The Boston Barker

[Guest]

No clue, but the high PH and INT bars seemed to indicate it would make up for his crap M2M.

I didn't think he was worth as high as my DA settings had him, but nowhere near as late as he went.

[Aston]

2037: 13-3

The Irish made their first recent run deep into the playoffs, securing the #1 seed and advancing to the Bowl, where they lost to Rob's impressive Waco Warhawks in a thrilling finish.

It was another nice season for the NC East, too. It was the third straight season the division won both Wild Car spots -- and the fourth time in the last five years. Brooklyn, Camden, and Boston have been the three playoff reps in each case.

QBs

15th-year iron man Paul Covington was one of many high profile veteran QBs to land in free agency and sign at relatively modest cap impact, given their talent level (DeJesus - $30M, Sheldon - $35M, Covington - $36M, Garner - $15M).

Perhaps the $40M QB hasn't quite hit the OSFL yet as the new normal, but we're heading into 2038 now and it should only be a matter of time. WAS's Granberry and STP's Sage are both locked up at extremely team-friendly prices through 2040, so good on those franchises! PXT's Morton and MOR's Dakota should both be in line for major deals next offseason, though, and we'll see what their demands are.

Sheldon is clearly the best QB in the league, but Covington put together a sterling season for the Irish. He was instrumental in winning the top seed and advancing to the bowl. Waco was ready for him, though, picking him off three times there and keeping him in check.

If Covington returns for a 16th season, he'll once again be on the open market. The Irish are ready to turn it over to Axel Erickson and while they should have the cap room to pursue Covington again (especially if he intends to sign early this time!), there might be more compelling FA interests.

The Boston QB room is stocked pretty heavy. Behind Erickson, there's Brooklyn-destroying playoff hero Cristian Drake, and solid backup material Jay Henderson on minimum deals.

Backfield

Vinny Stewart made the most of year 2 in Boston, finally breaking the 4.00 YPC mark for Boston RBs and accumulating almost 1600 yards from scrimmage. Frankly, we're hoping for a little better from him going forward. 2nd year man Ellis Barraza had a nice little season spelling Vinny, going 110 for 473 with 0 fumbles.

Receivers

Unlike in recent years, this was a very low key season for Boston TEs. We did secure Brooklyn castoff Miles Jenkins, a 3rd year player with some promise and who will be in line for a RFA deal. With 5 starts, though, I'm not sure if he won't be too expensive for our tastes.

This season, it was all about the WR. Free agency came together nicely for us in the end; Covington has access to all the 3/4/5 WR formations we could want, and we had no qualms about putting that many receivers on the field. With Erickson last year, we were limited to only a couple of 3WR formations, and no 4/5WR.

Travis Christen still isn't performing too well, and I don't know why. Maybe teams are keying on him, but if they are, there are many beneficiaries. Rookie 3rd rounder Jerry Buchanan had outstanding breakout impact in year one, with 86 targets, 802 yards, and 7 TDs.

Buchanan has no big play ability, and we like to stretch the field -- so we swapped WR personnel around in 3WR formations and beyond, subbing out Buchanan and replacing him with Greg Roeglin (26 rec, 471 yards), Matthew Barrera (44 rec, 684 yards), and Marcus Doyle (24 rec, 330 yards). It felt like we had a very dangerous aerial attack going on with weapons like these. Roeglin was my favorite, and hit the big play over and over. He had a similar role for us two seasons ago (during Sikkenga's 12-4 campaign) but was signed away by Columbus for 2036 before being released again in 2037.

OL

OL continues to be a weakness for Boston, but we're trying to bring it up to speed. The main issue is that it's extremely young. As a result, we ended up with 10 OL at the end of the season -- much heavier than I usually go.

In contrast with previous years, we gave one starting OT job to a developing rookie instead of a limited 30/30 veteran. The results weren't too dissimilar, although I'm sure it hurt us a little. Hopefully it pays off down the road. Donovan Bell started 15 games before giving way to Lonnie DeVito for the final 4. Admittedly, I forgot to put Bell back in for the playoffs, but DeVito seems like he outplayed Bell.

