Week 9 – We head to Pittsburgh and….lose 30-34. Arledge is still MOM with 38 of 50 for 414 and 4:1. He his Wright for 152 yards and 3 scores, Riley for 114 yards, and TE Franklin for 1 score – each of those players had 10 catches precisely. Lorey held to 44 yards. 2 FF by Shaw.


Week 10 – BYE BYE BYE! Just another player in your game of two…


Week 11 -We host and lost to the Bengals, 17-22. Arledge, still MOM, 29 of 43, 379 and 2:0 hitting Wright for 101 yards, and Gillespie and Schuster for scores. Lorey held to 27 yards. FF by Schmidtke, recovered by Tatum. 2 sacks by rookie DE Floyd.

That was an ugly game

Week 12 – We head to New Orléans. That felt like a trap game. We lose, 27-14. MV of was Rincon with 3 sacks. Parmely had 3 too. Lorey? 20 for 623. Arlege? 23 of 40, 288 and 2:2. Frankling and Lorey with TD snags.

Week 13 – We head to 7-5 New England to face the Pats. We get back to the winning ways with a 33-7 thumping of them and a huge Brown Out. MVP was Parmely with a FF he recovered, and 2.5 sacks. Picks by Shaw (returned for a score) Tatum and Schmidtke. Arledge was 22 ofo 33, 205, and 1:0, and hit TE Franklin for that score. Even Lorey was expected with 23 of 102 and 1.

We finish the third quarter 8-4 after a 3 game slump.

Oh no you didn't!:eek:

Week 14 – We heat to Carolina and win 24-9. Arledge, MOM, 19 of 26, 138, 2:0, and hit Wrigth and Lorey for scores. Picks by Tatum, Canada, and Schmidtke. Bening returned a 82 yard kickoff for a score.


We have a major injury post game. OT Trenton Henry tore his ankle ligament and is down for the season. I place him on IR. Unfortunately, I don’t have a good LT. I slide Coleton over to LT and Burmeister to RT.


Week 15 – We host the 9-4 Eagles and….We win 25-22/ MOM is Arledge with 29 of 46, 337, and 2:0. Riley had 107, Franklin and Wright with scores. SS Shaw got a pick. 4 KRB by Maruer as Lorey has 18 for 88 and 1 score.

Shaw is questionable with a sprained knee, but I will start him

Week 16 – We head to 2-12 Tampa. They hammer us mercilessly. But…we win in OT 19-16. The MAM and NFL Defensive Player of the Week was Parmely with 4 sacks. Lorey had 27 for 1-6, Arledge was 19 of 33, 194 and 1:1, hitting Wright for a score. LN Newhart with a pick. FF by Shaw that he recovered and another by DE Floyd that Canada snatched up.

We have a lot of injures too –

Rincon questionable, Nelson, questionable, Wright, probable, C Henson, questionable, LG Plotz, doubtful,

That was an ugly win. We needed it. We are one win in front of….Cincinnati. Yes, the 0-16 Bengals are now 10-5 heading into the last week.

Week 17 -

This is also going to be an ugly win…..

We win against Baltimore 31-21.

Arledge is MVP with 18 of 24, 257 and 3:0 – hitting Wright for 119 and 1 score, Riley and Gillespie 1 score too. Pick by LB Nelson.

Arledge was injured…

Injuries:

Rincon is doubtful,
Arledge questionable
DE Floyd doubtful


But…

We are 12-4 and….have the #1 seed so we have a bye next week. Which we need so badly.

LOL! I was wondering if anyone would get that reference

The 2026 NFL Playoffs!


Week 1 – Wild Card Weekend!

Cincinnati heads to Denver and drops them, 26-20.
Pittsburgh heads to Indy and drops them 17-14

Detroit loves in New Orelands 43-21
Minnesota loses at SF 37-13

So the away wild cards from the AFC North won on the road and the home division champs won in the NFC> Interesting!


Week 2 –

We host the Steelers
Cincinnati heads to the Jets

Saints at Packers
49ers at eagles

No team in the NFL is better than our 12-3 – the Pack, Eagles, all 12-4, and Jets and Bengals 11-5.

Injury Updates:

Arledge – probable, will start
Henson, Nelson – healed
Floyd – probable – will start
PLotz questionable, doesn’t start, staying in.

Rincon doubtful – I deactivate him and LB Newhart will move up

Can we have another all Ohio Conference Championship?

Go Bengals!!!

New Orelans takes out GB 23-16
San Francisco Phily 31-28

And Cincinnati wins on the road vs the Jeys 24-16

This is all good news! Both the teams left in the NFC are the 8-8 Saints and 10-6 49ers. Meanwhile, the 11-5 Jets are down, and all we have left is to take out the Bengals. This are setting up nicely. All we have to do is hold serve with the 9-7 Steelers and we get that All Ohio AFC Conference Championship again!


But……………….









We lose 13-21.

Lorey breaks oiut! 16 for 121 and 1 score. But……. Arledge is 22 of 48 for 167 and 0:2. Krauchick with a pick! Sack by him too! But that’s our only major offensive play – no other sacks or turnovers and…..


We go home all sad and stuff


The NFL Conference Championships

I’m rooting for the Bengals!

Bengals 31-24 Steelers

49ers 24, Saints 17

Hey making a Super Bowl appearance the year after going 0-16 is just bizarre but awesome.

Super Bowl:

49ers vs Bengals.


49ers win 35-16.

Season Awards!

NFL MVP – Brendan Aredge
Offensive Player of the year – Brendan Arledge
Defensive Player of the Year – Everett Parmely

All Pro 1st Team – QB Brendan Arledge, WR Dustin Wright, DE Dustin Parmely, DT Damien Alcott,
All Pro 2nd Team – FB Ralph Schuster, P Rob Emerson

Wow. Well, Parmely is really the replacement for Stanton/Horner’s legacy! And what happened with Arledge?

STATS!!!

Let me show you the entire league's stats passing:


I sorted by TD passes, so Areldge would be on top, but he has 2nd most yards, 2nd best QB rating, most TD passes by one, and more. So this was a great year for him.


Rush?


Lorey barely cracked 1000, and yet he was 8th in rushing yards - just 10 had 1000, we had another 2000 yard by a back as well

Catch Men


Wright was 11 yards behind the league leader in receiving yards. But he led the league by 4 TDs more than anyone else. I think that would make him the best WR in the league to most people's mind. So good job Wright! And another 1000+ season for Riley as well. He was 7th in yards but nowhere near the top in TDs.


Blocking?


Is this where Lorey failed? I think so. Very low KRB in raw number, and reduced % of KRO from previous yeas. My O Line failed Lorey.

Special Teams:

KR TD for Bening, and he led th league in average KR with 29.9, by far the best among qualifiers - teh next was WR Jenkins with 28.8, and Jenkins had two break out TDS to Benings 1 to weight the average.

