Tweet
Retirements
FB Tom Church, TE Vernon Ogden, WR James Harden: Church and Ogden weren't starters, but were both very valuable backups and special teams players, not to mention mentors. Metapod Harden was our most productive WR last year, but that isn't really saying much.
FA Additions
DE Tracy Trout: With Tito Terrell's steady decline due to age and former upward creeper Arnold Schwartz suddenly getting hit with the VSOD last season we had an opening on our defensive line, then suddenly a wild Trout appeared. Tracy doesn't have much for pass rush technique, but he has everything else in spades including an Exceptional affinity with our defensive front leader. Only being a 6th year player, I don't feel too bad about handing out a $65 million contract that was almost all bonus. That is, I won't until he breaks a leg in preseason. What the hell? It's only play money.
ILB Horance Vance: We may have overpaid for Vance, with no other team offering even half of what he signed with us for, but I've always been of the opinion that a player is "worth" exactly as big a percent of your cap as you are willing to pay for them. You don't get to save that unused cap space for later. Vance's slightly better (but still not very impressive) coverage skills will likely give him the nod over former 5th round pick Jackie Allen for the starting SILB job. That is unless he falls apart in training camp, in which case he'll still should be a serviceable special teams player with an affinity. And I'll pay 1.5% of my cap for that.
ILB Roosevelt Hegamin, OLB Roman Farr: Hegamin was a post training camp cut last year, this will be Farr's first go-round with our team. Camp bodies fighting for a backup LB spot with their main credentials being good chemistry and some special teams ability.
FB Kris Wagner, FB Corwin Meztenbaum: Wagner was brought in to replace Bryan Fields as our RB position leader. Metzenbaum as a replacement for the retired Tom Church, he's not as good a special teams player, or a blocker, but he will have an Exceptional affinity with Wagner.
FA Departures
QB Joseph Zellner: With the changing of our RB position lead Zellner (a kick holding specialist brought in to protect Casey Baumgartner's collar bone) was made expendable. He wound up in Dakota.
CB Alfred Lynch: Lynch was still creeping up slowly when we cut him, but after that devastating knee injury he was never going to be anything more than a shell of his former self. He wound up in Yuma, which over the years something of a halfway house for disappointing former 1st round picks.
Draft
1.24 Traded to Utah
There were still a few players we were looking at here at 24, but all of them had enough question marks that I likely would have only graded them second round material in any other draft. So instead of taking a guy I wasn't sold on, we shipped the pick of to the Bees for a 1st and a 2nd next year. They'll be low picks, but an extra 1st and 2nd should give us some more ammunition for trades next year.
2.25 RG Earl Blackwell (27/39)
My former dynamic duo of guards (one former 1st round pick, one former Mr. Irrelevant) are old and broken down and we decided it was time to start looking for a replacement. Blackwell was a player I had my eye on early on, but his lack of pass blocking ability meant he certainly wasn't didn't warrant a 1st round pick. My scout had him as VU, and at 39 potential he damn well better be.
3.24 DE Brian Nall (19/49)
Another VU from my scout, Nall will also have an affinity with our defensive front leader. After singing Trout, we really don't need another DE at this point, and Nall is rather undersized for the position. Our scout thinks moving him to LB could give him a boost, and I am tempted. But his terrible Solecismic score and Broad Jump won't leave him with much for coverage abilities so he'd most likely end up at WILB, also not exactly a position of need for us due to a FA signing.
4.25 RB Richard Dauber (24/26)
Yet another VU player according to my scout, with the added bonus of being someone Nutah was targeting. Hopefully Dauber will develop along the lines of our 4th round pick 2 drafts ago, SS Sammie Cornyn, who also showed up to camp with a sub-30 potential and has crept his way into the low 40's and a starting spot. His overall combines remind me of a 2019 3rd round pick, Sam Harden. If Dauber somehow develops into a mid-40's back like Harden, I won't consider this a wasted pick.
5.24 RB Shannon Willis (19/35)
Unlike our first three picks, who were all graded VU by my scout, Willis got the dreaded "Hard to Read". We know he'll have an affinity with our RB leader, and if he can hold onto that special teams bar he could be a contributor, but we're not expecting much out of our 5th round pick this year.
6.25 WR Travis Romberg (16/35)
Didn't even scout Romberg, we only drafted him because I was looking at the wrong line in my draft list and thought he had a higher Volatility. Still, he'll have an affinity with our WR leader, and he did have a decent BPR bar.
7.24 QB Louis Akamine (??/??)
Zellner's departure to Dakota meant we had an opening for a clipboard/kick holding affinity guy. Hopefully Akamine can fill that role.
