A New NFL: A Detroit Lions Franchise (Madden 12)

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So I once again got the urge to restart (again). This time I will travel to the football universe I created and have used since 5th grade. The only reason I haven't used it is because it features a lot of unrealistic things (lots of trades that would never happen, etc., etc.), but I have decided to play in this universe anyway. Over the next few posts I will sum up what has happened in the past few years and bring you to current day.

Settings
Game: Madden 12
Difficulty: All Madden
Quarter Length: 10 minutes

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2010

2010 was a huge turning point in the NFL. The 2010 draft was hailed as the best draft in league history, as a huge influx of talent came into the league. The draft produced 8 current starting quarterbacks, and numerous starters at other positions. Here is a short draft summary pointing out impact players.

1. DET- Baby Snoots QB/Michigan
3. DEN- Dora Money QB/Ohio State (yes, a woman player has joined the league)
7. PHI- John Lopez QB/Georgia
9. WAS- Drevan Stafford QB/Louisville
21. CAR- Aaron Connors QB/Cal
22. DET- San McGigabobber HB/Michigan
25. DEN- Purrito Money HB/Ohio State
26. MIA- Mike Outrage WR/USC
33. STL- J.J. Bruckley QB/Middle Tennesee State
36. CLE- Jimmy Hood QB/Western Michigan
39. MIA- Tico Bowden QB/Eastern Michigan
63. NYJ- Michael White QB/Cincinnati

NOTE: Anyone drafted from 2010 on in real life is not in this franchise.

The 2010 season featured many surprises, such as the Lions and Brocos turning it around and getting back to the postseason. The Super Bowl featured the Broncos and the Saints, with the Broncos winning 42-31. Rookie HB Purrito Money won Super Bowl MVP.

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2011

The 2011 draft definently wasn't as noteworthy as the 2010 one, and actually ended up being quite disappointing. There actually weren't any impact players in the draft, so I will not recap it.

The 2011 season was quite exciting again, as once again the Lions were near the top and so were the Broncos. You could tell one of the great rivalries in the league was going to be Snoots vs. Money. The Lions ended up making it to the NFC Championship, where they would lose to da Bears 31-7. However, the Bears would lose to the Colts in a Super Bowl rematch, 29-25. Peyton Manning won Super Bowl MVP.

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2012

The 2012 offseason was an interesting one to say the least. It started out with a blockbuster move by the Detroit Lions, as they traded away their 2 young stars Baby Snoots and San McGigabobber to the Chiefs for 3 first round draft picks. Then, after being benched in favor of former 5th round pick QB Louis Orkedi, Aaron Rodgers was dealt to the Houston Texans for multiple first round picks in the years to come. The next domino to fall was Tom Brady, who felt he was being underpaid. Because of this, he was dealt to Oakland for multiple first round picks. All of this set up for an interesting draft, and it sure was. Here are some notable impact players taken:

1. MIA: David Sills QB/USC
4. DET: Caleb Henderson QB/Michigan
8. SEA: Matt Sanchez QB/Northwestern
9. TEN: Nick Hall QB/Michigan State
22. TEN: Robert Campbell WR/Michigan State
29. DET: Quentin Thomas HB/Minnesota
35. MIN: Colby Fenton QB/Wisconsin
112. TB: Rowley Davidson QB/Indiana
174. SD: Rupert Nobles QB/LSU

In the 2012 season, more young QB's began to emerge, as 7 of the 12 playoff teams had QB's starting for them with 3 or less years of experience. The Lions were not one of those teams however, as they finished a disappointing 7-9. In the end, the Super Bowl was a rematch of Super Bowl 12, as the John Lopez-led Eagles took on Tom Brady and the Oakland Raiders. The Raiders came in dominating, winning each playoff game by 23 points or more, while the Eagles came in hot as a Wild Card team. In the end, 3rd year QB John Lopez would get the win for the young guns, 28-23. We were starting to see who really owned this league.

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2013

2013 brought another exciting offseason, as there were numerous trades and supposedly the best draft class since 2010. The offseason began with the Super Bowl Champion Eagles trading for Larry Fitzgerald and signing former Cheif Dwayne Bowe. Meanwhile, to replace Larry, the Cardinals went out and picked up Brandon Marshall to a 6 year, 105 million dollar contract, the biggest for a receiver in NFL History. Meanwhile, the Cowboys were done with Tony Romo, so they dealt him to the Bengals, who were done with Andy Dalton. To replace Romo, the Cowboys traded with Cleveland to get their starting QB, Jimmy Hood. Da Bears were tired of Jay Cutler, so they cut him in favor of 3rd round pick Michael White, who came back after his year long absence from the NFL. Cutler ended up in New Orleans, backing up Drew Brees. This would take us to the NFL Draft. Here are the Top 10 picks plus other impact players:

1. BUF: Omar Ryans QB/Florida State
2. GB: Nick Renner QB/Georgia
3. HOU: Dalton Fairchild WR/Wisconsin
4. DAL: Junior Kopp S/Michigan
5. CLE: Teddy Shaw HB/Tennessee
6. MIN: Andy Good WR/Ohio State
7. SF: Caleb Jones QB/Oklahoma
8. NE: Kenny Waller CB/Alabama
9. DET: T.J. Fordham HB/Arkansas
10. DEN: Evan Garcia WR/South Carolina
12. CLE: Damien Zimmerman QB/Miami(FL)
16. ARZ: Dakota Plummer WR/Penn State
42. CLE: Jordan Brees WR/Oklahoma State
65. NE: Boran White QB/Tennessee

