Free Agency
My first target is LB Gino Michl – looks pretty solid, and isn’t asking for much in salary. I think we will be able to get one or two fill-in caliber defensive linemen later, but Michl is a potential starter for peanuts, I think. Perfect fit.
In week one, interestingly enough, DE Seth Hartman gets a monster contract from Jacksonville. I didn’t even consider re-signing him because of all his injury problems, but they ponied up $35m over three years – unbelievable. The Jags made three impact signings for their defensive front seven – very interesting, I think.
We look good for our target guys – and only LB Jonathan Upshaw looks like he’s heading elsewhere. After we lock up LB Michl, I go after a young defensive tackle Donovan Capstraw, who should give us a pretty passable three-man rotation inside. While I wait for him to ink, we see K Mo Crain finally get his long term deal, as he signs with Dallas. C Monty Nunley is also gone – he signed with Atlanta for big money. Now, only Jeff Rowell is still around from our trio of centers, as Ellis Pond signs with San Diego.
C Colin Munn is our next target, and our likely starter at center for this year. Cheap, young, and pretty decent – good value pickup.
So, with 41 players signed, and a full draft ahead, we still have $9 million in cap space. I think I’d like to work out a new deal with TE Sellers, but I think we can do more than that. So, I enter the fray – a big bidding war for DT Drew Worsham. He’s fairly young, and has been very steady for Tennessee – starting in 64 straight games. That’s a great mark for this two-time all-pro. I put in a heavy offer, trying to get this guy to come aboard and give us a dominating presence on our interior defensive line. It only takes one week – and he is delivered. It’s a somewhat backloaded deal, which would cost us over $11 million in its latest years – but for now, I think we’ve made a huge free agent signing, right where we needed it.
I engineer a huge trade deal (outside my original house rules, admittedly) to move up to a prime spot in the draft. San Francisco has made an offer for QB Tyrell Goodwin, and wanted him badly. What I wanted was their #2 overall draft pick. Eventually I negotiated a deal – they get this year #3, next year’s #1, and the following year’s #2, plus Goodwin and my young LB Emmanuel Patterson, in exchange for the #2 pick in this year’s draft. As long as we get what we want there, I will be quite happy with this swap – plus we keep our current year’s pick in the first round.
Back to the free agent grind – we sign CB Monty Diaz, who is only one year removed from a four year stint with us. He had his career best season last year with New Orleans, and I’d love to see him step up to that level for us.
In the late stages, I pick up T Irv Wilson, a cheap reserve who ought to be better than a mid-round draft pick there. I still need another center, but I feel that might be a spot to draft a player (it’s often deep in the draft).
Incidentally, I have my eye on QB James Houston, who has gone unclaimed thus far. He did well for us years ago, and I’d be pleased to bring him back as a #2 behind Deion Brock (who once backed him up). His demands are not that high, and I think it could work out – probably after the draft.
Things still don’t look too optimistic for a long term deal with TE Karl Sellers – he’s thinking about $5 million a year, and I have him franchised for only $3 million. I guess he gets pissed of and leaves if I don’t extend with him, so this might be his final season. We’ll see if we get the chance to work something out.
2020 Rookie Draft
I moved up in the draft to land DE Zack Finch, a stud out of The Citadel who looks like the complete package. I need to boost our DE presence, and I think he’d be absolutely ideal. I just need him to slip to the #2 pick – he won’t make it much further than that.
My worry is that Green bay has DE listed second on their list of team needs – and that’s a real worry. Te is listed first, but they aren’t going to take a TE with the overall #1 pick – and Zach Finch is the real standout in this draft, I think. I now think that I need to move up to the #1 pick in this draft to get the guy I want. I don’t know how much that will set me back, though.
I end up making a deal – sending them next year’s 3rd round pick and my current reserve QB Mo Treadwell in exchange for the #1/#2 swap. Pretty steep price, but this opens the door to me signing James Houston at QB, which would have rendered Treadwell pretty redundant anyway. So, for the first time, we will have the #1 pick in the draft.
Code:
Amateur Draft Report:
Rnd 1 - Zach Finch, DE, The Citadel
Rnd 1 - Jackie Beyer, C, Clemson
Rnd 2 - Amos Coltharp, CB, Idaho State
Rnd 4 - Emmitt McKenzie, DE, Virginia
Rnd 5 - Glenn Dixon, QB, Washington State
Rnd 6 - Russell Wilkerson, ILB, Southern California
Rnd 7 - Richard Meyer, K, Army
I love Finch, and have great hopes for him. Beyer fits a need, and ought to mesh with our pass-blocking line concept. Coltharp is a converted safety who has the skill set I target for this team.
QB Glenn Dixon was the fastest man in the whole draft – a 4.31 40 time was pretty intriguing, especially after he slid to the later rounds. I don’t know what we might make of him, but I recall being intrigued by fleet-footed Bobby Silvers – we’ll see if this guy has any of the same impact.
Late Free Agency
My first move here is to offer a deal to QB James Houston, who signs for three years. After dealing away my depth at QB, he is a needed improvement, and we welcome his return.
We also pick up LB Brandon Gunn, who should be a solid #4 LB, good against the run, possible starter if need be. Another good value acquisition.
I lock up G Lincoln Gruber and E Jimmy Fox – just keeping around a couple of veterans for leadership, I won’t be counting on them much on the field.
