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Initial Thoughts:
This is now my 3rd year with the team and thus far we've been floundering in mediocrity. 8-8 in year one, after having basically the entire roster turned over except for about 6 guys. 7-9 in year two, with our young talent still developing and the team still lacking cohesion. In this third year, I hope to see our young players finally coming into their own and making the Irish competitive for the first time in many years.
Key Retirements:
LT Malcolm Mills - This one really hurts. Mills was the anchor to our O-Line, a world class player, and a career Fightin Irishman. We've been relying on him to protect Cary Money, and give leadership to the other linemen. He's probably the only reason we've had any offensive success during my tenure, and he will be extremely hard to replace.
SS Antonio Mason - Another career Irishman, Mason was holding our secondary together. His retirement leaves us without a starter at SS, and it more or less leaves our secondary in shambles.
Key signings in FA:
6th yr WR Edward Narcisse (46/46) - He has solid recieving skills and should be nice addition to our receiver core which hasn't exactly been striking fear into our opponents. He's not a catch-and-run guy, but he is a deep threat with good hands.
6th yr S Russell Meier (46/46) - He looks like a slightly above average safety who should slide into the starting SS role for us right away.
7th yr LT Tito Sanderson (44/44) - Our search for a starting LT has us picking up anyone who might be serviceable. Tito doesn't look great, but we'll see how his camp goes.
4th yr LT Vernon Sunia (40/41) - see Tito Sanderson's comments
5th yr DT Shaun Halpin (45/45) - An excellent pass rusher who will likely being taking the starting NT job this year.
The Draft Class of 2023:
I traded my first this year to get a late first in last year's draft (Which I used to draft WR Dick Grayson). That may have been a bad move since this draft class seems to be a bit better talent-wise. I did have three 2nd rounders, which I honestly can't remember how I got the two extras, but I'll definitely take them. The big needs this draft are S, CB, T, and ILB. Let's take a look at the picks:
2.11 ILB Dustin Alexander (24/49) - He had very good combines and the look of a very good coverage LB. He may be our long term solution at SILB. I thought enough of him to trade up from 2.25, and I expect a bit of a bump from him in camp.
2.16 LT Archie McConnell (26/66) - He was probably not the BPA here, but I really needed a LT to replace Malcolm Mills and I didn't want to risk letting McConnell fall any farther. I'm hoping his good agility drill is an indicator that he'll be very good at pass blocking. If he's just average at run blocking, I'd be ok with that.
2.18 WR Howard Emmons (25/53) - I like this pick more and more each time I look at it. Emmons looks like a good all-around receiver, with excellent hands, and a slight weakness in route running. But that excellent solecismic score is telling me that his route running should get much better. I think Emmons will develop into a reliable #1 receiver for us.
3.26 OLB Winston Raley (22/68) - I thought this guy was going to be lucky to ever reach his bars, but he was worth a shot with his potential. I definitely did not expect him to come out anywhere close to 68 future initially. He's a little heavy to play OLB, and we already have a starter there, so he'll move inside, where he'll be starting alongside Alexander for a lot of years. I'm crossing my fingers that he keeps a good bit of his rating, but even if he drops some I think our ILB spots are set for the future.
4.16 S Jake Devine (23/47) - The talent drop off after the third round was pretty significant, but I'm happy with getting Jake here. He has good M2M and BnR skills along with a knack for coming up with interceptions. He should make the transition to corner pretty effortlessly and be a starter for us before long.
6.14 TE Archie Compton (20/54) - He's far from a lock to keep those ratings, but his bars are nice enough that I'll give him a shot as a third TE. He could become our regular long snapper as well.
6.16 CB Deon Johnstone (18/62) - I had not thought to move Jake Devine to corner at this point and I was panicking because we hadn't brought anyone in at corner this year, so I traded into the 6th and took the guy with the biggest bars. Deon doesn't look bad at all, but I'm still pretty surprised by his initial rating. He very well could be a useful player for us.
7.13 DE AJ Rambo (22/50) - Aside from having one of the cooler names I have run across in FOF, this guy is actually a pretty good pass rusher, who I had been watching for several rounds. I was extremely happy he made it down to the 7th. His problem is that he's the Frodothorpe of defensive ends, so I'll have to switch him to WLB where he's a little better suited size-wise.
