GroupThink - 1993 offseason

[QuikSand]

1993 offseason

Well, first things first. If you thought we might suffer from the “one and done” retirement syndrome (where players get their first title and walk away from the game) think again. We have a clean sheet on retirements. This may not be a good thing – with the long-term injuries that we still face.

Actually, upon looking at the injury sheet, we only have LT Hardy Woolridge listed as out, and his timetable has him coming back next year, perhaps (56 weeks). He counts for some $5.6m this year – but that isn’t the end of the world.

Here’s the real rub. DE Percy Foley, injured nearly all of last season, is now a shell of his former self. He’s in his 13th year anyway, but now his once-mighty ratings have dropped to be very average. He doesn’t look like a throwaway, but with a salcap hit of over $11m this year, he’ll be in jeopardy. He is listed as healthy, and is not a fan favorite, so we may consider whether to release him and take a cap hit of $2.25 this year and $4.5 next. It’s probably a fait accomplit. Tough break – but at least we got him a ring, I suppose – he’s an all-time great in this league, even though it was mostly before our time.

The Ox looks just dandy, fully recovered from his injuries. So, we can have a full discussion about what we do at the RB position, with two popular players giving us quality efforts.

I can’t recall for sure, but it looks to me like DE C.J. Davison may have suffered some dropoff. His ratings for run defense and PR technique are still strong, but now he doesn’t look so sharp with his complemetary ratings.

So, that’s a quick snapshot with our roster situation.


Financially, we got into the black last year for the first time, clearing $11 million! That’s also great news for the franchise – we have our ship in order both on the field and on the books.


Our head coach, Full Contact Jarvis, is indeed up for a new deal. Since we are trying to maintain realism here, I’m going to go ahead and try to keep him around – he did just take us all the way, after all. He accepts an offer for $6m per year, for three more seasons – so he’ll be back at the helm for the upcoming title defense season. That allows us to move ahead to the real debates…

We have only a handful of veteran players without contracts, believe it or not, so the choice on a franchise tag is pretty easy. We must make an offer to QB Pritchett, but past that we’re in the clear. We’ll forego using the tag this year, again.

[QuikSand]

File update #2

[Bee]

How much is Pritchett wanting?

[primelord]

He is asking for 7.9 Mil over 2 years. It could be worse I guess.

[Bee]

Yep. That's not nearly as bad as I feared.

[primelord]

Another problem we have is QB John Barker is also a fan favorite. So doesn't that mean we have to offer him a contract as well?

And did we break our house rules by resiging Isaac Terry last season? I went back and looked and it looks like we are only allowed to resign our guys in their last season if they are "classy veterans". Terry doesn

[Bee]

Terry was a restricted free agent, not under contract. So it wasn't a renegotiation, it was a resigning. We might have broken the rule about resigning our guys under the 20 step FA period though (we waited until after that to resign him). I think we have a rule anyone signed after the 20 step process should only be a URFA with a 1 year deal? Maybe QS could clarify that?

I think we made an exception for trading fan favorites (if a more popular player was at that postion), but didn't say if that was the case fo resigning them. I'm inclined to force us to resign him (or at least offer him his desired contract). I think by trading a player, you take a bigger hit to the salary cap. Letting them leave via free agency, you don't get any punishment. I think we should have to offer him a contract, if we resign him and no longer want him we have to trade him and take the salary cap hit. I just think overall there should be a negative affect to the team if we lose a fan favorite. That's just my look at it though, if we go another way that's fine with me.

[primelord]

Oh my word. Has anyone looked at how much Kent Wolfe is asking for???

$113.2 million over 5 years!!!!

It's going to be a damn shame to lose him. I expectde his request to be high, but I figured by the time we got to the end of the free agency process he might be reasonable. Even if he comes down from that number I can't see him getting down to a number we can afford.

[Bee]

Well, he was a heck of a player while he lasted.

[QuikSand]

I think we altered our "fan favorite" rule a bit last season - saying that we could not trade away nor cut a player who was rated fan favorite or idolized, unless there is another player rated as highly or higher at the same position.

