2000 Washington Redskins begin New Era

[PapaJohn]

I admit I have never been a hardcore FOF player. I discovered FOF while in a FPS Football Pro league, when I mentioned I enjoyed the GM aspect more than the actual play design and worrying about how the players reacted with their AI. So I played FOF2 on wimp level and when FOF2k1 came out, I played it on wimp level and through 15 seasons, I had won my last 6 straight superbowls. I got bored and the game became old again.

Now, I have decided since I finally found a forum for FOF, and a good one, I am going to try the more difficult levels and learn the details of the game, like tweaking the weighted averages, choosing formations, really doing more than just being a good contract negotiator, deal-making, shrewd businessman that found me success on wimpy Main street.

So, I am making the post to document my beginning of a new season. I will be trying new techniques and sharing some of those I have discovered along the way. Im new to this forum and hope my little FOF diary is appropriate in this manner, if its not Im sure I wont find it here tomorrow, haha.

My next post will describe my departure on my quest for the superbowl and more importantly a FOF dynasty.

If you have comments, suggestions, or just want to tell me my methods or opinions really suck, feel free. Otherwise, read for your enjoyment or ignore for your good health.

[PapaJohn]

2000 season: Redskins go 6-10 , fire both coaching and scouting staffs

Okay, Im starting out on 5th avenue level without allocation draft. My first order of business is to tell Deion Sanders that I cannot stand him and he will remain on the team only because I cannot trade him, nor afford to cut him, and frankly we can use his talent.

Next, I trade any old veterans over 8yrs experience for draft picks, with little exception. I find it best to not shoot for the championship the first year. I get my draft picks and start building my dynasty. I also try to renegotiate any high salaries.

My biggest success was trading DE Marco Coleman to the 49ers for their #1 draft pick. They went 1-15 and I got the #1 overall pick, which later went to selecting my future superstar QB to replace Brad Johnson.

The first season since it was a bust from the start, and I had two excellent receivers in Westbrook and Connell plus Sean Dawkins whom I signed as a free agent, we went with a little bit of the West Coast offense. We had terrible injuries throughout the year. My two best QBs combined for just over 4,000 yds and my two best RBs combined for approximately 800 yds. I am purposely just quickly summarizing this first season because my objective in the first season is simply to trade quality old veterans for draft picks, renegotiate high contracts, and sign quality free agents.

At the conclusion of the season, I stole both Baltimore's coach, and scout the two best available. The beltway rivalry is on now!

Here is my draft, which by the way I rarely draft below the 5th round -- I use the late round draft picks early in the season to trade for higher picks or package for a player I want:

2002 Amateur Draft Report:

Rnd 1(1) - Billy Joe East, QB, Alabama
Rnd 1(8) - Charles Stephen, LB, N.C. State
Rnd 2 - Chad Compton, RB, Morningside
Rnd 2 - Keith Lusignan, TE, Central Michigan
Rnd 3 - Kenyon Bednarsh, RB, Duke
Rnd 3 - Deion Moore, FB, Oklahoma State
Rnd 3 - Britt Holmes, CB, Notre Dame
Rnd 3 - Harris Osburn, S, Louisiana-Lafayette
Rnd 4 - Jackie Gomez, S, Arkansas
Rnd 5 - Lincoln King, FB, Miami, Florida
Rnd 5 - Lincoln Gardner, TE, Georgia Tech

Having these many picks I learned something from reading the many posts in here about drafting and observing the game. Having so many picks, I usually had 3 or more players I wanted to draft at anytime, so I needed to figure my best odds of getting all my men. I would let my scout recommend players (and my new scout rocks) then I would list the players he says are best, then I look at the draft board and see which of my guys is listed the highest according to the league estimate, combine, or whatever you want to call it. I simply pick the guy most likely to be picked up by another team first. Guess this sounds kind of basic, but the key is having a good scout and not picking the highest guy on the board necessarily.

I had an awesome draft, I hope to post some screenshots later on sometime of abilities.

I want to thank you veterans on this board for some wonderful tips on drafting, and offensive and defensive strategies. You have really brought back the appeal of this game for me again.

And would someone kidnap the game developer until he puts franchise stats back in, I read the posts on why this is not here, but I think there should have been a way. If not just an archive file on the hard disk so it dont eat up RAM, oh well.

Season #2 is ready to begin, I feel some magic starting to happen!!

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[QuikSand]

Good luck on Fifth Avenue. Never played it myself, and I really don't know what differences there are between it and Wall Street. Alas, hope you enjoy, and soon "graduate" upward...

[MIJB#19]

Warn mckerney, the Billy Joe's are back!

[PapaJohn]

2001 season:Redskins go 13-3, fall to Panthers in NFC championship

Despite using a run oriented offense, QB Johnson threw for over 3,000 yds. Westbrook and Connell both had 1,000 yd seasons. And Stephen Davis had over 1,000 yds rushing. DE Tony Brackens was a key signing this year, contributing with 11 sacks.

I was going to go in more detail for season 2, but let's just say the rookies are developing well and the veterans are restless.

Question: For the expansion team, I exposed CB Deions Sanders and DT Stubblefield who were killing my cap. They were both taken, so do their huge bonuses still count against me?

Year two I was only 10K under the cap, beginning of Year 3 Im 10M under the cap.

I didnt realize that 5th avenue was still considered undergrad material. Ive only played about 30 seasons of FOF football in my life. Thanks for the responses, and even the sarcasm.

