Rebuilding the Raiders

[BrnwsBucksFanNC]

I have been plaing this game for about 3 years now and this is the first time I have attempted to do anything with the Raiders. I have done a few "dynasty" forums but this is going to be a little different. I am going to concentrate more on how I am doing this, the off-field side, more than the actual games.

I did establish some rules for myself. I will not trade up to get the top draft picks. I will not do any Individual Workouts. I will not purchase any Special Skills above the first level, except the ones dealing with play learning (but I cant help what the new coaches bring with them). I will play all games after the first season.

I started in the offseason so I could have some control over the draft and just finished my 6th game in the 2nd season.

So here goes, suggestions, comments, or questions are welcomed!

[BrnwsBucksFanNC]

As we all know the Raiders are in a major mess at the start of the game. I selected "Holgrems West Coast" Offense and Lebau's Zone Blitz defense. I changed the defense to a 4-3 front though because I think teams can run up the middle on the 3-4.

The Philosophies are:
QB: Field General
HB, FB, TE: Balanced
WR: Tall/Red Zone
Guard: Balanced
C/T: Size/Strength
DT, OLB: Balanced
DE, MLB, CB: Prototype
FS: Centerfield
SS: Smart/Productive

I also gave up no control to any of the coaches.

Free Agents: At this point the GM and Owner have quite a few Goals that deal with signing players. I decided to ignore them and follow my own plan on this one. I dont remember all of the changes I made but I will give you the big ones. With the start of FA these are the holes I had: 1 QB; 2 WRs; LT; LG; C; 2 DEs; DT; MLB; ROLB: CB; and SS. I also wanted to upgrade at HB; RG; LOLB; and SS.

I signed 3 big name players: HB Michael Turner; RG Scott; and RG Noll (I moved Noll to LG). So the only big hole I had on my O-Line was C and I traded with the Jets to get Nick Mangold.

Draft: I was really debating on what to do with my 1st Round pick (4). I really needed to upgrade my LBs, but could have used more picks since I only had 5. But the draw of OLB Rivers was too much (I have never had him) so I chose him with the 4th pick and I havent regretted it since!

I also selected QB Andre Woodson, SS Steltz, DE Tony Bake and an O-linemen who didnt stay with the team.

I cut as much as I could, but I still had QB Russell, WR Curry, RB Bush and DT Sands on the team.

[BrnwsBucksFanNC]

2008 Season:

I played the Pre-Season games, going 2-2. One bit of luck did actually occur though, RB Bush got injured, nothing major, but I was able to put him on IR for the rest of the year. DT Sands got injured right before the 1st Regular season game so I was able to IR him as well.

I decided to let the game go and see what draft I got and my luck held out as I got the English path. I knew this was going to make things ALOT easier.

At the start of Pre-season my approval had dropped to a 41 so getting lucky on some Defining Moments brought it to a 71. I played the 1st 3 games and beat the Broncos 16-13 in OT, Chiefs 49-33, and Bills 27-10. That jumped my approval to over 90 so I went with my original plan to sim the games and work on signing players and roster control to get to the off-season.

I ended the season 9-7, won DROY with Rivers, signed everyone I wanted to and proceeded to re-do the coaching staff.

[BrnwsBucksFanNC]

Coaching Changes: This was the big change for me and I think this will help the long term growth of the team:

OC: Knapp (8) replaced by Chudzinski (59)
DC: Ryan (86) kept (90)
STC: Schneider (8) replaced by Daisher (24)
QB: Deflippo (3) replaced by Hackett (30)
RBC: Rathman (61) kept (66)
WRC: Lofton (71) replaced by Hostler (28) more growth potential
OLC: Cobble (35) kept (40)
LBC: Martindale (35) replaced by Katcavage (40)
DLC: Millard (35) replaced by Spangler (23) more potential
DBC: Black (63) kept (68)
GM: David (28) replaced by Baumhower (12) more potential
Trainer: Turner 56 kept