Center Victor Lane was a $17M signing and a huge piece of our FA campaign. Without him, I don't think we win nearly as many games. He may not return, though, so the future is really in the hands of some rookies. Three of them made the team: C Mercury Schroeder, G Brant Deaver, and G Kaleb McSheffrey. Hopefully I can count on them next season. It's scary to hope, but all of them are "past injustices" if cut.

Next year, we also have LT Paxton Darche's contract extension to look forward to. It should be a big one, and the first draft pick extension of the Aston era in BOS.

Specialists

K Harvey Soward didn't have a bad year, but it wasn't up to his normal standards. After going 7/10 from beyond 50 in 2036, he was only 2/7 in that category this year. He still hit 80% of his field goals (or 79%, anyway), but his return isn't assured.

Our rookie punter had a so-so year. His return isn't assured either, despite his status as a draft pick.

LS Colby King is one of the best in the league.

DL

We leaned on the FA acquisitions of Chance Malley and Aidan Burnett to fortify the line, although Malley landed on IR late in the year. It seems to have been a decidedly poor year for the Boston line, especially on the pass rush front.

We're going to have some different personnel next season, most likely. Although we were quite impressed by Burnett. Dexter Fike is most likely done, but turned in another nice campaign. If this is the end of the road, he goes out with 8 sacks in his last year, 18.5 in his 3-year Boston career, and 50.5 overall.

Rookie Tom Hopkins is one guy to keep an eye on. This 2nd rounder's development will be key next year.

LB

Finally! I think this made a big difference for us. We had barely scraped by with our mix-and-match LB corps, but in 2037, this turned into a strength for Boston with the drafting of Devante Williamson in the 1st round and the $10M signing of Dixon Goldade.

Goldade is an end-of-career guy who held at 60/60 and turned in some really solid play, splitting time between MLB and OLB. Williamson looks like a feature going forward. It's much easier to mix and match when you have those two pieces to start with.

DBs

We lost a lot at safety this year, but this CB group may be the most talented we'll ever have assembled at one time. A volatility hit didn't punish Brody Houston enough, as he turned in the best season of his young career with 10 INTs. He'll be getting his contract next year, too.

Jumbo Talley, Harrison George, and Ronald Bush are the key young players coming up the pipeline. Nickel play killed us in 2036, but Talley held down the fort and played quite well in that capacity this year. He's locked up for a little while, and we're counting on George and Bush to return on near-minimumdeals.

Ian Manculich was the final piece of last year's FA puzzle. Paying a 58/58 safety $20M doesn't make me smile, but he was a lot higher before his TC drop, and he still really held down the defensive backfield. He turned in a good season, and we would have had serious issues without him roaming as FS.

We weren't able to address the other safety position effectively in the draft or in free agency, but early on gave the SS job to 3rd-year and former 5th rounder Darrell Jamison. It's a good thing we kept him around, as he was a bubble player in his first two seasons. He did a capable, if not spectacular job. He'll be reliable depth at least next year.

Outlook

For 2038, Boston has 910k in cap penalty on the books, which is pretty close to cap clean. We should enter the offseason with 25 players (barring retirement), but also the most cap space in the league by at least $25M.

Unlike the past two years, where we could leverage our high cap space as almost full spending power, we are starting to have our own players to lock up to extensions. LT Darche and CB Houston are first on the docket, but these are high caliber players and should command big salaries. QB Erickson is probably going to get an early deal, too, if we indeed pass on trying to resign Covington and turn the position over to the youngster.

If Erickson takes the reigns, the 5-WR-a-palooza fun that was 2038 is probably at an end in Boston.

[Sharkn20]

Awesome management...

[Aston]

Alright. Time to go to war.

Cap cost breakdowns for my past three teams, vs where we stand now in Boston:

[Guest]

very clean cap management system. Do you always expect your Lost Cap % to be less then 1%?

I guess i am less disciplined then you signing vets and FAs.. where i expect a lost cap % of 4-5% from cutting vets and FAs during the last year or last 2 years of their contract.. In your model, you are not cutting anyone.