K Sturigs, 33 of 40, 39 fo 40 PAT

P Emerson - 96 punts, 49,.8 avg, 41.1 net. 2nd in average, 4th in net


Defense!



Parmely led the league in sacks, QBKD and hurries. Alcott led all DTS in sacks and and was 2nd in the league behind Paremly for QBKD. Rincon actually led all LBs int eh league and yet was not an All Pro. So sad. At the halfway mark, Krauchick was actually leading all players with 7.5 sacks, but he slowed down in the 2nd half of the season. I thought he might have wound up DPotY.

Coverage?


Schmidtke had another rock solid season, and Miles Tatum was fine too. Schmidtke was 2nd in Cbs with 5 picks, and no other CB had 5. Only two CBVs had more than 4 - Schmidtke and Comstock over at New England. COmstock was the 5th or 6th CB on the board and I was looking for him back in the 1st, but all of the CBS went early, and I was early in the draft and didn;t want to grab him too early, if you'll recall.

Team Awards:


Offensive MVP _ Arledge. Duh

Defensive MVP – Parmely. Double Duh.

Special Teams MVP – P Emerson. Just his second All Pro ever, and for us. He has always been a strong, solid, punter who gives you top yardage and position time and time again. It’s a lot easier for Stanton, Horner, Parmely, Alcott, Rincon, Krauchick, McGee, Kirksey and Stevens to key off players when you are pinning them so deeply and forcing foes to go further on their drives. A sack is worse. A force fumble is worse. And you build on that over and over again. Emerson is a weapon.

Rookie of the Year – DE Grayson Floyd – 6.5 sacks is no joke, when the third wheel on the 3-4 defense. And he didn’t play as many plays either, if you’ll recall. About 250 fewer plays than Parmely, and 200 fewer than Alcott. And yet he was 5th in sacks, and 3rd in hurries. Great job!

Heart Award – RB Colin Snyder. When Lorey was down, Snyder quietly had 28 for 156m an average of 5.57 carries for Lorey’s 3.20 ypc

Pleasedontretireplasedontretirepelasedontretire

End of Season –

Team Performance – 83
Value 80
Profit 76
Roster 29

75

Well, we do have one retirement K Caleb Sturgis. Odd

Other sof note:

QB Andy Dalton, Cam Newman, Kirk Cousins, Bridgewater, Russell Wilson
WR Odell Beckham, Jarvis Landry, Marqise Lee, Jorda Matthews
Very few O Line – Jake Matthews

DE Joey Bosa,

CB Marcus Peters, S Reid.



So Sad - LB Robert Banda = All Pro once for us, 685 solos, 182 assits, 22.5 sacks, 16 picks, 1 INT RET TD> 52 pasdef, 10 FF< 6 rec

He didn’t start the last two years, and only played in two games two years ago, and none last year at all

Hall of Fame – Von Miller made it

I up my STR Coach

Staff Draft?

Nobody is picked

We made 90 mill last year Just us and the Steelers had 100% attendance.



I have 43 players under contract, 33 mill in cap space, 24 available.

These players are up and not signed for a new deal:

That’s right. I only have RFAs available. No one to franchise or anything!

I head to FA!!!

I advance a week immediately. I want to see if Stanton will take my offer.

Cause he’s Stanton.

Nope. What an asshole. Know how many sacks he got in just THREE games for the Saints? 3. That;s a good number. But he was injured and IRd, like he was year 1 with us after 5 games

RFA Action:

DE Yaros signs 2 yrs, 5.5 mill for us
TE Crews extends 1 year, CB Moss too oh and Hichkman as well
QB McIntyre by 2 years

48 players

Who’s contract is coming due?

Get ready…..

Hello Damien Alcott, time to sit down and make you a permanent fixture here in Cleveland. You are the best player on my team. 5 years, 92 mill, with cap hits this year of 17, then 14, 1,4 and 21 and 28.

Next?

LT Trenton Henry – I make an offer of…..is he worth keeping?

Who else is in the final year of their deal?

Arledge
Bening
Maurer
Nelson

Schmidgter
Schuster
Newsome
Emerson
Snyder
TE Franklin
DE Gibson
DT Tito Nelson
LB Tubbs
LB Newhart

That is a lot of people.

I need to extend the big players first.

Emerson, Newsome, Benign all extend

I wait until ap for Schmidtke

I extend FB Schuster for 2 eyars

Maurer wants a big leap I cash to reup. Not right now

I sign Nelson to a 4 year, 46 mill dela that cuts his cap hit by 4 mill this year

I extend Snyder by 2 years.

Gibson and Nelson would be in the 2.5 or 2 mill range each year for each of them

I extend Newhart for a year, 4.5 mill total, split in half

Tubbs wants 12 mill, 4 years

I kind of want to hold off for Arledge until post-camp to see I f he drop s a little more. Right now he wants 15 mill this year and next, and he’s 13.5.

Franklin wants 12 mill over three years.

Let’s review the draft first

I have these picks – 1.26, 2.30, 3.27, 4.17, 3.27, 5.28, 7.26 – So 7 total picks

What do I need:

Great starter – TE, CB, K,

Backup – QB RB, TE, OG, CBx2, S,

Wow there are a lot of quality LBs, Des, OT< and Rbs. I may wind up with another LB or DE that falls to me late. The 5th CB on the board, Dana Cortez, is affinity and very underrated. This is a horrible TE class. Interview 6 CBs, 3 Ss, 2 OGs and 1 k. There is precisely one good K in the draft – Stanley Ramsay.

The top three TE in fa are all affility nos

Alright Franky

He gets his sweet pretty deal

I wait until the draft to see if I need to resign OT Henry.

Week 3 – Stanton signs with the Cards

I skip the rest of FA

The 2027 NFL Amateur Draft!


The Bucs get us started by taking super mega QB stud Kyle Weaver from the Ivy League U Penn.

1.26 arrives. Who do I like?

OT Catalano looks solid. OLB Boyette? CB Dana Cortez is on the board, but the 3rd CB there still on the board.

Whoa! Hello stud OG, Wayne Croom. Potential affinity.

How is he still on the board?

Holy crap…….

I figured I would take Dana Cortez. I was actually trying to talk myself into trading back. I don’t need to go OT in the 1st round back to back rounds, and Catalano is unscouted, and has 2 reds, 2 blues, and yet looks pretty solid with low volatility, and low endurance but eery thing welse. Would you want an LT, not an RT, but an LT with 65 run block, 80 pass, 80 block strength and 35 endurance? That’s about the average in the far end of the bars. He’s better than Lucas Lcas lst year.

And yet, Croom?

Here!

Who do you take!






EDIT -

This may inform your decisions:




My current 4 OGs and OTs. Note Coleman's age, Maurer and Henry in the final year of their deal, and Lucas Lucas on there as well.


And here are my corners and Safeties.