Thus, at QB - that kept us from having to keep our entire trio, all of whom were popular. I think that's a pretty reasonable implementation of the real-life effects of popular players.

[QuikSand]

Okay, let's sort out our numbers a bit here.

We have 33 players under contract, and we have $22.6m under the salary cap. We have our original seven draft picks at the ass end of each round, which are projected to run us $7 million - that leaves us about $16m to sign another 13 players. That's not awful... until you consider who's slated to be leaving.

DT Kent Wolfe, a super-genius 4th round pick from our initial draft, is just gone. At well over $20m per season, there's just no way we get him back, period. He'll doubtlessly sign a olne-year cheap deal with some team after we toss him back... but he won't be with us. Get over it.

QB John Barker looks tough as well - he wants $3.8 this year and up from there. Assuming we have Pritchett back (which I think is pretty likely) I think Barker will be too pricey for a #3 QB.

RB Keith Baker has been nice, but he wants big bucks and will go. We still have two solid RBs, so we can handle this, I think.

SLB Gerald John has been a decent, cheap starter for us - a good fir for our system. Asking for $5m per-- he'll be getting our "Dear John" letter soon.

WR Corey Jacobs has been a nice returner, but is asking for real money and I don't see it happening. Buh-bye.

DE Gabe Blow wants $3m and change... I guess we cannot rule it out, but that's mostly because our DL is being emasculated. I don't think he's worth the money, but our desperation might bring him back, I suppose.

[primelord]

So by that rule we don't need to offer Barker a contract right?

[primelord]

If we have the cap space to spare. (I am sure we won't) I think we should offer RDE Pete Greer a deal. He is looking for a 1 year deal worth about 1 million dollars with no bonus.

[Bee]

I think we need to decide if we still have enough to make a run for it again next year.

If so, one of the key things we'll need is a decent starting LT via free agency (which may cost some money).

If not, we can look for someone to develop there in the draft (perhaps a 1st rounder?).

In any case, I think one of the first steps we need to take is deciding what our approach is going to be next year (rebuild or repeat?).

[primelord]

Well from a defensive perspective we are only losing 3 starters.

DT Kent Wolfe hurts the most he was just turning into a super star and now he gets to walk. I am holding out hope he will dramatically reduce his asking price, but I am sure we will have to part ways with him.

DE Gabe Blow is asking for a pretty resonable deal I think and although his numbers weren't eye popping he had very solid season last year. I wouldn't mind bringing him back, but I can understand if we can't.

SLB Gerald John is asking for too much for what he gave us. Especially last season. He didn't make many tackles for a guy playing the strong side. I think we can find a cheaper replacement. We can always slide Alan Martinez over to the strong side.

I think on defense we could probably plug the gaps enough to make another run. Although if we suffered many injuries we might be screwed because we will be very this in our reserves. We wonly have 4 Dlineman under contract right now.

[QuikSand]

At QB - we look good. Coghill is developing nicely, and gives us a solid future. We'll probably have old man Pritchett back this year on our original offer, which is fine. We probably lose Barker, but we can pick up another decent reserve-worthy guy.

At RB, we have two horses - doing fine there. Young FB carries his weight, too, and is still pretty cheap.

At WR, we have three youngsters - we're covered I think. TE is fine, too. We can fill in backups as need be, but have quality and depth, pretty affordably. (By the way, WR Shaun Blaine is developing into quite a player... as promised)

The OL needs some work, clearly. With Woolridge out, we are now very thin at OT, but the inside actually looks okay - at least in terms of starters. We pretty clearly have to rely on young Marshall Cunningham at one tackle spot, but left tackles aren't easy to come by.

The DL will also need work. We've got DT Ramsey now as the centerpiece... that's the only really good news. I think DT Castillo is a potential starter for this year, and is cheap. We probably stick with Davison, even though he's dropped off in skills. After that, the cupboards are pretty bare. DE Pete Greer might make sense as a potential re-signing... and maybe Kyle Cardenas, too. We need help, and lack the money to get it, I think.

