Siege the Day - Tampa Bay Franchise - Madden 20

[LocoBielsa]

Hello everyone, welcome to my Tampa Bay Bucs Franchise Dynasty. I wrote a couple of time on the "How is your franchise going" thread, but I decided to do a recap of season 1 here and then continue forward on this thread.

Some preliminary stuff. I play on all-madden, 8 minutes quarters. I use a created coach (he is a former player of another franchise) B.J. Reede.

Our first season was a huge success, we finished 10 and 6 and lost in the wildcard round to the Seattle Seahawks.

We started the season strong 2 and 0 defeating the Niners and Panthers. Then we lost to the giants (Eli absolutely lit me up for 41 points), we bounced back with a surprise win against the McVay led rams (by a last second field goald), followed by back to back lossess against the Saints.

Then comes the Bye Week. I change the offensive playbook to the Raiders and decide to start running the ball more. I get a W against the Titans, I loose against the Seahawks (which will prove impossible to defeat for me later in the post season), then I string together a 3 game winning streak on the back of insane Payton Barber perfomances.

At this point I think im surely making the playoffs, I am one game back from the Saints who top the division. I drop two straight against the jaguars (that defense gave me nightmares) and then the Colts (Andrew Luck is a monster of comeback drives).

We rally the troops and finish the season strong with 3 straight wins, thanks to Mike Evans coming back from injury. We get to the Wildcard round.

In the wildcard round against the playoffs I had a lot of trouble. Could never get my defense going and could not stop the Seattle´s depth threaths. I lost because they were the better team we were not ready to really make a deep playoff round.

SEASON 1. STATS AND PLAYER SUMMARIES. Here I will post the statlines of some of the more standup players and talk a bit about how their season went along.

QB. Jameis Winston. Jameis started the season very hit and miss, but after the bye week, after adapting to the new playbook, he started to showcase why he was so high on everyone´s board after coming out of Florida. He finished the season throwing for 4.266 yards, running for 78, scoring 4 tds on the ground, throwing for 30 tds, and 20 ints.

Overall, I was very happy with Jameis´s season, I felt he deserved an extension. Which was 118 million for 5 years (with about only 40 guaranteed).

WR 1. Mike Evans He is the franchise. He is an absolute gamechanger, not only his base stats are great, the superstar abilities given by EA are super useful. I had him run almost every route (but mostly 9s and comebacks), and some slants on short yardage situations. He went off for 1.348 yards and 11 tds.

Chris Godwin. I feel like he is the perfect understudy for Mike Evans. He is super young and has a similar style of play, he is a bit faster but his hands are less secure. He feasted all season because he was being matched up with the weaker defensive back (with Mike Evans taking most of the attention) he got 849 yards and 5 tds. When Mike Evans was injured (for about 3 games) he showcased that he has what it takes to be a number one wideout, and eventually I feel he will become THE guy for us.

Breshad Perriman. What I want for a WR3 is consistency, I wont be looking for you on everyplay, but when you get open dont drop passes, get a bit of RAC yards, that sort of thing, and Breshad showed he is a super competente third string receiver. He got 501 yards, scored 4 tds and earned himself a 2 year extension close to 6 million dollars.

TE1. O.J Howard. He is Mr. Reliable, the ammount of times I went to him on 3rd down and he came up big is incredible, I felt he played like "Ertz Lite", but it should also be taken into account how dominant he is with blocking he was fundamental for our playoff push. Got 832 yards and 7 tds.

TE2. Cam Brate. His numbers are underwhelming 176 yards and 1 TD, but I feel he was instrumental with run blocking while also running some nice routes on 3rd downs. He wont get cut (I could cut him and save 5 mill).

RB1. Peyton Barber. Peyton was, just like last year, our workhorse back. He showed that he can do it between the tackles but also hit the edge on some strecht plays, very nice season 847 rushing yards and 7 rushing tds. Got a new 2 year deal.

RB2. Andre Ellington. I was happy with Andre´s contribution. He was very consistent, especially on the passing game getting some nice dump-offs. 216 rushing yards, 170 receiving, 2 tds total. I decided not to re-sign him because of regression.

RB3. Ronald Jones II. I liked what I saw from Ronald Jones, he will become RB2 next season, went for 307 yards and 3 tds.

Safety. I will talk about both my safeties in the same paragraph. They were underwhelming. Will be looking for safeties in the draft, no interceptions, no forced fumbles, no sacks. Very disappointing.

Cornerbacks. Our cornerback play was ok, nothing too special. They never made plays but were quick to make tackles and not give up big yardage. I really liked Murphy-Bunting´s development (went from a 72 to a 77), Hargreaves III was ok, need to add some cornerbacks on free agency.

Pass Rushers. My two main rushers were Carl Nassib and Shaq Barret. Both of the were super average, getting 4 and 6 sacks respectively. Both of the have their deals up by the end of the season, neither is gonna get re-signed.

