SkyDog's Last FOF2K7 Solo Dynasty Thread (I Hope).

[Ben E Lou]

OK. They're posted in the second post, but it hit me that I can probably adjust the "no FA >50" portion of the rule because of the new cap economics created by restricting renegotiations: I suspect that I won't be able to afford to build my team through top FAs, so I'd like to allow the strategic decision of when to pursue a guy that eats up a big chunk of my cap and will do so throughout the length of his contract.

[Ben E Lou]

2036 OFFSEASON

T Lewis Braham retires. He was a 3rd round pick in 2024, and our #1 LT from 2025-2031. Drafted as a 16/49 guy who was only 1% developed, Braham would unmask to 72/72, but he declined rather quickly. He spent his final four seasons as a backup and mentor.


We also lose the 2nd round pick from that same year, S Levon Stephens. He was 16/47 as a draftee, and unmasked to 65/65. He held down a starting job for 11 of his 12 seasons. Stephens was an All-Pro once, and retires 3rd in Atlanta history in tackles, assists, and passes defensed.

FRANCHISE: None.

SUMMER: WR Mitchell Peters

FA1

IMMEDIATE CUTS
I have a weakness at OLB, and 3rd-year man Lance Deericks (15/48-->22/43) clearly isn't the answer. The former 6th round pick gets released to free up some more room to pursue FA options.

NEW SIGNINGS
FS Brent Rasnic (59/59)--Easy choice to pursue a FS, since my best option was a 27/27 guy. Rasnic should help get the secondary back up among the better ones in the league.
SLB C.J. Iannucci (58/58)--Another big position of need on defense. We were at 40/40 and 34/34 at OLB.

After these two signings, we have only $1.47M left in cap room, which is virtually nothing at the current $336.5M cap. The minimum for an undrafted FA is $960K right now.

DRAFT

My 1(21) pick will get moved to DE after training camp:

Rnd 1 - Thurman Karsten, DT, Michigan: 35/71 (as DT...will get moved to DE). +1 as DT. Post-camp move to DE puts him at 40/75.
Rnd 2 - Bryan Chapman, CB, Iowa: 27/65: -16. I expected a drop, but not that significant. I'm thinking part of that was a random bust.
Rnd 3 - Bruce Reynolds, RB, Lafayette: 31/52: -3
Rnd 4 - Albert Coker, G, Kentucky: 19/63: -3
Rnd 5 - Archie McDonald, QB, Iowa: 6/8 (I knew his scouted rating would be very low, but I didn't think THAT low!): +1
Rnd 6 - Julio Haugh, TE, Davidson (17/41): -2
Rnd 7 - Allen Schultz, C, Ohio State 19/41: +2




CAMP NEWS OF NOTE REGARDING VETERANS

• Sweazy drops 3 points to 61/61.
• RB Peterson drops 8, to 58/58.

[Ben E Lou]

2036 ROSTER

  Player                #   Pos   Start Exp  Current Estimate  Future Estimate Cntrct 
Sweazy, Aaron           15  QB    QB    14   61                61                2 yrs
Swatek, Everett         3   QB          9    41                41                3 yrs
Hopper, Les             19  QB          5    41                41                1 yr.
##McDonald, Archie      13  QB          1    7                 9                 3 yrs
Peterson, Ike           23  RB    RB    8    58                58                2 yrs
Mills, Matthew          42  RB          6    48                48                2 yrs
Reynolds, Bruce         34  RB          1    33                49                3 yrs
Craig, Gino             32  FB    FB    8    59                59                3 yrs
Perez, Martin           21  FB          2    48                58                2 yrs
Stallings, Winston      89  TE    TE    6    77                77                3 yrs
Huffman, Ted            84  TE          3    38                38                1 yr.
##Haugh, Julio          80  TE          1    22                39                3 yrs
Frederick, Brian        82  FL    SE    5    54                54                4 yrs
Buckner, Myron          81  FL          8    45                45                3 yrs
Eldred, George          87  SE    FL    10   57                57                2 yrs
Peters, Mitchell        8   SE          2    43                46                2 yrs
##Collier, Conrad       86  SE          2    24                32                2 yrs
Logan, Bobby            59  C     C     11   61                61                2 yrs
McSorley, Mo            54  C           6    51                51                2 yrs
Schultz, Allen          56  C           1    25                43                3 yrs
Arnold, Percy           61  LG    LG    8    50                50                3 yrs
McConnell, Zach         65  LG          5    44                44                2 yrs
Derlange, Deon          68  RG    RG    4    45                46                3 yrs
Coker, Albert           50  RG          1    26                60                4 yrs
Cobbs, Ethan            69  LT    LT    9    60                60                3 yrs
Rushe, Matthew          71  LT    RT    2    20                27                2 yrs
##Erhardt, Rich         60  RT          10   50                50                2 yrs
de Groh, Martin         9   P           8    38                38                2 yrs
Sheriff, Dixon          1   K           16   36                36                1 yr.
##Hare, Ricky           76  LDE         10   55                55                2 yrs
Karsten, Thurman        72  LDE   LDE   1    43                75                5 yrs
Kelleher, Leon          94  LDE         4    42                46                3 yrs
Corbett, Skip           70  RDE   RDE   6    46                46                5 yrs
Downs, David            99  RDE         5    42                42                2 yrs
Lyon, Fred              90  LDT         5    43                43                2 yrs
Dowdell, Craig          77  LDT         12   41                41                2 yrs
Pearson, George         91  RDT   LDT   3    66                66                2 yrs
Klosterman, Shawn       79  RDT   RDT   2    34                56                3 yrs
Finley, Mitch           96  MLB   MLB   4    48                48                3 yrs
Burns, William          51  MLB         2    25                43                2 yrs
Iannucci, C.J.          55  SLB   SLB   7    59                59                4 yrs
##Hines, Kenneth        93  SLB         9    40                40                2 yrs
Crumpton, Ellis         95  WLB   WLB   3    39                48                2 yrs
Durham, Victor          58  WLB         4    27                27                3 yrs
Farmer, Ricardo         36  LCB   LCB   7    46                46                2 yrs
Long, Jumbo             40  LCB         3    42                42                2 yrs
##Chapman, Bryan        44  LCB         1    24                49                4 yrs
Greason, Spencer        22  RCB   RCB   4    46                46                3 yrs
Richard, Winston        45  RCB         3    43                43                1 yr.
Crase, Archie           38  SS    SS    6    62                62                3 yrs
Rasnic, Brent           33  FS    FS    8    59                59                4 yrs
Gray, Bo                49  FS          4    28                28                3 yrs
Clayton, Butch          46  FS          2    27                36                2 yrs

ROSTER RATING: 80 (4th place)
COHESION: 100-100-95-77

I'm going to shorten up the passing game a bit this year, as a good bit of Sweazy's ratings loss has been in downfield passing.

[Ben E Lou]

2036 SUMMARY

Lost several close ones and missed the playoffs for the second straight year. I'm *really* curious to see what's going to happen to this team when Sweazy hangs 'em up, which should be pretty soon.

Sweazy wins the award trifecta, DT George Perason is a 1st Team All Pro, and LT Ethan Cobbs (37 KRB, 2 pancakes) is 2nd Team.

[Ben E Lou]

Incidentally, I just noticed something that I'm certain has helped ramp up the difficulty as of late. Division rivals TB and NO have star QBs. The guy for New Orleans is 90/90 and in only his 7th season. TB's guy is almost a year older than Sweazy, but is still 68/68. TB won the whole shebang this year, and they have 10 wins or more in six of the last seven regular seasons. New Orleans has 20 wins total in the last two.

[Ben E Lou]

Sweazy called it quits after 14 years.

[Ben E Lou]

• Drafted 5(15) in 2023 as a 16/43 player.
• Highest rating seen: 76/76
• 1st All-Time QB Rating
• 1st All-Time Completion Percentage
• 1st All-Time TD Passes
• 3rd All-Time Yards Per Pass Attempt
• 10th All-Time Passing Yards
• 4th All-Time 300-yard passing games
• 5-time League MVP
• 5-time OPOY
• 6-time All-Pro
• 1-ring
• 100 POG
• 37 POW

Pretty impressive resume for a 5th round pick.

[Ben E Lou]

The interesting thing is that without Sweazy's massive salary, I might be able to build an entirely different kind of team. This could get *very* interesting.