This is now my 3rd year with the team and thus far we've been floundering in mediocrity. 8-8 in year one, after having basically the entire roster turned over except for about 6 guys. 7-9 in year two, with our young talent still developing and the team still lacking cohesion. In this third year, I hope to see our young players finally coming into their own and making the Irish competitive for the first time in many years.
Key Retirements:
LT Malcolm Mills - This one really hurts. Mills was the anchor to our O-Line, a world class player, and a career Fightin Irishman. We've been relying on him to protect Cary Money, and give leadership to the other linemen. He's probably the only reason we've had any offensive success during my tenure, and he will be extremely hard to replace.
SS Antonio Mason - Another career Irishman, Mason was holding our secondary together. His retirement leaves us without a starter at SS, and it more or less leaves our secondary in shambles.
Key signings in FA:
6th yr WR Edward Narcisse (46/46) - He has solid recieving skills and should be nice addition to our receiver core which hasn't exactly been striking fear into our opponents. He's not a catch-and-run guy, but he is a deep threat with good hands.
6th yr S Russell Meier (46/46) - He looks like a slightly above average safety who should slide into the starting SS role for us right away.
7th yr LT Tito Sanderson (44/44) - Our search for a starting LT has us picking up anyone who might be serviceable. Tito doesn't look great, but we'll see how his camp goes.
4th yr LT Vernon Sunia (40/41) - see Tito Sanderson's comments
5th yr DT Shaun Halpin (45/45) - An excellent pass rusher who will likely being taking the starting NT job this year.
The Draft Class of 2023:
I traded my first this year to get a late first in last year's draft (Which I used to draft WR Dick Grayson). That may have been a bad move since this draft class seems to be a bit better talent-wise. I did have three 2nd rounders, which I honestly can't remember how I got the two extras, but I'll definitely take them. The big needs this draft are S, CB, T, and ILB. Let's take a look at the picks:
2.11 ILB Dustin Alexander (24/49) - He had very good combines and the look of a very good coverage LB. He may be our long term solution at SILB. I thought enough of him to trade up from 2.25, and I expect a bit of a bump from him in camp.
2.16 LT Archie McConnell (26/66) - He was probably not the BPA here, but I really needed a LT to replace Malcolm Mills and I didn't want to risk letting McConnell fall any farther. I'm hoping his good agility drill is an indicator that he'll be very good at pass blocking. If he's just average at run blocking, I'd be ok with that.
2.18 WR Howard Emmons (25/53) - I like this pick more and more each time I look at it. Emmons looks like a good all-around receiver, with excellent hands, and a slight weakness in route running. But that excellent solecismic score is telling me that his route running should get much better. I think Emmons will develop into a reliable #1 receiver for us.
3.26 OLB Winston Raley (22/68) - I thought this guy was going to be lucky to ever reach his bars, but he was worth a shot with his potential. I definitely did not expect him to come out anywhere close to 68 future initially. He's a little heavy to play OLB, and we already have a starter there, so he'll move inside, where he'll be starting alongside Alexander for a lot of years. I'm crossing my fingers that he keeps a good bit of his rating, but even if he drops some I think our ILB spots are set for the future.
4.16 S Jake Devine (23/47) - The talent drop off after the third round was pretty significant, but I'm happy with getting Jake here. He has good M2M and BnR skills along with a knack for coming up with interceptions. He should make the transition to corner pretty effortlessly and be a starter for us before long.
6.14 TE Archie Compton (20/54) - He's far from a lock to keep those ratings, but his bars are nice enough that I'll give him a shot as a third TE. He could become our regular long snapper as well.
6.16 CB Deon Johnstone (18/62) - I had not thought to move Jake Devine to corner at this point and I was panicking because we hadn't brought anyone in at corner this year, so I traded into the 6th and took the guy with the biggest bars. Deon doesn't look bad at all, but I'm still pretty surprised by his initial rating. He very well could be a useful player for us.
7.13 DE AJ Rambo (22/50) - Aside from having one of the cooler names I have run across in FOF, this guy is actually a pretty good pass rusher, who I had been watching for several rounds. I was extremely happy he made it down to the 7th. His problem is that he's the Frodothorpe of defensive ends, so I'll have to switch him to WLB where he's a little better suited size-wise.
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