2005 preseason
Transitions and League Observations
Well, we have no retirements, but there is one “transition” note. My very first draft pick, safety Nicky Gonzalez, has been unable to recover from his injuries. He’s been cleared to play, but he’s no longer the solid player that we initially drafted. Shame. He’s also the highest-paid player on the team, which is also a shame.
Front Office Decisions
I re-up with OC Levon Moss, after missing out on a real star who opts to re-sign with Dallas.
We cleared $109 million in our second season – in large part due to a very low payroll. We’ll have to wait out a year or two longer before we get a real sense of the money issues here.
Roster Review
I have 50 players already signed to contracts – since nearly everyone from last year inked a two-year deal to begin with. So, additions this year will not be based on roster vacancies – but rather on
talent vacancies, of which we have plenty.
No need to detail things here quite yet.
Free Agency
I plan to pursue any and all capable free agent players – but don’t expect to see very many. I have lots of places we can improve, but generally the 2nd year players out there are just the URFAs who weren’t worth being drafted last year. We‘ve already passed on them once.
For what it’s worth, our top listed needs are WR, G, and T. I don’t know how these get ranked ahead of DE and DT, for example, but they are all certainly need positions.
Not surprisingly, the very top-rated 2nd year player available when sorted by future potential is my 4th string QB. Swell. Looks like we’ll sit out another year here.
Rookie Draft
Once again, not a single Akron player in the rookie draft. I’m not surprised – the cadre of players I inherited there was awfully weak. We ought to see some Zip prospects, though, starting next season.
The excitement builds, as our Zips hold the #3 draft pick overall, and will have a chance to bring aboard a true impact player. Initially, I take a look, and find a number of defensive ends who look like they would fill the bill quite nicely. It’s certainly a need position for us, and that seems to be the best spot at the top of this draft. There is also one very good left tackle – another tempting position to address.
DE Rodney Huffman looks like exactly whet we need. A college standout at DE, he plays against the run and the pass, has great strength and agility, and low volatility. I love him. Lock him up.
Code:
Amateur Draft Report:
Rnd 1 - Rodney Huffman, DE, Utah
Rnd 2 - Bennie Heinlein, T, Tennessee
Rnd 3 - Frankie Richard, CB, Florida State
Rnd 4 - Graham Durham, T, Rice
Rnd 5 - Fred Magnuson, RB, Ohio State
Rnd 6 - Desmond Parrish, G, Boston College
Rnd 7 - Mark Kramer, ILB, Washington
I’m pretty optimistic about this draft – we landed a can’t-miss defensive star, and I feel like we have added bookend offensive tackles who might be good enough to be long term starters. Of course, that’s what we always say on draft day – we’ll have to put these guys through the paces to see what we really have here.
RB Fred Magnuson, another local product, has a load of potential – but I don’t know whether I need him more as a runner or a receiver, where I think he could also be excellent.
Late Free Agency
Oakland offers us a 6th round draft pick next year for QB Harold Janes – and we accept. Janes isn’t much of a long-term prospect, so this isn’t a real loss I don’t think.
Things go very smoothly with our rookie class, though – everyone is signed in advance of training camp, unlike last year’s troubles.
I pursue a number of decent fill-in players with high volatility, and sign nearly all to two year deals. I’d love to get a couple of legitimate contributors this way, but for now, we’ll take guys who at least fill up a uniform.
Training Camp
We’re bursting at the seams – bringing 70 players into training camp. Here’s the result:
Code:
Player # Pos Start Exp CEst FEst CEst FEst Chg C Chg F
Silvers, Bobby 16 QB 2 29 61 33 61 4 0
Simmons, Arnold 14 QB 2 21 31 23 31 2 0
Branch, Jonathan 15 QB 2 18 39 19 39 1 0
Hutcherson, Jesse 5 QB 1 14 26 16 26 2 0
Hoffman, Dixon 25 RB 2 38 47 39 47 1 0
Shea, Ian 44 RB 2 37 40 38 40 1 0
Cash, Van 30 RB 2 34 40 35 40 1 0
Newman, Daniel 40 RB 2 33 49 34 49 1 0
