Expansion draft:
With the #6 pick of the draft the Las Angeles Blackwings choose Marty Gage of the Hartford Muskrats.
Once training camp ended we were able to take a look at each of the men and project their teams’ performances.
Al Coble RB Cincinnati
Al sees minor declines in his abilities from last year, but he will easily be the top RB for the Bengals. Al signed a new contract that will pay him $8 million this season and will keep Al in Cincinnati for 3 more seasons.
Al has a solid group of linemen that should help him pick up quite a lot of yards this season. I would guess that he is able to run for 1200-1500 yards this season and 10-12 TDs. Will the Bengals be able to repeat as champions this year? They have a solid defense, that should rank among the best in the league. But the passing game looks very weak and that will hurt the Bengals’ chances. I predict that they will win 9-10 games this year.
Marty Gage RB Las Angeles
Coming of one of the greatest seasons in NFL history, Marty looks just as good as he did last year. However, it is important to note that Marty vastly out-played his ratings, so he may be in for a down season. Along with that, he has joined an expansion team. Las Angeles’s strategy in the expansion draft seamed to be to pick up veterans from teams who were trying to dump salary. This means that Las Angeles has quite a few experience veterans who may just be able to surprise quite a few teams. They don’t really have many players that I would call “great” but there are a lot of solid starters. They did pick up a huge free agent in T Billy Joe Klingensmit, a 7 year veteran and perhaps the best tackle in football. The rest of the offensive line are poor pass blocker, but great at run blocking, so Marty may have another great season in him. I would guess that this team stuns everyone and wins 7-8 games, while Marty runs for 1500+ yards. If they are smart they will give Marty in the neighbor hood of 400 carries agin.
Antoine Preston DE Las Vegas
Preston’s ratings actually look slightly better than they did last year. I think we will see another solid season out of Antoine picking up over 40 tackles and 10-12 sacks. Las Vegas looks to have declined even lower from last year. They drafted a new QB who could wind up becoming a super star, but he is far from there yet and much of the rest of the team looks to be falling off. The two best players on the team are their RB and Preston. I would guess that they will be able to pull out around 4-6 games this year.
Carlton Gomez DE Hartford
The fans in Hartford are still irate about the loss of Marty Gage, but players like Carlton Gomez are going to have to continue and carry the Muskrats. Of all of the great men, Carlton has the largest decline in his ratings, dropping 10 points in pass rush and 8 in his already low run defense. There is already talk about this being the last season for Carlton. The Muskrats’ have breakout training camps by both their QB and RB, and look to be poised for a great season. I would guess that this team would get about 10-11 wins, except for the curse. Before Marty left Hartford, he vowed that Hartford would not reach the playoffs in his lifetime and that they would never win a championship.
Percy Buchanan QB Washington
Percy still has the highest career QB rating of any QB in the NFL, and he looks as good as he ever has. The problem is that Washington has been decimated at receiver. Percy has one fair WR to throw to, but the second best receiver is rated just an 8 at catching. So much of this team’s success has relied on Percy being able to complete passes, I am not sure how well they will do without quality receivers. Washington does have a great running game and that may just be enough to keep them in the hunt for 4 consecutive division titles. The difficulty there is that while their RB is a quality back, this will be his first year as a starter. I predict 9-10 wins and another playoff run.