*S28 Draft Primer - ASFC Edition

.Laser · (This post was last modified: 02-25-2021, 06:49 AM by .Laser.)

So, this is a draft primer, but it's also what amounts to my guess at S28 roster construction as well. This ASFC version is over 5000 words, so I've split it into the ASFC and NSFC to reduce the wall of words feeling. Below are several categories, which I will put synopses of below to give overviews of.

Upcoming FAs: (essentially who the team is losing; not limited to FAs)
Pipeline: (Not sure the best way to state this so pipeline it is, but these are all players a team has under contract that are currently in the DSFL.)
Projected Cap: (How much I THINK each team will have in cap going into next seasons based on estimated roster moves. These numbers will likely look wildly different as some wildcards appear or MOs are used but it's as close as I can get as of 9:15pm EST Wednesday night. The Estimated Cap equation as I'm calling it is as follows to see easy math: (equation: starting (x) - re-signings (S) - OL bots (O)).
The Facts: (what a team's roster currently looks like, including rough TPE estimates as of the Saturday's update and guesses at call-ups and extensions or re-signings)
Positions of Need: (What positions are most in need of replacing based on regression season, TPE levels, and activity levels, and why I'm doing these to begin with, to help with my mock draft coming next week)

All of these are for every team and are done based on what I think is most likely while also keeping the team together. As I mentioned, there may be free agents who decide to sign elsewhere, there may be trades that send people to different places, there may be players that take their options and sign elsewhere. It's not an exact thing but an estimate. Another thing to notice is that in every case of an extension or re-signing, I will be using the minimum salary as a baseline. I understand there is discussion around minimums these days, but it's impossible for me to know the personality of everyone in the league, so using TPE or estimated TPE in case of actives is the easiest way for me to judge what a team can and cannot afford.

Without further ado, jump in and enjoy in alphabetical order!

ARIZONA OUTLAWS ARI

Upcoming FAs: OL Jay Cue (ret.), DE Sandro Ryeu, DE Logan Noble Jr., CB Desmond Scarlet
Pipeline: S26 S Moe Skeeter (391), S26 LB Logan Sarrasin (469), S27 DT Fergus Callahan Jr. (329), S27 K/P Cade York (232)
Projected Cap: $1,000,000. ($20m - ($4m+$1m+$4m+$1m+$1m-$1m) - ($9m))
Drafting Philosophy: Arizona typically drafts newer users to get to introduce them to the league, and they are good at it. They are not unafraid to draft recreates, however, if the fit is right.

The Facts:

Arizona’s free agents are not at all bad, and their pipeline is strong as well. Scarlet will almost certainly be extending with the team for $4m following regression, as he is a longtime former GM. QB turned OL Cue is gone, of course, after an incredible career. Cortez will be entering his second season and their RB corps has only gotten better, as they field top runner Tatsu Nakamura as well as the best RB2 in the league, Gunner Thorbjornsson. The two backs combine for over 2000 TPE, and while Nakamura is regressing soon, will still be one of the best for at least 3 seasons. Their WR core is highlighted by Thomas Passman at 1000+ and Taro Raimon at 950, and includes max-earning S25 player Darren Pama, who swapped from RB. The old man Saba is still around as well, and figures to see one more season before regression kills him, but he is only a role-player. Donut is one of the players that will need to be re-signed at a $1m minimum. Rigby Raccoon and Tom Teboat are around 400 each at the TE spot, and Teboat is earning well as a S26 player with plenty of room to grow. Calvin Golladay and Matress Cadaire are the team’s two human OL, at 856 and 401 respectively. 3 OL bots will be needed, barring any position switches, which would be $13.5m after our T3 bot assumption. On defense, upcoming FAs Sandro Ryeu and Logan Noble Jr. headline the DE spot, sitting at 827 and 594 TPE each. The inactive Noble Jr. is regressing this offseason and will end up around 470. That leaves a spot for AZ to save some money. Ryeu will likely be extended for $4m, and pipeline DT Callahan Jr. brought up to replace Noble Jr. at a $1m cost. That covers all roster holes, and the Outlaws would be sitting at $3.5mil over the cap. To get under, they would have a couple options. They could allow Ryeu to walk in free agency and re-sign Noble Jr. instead while still calling up Callahan Jr., then swapping a T3 bot for a T2. This would put them at $1m under the cap. However, I think that they would do something different. S26 LB Sarrasin is chomping at the bit to hit the big leagues, and with 3 750+ LBs won’t have a chance for a while. However, longtime legend Galf Wilf sits at 960 TPE and has not updated in a month. I think that Arizona will have Wilf exercise his option and re-sign at his $3m minimum, and at the same time have him switch to the offensive line. They will then call up Sarrasin, for $1m, which according to my copy of the budget spreadsheet would place them squarely a million under cap. As for the little bit of the roster I didn’t touch on, the CBs have the aging Scarlett as mentioned above, as well as young corners Mason Gillian (550) and Tayshawn Crunk (800). Their safety spots are occupied by DB Jadakiss and Wesley Eriksen, each over a thousand. Rounding out the projected roster is the man with too many J’s at the kicker spot.
Positions of Need: CB, OL, WR
Ultimately the team has no glaring holes. They’re set up well for the future and have only Donut older than S20. Scarlett is S20 and will be outpaced by a younger user in a season or two, meaning this season would be a good one to take his replacement. They also should consider drafting OL to offset the cost of good OL bots. WR is a slight need, but given that their top 3 receivers are all high earners and the only one they’re losing soon is Saba, they can do without for a few seasons yet.