At LB, we have guys coming back, but probably need to look closely at MLB Lonnie Bell's contract. We coudl save $8m by cutting him, and that might be unavoidable if we want to patch up elsewhere. We don't have a starting-caliber SLB, and with Gerald John leaving, that's a real hole. We also lack an obvious guy to switch to that spot. We have needs here, put plainly.

Boyd and Armstrong are very nice at CB, though pricey. We'd save nearly $11m by cuttign Armstrong - it has to be on the consideration list. At safety, our two starters are well paid, but solid. I'd liek to keep our starting foursome intact, but it takes dedication to their significant salaries.


Overall... it's not impossible, but it won't be easy. If we cut DE Percy Foley and clear out $9m this year, I think that gives us breathing room to fill in some gaps. Past that, it may come down to what we can live without.

[QuikSand]

Overall, I think we can hold this ship together, and give it another run in 1993.

[QuikSand]

I'm thinking that our top priorities might be:

starting defensive end
starting left tackle
starting strong-side linebacker
depth on the defensive line
depth in the secondary
depth on the offensive line

...in something close to that order. I don't think it's inconceivable to patch up most of these holes in one fashion or another with the cap space we have.

[Bee]

Well, I'd like a LT.

I'm going to my wife's gallery opening tonight. I won't be able to look at the latest files until tomorrow, so I won't be able to give any input on signings (or the draft if we get that far) before then. Just remember the LT is a key member of the offense.

[QuikSand]

Hmmm... filling our hole at LT with a free agent might be sensible, since we expect to get back Woolridge after this season. So maybe we get a rent-a-tackle for a one or two year deal, then move on.

LT Tracy Pederson, a former Roller, is asking for about $2m a year - he's decent, slightly run-inclined, and might be a good fit.

There are a fair number of passable guys asking for around $2m per season... I think that might be a conceptually good move.

[Doug5984]

Originally posted by QuikSand
Hmmm... filling our hole at LT with a free agent might be sensible, since we expect to get back Woolridge after this season. So maybe we get a rent-a-tackle for a one or two year deal, then move on.

LT Tracy Pederson, a former Roller, is asking for about $2m a year - he's decent, slightly run-inclined, and might be a good fit.

There are a fair number of passable guys asking for around $2m per season... I think that might be a conceptually good move.

We could wait until after the draft, then there always seems to be one or two players at every position who are capabale of starting, and since Wolldridge will probably be coming back we only need to sign someone to a one year deal....just a though to throw out there...

[primelord]

Doug our house rules don't allow us to sign anyone after the draft that isn't an undrafted free agent.

[wade moore]

busy friday night... i want to jump in, but don't have time atm.. will tonight or early morning.. but my short synopsis is i think we can make a run...

[QuikSand]

If we're willing to spend $3m on a defensive end, I think FA Bruce Lindsey might be a better value. It looks like he's been pretty solid, despite a flat rating in pass rush technique - he still has put up very decent numbers against both the run and pass.

I think Gabe Blow is going in the wrong direction... and he'll never get 40+ tackles, like Lindsay can. Just a thought... I also think that could end up being a sensible place to just try to fill in via the draft, since free agents are so prohibitively expensive.


At OLB, Dennis Blake looks like a good fit for our system, though he admittedly is a weak-sider. Mayeb Philip Sotelo is the best of the natural strong siders?


Hmmm... we need some more specific thoughts before we go ahead. Right now, the only thing I have entered is an offer to QB Pritchett. Has anyone else given thought to free agents we could pursue?

[wade moore]

QS,

I'll do some in-depth looking at the FA Class and our specific players in the morning. It's getting late and I just can't do it coherently right now... But don't worry, I'll give more specific opinions than what I have so far.