Stewart, Harvey 26 RB 2 32 44 33 44 1 0
Rebensdorf, Kerry 43 RB 2 29 32 30 32 1 0
Tatum, Shane 45 RB 1 24 37 24 34 0 -3
McCarthy, Dana 38 FB 2 25 35 26 35 1 0
Okeafor, Ted 32 FB 2 25 30 26 30 1 0
Giefeke, Walter 49 FB 1 23 39 23 37 0 -2
Rowland, Brandon 46 FB 1 21 40 22 37 1 -3
Gaylord, Albert 84 TE 2 25 37 27 37 2 0
Roebuck, Will 18 TE 2 19 30 20 30 1 0
Booker, Frank 82 TE 1 18 37 18 30 0 -7
Carter, Sedrick 89 TE 1 16 37 18 33 2 -4
O'Rourke, Nathan 88 FL 2 36 43 37 43 1 0
Ivory, Nick 81 FL 2 24 39 25 39 1 0
McConnell, Oliver 86 FL 2 16 30 17 30 1 0
Magnuson, Fred 21 FL 1 13 36 14 32 1 -4
Horner, Jerome 80 SE 2 22 36 25 36 3 0
Cov'ton, Brandon 24 SE 1 19 40 21 38 2 -2
Garcia, Zack 58 C 2 19 30 22 30 3 0
Hodges, Korey 53 C 2 13 27 14 27 1 0
Morgan, Jim 63 LG 1 19 31 22 34 3 3
Parrish, Desmond 61 LG 1 18 28 19 30 1 2
Starks, Duane 62 RG 1 14 26 16 26 2 0
Moss, Corey 76 RG 1 12 31 14 31 2 0
Heinlein, Bennie 71 LT 1 28 55 31 54 3 -1
Daniels, Victor 75 RT 2 17 27 17 27 0 0
Durham, Graham 60 RT 1 6 44 9 38 3 -6
Cochrane, Paul 9 P 2 39 39 42 42 3 3
Sirmon, Arnie 12 K 2 31 47 34 47 3 0
Ellard, Hugh 2 K 1 27 59 28 52 1 -7
Schulz, Deion 70 LDE 1 20 33 22 36 2 3
Caldwell, Ricardo 91 LDE 2 18 23 19 23 1 0
Huffman, Rodney 78 RDE 1 46 77 49 77 3 0
Joseph, Riddick 93 RDE 1 19 30 20 29 1 -1
Snook, Lincoln 79 RDE 2 13 18 14 18 1 0
Ogden, Gary 73 LDT 2 18 22 19 22 1 0
Rutter, Rob 72 RDT 2 17 20 17 20 0 0
McConnell, Greg 94 RDT 2 14 23 14 23 0 0
Allen, Grant 77 RDT 1 13 22 14 18 1 -4
Goodwin, Cedric 92 MLB 2 40 54 43 54 3 0
Tyler, Howie 99 MLB 1 26 45 30 49 4 4
Kramer, Mark 50 MLB 1 21 44 22 39 1 -5
Westbrook, Barry 97 MLB 2 15 29 18 29 3 0
Cash, Steve 95 MLB 2 13 33 14 33 1 0
Clanton, Cole 98 SLB 2 26 37 28 37 2 0
Davidson, William 57 SLB 2 20 27 22 27 2 0
Huffman, Kenny 55 SLB 1 17 37 19 37 2 0
Styles, Geoff 56 SLB 2 16 28 18 28 2 0
Walker, Richard 96 WLB 2 26 31 28 31 2 0
Jepson, Ken 90 WLB 2 18 31 20 31 2 0
Sims, T.J. 35 LCB 2 25 28 27 28 2 0
Gomez, Craig 27 LCB 1 12 39 15 45 3 6
Jacobs, Thurman 41 LCB 1 12 40 15 44 3 4
Dotson, Johnny 37 RCB 2 25 40 27 40 2 0
Richard, Frankie 20 RCB 1 23 48 24 43 1 -5
Lofton, Allen 22 RCB 2 18 33 20 33 2 0
Richmond, Paul 34 SS 2 36 41 37 41 1 0
Dawson, Julio 28 SS 2 28 40 30 40 2 0
Grayvil, Max 48 SS 1 21 41 24 43 3 2
Talbott, J.J. 29 SS 1 21 33 23 33 2 0
Gonzalez, Nicky 33 FS 2 24 38 27 38 3 0
Craig, Patrick 23 FS 2 24 31 25 31 1 0
Joon, Oliver 47 FS 1 14 28 16 28 2 0
Good news with DE Huffman – he’s everything we wanted. Not quite topped-out in potential, but certainly good enough to be a serious impact player for us.
Bad news on T Graham Durham, who simply won’t be the stellar starter that I thought might have been stealing in the fourth round of the draft. Heinlein looks good on the left side – about right for a second round pick, really.
LB Howie Tyler looks like a good URFA pickup, and might start right away at LB – I move him to the strong side. Fred Magnusson, switched to play receiver, has really disappointed – I might give him a switch back, but we’re not optimistic.
Overall, this is a team of very marginal talent – we’ll see how well we build from here.
Season Analysis
In a weird curiosity, QB Bobby Silvers rates #10th on the “League’s Fastest Man” list – running a 4.31 this season. Another rookie QB is also on the list – maybe there’s some weird bug involved here. Silvers did rush for over 400 yards last season – so maybe it’s not ridiculous – maybe he really is Vick-like (uh, without the other QB skills, I guess).
Our roster rating is currently 1 out of 100 – by far the lowest in the league. Exactly what it should be at this point, with a well-stocked league up against my mostly cast-off rookie types. We’ll get there in time, I suspect, but it will require some good drafting (better than I have been doing thus far).
I really don’t expect that we’ll be appreciably better than last season, but it would be nice to determine whether Silvers is really worth keeping around at QB, whether we have anything salvageable from our crop at the skill positions, and who on this defense is really worth keeping. Most of this team will be up for contract next year – and so they are mostly playing for their jobs, such as it is.