The Boston Barker

[Aston]

Welcome to 2034. Here's the scoop on everybody's favorite team, the Boston Three-Leaf Clovers.

A brave new world?

After thirteen straight seasons of starting, Cary Money faces his first serious challenge for the starting job. New management does not favor newcomer Austin Cash (last seen being sacked 70 times in Los Alamos in 2033), but GM <abbr style='border-bottom:1px dotted #555' title='Ryan?'>Rex</abbr>'s disastrous half-year tenure in Beantown resulted in Cash locked in for three years at a cool $99.54 mil.

Money's expected to retain his job, but his chances for an extension are out of the question at this point. This could, sadly, be his final year in a Boston uniform.

Well. I'm sure Gainesville will be looking for a new legendary signal caller to sign next year.

Oh, the humanity!

The Irish's bulwark of veterans has been pummeled lately. I've inherited a horrendous year-long ACL knee injury to DT Norm Duffy, who remains one of the few candidates for a contract extension this season. Then in the first exhibition of the year, we lose LT Rufus Bell, an elite tackle and the one guy holding that OL together. Former Columbus tackle Cris Woods has been brought in to shore up the breach. Amazing that this man was without a job in 2033.

Both starting safeties are now expected to miss the week 1 match.

Fresh meat

Boston has signed 20 players since the start of the preseason. Rookie Al Clayton is expected to win the starting SLB position here, and rookie defensive backs Travis Preston, Jumbo Talley, and Tim Benton are all expected to be pressed into duty early. That's a shaky situation. While they look serviceable to me, it's hard to imagine much real quality was found in the undrafted ranks this year.

Lastly, a touch of intrigue.

Rookie 1st round quarterback Kayden Esquivel is stuck on the roster through 2036 -- the first time he can be cut without taking on a lump future cap penalty. That's the year we'll be looking for him to show whether or not he can be the franchise. And that's the year QB Austin Cash is scheduled to make $25.7M in salary alone.

[Guest]

Gainesville made the move of the off season.

[Aston]

Boston readies up for 2034

The Irish have finished trimming their roster after an eventful preseason:

GONE:

RB Zach Romeo
Highest rated RB on the roster, highly paid, quality returner and 1000-yard rusher for the past three seasons (with 539 yards receiving on 51 receptions last year). That's a lot of production to give up, but he's been a fumbling machine. Can't have that, especially in the return game.

DE Jude Koenig
Rookie 2nd round pick has a terrible camp and falls way out of favor with the new regime. We might regret this, as he could bounce back, but we figure the odds are slim and we're better off eating the bonus next year than push more cap penalty down the line than we have to.

WR Lamar Haddock
Fairly quality looking option pushed out by the 1-week bruised heel accrued by rookie 5th rounder Ellis Hoffman in EX5. Hoffman looks awful, and would have been cut - but players on multi-year deals can't be cut if they're injured. Haddock loses to Cerf (a strong affinity) and Levens (a third-year drafted by Boston and showing decent promise, as well as maybe some ST ability).

K Troy Parrish
Once coveted in the 4th round of the draft, this is the second time I've traded Parrish away (originally to Boston). Parrish was unlikely to make it to the next season in Boston thanks to his contract, but the Sharks only have $150M on the books for 2035 and were willing to take it on.

IN:

WR Bryan Sidharta
Traded for and traded away twice by the Bees, Sidharta returns for his second stint in Boston. Now in his twelfth year, he's quite well traveled, and still a very solid talent. He's a very welcome presence in the slot, although he'll start the first game as Travis Christen nurses himself back to full health.

LT Cris Woods
His sub-7.5 agility drill at the rookie combine in 2024 long forgotten, Woods went the entire 2033 season without a team after Columbus elected not to re-sign him. Woods has allowed 5 sacks in nearly 1600 pass plays, and after we lost our all-OSFL LT Rufus Bell, we were extremely happy to be land the 11th-year vet. Woods & Clements will make for a very old set of tackles for Boston this year. They prefer 'grizzled.'

