Utah Ulmanac | 2023

[Aston]

past reports: (2018) End of the Wynn Era?, (2020) Draft Results, (2020) Bees Report, (2021) Utah Herald, (2022) Bumbling Bees

2023 | Utah Bees

A regular season for the ages -- a steamroller through the playoffs - and an epic embarrassment in the Bowl. 2022 was a wild, entertaining ride, with a spectacular finish...only for us, spectacularly, down-in-flames awful.

The Bees will have to try to shake this black mark they have earned, the Scarlet Letter "L" sewn onto their practice jerseys as a reminder of just how much they looked like losers a few short weeks ago in February.

It's quite simple, really. That Week 14 gameday is already circled on every calendar in Salt Lake City in bright red ink. Beat Dakota. Or the letters stay.

The Calm before the Storm

This is poised to be a low-key offseason for the Bees, as we look to the cap situation. The last one started on an eerily similar note. 41 players on the roster, 13 restricted free agents in 2022; 41 and 13 in 2023 (franchise P M.Russ brings it to 42 officially).

And there's not much internal business to take care of right now. The keys will be working out deals for receiver Alvin Foley (7th year) and Carlos Melnick (5th year). Also on the to-do list:

LT Bruce Roberts
TE Mario Bradford
LB Howard Cote
FS Chester Foster
G Mike Huffman
P Matt Russ

With Foley and Melnick, the years they had, a contentious contract standoff is possible. We expect this to be an unusually light year on the renegotiation side, though. It's the ones upcoming that worry us. The deals expiring in...

2024
CB Quinn Robinette
C Stephen Wells
C Dominic Galloway
DE Robbie Kerr
SS Brent Driscoll
K Troy Parrish
RT Tyrus Hutton

2025
QB Randy Boone
RB Earnest Giang
DE Emmanuel Logan
LB Norbert Slaten
WR Colin Fletcher
LG Cedric Rodgers
LB Dan Harper

These lists may as well be a who's who of "everyone we got". We'll need to be judicious with our bonus money in FA this year, in order to keep the group we have together beyond '25. A pity, this FA class is shaping up to be really nice.

<small>
Note: sometime in the next few years, a stadium renovation could be up for discussion. Not sure when the finances will allow, but we'd sure like some more seats in those stands...

Utah's 2023 Draft Stock: 1.13, 1.30, 2.26, 2.27, 2.31, 3.7, 3.21, 3.31, 4.7, 4.30, 5.20, 5.31, 6.31
</small>

[Aston]

Reports coming out of Utah are that team officials go to sleep every night shaking in fear of the possibility that Randy Boone will hold out of training camp this year.

Supposedly the Bees GM was heard muttering, "He played like $#!t in the bowl, ***** ****** ***** **** that ***** ******", had it caught on mic and all. The whole thing got to be a bit of a national scandal, and the Boone camp isn't too happy about it.

Rumor has it that Boone wants a 5-year deal worth $108.75 million in a move that would make him, by far, the highest-paid QB in the league. Apparently, Randy feels his play over the past three seasons merits being paid as such.

Randy's current deal runs through 2025; he has three seasons remaining on his contract at $8.38 million per.

[Aston]

<small>
Utah's 2023 Draft Stock: 1.13, 1.30, 2.26, 2.27, 2.31, 3.7, 3.21, 3.31, 4.7, 4.30, 5.20, 5.31, 6.31</small>

The Bees started with 13 picks and ended up making seven selections (same as '22). With a barren FA pool, thought we'd get more...but the draft fell off a cliff in the 3rd round.

Add to that a couple of targets scooped from us late -- namely, Kreitzer to Phoenix, and Stephenson to Chicago.

We passed on two major studs in RB Jenkins and DT Howe, who both would have been steals where we picked in round 1 and 2. And we could have gotten a corner later, and didn't need a guard. How well we did this draft depends hugely on if we made the right calls up top.

Right now, I'd rather have Jenkins, Howe, and Hatcher. Live and learn.

<small>
Fun fact: of our thirteen original selections, we made two of them (1.13 and 3.21). Portland made four of them.

Draft haul breakdown: two corners, two receivers, two OL, and a safety. yuck, eh? lotsa double dipping here.</small>

[BradZ]

Fun fact: of our thirteen original selections, we made two of them (1.13 and 3.21). Portland made four of them.

We're going to institute transaction fees payable to the league office next season.