[Ben E Lou]

2037 OFFSEASON

In addition to Sweazy, OLB Kenneth Hines and DT Craig Dowdell hang 'em up. Dowdell played 12 seasons for us after being picked 1(26). He was a four-time All Pro. Hines had a decent nine-year Falcon career after being a 1(24) pick. Both lost their starting jobs in 2036.

FRANCHISE: None.

SUMMER: DE Thurman Karsten

FA1

IMMEDIATE CUTS
DT Fred Lyon (43/43), a former 6th round pick, is the odd man out as I have to do some reshuffling due to the chemistry issues created by Dowdell's retirement.

PERCENTAGE OF CAP AVAILABLE AFTER CUTS/EXTENSIONS: 9.2%. Not bad, but not as much as I'd hoped. Still, it gives me room to improve. There's no help at QB available, so the plan this year is to go with Everett Swatek, a long-time backup for us who seems like a decent game manager. He put up a 99.8 rating in the one year he started due to injury.

NEW SIGNINGS
OLB A.J. Heath (64/64)--His signing brings about some significant restructuring, since it occurs in Week 3. I position-switch the 7th-year man to MLB (full experience) and he comes up 65/65. Backup MLB William Burns is creeping heavily (now at 14/35-->30/49 so far), and as much positional experience at OLB, so he gets switched to WLB, which makes 5th-year man Victor Durham expendable. Buh-bye, Victor. Cutting Durham also gives us enough room to pursue a truly good cornerback (with one more cut), so I release my most expensive one, Jumbo Long, and make a 2-year offer to an aging stud corner...

...who accepts the following week! CB Roderick Prescott (61/61)--The 10th-year man becomes the position leader, which brings about another chemistry release: CB Spencer Greason. No huge loss there

DT Ethan Stargell (30/30)--New position leader.
P Broderick Campbell (68/68)--Not much else to spend the money on, so might as well improve special teams.
K Lorenzo Ciurciu (66/66)--See above.
DT Stanley Miller (45/45)--9th-year man signed mainly to mentor heavily creeping DT Shawn Klosterman (23/48-->39/60)

I feel like we improved the defense and special teams significantly. Without a great option for QB, I figure why not go with running game/defense/special teams this year, and see how that works for us?

DRAFT

We have the #18 pick this year, and it goes on...

Burnett's not normally the kind of QB I go after, but I felt like he might be the best available. If he does develop into something, we'll definitely be a West Coast team under him.

Rnd 1 - Gino Burnett, QB, Oregon State--17/59: -7, and the sumbitch didn't sign.
Rnd 2 - Paul Gonzalez, G, Oregon State--24/48: +9
Rnd 3 - Charles Karenina, OLB, Auburn--26/49: -3
Rnd 4 - Zach Whiting, T, Wisconsin--14/61: -8
Rnd 5 - J.J. Alcott, QB, Tulsa--17/48: -3
Rnd 6 - Perry Austin, CB, UCLA--13/29: +6
Rnd 7 - Irv Myatt, WR, Nebraska--13/26: E


CAMP NEWS OF NOTE REGARDING VETERANS

• Both veteran QBs, Swatek and Hopper, dropped to 36/36. Ouch.
• RB Peterson drops 6 more, to 52/52.
• Last year's 3rd round pick, RB Bruce Reynolds, gives us a +8/+4 in camp and has thrust himself into the picture at 40/52.
• TE Julio Haugh, picked in the 6th last year, got a +6/+4 and is at 27/42 and looking like he could earn some playing time soon.

[Ben E Lou]

2037 ROSTER

  Player                #   Pos   Start Exp  Current Estimate  Future Estimate Cntrct 
Swatek, Everett         3   QB    QB    10   36                36                2 yrs
Hopper, Les             19  QB          6    36                36                3 yrs
##Alcott, J.J.          11  QB          1    21                45                3 yrs
Burnett, Gino           14  QB          1    18                52                4 yrs
Peterson, Ike           23  RB    RB    9    52                52                2 yrs
Mills, Matthew          42  RB          7    43                43                3 yrs
Reynolds, Bruce         34  RB          2    41                52                2 yrs
Craig, Gino             32  FB    FB    9    51                51                2 yrs
Perez, Martin           21  FB          3    50                50                1 yr.
Stallings, Winston      89  TE    TE    7    76                76                2 yrs
Huffman, Ted            84  TE          4    38                38                3 yrs
##Haugh, Julio          80  TE          2    28                42                2 yrs
Buckner, Myron          81  FL          9    39                39                2 yrs
Frederick, Brian        82  FL    FL    6    54                54                3 yrs
Eldred, George          87  SE    SE    11   51                51                2 yrs
Collier, Conrad         86  SE          3    30                33                1 yr.
Peters, Mitchell        8   SE          3    45                45                1 yr.
Logan, Bobby            59  C     C     12   61                61                2 yrs
McSorley, Mo            54  C           7    51                51                3 yrs
Schultz, Allen          56  C           2    34                44                2 yrs
McConnell, Zach         65  LG    LG    6    46                46                2 yrs
Gonzalez, Paul          74  LG          1    33                57                4 yrs
Derlange, Deon          68  RG    RG    5    45                45                2 yrs
Coker, Albert           50  RG          2    36                58                3 yrs
Cobbs, Ethan            69  LT    LT    10   58                58                2 yrs
##Rushe, Matthew        71  LT          3    24                28                1 yr.
Erhardt, Rich           60  RT    RT    11   46                46                2 yrs
##Whiting, Zach         63  RT          1    19                53                3 yrs
Campbell, Broderick     10  P           6    67                67                3 yrs
Ciurciu, Lorenzo        6   K           7    66                66                3 yrs
Hare, Ricky             76  LDE   RDE   11   52                52                2 yrs
Kelleher, Leon          94  LDE         5    47                47                2 yrs
Corbett, Skip           70  RDE         7    47                47                4 yrs
Karsten, Thurman        72  RDE   LDE   2    50                75                4 yrs
Miller, Stanley         93  LDT         9    39                39                3 yrs
Stargell, Ethan         98  RDT         9    28                28                2 yrs
Pearson, George         91  RDT   LDT   4    66                66                4 yrs
Klosterman, Shawn       79  RDT   RDT   3    45                61                2 yrs
Heath, A.J.             97  MLB   MLB   7    66                66                4 yrs
Finley, Mitch           96  MLB         5    49                49                2 yrs
Iannucci, C.J.          55  SLB   SLB   8    51                51                3 yrs
Karenina, Charles       52  SLB         1    31                46                3 yrs
Crumpton, Ellis         95  WLB   WLB   4    42                47                1 yr.
Burns, William          51  WLB         3    34                51                1 yr.
Prescott, Roderick      48  LCB   LCB   10   62                62                2 yrs
Farmer, Ricardo         36  LCB         8    45                45                3 yrs
Chapman, Bryan          44  LCB         2    28                46                3 yrs
Richard, Winston        45  RCB   RCB   4    49                49                3 yrs
##Austin, Perry         35  RCB         1    17                35                3 yrs
Crase, Archie           38  SS    SS    7    62                62                2 yrs
##Rasnic, Brent         33  FS          9    55                55                3 yrs
Clayton, Butch          46  FS    FS    3    30                35                1 yr.
##Weber, Arnold         20  FS          1    12                27                2 yrs

ROSTER: 62. (16th-best). The Saints are #1.
COHESION: 87-100-85-59

As mentioned earlier, we're gonna try to do it with defense, special teams, a running game, and this guy at QB:

]

[Ben E Lou]

TE Stallings suffers a compound leg fracture in Week 4. That sucks.

[Ben E Lou]

We won the division and even got a bye week! Details in a bit...

[Ben E Lou]

Heh. CHAMPS!!!

The offense was good enough, and both the defense and special teams were stellar.

[Ben E Lou]

Total team effort. No awards at all. The championship game MVP was won by a Pittsburgh player, even.

[Ben E Lou]

2038 OFFSEASON

Just one retirement: starting RT Rich Erhardt. He is definitely replaceable.

FRANCHISE: None.

SUMMER: G Paul Gonzalez

FA1

IMMEDIATE CUTS
RB Matthew Mills (44/44)--Getting old, and only 3.04 ypc last year.
WR Myron Bucker (40/40)--Just making too much for a WR3/WR4 at best, and I see a WR I'd like to pursue in free agency.
DT Stanley Miller (36/36)--He was only signed to be a mentor, and the guy he's mentoring is fully developed now.
CB Bryan Chapman (31/43)--Was 27/65. I've seen enough.