While we are on "pause" for a moment, this is a good time to talk about my approach to FOF in general, and how you've seen it here.

My goal is to become a synergy of the best of the Steelers and Patriots of whatever universe that they are playing in. That's my goal.

The Patriots have a powerful system. Despite changing names at various positions, they have some genuine HOF players, like Brady, they build around and use. They have some high quality players they retain. But they are not afraid to bring in Free Agents, high profile ones, and more. Randy Moss. Fred Taylor. Corey Dillon. Rodney Harrison. And they will bring in players that will be better in the Patriots system than elsewhere, like Wes Welker. And they will parrot their talent. Brady and company will air the crap out of the ball and bombard everything when they have that talent. Or they will plug up and play a powerful smashmouth run game when that's where they are. Whatever works. The Patriots are about replacement, plug and play, and getting the right people into the right spaces. They will collect draft picks, trade up to target the right player, trade back to acquire more picks, and are masters of draft management. And they make it to the playoffs and they win.

Now imagine that the year after Brady retires there is a top QB talent in the draft, like a Manning, or a Manning, or a Luck or someone. Imagine if they did everything they could to grab that 1.1 pick and take that top talent and kept on going.

That's what I like to do.

But I like to be the Steelers about it. I like to retain my own people. I'd rather keep a perfectly respectable 50/50 OG I have on my roster than sign some dopey 54/54 guy. Now If it makes sense( Half the money, drop in age by 7 or 8 years, etc) then I will. But I don't want to.

I want to:

1). Have the strong system players come into my draft, like the Steelers
2). Retain all of my talent, inc UFAs, that I bring in. Those are "my" players.
3). Master the draft like the Patriots, and match my pick to need, in order to keep it going

That's where I want to be.

I call this combination of Steelers and Pats mentality my "Equilibrium point." I try to get my dynasty to the Equilibrium Point. and we have reached that a couple of years ago here

Here is my path to Equilibrium:

1). Always, with only a handful of exceptions, draft BAP. You will have a healthier, stronger, and more competitive roster, when you took the BAP. Let me give you an example from my last dynasty with the Jags in FOF7. I had two top ten WRs in the mid20s at the end of the 1st round when a draftee called Joshua Wild fell to me. He was the BAP, and a stud. Now I had positions of need outside of WR. But I took him, two yeas later he replaced one of my WRs permanently, and was so good he made it to the HOF and was a concensus best WR during his tenure with us. I will take a stud DE, DT, LB, CB, or S even if I have two starters, with little muss or fuss. (Take my era with Horner and Stanton just now. I would not take a stud DE because I have two All Pros Defensive Player of the Year talents already - but that is a rare case). I will BAP a stud TE, RB, FB, WR or more over my current starters. BAP talent. You can see that in this dynasty with my linebackers.

2). Don't ever cut someone you can trade. Trade a younger 4th year player you won't keep for a future pick. You are building through the draft. So stockpile draft picks.

3). Target top talent, and move up to take it. There are a handful of players that will push my dynasty forward. Twice you saw me target Lorey and Alcott, and move up. Now I have had a 2000 yard rushed and an All Pro 90/90 NT for a 3-4 defense. Both were worth it. When there is a player that will make your team sing the next octave, make a play.

4) Don't get caught up with big bars and fancy stars. There will be studs in every draft. There will be players that should improve your team in every draft. You will lose them. That's fine. It happens. Don't move up and lose something to grab someone that you never really needed. Only make trades for players that are true value to your team.

5). Unlike many FOF players, I prefer bars to combines. There are draftees with great combine scores and low bars. They often grow. But they don't always,

They don't always grow as well as you want or think. Players with high bars who aren't sustained by their combines often shrink, but not always, and not always as much as you fear. I'd rather draft a 30/60 CB and have them wind up a 48/48 CB than draft a 15/15 CB that grows, years later, into a 45/45 CB. I find the growth rarely matches the bars of others. Take a look at this dynasty. Only once did I have a real grower - S Baxter. Usually, they aren't even that - many players don't grow in camp at all, and some high combines have even busted post-camp.

6). Don't be afraid to make mistakes, but learn from them. I made many mistakes in this dynasty. Like my RB position. Or missing players I should have traded up for or BAPs when I wet need instead. Remember when I was thinking about stud MLB Howlerton vs that CB who met my need? That CB busted and was out of the NFl a few years later, and Howlerton is the best LB in football. Or that LB last year I could have traded a random 6th to move up and get in the 3rd, but I figured he'd come to me at 3.19. A first round talent in the third? Just shut up, make the trade, and move on. I learned my lesson. You will make mistakes. But will you learn from them?

7). Cut bait when you need to, but remember to keep things mission central. Don't sign a 65/65 C over a 55/55 OG with better statistics.

8). Do sweat the small stuff. I care a lot about special teams. In the GM Only or One Draft Dynasty Challenge we had here, I did very well. In the first, my first online league, I built the Jags into a Super Bowl team in year two, and built part of a juggernaut that stood around after I left, and another GM came in, improved on my model, and made a powerful juggernaut dynasty with an undefeated season and a bunch of super bowls. And I won the One N Done Draft Challenge where a bunch of players here all used the same draft and could only draft players that first year, and then played it out to see where they wound up. I'm not bad at this part of the game. And part of the reason is that I look at mechanics like affinity and special teams. Especially special teams. I think one of the reasons I won the 1ND is because I picked very good quality special teamers early in order to ensure quality. it matters

P Emerson is a weapon. It worth the money to upgrade my K. You see it here. These things get you wins. They get you to that Equilibrium Point

And once there, it's easier to sustain. Just replace when cash/age/better option comes along for parts already working. No spending cash in FA, you can usually skip it. The BAPs you grab will allow you to have better draft bait. Etc.

Croom has three goings for him. He is the Bap and the he’s been scouted and has an affinity.

So I’m taking Croom. The best fit was probably Catalano. I could use him in either spot. But Croom works

Now I sort of screwed up this draft. I thought CB would be hot like normal. But this great Cb went 1.25, just one in front of me. If I had seen no CB go, I would have jumped to 1.22 or 1.23 to secure it, and seen the team in front of me needed CB badly, but I missed it.

Ah well, mistakes have been made.

But with just one corner gone, with Dana Cortez fall past me? Is that a potential move? I could use depth at CB more than anywhere else, because moving up to take Cortez might be okay in a weak draft like this, where my main concern is getting K and a handful of talent later. Every draft is different, but this one is heavy in places where I’m strong, like DT and DE. There is still a ton of that talent (in 4-3 worlds) out there.

Let’s slow roll this:

1.27 – OT Catalano to the Eagles. So if I had taken him at 1.26, no surprises there
1.28 – OG Vernon Sheldon, GB – So OG Croom would likely have gone here, they went the next one on the board
1.29 OG Alex Clinton, Saints – We get the 2nd OG on the board, and just one of two OG studs.
1.30 – RB Barrett to Steelers
1.31 – CB Tyler McChane to Bengals – Uh oh.
1.32 – S Deon Lovallo, 49ers

Alright, he made it out if the 1st round.

