 100-75-80-82. I think I have been timing my looks at cohesion imperfectly to have a good handle on this, but clearly our passing game has been together a long time, largely – and that is finally showing up. I expect this is a winning team, and once again I think the bidding starts at 10 wins. We might be more vulnerable to injuries, but if we can get some good luck, we might be a real threat. |
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07-30-2005, 10:42 PM
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#90 |
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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2034 season
We get to 3-0 in the early going, but we are suffering some injury losses and I am worried. We get to 5-1, but the team is starting to resemble a patchwork quilt, with the spate of injuries we have faced. We are 6-2 at our halfway point, but two games behind unbeaten Seattle, once again. We beat Seattle in week 10, but it gets us to 7-3, still two games back. At 9-4, we are out of the division hunt, as Seattle has only the one loss to us thus far. Seattle gets their revenge at their place, and we have to fight for our playoff lives. We split our last two, but that’s good enough, as our 10-6 record gets us in, once again, as a wild card. Code:
A career year from Bo Spry – just as I was starting to think he was a completely interchangeable part. (He may still be) He approached the mighty 2,000 yards from scrimmage mark this year – very solid numbers. QB Dwight Fisk was not a monster this season, but the offense was effective all season. He did not have a whole lot to work with at WR, after all, through my own fault. Brannan and Woodson are capable guys, but neither is going to make you forget about Jerry Rice anytime soon. Code:
The blocking up front this year was solid – most of our starters were over 30% KRBs, at least. G Gino Reeves went down with a horrific injury, and is probably done – that’s long term bad news, as he was a standout player for us. The sack numbers were a bit high, but that isn’t a huge surprise to me, really. T Kenny Thomason had his best season – and is playing very well, probably now our best lineman.\ LB Daryl Jeffries gets the ink, but this year it was Clarence McConnell who outshined him, with 9 sacks to help boost our pass rush, from the SLB position. McConnell will miss the playoffs, though, which will hurt us ahead. DE Courtney Largent had a very productive season, in only 14 games notching a near career high with 10 sacks. We got good play from our secondary, too – Gumphrey got into the run defense fine from the SS slot, while Contreras, Shaw, and Flannery all played well from their starters role – Flannery was a pleasant surprise, with a 20.6 PDPct even without a single pick. So, we head onward – some of our injuries have cleared up, but we are without SLB McConnell, a painful loss, and the versatile Lamont Cromwell will be limping. Dwight Fisk is listed as probable, as he has been for about the last seven or eight weeks – so it goes, suck it up. It’s on the road we go, despite the third best record in the conference – we are the #5 seed. |
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07-30-2005, 10:42 PM
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#91 |
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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Postseason Summary
Wild Card Game: St. Louis (10-6) at Chicago (9-7) – We are two point favorites on the road here, and hope to live up to the billing. We get over 200 yards on the ground to lead the attack (Fisk contributed 73 of his own, to add to Spry’s 118) and we get the 24-18 win to advance. Divisional Playoff: St. Louis (11-6) at Tampa Bay (12-4) – Tough game, and now our starting LT is down for the count, while RB Spry is questionable. The Bucs manhandle us here, our running game manages only 35 yards this week, and it’s over, 24-3. Houston beats Seattle in the Superbowl… for the second straight season. In the season awards – we see LB Daryl Jeffries named to the second team once again, and that’s all. Another solid season, but a shade disappointing. We’d like to advance, but we are pretty clearly in the top several teams in the league – it’s tough that Seattle is currently so good and in our division. |
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07-31-2005, 04:51 PM
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#92 |
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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2035 offseason
We have five retirements from the team – enough to cause some stir. CB Benjamin Gumphrey had been with us since the outset, and started 112 games for us, mostly as our top CB. He and S Ricky Lanner are both retiring, leaving us with a major leadership void in our secondary – that will require some attention right away. DE Ronnie Copeland has also been with us since the beginning, but an injury made this retirement a foregone conclusion. He splashed onto the scene with a 12-sack season in 2027, and stuck with the team as a leader and contributor all the way through, until injuries got the better of him. DT Malcolm Poplawski and RB Lamont Cromwell were one year acquisitions, neither was able to stay healthy enough to deliver on the hopes we had for them, and both call it quits this year. In addition to the actual retirements, I note that G Gino Reeves will miss this season with a terrible knee injury, and I expect his career is probably over. LT Kenny Thomason still has weeks of rehab ahead for his blown out quad, but had hope of returning this season. Thomason is in the final year of his rookie contract, Reeves is a free agent. Our scout’s demand is right at my owner’s limit – but he accepts a new deal and sticks around, after all. Our front office returns intact. |
