Camden Cutters Offseason Report

[Guest]

2029

Retirements

C Casey Boticario, G Nick Brooks, FB Kris Wagner, S Kim Brahms

Two long, long time starters on our OL gone. Brooks was a first round pick who never made me regret taking a guard in the first round while Boticario retires as the league's all time leader in Pancake blocks and a possible future hall of famer. Wagner and Brahms never set foot on the field, but were key position leaders. Their retirements combined with a new leader on my OL this year, roughly half my team's chemistry profile is getting upended and reworked

Free Agency Departures

CB Stanley Keiburtz, QB Alfred McDonald

Keibertz had been our starting LCB since his rookie year and had been a liability that entire time. McDonald started 4 games for us last year but could not unseat a broken down, worn out Casey Baumgartner and his magical slippers of cohesion (just click your heels together 3 times and say “I've spent how long in New Jersey?”)

Free Agency Additions

CB Josh Talley, LB Jose Haslett

Talley cannot possibly be any worse than Kiebertz, and Haslett is one more step back away from our disastrous attempt to switch to a 4-3 last season.

Trades

DE Brian Nall, TE Marty Devine

As mentioned above, we switched over to a 4-3 last season. It was a move solely designed to get performance out of our RDE Nall (who had spent the previous 2 seasons at LDE in a 3-4), and while he did see a slight improvement in overall numbers (15 tackles and a whole 2 sacks!) overall my defense was as bad or worse than it had been since I took over the team. Devine had been slowly creeping downward since I drafted him and his performance had been in decline, the selection of Turner made him expendable. I didn't get much value back for either player (Nall in particular), but at the time it looked as if I only had about 4 hours to get any pre-TC trades done. So I posted low, low prices and took the very first offer that came along.

Rookie Draft

Quick summary: I wasted my first round pick, took the wrong guard in round 2, drafted a couple of guys who might be back ups after that, and still had my best draft in recent memory.

1.12 TE Marlon Turner (53/65) (+5/0)

My top two greatest needs this off season were Wide Receiver and Cornerback, the top to players on my draft list when my pick came up were WR Travis Christen and CB Jose Olivarez. Unable to decided between the two I flipped a coin and somehow it came up Turner. He should be a solid enough TE and with a higher route running he might see more balls thrown his way than either Van Dyke or the outgoing Devine. But on a team with as many gaping holes as this one has “a solid enough TE” won't cut it. In essence I traded a 1st round pick for a future 4th round pick by way of a TE swap.

2.13 G Adrian Brooks (34/58) (+5/+1)

With Brooks and Boticario both retiring this year I also had a pressing need for interior linemen. My first instinct here was to go for Roy Whalen, but a poor agility drill convinced me to pick go Brooks instead. Once again the wrong choice, but once again I should get a serviceable player out of it. I have screwed up 2nd round picks far worse than this in the past.

3.12 S Freddie Roberts (29/39) (+3/-1)

Must have messed up my export, Roberts was supposed to move to safety before TC and pack on a few more pounds while he was at it.

4.13 DE Tyrone Fitzgerald (33/49) (+3/0)

I suspect Fitzgerald will drop into the mid to low 40's by the time he's done developing, but even if he does he's should still be a useful enough backup to whomever I have starting at DE by that time.

5.12 WR Edward Schweitzer (23/37) (0/-5)

Because I have to take at least one WR every year, just to make it look like I am still trying.

6.13 CB J.T. Mills (23/33) (+3/0)

A bit surprised this guy didn't drop but I'm not sure what I'll end up doing with him. Not good enough to start, and no special teams bar to make him useful as a backup.

7.12 S Harry Whorton (29/44) (+3/-4)

Cut!

UDFA S Daniel Gonzalez (19/39) (+2/0)

The only one out of the bunch of undrafteds I brought to camp who may end up making the team.. Will take Earnest Ohalete's spot as a punt returner.