[wade moore]

QB

Our Guys - As stated, I think Pritchett will stay with us with the money we give him. He's not asking for QUITE as much as I expected, which is good. Coghill is still under contract, which is very nice... Pritchett can stay on long enough for those red bars of Coghill's to slide up some more.. Barker is asking for more money than Pritchett?! No thank you, see you later Jack (John, whatever). I would like to offer Dresselhaus the 650k 1 year deal that he wants, I still think he is an intrigueing young QB.
Free Agents - QB Randy Fredrickson, at 1.4 mil is quite intrigueing. He was in the league for 6 years and never took a snap, now in his first full year starting he threw for 60%. QB Bo Ellis is cheaper at 650k, and he has some nice potential. More than likely we'll get our 4th QB in the draft or with an URFA though.
Draft - QB Gino Lindsay looks REAL nice, but it looks like he'll go with an early pick, and I don't believe we're in the position to trade up very far. There are actually quite a few very solid qb's in the draft. Rico Harris could fall to us, which would be interesting since he is a big time scrambling QB -- might suit our offense well. If we look a bit lower, Rufus Dill looks like he could fit our offense well also. I'm weary about spending too high of a pick here, because it really seems like Coghill will be our long-term solution.

I'll run through each position as I get spurts of time today..

[QuikSand]

It looks to me like we have enough cap room to actually make a real move or two this season. We've been spending real money at the LB position in years past - is that something we'd want to do again?

Do we perhaps pony up for LB Gerald John, who is a pretty good fit for our system? He wants something liek $5m per year - but he's not a prototype OLB - maybe he'll sit unpursued, and his demands will come down as free agency goes onward?

Check out his stats - he was our best coverage backer last year, with 14 PD to 32 passes caught - those are numbers you just don't get from a linebacker. And while he's not exactly a big playmker (interceptions or pass rushing) that subtle contribution to our pass defense is pretty meaningful.

The more I look at the LB position, the more I think that this guy's price might not be as unreasonable as I had thought. There are only a few guys in free agency who are demonstrably better than him - and they all want $9-1lm this year. Gerald John wants $4.8, and up from there. It's not wholly outlandish.

Especially if we don't have a list of obvious things to do with that money we'd save by letting him go... I think retaining Gerald John might end up being the most sensible thing for us to do here at linebacker.


If we decide not to keep G John, then I tihnk our most obvious options are to either move MLB Brandon peabody over to play the sam, or else we sign SLB Philip Sotelo, who wants something just under $3m per season, and is decent.

[QuikSand]

At defensive end, I know we have just been burned... but would we be wise at this point to just cut Percy Foley, and recycle the $9m we'd save back into the DE position? Our point there was to get an impact pass rusher, and right now we look like we have zero such players.

DE Riddick Finley looks like he coudl be gotten to a long term deal for soemthing like $10m per year... and he's just enterinig his prime. J.R. Sheehan is also a very solid performer, though more balanced than Finley - still worth a serious paycheck, especially with our outstanding needs. No one guy makes me jump for joy, but signing a guy like Riddick Finley might get us back on the map with our pass rush.

Particularly after this year, when DE C.J. Davison will likely be gone - we're in dire need at the DE position. Looks like a new deal with DE Pete Greer might make an awful lot of sense... we're going to need depth of some kind, we know that much.

[Bee]

Offensive Line

LT: Tracy Pederson looks like the best option out there for us for a reasonable price. We'll need a backup as well, I suggest either picking one up late in the draft (if someone falls that we like) or just signing a URFA. Our main backup can be from the RT position for this season and next year we'll have Pederson and Wooldridge back (hopefully ).

LG: I'd like to bring Penick back if we can. He's not wanting big money or anything and he's as good as anyone else at that price. Should help our cohesion and gives us a solid backup in case we have an injury at guard.

C: I would like to let our backup center go (I think he's a RFA this season) and pick up FA Kendrick Hauck as the backup next season. Hauck is not wanting much money and would be a solid backup if necessary.

RG: I'm not a big fan of Newman, I'd like to see us trade him (maybe for a 3rd rounder?) and draft a young backup for Terry with that pick. That's assuming we resign Penick at LG to be our main guard backup.