AUSTIN COPPERHEADS AUS

Upcoming FAs: RB Kichwa Jones (IA), WR Eddie Jeeta (IA), DE Slinky Claxton, S Gregor MacGregor (ret.), LB Holden Summers (IA)
Pipeline: S27 DT Candice D. Fitinyomouf (315), S26 K/P Gluteus Maximus (323)
Projected Cap: $1,000,000. ($18m - ($4m+$3m+$1m) - ($9m))
Drafting Philosophy: Loyalty. Austin likes to draft users that they are well familiar with. Many former Copperheads are drafted by the team with their second player, and any new player that they like they will take.

The Facts:

QB Jackie Daytona is still on the up and up, and their primary RB spot is occupied by Zoe Watts at over 1000. Eddie Jeeta is in the RB2 spot but has gone inactive at 545 and has an expiring contract, making it likely that he will walk in free agency and current RB3 Jim the Vampire will move up a spot in the depth chart with over 400. At WR, Eddie Jeeta has also gone inactive but at 906, and also has an expiring contract. However, with no pipeline WR, I expect Jeeta to be extended at a $4m price tag. Fellow wideouts 1100 Videl-San and 850 Doug Howlett form a top receiving attack alongside 700 TE Freidrich Vequain. 530 Connor Quigley, 400 Slurms McKenzie, and young 650 Felix Archstone make up the offensive line, requiring only 2 OL bots for Austin. On the defensive side of the line, 796 Claxton has been IA since December and would carry a $3m tag if re-signed. 1150 Tyler Montain, 450 Owen Isaac, and 1285 Troen Egghands round out the line. Linebackers Dex Kennedy, 1140, and Brach Thomaslacher, 1000, play alongside the very recently traded inactive Holden Summers, whose contract is expiring and is also regressing this offseason. He’ll drop from 403 to 323 and will likely be extended as there are no LBs in the pipeline. Corners are interesting for Austin, who have just extended LeSean Paris-Crooks at 1050 lining up opposite of Tomage McGullager, 530, and sometimes Ben Alexander-Arnold, at 421. Their safety nets (that one’s for you Adam) are losing 750 MacGregor to retirement, but still have 950 Maverick Bowie and 700 Tony Yeboah. Their kicker is the 260 Leo Bloomfield. Looking at the possible callups, I don’t think that there will be any, meaning that Claxton will likely be re-signed and the Copperheads end up with $1 mil in space remaining.
Positions of Need: LB, CB, WR
Following the retirement of MacGregor, who was scheduled to regress, the only regressing player on the Austin roster is the inactive Summers. He’ll take another huge hit from 323 to 243 next offseason and won’t be a very viable option at that point, so finding a replacement for him in this draft should be one of Austin’s top priorities. Corner is also a need, but not as pressing as linebacker. They have two sub-600 TPE at the position. As we’re about to see, over 50% of wideouts in the league are 600 or more, so that needs an upgrade. It’s not going to be a plug and play like LB could end up being, but they need to find someone to plug that hole before it gets bigger. I’m adding in WR as a need because they really do not need one, but founding GM Bayley Cowabunga is in this draft as a receiver and I think Austin’s gonna have some difficult decisions to make.