Other Camp Movers

RB Richard Dauber (-7/-7)

A bit of a surprise here, Dauber had been a steady upward creeper his first 4 years. I'd say this was just the classic “fully developed drop” that a lot of heavily masked players do when they max out their positional experience before the finish fully unmasking, except that Dauber has had a solid red RB xp for about the last 3 years now. Damn fast aging running backs

WR Ronald Mansker (-7/-7)

While I have been hoping for a miracle at WR the last few years Mansker has quietly been pulling down passes with an average of over 8 YPT. Not to shabby for a 30ish rated guy I only signed for his kick return bar. Will be sad to see him go.

DE Jesse Guererro (-3/-6)

Early aging? Micro volatility? Just not that good to begin with? Guererro had been a slow downward creeper from the start, but that -3 Current is a new one this year, especially since he is still far from fully developed. Luckily Fitzgerald looks like he might pan out.

S Toby Cooper (-8/-8)

Cooper was a marginal starter at free saftey before. After this he'd be cut bait, if he wasn't my DB positional leader.

QB Antonio Woodward (-9/-9)

Brought in as a possible replacement for 16 year vet Casey Baumgartner, ouch.

DE Patrick Fulcher/Tracy Trout (-9/-9, -10/-10)

Old defensive ends are old.

[Aston]

That's definitely aging on that RB. And yes, they go down so early. It breaks my heart all the time. Happened to Ryan Green last year -- Green being the Dauber lookalike from the class before. Both were in year 5, and both were VU, interestingly enough. So maybe there's some other voodoo going on here?

This was a bad camp for receivers named R.Mansker. Utah's Ray Mansker took a -5 this year as well, and he's only in year 7.

[Guest]

And here I was ready to defend the Turner pick until I realized what your QB and WR situation looks like. Ouch.

You've still got that pounding run game, so there's that.

[Guest]

I was as putting together the 2031 off season report for this year when I realized I never actually posted the one from last year.

2030 Offseason

Retirements

Bryan Fields – A former 3rd round pick of ours, Fields was at one time cut to clear the way for a preferred position leader, only to be resigned last year as a stop-gap position leader to clear up some extreme conflicts. With his retirement we will need to find a more permanent solution for the RB position group.

And that's it. Our old team gets older and everyone else comes back for one more shot at... hell, I don't even know what they are coming back for.

Coach & Staff Hiring

We were #4 in the league last year in profits, which meant we could offer more to resign our coach than all but three other teams. Unfortunately one of those three teams was Columbus, and they wanted head coach Karl Benjamin for themselves. In retaliation we signed former Columbus head coach Bo Dennis. OK, so it's not much for retaliation seeing as they didn't want the guy anymore, but we could not allow such an act go without a response.

In more exciting news, after 9 long years the worst scout in the league has left Camden. While 50 point “blue bar” ranges for rookies certainly made drafting more of a challenge, I cannot say it made our team a better one. We signed... some guy. Welcome to New Jersey new guy!

Free Agent Departures

FB Brett Schiff – When your the only free agent on your team anyone else even bothers to make an offer on is your backup FB, it means you don't have a very good team. When you don't even bother to make a counter offer, it means he wasn't a very good backup FB.

Free Agent Acquisitions

QB Luke Sinclair - This year's Alfred McDonald/Dennis Perez. Sinclair will compete with 4th year man Nate Reese for the starting spot.

RB Rodney Greer – Greer was our most coveted FA target who we actually managed to sign, even higher than Mack Hackett. Our chemistry in the RB position group has been a mess the last few years (as it has been for 3 of our 5 position groups), with a revolving door of “good enough”, one and done leaders. Greer's high leadership, high personality, and young age should give us some stability to that part of our team which we have been missing.

FB Clifton Minnig – Possible replacement for the departed Brett Schiff, honestly we don't need much more out of a backup fullback other than another exceptional affinity on the inactive list.

WR Zach Dodge – Another player we cut before giving him a chance,only to later find he is better than anyone currently on our team. That's not to say he's any good, he's just better than anyone on our team.