RT: We need to get a backup RT. I like Emmanual Johnston, but there are a couple others in the same price category that would be good for a backup (like Mel Poston).

So I suggest we sign the following FAs:
LT Tracy Pederson - starter
LG Andre Penick - backup (our FA)
C Kendrick Hauck - backup
RT Emmanual Johnston - backup

and trade:
RG Fernando Newman for a 3rd rounder (I think that's reasonable, if you guys think that's too much or too little we can adjust it before the trade offer).

[wade moore]

First off, I will defer to Bee for the OL... I read his comments and glanced at the players, and I agree with his assessment...

RB

Our Guys - I would love to keep The Ox. Our GM seems content on the same thin, so this makes me quite happy. As I've stated before, Crawford and Baker have done well as backups, but they have averaged .9 and .6 less ypc respectively over their careers. And to think, The Ox is someone who I thought was not worth the money and I wanted to get rid of before our first season -- Good thing we have a farsighted GM who saw something in the kid, I love him now. Baker has been a great backup, but he's just that.. and our third stringer to boot. With less than 90 carries in the last two years, he wants over 9 mil per?! I don't think so, letting him go is a no-brainer. Crawford has really filled in his red bars well. I love him as the counterpart to The Ox, but it will be sad to see him go next year (er, we may have to offer cause he is idolized and The Ox is fan favorite?), because if we can avoid his contract, we should.. We don't want almost $20mil tied up in RBs. Tracy Sullivan was a filler RB that may be worth signing to the 1 year, 650k offer that he wants for the sake of cohestion.

Free Agents - There is really nothing I like here that is better than Sullivan for 650k. If we don't plan to grab an RB in the draft, Stanley Samuels might be a safe bet at 810k, but I would say a URFA is probably going to fair better than him.

The Draft - Umm... has anyone looked at the top two RBs in the draft?! If there is any way on this green earth that we could trade up to get Thurman Laporte or Kenneth McDonald (I like McDonald a little more), our running game would be IMPOSSIBLE to stop. I mean.. IMPOSSIBLE... In an odd way, I'd say it is worht trading The Ox to get one of these guys, but when I think about the NFL that makes no sense -- Trade a proven guy who you know can get it done and has years left for a guy who should be able to. But, either way, if we could trade something, anything to get one of these guys I would be the happiest man alive. Ok, moving back to the real world... I like Steven Battle as a potential 2nd or 3rd round pick if he would still be around at our very low position. For even later in the draft, Brant Fox looks like he could be a decent backup. Pretty much outside of the top two guys and Steven Battle, we may want to just hold off and get a URFA to fill in the 4th slot for a RB.

Synopsis

Resign:
FB Anunson (Backup)
RB Sullivan (Backup)

Pursue:
No one

Draft:
McDonald (1st round)
Laporte (1st round)
Battle (2nd or 3rd round)

[wade moore]

WR

Our Guys - Corey Jacobs, you are not that good. Have fun elsewhere. FL Wayne Hill has performed well for us and his contract is up next year, but he is a fan favorite. This could mean trouble for us, as he wants serious money. We MAY get outbid, but i'm afraid we might not. We're set with our starting two split ends for now, but I would like more consideration on whether Blaine should be moved to FL. I don't know how well the transitions work, so I would be curious to hear from those who have more experience with it.

Free Agents - SE Martin Hiller looks pretty good, despite the somewhat hefty price tag (a little over 2 mil) If we watn someone who can contribute on Special Teams, SE Ben Daniels is a better receiver than Jacobs was, but he can only return Kicks.

The Draft - I'm not good at picking out busts, but if he isn't one FL Harvey Corlett would be a great compliment to McAlister and might help open our offense a bit. Only problem is, he's probably a top 15 pick which puts us out of the picture. FL Randal Rayburn is intrigueing as a possible 1/2 pick because he could start at FL if Hill leaves, but he can also return kicks and punts shoring up that position for us. SE Lester Foster provides the same advantage of being a returner, although he would wallow at #3 in our SE depth chart and/or #2 at FL. SE Leland Cassidy might be worth a 3/4 pick due to his big play receiving alone.