FB Clay Giedhill
The 2nd-year man looks surprisingly solid for a preseason street pickup -- run blocking, pass blocking, strength, blitz pickup -- and finds himself in a starting role in Boston after being anointed "the only guy we could find." Fullbacks seem slightly more active in the running game now, and it'll be up to him to pave the way for a trio of rookie RBs.

K Harvey Soward
If kick accuracy mattered for placekickers in FOF2k7, I wasn't aware of it. Soward has approximately 0 for kick accuracy, but his power, kickoff distance, and hangtime all look elite. I don't believe any kicker makes it in the pros by being completely incompetent within 30 yards, and hopefully Soward makes it up with his ability to connect from 45+, as well as the field position wins he gives us.

Eric Sherman and Thurman Brown
Nominally CB and RB respectively, these two make the final roster on special teams alone. Can't ignore the 3rd phase of the game, you guys.

Outlook
Boston is sitting at $15.65M in cap penalties for next year, but the way I see it, that's millions of cap penalty we'll be spared in 2036.

We feel a playoff spot is up for grabs. Brooklyn looks like the class of the entire conference, and securing a wildcard in the NC is never easy. South Maryland has a highly potent offense, and the affinities machine that is Camden are both very formidable challenges...and I expect an all-out brawl for 2nd place.

Still, the Irish have championship pedigree in Cary Money and a pretty sweet secondary. We'll have our say as well.

[Guest]

Nice to see Sherman land somewhere he is appreciated. Not so nice that it is to a division rival (see also; Rico Van Dyke in SMD) He was asking too much for me to resign earlier in FA and once we got past TC our roster was pretty much set with just enough wiggle room to cover an injury or two and maybe rework a contract.

Not a whole lot of toys left to play with in Boston, a situation they've found themselves in before, but if there's one man for the job it's Nutah. In the meantime I look forward to the Cash/Money QB controversy, if for no other reason than to make Cash/Money jokes. What can I say? I like low hanging fruit. (and so does Frodo Oglethorpe ZING!, it's like 2021 all over again!)

[Aston]

Hey, is Frodo still hanging around somewhere? He must be!

This week, we discovered that Ken Jennings was in his 2nd stint in Boston, one that began this offseason. I had been assuming he was giving my line 11 years of cohesion, but instead, we release him for Brooklyn castoff J.J. Clark -- probably the best pass blocker available. Hoping for more clear skies for Cary Money, though without a run game, the QB controversy is in full swing.

At LB, we also dropped Timothy Craig for Les Barraza. Craig is a superior player, but on a moderately costly 3-year deal and we wanted to clear our finances. Plus, Barraza is only a slight downgrade, and a STs ace. If there's one thing this team is going to be good at this year, it'll be kick coverage. And that gives us a fighting chance.

Will Boston break 3.0 yards per carry in a game this year? Stay tuned to find out!

[Guest]

I have no clue if Frodo's around anymore. Sounds like he's been flying under the radar.

[Aston]

2035 Draft

Here's what I liked, and what I didn't about my players (and a few others I was close to drafting). In review, it's not so bad for a low-talent draft where players I liked kept getting drafted ahead of me.

1.18 - CB Brody Houston 26/43
Boston were really optimistic about taking S Geoff Larrabee here (1.16 to YUM, in what will be a recurring theme) here and making him our corner of the future. Houston has much lower bars, but his dash points to special coverage skills. A 4.31 is so strong I'd be surprised if he didn't pop up to be an extremely competitive shutdown corner.

2.18 - OT Paxton Darche 16/52
This time our top target went at 2.3 to Waco in WR Broderick Rafter, whom I think is going to be a high-level starter. With the way things ended up going, I ended up moving my Round 3 target to Round 2. Glaring need at tackle, and Darche offers some promise here. However, he's not as strong of a prospect as I'd like from the mid-2nd. Lower grade, agility score still blue. A bit of a chance taken here.

3.18 - DT Emmitt Wilmes 23/62
DT Blaine Serrano (2.31, Phoenix) was given strong consideration in Round 1 and Round 2 before I went another way, and Wilmes was part of the reason why. My hopes for Wilmes aren't that high, though. At a 5.2 grade and 20% developed, I just think maybe he's solid enough to match most of the high bars he shows, and a highly-rated DT is good quality from a Round 3.