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07-31-2005, 04:52 PM
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#93 |
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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Free Agency Planning
This year, we have more to do than most years, I think. We need to formulate a plan in our secondary, trying to decide whom to keep around, and what we ought to do long term there. I have been hiring short-term affinity leaders at DB for the last few years – maybe we need a personnel overhaul, maybe even a scheme overhaul. I’m open to anything, really – I think CB Aaron Shaw is a guy worth building around (he is signed for this year, and will be restricted next year) but he is good at all coverages. At the moment, S Brock Pearson has assumed the leadership role – and we have four affinities with him. So, we might have the solution on hand already. On the offensive line, we have a curious situation where we may have just lost our two good players who were essentially waived from the all-affinity theme. I haven’t had too much trouble picking up decent affinity players at any OL slot – perhaps we could go all-affinity there from here on out? Biggest problem there is second year starting RG Shaun Singleton, our best rookie from last year, and a guy who is neutral in affinity. So, we will mull it over, I guess. This challenge has really evolved for me – and now, it’s clear that I am paying attention to affinity as much as anything else. Re-signing my own decent players has proven to be much less of a challenge than I had imagined (or hoped) but maintaining chemistry and cohesion has been fairly interesting along the way here. As for returning players, I have a familiar list of priority targets: A LIST: LB Daryl Jeffries, QB Dwight Fisk B LIST: CB Preston Contreras, LB Clarence McConnell, LB Shawn Reader, DE Courtney Largent, DE Van Rivera, WR Louis Woodson I have gotten into the habit of putting out my offers to Fisk and Jeffries right away, and seeing them accept quickly. I may sit back on Fisk this year, and see if we can save some dough there – last year it took until week three for him to accept my offer, and there were no other bidders at all. I might have a chance to peel back a few million by waiting him out, and free up cash for an impact player elsewhere. Factoring into all this is the fact that we have an extra draft pick this year – at #3 overall. A chance to pick up a major impact player, we hope. DE Gerald Wire is a standout defensive end, and would be an affinity guy for us with Largent – that makes him a prime candidate, inn my eyes. He ranks #4 on the overall draft board – could be a perfect fit for us at #3. I am all but sold on taking him with our top pick, and that will influence our DL activities in free agency. For now, here is an updated affinity grid, reflecting the current status among the defensive backs: Code:
If Brock Pearson (a 5th year safety, who has played pretty well for us the last two seasons and also has developed a strong bond with our most promising young CB Aaron Shaw) is going to hold the leaderhsip spot among our DBs, this can be our plan. Right now, I think he has an excellent shot of doing so – though that might end the time for a couple of our current players there like 7th year reserve CB Lonnie Gonzalez. Pearson is the ideal candidate for the long term leadership job – he’s good enough to slot anywhere from #4 to #2 on our safety depth chart, he’s only a 5th year guy, has a 93 rating in leadership, and has a very strong personality score of 96, meaning that we won’t have any phantom affinities due to low personality scores. I also suspect that he may become a safety mentor in another year or two, adding even more value to an already key guy. |
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07-31-2005, 04:52 PM
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#94 |
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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Free Agency
The demands are way up for LB Daryl Jeffries – this year he is seeking a $11 million/yr deal, more than ever before. My best guess is that he won’t get that kind of money, but I intend to pay him, so even if he comes down, it won’t be cheap. QB Dwight Fisk is thinking about $8 million a year – so he will be tough also. I have typically spent about $15 million on those two – if it’s closer to $20m this year, that’s a challenge. I am eyeing up LG Ken Sanford, an all-pro who would make a great replacement for Gino Reeves. He is seeking big money, but if he goes unclaimed, he could be a great target for us. Not right away, though. |
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07-31-2005, 04:52 PM
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#95 |
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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INITIAL FA STAGES (Weeks 1-4)