I also cut quite a few big name players but am still stuck with QB Russell. But for the most part the cap is under control now. I didnt sign any big name FAs but did pretty well with the draft. I traded my 1st Round pick away and chose the following players:

2-23: MLB Alonzo Simms, Michigan State
3-23: WR Jameron Bellows, Grand Valley State
4-23: DT Patrick Lopez, Tennessee
6-18: QB Jake Scott, Texas State
7-8: RB leron James, Northern Arizona
7-18: CB Mike Pryor, Eastern Carolina (cut)

I also traded 2 players who were in the last year of their contracts and had health issues, LE Burgess, and FB Griffith.

I played the pre-season games and went 3-1. The team is doing a great job with the zone-blitz defensive scheme. The offense still needs some work, but I am pleased.

[BrnwsBucksFanNC]

If you would like, I can post the complete roster for the team, just let me know.

After 6 weeks I am 5-1 and my approval is at a 98.

Week 1: Lost a heart-breaker to Philly 17-23, Scott threw 2 INTs in the Red Zone.

Week 2: After the roster fiasco, got this game completed, won 26-21 against the Broncos, but gave up 3 TDs in the last 2 minutes.

Week 3: Beat the Texans 37-20. The defense is making things easy for the offense.

Week 4: Beat the Browns 23-14, that was tough, this is my team, "Butter Finger" Braylon had a good game against my Raiders

Week 5: Embarassed conference foe KC 55-13, their only TD was against my 2nd string.

Week 6: Beat the Ravens 35-14. This was a tough game. My DBs got 4 INTs against Harrington or I might have lost this. They were all over my run game.

Week 7: At Dallas. I think this one will be tough.

Week 8: Redskins

Week 9: Bengals

Week 10: Bye

Week 11: Broncos

Week 12: Giants

Week 13: Chargers

Week 14: At Pittsburgh

Week 15: At San Diego

Week 16: At Jets

Week 17: At Kansas City

One interesting thing on the News ticker, the Giants are not going to resign Eli Manning

Al Davis wants me to re-sign C Mangold, OLB Thomas, and K Janikowski.

[thedudescrew]

Looks interesting man. Good job at getting the Raiders out of cap trouble. Thats huge...now the only one to fix is Russell.

[BrnwsBucksFanNC]

Quote: Originally Posted by thedudescrew

Looks interesting man. Good job at getting the Raiders out of cap trouble. Thats huge...now the only one to fix is Russell.

Thanks. My goal is to let him ride the bench until I can take the hit for cutting him. I will post the roster later and try to get some playing time in. Dont think my thread will be as good as Winnapeg's but I will do the best I can.

[BrnwsBucksFanNC]

I pulled out my notebook to start on this again and I realized that I had made it farther than I had posted on here so I will get the games updated then give you the roster and the contract updates.

Week 7: Raiders 42, Cowboys 20
Week 8: Radiers 41, Redskins 7
Week 9: Raiders 38, Bengals 13

When I resumed my career I wa getting ready for the Week 11 game against the Broncos.

Here is the contact updates:
P Brooks resigned 2 yr/1.12 mil contract, no bonus, no incentives
ROLB Howard resigned 6 yr/44.22 mil contract, 10 mil bonus, no incentives
HB Ganther resigned 2 yr/640k, no bonus or incentives
FB Pryor resigned 2yr/640k, no bonus or incentives
WR Freeman resigned 2 yr/1.24 mil contract, no bonus or incentives
LT Tucker resigned 3 yr/1.79 mil contract, no bonus or incentives
C Mangold resigned 6 yr/30.92 mil contract, 5 mil bonus, no incentives
C McCamey resigned 2 yr/780k with no bonus or incentives
RG Sullivan resigned 3 yr/1.13 mil with no bonus or incentives
DT Askew resigned 2 yr/620k with no bonus or incentives

The only other major player left to resign is Janikowski. Every body else is either just a back-up or asking too much money.