[Guest]

If Erickson takes the reigns, the 5-WR-a-palooza fun that was 2038 is probably at an end in Boston.

can you explain a bit of your 5-WR-a-palooza GPing and formations settings?

[Aston]

I try to keep it as low as possible, yeah. That number is mostly there so that I know the cap constraints I was working with when comparing different teams. For example, the 39 GBY team makeup was what it was with a $11.5M cap hit. In a year where my cap penalty is much less, I can maybe expect to afford a little more than that team.

I'm not super disciplined either, but FA can be a big mess if you're not organized. My first season in Boston, I signed too many FAs and had to start cutting guys I had already signed. This lets me know roughly when to stop getting $8M+ players, for example.

I'm definitely going to have to cut people. That's why GBY always has more cap penalty. Boston just doesn't have the long term retiring veterans, etc to cut yet -- but we will. This year has been unusually cap clean for us. Part of that is we haven't made any cuts yet (we might on a couple of guys), and also we've had some nice drafts. GBY's higher number comes from those 2nd and 3rd round busts, as you know :)

The great thing about our situation this year is we're flush at the "under 2M" bracket. I feel decent about most of those players, so we don't have a huge project to go in terms of trying to find a small army of cheap players to make the team. It's too bad that this FA class isn't very good.

[Aston]

can you explain a bit of your 5-WR-a-palooza GPing and formations settings?

Yes. My top WR last year was Travis Christen (71/71, all around).

Behind that, our #2 WR was a very good rookie, Buchanan, who had great GD and RR but no big play ability at all. I wanted him on the field, but not for long passes. I felt like that was a losing proposition. Then we had:

Doyle (GD and RR, lower BPR but not terrible; reliable receiver)
Barrera (GD, RR, and BPR)
Roeglin (GD and pretty high BPR)

So, those were the top 5 guys. I try to set it up so that when I'm calling a lot of long pass (i.e, 45% run, 20% short pass, 35% long pass), I use Singleback and Trips a lot. So in those formations, I put my best BPR guys on the field:

Christen-Roeglin-Barrera (Doyle is added in 4WR, and Henson, another guy who has OK BPR, in 5WR)

I use the Strong/Weak-3WR formations more when I'm *not* calling long passes. In those formations, I put my best WRs on the field:

Christen-Buchanan-Barrera

Finally, for 2-WR formations, I just have the best 2 WRs on the field:

Christen-Buchanan

So I try to account for Buchanan's issues with BPR because I do like to throw long a lot, and luckily I had other capable WRs who could catch the deep ball. It worked well enough, as Roeglin put up some nice numbers in pretty spot duty. Buchanan also had plenty of plays, even though he wasn't on the field in Singleback, and put up good numbers in his own right.

[Aston]

Training Camp Developments

QB battle, offense taking shape

After a year's relegation to the bench, Axel Erickson looks set to start once more for the Irish -- but boy, is it close. He has a 1 point OVR edge over Cristian Drake, last seen coming off the bench and demolishing Brooklyn in the lone start of his career, in the playoffs. Luis Johnston is ostensibly the highest rated QB on the roster at 39, but probably doesn't even have a roster spot in this competition.

Erickson's picked up two new formations to complement his skillset this year, and they appear to be Singleback-normal and Singleback-4WR. This is crucial. In his first go as a starter, he only had one formation where 3 WRs could get on the field. The Irish have again assembled WRs in numbers, and Erickson can make good use of them now.

WRs

This is going to be an interesting position, as Boston heads out of TC with 9 wide receivers on the roster, including two core role players from a year ago in Marcus Doyle )(10.0 ypt) and Matthew Barrera (8.88 ypt). These guys are aging, though, and their places no longer secure.