WR Richie Ledwell – Punt return and special teams specialist.

C Lee O'Neal – A string of injuries to our interior offensive line last year left us hiring schmucks off the street, O'Neal is our insurance in case that happens again.

DT Rob Waerig – A #3 DT with an affinity, since we run a 3-4 defense he will likely never see the field.

CB Mack Hackett – Our #2 most coveted FA target who we managed to sign. Our top CB the last few years, Burt Schroeder, has been playing phenomenally well. Our problem was the stiffs we had playing across from him. Hackett will hopefully, finally provide us some at least decent coverage at RCB.

2030 Draft

1.18 FS Derek Thompson

We really, really wanted Daniel Floyd to fall one more spot to us at 18, but he ended up going the pick before us to Brooklyn. So we pulled a page from the ol'Al Davis play book and drafted the fastest guy in the draft. Thompson was sporting 4.34 speed and his 23 bench reps were best not only among among all defensive backs, but better than all but a handful of the linebackers in this draft as well. The initial plan was to move him to corner, but after my scout told me he was only going to keep about 82% of his ratings (the same percent as if we were try to move him to WR or RB) we decided to hold off on that move until after we had a chance to slim him down in training camp.

1.28 RB Tommy Jeffries

We still had three players we very much liked at the bottom of the first round and had been in discussions with Ohio Valley to trade up to their pick at 1.29. The player we most desired. LB Carl Givens, went at 1.27, while Yuma was trying to trade out of their pick 1.28 but finding no takers. We made an offer to Yuma, hoping for a better deal than we were getting with Ohio Valley, but instead ended up settling for the exact same price in draft picks so we could pay the same player we would have picked at 1.29 even more money. Ohio Valley ended up taking the third player on our list, Steve Worsham, with the next pick. As for Jeffries, we had him rated as the 2nd best RB still available at this point in the draft, but did not feel that he would be up when our 2nd round pick came up.

3.16 LB Deon Poston

Always nice when you pick a guy and immediately hear “Dammit!” in the draft room chat. Poston had a pretty good 40 time, but looked decidedly sub-par at everything else. Still that should be enough for him to move over to WLB where he will hopefully fill our need for a future edge rusher.

4.15 FB Skipjack Norris

Skipjack had the best 40 time and bench reps of any of the FB in this draft, but both scores were short of being exceptional and his other combines were nothing special. Still, his two static bars were high and my scout thought he was Very Underrated. He looked like he could turn out to be a solid enough FB. So of course we drafted him with the intention of moving him out to TE where he is probably too short to succeed and we already have three established players.

4.27 TE Mickey Zimmerman

We got this pick from Dakota in exchange for former starting TE Marty Devine. Devine had become expendable when we wasted a 1st round pick last year on TE Marlon Turner. In essence we traded a 2029 1st round pick for a 2030 4th so we could downgrade our TE position and in turn, draft another TE who we will likely cut. A typically Camden move. To earn a roster spot Zimmerman will have to beat out either 4th round FB to TE convert Norris Skipjack or fellow 4th round TE Gene Flowers and Rico Van Dyke.

5.14 CB Brant Meier

The last CB I found with an agility score this low who turned out to be worth a damn was the inexplicable Don Jacke way back in 2021, and I do believe there was some volitlity involved there. Still, Meier should have an affinity and if he hangs on to enough of that special teams bar he could still make the team.

6.18 QB J.C. Gibson

I wasn't sure there was a QB in this draft even worth dafting, but we had a bucket full of 6th and 7th round picks and had to take someone. We've been badly burned in the past by quarterbacks with poor broad jump scores, no matter what the rest of their combines look like, and Gibson's sub-50 Sense Rush is also worrying but at least he has a high volatility, maybe he will boom in camp or something.