Defensive Line. This was our strongest area, Vita Vea is very good in the run game and can also put some pressure on the QB he got two sacks, meanwhile, Ndamokong Suh got 14 sacks, just and absolute masterclass. Suh earned himself a 2 year extension.

Inside Linebackers. Very good play for both of them, White from LSU is developing nicely and David is a great field general.

[LocoBielsa]

YEAR ONE OFFSEASON.

AWARDS AND PRO BOWLERS The following players were selected for the Pro Bowl: Jameis Winston, Mike Evans, OJ Howard, Marpet (the LG) and Suh.

Mike Evans won NFC receiver of the year.

Contract Extensions. Only 4 players were offered extensions Jameis, Barber, Perriman and Dotson (the RT). Everyone agreed to new deals, except for Dotson who decided to retire.

Free Agents. I decided to change my defensive set-up from a 3-4 scheme to a 4-3 scheme.

We signed the following free-agents:

• DE - Yannick Ngakoue.
• RE. J. Simon.
• QB. Blake Bortles.
• WR. E. Sanders.
• CB. Aqib Talib.
• RT. La´el Collins.
• MLB. Shaun Lee.

THE DRAFT. We went into the draft with 6 picks (we lacked a 7th) and picking on the 23rd spot. Our biggest need was pass rush, Safety and Cornerback. I traded out of the 1st pick and got a 2, 3 and 4 from the Patriots.

The draft went as follows:

• Round 2 - Matthew Bentley - RE - Auburn - 21 y - 70 ovr - normal
• Round 2 - Derrick Schillinger - LE - Duke - 23 y - 71 ovr - normal
• Round 3 - Lamar Youngblood - FS - Toledo - 21 y - 69 ovr - normal
• Round 3 - Nelson Santucci - RG - Temple - 23 y - 68 ovr - normal
• Round 4 - Robert Dean - HB - Texas - 22 y - 63 ovr - normal
• Round 4 - Markus Larson - SS - Akron - 21 y - 68 ovr - HIDDEN
• Round 5 - Deontay Hagler - WR - Tulane - 22 y - 61 ovr - normal
• Round 6 - Trevor Lawson - K - Army - 24 y - 70 ovr - HIDDEN

Overall, I would say it was a very nice draft. We reached on the RunningBack from Texas and the WR from Tulane. I had to cut the WR cause he was never gonna play, but Robert Dean will be RB3 and I think he wills ee the field plenty on this first season.

I am very excited to continue this Journey leading the Bucs, I will probably do a Mid-Season update. And end of season update. And a new offseason. I feel that might be the best rhythm.

Im very eager to hear what you guys think about this dynasty.

[LocoBielsa]

SEASON 2 RECAP

I just finished my 2nd season in charge of the Bucs, we repeated last year´s perfomance, again going 10-6 and making the Wildcard.

This year the division was super super contested, the Saints, Panthers and Falcons all ended up with winning records.

Overall we played some good football and showed great improvement. I lost the Wildcard against the Vikings, their defense is incredible (they had 5 super stars all on defense), we turned the ball over 3 times, they were clinical and took advantage of the extra possesions. We lost by 7, having the ball to win it late in game.

Lets review some of the individual performances.

Jameis Winston. QB. Jameis led the league in passing yards, throwing for 4.449 yards, 26 td, 16 ints and 1 rushing td. He played very well, I am happy having him under contract for 5 more years.

His backup was Blake Bortles, who played just 3 snaps all year, two of those ended up in rushing tds (out of running option) the other was a fumble (out of getting shallacked by khalil mack, after I read the option wrongly).

Rookie RB. Robert Dean. The rookie out of Texas was such a surprise, he was RB3 in my mind (behind Barber and Richard) but Barber got injured early preseason, and Dean became RB2 and 3rd Down Back, despite having a very low ovr (63) he was super explosive (he did dominate in the combine) and ended the year with 465 rushing yards, 8 rushing tds, and 245 receiving yards. Unlucky for him he went down in week 16 and missed playoff football.

Peyton Barber and Jalen Richard. They both were RB1 depending on who was injured, both were super useful, nothing spectacular, but good enough to keep the chains moving. 334 yards for Jalen Richard with 2 tds, 201 yards and 4 tds for Barber.

WR corp. Another great season for Mike Evans, 1268 yards and 10 Tds he is so dominant. Unlucky for us, in the playoffs he got absolutely nullified by Xavier Rhodes and it showed, because we really struggled to move the ball.

Emmanuel Sanders was the best addition of the offseason, he arrived on a 5 mill 1 year deal (which is a steal, he was still sitting outside by week 3 of free agency). 889 yards and 3 tds for the ex-bronco, who is still defeating father time on madden.

Chris Godwin. Our future WR1 took a huge step back, getting outplayed by Sanders, still he put some ok numbers, 520 yards and 4 tds.

Watson and Perriman played here and there, 222 yards and 1 td for Watson, 220 and 1 td for Breshad.

TE. OJ Howard might be the most important player on the offense, he is a safety blanket and gets so many 1st downs. 829 yards and 3 tds.