2.1 DT Donovan
2.2 CB Craig – Cortex is now the top CB on the board

What would it take to move up to 2.3?

I have 2.30 this round. Their pic is worth the 550 on the draft trade chart, and mine is 284. So I need around 300 to sweeten the del. Doable, but not easy. I can give them my 3.27? I also send them a future 3rd in 2029, an get a 7th back that year.

I take Cortez. A very underrated affinity

I will see you in the 4th!

My mid round pick arrives. There are two players here I like a lot. K Ramsay is still there, and there’s this decent OT Diaz. Like a consolation prize.

4,17 LT Eduardo Diaz?

4.27 – K Stanley Ramsay

Alrighty then

5th – RB Edwin Willis? FL Darius Hardy? Hardy



7.26 – MLB Cedric Zuccato – Was not brought in to the combine, looks like a great, great player, very low on the list, we’ll see if his bars match his ability

Amateur Draft Report:

Rnd 1 - Wayne Croom, G, Arkansas
Rnd 2 - Dana Cortez, CB, Southern California
Rnd 4 - Eduardo Diaz, T, Glenville State
Rnd 4 - Stanley Ramsay, K, Clemson
Rnd 5 - Darius Hardy, WR, Canisius
Rnd 7 - Cedric Zuccato, ILB, Miami, Ohio

Initial Reviews –

Croom is 33/80 and the 2nd highest rookie in the draft by potential
Cortez – 48/70
Ramsay – 51/79
Hardy 28/49
Diaz 26/54
Zuccato……26/73

Now getting a quality K in the middle of the draft is nothing special. Diaz and Hardy are just bums. Zuccato fell and I snagged him. But I stand by my Croom/Cortez calls then, ad now…

But we’ll see. A Grade

I have 54 players under contract:

RB Edwin Willis was never taken. I make him an offer as a UFA. CB Frederick Dalton, LB Julio Witte, TE Jacob D’Arms, QB Marty Harder

They all sign

CAMP TIME!!!!!

I cut QB Harder and sign Butch Grant

I cut:

CB Quinn Hickman


I trade OT Mercury lane to the Patriots for the 2030 3rd rounder

I’m getting rid of conflicts. I have one left C Burmeister with OG Maurer. Strong conflict. I trade him to the Jags for their 4th in 2030. I trade Tito Nelson to the chiefs for their 3rd I in 2029.

Alright it’s time. I cut WR Bening. I have players that can divide his PR and KR roles. So sad, but I like all five of my WRs right now.

I cut BR Danek

I sigh, have to move a LB. I have 10. So I move Randall Yockey and cut him, and 47/54 LB

I sign LG Marlon Barlow, from Mill Creek WV, a UFA.

We go 3-1 in the preaseason

Final roster adjustments

I extend:

QB Arledge by 1 year

CB Schmidtke by 1 year

OG Maurer by 2 more years

No extension to OT Henry – he hasn’t earned it

Roster!!!

The major news is Lorey who busted hard from 77 to 63. Croom still looks good, and he has an exceptional affinity with Maurer. I’m starting them, and then using Lucas Lucas as my primary backup at all spots in case of injury, followed by Plotz. I believe next year, barring the acquisition of major talent, that someone will move over to OT. Meanwhile, Dana Cortez is already nasty, and Schmidtke is my leader and my Nickelback from here on out. Noting wrong with nickel. Meanwhile, Zuccato looks like no bust thus far, and I’m giving him starts on two run D formations to see what he can do and to give him some quality development playing time. Even Stanley didn’t bust so yay on the whole not busting thing for my 4 70+ potential players

Let’s drill down into that draft some more –

Here let me show you all rookies by future potential –



I got really, really lucky this draft

Other teams did too. Two other Ks boomed in camp, although I’m not upset at Ramsay. Croom is 2nd, and Cortez is great, and Zuccato is there as well. As you can see, we have 12 players with a potential of 70 or more. Three kickers, so 9 non-kickers. We have three. We also have a kicker too! Remember the OT we were looking at? Where did he wind up? 38/55. He had the combines. He had the respect. He had the bars. He had a low volatility. And yet? He busted. Meanwhile a combine-less wonder like Zuccato is the steal of the draft.

Week 1 – We open the season with a thumping of the Steelers, 28-3. We have a first for a this dynasty – Lorey has 21 of 103 and 1 score on the ground, and 6 grabs for 106 yards and thus 209 yards from scrimmage. TE Franklin with both TD Catches. 2 FF by Schmeditke, 1 by Rincon. Rincon recovers and rushes for a score.


A few minor injuries – C Hensen is questionable for 6 weeks witn a sprained knee ligament, and I send in Lucas Lucas to spell him. That seems like the sort of injury that could exacerbate.

Week 2 – Another crush 35-3 on the road vs the 49ers. Arldedge was MOM with 22 of 25, 245, and 3:0. Riley, Lorey and Gillespie with TDs. Lorey adds 81 on 20 on the ground. Pick by Miles Tatum, returned for a score. The defense forced Lorey to fumble, Riley recovered and scored. 2 sacks by Alcott. 4 KRB by Henry


Week 3 – We head to and win in Jacksonville 34-27. Lorey is 23 for 76 and 2 scores, Arledge 23 foor 20, 264, and 2:2, and Riley 109 and 1 score, and Gillespie the other. We have 4 picks on the day by Cortez, Shaw, Canada and Nelson. We also have 2 FF as well, one of which we recovered


Week 4 – BYE


Week 5 - We thump Denver 34-8. Arledge, MOM, with 21 of 34, 275, 2:0 – Franklin with 2 scores. Lorey another 17 for 78, and Snyder and Arledge rushes for scores. Another pick by Cortez. 2 FF by Parmely, recovered by Cortex and Shaw. 2 sacks by the Parme as well.


We are 4-0.

Week 6 – We thump the 1 win Raiders 27-7. Arledge, MOM is 25 of 32, 249 and 0:0. And Riley rushes for two scores Lorey for 102 yards ad a 1 score. Pick by Cortez and Rincon – 5 KRB by Coleman


Week 7 – The Charges fall 23-8.. Areldge, MOM 22, 31 for 336 and 0:1. Wright with 137 yards, and Lorey adds 23 for 66 on the ground and a score, and Snyder another. Picks by Horton and Rincon, FF by Krauchic and Parmely.

Post game, starting DE Grayson Floyd is out for 5 weeks and C Henson is back.

Week 8 – We win 27-24. Arledge, MOM, 21 of 31, 274, 2:0 – Scores by Franklin and Gillespie. Loreyis 21 of 92, 1 score. 2 picks by Cortez,

Week 9 – We win 24-22 over the Ravens. Lorey is 25 for 94, 1 score, Arledge 21 of 34, 342, 1:1. Score by Gillespie. 5 KRB by Coleman


We are 8-0.