OL

The Irish have 12 offensive linemen coming out of camp, and not a spot appears to have been wasted. It's going to be a tall order to carry that many players on the preseason roster. After several seasons of trying, the OL finally seems to be on some solid footing. It's built off a significant youth movement:

2 - C - Mercury Schroeder (4.25)
2 - G - Brant Deaver (UDFA)
2 - G - Kaleb McSheffrey (UDFA)
3 - G - Gene Duran (4.28)
R - G - Joel Luxmore (3.31)
4 - T - Paxton Darche (2.18)
4 - T - Donovan Bell (UDFA)
3 - T - Lonnie DeVito (6.28)

...which alone is enough players for a regular season roster. To this group we added two starter-quality FA acquisitions at OT, one at OG, and returned our starting C and best player of the group in Victor Lane. There will be some tough decisions to come.

Rookies: First Impressions

After some recent success with the UDFA crop, this year's group looks like a total bust. To begin with, we had a small handful of targets in the entire class (good job drafting, everybody!)...and we failed to get almost any of them.

Fortunately, the draft class looks like a solid double.

FB Alex James 23/36 UDFA
There's some discrepancy between scouts about the quality of his HR bar, which is why we're looking at him at RB. Not seeing it, though.

WR Nolan Coles 22/36 5.18
Seemed like a solid pickup in the draft, but doesn't get past injustices, and looks serviceable at best as a backup. He'll have an uphill climb on this roster.

OG Joel Luxmore 27/52 3.31
Luxmore is really going to have to hold, but we're not going to part ways with a draft pick so early. Or are we? His skillset is not totally what we're looking for, unless his pass blocking can improve. However, I'm happy with taking on a potentially 50-rated OL in the late 3rd.

K Johnathan Galloway 38/69 4.31
Definitely looks like a starter, and a stud placekicker. Kickoff skills serviceable.

DE Scottie Morris 30/43 7.32
Alone among my later picks in getting past injustices. Sitting pretty solid with us right now, and should be great, cheap value for his draft position.

DT Jimmy Knight 37/44 2.31
OK -- this is solid. But he's going to have to get better than that to make this pick do any better than break even.

OLB Phil Plake 18/28 UDFA
We went with the shotgun approach at LB this camp, but Plake has one GREAT argument for sticking around: monster special teams ability.

MLB Chris Berry 22/44 7.31
It just doesn't feel like he's going to hold on to near that amount of potential, which is going to put his spot in jeopardy. We need guys to put on the field this year.

OLB Toby Burns 25/39 6.13
Another guy that's really on the bubble. He looks mighty similar to last year's 7.25, OLB Joel Beard. In that neither look worthy of a roster spot.

CB Alonzo Jones 25/33 UDFA
Pretty marginal, but not too bad depth at a position where we really don't need it. Not the worst undrafted signing ever, though. We'll see if his ST bar gets anywhere.

S Johnathan Evans 40/64 2.1
The crown jewel of the class, and he doesn't disappoint. It is probably necessary to point out to Jim, the game's creator, that most Johns go with 'Jonathan'. Or is that wrong?

[Nemesis]

It is probably necessary to point out to Jim, the game's creator, that most Johns go with 'Jonathan'. Or is that wrong?

I believe you to be correct in your analysis.

[Aston]

Boston 2039

FA: Out

60/60 C Victor Lane (14yr) -- MTC, 1 year $8.64M @ $4.61M bonus/yr
49/49 G Dan Graham (6yr) -- WAS, 4 year $41.60M @3.17M bonus/yr
45/45 T Lincoln Edmonds (7yr) -- SMD, 2 year $8.10M @2.5M bonus/yr
47/47 DE Chance Malley (7yr) -- LAM, 1 year $8.10M @ $3.4M bonus/yr
55/55 CB Archie Consulo (10yr) -- LAM, 2 year $33.53M @ $4.74M bonus/yr
54/54 S Terrell Donovan (10yr) -- LAM, 3 year $46.90M @ $4.21M bonus/yr
61/61 S Otis Keith (13yr) -- DEN, 1 year $24.51M @ $22.63M bonus/yr