4.18 - DE Luke Berger 12/35
Originally, I wanted Santiago Ellingson (4.4 to Waco). Ellingson still looks solid, but I'm glad I took a closer look at Berger before this round. A 4.67 dash is awful close to red, his other combines check out, and his 19% development pushed his ranking down. All in all, a solid candidate to become a nice pass rusher. Ideal size (6'4, 286) definitely doesn't hurt.

5.18 - CB Darrell Jamison 15/44
This was my biggest disappointment of the draft. I had just identified S Marty Beckett as a diamond in the rough candidate, and a darn good one at that. A real high Punisher bar that might be close to 100. A 0-40 looking endurance bar that, if it's not 0, watch out (sure enough, it's not). I feel Beckett's going to be a 50s+ player before it's all said and done. Who else but Julio's Yuma to deliver the sucker punch, one pick before at 5.17? I went searching for another safety, but there never was much hope. Just a fool's hope.

6.18 - OT Bobby Greenwood 7/34
Boston makes their final three selections uncontested. Like most of this year's draftees, he's low developed (18%) because I think that pushes his rank lower than it should have been. His agility (7.58) matches that of our 2nd round tackle, Darche, and crucially, his END and Dash check out.

7.18 - RB Ross Stewart 24/36
I zeroed in on him early as a 7th round flyer for his skillset, particularly his Hole Recognition. He's No Combine and 18% developed, which stacked together, probably explains his 3.5 grade. I'm liking how he looks so far, although he has some shortcomings. The RB I felt was similar but preferred was Mack Madsen (much stronger physical bars, better rounded, also only 17% developed), but unfortunately, Rob is sharp as a tack and took him in Round 3. Madsen could be a great one.

7.21 - TE Leslie Brocklebank 16/31
A late audible. Brocklebank is one of the few TEs in this entire class who didn't have a glaringly bad position drill, and on top of that his agility is quite solid and he may offer something as a blocker. He wasn't my initial target here, but he's got a guaranteed spot on the team, behind some chump TE who definitely offers nothing as a blocker.

[Aston]

2035 Rookie Free Agents

The top 4 of the draft look solid, and the bottom 4 look forgettable. We'll bolster their ranks with a 9-man UDFA class to start the preseason. Here's the outlook, post-TC.

QB Cristian Drake 17/37
I love a solid-looking undrafted QB, and Drake is exactly that. He could make a solid backup in years to come, with good sense rush and 3rd down passing (for an undrafted guy). Maybe he'll start games for us!

WR Jimmy Sellers 17/34
Originally our final draft target. Low expectations; he looks like a reserve receiver who might play ST.

G Pat Fletcher 24/37
I like the look of this guy as a backup guard. We're quite rich at OL all of a sudden, making this a very successful offseason in that regard.

T Donovan Bell 16/38
He was the alternative to my 6th round tackle. In the early going, Bell looks better. He also gets past injustices if I release him. I consider that a good sign

DE Gabriel Wynn 12/40
He seems to have had quite the camp. I don't know if we'll have a spot for him, but a quality backup DE could well be his future. Nice skillset, heavy on the skills.

OLB Kayden Connell 14/23
A late add pre-TC after we saw the league scout's impression of his bars (a lot of them looked 0, but none of them were). Combined with his no combine, 36 position drill, and 88 volatility, I thought it was worth taking a shot on. Reserve/ST with some upside.

CB Ronald Bush 22/34
Same mold as Connell -- Bush did have a combine and his scores were all OK. His zero-looking bars kept him from being drafted, but the league scout
saw them as low rather than 0. In the FA pool pre camp, he was 18/22. After camp, he's now 22/34 (Connell didn't have this rise). I think there's some potential here.

LS Lionel Kinney 17/17
This was a very LS-rich class. South Maryland took the only one of note at 7.32, and we threw darts hoping to land one of the guys who made it to free agency. Happy with Kinney and he's won the LS competition in camp for us.