HONOLULU HAHALUA HON

Upcoming FAs: RB Tristan Hex (IA), WR William Alexander (IA), WR Jed Podolak, DT Bane Ka’ana’ana (IA), DT Momona Keiki-Kane (IA), DE Ismael Sanchez, CB Cadillac Harris (IA), S Buck Thornton (IA)
Pipeline: S27 QB Joilet Christ Jr. (355), S27 WR Eleven Kendrick-Watts (417), S27 CB Jason Bradshaw (304), S26 WR Lalo Salamenca (434)
Projected Cap: $9,000,000. ($35m - ($3m+$1m+$1m+$2m+$1m) - ($18m)
Drafting Philosophy: Pipeline. Honolulu likes to take players from DSFL teams that they have been on and know. Sid is all over the place, however, and often finds good players from anywhere.

The Facts:

At QB, Honolulu rosters 1375 Chuki Fujiwara, who is hitting regression this offseason and will drop to about 1150 before the start of next season. At RB, 880 Nicholas Ayers appears to be RB1 followed closely by 640 Cobra Kai in the RB2 spot. RB3 belongs to the inactive Tristan Hex, whose contract expires at the end of the season and is unlikely to be retained. There are two WR currently on the Honolulu roster, and both are on expiring contracts. They are IA 594 William Alexander, who I think will be allowed to walk, and veteran Jed Podolak, who will be regressing to about 660 and then likely re-signed for $3m. I see two cal lups happening this season, though, as S27 first overall selection Eleven Kendrick-Watts, 430, will likely join 440 Lalo Salamenca as rookie wideouts. That will cost $1m each. At TE, 660 Ragnar Krashwagen was recently extended and is earning steadily. Honolulu’s sole user OL is Richard Littlewood, who seems to have gone inactive. On defense, we see 5 defensive linemen: two DTs in IA 483 Bane Ka’ana’ana and IA 343 Momona Keiki-Kane play alongside DEs Ke’oke’o Kane-Maika’i and Asher Montain, who combine for 2000. At DE3 we see the 390 Ishmael Sanchez, whose contract is expiring. I don’t think he’ll be extended. Both DTs are also on expiring contracts, and as there are no DT in the system for Honolulu, they will both be extended for $2m and $1m respectively. LB is one of Honolulu’s best points, featuring the very recent import from Austin, 800 Griffin Porter, as well as 780 Guy Fields and 1150 Heinrich Kackpoo. 3 corners reside on the team, starting with currently 1000 dead on Jim Waters. Beside him are 650 Ray-Ray Jackson and the inactive 535 Cadillac Harris, who is on an expiring deal. Their safeties feature the 1300 Shawn Dawkins and 790 Davriel Lavigne, who play ahead of soon to be IA free agent Buck Thornton. Their kicker is the legendary Venus Powers, who will regress to about 760 this season. Now, with Honolulu they have Joilet Christ Jr. in the works at QB, meaning that position will not be featured below. However, they also have $9m in cap space left at this point. They could easily re-sign every pending free agent I said that they wouldn’t, and they would be spot on the cap. However, I think that while they likely re-sign some of them, they’ll leave themselves some wiggle room for bonuses or any other potential issue, so I’m going to keep the current number.
Positions of Need: DT, CB, K/P, OL
The DTs they have are both under 500, and one of them will drop from 343 to sub-280 next offseason. Honolulu needs to plan for that and look at picking up a DT in this draft to replace him at that point. At CB, they have an IA and one season from regressing Harris and mostly IA, two seasons from regression Jackson. They need to look at getting a successor for Harris this draft, and can wait a season, maybe two, on Jackson’s replacement. Kicker is not a huge need for the team, but with Powers seemingly having gone IA and dropping to 760 this offseason, that means that she’ll divebomb to the mid 400’s next offseason and S29 would be her last. They need a kicker either this draft or the following or they’ll be in some trouble. Lastly, OL is not a huge need or really a need at all currently given their cap, but they should look at locking up some linemen to help with cap relief in the future as their stars start to sign more expensive contracts.