FA: In
56/56 WR Van Meier (12yr) -- 1 year $8.73M @ $6.85M bonus/yr, from BKL
54/54 WR Daniel Floyd (10yr) -- 1 year $10.63M @ $8.95M bonus/yr, from LVS
50/50 C Dexter Kulaga (13yr) -- 1 year $2.83M @ $0.95M bonus/yr, from BKL
47/47 DT Oliver Wunder (10yr) -- 1 year $9.76M @ 8.08M bouns/yr (retained in BOS)
54/54 DE Ray Maxwell (8yr) -- 1 year $8.18M @ $6.5M bonus/yr, from KAL
61/61 ILB Conrad Atkins (14yr) -- 1 year $15.38M @ $13.5M bonus/yr, from BKL

Other FA acquisitions (non-Grey Sheet)
33/43 QB Fernando Anderson (5yr)
38/38 RB Bubba Gerhardt (8yr)
39/39 LB Lawrence Lysne (5yr)
37/37 LB Bruce Riley (7yr)
43/43 S Norman Manubay (5yr)

2039 Rookie Draft Class

4.18 RB Zachary Lyle 22/40
Hopefully a backup of some quality in the future. Presently doesn't look like a very good pick, but he may be useful.

2.18 WR Evan Poff 27/41
A young deep threat for the offense; eager to see if he'll be much more than that. His combines were good and suggest that he might be.

5.25 C Lonnie Horner 25/42
We didn't need a C, but he looks like a strong candidate to make the team.

6.18 T Trey Mathis 21/40
We also didn't need a T, but he likewise is looking pretty solid. Very happy with the potential on these late round linemen.

3.05 DE Jonathan Rice 30/42
Strong, hits hard, and has endurance. Don't know how high his skills may end up projecting. Definitely will need to think about replacing our DE starters soon.

3.19 DT Benjamin Disbro 22/49
We're very well stocked at DT so he may move out to DE. Scouts really liked him. A lot of young talent on the DL now.

1.18 CB Mel Ochs 41/57
Really like what he's showing for skills, although he's probably a better safety than corner. Dynamo kick returner who should supplant Travis Christen in that capacity.

Rookie Undrafted

TE Stanley Harris 25/37
We don't have much in the way of TE depth and Harris has as good an argument as anyone to figure into the competition. Solid receiver.

LS Alexis Duffy 22/22
We had a good long snapper, but snagged an even better (hopefully) rookie on a cheaper 2-year deal.

DT Ezra Bernstein 7/29
Liked how he looked in the draft class; don't like how he looks now. Probably no more than a warm camp body.

Overall

This season's going to come down to QB Axel Erickson's continuing development. I like his skills, but I'm not a fan of his mistake-riddled play to date. I like the QB room overall; the league has been very rich with QB talent in the FA pool lately and we've gotten a chance to get some good players in here. Our 3 QBs cost under $6.35M combined against the cap.

Erickson's been armed to the gills with WR talent this year, which means expectations are going to be high. The OL turned over three starters from last year, but we've been having such success with young talent in the draft that I think we'll be able to hold serve. It helps that we've added another two talented rookies to an already crowded group.

The defensive line is rich with bodies. I'm very happy with the depth everywhere on this team except for LB and TE (and FB, I suppose). There are areas where we could use more star power at the top, but that's okay.

The 7-man rookie draft class is quite exciting. All of them get past injustices except for the 4th round RB. I think we made just enough picks this year. Hoping for some Ex2 mercy.

[Aston]

Boston 2040

Grey Sheet: Out
45/45 DE Ray Maxwell (9yr) -- PTC, 2 yr $16M @ 2M bonus/yr
45/45 WR Daniel Floyd (11yr) -- LAK, 1 yr $13.83M @ 6.88M bonus
48/48 DE Easton Dillon (8yr) -- PHA, 2 yr $9.02M @ 1.35M bonus/yr
41/41 C Dexter Kulaga (14yr) -- LAM, 1 yr $3.04M @ 930k bonus/yr

Grey Sheet: In
61/61 DE Chester Badillo (13yr) -- 1 yr $9.52M @ 7.6M bonus, from KAL
75/75 C Clifton Thomas (10yr) -- 1 yr $17.02M @ 15.3M bonus, from CHI
52/52 LB Leslie Becker (11yr) -- 1 yr $7.18M @ 5.26M bonus, from MTC
46/46 WR Van Meier (13yr) -- 1 yr $10.82M @ 8.9M bonus, retained in BOS
47/47 DT Oliver Wunder (11yr) -- 1 yr $5.12M @ 3.2M bonus, retained in BOS
50/50 S Ethan Walker (13yr) -- 1 yr $9.23M @ 7.31M bonus, retained in BOS

2040 Rookies

UDFA RB Glenn Garner 34/36
Vinny Stewart's on his last legs, and the only other RBs on the roster are pure ST specialists also on their last legs. Garner's fringe, but young.