[Aston]

2023 Draft Class

Oh, Howe I wish I didn't pass up Howe, twice! And Clay's RB that I had no idea would be so good...this is a poor-looking draft for us with plenty of more missed-on prospects than that. But it wasn't a total failure. We approached it as having no needs other than cornerback, and with that one taken care of at 1.13, the mission the rest of the way was to try to make value picks cheaply, and pick up future draft stock.

Well, we did one of those things, anyway.

5.25 WR Winston Reynolds - 26/45
We were looking for a solid backup here with upside. I like the value at 5.25. It was an exceptionally deep receiver class, although he's a longshot to make the roster. Expect a drop.

2.32 WR Ray Mansker - 15/26
Everybody hates this pick and one GM stated they wouldn't have even picked him up in UDFA. Ouch! I don't even know what I was thinking anymore...but I hope he'll climb and develop good hands and route running skills to go with his big play. I was going for the home run here.

7.25 C Seth Somerville - 18/36
A late insurance policy for a backup center we really like (Mo Fujimoto). The fact that my scout's bars were 45 wide on OL led me to believe Somerville's bars were a lot higher than they apparently were. That may be a good thing, though. The bar pick turns into a combine pick that has a shot at climbing.

2.9 G Mo Giles - 29/48
What was I thinking? I don't need a guard. Bah. At least he'll be pretty good, I guess.

3.21 CB Jamal Rau - 19/47
This will probably turn out to be a bad pick, even though he looked solid during the draft. We'll see...our corners are pretty bad to start with.

1.13 SS Mitchell Prescott - 35/77
Uh-oh, he is going to come down in camp and rearrange his bars a ton. It may have been a mistake to take him. At this point, I do not expect him to be better than guys like Gaither or Liliedahl. He is a stud, but the right corner? We'll see.

7.15 FS Derek Hines - 8/30
This one was just a shot in the dark. He looks intriguing enough. If he hits a +4 or something, he has a good shot at sticking. Seems unlikely.

[Aston]

UDFA Class

RB Carlos Vandeginste - 26/37
Insurance back with some speed, skills, and ST value. Longshot, but I need somebody to cut after camp if everything else goes alright.

WR Irving Krenzel - 23/43
Kick returner (surprisingly enough!) although we were just thinking of another backup option. Looks like his numbers are coming down, but with 42/42 Get Downfield and that kick return bar, he just might have the skills to stick around...

P Eugene Compton - 59/67
Possible punter of the future with Russ aging; it'll be a camp competition. Russ should have the upper hand, unless age kicks in there. Compton looks extremely good right now.

CB Jared Cuevas - 23/29
A lot of DB competition this year. A lot of sucky players back there. Cuevas will need a great camp.

S Don Latimer - 15/30
Promising-looking ballhawk, who is nonetheless a longshot to make the extremely deep safety roster. Oh, who am I kidding. This kid is a mofo'in' BALLER. Still, we love our backup safeties already. This is going to be a very high-stakes camp...

[Aston]

We may be having a last-second change of heart on the fate of that Vandeginste RB, and may be looking now at keeping fellow UDFA rookie, defensive back Edgar Kelly, instead.

Prescott has not impressed me so far and I'm starting to think I made a hell of a Top 15 mistake. Kelly has similar weight and may move to corner as well in case that doesn't work out.

2023 Free Agency Additions

WR Gene Burns - 2nd yr - 12/27
Just a body at this point, and possibly a spare part now that we've added three other receivers since the draft began.

DE Rondell Tyler - 4th yr - 41/41
Locked into a competition with Brady Colby for the #4 defensive end spot. Neither are the kind of pass rusher we'd like, which is not so good with Fisher's likely departure, but both seem like pretty quality backups. We only kept three ends last year.

WLB Bennie Huntley - 7th yr - 32/32
Honestly, he kinda sucks. The only reason he survived the cuts so far that better players haven't, is because I have more bodies at those positions and Huntley is the 8th LB. As well as the only source of affinities I'm likely to get, as it looks like Daluiso, he gone.

CB Kenneth Tubbs - 2nd year - 12/31
Continuing with our proud trend of "throw everything you can at certain positions and hope something sticks", in lieu of a balanced roster heading into TC.

FB Mario Evanswhite - 2nd year - 23/44
Eight drafts ago, Jughead scooped FB Corwin Metzenbaum two picks in front of me in the sixth round, and my heart broke while he turned into a stud. Now that Metz is aging, we managed to snag his replacement away from Washington.