Immediate re-signings: RB Bo Spry, TE Bennie Havran, S Brock Pearson Re-signings, no competition: WR Gino Brannan, DT Orlando Lowe, WR Louis Woodson Re-signings, with competition: LB Daryl Jeffries, DE Van Rivera New players signed: FB Allan Libin, Players signed away: DE Phillip Ahn, T Kevin Ostwald San Diego swoops in and immediately signs away DE Phillip Ahn. He had inherited the starting DT job last year, but I was deeply disappointed with his effort there, so I am not that upset about the loss. We don’t have a lot of depth along the DL, so it hurts, but I wasn’t thrilled with his performance to begin with. We have a bidding war on our hands for LB Daryl Jeffries, one which will be very costly. Detroit has a 7 year, $84 million offer on the table for him – that is a monster offer, and one he would be wise to accept, but he has seven big money contracts pending his approval. I guess we have to give chase – he has been such a central player for us, I’d just hate to lose him. I offer up one year, $13 million, mostly in bonus – and hope that it’s enough to get him to return. If not, we will have cash, but will be desperately looking for LB help immediately. Fortunately, in week two, Jeffries accepts our offer, and we have our centerpiece on defense back. Our offense’s central player, though, is next. Dwight Fisk, our longtime starting QB, has a big offer in from Buffalo. I have to match it, and it takes an offer of an $8 million deal to try to bring him back to St. Louis. So, assuming Fisk eventually re-ups with us, we will have $21 million tied up in our two feature players – this is going to be a rather top-heavy team this year, for certain. With that money tied up, I just don’t see how I can get into the bidding for CB Preston Contreras, but I try to keep pace with a bonus-free offer, meaning we could cut him and clear cap room later if necessary. LB Clarence McConnell’s offer from Kansas City of $6 million a year just looks to be out of our range completely, and I will just hope that he sits a while – maybe they will run out of cap space. LT Kevin Ostwald is abruptly signed away by Tennessee – we had been counting on him to start at LT for us this year, so that is a meaningful loss as well. This offseason is turning into a nightmare. TE Maurice Barber is a solid addition, a cheap guy who is basically a clone of Bennie Havran, our current starter. Good, affordable pickup for us, I think, and should help us avoid having a dead spot there at any time. FB Allen Libin is yet another solid blocking fullback, a good special teamer and team player, he ought to help solidify the position, and will get along well with the RB group. |
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07-31-2005, 04:53 PM
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#96 |
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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MIDDLE FA STAGES (Weeks 5-15)
Re-signings, no competition: LB Adam Bauer, LB Shawn Reader Re-signings, with competition: QB Dwight Fisk, D Courtney Largent, G T.J. Lynch, WR Cedric Massicott New players signed: Players signed away: LB Joseph Schnebele, C David Bailey, FB Jermaine Hawker Losing DE Ahn and now LB Schnebele, meanwhile preparing to see LB McConnell head for big money, leaves us looking just desperately thin along our defensive front. I am quite worried – there’s only so much we can expect to do via the draft there. There are a few decent veteran linebackers out there who fit with our chemistry – I expect we will have to go after one or two of them. But we will alsso have to pay guys like LBs Reader, Chustzm and Bauer pretty much anything they demand. We get offers in to Bauer and Reader, both of whom sign fairly quickly. I was not prepared for the offer to C Bailey, which he accepted immediately, from Oakland. So, there is another OL loss – solid starter, good performer from last year. Things are unraveling, it seems – this is the offseason that brings together what I though this challenge was going to be all about. We do get good news, that QB Dwight Fisk has re-signed. That is one key player we want back – but the $8m price tag is staggering. Our latest worry is DE Courtney Largent, being pursued by the Chiefs. We get him re-done, but it’s nearly $3 million – he is just too important to lose, though. Longtime PB Rams fans will remember RB Moe Jamison, a guy who inked a one year deal with us back in 2031 and rushed for 1,615 yards that season. He’s an 11th year guy now, still very productive, and we ink him to a solid deal to share duties with Bo Spry (again). Jamison might take the utility role on our offense, as he has very strong receiving skills. He still has skills – he posted over 1,200 yards last year in New England, on over 4.3 yards per carry. Dallas finally moves into the bidding war for CB Preston Contreras, and they sign him to a long term deal, ahead of our one year offer. I guess we could have offered more bonus – but honestly, we are concerned about our cap situation right now, and I don’t know how much we have to spread around at this point. I decide that for now, I want to get in an offer to LB McConnell, so I make it $6 million, all salary. If we have to, we could cut him, but I’m just afraid that KC will lock him up and we will be left holding the bag at LB. Our next candidate to start at LT this year has departed as well – Antoine Brock leaves for a three year deal in Arizona. We are looking at a total meltdown along our OL, between injuries and FA departures, we are going to be in shock there. We re-sign guard T.J. Lynch for continuity, though he would have been a bubble player ordinarily. It takes until week 14, but LB Clarence McConnell finally signs our offer sheet – a $6 million contract. We have a chance to cut him, but for now, my panic at LB has subsided – we have everyone back except for Chustz, who has not been pursued, and we will expect to wait out. |
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07-31-2005, 04:53 PM
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#97 |
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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FINAL FA STAGES (Weeks 16-20)