2.25 WR Irving Augustine 42/52
Our consolation prize for missing a shutdown 70/70 caliber corner is another WR. We have a nice WR corps in Boston, again, and this time it's bolstered by several of our own young draft picks.

6.25 WR Terry Sizemore 3/5
Didn't make the preseason 60. Thank goodness. Volatility took a hell of a swing.

4.25 G Hunter Money 28/37
Didn't make the preseason 60. Worth a shot, but it failed.

UDFA G Silas Nelson 19/41
Didn't make the preseason 60. A tough cut, and I sort of wish I could have it back. He gets past injustices. However, we have a lot of capable bodies at OL.

UDFA T Edward Dabbs 17/51
Sweet! We're going to have to think about whether to leave him outside or try to make him a 0 block strength OG.

UDFA DT Juan Dulles 22/36
Didn't make the preseason 60. Too marginal and we're well stocked.

6.25 P Gustavo Owens 56/64
Our last punter was capable, but Owens has much more leg and hangtime, and is giving him the boot.

1.26 MLB Maurice Briggs 31/54
Yeah, we kind of needed a LB, but this is MASSIVELY underwhelming. I hope he's very capable in coverage.

3.26 OLB Lewis Jennings 33/45
A bit greedy, but I was really hoping for more from him. However, our LB corps has been makeshift for years, and having two rookies who can stick around solidifies the picture greatly. It helps that Jennings is an ST ace.

UDFA CB Lincoln Pritchett 26/26
Didn't make the preseason 60. We have a lot of bodies at corner.

5.26 S Andy Frank 19/34
Didn't make the preseason 60. Doesn't look too bad, actually - but we haven't the room to develop him this season. Perhaps if injuries surface.

7.28 S Adam Allen 16/30
Moved from CB, but didn't make the preseason 60. Too underdeveloped and borderline to make an impact.

Overall

So that's four drafted rookies out of 8 picks. One of them is a punter and the 1st round pick is average. That's disappointing, but it makes me appreciate the heavy return last season that much more. There are 2 potential rookie undrafteds, but they'll be average at best, I think.

Last year, we paid a heavy price for losing our best OL (Victor Lane) in free agency and failing to adequately replace him. It could've been a lot worse, too, if we hadn't managed to scoop last-second safety help when Brooklyn cut Ethan Walker.

This season, I think that monster center is going to be key. Wow - I love an old Utah draft pick! With our 5th QB almost fully developed into his own, I think we'll have a more potent offense this year, but our secondary has declined. Brody Houston, my first 1st rounder in Boston, has fizzled very early and at 38/38, his roster spot is going to be in jeopardy for what he's being paid.

I expect the NC East to be competitive as always. It's brutal out here. No idea what to expect.

[Guest]

Nice pick on that WR! Looks like a late 1st rounder which makes up for the average looking LB.

I was patting myself on the back for my 2nd round WR last year but yours looks better and you got him later.

[Aston]

Boston 2041

Free Agency
12th-yr RB Bart Shue 33/33
Shue is a special teamer who was an option to bolster backfield depth in case we failed to find any rookies.

11th-yr WR Brian Farley 39/39
12th-yr WR Daniel Floyd 45/45

Impact receivers Travis Christen (retirement) and Van Meier (FA) departed, with these two coming in to replace them. Floyd had a previous stint in Boston; we chose to retain Meier over him, but Floyd has more special teams ability. Farley gives us a punt returner, which we lost in Christen. There's a solid group of young receivers here, so supplementing them with dual-purpose veterans seemed like a good movie.