NEW ORLEANS SECOND LINE NOLA

Upcoming FAs: RB Forrest Gump (ret.), TE Austin McCormick, OL Dorfus Jimbo Jr., DT Magnus Rikiya, LB Ugarth the Dissector, LB Quentin Bode (ret.), CB David Rector (ret.), S Mason Blaylock, S Steven Wadham, K/P Pseudo QB
Pipeline: S26 S Jonathan Shuffleboard (427), S27 LB Kevin Morrison (285), S27 CB Buck Nekkid (253)
Projected Cap: $10,500,000. ($42m - ($2m+$2m+$5m+$1m+$2m+$3m+$2m+$1m+$2m) - ($13.5m))

The Facts:

At QB, Ben Slothlisberger is currently enjoying one of his peak seasons. He is the only QB so far who is on the older side without a succession plan already in place. At RB, Forrest Gump is finally riding into the sunset despite Tom’s desperate attempts to change the rules. He leaves behind a pair of 600 options, Mike Rotchburns and Mr. Forty-Two. Receiving options are good, with 710 Adam Spencer and 740 Brock Bodenhammer trading shots at the number two spot as 1200 Ed Barker enjoys his peak. He’ll regress to below 1000 this offseason. Longtime NOLA TE Austin McCormick is also still in play, although is regressing from roughly 800 to about 560 and has been voicing indecision as to retirement. He will almost certainly stay at least one more season, so we’ll chalk him down for a $2m extension. Offensive line has always been a point for New Orleans, who prefer to play humans at both tackle spots. They need 3 bots, totaling $13.5m, but 760 Adam Mellot lines up opposite 600 Dorfus Jimbo Jr., whose name I am very tempted to misspell drastically. Jimbo Jr. is regressing to about 480, so should still be a good option next season and will be re-signed at his $2m price tag. The other line is one of the scariest in football, with 1300 Magnus Rikiya as the top option. Her contract is expiring but I cannot image Tesla going anywhere so we’ll mark that down as a $5m transaction. Alongside Rikiya is LeBong Simwell, 800, and the pair are bookended by 800 Medicinal Toblerone and 600 Azarius Ranger at the end positions. Their four linebackers will drop to 3, as Quentin Bode will be retiring alongside fellow S15er Gump. He is survived by pending free agent 481 Ugarth the Dissector, who will regress to a hair under 400, as well as 720 Busch Light and 620 Vincent Jones. Pipeline player Kevin Morrison will take Dissector’s spot in S29, but not this season, so that’s $1m. In the secondary, longtime corner David Rector has announced his retirement, but 1275 Andrew Witten and 770 Dorothy Zbornak remain. The safeties are Mason Blaylock, who will drop to around 700 in regression, and 570 Steven Wadham. Both are free agents, but Blaylock will be signed for $3m after regression and I expect Wadham to be extended any day now for his $2m price tag. NOLA’s kicker is a pending free agent but should be re-signed for $1m as there are no kickers in the system. Now, you’ll notice I skipped over replacing Rector. There are a couple things that could happen there. One, they could call up Buck Nekkid, currently at 250 TPE, and plug him in. However, it makes more sense for Zbornak to move to the CB2 spot across from Witten regardless, and with Wadham and Blaylock the NB spot is the only one open. So I think it likely that they call up the S26 S Jonathan Shuffleboard instead, who has 427. That’s a $2m hit. NOLA has a large amount of cap room left.
Positions of Need: TE, WR, CB, QB
McCormick doesn’t have much time left, either naturally or by his choice, so NOLA needs to get a succession plan behind him. WR is not immediately pressing, but with Barker having two or three more seasons at best, it should be in the conversation. Same with CB, while they are covered for now, Witten will begin to regress next offseason and someone’s gonna have to take over for Blaylock soon. However I say CB over S as Nekkid is not completely inactive but may benefit from a competitive nudge. As for QB, any S19-S22 QB is going to have this on their list. There are great QBs this upcoming class and they should at least be looked at as options even if they don’t quite fit the timeline.