Week 10 – We beat Pittsburgh 23-20. Arledge, MOM, 34 of 45, 429, and 1”1. Riley the score, Wright 122 yards. Pick by Tatum.

WR Boothboyd is out for a few weeks.

Week 11 – Cincy falls, 20-7. Mile Tatum is MOM with a pick and a score. Riley 11 yard, Lorey 25 for 119 and Snyder a rushing score Arledge was 21 for 35, 201 and 0:2.

Week 12 – We edge LA 38-27. Arledge, MOM with 27 of 43, 344 and 2:1 Je hit Riley for 100 yards, and Wright and Lorey for scores. Lorey adds 20 for 90 and 3 scores on the ground.

Can we get to 12-0?

TE Franklin out a couple of weeks. DE Floyd is back


Shit!

We wont eh game! 30-10 over the Jets. Arledge, MOM, 19 of 25, 227 and 2:0. Lorey is 33 for 128 and 1 score too. TD grabs by Wright adnd Gillespie. 6 KRB by Coleman and 4 by Henson

…..



But



Brendan Areledge…..at the age of 34….just went down with repetitive concussion syndrome and is out for an expected 124 weeks

Shit

At the 12 game mark, upon his injury, here were the league’s qb stats:




Is this the end?

I toss Arledge on IR. We will be having QB Malcolm McIntyre lead the 12-0 team to see we ca can finish strong.

Week 14 - We win 27-24, Cortez with another pick, 17 for 109 on eh ground for Lorey, McIntyre is 25 for 36, and 289 3:1. He hits Wright for 82 yards and 2 scores and Riley for 51 yards and the other


Well he started well!

Week 15 – We lose 16-20. McIntyre is 23 of 3, 323 and 1:2 and hit Lorey for the score, he was stopped, 24 of 30 yards. They shut him down hard.

CB Canada is doubtful for a week.

Week 16 – We win 34-7 ove the 4 win Cards. This was more a defensive win. Rincon is 2.5 sacks, and MOM. Cortez has a pick returned for as core. Lorey 30 for 111 and 1 score, and RB Snyder the other, McIntyre is 25 of 32, 91 and 1:1. Yes, 25 completions, 91 yards. Picks by Tatum and CB Dalton as well. 5 KRb by Coleman.

Week 17 – Our defense is not letting us lose. We just shut out the Bengals 37-0. Lorey is MOM with 23 for 148 and 1 score, McIntrye 21 of 33, 272 and 3:1 and Riley, Wright Ans Schuster with TD catchs. Cortex has 2 more picks, Nelson one, FF by Schmidtke that Shaw recovers, 4 KRb by Coleman.

We are the #1 seed heading into the playoffs. But we finished with wins over the 3-13 Seahawks, 5-11 Cards, 6-10 Bengals and a loss to the 9-77 Ravens.

The 2027 NFL Playoffs!


Wild Card Weekend –

Denver loses at Indi 20-27
Pittsburgh heads to Oakland and drops them 22-10

Green Bay smashes LA and heads home 27-24 winners while the Vikings can’t get things down in New York as the Giants beat them 27-20.


Week 2, Division Champ –

We hose the Steelers
New England hosts the Colts


The Lions hits the Packer and The Panthers host the G_men – we are favored by 8.

We lose 24-31. Lorey is held to 41 yards on 17 carries 25 of 30, 217 2:3, TDs to Wrigth and Lorye, picks by Rincon and Shaw, Rincon returned for a score, 2 FF, 2.5 sacks by Parmely – not enough.


New England 17-13 over Colts
Detroit 48-22 over Green Bay
New York 34 vs Carolina 37


Week 3 –

Carolina at Detroit – Detroit. wins 18-15

Pittsburgh gets crushed by New England 3-43


Super – Bowl

New England 30. Detoit 6

Season Awards:

Defensive Player of the Year – LB Karl Rincon

All Pro 1st Team – OT Shon Coleman, LB Karl Rincon, CB Dana Cortez,
All Pro 2nd Team – RB Diego Lorey, DE Everett Parmely, DT Damien Alcott

Cortez was absolutely robbed of Defensive Rookie of the Year. The guy who got it was a DE with 11 sacks. He didn’t even get all pro. Cortez had 9 picks, and led all players by FOUR PICKs!

Stats -






Lorey was 3rd is rushing yards, 2nd in rushing scores; and a guy with 2000 rushing yards hit again.

Team Awards:

Offensive MVP – OT Shon Coleman – 2 pancakces, 45 KRB and 6 sacks allowed. He was 5th in the league and 2nd among OTs for KRB, and this was his best season for KRB ever, and his fourth All Pro. Dude is good.

Defensive MVp – LB Karl Rincon. Dude gets Defensive PotY, dude gets my team MVP award too!


Special teams MVP – K Stanley Ramsay – I am not a fan of giving a rookie a non-rookie award. But dude deserves it. 2 missed kicks? 1 missed PAT? Dude can kick the ball


Rookie of the Year – CB Dana Cortez – NINE picks? That’s the best INT total in a single year y any of my players during my Brown Out era. Dude can pick off the ball. Oh, an Shaw led the league in pasdef, we led in picks and pasdef with different players.


Heart Award – QB McIntyre – 3-1. ‘Nuff said

If he retires, here are Arledge’s career:


Year 1 , 10-6, Playoffs as wild card, lost in round 2 playoffs, 11-7
Year 2 – 12-4, Won Division, lost in AFC Champ
Year 3 – 13-3-1, #1 seed, won Super Bowl
Year 4 – 13-3, #1 seed, lost in AFC Champ
Year 5 – 16-0, #1 seed, won Super Bowl, undefeated
Year 6 – 12-4, #1 seed, lose in AFC Champ
Year 7 – 12-4, #2 seed, won Super Bowl
Year 8 – 10-6, wild card, lost in first round
Year 9 – 12-4, #1 seed, won Super Bowl
Year 10 – 15-1, #1 seed, won Super Bowl
Year 11 – 12-4, #2 seed, lost in round 2
Year 12 – 12-0 before getting injured. Team finished 15-1, lost in Round 2

Total record for Arledge – 165-45-1

For much of that time, Arledge was with arguably the league’s top defense and the top offense. 4 DTs, 3 DE, 4 LBs, 2 CBs, 1 S with All Pro, 4 years with Defensive Player of the year and 3 different players with it. He has two OT, including HOF Joe Thomas, C, and multiple OGs with All Pro seasons, the best FB in football, an All Pro RB, and multiple players getting WR All Pro nods, lie Riley, Wright and Hawkins. All Pro P and Ks.



So he had a lot of talent around him.