5th-yr CB Hunter Sebastian 41/41
5th-yr FS Justin Lyons 40/40
6th-yr SS Alex Steinbach 39/39

Age is going to be chipping away at our defensive backfield, and in particular we lost to retirement a star safety that can't be replaced. These were relatively unwanted players in FA and are just here to soften those potential blows.

11th-yr NT Louie Herndon 47/47
11th-yr LB B.J. Frisch 39/39
11th-yr LB Randall Tierney 39/39


The DL is a team strength bolstered by the FA retention (yet again!) of Oliver Wunder. Herndon was a veteran insurance DT added when Wunder's status was still in the air. At this stage in his career, he could be headed off the ratings cliff.

We lost a starting LB, too, and these two veterans came to boslter the numbers. Tierney provided very good coverage service for a number of previous seasons in Boston, so there's comfort there. Frisch might find a spot just because he's a team leader that prevents a conflict.

7th-yr QB Dana Arnold 39/39

For some reason, capable-but-not-star QBs seem to be in abundance in OSFL free agency over the years, and Arnold is the latest in a line of minimal salary acquisitions of that type for Boston. He let us push out his predecessor, Fernando Anderson, via trade. Another QB, Cristian Drake, walked to Chicago where he'll presumably start.

The crown jewel of this FA class was the retention of center Clifton Thomas. Otherwise, it was a relatively low-key effort from Boston in a year where there were quite a few young stars to be had.

Rookies
This was an average-to-poor draft haul for Boston, bolstered by a large haul of free agents that are poised to outdo their drafted companions at *least* in year one. Sorted by OVR:

RB Herb Creel 38/39 (UDFA)
Creel was one of a number of insurance backs we had our eyes on later in the draft, but we let him slip past 7.32 and immediately regretted it. He's well poised to take over the RB2 job and thus be Boston's rookie of the year, which should earn him a nice contract next offseason.

TE Seth Blanchard 33/59 (1.28)
The TE's stock slipped a little in camp. He still should have a solid future before him, but he's unlikely to supplant our incumbent starting TE this year without better receiving skills.

DE Francisco Perry 33/46 (UDFA)
Perry not only slipped through the draft, he wasn't part of our first wave of UDFA targets. He showed a middling 29/29 in camp but has certainly made a strong push, although his ceiling is probably fairly mundane.

FB Chuck Bradley 32/49 (UDFA)
Bradley also showed up well in camp and makes three of the top four rookies so far undrafted. He has a long way to go to beat out the starting lead blocker, but he also seems too good to part ways with. He shows some interesting promise as a TE, too, which is intriguing...

DE Kris Eden 31/48 (2.32)
A lot is riding on Eden. Ex2 will tell us if this no-combine guy is the future starter we were hoping for, or little better than the mundane-but-solid depth that Perry already gives us from free agency.

S Kristopher Buhl 31/33 (UDFA)
He's ready to play, but has really low ceiling. More like an emergency list player, which FA is rife with.

WR Eugene Barton 29/34 (UDFA)
See above.

CB Tony Nixon 28/38 (5.32)
See above.

MLB Bill Smith 27/53 (UDFA)
Smith looks like an all-around LB (sans pass rushing) that we'd like to keep and develop in the center. Holding him back is a lack of ST ability. I'll believe he can surpass 45/45 when I see it happen, although getting close would also be a win. He's a little lightly developed at the moment.

CB Tony Durham 25/29 (UDFA)
5'7 is not ideal, but we're keeping a close eye on him and his coverage technique. An INT bar that came out 72 on this side of training camp has piqued our interest in keeping him around significantly.

DE Richard Mazor 22/34 (5.26)
Insurance for our other DE, but looks like a total waste of a pick who isn't even ready to play. With Perry proving to be a much better UDFA, it makes me wonder what on earth I was thinking.

C Shaquille Anderson 21/39 (UDFA)
We went through two undrafted centers and maybe could have kept both, but opted for Shaq. Our current backup center has an uncertain recovery from an MCL tear that is still ongoing, and that might land him on IR before the preseason even begins -- which would lock Anderson into a roster spot.

