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First.....THE DRAFT.
1(6) Chris Hutchins - CB 44/71 51/72 - I considered Burgess here, but my scout gave me HTR on Burgess and underrated for Hutchins. Plus, who wants to deal with that position change mumbo jumbo? I need a CB! I may regret the decision, as Burgess looked great, but at least UTA got an amazing deal on him. He never should've fallen that far. Hutchins is expected to be nothing less than Jeremy Camilleri v 2.0. and takes care of a major hole on our roster. I lusted after those top 3 WR, but a trade was not to be. Hutchins is exactly what we expected. We're set with a lockdown CB.
2(5) Artie Lovejoy - WR 20/40 24/43 - We trotted out some real laughers at WR last season. The only start caliber WR we had was Pat Donaghy. Bernie Jones did a pretty good job considering that he spent the previous seasons as our #4, but Lovejoy may supplant him as starter pretty quickly. Lovejoy's combines are nice, but his bars looked a little...FUNKY to me. I'm hoping he bumps. I would've drafted Barrientos if he was still available here, we'll see who turns out to be better! Lovejoy bumped and Barrientos went down. Good thing we didn't have a choice! Lovejoy will start immediately opposite Donaghy.
3(3) Wes Pimentel - DE 29/45 33/45 - We finally made our switch to a 4-3 last season, which will hopefully showcase the talents of Jerome Howe, the DT we were thrilled to trade up for two seasons ago. I needed to find a RDE who can put some heat on a passer, since overperforming wonder Vincent Schroeder is entering year 9 and won't be around forever. I accidentally fired this pick but I might have picked Pimentel here anyway. His low endurance could be a problem, though. Pimental will spell A.J. Hassett at LDE. Decent if not great pick.
3(6) Daryl Stephens - TE 13/29 15/29 - Ouch! 29 Potential? I had a feeling I reached for this guy, but his combines seem to indicate a decent receiving TE and I love those. I expect him to bump. If he doesn't, this is obviously a horrific fail of a pick. As I suspected, this was a terrible pick. Stephens did not improve and will be getting his pink slip.
3(10) Jeffrey Gaylor - OLB 15/25 20/31 - Another sub 30 potential, but I'm not terribly worried about him. He's a big fella and I plan to move him to DE. I'm expecting a nice bump. Will probably have to move him after TC though since he needs to put on a little weight for DE. He'll be a very exciting project, and probably our future starting RDE when Schroeder retires. Got his weight up and moved him to DE where he is now 23/39. Could be quite the monster here. Excellent pick.
3(13) Corey Maiher - S 18/36 22/37 - Took a flyer on this S in a class that ran out of talent after the uber talented top of the draft. I had two safeties on my roster at the time of the draft, and one is about to retire and the other has zero endurance. Keeping my fingers crossed....Only bumping one point isn't what I was hoping for, but he'll do. He may be my starting FS next year if Dunn retires.
3(15) Lorenzo Ferguson - OLB 25/51 30/55 - This guy will do everything I ask of a LB as long as his rating at least holds. If he does I feel like I'm set up at LB. I probably should have taken him earlier and waited on the TE. Another excellent pick! Ferguson will start at MLB for us next year, as our current MLB, Montgomery, is now PAST INJUSTICES. I would've paid Montgomery since he VSOL'd to 49/49 in camp, but he decided to end his holdout and be mad instead. Oh well.
3(21) Leslie Troglia - CB 31/61 35/57 - I got pretty excited about this guy, but I was not expecting 61 potential. I assume he's going to drop. If he does and it's not a huge drop, he'll be a CB here for years. He could start immediately if he does not drop. Anyone want to take a few shots at my rookie CBs? :) Waco expressed interest during the McBriar trade talks, but I didn't feel comfortable trading a guy I like at a position of need. Troglia dropped, unfortunately. He still may have a place as a sub DB in the future.
4(8) Howie O'Donnell - HB 20/30 13/22 And now, for our worst pick of the draft! Evidently he was drafted last year and he dropped from 26 potential to 23 potential, or some such horrific thing. Best part is I traded into this pick because I liked him. Maybe I'll convert him to WR for laughs. He's big enough. I moved O'Donnell to WR for giggles and he's still as bad as advertised. One of my worst picks ever, if not the worst.
4(20) Jorge May - S 22/44 26/44 Threw another dart at the safety dart board, hoping it'll stick. I really have no idea with this guy. I guess I liked one of his combines, or something. He's not much in coverage but he's a hell of a tackler. He'll rotate at strong safety with 0 endurance wonder, Lamar Rivera.