NEW YORK SILVERBACKS NYS

Upcoming FAs: RB Ashley Owens, DT Bubba Thumper, DE Jayson Kearse, LB Hank Winchester, CB Duckburg QuakStak
Pipeline: None notable.
Projected Cap: $4,000,000. ($28.5m - ($1m+$1m+$1m+$4m+$4m) - ($13.5m))
Drafting Philosophy: Team Fit. They will take anyone that fits the locker room and work out how to fit them in as they can. They care about the community and that is one of their biggest strengths.

The Facts:

The QB of one of two newest expansion teams Sam Howitzer has one of the snazziest sigs in the league, and is pretty good on the field as well with 1000, just getting his career started. On the flip side is RB Ashley Owens, at 438 and deep into regression. He’ll get bumped to around 230 in the offseason, and as he has a decent shot at the HoF will likely stick around for a last hurrah before regressing into auto retirement next offseason. That’ll be a $1m hit. Alongside him is 700 Captain Rogers, the lead back, and then our first FB in Buster Bawlls. New York’s receiving core has 4 options, the 3 WR being 1100 Jackson Kingston, the 820 Sean Snyder, and the 640 Harley Fank. At TE, last season’s first round pick is the only option, with 450 and a vengeance. There are two big boys up front, namely 600 Marlon Alexander and 550 Marc Hamel. That means that NYS needs 3 OL bots. On the defensive line, longtime veteran and probable Hall of Famer Bubba Thumper headlines the four man party with 700 TPE. He’ll be regressing to below 400 this offseason, and will then sign a deal for $1m. Fellow DT Leon McDavid is among the highest DL in the league at 1380, but will regress this offseason. The DEs are 650 Brick van Sanzo and S19 Jayson Kearse, the latter of which will also take a 40% hit to 300 or so. He’ll also sign a $1m deal. The LBs are Makoto Otawara, 520, Jack Banks at 1100, and another of the pending free agents for New York in Hank Winchester, who will hit 800 soon. I assume that Winchester will wait until that 800 mark to then sign a supercontract at $4m for 5-6 seasons, but as the franchise’s first draft pick I have no doubt he will return. The secondary carries 1200 Colt Mendoza, acquired from Austin earlier this season, alongside the 780 Duckburg QuakStak. QuakStak is a founding GM and is a free agent, and I believe that he too will be waitint to hit 800 then signing the supercontract at $4m a season. Four safeties reside on the roster, all of them decently close in TPE. Bob Roberts, Thor Kirkby, Dogwood Maple, and Mac Griddle have 730, 650, 600, and 550 respectively. However, Kirkby will be regressing to around 475. Last but not least is the kicker Dougie Smalls, who will regress this offseason after peaking at 940 or so.
Positions of Need: DE, DT, RB
DE is the biggest position of need on this team, as Kearse is only going to be a viable option for next season. Should Sanro Ryeu from Arizona choose to not extend with that team, he’d be a perfect add for New York. However, assuming that is not the case NY needs to nab a DE to slot in during S29. Same thing applies for the DT position, but as Thumper is the GM of the team there is a little more leeway there. With RB, I don’t know how New York utilizes that FB, but they cannot play at RB positions and so they do need to pick up a back to replace Owens when he plays his last snap likely at the end of next season.