Synopsis

Resign:
No one

Pursue:
SE Ben Daniels (only if not drafting a WR)

Draft:
FL Harvey Corlett (1st)
FL Rayburn (1st/2nd)
SE Foster 3/4

[wade moore]

TE

This one is easy.. We've got two solid guys.. we can pick up a URFA for the third spot and draft a TE to replace Loftis in the future if that is the BPA, otherwise, I don't see doing much at this position.. Along with our GM, I'm very happy with the tandem we have..

[wade moore]

K/P

I think we keep Covington, nothing out there seems like a big step up. There are a few P's I wouldn't mind grabbing in the draft if they're available at the right time -- particuraly Geoff Jarvis, he can really nail the ball. Also Fernando Garrard looks good, not as much power, but great control.

[Doug5984]

Well after reading all of the posts on what we should do during the offseason I tend to agree with everything already said. As for WR, I would like to see if maybe we can play switch 'em up with the WRs if they won't take rating hits, I think McAllister should be our flanker, Blaine the back up FL, and Hill the SE....BUT if they were to take any sort of rating hit then it is really no big deal how it is....I really hope we get a 1,000 yard reciever next year, that is the only thing we have yet to do.

As for Defense, I think we have some holes to fill on the D-line, and besides that if we just add some depth we might be able to make another run for the championship.

This offseason I think we should concentrate on just filling glaring needs, then maybe sign some backups to 1 and 2 year deals with around 1-2 million a year, this would give us some good depth, and not hurt us in the next few seasons when it appears we might be rebuilding.

[wade moore]

Offensive Priorities:

LT
Depth on the Line
Young RB
Young FL


Doug - as for the 1,000 yard receiver.. I know that is something you want, but the way I'm running the offense that just isn't a priority of mine. Obviously I am going for ball control and as long as we get rushing yards, passing yards -- particuraly to WRs -- is just icing on the cake.. I'd rather have 3 WR's total 2,500 yards with another 1,000 or so between RBs, FBs, and TEs than have a WR with 1,500 yards, another with 500 and the RBs, FBs, and TEs getting 500...

[primelord]

Sorry guys I am not sure how much time I am going to ahve to contribute this weekend. We have a lot going on.

I will make a few comments now though. I am in favor of cutting our losses with Percy and reinvesting it in another stud DE. Finley looks awesome and would be an excellent pick up for us. I alos really like Greer and agree with Quik it makes sense to look into sigining him. Maybe we could push him to a second year with no bonus.

At LB Lonnie Bell is not aging particularly well. His ratings have dropped quite a bit from when we first signed him. I wouldn't be terribly against cutting him also. But that would meane we would have a decent chunk of dead cap from those two over the next two years. If we free up that 8 million from Bell is it at all possible for us to pursue a guy like MLB J.B. Wolfe?

After looking at some of the other SLB's on the market I agree with Quik that John's demands don't look nearly as bad as they did. I would like to see him make a few more tackles, but what can you do.

I guess my ideal free agency would be for us to cut Foley, Bell, and Kold. That would hopefully give us enough money to pursue. Finley and Wolfe. And then if we can find the money to sign John that would be great, but if not slide Peabody over to the strong side.

[QuikSand]

I'll hope to launch the FA process tomorrow morning... we have a sense of direction it seems.

[QuikSand]

Okay, didn't get to it this morning... was too nice outside. But I'll spend a few minutes with a proposed outline of moves now- after I post that, it will give us more focus for our discussion, at least.