5(6) Dana Griffin - RB(wr) 16/44 19/42 Boston got me thinking about RBs I could switch to WR, and I figured I'd take a shot at it with this guy. His receiving bars aren't that bad and I think he's sized decently enough. Position switch shows him going to 17/44. It's easy to make the roster as a WR on the Totems this year. Ehh, this didn't quite work out with the WR switch, but I'll keep him around as a developmental project anyway.
6(5) Rex Kristosik - LB 14/27 16/29 Couple good combines, couple bad combines. With such a low potential rating I'm thinking I whiffed here. Only bumped 2 which doesn't help a lot when you're starting at sub 30 potential. He'll probably stick anyway.
And now... for the very exciting... NEW AND SHINY VETERAN PLAYERS!
Johnathon McBriar QB I avoided this guy like the PLAGUE when he was drafted. I wanted nothing to do with him. I forget why, but I suspect I thought that he was going to have a low avoid int rating or that his bars were going to fall. I forget which. His bars seem like they're much higher than a 46 rated QB's would be, so maybe that's the low avoid int? Regardless, he's an upgrade to our current crop of aging also-rans. Let's see how many ints he can throw for the Totems! Acquired for 9th year DE Marco O'Donnell and a 5th round pick, if I'm wrong, at least it didn't cost me too much.
Ike Hoffman K Yeah, that's how exciting our FA was. Our other big FA acquisition was a KICKER. I'm not sold on our rookie from last season, Matthews, but I might keep him as a KO specialist if I have the room on my roster.
SEASON OUTLOOK - When I acquired McBriar I felt like I had enough pieces to compete this year, so I actually threw some money at Castnagola. Someone else threw more money at him, unfortunately.
I think this team will have a decent defense that puts some pressure on the QB, but we may be a little weak at S. If our aging starting tackles don't suffer sudden ratings degradation due to age, I don't think a wild card spot is out of the question for this team. A.J. Hassett and Jerome Howe should be ready to rock on the DL and Pat Donaghy may finally get a chance to shine with a full healthy season, affinity, AND a starting caliber QB.
Regardless, I will continue doing my best to make sure I do not draft high enough to acquire a stud receiver. A Dakota Totems team with a stud WR is not a Dakota Totems team at all.
1(6) Chris Hutchins - CB 44/71 51/72 - I considered Burgess here, but my scout gave me HTR on Burgess and underrated for Hutchins. Plus, who wants to deal with that position change mumbo jumbo? I need a CB! I may regret the decision, as Burgess looked great, but at least UTA got an amazing deal on him. He never should've fallen that far. Hutchins is expected to be nothing less than Jeremy Camilleri v 2.0. and takes care of a major hole on our roster. I lusted after those top 3 WR, but a trade was not to be. Hutchins is exactly what we expected. We're set with a lockdown CB.
2(5) Artie Lovejoy - WR 20/40 24/43 - We trotted out some real laughers at WR last season. The only start caliber WR we had was Pat Donaghy. Bernie Jones did a pretty good job considering that he spent the previous seasons as our #4, but Lovejoy may supplant him as starter pretty quickly. Lovejoy's combines are nice, but his bars looked a little...FUNKY to me. I'm hoping he bumps. I would've drafted Barrientos if he was still available here, we'll see who turns out to be better! Lovejoy bumped and Barrientos went down. Good thing we didn't have a choice! Lovejoy will start immediately opposite Donaghy.
3(3) Wes Pimentel - DE 29/45 33/45 - We finally made our switch to a 4-3 last season, which will hopefully showcase the talents of Jerome Howe, the DT we were thrilled to trade up for two seasons ago. I needed to find a RDE who can put some heat on a passer, since overperforming wonder Vincent Schroeder is entering year 9 and won't be around forever. I accidentally fired this pick but I might have picked Pimentel here anyway. His low endurance could be a problem, though. Pimental will spell A.J. Hassett at LDE. Decent if not great pick.
3(6) Daryl Stephens - TE 13/29 15/29 - Ouch! 29 Potential? I had a feeling I reached for this guy, but his combines seem to indicate a decent receiving TE and I love those. I expect him to bump. If he doesn't, this is obviously a horrific fail of a pick. As I suspected, this was a terrible pick. Stephens did not improve and will be getting his pink slip.