We love us some Kerry Duran at FB already, but man! Super Mario has some jaw-dropping ability, both as a runner and especially at receiver. We might keep 2 FBs for the first time ever.

TE Billy Ballard - 3rd - 37/44

Glad to recoup some missed draft opportunities (TE Nathan Brandon, DE A.J. Stephenson) here in the Late FA period with that DE from Camden and now, Ballard from, again, Washington. Jug, you've definitely found some UDFA gems these past two years.

I'll just say this: Ballard looks fairly incredible.

Nate Barlow has served us outstandingly and has been one of the top five TEs in the league for several seasons now, but he is going to have a hell of a time making the roster this year. Something I NEVER imagined.

Training Camp Preview

I'm just glad I pulled in some key pieces in the Late FA period, because almost nothing happened for us in the first FA stage, and our draft in review was full of bad decisions in the top rounds. I never want a Top 15 pick again, there seems to be too much at stake and I still draft like I'm picking at 21 anyway. I'll just listen to mike next time, he did tell me not to pick the safety.

[Guest]

Mansker surprised me, I must admit.

[Aston]

We had some changes of heart about who to keep since the last post, and made the following changes:

*Dropped RB Carlos Vandenginste -- good call. Dude went -1/-5. His bars were incredibly sexy, but I hate keeping a guy I think has a chance to drop a far amount from a low rating, and sticking by that rule helped. I kept UDFA Conway instead -- also marginal, but at least he looked like he was going up. And he did.

*Kept S Edgar Kelly, NT Fisher. Dropped CB Kenneth Tubbs, WR Gene Burns. I suppose a last look at those guys made me realize they pretty much suck to begin with. Probably would have been obvious to the rest of you...but I'm slow on the uptake.

[Aston]

MANSKER! :D More on that later :) Oh, I guess he is first on the list. OK then --

Draft Picks

2.32 - Ray Mankser - 15/26->19/31 (+5/+6)
We went after receiver Ronald Mansker late in the season last year and were *sorely* disappointed not to get him (he's on Las Vegas now). Now Lil Bro is here and man does he look good. Unlike Ronald, Ray cannot get downfield...at all. But that's OK. With that kind of big play ability...paired with what might turn out to be a pretty boss set of RR skills. We're extremely happy with this pick.

We had a small inkling of what might happen when other GMs reported seeing Mansker three points higher OVR than we did. Still, it's a big relief to see it in actuality. Much less than +5 and it would have been disappointing.

An occasion where our scout said VU and we just trusted him, and he turned out right.

Disappointingly, Kelly Lorch looks better, a lot better, and our scout said VO on him. Scared me off. So poo on you, dear scout. Poo on you.

5.25 - WR Winston Reynolds - 26/45->30/44 (+4/-1)
Things are going to get real interesting with our WRs this year. Reynolds was a surprise, I was expecting at least a -3. It doesn't mean he won't keep falling, but with how lightly developed he still is, he is looking real good.

7.25 - C Seth Somerville - 18/36->21/37 (+3/+1)
This was just a total shot in the dark. I was hoping for a better result, really. He goes to 22/36 on the cut test. I'd have to look a bit closer at him, but I think his run block might be dropping. Seems like a probable immediate cut right now.

2.09 - G Mo Giles - 29/48->34/54 (+5/+6)
That is a monster camp, Mo! Better than I was expecting. I am quite glad I got him now. Should be the best guard I've ever had here. Still bitterly disappointed about what happened to Cedric Rodgers. He was on track to be even better than Mo.

3.21 - CB Jamal Rau - 19/47->23/45 (+4/-2)
I was expecting a -3 or worse, so this was good. He should keep dropping, but he has a real shot at making the roster now. I do not have very good corners. I do have very many, though, so it will be an exciting competition. Rau's OK ST value and well-rounded-ness may help. I got all these guys who can't zone cover to save their life.

1.13 - SS Mitchell Prescott - 35/77->44/76 (+9/-1)
OK, I was expecting a lot worse. Time will tell if this was a better pick than an impact player, like the 70/70 RB Clay got, I don't even want to see how he did in camp...

So, Prescott actually looks extremely good right now. The -1 camp is hardly a killer. He is still awfully lightly experienced, despite advancing a hell of a lot in camp. He also dropped from 197 down to 189, and now converts to LCB with little or no change to his ratings. The only problem is he looks like a much better safety than corner...and it would wipe out his +9 camp and then some.