[QuikSand]

1993 Free Agency – a proposed course of action

Release DE Percy Foley, saves us $9m this year – cap room up to $31.6m.
Release WILB Jeremy Kolb (GM takes the heat for this one)


FA Offers to:

QB Roger Pritchett – 2 yrs, $7.9m
LG Andre Penick – 3yrs, $6.9m
LT Tracy Pederson – 2 yrs, $4.0m
RT Emanuel Johnson – 2yrs, $2.7m
C Donovan Jackson – 2yrs, $2.6m
DE Riddick Finley – 4yrs, $40m*
DE Ken Zessin – 2yrs, $2.6M
LB J.B. Wolfe – 2yrs, $20.5m
LB Albert Ramsey – 2yrs, $2.1m
CB Walt Crawford – 2yrs, $1.9m

Player re-signed already:
DE Peter Greer – 2 yrs, $2.3m

With that, my plan is to put in a decent offer for MLB Wolfe, and if he signs, then we cut our current starter at MLB, Lonnie Bell. I don’t know if we’d end up with DE Finley – he ought to be heavily pursued, but ours is a pretty strong offer, I think. I suspect we’ll get most of our other pursuits. (CB Crawford is a decent return man, at a very affordable price – the other new names are affordable no-bonus offers… if we don’t need the players, we can easily cut these guys)


That’s my basic plan. I don’t see how we can afford spending real money on a free agent WR… I’d rather look for a rookie there.

Overall, I think this would probably leave us looking at DL, WR, RB, and DB for our top rookie picks, in part depending on what happens with DE Finley and LB Wolfe. In the event we don’t get DE Finley, then I think we might have the cash to go after re-signing DT Kent Wolfe during the later stages of free agency – if his demands come down pretty appreciably.

That’s more or less where my head is… what say you?

[wade moore]

I agree 100% with your plan.. I definately agree with the WR. I think on this team, WR is a position we should never spend big money on, unless it is re-signing a fan favorite..

I'm very interested to see how the draft goes...

[primelord]

Quik,

Actually I think I made a mistake on which LB I wanted to pursue. I said J.B. Wolfe (who is very good himself), but I meant Edwin Hill. Hill is a better run defender, better zone defender, better at bump and run, better with play diagnosis, and is younger. Plus he is looking for roughly the same money as Wolfe. Is it too late to change our offer?

[QuikSand]

primelord, I have put in a new offer - 4yrs, $45m (last seaosn voidable) to MLB Edwin Hill. The strategy is basically the same, it's just a matter of swapping out Wolfe for Hill. I still would plan to cut Lonnie Bell if we get Hill.

[primelord]

Originally posted by QuikSand
primelord, I have put in a new offer - 4yrs, $45m (last seaosn voidable) to MLB Edwin Hill. The strategy is basically the same, it's just a matter of swapping out Wolfe for Hill. I still would plan to cut Lonnie Bell if we get Hill.

Excellent.

[wade moore]

I know QS was probably enjoying the weather we had on the East Coast like me, that's why no moves today. what a slacker, would that fly in the NFL?!! Just kidding, I merely wanted to rib the GM a bit..

[QuikSand]

We head into free agency, loaded to make a series of moves to move forward.

In the first week of free agency, we get some potentially bad news. LB Edwin Hill, our top pursuit for the critical MLB position, is being courted by several other teams. Our deal doesn’t even stack up against their top deals – Kitty Hawk is looking at $52m over the same four years we offered $45 – I don’t think we’ll land this big fish.

We look good to get DE Riddick Finley, though. So, our DL situation shouldn’t be too bad – though we will still need depth.

Roger Pritchett re-signs with us, and so we will have some very visible continuity coming off our title season. I have to think this will pose us some challenges… do you really bench the guy who won it all for you, and won the Superbowl MVP (while injured, even)?

We get to week six, have most of our players signed… but MLB Edwin Hill is still sitting out there, mulling over his many offers. Finally, in week nine, it’s Kitty Hawk who lands the big fish – they reel in LB Edwin Hill for about $13m per year.

We’re approaching the late FA stages now, and LB Gerald John still sits… with no contract for this year. As reflected earlier, he is a good fit for our system – a very solid zone defender, and a decent complement to our better run stoppers at the other spots.

