Utah Ulmanac | 2023

[Aston]

The Early Midseason Review

Last year this time, we were putting up the most dazzling statistical showcase, one that far exceeded my wildest dreams, in the midst of a steamroller of a regular season.

This year, the AC has gotten a lot more competitive and we're one of many talented teams just chasing a playoff spot. The torch has been passed to Denver as Kings of the West -- for now, but they gave us a very convincing spanking.

The Bad
The self-inflicted departures of starting TE Nate Barlow and starting LG Bryce Forbes are now officially disasters. DISASTERS. Keep your vets, don't be like me.

And whomever has Barlow now, start the guy, I don't care what his ratings are, there's a good chance he still has it. He was incredible. And as it turns out, pretty key to our operation.

The other possibility, which would be pretty ironic given how much crap I've given him, is that Marvin Daluiso's leadership was the glue holding this whole jig together.

Something(one) else stinks here, and I'm not going to harp on that any more. Hopefully it is obvious.

The Good
Draft bust Mitchell Prescott - man, I wish I took Gaither - has held his own, aside from getting owned for a few games. I mean, he shows up every now and then, which is nice. Has me thinking he'll still end up quality.

The defense has given up some points, but they're mostly clicking. Not bad, with the moderate injuries that have saddled us so far. OK, Denver destroyed us, and that still has me stewing. But it happens, and they are a powerhouse. Beisel is no slouch at all. He is the Dark Side of the Boone. They are birds of a feather.

Oh, right, more 'good'...

-Howard Cote. see? vets, they age, they drop, but they still have it.
-Bennie Siragusa. I was reminded today, playing a starting Don Ilardi, an ex-first round NT I gave up on and traded for a 5th years ago. Finally managed to replace him.
-Chuck Horton. Is he going to live up to expectations, for once???? I can't hardly believe it. You know, the whole secondary is doing pretty good. Chmelik and his continued brazen overachievement, I love that guy!
-Sacks not made by Carlos Melnick. Everyone's getting a piece of that action.

In fact, it seems just about every last thing on my team is going just swimmingly, with that one rather aggravating exce - you know, I'm not going to talk about it. :D

[Guest]

Was going to pick up Barlow again this week because Peters got injured, but Washington beat me to the punch.

[Nemesis]

LG Bryce Forbes is nice and cozy.

[Aston]

Big news in Utah this week, as the latest attempt to 'fix' broken Randy is to give rookie wideout and 2nd-round pick Ray Mansker a shot at the starting gig in the final game. Likely to come at the expense of Colin Fletcher, whose performance has been underwhelming.

We might have to also sit Melnick and Robinette while still trying to win the game, not because we want to, but because capable young backups at those positions are starting to get really pissed. Matthew O'Donnell is locked up for now so we have time to make him happy again, but between now and the end of next season, corner Stephen Easton has to stop demanding his trade, and go back to being just disgruntled.

[Aston]

Reports coming out of Utah are that team officials go to sleep every night shaking in fear of the possibility that Randy Boone will hold out of training camp this year.

Rumor has it that Boone wants a 5-year deal worth $108.75 million in a move that would make him, by far, the highest-paid QB in the league. Apparently, Randy feels his play over the past three seasons merits being paid as such.

Randy's current deal runs through 2025; he has three seasons remaining on his contract at $8.38 million per.

Looks like a second straight bowl humiliation has humbled Mr. Randy "The Choke" Boone, and his salary demands this offseason are a mere 5 years, 71.04 million. That may have to do with the capout from last year and the extra guaranteed that gave him, but I'm almost tempted to strike while the iron is hot.

I will probably wait until next season though, knowing that it'll probably get real ugly again, and just enjoy this last sub-$10m-cap-hit year while I can.

[Aston]

Oops. Nevermind, haha. Never-ever-mind. This may be the Year of the Randygotiation after all. The one we have been dreading. For years and years and years. We wanted the capout to be followed by a franchise, and then one last extension to carry him, an aged, wizened man, into the sunset. But no.

Evidently, I had visionary amounts of foresight last offseason in planning contract extensions for various members of the core roster, resulting in the (@#@#@$%$$$#$@#$@#$@#$@#$GAH) situation that I took stock of just this morning. A peek into the Utah books....

<img src="http://img829.imageshack.us/img829/1742/utahbooks.png" title="the one in the green outlined box - real primma donna.">

Ha. Ha, ha, ha. So much for the idea of adding a franchise tag to the '25 class of contract talks.

(Cliffnotes: not a lot of important people need to be extended this year, and then errrrrrrrryone all at once in 2025.)

[Guest]

I feel ya. I did a 5 year rookie deal with Gentala and this is the last year of that deal. Figure I'll get to that once the draft and FA is over with. Or maybe I'll get it over now and take the $18 mil a year hit (or whatever it's gonna be).

[Aston]

It is done, my liege.

For the second time in two years, the Bees have reworked quarterback Randy Boone's contract. I was not expecting him to take the first deal I threw his way, and this makes me feel like I squandered a big negotiating opportunity to find the bottom line.

The structure of the new deal is an even $11 million per season for five years (through 2028), with a 6/5 salary/bonus split in each year. This will put Randy's next renegotiation, barring holdout, in his 11th season. Randy will have an extra 4.53 million in cap hit in 2024 and 2025 from previous bonuses accumulated by his original extension, and the cap-out restructure from last season.

All in all, I feel pretty good about coming out of this one with a deal that expires at an ideal point in his career, with a salary line 16 million below his original demands, and 53 million under what it looked like he would demand at this point a year ago. And, it got done really quickly. We only offered so early in FA1 because we were getting ready to dig in on an extended contract standoff. Thank you, Randy.

We're going to be pushing the salary cap to its limits in the coming years, though, it looks like.