PERCENTAGE OF CAP AVAILABLE AFTER CUTS/EXTENSIONS: 9.3%.

My thinking now is that since we were good enough to win it all last year, why not go for the gusto again? There's no FA QB out there worth much than the cohesion my veterans add, but there's a stud WR.

NEW SIGNINGS
TE Alonzo Tant (71/71)--The compound leg fracture injury to TE Stallings still has 12 weeks left, and I don't know that I've ever seen someone come back from that injury without at least *some* ratings loss. This 9th-year veteran should be a very good replacement.
WR Bryan Conley (76/76)--11th-year man, so I don't expect 76/76 after camp, but I still suspect he'll be my best receiver.

These two guys eat up most of the cap room I had, but they may well be worth it. The defense should be just as good as last year, and these guys ought to help the offense.

DRAFT

We have the #32 pick this year, and it is used on....

Solid combines across the board for this guy. Neither of my QB picks last year look like they're going to pan out, so it made sense to grab Gower.

Rnd 1 - Jose Gower, QB, Wisconsin--15/46: +3
Rnd 2 - Dave Summerfield, T, Arizona State--20/69: -6
Rnd 3 - Rico Weliczka, WR, Auburn--18/37: +6
Rnd 4 - Phillip Carlson, DT, Northern State--21/43: E
Rnd 5 - Bubba Price, CB, Alabama - Birmingham--15/40: +1
Rnd 6 - Carlos Stanton, RB, Indiana--24/51: E
Rnd 7 - Tito Sink, TE, Louisiana Tech--24/46: -3

TWO holdouts.

From: Everett Swatek
I have decided to hold out until I receive a new contract.
As your starting quarterback last season, I believe I had a solid season. I believe I'm very seriously underpaid, and will not report to camp without a new contract.

From: C.J. Iannucci
I have decided to hold out until I receive a new contract.
I believe I made a huge difference on defense last season. I believe I'm very seriously underpaid, and will not report to camp without a new contract.

Iannucci barely wants more than what he's already making, so I sign him. I don't have the cap room for Swatek's deal. I'll wait him out until after camp, at least.


CAMP NEWS OF NOTE REGARDING VETERANS

• RB Peterson drops 6 more, to 45/45.
• RB Bruce Reynolds dropped points in FA1, but is back up to 49/53.
• Only minor drops for the veteran signees: TE Tant is -2, and WR Conley is -3.
• 3rd-year RG Albert Coker continues his creeping 6 points, to 49/62.
• QB Swatek is still holding out after camp. With Gower's +3, though, I can cut the other veteran QB, Les Hopper. That gives me just enough cap room to show Swatek the money.

[Ben E Lou]

  Player                #   Pos   Start Exp  Current Estimate  Future Estimate Cntrct 
Swatek, Everett         3   QB    QB    11   36                36                3 yrs
Alcott, J.J.            11  QB          2    25                42                2 yrs
Burnett, Gino           14  QB          2    25                48                3 yrs
Gower, Jose             17  QB          1    18                49                4 yrs
Reynolds, Bruce         34  RB    RB    3    49                53                1 yr.
Peterson, Ike           23  RB          10   45                45                1 yr.
Stanton, Carlos         28  RB          1    31                51                3 yrs
Craig, Gino             32  FB    FB    10   51                51                2 yrs
Perez, Martin           21  FB          4    48                48                3 yrs
##Stallings, Winston    89  TE          8    77                77                1 yr.
Tant, Alonzo            88  TE    TE    9    69                69                3 yrs
Huffman, Ted            84  TE          5    39                39                2 yrs
%%Haugh, Julio          80  TE          3    33                40                1 yr.
Sink, Tito              83  TE          1    27                43                3 yrs
##Terrell, Alvin        1   TE          1    18                34                2 yrs
Conley, Bryan           81  FL    FL    11   73                73                2 yrs
Frederick, Brian        82  FL    SE    7    52                52                2 yrs
Weliczka, Rico          85  FL          1    25                43                3 yrs
##Eldred, George        87  SE          12   50                50                1 yr.
Peters, Mitchell        8   SE          4    45                45                3 yrs
Logan, Bobby            59  C     C     13   60                60                1 yr.
McSorley, Mo            54  C           8    42                42                2 yrs
Schultz, Allen          56  C           3    42                42                1 yr.
Gonzalez, Paul          74  LG    LG    2    47                63                3 yrs
McConnell, Zach         65  LG          7    37                37                1 yr.
Coker, Albert           50  RG    RG    3    52                62                2 yrs
Derlange, Deon          68  RG          6    46                46                1 yr.
Cobbs, Ethan            69  LT    LT    11   57                57                2 yrs
##Rushe, Matthew        71  LT          4    26                29                3 yrs
Whiting, Zach           63  RT    RT    2    20                46                2 yrs
$$Summerfield, Dave     73  RT          1    19                63                ---  
Campbell, Broderick     10  P           7    67                67                2 yrs
Ciurciu, Lorenzo        6   K           8    65                65                2 yrs
Kelleher, Leon          94  LDE   RDE   6    49                49                1 yr.
Hare, Ricky             76  LDE         12   45                45                2 yrs
Karsten, Thurman        72  RDE   LDE   3    71                71                3 yrs
Corbett, Skip           70  RDE         8    37                37                3 yrs
Pearson, George         91  LDT   LDT   5    63                63                3 yrs
Carlson, Phillip        93  LDT         1    24                43                4 yrs
Klosterman, Shawn       79  RDT   RDT   4    60                60                7 yrs
Stargell, Ethan         98  RDT         10   26                26                1 yr.
Heath, A.J.             97  MLB   MLB   8    64                64                3 yrs
Finley, Mitch           96  MLB         6    50                50                1 yr.
Iannucci, C.J.          55  SLB   SLB   9    44                44                3 yrs
##Karenina, Charles     52  SLB         2    33                44                2 yrs
Crumpton, Ellis         95  WLB         5    43                43                2 yrs
Burns, William          51  WLB   WLB   4    42                52                3 yrs
Prescott, Roderick      48  LCB   LCB   11   57                57                1 yr.
Farmer, Ricardo         36  LCB         9    40                40                2 yrs
Price, Bubba            24  LCB         1    19                41                3 yrs
Richard, Winston        45  RCB   RCB   5    51                51                2 yrs
##Austin, Perry         35  RCB         2    21                39                2 yrs
##Crase, Archie         38  SS          8    62                62                4 yrs
Farrell, Desmond        43  SS    FS    1    29                46                2 yrs
Rasnic, Brent           33  FS    SS    10   55                55                2 yrs

ROSTER: 68 (9th)
COHESION: 69-100-85-78

I'll use the same pass distances I did last year (heavily in the 0-20 yard range), but with the addition of Conley to the mix, we'll throw more in general.

[Ben E Lou]

...and sure enough, TE Winston Stallings comes back in Week 9, 100% healthy, and 77/77. With the Stallings/Tant combo, I increase the 2 TE the rest of the way.

[Ben E Lou]

Nice run at the title, but we come up short...

It was the #1 scoring offense versus the #1 scoring defense in the Super Bowl, and the offense prevailed.

We had a couple of big injuries not mentioned already...

• FL Brian Frederick. Week 14. Ruptured Achilles
• C Bobby Logan. Week 11. Reconstructive Knee Surgery.

DT Klosterman and DE Karsten were All Pro. Klosterman was first team.

[Ben E Lou]

2039 OFFSEASON BEGIN

RETIREMENTS
DE Ricky Hare--12-year veteran, drafted 2(17), 79.5 sacks, 189 hurries. He had declined the last few years. He combined for only 9 sacks in 2036 and 2037 in a starting role, and only was in on 27 snaps last year. 1st in Atlanta history in sacks, hurries, and blocked passes. 1-time All Pro.
LT Ethan Cobbs--11-year vet, drafted 2(25). He was the starter last year, but did not have good stats at all compared to the rest of his career.
RG Deon Derlange--6-year vet, drafted 4(32). He started for three season, then sat most of 2038 and decided to hang 'em up.

FRANCHISE: TE Winston Stallings

SUMMER: WR Rico Weliczka

[Ben E Lou]

2039 OFFSEASON BEGIN

RETIREMENTS
DE Ricky Hare--12-year veteran, drafted 2(17), 79.5 sacks, 189 hurries. He had declined the last few years. He combined for only 9 sacks in 2036 and 2037 in a starting role, and only was in on 27 snaps last year. 1st in Atlanta history in sacks, hurries, and blocked passes. 1-time All Pro.