3(10) Jeffrey Gaylor - OLB 15/25 20/31 - Another sub 30 potential, but I'm not terribly worried about him. He's a big fella and I plan to move him to DE. I'm expecting a nice bump. Will probably have to move him after TC though since he needs to put on a little weight for DE. He'll be a very exciting project, and probably our future starting RDE when Schroeder retires. Got his weight up and moved him to DE where he is now 23/39. Could be quite the monster here. Excellent pick.
3(13) Corey Maiher - S 18/36 22/37 - Took a flyer on this S in a class that ran out of talent after the uber talented top of the draft. I had two safeties on my roster at the time of the draft, and one is about to retire and the other has zero endurance. Keeping my fingers crossed....Only bumping one point isn't what I was hoping for, but he'll do. He may be my starting FS next year if Dunn retires.
3(15) Lorenzo Ferguson - OLB 25/51 30/55 - This guy will do everything I ask of a LB as long as his rating at least holds. If he does I feel like I'm set up at LB. I probably should have taken him earlier and waited on the TE. Another excellent pick! Ferguson will start at MLB for us next year, as our current MLB, Montgomery, is now PAST INJUSTICES. I would've paid Montgomery since he VSOL'd to 49/49 in camp, but he decided to end his holdout and be mad instead. Oh well.
3(21) Leslie Troglia - CB 31/61 35/57 - I got pretty excited about this guy, but I was not expecting 61 potential. I assume he's going to drop. If he does and it's not a huge drop, he'll be a CB here for years. He could start immediately if he does not drop. Anyone want to take a few shots at my rookie CBs? :) Waco expressed interest during the McBriar trade talks, but I didn't feel comfortable trading a guy I like at a position of need. Troglia dropped, unfortunately. He still may have a place as a sub DB in the future.
4(8) Howie O'Donnell - HB 20/30 13/22 And now, for our worst pick of the draft! Evidently he was drafted last year and he dropped from 26 potential to 23 potential, or some such horrific thing. Best part is I traded into this pick because I liked him. Maybe I'll convert him to WR for laughs. He's big enough. I moved O'Donnell to WR for giggles and he's still as bad as advertised. One of my worst picks ever, if not the worst.
4(20) Jorge May - S 22/44 26/44 Threw another dart at the safety dart board, hoping it'll stick. I really have no idea with this guy. I guess I liked one of his combines, or something. He's not much in coverage but he's a hell of a tackler. He'll rotate at strong safety with 0 endurance wonder, Lamar Rivera.
5(6) Dana Griffin - RB(wr) 16/44 19/42 Boston got me thinking about RBs I could switch to WR, and I figured I'd take a shot at it with this guy. His receiving bars aren't that bad and I think he's sized decently enough. Position switch shows him going to 17/44. It's easy to make the roster as a WR on the Totems this year. Ehh, this didn't quite work out with the WR switch, but I'll keep him around as a developmental project anyway.
6(5) Rex Kristosik - LB 14/27 16/29 Couple good combines, couple bad combines. With such a low potential rating I'm thinking I whiffed here. Only bumped 2 which doesn't help a lot when you're starting at sub 30 potential. He'll probably stick anyway.
And now... for the very exciting... NEW AND SHINY VETERAN PLAYERS!
Johnathon McBriar QB I avoided this guy like the PLAGUE when he was drafted. I wanted nothing to do with him. I forget why, but I suspect I thought that he was going to have a low avoid int rating or that his bars were going to fall. I forget which. His bars seem like they're much higher than a 46 rated QB's would be, so maybe that's the low avoid int? Regardless, he's an upgrade to our current crop of aging also-rans. Let's see how many ints he can throw for the Totems! Acquired for 9th year DE Marco O'Donnell and a 5th round pick, if I'm wrong, at least it didn't cost me too much.
Ike Hoffman K Yeah, that's how exciting our FA was. Our other big FA acquisition was a KICKER. I'm not sold on our rookie from last season, Matthews, but I might keep him as a KO specialist if I have the room on my roster.
SEASON OUTLOOK - When I acquired McBriar I felt like I had enough pieces to compete this year, so I actually threw some money at Castnagola. Someone else threw more money at him, unfortunately.
I think this team will have a decent defense that puts some pressure on the QB, but we may be a little weak at S. If our aging starting tackles don't suffer sudden ratings degradation due to age, I don't think a wild card spot is out of the question for this team. A.J. Hassett and Jerome Howe should be ready to rock on the DL and Pat Donaghy may finally get a chance to shine with a full healthy season, affinity, AND a starting caliber QB.
Regardless, I will continue doing my best to make sure I do not draft high enough to acquire a stud receiver. A Dakota Totems team with a stud WR is not a Dakota Totems team at all.
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