FB Tom Church, TE Vernon Ogden, WR James Harden: Church and Ogden weren't starters, but were both very valuable backups and special teams players, not to mention mentors. Metapod Harden was our most productive WR last year, but that isn't really saying much.
FA Additions
DE Tracy Trout: With Tito Terrell's steady decline due to age and former upward creeper Arnold Schwartz suddenly getting hit with the VSOD last season we had an opening on our defensive line, then suddenly a wild Trout appeared. Tracy doesn't have much for pass rush technique, but he has everything else in spades including an Exceptional affinity with our defensive front leader. Only being a 6th year player, I don't feel too bad about handing out a $65 million contract that was almost all bonus. That is, I won't until he breaks a leg in preseason. What the hell? It's only play money.
ILB Horance Vance: We may have overpaid for Vance, with no other team offering even half of what he signed with us for, but I've always been of the opinion that a player is "worth" exactly as big a percent of your cap as you are willing to pay for them. You don't get to save that unused cap space for later. Vance's slightly better (but still not very impressive) coverage skills will likely give him the nod over former 5th round pick Jackie Allen for the starting SILB job. That is unless he falls apart in training camp, in which case he'll still should be a serviceable special teams player with an affinity. And I'll pay 1.5% of my cap for that.
ILB Roosevelt Hegamin, OLB Roman Farr: Hegamin was a post training camp cut last year, this will be Farr's first go-round with our team. Camp bodies fighting for a backup LB spot with their main credentials being good chemistry and some special teams ability.
FB Kris Wagner, FB Corwin Meztenbaum: Wagner was brought in to replace Bryan Fields as our RB position leader. Metzenbaum as a replacement for the retired Tom Church, he's not as good a special teams player, or a blocker, but he will have an Exceptional affinity with Wagner.
FA Departures
QB Joseph Zellner: With the changing of our RB position lead Zellner (a kick holding specialist brought in to protect Casey Baumgartner's collar bone) was made expendable. He wound up in Dakota.
CB Alfred Lynch: Lynch was still creeping up slowly when we cut him, but after that devastating knee injury he was never going to be anything more than a shell of his former self. He wound up in Yuma, which over the years something of a halfway house for disappointing former 1st round picks.
Draft
1.24 Traded to Utah
There were still a few players we were looking at here at 24, but all of them had enough question marks that I likely would have only graded them second round material in any other draft. So instead of taking a guy I wasn't sold on, we shipped the pick of to the Bees for a 1st and a 2nd next year. They'll be low picks, but an extra 1st and 2nd should give us some more ammunition for trades next year.
2.25 RG Earl Blackwell (27/39)
My former dynamic duo of guards (one former 1st round pick, one former Mr. Irrelevant) are old and broken down and we decided it was time to start looking for a replacement. Blackwell was a player I had my eye on early on, but his lack of pass blocking ability meant he certainly wasn't didn't warrant a 1st round pick. My scout had him as VU, and at 39 potential he damn well better be.
3.24 DE Brian Nall (19/49)
Another VU from my scout, Nall will also have an affinity with our defensive front leader. After singing Trout, we really don't need another DE at this point, and Nall is rather undersized for the position. Our scout thinks moving him to LB could give him a boost, and I am tempted. But his terrible Solecismic score and Broad Jump won't leave him with much for coverage abilities so he'd most likely end up at WILB, also not exactly a position of need for us due to a FA signing.
4.25 RB Richard Dauber (24/26)
Yet another VU player according to my scout, with the added bonus of being someone Nutah was targeting. Hopefully Dauber will develop along the lines of our 4th round pick 2 drafts ago, SS Sammie Cornyn, who also showed up to camp with a sub-30 potential and has crept his way into the low 40's and a starting spot. His overall combines remind me of a 2019 3rd round pick, Sam Harden. If Dauber somehow develops into a mid-40's back like Harden, I won't consider this a wasted pick.
5.24 RB Shannon Willis (19/35)
Unlike our first three picks, who were all graded VU by my scout, Willis got the dreaded "Hard to Read". We know he'll have an affinity with our RB leader, and if he can hold onto that special teams bar he could be a contributor, but we're not expecting much out of our 5th round pick this year.
6.25 WR Travis Romberg (16/35)
Didn't even scout Romberg, we only drafted him because I was looking at the wrong line in my draft list and thought he had a higher Volatility. Still, he'll have an affinity with our WR leader, and he did have a decent BPR bar.
7.24 QB Louis Akamine (??/??)
Zellner's departure to Dakota meant we had an opening for a clipboard/kick holding affinity guy. Hopefully Akamine can fill that role.
Comment