Now, here are his proper career stats:

4260 completions of 6273 attempts – a 67.9 %
47735 passing yards
Average/catch of 11.21 and /attempt of 7.61
310 TDs vs 128 picks
98.3 QB Rating
448 sacks, 70 fumbles 58 he didn’t recover

439 carries, 1878 yards, 21 rush scores

This places him, should he retire:

Tarkenton – 47004, and Warren Moon – 49, 325.

Current player, Eli Manning is 47284

TDs?

310 is between active players Rivers – 306, and Eli, 316. Elway was 300 and Tarkenton 342.

Completions?

4260 clocks between Elway at 6 – 4123 and Marino at 5 – 4967

Career passing rating?

98.3 is better than Brady and Romo, and places him 3rd all time behind Wilson and Rodgers. Among retirees, he betters the best of all time, Steve Young at 96.8


128 picks? He is tied at 80s with Kurt Water and BoB Waterfield for the most picks

Now, time for comparison to Otto Graham –

Graham led the league, and still does, for most yards per pass attempt at 9.0. No one can touch him. 7.61 puts him at the level of Matt Shaub, Trent Green, Sonny Jurgensen and Daunte Culpepper at 19th best.


His yards per pass completion of 11.21 aren’t anywhere high. The best is Ed Brown at 16.4, he clocks in at 164 with players like Kordell Stewart and Kyle Orton.

67.9% pass completion would lead the league and be the best of all time! The current best is Breez at 66.7 and of retired players, Kurt Warner at 65.5, Chad Pennington at 66.0.

Awards:

3 time Super Bowl MVP
2x League MVP
1 Offensive Player of the Year
2 All Pro 1st Team
1 All Pro 2nd Team

With 5 Super Bowls in 12 seasons, a 165-45 record, an undefeated season, playoffs is every season, and wth the actual proper passing record in one career sta (pass completion %) as well as multiple top tens….


I am declaring Brendan Arledge the next Otto Graham of the Cleveland Browns!!!

Now it's time to hit that "End Season" button...

Eval:

Performance – 90
Value 84
Profit 77
Strength 29
Score - 78


We have three retirees –

LS Newsome
CB Schmidtke
QB Arledge


He retires and is the Legend of the Game

Other retirees of note:


QB Kessler
TE Hardy Downs, one of my former players
WR Mike Evans,
O Line – Brandon Linder, Humphries, Tunsil, and many more
DE DeBuckner,
LB – Leo Floyd,;
CB Vernon Hargreaves, Jalen Ramsey, etc

Hall of Fame – JJ Watt, Chris Harris, Zeke

We made 112 mill

100% attendance

Interesting stuff, thanks for sharing. On the bars/combines thing, I find it useful to use a combination of the two(admittedly still being a newbie). Drafted a guy in the one I recently finished who was projected by 'adjusted grade' to be middle of the first round, but still available in the middle of the third. His bars sucked. Badly. But I'd interviewed him, and he had good combine results and my evaluation said 'Very underrated'. Looked decent at first, then boomed to 50/71 after training camp. Not throwing him back, but certainly I could have gotten bitten if things didn't turn out that way.

Yeah, I hear ya. And we each have our own stories. Take CB Cortez here. If I hadn;t interviewed him and gotten teh very underrated place, and gave you that for the evaluation, would many people have considered him at all? He had two blues, no reds. Very little to sell him, but bars, affinity, and a good interview. Now that Schmidtke has left, that affinity is gone, so who knows what would happen next, but I get it. Bars bust. Combines bust. But you are much more likely to unearth a player that grows over time with combines. And I'll do it where there aren't a lot of other options and I have the spot and time

So.....


what now?

1). I have built a juggeranut. I could go out and grab a undrafted QB this offseason, toss him into the system, and see fi I can get a third Otto Graham!

2). I have built a juggernaut. I have earned the right to break the NFL Go out, and grab a real, proper, QB and just break things. My O line and receivers deserve a proper Qb that just explodes. How often have you seen one of my O Line deserve an All Pro nod but too many sacks spoiled the roast. I can spice that roast into next October with a quality thrower of balls.

3). I have a juggernaut. Switch to another team in the league, and try to build another.

4). Call it. Good job Browns!


So I'm sort of in all 4 spaces right now....

I am voting for option #2 since I already know all the players you've brought in. I want to see what a roster like this is capable of with an actual star QB.

Thanks thanks! Other thoughts!

I would say #3 ... but why not do #2 first anyway? See how long at #3 it would take you to beat the monster you've created -- for bonus points pick another team in the same division, or at the very least the same conference. Add a house rule tweak or two at that point, perhaps involving trades to make it harder to stockpile draft picks?

But yeah, #2 then #3 is my vote.

2 for a season to dominate, then go to 3 to rebuild another team

Coach draft und Stuff:

I give raises to my HC and OC to retain them. I select a new, young sudsy Strength Coordinator, and that’s it.


I only have three players on my team that are unrestricted FAs. LB Dexter Tubbs, DE Willie Gibson, and OT Trenton Henry. I have 34 mill under the cap, and 20 for new players available. I elect to not franchise any of these dopes.

FA BABy!

I would say option 1 or 4. :)

There are three very strong QBs in this year's draft...

Let's commit to #3.

Since i joined the Browns and turned them into a powerful force of nature, the worst teams in the NFL have been:


San Diego – 72-120

Washington – 69-120-3

Jacksonville – 65-126-1


According to the NFL analysts, who has the worst, weakest roster?

San Francisco – 13

Tampa Bay – 13

Minnesota 3


San Diego is 50, Washington 94, and Jacksonville 83

I take a look. Jags have some great O Line talent, and a good strong WR, with a need for QB, another WR and a TE or RB to put their offense out there. On D they have a strong LB corps, and a few other adequate players here and there. Not too bad. Washington? They have tons of talent and have just underplayed. 74/74 QB, 72/72 RB, 68 and 61 WRs, 79/84 LT, 69 RT, 67 C, etc. San Diego has some great offensive talent, just needs a QB to make that work, and then a pretty woeful Defense.

Minnesota? Weak, but the Vikings are the best team after us with a lot of wins.

The Bucs had the worst record in football two years ago, and used it to draft theta QB in the draft at the 1/1 spot. But they haven’t started him, they have been using Winston instead as a 50/50 guy and a higher rating than the rookie with 43/67 stats. So I could build around this guy.

But I don’t want to necessarily. Sure, they have a weak roster, but to I want to try another Otto Graham challenge? Try with another team to replicate Arledge’s success? They already have someone, right?

Just two teams meet my qualifications. After looking at San Diego more, they have a 50 score for roster, but that still is 6th worst in the league. The other is the Rams, with a 53 score, and their talent is aging and spotty. But historically they were 106-86 with 7 playoff appearances in the last 12 years.

But not San Diego.

Now how were the competitors for my Browns doing? The Ravens have a 100 roster score, and one of the best rosters in the NFL. No Ravens. Steelers are 73 and 12th best as the list heads down. No Steel Town.