LT Ethan Cobbs--11-year vet, drafted 2(25). He was the starter last year, but did not have good stats at all compared to the rest of his career.


RG Deon Derlange--6-year vet, drafted 4(32). He started for three season, then sat most of 2038 and decided to hang 'em up.

FRANCHISE: TE Winston Stallings

SUMMER: WR Rico Weliczka

FA1

IMMEDIATE CUTS
QB J.J. Alcott (28/38)--Drafted at 17/48. No point in keeping him any longer.
QB Gino Burnett (27/43)--Former first round pick has dropped from 17/59. Ditto.

PERCENTAGE OF CAP AVAILABLE AFTER CUTS/EXTENSIONS: 18.1%. However, I three high-dollar starters become FAs because they were old and I thought they might retire. I need help at the following positions:

C: Best under contract is 42/42
OT: Only two are 28/29 and 23/37
CB: A 52/52 guy, but the next best is a 40/40 10th-year man

So, I really could use a Center, 2 Tackles and a Cornerback....and not to mention a more stable option at QB until Jose Gower is ready. After looking through the pool, it's clear that I can get nothing better than role-players at those positions. However, there's a high-dollar 7th-year WR. I'm curious to see the impact of signing one of those on my cap situation long-term, so I decide to pursue him.

NEW SIGNINGS
CB Roderick Prescott (57/57)--Dicey signing of this 12-year man, but there weren't really many options at corner.
C Marc Upshaw (56/56)--7th-year guy who is best at run blocking (79).
T Josh Heneghan (43/43)--The options at tackle were less than compelling, but better than what I had. This 5th-year man will start at RT. His best skill is run blocking (62)
T Donovan Taylor (47/47)--7th-year veteran has balanced skills. Best is run blocking (59). Will start at LT.

Well, we won't know about the WR. I was outbid on him and couldn't offer any more. Nice, at least in terms of challenge.

DRAFT

We have the #31pick this year, and it is used on....

I'm old at the safety position, and this guy looks very, very good.

Rnd 1 - Jay Fairchild, S, Johnson C. Smith--31/68: nc
Rnd 2 - Jamal Doyle, G, West Virginia--15/36: +3
Rnd 3 - Lionel Griffin, WR, St. Mary's, Cal.--14/24: +2
Rnd 4 - Ernest O'Connor, QB, Brigham Young--19/62: -8
Rnd 5 - Alan Sasa, QB, Southern Mississippi--15/52: -7
Rnd 6 - Clay Pietsch, CB, Michigan State--8/26: +2
Rnd 7 - Fernando Roset, RB, Minnesota--17/17: +4

No dice on the QBs, but a good draft otherwise, I suppose.

CAMP NEWS OF NOTE REGARDING VETERANS

• WR George Eldred dropped 11 to 38/38. This will be his last year as a Falcon, I'm fairly certain--probably his last year in the league.
• QB Swatek drops to 32/32, and 2nd-year man Gower suddenly does a -7 after last year's +3. I could be in big trouble at QB soon.

[Ben E Lou]

2039 ROSTER

  Player                #   Pos   Start Exp  Current Estimate  Future Estimate Cntrct 
Swatek, Everett         3   QB    QB    12   32                32                2 yrs
O'Connor, Ernest        5   QB          1    24                54                4 yrs
Gower, Jose             17  QB          2    23                43                3 yrs
Sasa, Alan              19  QB          1    19                45                3 yrs
Reynolds, Bruce         34  RB    RB    4    57                57                3 yrs
Stanton, Carlos         28  RB          2    34                47                2 yrs
##Roset, Fernando       39  RB          1    20                21                3 yrs
Perez, Martin           21  FB    FB    5    47                47                2 yrs
Craig, Gino             32  FB          11   40                40                2 yrs
Stallings, Winston      89  TE    TE    9    78                78                3 yrs
Tant, Alonzo            88  TE          10   68                68                2 yrs
##Lorz, Eddie           83  TE          1    18                27                2 yrs
Conley, Bryan           81  FL    FL    12   70                70                2 yrs
Frederick, Brian        82  FL    SE    8    47                47                1 yr.
Weliczka, Rico          85  FL          2    43                46                2 yrs
##Griffin, Lionel       86  FL          1    16                26                4 yrs
Peters, Mitchell        8   SE          5    43                43                2 yrs
Eldred, George          87  SE          13   38                38                2 yrs
Upshaw, Marc            58  C     C     7    57                57                3 yrs
Schultz, Allen          56  C           4    42                42                3 yrs
##McSorley, Mo          54  C           9    37                37                1 yr.
Gonzalez, Paul          74  LG    LG    3    73                73                2 yrs
McConnell, Zach         65  LG          8    39                39                2 yrs
Doyle, Jamal            75  LG          1    16                39                3 yrs
Coker, Albert           50  RG    RG    4    62                62                4 yrs
Taylor, Donovan         68  LT    LT    7    47                47                3 yrs
##Rushe, Matthew        71  LT          5    29                29                2 yrs
Heneghan, Josh          73  RT    RT    5    44                44                3 yrs
##Whiting, Zach         63  RT          3    25                36                1 yr.
Campbell, Broderick     10  P           8    72                72                3 yrs
Ciurciu, Lorenzo        6   K           9    65                65                4 yrs
Kelleher, Leon          94  LDE   RDE   7    50                50                4 yrs
Karsten, Thurman        72  RDE   LDE   4    72                72                2 yrs
Corbett, Skip           70  RDE         9    27                27                2 yrs
Pearson, George         91  LDT   LDT   6    63                63                2 yrs
Carlson, Phillip        93  LDT         2    37                49                3 yrs
Klosterman, Shawn       79  RDT   RDT   5    61                61                6 yrs
Heath, A.J.             97  MLB   MLB   9    55                55                2 yrs
Finley, Mitch           96  MLB         7    51                51                3 yrs
Iannucci, C.J.          55  SLB         10   43                43                2 yrs
Karenina, Charles       52  SLB         3    35                40                1 yr.
Burns, William          51  WLB   SLB   5    50                50                2 yrs
Crumpton, Ellis         95  WLB   WLB   6    43                43                3 yrs
Prescott, Roderick      48  LCB   RCB   12   49                49                2 yrs
Price, Bubba            24  LCB         2    34                41                2 yrs
##Pietsch, Clay         41  LCB         1    12                28                3 yrs
Boone, Bucky            46  RCB   LCB   5    51                51                3 yrs
Richard, Winston        45  RCB         6    45                45                4 yrs
Austin, Perry           35  RCB         3    31                45                1 yr.
Crase, Archie           38  SS    SS    9    61                61                3 yrs
Farrell, Desmond        43  SS          2    49                50                1 yr.
Rasnic, Brent           33  FS    FS    11   52                52                2 yrs
Fairchild, Jay          29  FS          1    43                68                5 yrs

ROSTER: 86 (7th overall)
COHESION: 66-68-95-77

All indications are that we should have a pretty solid and balanced running game, so I'm cranking that up a bit this year.

[Ben E Lou]

An absolutely STUNNING performance, led again by defense and special teams, but bolstered by a strong offensive performance, too. WOW!!!

I really have no idea what to make of this guy...

...taking us to three straight Super Bowls, and winning two, when Aaron Sweazy only got us there once. Maybe other facets of FOF2K7 besides QB are more important than I've realized. My offensive game plan this year was very similar to the Smash Mouth public one. I tweaked the passing distances for Swatek's skill set (something like 5/25/70 short, 40/40/5/5/10 long), ran a little less on second down, used a good bit more 2 TE on first and second down to get Stallings and Tant on the field, and added in some very simple Adjustments. Nothing earth-shattering there, by any means. One thing worth noting is that the yardage gained wasn't stellar, but we nearly set an all-time record for ppg. That had a lot to do with defense and special teams. We were #1 in punt return average (14.3), #2 in kick return average (29.6), and #1 by very wide margins in both punt and kick return average allowed (2.3 and 17.2). Our defense and special teams definitely helped us win field position battle after field position battle. That doesn't account for the stellar completion percentage, though. My best guess there is that it was a combination of avoiding Swatek's pitfalls, having the 2 TEs and one WR with great pass-catching ratings, and running the football a good bit on first and second downs.

[Ben E Lou]

Left off 2039 Award-Winners...