6.19 SS Kelly Sammons

We already drafted a safety in the first round, and have two established starters, but that doesn't mean we can't draft another one (or two). Sammons somehow wandered his way into our priority list ahead of another safety we would have much really rather drafted at this spot but, like Gibson, he has a high volatility, perhaps the football gods will smile upon him. If not, it's a sixth round pick.

6.23 SS Jack Johnson

Johnson was the safety I thought I had listed ahead of Sammons in my queue, so we ended up taking him 4 picks later.

7.17 DE Kenny Kampman

Kampman's high static bars were backed up by a his bench score, second best among all DE in this draft. But even that bench score was short of being exceptional and everything else about his looks pretty terrible. We might try to move him inside to DT and see what happens.

7.24 FB Courtney Perry

No idea what Perry did to even make it on our draft list, even for a late 7th round pick. Still he has a shot to make the team. The backup fullback spot on our team is usually either a (1) good chemistry guy or (2) good special teams guy (or preferably both). If we wind up with enough special teamers at other positions, current backup Anthony Manning could be let go.

Late Free Agents

WR – Frankie Simmons – Camp body
LB – Danny Willis – Possible backup LB who can play special teams along the lines of Levon Riley
CB – Seth Lester – Camp body

2030 Training Camp

The Rookies

1.18 FS Derek Thomson (+4/-1) 28/53
1.28 RB Tommy Jeffries (+3/-1) 49/59
2.16 LB Deon Poston (+3/+2) 19/37
4.15 TE Skipjack Norris (+3/-7) 23 50
4.27 TE Mickey Zimmerman (+1/-2) 21/37
5.14 CB Brant Meier (-3/-8) 24/42
6.18 QB JC Gibson (+3/-3) 19/37
6.19 SS Kelly Sammons (+3/0) 21/25
6.23 SS Jack Jonhson (+2/-3) 16/27
7.17 DE Kenny Kampan (+2/0) 24/30
7.27 FB Courtney Perry (+1/0) 13/20
UDFA WR Frankie Simmons (+3/+1) 17/34

Other vets of note

WR Robert Niebauer (+9/+9)
LT Bill Rodgers (+9/+5)
DE Patrick Fulcher (-4/-4)
DT Joseph Osborne (-8/-8)
DE Tracy Trout (-5/-5)
LB Terry Dunlap (-4/-4)
CB Burt Schroeder (-5/-5)

Thompson's drop is disappointing (Nutah's scout had him holding steady at +4/0, which is what makes it only “disappointing”), after slimming down my scout now says he can move to CB and keep about 86% of his ratings. There doesn't seem to be much of point in that. Jeffries' -1 is also a disappointment, by no means the end of the world. Burt Newman went -3 his first training camp and he turned out just fine. Poston's +2 looks like a nice sign, barring any future VSOD he will be our future WLB.

Speaking of VSOD it looks like CB Brant Meier got wacked, but not too hard. Reminds me of a former second round pick at linebacker, Jackie Knorr. Like Meier, Knorr went -3/-8 in TC and we cut him before he ever played a game for us. He's starting in Phoenix now along with fellow never-given-a-chance Camden castoff Jeff Brooks. Let's see if we can't make that same mistake again, if nothing else he should still be a serviceable special teams/affinity guy.*

It wasn't all bad news from the Volatility fairy, however, as we had both a veteran WR and an OT see big bumps. Unfortunately they were both pretty unimpressive to start with so they only really moved from “good enough to start for us” to “would make a nice backup for most other teams”. Still not going to look a gift horse in the mouth.

Meanwhile, a whole host of our long time defensive starters continued to their steady slide towards retirement age, Burt Schroeder's drop is particularly painful as he had such a great season last year. Second year DE Tyrone Fitzgerald missed out on all of last year after getting hurt in preseason, but a trip to the summer league seems to have gotten him right back up to speed and he should be starting for us week 1.**

*post pre-season note1: We made that mistake again. He's in Anchorage now.
**post pre-season note2: He got hurt in pre-season again. Maybe next year.