2002 Amateur draft:

Rnd 1 - Arnold Borders, FB, Louisville
Rnd 2 - Emmanuel Collons, P, Temple
Rnd 3 - Joey Burkhart, DT, Augsburg
Rnd 4 - Larry Prescott, RB, Oregon
Rnd 5 - Robert Palumbo, WR, Iowa
Rnd 5 - Lance Ramsey, LB, Coe
Rnd 6 - Cris Dubreuil, CB, Duke

I never knew about the 7-year rule, but its a nice way to fill in roster holes. I dont have any talent signed to 7yr deals, but at least I dont have to worry about my scrubs for awhile.

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[PapaJohn]

2002 season:NFC Champion Redskins (11-5) get blown out in 2002 Super Bowl 27-3 by Indianapolis Colts

Redskins GM after the game:

"When we hired Darren (Hahn) as head coach last year, we estimated it would take 3 seasons to get this team to the playoffs. He and his scouting staff have put us in playoff contention in his first two seasons with us, so although we wish we won the championship, our hats off to the coaches and players for working so hard and coming together as a team.

How did you manage a #1 overall pick again? not mention another 3 #1's??

Well one was ours, of course. We traded Colorado a #2 and #3 for their #1. We traded QB Brad Johnson to the Bengals with picks #4-#7 for two #1's. And then we traded RB Stephen Davis to Cleveland with a #2 and a pair of #3's for their #1. The Davis trade is the one that got us the overall #1, so it was a gamble with a huge payoff for us. Despite the roster changes, our future stars pulled together and got us to the superbowl.

One benefit of franchising a player (and letting the game sign him) I learned this season (Brad Johnson) is that you can still trade this person, plus he has no bonus money working against you.

Our draft:
Rnd 1 (1) - Desmond McDaniel, DE, West Virginia -- gonna be a monster!!
Rnd 1 (11)- Kim Peyton, WR, Penn State -- will start!
Rnd 1 (27)- Jon MacLean, WR, Auburn -- will start!
Rnd 1 (31)- Darnell Krueger, TE, Pittsburgh -- a monster with soft hands and speed!
Rnd 6 - Dominic Shapiro, QB, Western Michigan
Rnd 7 - Arnie Sheehan, G, Nebraska

3 seasons down, and I almost have this team where I want it. I have just a few positions to tinker with. Playing this team, makes me realize the trouble the real Redskins are going to have with all their old guys and high-priced players. Deion Sanders had such a backloaded contract I couldnt trade him for a #7 pick. He is gone now, stinking ex-Cowboy!


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[PapaJohn]

2003 season: Redskins (13-3)take revenge on Panthers in NFC title game, go on to romp Steelers 35-3 in the Super Bowl!

"Billy Joe got hurt in the division title game, so we signed Ray Lucas for the remainder of the season. He led us to victory and became the Super Bowl MVP. Billy Joe East (out with injury)threw for over 4,600 yds/34TD/16INT/98.8 rating on the season and was the NFL MVP and made the All-Pro 1st team. The key was signing Randy Moss after Westbrook retired and opening up the offense for our QBs.

The Redskins allowed only 11 yds rushing, and 139 total yards in the Super Bowl.

Amateur Draft Report:

Rnd 1 - Thomas Larose, DT, Prairie View A&M
Rnd 1 - Wesley Nesbitt, LB, Illinois
Rnd 2 - Tyrus McFarlane, WR, Michigan State
Rnd 4 - Curtis Dabbs, RB, Tenn. - Chattanooga
Traded a QB Shapiro and my #1 for Arizona DT Harvey Dove, traded a #3,#4, and 3-#5's to San Diego for their #1

Tip: To reduce injuries in preseason, and to get a good look at everyone, manually set playing time to "1" for all players.


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[PapaJohn]

2004 season: The Redskins (13-3) settle an old score with the Colts, win the Super Bowl 45-20. A new dynasty?

Amateur draft for 2005:
1(12) - Mitch Richter, G, North Carolina St.
3 - Jimmy Wynn, FB, Central Florida

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[PapaJohn]

2005 Season:Redskins (15-1) fall in Super Bowl to Kansas City Chiefs 14-20

Redskins rehire head coach and head scout for another 5 seasons.

2006 Amateur draft
1(31) - Corey Blair, LB, San Jose St.
3 - Chad Robbins, RB, Morehead St.
3 - Jackie Stargell, WR, Arizona
4 - Benjamin Whitman, C, North Carolina St
5 - Les O'Dauer, WR, Louisiana St

[PapaJohn]

2006 season: Redskins (12-4) beat Steelers 41-16 in Super Bowl

2007 Amateur draft
1 (32) Andrew Cameron, RB, North Carolina State
2 - Shawn Greene, CB, Mississippi State

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[PapaJohn]

2007 Season:Redskins(10-6) lose to Seahawks in SuperBowl with a last second TD pass. Final score, 39-38.

2008 Amateur Draft
Rnd 1 - Renaldo Welsh, DE, Florida State
Rnd 1 - Darryl Reese, CB, New Mexico State
Rnd 3 - Rodney Doub, TE, Temple
Rnd 3 - Emmitt Upshaw, C, Virginia Tech
Rnd 3 - Myron Sutter, G, Southern California

[PapaJohn]

2008 Season: Redskins (12-4) back on top in Super Bowl, beating the Jets 37-24.


Rnd 1 - Quinn Key, WR, Washington State
Rnd 1 - Clyde Greer, LB, North Carolina State
Rnd 3 - Norman Linquist, T, Louisiana State
Rnd 3 - Emmanuel Wooden, DE, Washington State
Rnd 5 - Edwin Kemp, T, Stanford
Rnd 6 - Rich Rooks, DT, Kentucky

[PapaJohn]

2009 Season: in progress