Training Camp
Code:
Player # Pos Start Exp CE FE CE FE ChgC ChgF
Brock, Deion 2 QB 8 56 56 56 56 0 0
Houston, James 12 QB 10 55 55 55 55 0 0
Donaldson, Kerry 13 QB 2 24 48 26 48 2 0
Dixon, Glenn 19 QB 1 15 53 19 59 4 6
Stewart, Gus 39 RB 7 84 84 84 84 0 0
Barker, Terrance 44 RB 6 58 58 58 58 0 0
Baker, Joe 36 RB 6 37 41 38 41 1 0
Sims, Daryl 37 RB 2 26 37 28 37 2 0
Cassidy, Jon 31 RB 1 16 24 17 25 1 1
Brandon, Dean 45 FB 6 52 62 55 62 3 0
McConnell, Joseph 38 FB 10 45 46 45 46 0 0
Sellers, Karl 80 TE 5 82 82 82 82 0 0
Tilton, Cornelius 83 FL 8 39 39 39 39 0 0
Colaianne, Arnie 84 FL 2 23 41 25 41 2 0
Pritchett, Don 89 SE 3 64 64 65 65 1 1
Harmon, Van 86 SE 10 52 53 52 53 0 0
Pendleton, Ted 82 SE 4 42 49 43 49 1 0
Beyer, Jackie 57 C 1 37 60 37 61 0 1
Munn, Colin 54 C 3 31 47 33 47 2 0
Banks, Arnold 73 LG 7 68 68 68 68 0 0
Thornton, Mickey 53 LG 10 40 40 40 40 0 0
Gruber, Lincoln 63 RG 16 36 36 36 36 0 0
Cunningham, Ted 56 RG 2 26 52 28 52 2 0
Craig, Conrad 72 LT 7 60 63 60 63 0 0
Glaspie, Nathan 78 RT 8 38 38 38 38 0 0
Wilson, Irv 66 RT 3 32 43 36 43 4 0
Burnette, Lance 3 P 3 48 48 48 48 0 0
Meyer, Richard 18 K 1 16 46 19 38 3 -8
Quinn, Kim 71 LDE 6 55 55 57 57 2 2
Clements, Dexter 69 LDE 9 42 42 42 42 0 0
Finch, Zach 77 LDE 1 39 74 39 73 0 -1
Lane, Blake 70 LDE 6 29 30 31 31 2 1
Fox, Jimmy 93 LDE 14 26 30 26 30 0 0
McKenzie, Emmitt 79 LDE 1 24 35 24 34 0 -1
Pearson, Adam 64 RDE 6 43 46 46 46 3 0
Worsham, Drew 92 LDT 6 76 76 76 76 0 0
Capstraw, Donovan 95 LDT 4 48 48 48 48 0 0
Allen, Tommy 99 RDT 7 54 54 54 54 0 0
Mandalari, Bryce 96 RDT 1 16 30 17 32 1 2
Rogers, Donald 90 NT 8 54 54 54 54 0 0
Michl, Gino 59 WILB 5 57 57 61 61 4 4
Wallace, Andrew 55 MLB 9 55 55 55 55 0 0
Gunn, Brandon 52 MLB 5 37 52 41 52 4 0
Dodge, Kurt 91 SLB 10 51 51 51 51 0 0
Sinclair, Curtis 94 SLB 7 36 49 38 49 2 0
Wilkerson, Russell 97 SLB 1 23 40 24 38 1 -2
Regalado, Darrin 58 WLB 12 38 38 38 38 0 0
Enochs, Ty 28 LCB 6 49 49 49 49 0 0
Diaz, Monty 34 LCB 9 45 45 45 45 0 0
Cottle, Bucky 40 LCB 12 40 40 40 40 0 0
Caston, Adam 46 RCB 15 33 33 33 33 0 0
Whiting, Edgar 49 RCB 2 17 31 20 31 3 0
Coltharp, Amos 33 RCB 1 18 49 19 44 1 -5
Weed, Kirk 24 SS 12 47 47 47 47 0 0
Eskridge, Kenneth 20 FS 9 70 70 70 70 0 0
Helmuth, Pat 35 FS 3 21 51 23 51 2 0
I am very pleased with the looks of DE Zach Finch, who barely eroded at all during training camp. We still have very, very high hopes for him. We, of course, would like to get him signed… but that should come soon.
Also, QB Glenn Dixon looks like he might have some real promise, after all. He’s lightning quick – we’ll see if he can actually play football, too. I’ll get him lots of snaps in preseason.
DE Zach Finch sits atop the Green Page, and QB Glenn Dixon is listed 8th. We got an A- for our draft. Not bad.
Season Analysis
We are obviously gearing up for a title defense. We have won three out of five – and another good season here makes this dynasty look even more stunning. We’ll try to get things going out there, and pull together the squad for a good effort. I don’t know if we have the depth to be a serious top power, but our offensive weaponry ought to be enough to keep us pretty formidable.
As we get out of the preseason, our only major loss is WR Van Harmon, who is on IR. That puts WR Cornelius Tilton into a starting role, and probably frees up a few more balls for Don Pritchett. He and TE Karl Sellers will again make their run at the elusive 1,000-yard season. This could be the year.
QB Glenn Dixon played very, very well in preseason, and sews up the third QB slot. He might end up being our “QB of the future” – I like what he brings to the table an awful lot.
Cohesion is at 100(85)-92-84-100(80). Very solid. Our roster rating is an 84, behind Tennessee and tied with Tampa Bay and Atlanta. We look primed and ready, and ought to be a top contender this season, assuming things go well.