RB Francisco Hodges 17/26 (3.32)
Our scouts said VU. Enormously disappointing.

SS Raymond Washington 16/39 (4.32)
A pick that was roundly praised in the draft room, and one I was happy to get. Ha! We struck out massively in rounds 3-4-5.

WR Johnathan Landeta 14/17 (UDFA)
It would take a miracle.

QB Andre Cash 7/30 (7.32)
With our late trade of QB2 Fernando Anderson, Cash's spot on the roster became all but guaranteed. He looks like a terribly irrelevant pick. Fortunately, he'll take over one thing we lost in Anderson -- kick holding.

[Aston]

Haven't done one of these in a while. I missed last season's rookies! These are ratings just after 2043 Ex2.

2042
2.31 RB Dylan Irani 54/54
Fighting Creel for starting time. 8 fumbles last year, no bueno. Alas, he may fall out of our good graces yet.

UDFA WR Rod Word 35/40
Stashed away last year (0 games), but developing nicely. He's pretty limited, however. Might find his way onto field for 3rd & longs.

7.31 WR Will Bonnette 32/41
Played 9 games, including all 3 playoffs. 16-11-111-1TD in the reg, and 11-10-122-1TD in the playoffs. Coming on nicely with monster GD ability.

3.31 C Charles Wallace 51/69
I had a mega center last year and for some reason Wallace only got 7 GP, 1 GS. Did I have something better going at guard? I guess Wallace was much lighter in development. Victor whatshisname (Lane?) is gone (EDIT -- haha, that was a few years ago. It was Clifton Thomas this time), now, and Wallace is ready to be the OL's second-best player (after 5th year, former 6th round pick LT Trey Mathis at 60/60 )

UDFA G David Ishikawa 26/42
2 GP, 0 GS. A promising 4th year tackle crashed in camp for us after not getting much development in four seasons. We're anxious to avoid that, but we have a glut of young guards thirsting for PT. Hard to say if he's any good, yet.

1.31 CB Gabriel Plackemeier 36/54
14 GP, 3 GS in his rookie year. Very light in his development, but we could afford the patience at CB. Hopefully that pays off. He's still not as ready as I'd like.

2043
UDFA WR Braden Kolb 27/39
He seems worth holding onto, but he'll have his work cut out in terms of making the roster, or getting PT.

LS Tracy Luce 20/20
We cut a guy with 100 LS to get this guy with 94 LS and save a few hundred thou per year. Same way we got the last guy, roughly.

7.32 G Jimmy Mathews 24/42
Happy to strike a solid with the 7.32 pick. With the rookie contract, Mathews should be in line for plenty of PT this year as a backup.

UDFA G Bo Mathis 27/41
We'll try to get him to make the team, but if he does, he's in line for a mothballing much the same way Ishikawa was last season. The other two young guards are equal or better, we have OL up the wazoo, and we're mindful of Mathis' 1-year deal and RFA at the end of the season.

3.27 DE Gus Brewer 24/48
No wonder he slipped to round 3. Not VU, after all? I guess it's early. Brewer will get a good look as part of our rookie draft class.

1.32 DE Kaleb Fox 37/67
It was close between Fox and Brewer for 1st round DE, but ultimately I pushed Brewer a little lower. Good call, I think. Fox looks like a starter from day 1.

UDFA DT Calvin Heinz 33/47
Heinz is looking like a pretty decent backup. Brewer may not move to DT after all.

4.32 OLB Dillon Oldenbach 31/53
I forget who I was originally looking at here, but I'm glad I made this call after getting a VU result for him. Goodness, I'm really happy about the state of our LBs in Boston. We've had some nice draft hits.

5.03 CB Luis Muisal 31/39
So, he actually doesn't look totally useless, only borderline useless. He pulled his groin in Ex2, will miss the rest of the preseason, and spend this season on IR as a result. He'll probably get another camp (if he's not traded) to see if he'll amount to anything more than a career backup.