|| We Still Luv Ya Blue! || A Houston Oilers Expansion ||

[TMJOHNS18]

The 2017 NFL Draft is officially in the books! The NFL's newest franchise, the Houston Oilers, surprised very few when they took Texas A&M's Myles Garrett with the first overall pick. Some experts speculated they might reach for a QB, but no clearcut top prospect they made the smart choice and choose the local superstar. Not only is Myles Garrett the first ever draft pick for the Oilers, but he's also the first Texas A&M player drafted #1 overall.

The Bears did make the move for a QB when they moved up a whopping one spot to take North Carolina's Mitchell Trubisky with the third overall pick. Here's how the top-5 played out:

Top 5 Picks
Pick	Team	Player	Pos
1	Houston Oilers	Myles Garrett	EDGE
2	Cleveland Browns	Solomon Thomas	EDGE
3	Chicago Bears (From 49ers)	Mitchell Trubisky	QB
4	San Fransisco 49ers (From Bears)	Jonathan Allen	DE
5	Jacksonville Jaguars	Leonard Fournette	HB

With the NFL draft in the books all eyes will be on how these new rookies perform at the next level. Rookies and veterans will be reporting to training camps soon. Preseason will soon be upon us. The NFL is almost back!


Oilers Ready To Take The Field

The NFL's newest team has finished it's first draft and has almost completed building its roster. Due to being an expansion team the Oilers received six additional picks to aide in filling holes or adding depth to a shallow roster. Here are all 13 selections made from this past weekend:

2017 Oilers Draft
Pick	Player	College	Pos	Ht	Wt
1.1	Myles Garrett	Texas A&M	EDGE	6'4	272
2.1	Forest Lamp	Western Kentucky	OG	6'4	309
2.18	Obi Melifonwu	Connecticut	S	6'4	224
3.1	Larry Ogunjobi	Charlotte	DT	6'2	305
3.18	Cameron Sutton	Tennessee	CB	5'11	188
4.1	Tedric Thompson	Colorado	S	6'0	204
4.18	David Sharpe	Florida	OT	6'6	343
5.1	Jeremy McNichols	Boise State	HB	5'9	214
5.18	Sam Rogers	Virginia Tech	FB	5'10	235
6.1	Trevor Knight	Texas A&M	QB	6'1	215
6.18	Josh Carraway	TCU	EDGE	6'3	242
7.1	Dare Ogunbowale	Wisconsin	HB	5'11	205
7.18	Brooks Ellis	Arkansas	LB	6'2	240

They say defense wins championships and it seems the Oilers agree. 7 of their 13 picks were spent on the defensive side of the ball, with five of those coming in the first six selections. It's clear the Oilers are trying to become ready to face the offenses of the NFC East.

[Slyone14]

Thanks for the earlier post. So how did you actually get the browns to trade Garrett? I've tried offering them the moon and nothing. Mind telling your secret? Nice work though!

[TMJOHNS18]

I've done all roster moves from the main menu. From expansion to FA to draft, I wrote down the players and made the changes on a custom roster. The only original Redskins remaining are the ones on IR, which will either be traded away (IR'd rookies to new teams, and IR'd Lamp to my team after season) or cut. This way all contracts are fully intact once I import roster in a new CFM.

Putting the roster together outside the CFM also allows FA pool players to be signed for longer than one year. This way you not only have more players under contract after year one, but also don't have a lot of free cap space, since you either have to keep them or take a cap penalty for releasing.

[Slyone14]

Quote: Originally Posted by TMJOHNS18

I've done all roster moves from the main menu. From expansion to FA to draft, I wrote down the players and made the change on a custom roster. The only original Redskins remaining are the ones on IR (some will be traded to another team, some cut). This way all contracts are fully intact once I import roster in a new CFM.

Ahh ok, makes sense. I thought you meant main menu in cfm. Now I got ya. You did this from the roster menu of Madden. I did it controlling all 32 teams in cfm, via trades and releasing players. Your way seems far less work.

Thanks again for answering my questions. Not trying to be a pain but I want to understand

[TMJOHNS18]

No problem!

The Oilers are close to hitting the field, training camp has come! Up next will be a look at the team and the coaches in charge of guiding this young franchise.

[TMJOHNS18]

Roster Build Complete

It's almost time for the NFL's 32nd franchise to take the field. The Expansion Draft is over. Free Agency is finished. Rookies have been drafted. The final piece of the puzzle, the camp invites, have been added. 11 players have been invited to attend the inaugural Oilers' training cap, which include HB Dexter McCluster, WR/R Devin Hester Sr, WR Andrew Hawkins, TE Gary Barnidge, OG Orlando Franklin, OT Michael Oher, DE Quinton Coples, LB Bandon Spikes, LB Kevin Reddick, LS Nick Sundberg, and LS Derek Hart (UDFA).

Early power rankings have the Oilers ranked at #32, fitting considering they are the 32nd franchise. The defense should be solid considering the focus spent on it during the roster building stages. The offense, full of aging vets or journeyman players, looks to be the weakest unit of the team.

Oilers Yet To Unveil Uniforms

Surprisingly the Oilers have been pretty hush hush about their uniforms. Recently they had a private showing and the response has been positive from those who attended the event.



Signs point to the franchise paying homage to the Oilers of the 80's and 90's but it's unclear exactly how fine a line between nostalgic and modern the uniforms will be. Some pictures from the even were leaked, but the quality is poor and may not represent the final uniform look.



It seems we'll just have to wait until the Oilers take the field against the Ravens in the preseason. Stay tuned for updates.

[TMJOHNS18]

BBVA Compass Stadium Information
Opened - May 2012
Capacity - 22,000
Pro Teams - Dynamo (MLS)

When the Houston Oilers take the field in 2017 they will be playing in front of the smallest crowd in the NFL. BBVA, home to the Houston Dynamos, seats just over 22,000. In comparison, NRG Stadium (Texans) seats 72,000 and AT&T Stadium (Cowboys) seats 80,000. The only other NFL stadium with seating under 50,000 is the StubHub Center (26,000) which will be temporarily used by the Chargers.

BBVA Compass Stadium is not only home to a MLS team, but also home to the Texas Southern Tigers football team. The Oilers will be the first professional football team to play there and plan to play there until the team either moves to another shared venue, or builds its own stadium.

[TMJOHNS18]

Breaking News

Forrest Lamp out for season.

Forrest Lamp, the second-round rookie out of Western Kentucky, will miss the entire 2017 season due to an injury suffered in training camp. ESPN's Adam Schefter was first to break the news this morning,



This is an unfortunately setback for both Lamp and the Oilers. Lamp was regarded by many experts as the top interior offensive lineman in the draft, so his presence inside will surely be missed this season. The Oilers will need to find someone to fill his spot on the line, but it'll be hard to find a replacement equally as talented as Lamp.