LG Paul Gonzalez, 1st Team: 45 KRB, 20 pancakes. 2 sacks allowed. (The league record for pancakes is 21.)
DE Thurman Karsten, 1st Team (stats above)
CB Bucky Boone, 2nd Team (stats above)

Swatek was named Front Office Bowl MVP: 27 for 32, 306 yards, 3 TDs, 0 INTs.

[Ben E Lou]

2040 OFFSEASON BEGIN

RETIREMENTS
CB Roderick Prescott--Starting corner last year. Signed as a FA three seasons ago..
WR George Eldred--Career Falcon (13 seasons). Former 1st-round pick.

FRANCHISE: None

SUMMER: S Jay Fairchild

[Ben E Lou]

2040 FA1

DE Karsten is in his final year under contract. I sign him to a massive extension that's going to take up a good bit of my cap room.

IMMEDIATE CUTS
DE Skip Corbett (27/27)--His ratings have dropped, and he's expensive, due to a contract he signed as a starter.
FB Gino Craig (41/41)--In his 12th year, and the other FB just became a mentor. No reason to wait for him to drop like a brick in camp. I could use his money this year.
QB Alan Sasa (21/39)--Already down 13 points from draftee status, and only in year 2, with a conflict.

PERCENTAGE OF CAP AVAILABLE AFTER CUTS/EXTENSIONS: 5.4%. And I'm out a starting corner. Getting a good one will likely use up most of that.

NEW SIGNINGS
CB Percy Booker (65/65)--this guy looks like a nice grab: 5th-year man with an 81.3 career PDPct. He gets a four-year deal.

This signing gets us down to only having room for 4 minisal guys if I needed them.

[Ben E Lou]

---

2040 DRAFT/TRAINING CAMP

We have the #32 pick this year, and it is used on....

This was a marquee year for QBs. Nine went in the first round.

Rnd 1 - Leon Franklin, QB, Mississippi: 5/26-->5/27
Rnd 2 - Patrick Woods, FB, Wayne State (Neb.): 43/65-->48/66
Rnd 3 - Les Eddleman, T, Kansas: 18/27-->20/26
Rnd 4 - Andrew Troglia, OLB, Syracuse: 22/36-->27/39
Rnd 5 - Earl Gallier, DT, Houston: 27/39-->31/39
Rnd 6 - Neal Wooley, DE, Purdue: 20/35-->23/35
Rnd 7 - Daryl McAddley, DE, Mississippi State: 17/41-->19/37

HOLDOUT TROUBLES...

From: Bucky Boone
I have decided to hold out until I receive a new contract.
I believe I made a huge difference in the secondary last season. I believe I'm very seriously underpaid, and will not report to camp without a new contract.
From: Bruce Reynolds
I have decided to hold out until I receive a new contract.
As your starting running back last season, I believe I had a solid season. I believe I'm very seriously underpaid, and will not report to camp without a new contract.

Boone's desired raise is one that I can squeak into the likely remaining cap room. Reynolds, however, is a different story. I'll wait both out at least through training camp, and then re-evaluate from there.

OTHER CAMP NEWS OF NOTE

• QB Swatek drops to 24/24, and the only way the AI will start him now is if I make inactive...
• ....QB Jose Gower gains a point, back to 33/46. False negative last year?
• TE Stallings, TE Tant, and WR Conley all lose 7 or 8 points. No shocker their with their ages.
• Boone, Reynolds, and first-round pick Leon Franklin are all holding out.

[Ben E Lou]

Boone ends his holdout in PreWk3.

[Ben E Lou]

QB Franklin signs in PreWk4. He signs a cheap enough offer to give me *just* enough room to sign RB Reynolds to his request. Whew!

Incidentally, I'm going to break (slightly) a house rule early in the season. I'd really like to see if Swatek can still do anything. I'll let Rex do everything else on the depth chart, but Swatek will begin the year as starter.

[Ben E Lou]

2040 ROSTER

  Player                #   Pos   Start Exp  Current Estimate  Future Estimate Cntrct 
Gower, Jose             17  QB          3    35                46                2 yrs
O'Connor, Ernest        5   QB          2    31                48                3 yrs
Swatek, Everett         3   QB    QB    13   24                24                3 yrs
Franklin, Leon          1   QB          1    5                 27                4 yrs
Reynolds, Bruce         34  RB    RB    5    53                53                3 yrs
Stanton, Carlos         28  RB          3    35                35                1 yr.
Roset, Fernando         39  RB          2    23                23                2 yrs
Woods, Patrick          20  FB    FB    1    51                66                3 yrs
Perez, Martin           21  FB          6    46                46                3 yrs
Stallings, Winston      89  TE    TE    10   71                71                2 yrs
Tant, Alonzo            88  TE          11   60                60                2 yrs
##Lorz, Eddie           83  TE          2    21                27                1 yr.
Conley, Bryan           81  FL    FL    13   62                62                2 yrs
Weliczka, Rico          85  FL    SE    3    51                51                1 yr.
Frederick, Brian        82  FL          9    47                47                3 yrs
##Griffin, Lionel       86  FL          2    19                28                3 yrs
Peters, Mitchell        8   SE          6    43                43                3 yrs
Upshaw, Marc            58  C     C     8    56                56                2 yrs
Schultz, Allen          56  C           5    42                42                2 yrs
Gonzalez, Paul          74  LG    LG    4    75                75                1 yr.
##McConnell, Zach       65  LG          9    30                30                1 yr.
Doyle, Jamal            75  LG          2    25                41                2 yrs
Coker, Albert           50  RG    RG    5    63                63                3 yrs
Taylor, Donovan         68  LT    LT    8    47                47                2 yrs
##Rushe, Matthew        71  LT          6    29                29                1 yr.
Heneghan, Josh          73  RT    RT    6    43                43                2 yrs
##Eddleman, Les         64  RT          1    20                26                3 yrs
Campbell, Broderick     10  P           9    72                72                2 yrs
Ciurciu, Lorenzo        6   K           10   67                67                3 yrs
##Kelleher, Leon        94  LDE         8    50                50                3 yrs
McAddley, Daryl         92  LDE         1    19                37                3 yrs
Karsten, Thurman        72  RDE   LDE   5    78                78                7 yrs
Wooley, Neal            99  RDE   RDE   1    23                35                3 yrs
Pearson, George         91  LDT   LDT   7    64                64                5 yrs
Carlson, Phillip        93  LDT         3    44                44                2 yrs
Klosterman, Shawn       79  RDT   RDT   6    62                62                5 yrs
Gallier, Earl           78  RDT         1    33                39                3 yrs
Heath, A.J.             97  MLB   MLB   10   48                48                1 yr.
Finley, Mitch           96  MLB         8    38                38                2 yrs
Iannucci, C.J.          55  SLB         11   36                36                1 yr.
Burns, William          51  WLB   SLB   6    51                51                4 yrs
Crumpton, Ellis         95  WLB   WLB   7    42                42                2 yrs
Troglia, Andrew         57  WLB         1    27                39                4 yrs
Booker, Percy           47  LCB   LCB   5    64                64                4 yrs
Price, Bubba            24  LCB         3    43                43                1 yr.
##Pietsch, Clay         41  LCB         2    16                29                2 yrs
Boone, Bucky            46  RCB   RCB   6    52                52                2 yrs
Richard, Winston        45  RCB         7    41                41                3 yrs
Austin, Perry           35  RCB         4    39                43                3 yrs
Crase, Archie           38  SS          10   55                55                2 yrs
Farrell, Desmond        43  SS    SS    3    54                54                3 yrs
Fairchild, Jay          29  FS    FS    2    69                69                4 yrs
Rasnic, Brent           33  FS          12   47                47                2 yrs
   

ROSTER: 86 (5th overall)
COHESION: 89-68-88-67

I'll use a very similar game plan to last season's, but with a little more running, at least to begin the season.

[Ben E Lou]

After 8 games, Swatek was a 110.4 rating and a 68.6 completion percentage--and that's with Conley having played in only two games, due to injury.

[Ben E Lou]

Oh, so close....

Will a 24/24 QB in his 13th season return for one more year???

[Ben E Lou]

He did. However, TE Stallings and WR Conley retired. I suspect that Swatek's incredible run is over.

[Ben E Lou]

After two decades of running the team...