Brate was ok, he is good at blocking. 1 Td and 89 yards.

Offensive Line. The blocking was not as good as last year. Left Tackle Donovan Smith will be cut next year (need to draft our next one soon), LG Marpet had a great season but regression will hit him soon, Center Ryan Jenssen is above average, rookie RG Nelson Santucci has shown some nice development, RT La´El Collins had a good first year with the team.

Defensive Line. We changed to a 4-3 scheme. DTs were Vita Vea and Ndamokung Suh. Both were quite good overall. 4.5 sacks and 7 tfl for Vea; 1 sack (I miss his 14 from last season) and 5 tfl for Suh.

Rookie Deffensive end Derrick Schillinger out of Duke was a great addition. 7 sacks (8 if you count the one on the playoff game) and 8 tfl. Will be a franchise DE for us.

Free Agent acquisition Yannick Ngakoue was a huge improvement over Shaq Barret. He finished with 9.5 sacks and 5 tfl.

Rookie out of Auburn Marcus Bentley was a dissapointment, 1.5 sacks and no tfls.

Secondary. We were one of the worst secondaries in the league last season (only 3 INTs in total).

Free Agent addition Aqib Talib was CB1 and showed why he is a legend. His football IQ is off the charts, finished with 2 ints, 1 sack, 3 dfl and 3 tfl.

Murphy-Bunting became a legit CB, getting to 80 ovr, great at zone coverage, 2 ints, 6 dfl, 3 tfl. He will be CB1 starting next year.

Hargreaves III is ok, 1 int and 7fl. He got a cheap extension and will remain on the team.

We picked up undrafter Free Agent Greg Childers (hidden development) and he was great in special teams, not that good when playing CB, he got one interception.

3rd year Safety Justin Evans was very solid 2 ints/3tfl/3dfl and 1 forced fumble. He is an 80 ovr now, and the starting FS for years to come.

Rookie 4th Rounder out of Akron, Marcus Larson, ended up being a Superstar with Acrobat Ability, and played a great first season 3 ints/3tfl and 4dfl he also scored one TD.

Linebackers. David, White and Lee were as solid as it gets.

David 1 int/2sacks/4dfl/6tfl. White 1.5 sacks/8 dfl/ 8 tfl. Sean Lee 1 int/ 1 sack / 1 dfl/ tfl.

Offseason plans. We need to make some decisions regarding extensions: Lavontae David is up (and is already 30 y.o), Aqib Talib and Sanders are Free Agents I would like to bring both back but we will see what their demans are.

I have all my picks for next draft. My most pressing needs are: LT, DT, MLB (if David does not re-sing) and RB.

Later tonight I will go through the offseason and give an update.

[LocoBielsa]

2ND OFFSEASON.

First of all, we only had 3 ProBowlers: Jameis Winston (2nd in a row), Mike Evans (2nd in a row), Ali Marpet (2nd in a row).

Our 4th round pick, Robert Dean out of Texas, won the offensive rookie of the year for the NFC.

Contract extensions:

• Sean Lee - 1 year, 3.5 million.
• Greg Childers - 3 years, 5 million. (This is an UDFA with star development)
• Kenena Simmons - 4 years, 3.5 million. (A normal dev UDFA, good backup mlb))
• Zach Parnell - 2 years, 2 million. (UDFA RT, good depth).

Released Players:

• Donavan Smith - LT. He was useful, but the cap savings were close to 16 million, so I had to cut him.
• Cam Brate - Good backup TE, but 7 million in savings.
• Ndamokong Suh - Retired, he will be missed.
• Could not resign Lavontae David.

Free Agents:

• Trent Williams - LT - 95 ovr - 2 years, 35 million.
• Brooks - RG - 89 ovr - 1 year, 13 million.
• Rhet Ellison - TE - 75 ovr - 1 year, 2 million.
• Andrew Billings - DT - 72 ovr - 1 year, 2 million.
• Leonard Fournette - RB - 79 ovr - 3 years, 9 million.
• Patrick Robinson - CB - 74 ovr - 1 year, 3 million.
• John Ross III - WR - 77 ovr - 2 year, 7 million.
• Demario Davis - MLB - 74 ovr - 1 year, 6 million.

Draft -

• Round 1 - Ralph Tyson - DT - Washington State - 72 - normal
• Round 2 - Zach Price - WR - Missisipi Valley State - 67 - normal
• Round 3 - Orlando Smiley - LT - Auburn - 68 - normal
• Round 4 - Justin Talbott - DT - Indiana - 68 - normal
• Round 5 - Trent Verdon - MLB - Boise State - 61 - normal
• Round 6 - Matthew Moye - MLB - LSU - 64 - normal
• Round 7 - Traded out.

It was a good offseason overall, I loved our free agency acquisitions: Fournette for that price is a steal, also really strong oline.

The draft was kinda bad. I dont see many players getting much playing time: Orlando Smiley looks like a good kid to develop, and Zach Price might see some snaps, the others might be cut sooner rather than later.