But what about Cincinnati? 90-102 record, but 5 playoffs and they had that Super Bowl run as a Wild Card, and lost. But they also had the 60 ranked and 18th best roster. Now when I pull them up, they have a solid 54 QB, with just two 70+ players, but a good number of 6 in 60+ as well as one with 60+ potential. That’s not bad. The Chargers are 5 70s, but just 3 60s. So the Bengals are higher at the top, but they lack depth. Just 8 in the 50s with actual or potential vs the Chargers’s 14.

The Bengals were more successful recently, the Chargers weren’t. Both franchises have had very little Super Bowl action historically, but both had some good regular season numbers for a while, and just couldn’t convert, and those eras are long over. The Bengals have the disadvantage of going up against my own Browns, and the Chargers don’t. The Chiefs are very weak, and the Raiders and Broncos are nothing great. Or I could do the Chiefs for that matter. 50 roster rating, 4th losingest franchise of this era.

Chiefs have 1 80, 1 70, 5 60s, 11 50s.

What’s more important? The better roster and history the Bengals recently had? Or the worse Chargers or Chiefs situation?


Let’s do the Kansas City Chiefs

Here's our current roster:

Who are the hits on this roster:

We currently run a true 3-4 defense

DE Nicky Cobb, 80/80, just 3rd year,

NT Lenny Stern, 3rd s, 68/68 guy, had 9 sacks last year, was an All Pro 2nd team.

Ten year vet SE Blake King, 70/70, was drafted by us and spent his whole career with the Chiefs, All Pro 3 times, has 8235 yards and 50 scores

62 OG Philip Bodell, been with us whole career, 27 years old

61 LT Francisco Torres, from WVU, been with us whole 11 year career,

You can see the other players in the roster above.

Position assessment by me:

D Backs? 1 solid young corner with Derek Felker, No one else is good anywhere at any position

LB? We don’t have a single LB with a potential or current of even 50 for a 3-4 defense...

D Line? Our clear and away strength. In fact, if I pushed to re-sgn DT Tito Nelson, a former Brown 6th round pick, we could slide to 4-3 easily enough.

O Line? A bit hit and miss for me, all things considered. My better players are old and good, like LT Torres, or young and weak. If we started today, I’d have currents of 52, 56, 62, 61, and 47 starting for me. That’s not where we need to be.

Second? TE Gretsky is fine, we jabe the older Blake King, and a 56 FL in Erik Fererdick who’s not bad, but again, I’d like better.

RB and FB? Nah

QB? 9th year man 52 Steven Guymon is okay. Luckily he’s good enough to be my starter for now while I build up my franchise, and then in two years maybe we’ll be ready for the next Otto Graham

K/P – Nope.

So we have 4 UFAs here. Only Tito Graham would make sense for us to bring back. I have no desire to chase any of the others.

Our stadium was recently renovated and opened in 3023, with a 55,900 capacity, and had 48k attendance last year, with outdoor, artificial turf, and good and very good stuff all over.



Staff Draft:

We pick 24th. I retain our HC Alejandro Humphries. He’s much better than any other options out there.

Our OC got grabbed for an HC role. So... I take... OC Steve Smith, former WR, as our guy. Likes West Coast, WR Focus, and such. His strongest stat is play calling.

DC? Not only is our 3-4 guy the best DC Out there, but the next seven are all 3-4s too. Crazy. The difference is suitability from the top 3-4 guy ours, and the best 4-3 is from 68 to 49. So we are staying with it for a year.

AC? I hire Brayden Warfield, a 59 suit gentleman.

SC? I hire Benjamin Humphries, the best of the options up there. Split about 50 in each of conditioning and strength.

I massage my ticket prices a tad and we are ready for FA!!!

The 2028 Free Agency Period

We have the 14th pick in the draft, but are missing our 2nd rounder.

We have 40 players under contract, just 50 million under the cap despite a poor roster. Who are we overpaying?

TE Gretsky is 9 mill, SLB Meat Loaf Hauck, 8 mill, SS Keegan Barger 8 mill, WR Giovanni Moss, 7.3 mill, QB Swift 9 mill, QB Guymon, 7.15 mill, etc.

Some of those players make no sense. And there’s no reason to be paying two QBs starting level cash. QB Swift was the 1.2 pick last year, and busted to 15/49. Yuck.

Another recent bust is RB Kendrick Farley, early 1st rounder, now 45/45 heading into year 4.

Alright, anyone I want to retain?

First let’s review FA. Players who attract me?

Looks like I won’t be moving my P, but I may find an adequate k out there, Best is 63, vs my own expensive 52.

There are no franchise changing players out there. They best are a few 60s TEs, RBs, and a couple of LBs. Unfortunately, the Lbs are not great for 3-4, but 4-3.

I extend OG Bodell by 2 years. I hold off on King and Torres for now. Well, nah. There’s no help on the way. Let’s lock them in. I extend each by 2 years and drop their cap hits this year.

Alright let’s head to week 2

Targets in FA I like:

K Edwin Carroll, 63/63 – 3 years, 12 mill

LS Frankie Zirn, with a 96 long snapping, 2 years, 2.9 mill

RB Cornelius Branch, 3 years, 11.25 mill

CB Damon Henderson, 2 years, 7.75 mill

MLB Dexter Tubbs, from Cleveland, 4 years and 15.4 mill. I also liked WLB Dean Krauchick from Cleveland, but he wants too much money. I got a lot of spots to fill.

I cut a random backup OG Leader with no affinities, so I can make an offer to RT Bubba Keith, 10th year veteran, 2 years and 7 mill.

Alright...

Week 3 – Dean Krauchick signed with Carolina

Week 4 – LB Dexter Tubbs signs with us, 66/66 guy. RB Branch signs with us, 60/60. I cut RB Kendrick Farley. DT Tito Nelson signs with Carolina.

I look at the FAs and consider a few more offers.


I offer youther RG David Drake 2 years, 1.8 mill on hope

I resign LB Dwight Beethoven, a RFA from us.

So far we have signed the best RB, and LB in FA. We have offers to the best CB, K, LS and OT as well.

Week 5 – We bring in CB Damon Henderson and OT Bubba Keith

Week 6 – Quiet

Week 7 – We sign K Carroll and OG Drake

I cut my K

I sign a couple of RFAs

I check out the draft. Anyone I love at our spot? At this point I’ll BAP virtually any position. I just need talent. We have studs all over at spots of interest, that won’t be there, like QB Ralph Gomez and OT Sebastian Will. I interview stud TEs, a strong CB, RBs, the 3rd rated QB, and more in order to hopefully prep for the draft.

Week 9 Zirn signs.