Re-signings, no competition: C Jon Wallace, CB Lonnie Gonzalez Re-signings, with competition: New players signed: T George Cates, C Vincent Embry Players signed away: C Jon Wallace may have to reclaim the starting job this year, after Bailey’s departure. He is fading, but not totally gone yet. He is our position leader, so we need to re-sign him, but I am very worried about the state of our OL. At the moment, here is our projected starting offensive line, with scouted current ratings: LT Sutton 42 – LG Lynch 38 – C Wallace 35 – RG Singleton 41 – RT Lodgson 29 That will not do – I think we simply have to make an addition or two here. So, we put in a bid for RT George Cates – a decent veteran who looks like a good fit, solid run blocker, decent against the pass rush. C Vincent Embry looks okay as well – he could contend for the starting C job, even, and he comes pretty cheaply. Those two additions help, but do not resolve our complete vacancy at left tackle – right now, I expect to be using a guard to play there, which is less than optimal. I am also worried enough about the CB slot that I re-sign CB Lonnie Gonzalez, a guy I expected we’d let go since he no longer adds to team chemistry. But, he has solid skills in the bump coverage we run (67/71) and interceptions (58/86) and comes cheaply – so I expect he will probably return to the nickelback role he has occupied for a few seasons. That assumes that we find a suitable player to start at CB ahead of him – I really don’t like Gonzalez as a full-time starter. |
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07-31-2005, 04:55 PM
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#98 |
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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Rookie Draft
We head into the draft with more holes than usual. Assuming we fill ten slots with our draft picks, that would leave us with $11 million to spend, and 44 players signed. So, we need to get as many solid, productive reserves with this draft as we can, and landing maybe three guys who can play solid roles immediately would be a great help as well. DE is an obvious need, and we already have our target guy picked out. LT has rapidly jumped up the list of priorities, too, and maybe with our late first rounder we can land a suitable young player there. Another important slot would be CB, where a young starting-caliber guy would get us out of a major jam, as I currently have a gaping hole at a starting spot, and no obvious candidates from the FA ranks to step in. With the departure of DE Ahn, we are left without an obvious starter at DT – so that is a worry as well. Additionally, we really could us another productive wide receiver, as we have dipped in our passing productivity since losing a couple of good solid targets for Dwight Fisk. With early picks at 3, 26, and 58, we surely can’t land everything we need – but will be looking for sleepers, of course, along the way. I will be tempted to deal down from the #3 slot if we can still get DE Wire a few slots later – that could give us a shot to add another impact pick, perhaps. I do some investigating, and see a couple of sleeper picks for us at CB. Orlando Kingsblood (22/55) might be a great second round pick, and Patrick Jarzyna (14/44) should be available even later. Neither looks like a franchise player, but perhaps a contributor. Kingsblood has a few notable combine scores, too – perhaps a breakout player. I don’t see any perfect fits at WR, but expect we will be able to add one or two decent reserves with later round picks. I like WR Lincoln Ross (16/42) as a possible late round pickup there, as he has nice complementary skills, but is not a starter candidate. RB Herb Cole (26/41) might have a future as a utility back for us, and we will give him a late look as well. With things pretty firmed up for our chemistry system – here once again is the grid to check for affinities and conflicts: Code:
We have been burned with trade-downs before, so I resist the admittedly very strong temptation to do so here. DE Wire is third on the remaining list of available players, but I don’t want to miss him and have my whole draft plan go awry. We grab our solid DL with pick three, and go from there. We quickly suit up Gerald Wire to become our starting nose tackle, and he makes the transition well. I think this is a more pressing need, and a more important position, than DE, and he will fit in here for us very nicely. When we are on the clock again, CB Kingsblood is listed second on the CB board, but about 40 players down the overall list, as CB is a weak position in this draft. I don’t want to reach here – and will hope to see him in round two, maybe we will trade up if it looks necessary. I make another patented trade-down, trying to get one of my value players in early round two rather than lat round one, and save some dough in the process. The guy I am targeting is rangy OT Jim Zytniak, who looks like a nice pass blocking prospect. He is rated 4th among remaining tackles, but 6th overall – I hope there is no serious run on linemen right now. He is up to #2 overall when our pick at 2(3) comes up – looks like this gambit paid off for us. With complete mystery about Kenny Thomason’s prospects for this year and beyond, I feel we need to have a usable player at LT – we’ll take a shot with Zytniak, who makes the switch from RT to LT pretty seamlessly, and shows a strong affinity already. Code:
The second round rolls on, and no CB gets taken, meaning my target player Orlando Kingsblood is falling. My enthusiasm is actually rising, as I really want to land this intriguing prospect, and I eventually decide to move up and remove any doubt. It costs us a fourth rounder, but I don’t want to see another good fit player slip away here. We now have a whole round to wait, but then have three picks in late round three and early round four. I could move up if that makes sense – I look for solid target players at this point. I am pretty much unmoved by the guys anywhere near the top of the board – I think it will be mostly roster-fillers from here on out, so we’ll wait and look for bargains later. DE Duane Moore (22/38) is a well-developed run-stopper for our DL, a decent pickup this late in the draft. LB Dan Maltman (29/44) proabbly will slide into our depth chart at the sam slot, and be a reserve for McConnell there. He’s not a run stopper, but has solid complementary ability potential in pass rushing and coverage. RB Herb Cole, mentioned earlier, isn’t much of a rusher, but might have a utility role ahead, as he has great receiving skills. DE Wendell Blackshear (21/30) has some signs as a breakout – without an improvement, he’s basically a wasted pick. We take a chance. WR Lincoln Ross is a guy with some kick return skills, and who might battle for reserve playing time for us at split end. QB Tom McGee sat near the top of the draft board from rounds three onward – I finally grab him with our last pick, a decent speculative selection, I think. Clearly, the key to the whole rookie class will be NT Wire, but I am very pleased with this group right now, and if we get a few guys to break well, this could register as a rookie class good enough to make up for our recent duds. |
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07-31-2005, 04:56 PM
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#99 |
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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Late Free Agency
An interesting development in free agency – DT Kevin Green suffered an injury last season, and is now available as a free agent. He is no longer even credible as a run stopper, but seems to have very good pass rushing skills, it seems. After one year away, maybe we could get something out of him back here where e had his greatest success. I put in an offer. CB Jesse Gerhardt looks like a decent backup guy for us – no affinity, but we need someone with some coverage skills, and he will be in the mix for us somewhere, I reckon. With one week left in late free agency, we have 49 players signed, plus two unsigned rookies. We have some cap space, but with DT Wire still unsigned, that takes up a good chunk of our apparent cap room. LB Emmanual Chustz is the cap casualty this year – he insists on over $2 million, and we just can’t come up with it. It takes a pretty fat offer to get S Conrad Flannery to return, but he was a very good starter last year, and we expect him to return to that good form, for over $2 million this year. We bid farewell to QB Marc Swann, who demands over $1.5 million this year – instead we bring aboard 5th year man O.J. Edge to bee our presumed backup, with returning second year man Kendall Turner looking for a chance to continue developing (he has real potential). I load up with some expendable unsigned rookies, and we head into camp with 63 players – more than we are used to. |
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07-31-2005, 04:56 PM
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#100 |
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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Training Camp
Even more at stake in this camp than usual, with a lot of rookies we need to pan out well… Code:
Lots of bad news to go around. A number of fringe players showed booms, but nobody from the top picks. CB Kingsblood held firm, which is okay, but T Zytniak took a hit, as did quite a lot of our speculation picks. DE Blackshear and LB Maltman might turn out to be nice contributors from later in the draft. Maltman has great coverage skills, and might end up being rather useful if he can ever work up his ability to play against the run. We get DT Gerald Wire signed – and he looks tremendous, and I am pleased with his apparent potential as a run stopper. That is the key for the NT slot in this defense. Getting ready for preseason, we try out a few twists with the lineup. Our big early problem is depth at WR – we have lost two reserves to injuries already, and now are looking at very slim pickings at the position. It looks like our entire complement at WR this year will be starters Brannan and Woodson, Massicott and Henson (both very limited) and rookie RB Herb Cole, who I now suspect will be our primary slot receiver. The good news is that LT Kenny Thomason is seemingly coming along, and he is listed as probable for our regular season opener. The bad news is that he is clearly a reduced player from his old self. He will suit up as our starter, but is no longer a premier player by any stretch. LT Zytniak is simply not ready to play, but the job is probably his next year. I am not all that confident about this team – indeed, our secondary is clearly the weakest it has been that I can recall, we are barely holding together with mediocre offensive linemen, and our skill positions are terribly depleted. Our roster rating, despite all this, is 64, a little above the median. Our cohesion is pretty good, at 100-88-98-73. We suffered a loss in our secondary this year, after losing some veterans, but we are rapidly improving with the defensive front, and are now one of the most cohesive groups around there. I think this is a slightly lesser team than we have been fielding the last couple of years, and unless we catch some breaks, I wouldn’t be surprised to see us struggle to make the postseason. I don’t think this is a 12-win team. We’ll do our best… |
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