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North Liberty Overview:
Eight wins against eight losses registered our best record since 2011, but we missed the playoffs and the division title. A hiccup, I think, but we'll start competing again this season. Pretty much our entire offense returns and we get our two offensive guards back from injured reserve without penalty.
Would have been nice to see what we could have done with them in the lineup for the season.
We had zero retirements, our entire staff is locked up, ticket prices will remain the same, and we're not interested in moving to another city. So this stage is ...lost on us.
Financially we're bleeding money. Losing 59 million always hurts, and we lost a tad bit in attendance down 5 percent. But we did raise ticket prices a little bit last season, and given our schizophrenic performance last season, you can't blame the fans.
We're currently 28 million under the cap and look to build through the draft with 33 on roster, 34 with the franchise tag, and hopefully one loyal tight end renegotiates. So if we can get the te to sign, and then draft seven players we want to keep, we should have somewhere around 42 players. That means we'll have to fish for ten one year wonders somewhere.
Personnel moves:
RDT Bart Hetrick will be franchised. The former sixth round pick looks like a career Enforcer and he had a solid year last season. He should be rewarded, and he will.
RDE Louis Cooksey, a second year player from Ohio, will be sent to summer league to help round out the d line. He has decent height, but I like his all around bars, his stats from last season were solid in spot duty, and he's Well Liked by fans. I love the number of hurries he got on qb in very limited play. He's our starter at the right side when he returns. A very underrated player who should have been playing more.
LDT Earnest Mueller will not be pursued. 6-3 is short for what I want, and I'm not sold on his endurance, play diagnoses, and punishing hitter bars. We'll be looking for a younger stronger guy with better endurance and taller. He'll make someone a nice mentor, but his performance last season was lackluster. And eight years is getting expensive and old.
Adrian MczIntyre, a backup WLB from Indiana last season and seventh round draft pick, has been moved to SLB to take advantage of his pass rush skills. Again, he'll never be the starter, but a solid contributor. SLB Eddie Rivers has been moved to backup MLB where his run defense will be better utilized. Again, he's not the answer at the MLB spot, just a serviceable backup.
TE Cris Gaines was an oops on my part, but I'm hoping high loyalty will help in the free agency period. We will be pursuing him.
Our draft focus this season: defensive backs and linebackers, in that order. If we could stumble across a good West Coast running back, that would be cool. We gave up way too many big passing plays and couldn't stop the run. The only bright spot was in our red zone defense, that was solid with room for improvement, but teams scored on us from outside the red zone on big plays way too many times. That has to be the focus for us in rebuilding the squad. Depth at the db's and getting good linebackers to fit our defensive scheme.
Offensively we have a good young qb waiting in the wings, and our receivers fit the West Coast well, but our running back is nonexistent. That could very well be addressed in the first round this season, with the other six picks going exclusively to building the d. We get that West Coast rb, and the game opens up for us a bit more.
Love this team...can't wait for the rookie draft.
Eight wins against eight losses registered our best record since 2011, but we missed the playoffs and the division title. A hiccup, I think, but we'll start competing again this season. Pretty much our entire offense returns and we get our two offensive guards back from injured reserve without penalty.
Would have been nice to see what we could have done with them in the lineup for the season.
We had zero retirements, our entire staff is locked up, ticket prices will remain the same, and we're not interested in moving to another city. So this stage is ...lost on us.
Financially we're bleeding money. Losing 59 million always hurts, and we lost a tad bit in attendance down 5 percent. But we did raise ticket prices a little bit last season, and given our schizophrenic performance last season, you can't blame the fans.
We're currently 28 million under the cap and look to build through the draft with 33 on roster, 34 with the franchise tag, and hopefully one loyal tight end renegotiates. So if we can get the te to sign, and then draft seven players we want to keep, we should have somewhere around 42 players. That means we'll have to fish for ten one year wonders somewhere.
Personnel moves:
RDT Bart Hetrick will be franchised. The former sixth round pick looks like a career Enforcer and he had a solid year last season. He should be rewarded, and he will.
RDE Louis Cooksey, a second year player from Ohio, will be sent to summer league to help round out the d line. He has decent height, but I like his all around bars, his stats from last season were solid in spot duty, and he's Well Liked by fans. I love the number of hurries he got on qb in very limited play. He's our starter at the right side when he returns. A very underrated player who should have been playing more.
LDT Earnest Mueller will not be pursued. 6-3 is short for what I want, and I'm not sold on his endurance, play diagnoses, and punishing hitter bars. We'll be looking for a younger stronger guy with better endurance and taller. He'll make someone a nice mentor, but his performance last season was lackluster. And eight years is getting expensive and old.
Adrian MczIntyre, a backup WLB from Indiana last season and seventh round draft pick, has been moved to SLB to take advantage of his pass rush skills. Again, he'll never be the starter, but a solid contributor. SLB Eddie Rivers has been moved to backup MLB where his run defense will be better utilized. Again, he's not the answer at the MLB spot, just a serviceable backup.
TE Cris Gaines was an oops on my part, but I'm hoping high loyalty will help in the free agency period. We will be pursuing him.
Our draft focus this season: defensive backs and linebackers, in that order. If we could stumble across a good West Coast running back, that would be cool. We gave up way too many big passing plays and couldn't stop the run. The only bright spot was in our red zone defense, that was solid with room for improvement, but teams scored on us from outside the red zone on big plays way too many times. That has to be the focus for us in rebuilding the squad. Depth at the db's and getting good linebackers to fit our defensive scheme.
Offensively we have a good young qb waiting in the wings, and our receivers fit the West Coast well, but our running back is nonexistent. That could very well be addressed in the first round this season, with the other six picks going exclusively to building the d. We get that West Coast rb, and the game opens up for us a bit more.
Love this team...can't wait for the rookie draft.
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