ORANGE COUNTY OTTERS OCO

Upcoming FAs: RB Bronko Mills, WR Owen Holloway, LB Deshun Jones, CB Richard Leaking, K/P Alex Dasistwirklichseinnachname (ret.)
Pipeline: S26 OL Maiteers Rico-Shea (348), S27 DE Bean Beanman (356). S27 K/P Thelonius Junk (103)
Projected Cap: $4,500,000. ($22m - ($1m+$3m+$5m+$3m+$2m) - ($3.5m))
Drafting Philosophy: Scout scout scout. Orange County scouts every player in the league that is not inactive and then decides from there what to do.

The Facts:

So, this is my former team and I feel most qualified to answer what should happen here. Blas, Mori, if you read this I don’t expect you to do this but it’s what I would do. I’m not trying to call you out or anything. The QB is the GM Blasoon, who sits around 1230. At RB, Bronko Mills sits at 311 and is mostly IA on site but is around. He is a free agent after this season and will likely stay around in one function or another, perhaps he’ll switch to FB. One of last season’s first round picks Ace Savage got the immediate callup and is close to 400. Jeffrey Phillips also switched to RB after it was realized how painful not having a good RB is in this sim, at 810. The team fields 3 receivers, in superstar 1200 TE Heath Evans, 1000 Garfield Despacito Jr., and 659 Owen Holloway, who hasn’t updated in a month. Holloway is also due to be a free agent, and might leave the team to try and get more stats, but I don’t think he will. He’ll stay around on a $3m contract for a few more seasons before he decides what position he’ll get to the HoF in. Orange County has four offensive linemen, including the 429 Ne Mo and the 498 Carl Wheezer. 926 Future Trunks will regress for the first time and drop to about 750, and 745 Lord Beerus will drop from 745 to about 400. On the defensive line, Goat Tank and Rotticus Scott take up the DT positions, at just over 800 and just under 1300 respectively. Scott will regress to just barely over 1000. The ends are held by Rapid Eagle, who will regress to the mid 900s, and the 444 3’ Jeffrey. At linebacker, Joseph Joestar sits at 900 and Sergio Kitchens at just under 300. Deshun Jones is slated to become a free agent, however I think he will re-sign with the team at $5m per season. At CB, Brandon Booker will peak close to 1500 but currently sits at 1300. Recent swap Richard Leaking is also in the corps, and while he is set to become a free agent soon I believe that he will stay with the team. He might earn enough to be able to do a $4m over 5-6 seasons by the beginning of the season, but it will be close, so we’ll say he does a $3m deal. At safety, this will be Tyrone Biggums last season. Prince Vegeta will regress this offseason to about 1100 from 1430. Bob Bob is about 740 and Eugene Smoothie is around 1100. The lock to the Hall of Fame kicker Alex Dasistwirklichseinnachname will be retiring after this season due to regression, and the only kicker in the system is Thelonius Junk, who holds a solid 103. Needless to say that is not good enough for the big leagues, and if a good kicker can be drafted then nabbing them and bringing them up immediately would be far preferable, maybe even as early as round 2 depending on options. Now, DT Bean Beanman will be very close to 3’ Jeffrey by the time the season rolls around, and is a much younger option who is still earning. If I was the Otters, I would consider calling up Beanman, at a $2m cost, and having Jeffrey switch to K. That allows the young gun to get some playing time and helps shore up a weak spot on the team with little drawbacks. This move would result in the same cap space, $4.5m. However, we’ll assume that this does not happen for our analysis below.
Positions of Need: WR, K/P, LB, OL, QB
The top need for this team is wideout. They only have two on the roster, and Despacito Jr. has only one season to regression. Getting a top wideout to call up immediately and take up some of that $4.5m in cap space would be ideal. Second priority is gonna be the K. Kitchens is at the 3rd LB spot and isn’t earning, so needs to be replaced and a S28 draftee could have enough to outpace him by the beginning of the season. However, having a 103 K is a death sentence. You might get 60% on all kicks if you’re lucky, and a LB3 is not as important in close games to me. Next of importance but still a need is an OL or two to pull in, who can then replace Beerus and Trunks. As with NOLA, we’ll put OCO on the QB carousel, but I don’t expect them to take one this draft class, so it goes last.