[Ben E Lou]

2041 OFFSEASON BEGIN

RETIREMENTS

WR Bryan Conley--He was one of the league's all-time greats, signed by me as a FA in the twilight of his career. He was the #4 pick overall by Oakland in 2028, and remained a Raider for 10 seasons, and had over 1,000 receiving yards in every one of them. His best year was 2034, in which he caught 128 passes for 1945 yards and 15 TDs. We signed him in 2038, and he helped us win a ring. He retires 2nd all-time in receptions, 4th in receiving yards, and 6th in TDs. A sure-fire Hall Of Famer, and our starting WR
S Brent Rasnic--A FA signee who played five years in Atlanta. Was no longer a starter last year.
OLB C.J. Iannucii--Another FA signee--played five years as a Falcon, the last two of which were as a reserve.
TE Winston Stallings--We picked him 1(26) in 2031, and he played for a decade. Came back from a compound leg fracture that caused him to miss most of 2027 and 2038, and caught 50 passes in 2039.

FRANCHISE: G Paul Gonzalez--I couldn't afford to extend him last year when money was tight.

SUMMER: FB Patrick Woods

[Ben E Lou]

2041 FA1

IMMEDIATE CUTS
T Josh Heneghan (43/43)--Starter last two years, but he sucked: 12 for 66 combined for us at KRB on a team that ran the ball well. There are other tackles available via free agency.
DE Daryl McAddley (19/36)--7th round pick last year. Ratings dropping. Conflict. Buh-bye.
CB Winston Richard (41/41)--Getting paid starter money, but no longer starter quality.

PERCENTAGE OF CAP AVAILABLE AFTER CUTS/EXTENSIONS: 12.5%
STARTERS NEEDED: RT, MLB, OLB

NEW SIGNINGS
T Wendell Lyle (58/58)--6th-year man who should help fill a void on the o-line.
OLB Justin Cobb (66/66)--8-year veteran 2-time All-Pro.
ILB A.J. Heath (48/48)--This is my own guy. I'd allowed him to become a FA, but I missed on the guy I wanted, so I re-sign Heath.

[Ben E Lou]

2041 DRAFT/TRAINING CAMP

We have the #31 pick this year, and it is used on....

Rnd 1 - Casey Burdette, S, Northwestern: 38/58-->36/57 (and holding out)
Rnd 2 - Deron Urban, WR, Notre Dame: 25/60-->27/54
Rnd 3 - Mike Catalano, RB, Boston College: 33/47-->33/47
Rnd 4 - Dave Garner, QB, Savannah State: 12/22-->14/23
Rnd 5 - Darren Hickman, G, Wisconsin: 19/23-->21/26
Rnd 6 - Artie McDonald, DE, Washington State: 23/41-->24/37
Rnd 7 - Sam Fuller, FB, Washington: 18/38-->20/39

OTHER CAMP NEWS OF NOTE

• QB Swatek drops to 21/21, and QB Gower is up to 47/47. I think it's time to move on, but Swatek will stay on the team and if Gower gets hurt or falters, I won't hesitate to use Swatek.
• TE Tant falls -11 to 49/49.
• I re-signed MLB A.J. Heath in free agency, and I get thanked with a big, fat -11.
• DT George Pearson also is -11. I suspect the defense is going to drop off a bit this year.

[Ben E Lou]

2041 ROSTER

  Player                #   Pos   Start Exp  Current Estimate  Future Estimate Cntrct 
Gower, Jose             17  QB    QB    4    47                47                1 yr.
##Swatek, Everett       3   QB          14   21                21                2 yrs
Garner, Dave            7   QB          1    14                23                3 yrs
Franklin, Leon          1   QB          2    11                28                3 yrs
##Reynolds, Bruce       34  RB          6    50                50                2 yrs
Stanton, Carlos         28  RB          4    35                35                3 yrs
Catalano, Mike          40  RB    RB    1    33                47                3 yrs
Roset, Fernando         39  RB          3    28                28                1 yr.
Woods, Patrick          20  FB    FB    2    77                77                2 yrs
%%Perez, Martin         21  FB          7    44                44                2 yrs
Fuller, Sam             33  FB          1    20                39                3 yrs
Connell, Donovan        80  TE    TE    6    52                52                3 yrs
Tant, Alonzo            88  TE          12   49                49                2 yrs
Reese, Herb             87  TE          7    42                42                3 yrs
Lorz, Eddie             83  TE          3    27                27                2 yrs
##Weliczka, Rico        85  FL          4    53                53                3 yrs
Frederick, Brian        82  FL    SE    10   40                40                2 yrs
Urban, Deron            84  FL          1    31                54                3 yrs
Griffin, Lionel         86  FL          3    25                29                2 yrs
Ross, Leonard           81  FL          1    17                27                2 yrs
Peters, Mitchell        8   SE    FL    7    42                42                2 yrs
Upshaw, Marc            58  C     C     9    55                55                4 yrs
Schultz, Allen          56  C           6    43                43                1 yr.
Gonzalez, Paul          74  LG    LG    5    78                78                4 yrs
Doyle, Jamal            75  LG          3    41                43                1 yr.
##Hickman, Darren       55  LG          1    21                26                3 yrs
Coker, Albert           50  RG    RG    6    62                62                2 yrs
Taylor, Donovan         68  LT    RT    9    47                47                3 yrs
Rushe, Matthew          71  LT          7    30                30                2 yrs
Lyle, Wendell           67  RT    LT    6    59                59                5 yrs
Eddleman, Les           64  RT          2    21                26                2 yrs
Campbell, Broderick     10  P           10   71                71                3 yrs
Ciurciu, Lorenzo        6   K           11   68                68                2 yrs
##Kelleher, Leon        94  LDE         9    51                51                2 yrs
##Karsten, Thurman      72  RDE         6    77                77                6 yrs
Wooley, Neal            99  RDE   LDE   2    29                34                2 yrs
McDonald, Artie         90  RDE   RDE   1    24                37                3 yrs
Pearson, George         91  LDT   RDT   8    52                52                4 yrs
Carlson, Phillip        93  LDT         4    45                45                3 yrs
Klosterman, Shawn       79  RDT   LDT   7    62                62                4 yrs
Gallier, Earl           78  RDT         2    41                41                2 yrs
Finley, Mitch           96  MLB   MLB   9    38                38                1 yr.
Heath, A.J.             97  MLB         11   37                37                1 yr.
Cobb, Justin            54  SLB   SLB   8    60                60                3 yrs
Burns, William          51  WLB   WLB   7    52                52                3 yrs
Troglia, Andrew         57  WLB         2    33                39                3 yrs
Booker, Percy           47  LCB   LCB   6    65                65                3 yrs
Price, Bubba            24  LCB         4    44                44                3 yrs
##Lane, Reggie          44  LCB         1    15                25                2 yrs
Boone, Bucky            46  RCB   RCB   7    53                53                4 yrs
Austin, Perry           35  RCB         5    43                43                2 yrs
Farrell, Desmond        43  SS    FS    4    55                55                2 yrs
Crase, Archie           38  SS          11   47                47                2 yrs
Fairchild, Jay          29  FS    SS    3    72                72                3 yrs
$$Burdette, Casey       36  FS          1    36                57                ---  

ROSTER: 100 (Denver also has 100, and 6 teams are in the 90s. Apparent parity among the top-tier teams.)
COHESION: 77-72-100-69

A handful of injuries, all minor, will impact us early in the season. Of concern is that 1st-round pick Burdette hasn't signed.

As far as game plan, looking at Gower's player card...



...I'm going to do something a little funky. He doesn't appear to be much of a passer, apart from third downs and 21-30 yards, so I'm going to run it a good bit more, and when I pass, I'll throw more in that range than I normally do.

[Ben E Lou]

I had to abandon that game plan idea around midseason, but even when I shortened it up, things didn't go so well in the passing game...

Well, that was interesting. I tend to think the passing issues were a result of a QB/WR mismatch in skill sets--having a downfield passer but non-downfield receivers.

Only All-Pro is G Paul Gonzalez: 40 for 100 KRB, 7 pancackes, 5 sacks allowed.

[Ben E Lou]

2042 OFFSEASON BEGIN

RETIREMENTS
QB Everett Swatek--Drafted 3(24) in 2028...Backed up the legendary Aaron Sweazy for most of his career...Led team to four straight Super Bowls, and 2 wins, from 2037-2040...Threw enough passes to qualify for all-time honors: 1st all-time in completion percentage, 3rd all-time in QB Rating.
TE Alonzo Tant--Signed as a FA in year 9 of his distinguished career...Caught 76 passes for 937 yards for Arizona as a third-year player.