7.15 - FS Derek Hines - 8/30->12/33 (+4/+3)
Oh, boy. I'm going to have some really tough calls to make at safety this year. Preseason looks like it is just going to be a massive DB party.

Undrafted FAs

RB Wendell "Conhow" Conway - 20/29->23/32 (+3/+3)
I'm pretty glad I held on to him; he now looks quite solid and has a chance at making the team. This is our answer to Phoenix's running back that has given us some fits over the years - Will 'Somehow' Shumway. Take that, strickzilla.

WR Irving Krenzel - 23/43->26/40 (+3/-3)
That is a rough camp, but I'm not sure we could have expected any better. He brings some interesting stuff to the table, though -- a sexy GD bar (much like Julio's man) and an even sexier KR bar. He will get every chance and then some to make the team this preseason. I hope. The -2 cut test is fairly (extremely) worrisome. Where does the bleeding stop?

CB Jared Cuevas - 23/29->27/32 (+4/+3)
It looks like our big hotshot first round corner won't be very good in bump coverage, so that is Jared's sales pitch to management for making the team. He's even going after "can't zone cover" 2nd-round CB Stephen Easton from last year, on the merits that Cuevas returns a mean punt. He'll have to show a lot this preseason to unseat one of the best punt returners in the league, though.

FS Don Latimer - 15/30->17/31 (+2/+1)
Well, that's a disappointment. The cut test was +2 before camp. He'll have his work cut out for him, but we really liked this guy. Unlike some other schmoe, his +1 camp is one that is still trending up.

FS Edgar Kelly - 9/22->12/24 (+3/+2)
OK, I was holding out hope for a +7 or something crazy like that. Not happening, but, he converts nicely to corner. Did I mention DB party this preseason in Utah? Everybody is on the wall now. All spattered and oozing.

P Eugene Compton - 59/67->59/64 (+0/-3)
The drop wasn't unexpected. I expect he'll outdo his bars just because he has so much development to go. How high can he be? I'm nervous about letting incumbent Matt Russ go before I'm sure about this guy. He will have the punting duties and maybe the kicking duties too, during the preseason.

Oh, I almost forgot to mention, but Randy Boone: now with 15 formations. Aw yeah. I cut back 30 minutes on the film study, and I got lucky in that it didn't bite me, I guess.

[Guest]

Mansker's a shocker cause his combine isn't very good.

Prescott should stay at safety. He would on my team, but I have Gentala, so ...

I expected Giles to go up, surprised you didn't. I think he went a little bit too early based on position, but you'll have him for 10 years and never need to worry about that position, so ...

[Aston]

I expected him to go up, too. I just didn't expect him to shoot up like that. I was thinking something like what Chorak did, +2.

In retrospect he did go a bit early, with Howe and stuff still on the board, but TC was so nice to me and made up for my miscue. This does mean I'm out of the running for Bruton, but that guy is quite good for a 3-4...if you want to move him, I feel you can probably get something solid. Or just keep him, even in a 4-3, until he develops more and people can see what his ratings really are.

Prescott should stay at safety, but I don't have too much choice there. I have more safeties than I know what to do with. Makes my head hurt. He's going to lose 14 points in current in the move to corner. Honestly....yuck.

I'm not sure I would mind trading him for one of the corners at this point, but something tells me to give him a chance.

[Guest]

Prescott should stay at safety. He would on my team, but I have Gentala, so ...

yes yo do

[Aston]

That's reassuring! :-P

Prescott.........probably shoulda stayed safety. Good call, mike. Fudgesticks.

Somehow (probably mostly due to the Forbes trade), I managed to get down to final cuts day not only with relative ease on the cuts made, but also with an extremely easy deactivation list down to 46. I was down to 44 and had to try to find some guys to activate, and that was already with *two* active kickers.

Yep, I found a way to keep Irwin! Sorry :-D

This is a pretty weird roster situation in Utah. Not only are we keeping two kickers and two fullbacks, but all four are active for week one's game vs Los Alamos.

And never in recent years have we taken the knife to our core, longtime veteran roster as we have this year. We're targeting that #20-50 area of the roster and starting to do some turnover, or taking some risks trying to achieve that. There will be some short-term hits as we part with some of these guys, particularly the departure of two multi-year starters. Got to have the future in mind, though.