SAN JOSE SABERCATS SJS

Upcoming FAs: QB Monterey Jack, RB Jamar Lackson, WR Zach Crossley, DE Xmus Flaxon Jaxon-Waxon, LB Lawrence Bass, LB Tyron Brackenridge, CB Rich Triplet, K/P Matthew McDairmid
Pipeline: S27 LB Duke Cheeks (393), S27 TE Bobby Tarantino (228)
Projected Cap: $2,000,000. ($43.5m - ($5m+$5m+$3m+$3m+$5m+$1m+$4m+$5m) - ($10.5m))
Drafting Philosophy: Positional need. They’ll get the best guy at the position they need to the best of their ability.

The Facts:

San Jose’s longtime former GM Monterey Jack is the QB at 1230, so though his contract is expiring he will be returning to the team for a $5m price tag. Jamar Lackson, 1300, will be the lead back as Rando Cardrissian regresses to just over 800. Lackson will need an extension at another $5m tag. Their receivers include 680 Zach Crossley, who will need extended at $3m, 1130 Tychondrius Hood, and the 580 Tugg Speeman. At TE, the newly acquired James Lewandowski strikes an imposing 1170 pose, but will be knocked down to 950 or so by regression. Bobby Tarantino is behind him in the DSFL, but likely won't be needed for several seasons. San Jose has only one OL, and that is Jaja Ding Dong, who just switched from TE upon the arrival of Lewandowski. This means they need four OL bots for a total of $18m. Otis allen will regress from high 1300s to just over 1000, and his DT counterpart Yuuto Kira Cloudera is right up next to 700. Outside of them, Raylan Crowder plays at 800 and pending free agent Xmus Flaxon Jaxon-Waxon (say that 5 times fast) is around 720. I would be surprised if he is not re-signed, and our minimum policy puts him at $3m. At linebacker, George ‘Corpse Grinder’ Fisher holds 910, Lawrence Bass holds 1230, and Tyron Brackenridge is at 600, but will regress to mid-200s. Bass will be a free agent but should be re-signed at $5m, but Brackenridge will also be a FA. He’s a more complicated case, as he might stay on to help supplement an HoF bid, but Duke Cheeks will have more, currently just under 350 already, and only costs $500k more than a minimum contract for Brackenridge. For now we’ll budget in Brackenridge but I’m not at all certain about that. At CB, Rich Triplet will need to take a re-up, and I assume it will be a $4m supercontract. Rashard Hilliard and Rickie Vaughne are within a few of each other both around 700. The two safeties are 1000 Philip Stein and the 800 Brendan Lainer. Last but not least is Matthew McDairmid, the K/P and also the GM, is up for a new contract and will get the $5m minimum. Now, with all this, it’s telling me that SJS is going to be $5.5m to $6m over cap depending on what they do with the Brackenridge/Cheeks situation. I think something is off there and I can’t figure out what, so I’m going to just say that they’ll probably need to reduce 3 of their OL bots, dropping that total from $18m to $10.5m and saving their cap either way. SJS may decide to do something completely different however.
Positions of Need: OL, QB, BPA
This team is in excellent shape composition wise, and although only two players are currently signed past season 30, that will change soon. Their oldest player is Brackenridge and they really don’t have many needs. OL would be a good option, as they can then save some on OL bots and get an advantage by having human options. They are also potentially the most likely team quarterbacked by a S22 member to take a QB, as they can afford to use a high pick on one. After that, they should go with best player available and/or try and trade into the S29 draft, where they may be able to have a better idea of long-term needs.

And there we have it! The Positions of Need sections are what I’ll be using to write my mock next week, and everything else is more of a guess than anything else. But it shows that every team can get under the cap and that SJS is the team most hurting for it.

The NSFC version will be out either later tonight, as it’s now early Thursday morning, or Friday evening. It’ll be much the same, but there are some interesting scenarios with some of these teams as well that will be fun to cover. Thanks for reading if you made it this far, and if I got something wrong then let me know to help me make another accurate mock!

Code:
5300 or so words

Pat · 02-25-2021, 09:31 AM

Laser, you were a great GM, but God damn I love you as a "regular user" because of your articles like this. I hope you have the time to put out one like this for the NSFC!!