FRANCHISE: QB Jose Gower--not sure I'll keep him, but I at least want that option.

SUMMER: S Casey Burdette

[Ben E Lou]

2042 FA1

First off, there's no QB in free agency who looks like a decent option, and none in the draft that looks like he'll fall to my #16 pick. Gower's franchise salary puts us over the cap by a wide margin, but I can sign him to a long-term deal averaging a little over 4% of the current cap. He gained another point, to 48/48, as FA1 begins. It really doesn't appear that I have any other reasonable choice. So, for better or worse, I'm rebuilding my offense around him.
Worth mentioning: I've got a combine-skipper former undrafted FA now starting for me: SS Desmond Farrell was 21/41 initially, but is now 56/56 and has an 82.7 PDPct and 36 career starts. He has been the #1 guy the last two seasons, and he's now getting an extension.

IMMEDIATE CUTS
SS Archie Crane (47/47)--With three solid young safeties, I don't need to pay this guy starter money just to be a mentor and backup. I'll find someone much cheaper to fill that role..
WR Brian Frederick (40/40), WR Mitchell Peters (39/39), WR Lionel Griffin (28/28), TE Herb Reese (41/41)--Guys who just aren't going to fit in an offensive system tailored for Jose Gower.
FB Martin Perez (23/23)--Sat out last season with elbow surgery. Came back with horrid ratings.

PERCENTAGE OF CAP AVAILABLE AFTER CUTS/EXTENSIONS: 9.8%
STARTERS NEEDED: WR, MLB

NEW SIGNINGS
TE Blake Covington, 5, 52/52--Exactly what I'd want in a TE for the offense I intend to run: strong blocker (79/70/82), low route-running (22), high big-play receiving (64). I wish his third down catching was higher than 51, but all things considered, I couldn't have asked for a better fit here.
WR Pat Krueger, 5, 54/54--84 Third Down Catching, 74 Big-Play Receiving, 74 Avoid Drops.
MLB Bryan Hiel, 5, 56/56--Strong in run defense and endurance. Should help plug up the middle.
S Dwayne Hutton, 6, 43/43--The cheap mentor I was hoping for. He's also relatively young. Nice!
WR Floyd Powell, 9, 53/53--70 Big Play. A little weak (45) on third downs, but he should fit in fairly well as the third WR until I can get a better option.

If this doesn't work, we may be in trouble. We've already got 89.7% of next year's cap used up, and we haven't drafted yet.

[Ben E Lou]

2042 DRAFT/TRAINING CAMP

We have the #16 pick this year, and it is used on....

Rnd 1 - Colin Jamison, OLB, Oregon: 25/46-->26/54. Nice! He held out through camp, so I couldn't weight train him. I'd like to bulk him up and move him to SLB.
Rnd 2 - Bryant Bove, ILB, Mississippi: 23/55-->26/50
Rnd 3 - Ryan Williamson, WR, South Carolina: 19/33-->22/34
Rnd 4 - Josh Giefeke, TE, Nebraska: 23/59-->25/53
Rnd 5 - Charlie Schreiber, QB, Vanderbilt: 6/46-->10/43
Rnd 6 - Harry Meinke, T, Texas Tech: 12/30-->16/34
Rnd 7 - Scott Barrett, C, Rice: 16/24-->19/27

OTHER CAMP NEWS OF NOTE

• QB Leon Franklin, the first round pick from 2 years ago, finally gets a nice creep of +5/+3. He's now at 18/32, but I wouldn't be shocked to see him become a useful player
• Big drops on the defensive line. LDE Kelleher: -9, LDT Pearson: -15, RDT Klsterman: -9. Ouch.
• After camp, I went ahead and cut Charlie Schreiber, and signed an aging mentor to help QB Leon Franklin along.

[Ben E Lou]

2042 ROSTER

  Player                #   Pos   Start Exp  Current Estimate  Future Estimate Cntrct 
Gower, Jose             17  QB    QB    5    48                48                6 yrs
Tucker, Jimmie          3   QB          14   28                28                1 yr.
Franklin, Leon          1   QB          3    20                32                2 yrs
Garner, Dave            7   QB          2    19                24                2 yrs
Reynolds, Bruce         34  RB    RB    7    45                45                3 yrs
Catalano, Mike          40  RB          2    37                46                2 yrs
Stanton, Carlos         28  RB          5    34                34                2 yrs
Woods, Patrick          20  FB    FB    3    80                80                1 yr.
Fuller, Sam             33  FB          2    23                38                2 yrs
Covington, Blake        82  TE    TE    5    53                53                3 yrs
Connell, Donovan        80  TE          7    51                51                2 yrs
Giefeke, Josh           87  TE          1    25                53                3 yrs
Powell, Floyd           89  FL    SE    9    53                53                3 yrs
Krueger, Pat            88  FL          5    53                53                4 yrs
Urban, Deron            84  FL          2    39                50                2 yrs
Williamson, Ryan        86  FL          1    22                34                4 yrs
Ross, Leonard           81  FL          2    21                29                1 yr.
Weliczka, Rico          85  SE    FL    5    55                55                2 yrs
Upshaw, Marc            58  C     C     10   50                50                3 yrs
Barrett, Scott          52  C           1    19                27                3 yrs
##Gonzalez, Paul        74  LG          6    79                79                3 yrs
Doyle, Jamal            75  LG    RG    4    44                44                2 yrs
Hickman, Darren         55  LG          2    23                28                2 yrs
Coker, Albert           50  RG    LG    7    63                63                4 yrs
##Taylor, Donovan       68  LT          10   41                41                2 yrs
Meinke, Harry           61  LT          1    16                34                3 yrs
Lyle, Wendell           67  RT    LT    7    58                58                4 yrs
Eddleman, Les           64  RT    RT    3    22                26                1 yr.
Campbell, Broderick     10  P           11   72                72                2 yrs
Ciurciu, Lorenzo        6   K           12   69                69                3 yrs
Kelleher, Leon          94  LDE   RDE   10   40                40                2 yrs
Karsten, Thurman        72  RDE   LDE   7    73                73                5 yrs
Wooley, Neal            99  RDE         3    32                33                1 yr.
McDonald, Artie         90  RDE         2    24                34                2 yrs
Carlson, Phillip        93  LDT   LDT   5    45                45                2 yrs
Pearson, George         91  LDT         9    37                37                3 yrs
##Klosterman, Shawn     79  RDT         8    54                54                3 yrs
Gallier, Earl           78  RDT   RDT   3    48                48                1 yr.
Hiel, Bryan             53  MLB   MLB   5    55                55                3 yrs
Bove, Bryant            92  MLB         1    26                50                3 yrs
Cobb, Justin            54  SLB   SLB   9    52                52                2 yrs
##Burns, William        51  WLB         8    53                53                2 yrs
Troglia, Andrew         57  WLB   WLB   3    35                35                2 yrs
Jamison, Colin          95  WLB         1    29                54                4 yrs
Booker, Percy           47  LCB   LCB   7    64                64                2 yrs
Price, Bubba            24  LCB         5    45                45                2 yrs
Lane, Reggie            44  LCB         2    22                28                1 yr.
Boone, Bucky            46  RCB   RCB   8    54                54                3 yrs
##Austin, Perry         35  RCB         6    44                44                3 yrs
##Farrell, Desmond      43  SS          5    57                57                1 yr.
Fairchild, Jay          29  FS    SS    4    68                68                2 yrs
Burdette, Casey         36  FS    FS    2    54                57                4 yrs
##Hutton, Dwayne        48  FS          6    44                44                3 yrs

ROSTER: 78 (4th overall)
COHESION: 66-82-86-70

I'm going with a mini-Run-N-Stun this year, something more akin to the "Play Action Vertical" plan that I published than the true RnS.

[Ben E Lou]

In the midst of what was shaping up to be a pretty solid season, Jose Gower ruptures his adductor in Week 13 and will miss the rest of the season.

[Ben E Lou]

2042 summary....

Honestly, I think our deep postseason run was more luck than anything else. We won the turnover battle in all three of the wins. It looks like we have a solid team again, but probably not a championship one. Looking at the cap situation next year, I'm not sure I'll be able to improve the team significantly again any time soon.