--The Cutdown 7--
RB Edward DeMeester
TE Heath Lane
G Bryce Forbes (trade)
DT Billy Johns
CB Kevin Cate
SS Donnie Berlat
FS Don Latimer

Not a real good week for defensive backs named Don, or bubble creepers with several years on the team. It's fitting that draft buddies Berlat and Cate, a CB and S who switched to one another's position and some of my better 6/7 picks in recent years, are going on the same cut day.

Rookie Derek Hines over Berlat was probably the toughest call of them all.

--Week 1 Inactives--
RB E.Giang (injury)
WR Ray Mansker (injury / precaution)
G Jared Craig
T Gene Sinclair
DE Rondell Tyler (injury)
ILB Troy Conant (injury)
S Derek Hines

Looks like the active rosters will get harder to set after these guys come off injury. So, I guess we did get our injuries this preseason, just to all the wrong guys.

In 2022, we were not sure at all what kind of product we'd put on the field, and hit the ground running with a thorough dismantling of Denver's awesome roster on opening day.

This year, despite a grandly successful '22 campaign, we begin the season having lost all semblance of momentum and run out of steam. We're in need of a reset and will hope to start the season on the right footing. Time to step up and earn the faith I placed in you, RB Ronald Harrow.

Oh yeah, last note, from a gameplan standpoint, we're doing our annual reset, only I haven't had time to put much thought into it. Safe to say we tore up whatever we did for Dakota without looking at it, and we are using the Conference Championship gameplans vs PXT as our basis.

[Aston]

We'll use our bye week to take a breath and take a look back at how the team looks different from the end of last year to this year (to date). Updated after a recent new signing and IR. I wanted to look at this because this is as much turnover as we have had of late.

Out (12)
RB Edward DeMeester (released) (currently unsigned)
TE Nate Barlow (released) (currently unsigned)
WR Marvin Daluiso (released) (currently with PHO)
C Dominic Galloway (traded) (to GAI)*
OG Bryce Forbes (traded) (to CLB)

NT Billy Johns (released) (currently unsigned)
OLB Ian Subramanian (lost in FA) (currently with CLB)
CB Kevin Cate (released) (currently unsigned)
CB Bo Jones (released) (currently with OHV)
S Donnie Berlat (released) (currently unsigned)
S Lamar Rivera (traded) (to DAK)**

P Matt Russ (released) (currently with STP)


* never played for Utah; IR all of 2022
** only on the roster for Bowl Week
2022 starters in bold


In (12)
FB Mario Evanswhite (Late FA veteran, from WAS)
TE Billy Ballard (Late FA veteran, from WAS)
WR Ray Mansker (Rookie draft, 2nd round)
WR Winston Reynolds (Rookie draft, 5th round)
G Mo Giles (Rookie draft, 2nd round)

DE Rondell Tyler (Late FA veteran, from CAM)
NT Brad Palmer (Regular season, veteran)*
CB Jared Cuevas (Late FA rookie)
CB Mitchell Prescott (Rookie draft, 1st round)
S Derek Hines (Rookie draft, 7th round)

P Eugene Compton (Late FA rookie)
K Anthony Irwin (Exhibition season, rookie)


* - space vacated by IR to WR W.Reynolds
2023 starters in bold

Every offseason has players shuffling in and out, but what makes this offseason most unusual is that four non-specialist starters left, three of them released outright, and only one of those spots was not replaced in-house. Score one for 'waiting in the wings.'

3 undrafted rookies, 5 draft picks, and nobody from the early FA period.

We have some flexibility now with the Reynolds IR, as Palmer is a defensive leader but he's also just some schmoe who doesn't have a long-term future here.

2023 Start

Despite the turnover, the team on the field hasn't changed a whole lot. There are some concerns to start the year as we were spoiled by a 2022 where Randy Boone started at a blistering pace and never let up. This year, he's taking some time to get going (or so we hope). Some uneven performances to date, and I hope it isn't a down year for him.

We're a reassuring 3-0, but the season is young and that means little. The three things we have to hang our hat on so far: outstanding defensive play, the #6 rush offense despite Giang missing the first three games, and strong punting from the rookie (10 inside-the-20 on 14 tries!).

Three concerns? TE Mario Bradford in his new starting role, QB Randy Boone, and overall special teams play.

A third set of threes are the injury situations that will bear monitoring over the bye: RT Tyrus Hutton, RB Earnest Giang, and WILB Troy Conant. Giang should make his comeback; Hutton is a short-term concern, and Conant a long-term one. He's been bothered by turf toe all year and hasn't seen any playing time as a result.