Here’s my first FA Class for the Chiefs:

RB Cornelius Brach, 3rd player on Grey Sheet, 3 years, 10 mill, 60 rated 4th year vet – best RB in FA

ILB Dexter Tubbs – 4th rated player on GS, 4 years, 15.36 mill, 66/66 rated guy, 28 years old – Best LB in FA

RT Bubba Keith – 11th on GS, 2 years, 7.16 mill, 31 years old, 55/55 rating – best OT in FA

LS Zirn – Best LS in FA, 93 long snapping, 2 years, 1.89 mill

K Carroll – Best K in FA, 3 years, 10 mill, 59 rating, 28 years old

CB Damon Henderson – 16th rated player in GS< best CB in FA, 2 years, 7.88 mill, 5th year, 53/53 rated

OG David Drake was 27/55 2nd year player. Grabbed on potential

Alright, let’s head to the draft!

The 2028 NFL Amateur Draft!

We pick 14th in the 1st.


We need:

RB for depth only
Maybe a WR for depth only, but not really

OT for depth or starter of studliness only – starters are 61 and 55 are 10 and 11 years in this league
Stud at C or OG would be fine, but not needed

NT for depth
DE for depth
3 starting quality LBs
2 starting quality Ss in a weak S class. Otherwise 2 subs
Maybe one sub CB
Stud P only

Here we goes!

Seattle kicks us off by grabbing RB Trenton Hastings. Then we have QB, QB, OT, and QB in the 1st five.

We finish the Top 10 with OT, S, CB, WR, and DE

This is actually a strong D Line draft, but we don’t really need that. So I may head elsewhere soon. S, RB, and S head off the board and it’s our turn to pick.

We have all of the LBs still on the board. None are outstandingly studly. But several are scouted and fine, like SILB Parker Reid, best ILB in the draft, and underrated for us, with a hole in Zone D, but good at everything else, but again some weaknesses in things like hitter in the 50s and run deff maybe just 55 or 60 or so. But his pass rush is monstrous.

OLB Jerry Sanderson is the best LB on the board, and just as scouted, with a better run d, and still hot, hot, hot pass rush.

I like Sanderson a bit more than Reid. But both make me happy.

Reid doesn’t even go in the 1st round. No ILBs were taken by anyone.

In fact, Reid is still on the board at the 2.13 spot, where we would have picked, had we not traded that draft pick. ARGH! I could have renovated our LB corps in one off season. 

He goes pick 50.

Alright, we are up at 78. Who do I like here?

ILB Jack Kaplan? CB Gavin Mellow? C Terrance Benson? OLB De Jesus? RT Craig? OG Kendrick Zorich? OG Tucker with great bars but 3rd best on the board? Hmmm... Tucker? Kaplan? I might normally take Tucker, but OG is my best starting place right now. With 61 and 56 and both not old. But I know Kaplan is likely to start. I grab Kaplan.


In the 4th, I like DE Cesar Lane here. He’s a 3-4 specialist, and looks to have great bars for us. This was a strong D Line draft, and hopefully I got a good one to drop.

5th round is here. Most good quality Cs are off the board. As are RT Craig, DE Lane, I also like SLB Crawford who’s left. Hmmm....I take Crawford and I’ll move him to the WLB.

Hello 6th round. SS Derrick Mitchell, NT Myron Becker, and then finally WHOA!

There’s this QB with great looking bars, and a 90 position spec red score here in the 7th Josh Lavorin. Should I take him and see if he’s my Otto Graham? Would you consider a 6th round draftee part of the OG Challenge? Can I afford to let him hit FA just to check that box? Given my accomplishment already, I feel like I can massage that a bit. But you know what?

Nah.

Alright, who do I like here. The top P is still there. RB Bennett Shaw?

I take C Sherman Carlisle

7th? TE Donnie Wassen




Early results?

Sanderson is 47/78 so a solid SLB. He’s on the Green Page too.

DE Lane is 31/60, ILB Kaplan is 23/59, SLB Crawford is 30/60, C Carlisle is 27/61. Good stuff.

Now time for UFA!

We had a C+ draft review

I make offers to:

UFAs

P Barginski
FB Alejandro Pasricha
QB DeAndre Salcedo
RT Danny Exner
RB Bennett Shaw – Is he a boom? Good combines, lowish bars
RB Camden Gerhardt
FL Deion Pasquerella – good special teams and returning
C Roosevelt Wagner
LB Demetrius Lujan
SS Roldolfo Franz
FS Parker Lanner

And these FAs:

FS Russell Sanford
CB Frederick Dalton, an RFA not retained by the Browns
SLB Leonard Floyd, 35 years old, mentor to OLBs


Week 1 – We bring in 8 targets. I increase our bid for Dalton to jump over Chicago’s bid by a few hundred thousand bonuses

Week 2 – We sign 6 more. Only Dalton is left

Week 3 – Dalton signs with us

We currently have 66 players under contract, including a whole bunch of cuts I know are about to happed post camp. Anyone else I like? We have 25 mill in cap space. Anyone that hasn’t been chased with a cheaper cap hit now or anything?

In case of bust-age, I make an offer to P Bucky Sutor and UFA OT Bush

Both sign. Who’s ready for CAMPing!

We sold 38500 season tix

Anybody boom in camp? Sanderson is 53/79, Crawford 35/61, and such. P Barginski comes back 43/57, and he looked so much better pre camp, total bust. Busts for a lot of UFas like normal, including QB Salcedo, and WR PAsquarella. DE lane busted to 35/55

Anyone free that I might want to chase? Nah

Time to cut the chaff:


QB Salcedo
RB Shaw
FB Pasricha
FL Pasqueralla
C Wagner
OT Bush
FS Lanner
WLB Mathews
SLB Lyons
P Barginski
P Sutor
SLB Meat Loaf Hauck
TE Wasson


I bring this solid UFA K into camp to see what we can see laters

We finish the pre-season 2-2, with a few minor injuries, C Dwight Dar Dar has a strained hammy and is questionable. A few probables here and there as well.

But here’s my major issue;

Sanderson dropped to 42/58. Yuck. 39/61 for Crawford. K Shin busted hard and I cut him. I cut OT Danny Exner. I cut MLB Dwight Beethoven.

Had I taken Parker Reid, long before I could had, or had a 2nd rounder for him, he would have finished the offseason as the best ranked LB, moved to the Green Page, and is 51/71.

Players I missed this draft include late 4th rounder C KC Boyer, 31/75 I missed and could have taken, LG Thurmon Norris, remember when I was strongly considering him in the 3rd? He went a few picks later and is 46/76. You know how badly I needed a S? I could have gotten this 29/65 guy in the 4th. A lot fo D Line busted, so I can’t be too upset at the Lane bust. The best DE in the draft was on the board when we drafted, and was taken 1.16 – 59/72.

This was a weak draft and UFA class by me. I missed on two UFA Ps and a K. I missed on every other major UFA. Most of my draftees busted, not a few points here and there, but a lot more. Weak. Only Crawford and Carlisle held serve. So weak