However, DT Kent Wolfe is still looking for monstrous cash. I just don’t see how we make that work – even if we were to cut our MLB Lonnie Bell.

As we prepare to wrap up the free agency period, here’s where we are:
41 players signed, 7 more coming in the draft, $2.4m in excess cap room

I decide against trying to pull anything off before the draft – so we will go ahead into the rookie draft, and then we’ll move forward from there, including some serious roster reckoning.


Rather than speculating ad nauseum about what might happen ahead of us in the draft, I’ve decided to go ahead with at least the early draft stages… if a standout seems to be falling close to our pick, I may stop things, and give us a chance to decide what to do. With that, we’ll go ahead and run the beginnings of the rookie draft:

1. Fort Wayne - Norton, Oliver, DT, Rhode Island
2. Norfolk - Gale, Steven, T, Tennessee
3. Niagara Falls - Perron, Hugh, DE, Southern Mississippi
4. Death Valley - Atchison, Spencer, QB, Iowa
5. Athens - Hills, Alvin, T, Minnesota
6. Providence - Lander, Ken, CB, Towson
7. Thunder Bay - Hickman, Jessie, DE, Washington State
8. Ypsilanti - McDonald, Kenneth, RB, Ferris State
9. Louisville - Harding, Lance, DE, Wake Forest
10. Sault Ste. Marie - Corlett, Harvey, WR, Michigan State
11. Napa Valley - Laporte, Thurman, RB, Kansas State
12. Cheyenne - Becker, Steve, ILB, Michigan State
13. Puget Sound - Hoyle, Jon, DE, UCLA
14. Fort Knox - Lindsay, Gino, QB, South Carolina
15. Bermuda - Mitchell, Jim, DT, Indiana Univ., Pa.
16. Memphis - Gonzalez, Rick, DE, Notre Dame
17. Ocean City - Garcia, Jerome, T, Washington
18. Pensacola - Farner, Derrick, DT, Harvard
19. Lake Erie - Crowninshield, Paul, RB, Virginia
20. Hawk Mountain - Fuller, Benjamin, C, UCLA
21. Kitty Hawk - Bunting, A.J., G, Pace
22. Nashua - Battle, Steven, RB, Marshall
23. Mazatlan - Bigelow, Chester, DT, Purdue
24. Key West - Covington, Quinn, WR, Texas
25. Champaign - Anthony, Michael, DE, South Carolina
26. Wheeling - Howen, Ben, DE, Fort Lewis
27. Tulsa - Goodwin, Alonzo, RB, Oklahoma
28. Kitty Hawk - Woolley, Mickey, S, Sacred Heart (Conn.)
29. Thunder Bay - Jackson, Reggie, ILB, Maryland
30. Manhattan - Cushenbery, Hunter, QB, Miami, Florida
31. Sacramento - Van Pelt, J.C., DE, Minnesota

Well, nobody sitting there at pick #20 or so really bowled me over, so I have exercised yet another executive decision, and run the draft up to our first pick. Time for some discussion about our collective priorities, and how we might go with this pick in that light.

[QuikSand]

File update #1

[QuikSand]

And file #2

[QuikSand]

Hmmm... I'm not exactly bowled over by the remainig draft prospects at our obvious "need" areas. We could do okay at WR here (maybe Perea?) but I don't see a standout at DL or LB... too bad, too. Any other thoughts?

[primelord]

Quik,

What do you think of DT Clyde Cote? I know he has a punish hitting rating that could be a concern, but if he pans out he would be a great one to pair with Ramsey.

Also since we landed Finley we have to decide if we want to shift him or Davison over to LDE. I am guessing we want to move Davison.

[QuikSand]

I think DT Clyde Cote is pretty much a bust. He'll be a decent marginal starter, but never anything more. Pass.

(I honestly think that "seeing" rookies in the draft for what they are [with a reasonable degree of frequency] is the biggest difference between this game perhaps being a bit challenging, and just being a total pushover)