[Ben E Lou]

2043 OFFSEASON BEGIN

RETIREMENTS

T Donovan Taylor--FA signee in 2039 and four-year starter. Will need a replacement-

FRANCHISE: QB Jose Gower--not sure I'll keep him, but I at least want that option.

SUMMER: OLB Colin Jamison

[Ben E Lou]

Heh. I just noticed that RB Carlos Stanton is the career punt return leader, by over 400 yards, and he has only played five seasons. At 2,421 yards, he's the only player in league history with over 2,000 punt return yards.

[Ben E Lou]

2043 FA1

As I suspected, money is going to be very tight this offseason. After my initial round of "no-brainer" extensions, I'm only left with 1.1% of the cap available. That's with three 2042 starters not extended--68/68 S Jay Fairchild, 55/55 OLB William Burns, and 56/56 WR Rico Weliczka--and no starting-quality LT on the roster. I'm going to have to make an actual difficult cap decision or two. I don't want two of those guys hitting the open market next season, but it may be unavoidable.


IMMEDIATE CUTS
DE Leon Kelleher (41/41)--Starter from last season who didn't perform well at all, and is in year 11. I can find someone a lot cheaper to give me 5.5 sacks and 6 hurries, I reckon.
DT George Pearson (37/37)--Former starter and current mentor, but now we have four DTs, all veterans. His mentorship isn't needed, and his salary is just too high.

PERCENTAGE OF CAP AVAILABLE AFTER CUTS/EXTENSIONS: 3.0%
STARTERS NEEDED: LDE, LT.

Well, this is what I wanted. I'll have to go with marginal players or rookies to fill two key starting slots this season.

NEW SIGNINGS
T Cornell Vance, 6, 48/48--Affinity match with balanced skill set. 2-year deal.
DE Harris Anderson, 8, 39/39--Cheap affinity match. One-year deal.
.
These two signings get me down to less than 2 minisal rookies worth of cap room. Hope no one holds out. {crosses fingers}

[Ben E Lou]

2043 DRAFT/TRAINING CAMP

We have the #31 pick this year, and it is used on....

Rnd 1 - Ed Liszt, WR, Maine: 32/56-->35/54
Rnd 2 - Ralph Shea, RB, Eastern Kentucky: 32/40-->33/40
Rnd 3 - Rob Cotton, DT, Syracuse: 18/63-->21/55
Rnd 4 - Renaldo Pantin, DE, Wisconsin: 27/52-->30/52
Rnd 5 - Floyd Hemond, C, Liberty (Va.): 17/45-->23/45
Rnd 6 - Harvey Packwood, T, Oklahoma State: 18/39-->27/46 Nice!
Rnd 7 - Bert Kegley, QB, Arkansas: 13/34-->16/33

So my 4th, 5th and 6th round picks this year may end up being my best. Heh.

Holdout!

From: Bubba Price
I have decided to hold out until I receive a new contract.
I believe I made a huge difference on defense last season. I believe I'm very seriously underpaid, and will not report to camp without a new contract.

Methinks that Bubba thinketh too highly of himself. He had 95 tackles last year, but that's probably because he gave up a league-high 68 catches as (primarily) our nickel back. I *almost* cut him. I can't afford to give him what he wants, and I'm certainly not inclined to do so.

OTHER CAMP NEWS OF NOTE

• RB Bruce Reynolds drops to 35/35 in year 8, and may lose his starting job.
• WR Floyd Powell gets hit with the big volatility stick, plummeting 24 points to 29/29. He's not a mentor, and I don't have one. I cut him and sign a mentor. I'm running Atlanta. I really should know better than to have signed a supposedly-good receiver from Buffalo.
• 3rd-year S Casey Burdette showed a big +6/+6 and is now up to 69/69.
• Price ends his holdout after camp. I'm not certain that's a good thing.
  

[Darren29]

Originally Posted by SkyDog

It's an absolutely conscious decision. And yes, they do mean a lot. They indicate the direction that your scout thinks the guy is headed, and the last time I checked, the better scouts are correct 85-90% of the time, and even the mediocre ones seem to get it right 70-75% of the time.

After some time to do a bit of my own research I'd like to retract my original comment :o

I think the problem I had encountered was that underrated players often showed up on the roster with lower ratings than I was expecting, so I assumed they were busts. I've now found that, even though they tend to still have lower ratings post-draft than I'd like, more often than not they creep up so underrated players is clearly the way to go.

[Ben E Lou]

2043 ROSTER

  Player                #   Pos   Start Exp  Current Estimate  Future Estimate Cntrct 
Gower, Jose             17  QB    QB    6    50                50                5 yrs
Finch, Horace           5   QB          8    40                40                1 yr.
Franklin, Leon          1   QB          4    28                33                1 yr.
Catalano, Mike          40  RB    RB    3    38                46                1 yr.
Reynolds, Bruce         34  RB          8    35                35                2 yrs
Stanton, Carlos         28  RB          6    34                34                1 yr.
Shea, Ralph             22  RB          1    34                40                4 yrs
Woods, Patrick          20  FB    FB    4    79                79                4 yrs
Covington, Blake        82  TE    TE    6    53                53                2 yrs
Connell, Donovan        80  TE          8    46                46                3 yrs
Giefeke, Josh           87  TE          2    28                49                2 yrs
Krueger, Pat            88  FL    FL    6    54                54                3 yrs
Urban, Deron            84  FL          3    41                41                1 yr.
Micalles, Arnie         89  FL          7    38                38                1 yr.
##Ross, Leonard         81  FL          3    25                31                1 yr.
##Williamson, Ryan      86  FL          2    24                35                3 yrs
Weliczka, Rico          85  SE    SE    6    56                56                5 yrs
Liszt, Ed               83  SE          1    39                54                4 yrs
Upshaw, Marc            58  C     C     11   48                48                2 yrs
Hemond, Floyd           59  C           1    28                45                3 yrs
##Barrett, Scott        52  C           2    22                28                2 yrs
Gonzalez, Paul          74  LG    LG    7    82                82                2 yrs
Doyle, Jamal            75  LG          5    44                44                2 yrs
##Hickman, Darren       55  LG          3    27                31                1 yr.
Coker, Albert           50  RG    RG    8    51                51                3 yrs
Vance, Cornell          65  LT    LT    6    49                49                2 yrs
Packwood, Harvey        70  LT    RT    1    30                46                3 yrs
Meinke, Harry           61  LT          2    21                36                2 yrs
##Lyle, Wendell         67  RT          8    58                58                3 yrs
**Campbell, Broderick   10  P           12   72                72                3 yrs
Ciurciu, Lorenzo        6   K           13   64                64                2 yrs
Anderson, Harris        71  LDE   RDE   8    38                38                1 yr.
Pantin, Renaldo         76  LDE   LDE   1    33                52                3 yrs
##Karsten, Thurman      72  RDE         8    73                73                4 yrs
Carlson, Phillip        93  LDT         6    45                45                1 yr.
Klosterman, Shawn       79  RDT   LDT   9    55                55                2 yrs
Gallier, Earl           78  RDT   RDT   4    46                46                3 yrs
Cotton, Rob             96  RDT         1    21                55                4 yrs
Hiel, Bryan             53  MLB   MLB   6    55                55                2 yrs
Bove, Bryant            92  MLB         2    28                47                2 yrs
Cobb, Justin            54  SLB   SLB   10   42                42                2 yrs
##Burns, William        51  WLB         9    54                54                2 yrs
Jamison, Colin          95  WLB   WLB   2    45                59                3 yrs
Troglia, Andrew         57  WLB         4    35                35                1 yr.
Booker, Percy           47  LCB         8    60                60                3 yrs
Price, Bubba            24  LCB   RCB   6    45                45                1 yr.
Lane, Reggie            44  LCB         3    31                31                1 yr.
Boone, Bucky            46  RCB   LCB   9    48                48                2 yrs
Austin, Perry           35  RCB         7    42                42                2 yrs
Farrell, Desmond        43  SS          6    57                57                4 yrs
Burdette, Casey         36  FS    FS    3    69                69                3 yrs
Fairchild, Jay          29  FS    SS    5    68                68                1 yr.
Hutton, Dwayne          48  FS          7    42                42                2 yrs

ROSTER RATING: 82 (4th overall)
COHESION: 62-80-67-83

I'm not really sure what to make of this team. The offense doesn't look terribly impressive, but the defense (once everyone is healthy from the minor preseason injuries) looks quite solid. Offensively, I'll start out with basically the same game plan as last season, run-first, downfield passing offense.