The 2013 season was interesting and exciting. There were many different storylines that occurred during the season. From the Vikings starting the year 7-0 to finish 8-8, the Broncos starting 4-0 to finish 8-8, the downward tailspin of Eli Manning's career which led to his eventual benching, another disappointing year for the Lions as they finished 5-11, the resurgence of the Chiefs, Bears, and Ravens, the regression of the Redskins and Cardinals, to the runs of the Cowboys, Giants, and Texans, watching this season play out was a blast. The Giants benched Eli Manning after his Week 4 performance for 2nd year QB Tim Washington. However, Washington was underwhelming in the games he started, so the Giants signed Nat Chicken, a 29 year old undrafted player who played in the PFL (basically like the Arena Football League) before this. Chicken played well enough to keep the job, and take the Giants to the postseason as the 6 seed. There New York got hot, winning all 3 of their games before the Super Bowl by 11 points or more. On the other side would be the Aaron Rodgers led Houston Texans, who were 6-6 during Week 13. However, they won their last 4 games, and got into the playoffs at the 5 seed. Houston won all 3 games, not as dominant as the Giants, but they still got to the Super Bowl. In the end, the Texans knocked out Nat Chicken with a seperated shoulder, which ended up costing the Giants dearly as the offense was not the same with Tim Washington at the helm. The Texans won, 21-7, and Aaron Rodgers was named Super Bowl MVP.

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2014

The 2014 offseason looked like another exciting one, and it didn't disappoint. This year there wasn't much to talk about in free agency, but it was the draft that got the main headlines. Before the draft, the Colts, Ravens, and Chargers orchestrated a massive trade that sent Joe Flacco to San Diego, Peyton Manning to Baltimore, and the Colts some first round picks. This huge deal overshadowed the draft, which featured an ok class. Here are the first round selections and other high profile guys:

1. JAC: Wiley Fancyson T/Boise State
2. CLE: Dee Franklin T/Oklahoma
3. ARZ: Greg Shards DE/Michigan
4. DET: Quiet Brown CB/Penn State
5. WAS: Mike Duul G/Oklahoma
6. CLE: Johnny Klein S/LSU
7. NYJ: Kid Grease DE/Troy
8. SD: Todd Lyons S/Texas
9. NE: Ray Morgan S/Georgia
10. DEN: Cody Mannion CB/Oklahoma
11. ATL: Dre Wright S/Alabama
12. STL: Andy Deffers LB/Virginia Tech
13. TB: Tyler Lopez QB/Arkansas
14. MIN: Brady Cunningham WR/Oklahoma
15. CAR: Jeff Brown DT/North Carolina
16. NE: Rich Ryan DE/Northwestern
17. DAL: Troy Glaver C/Wisconsin
18. SF: Canton James DE/West Virginia
19. TEN: Kelly Eubanks LB/Florida State
20. PIT: Rod Browning HB/Alabama
21. OAK: Alex Ryans LB/Alabama
22. NO: Phillips Phillups TE/Auburn
23. CHI: Ezra Taylor LB/Alabama
24. PHI: Peter Patterson LB/Stanford
25. KC: Brian Cain S/Alabama
26. SEA: Teddy Jordan S/N.C. State
27. CLE: Canta Alualu LB/Arizona
28. MIA: Orlando Banks S/USC
29. CLE: Bobby Verlander T/Oregon
30. DET: Drew Martinez Kill LB/N.C. State
31. BUF: Maurice Long S/Oklahoma
32. HOU: J.P. Morgan C/BYU
34. BAL: Percy Young QB/Michigan State
36. DET: Seal Tatum G/Stanford
41. NYG: Christian Zazzali QB/Wisconsin
51. TEN: Eben Walowitz HB/Mississippi State
53. CIN: Jonah Hernandez QB/ECU
55. IND: Justin Robinson QB/Kentucky
68. DET: Brian Lee LB/Alabama
75. ATL: Tommy Schweers QB/LSU
83. DET: Jared Fairchild S/Texas Tech
84. PIT: Norman Hale K/Fresno State
95. NYG: Stefan Paccioli HB/Wisconsin
100. DET: Demetrius Sutton DT/ Boise State
161. JAC: Toad Wilson QB/Michigan
177. OAK: Jim Payge HB/Wisconsin
224. HOU: Josh Romney QB/Oregon (Mr. Irrelevant)

NOTE: I was able to recap this draft better because I recorded the picks, as opposed to the other ones, which I recalled off the top of my head.

Unfortunately, the 2014 NFL season would not be as exciting as the ones before it as there would be no 2014 season. The players and league could not come to terms until November 2014, where they finally reached a deal that heads into 2020.

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2015

All of this finally takes us to present day, 2 months before the 2015 season. There was no 2015 NFL Draft, so the 2014 draftees are still rookies. Now, let's get to covering the team I'm supposed to cover: The Detroit Lions.

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I finally finished summarizing and caught us up to present day. If you have any questions about where a player went, feel free to comment and I will tell you.

Another thing I will tell you guys is how exactly I will be running this dynasty. Instead of just updating this on random days like I have been in the past, I will stick to a tight schedule of putting out updates every Sunday, Monday, and occasionally Thursday's. I found that doing this in the past has helped me keep this universe going, so that's what I'll do. Also, I'll start the season on January 8th, as that is close to the end of football season so I won't be more intrested in the real games than mine lol. In that time I'll put out a ton of pre-season articles, so stay tuned.