2035 Veteran Free Agents

The veteran additions are too numerous to count for now, so instead, let's go with a "Welcome Back, ex-Bees!" to:

QB Roderick Sikkenga
G Artie Samuels
DT Dexter Fike

The following are also expected to be impact players:

RB Anthony Hudson
WR Marcus Doyle
C Richard Banks
T Jerome Bohrer
LB Anthony Stevens
S J.R. Shannon

Despite never having been Bees, these players are nonetheless welcome.

[Matt]

Reading your draft/undrafted picks analysis makes me realize Resistance is Futile against the future Irish. Only hoping the salary cap can slow you down!

[Aston]

I'm sure it will! :) hopefully all of our discussions make everyone a better GM, too, and we'll have different competitive teams year in, year out. From what I understand, we humans have a little catching up to do with respect to HAL...

Rookies, Post-Ex

UDFA QB Cristian Drake 18/44 past injustices
Drake's definitely looking pretty competitive now. Esquivel has held, too, though he's put up stinkers in his first two preseason games this year. The plan is for Sikkenga to hold down the fort this year, and have Esquivel and Drake battle it out next.

7.18 RB Ross Stewart 27/36 no past injustices
I think Stewart's going to start at RB this year. Not good.

7.21 TE Leslie Brocklebank 19/32 no past injustices
This is the pick we got for kicker Troy Parrish last season. Looks like a complete miss, especially given his conflict. Not likely to make the team.

UDFA WR Jimmy Sellers 16/27 no past injustices
Sellers had a poor camp. Receiver depth and affinity give him a decent shot, but he's not a very good player.

UDFA G Pat Fletcher 25/42 past injustices
A very solid camp here. If he can fill his potential, I like what I see and the ROI on this player. Given his combine (7.80 agility, which is blue at least, if not very good), this result was a little bit of a longshot, but it's not too unbelievable.

2.18 T Paxton Darche 25/60 past injustices
It's a very good thing I didn't wait until the third round for Darche. That's a very good camp, and he looks very much like (former?) Utah Bee Max Reese now. I think we've got ourselves a left tackle to build around.

6.18 T Bobby Greenwood 11/33 no past injustices
Greenwood looks decent, but not at all what we hoped out of a draft pick. At best, he seems a marginal backup, but at least a capable enough pass blocker.

UDFA T Donovan Bell 16/43 past injustices
Bell, on the other hand, had a great camp, like Fletcher. Of note is his size (6'6, 347 -- Greenwood was 6'4, 287). Is there something to the idea that the talented guys are sometimes the extreme outliers? I don't know. I clearly picked the wrong 2nd OL to draft, but fortunately, Bell's here and starter quality if he makes it up there.

UDFA DE Gabriel Wynn 13/42 no past injustices
I think my (rather poor?) defensive coordinator is overrating his abilities. The league scout's pretty good and sees him quite a bit lower, but he's not the worst depth option.

4.18 DE Luke Berger 17/31 no past injustices
Not what we hoped, to put it mildly. Unless he bounces back, the ceiling for him looks to be a one-bar only guy, although if there's one bar for a DE to have, it's Pass Rush Tech. Boston's scouting department is kicking itself for not locking onto Yuma's 5.17 safety Marty Beckett sooner. Beckett looks incredible. Berger looks like an undrafted guy.

3.18 DT Emmitt Wilmes 28/60 past injustices
Still not expecting anything too great, but he looks like he's holding well. Should be a decent option and earn his 3rd round pay.

UDFA OLB Kayden Connell 13/27 no past injustices
Special teams only player.

1.18 CB Brody Houston 38/61 past injustices
There's the jump I was hoping for. Excellent. Brooklyn's Julio CB at 1.29 looks even better, but I'm happy not to deal with the red flag. Brody will fill the shoes of the retired Cary Anastiades-or-something quite well.

UDFA CB Ronald Bush 19/32 no past injustices
I like the positive camp movement, but low 30s is probably where he is. Unfortunately, he doesn't "increase ratings" on a move to safety, or that would be tempting given his skillset. Does look like a special teams player, which is great, because we really needed a few and didn't go looking for them in Connell and Bush, but that's how they came out.

UDFA CB Harrison George 19/41 past injustices
Hm, I forgot to mention him before, I guess? But, he was the last of the safeties I liked and when he showed up well on the roster, I had him drop weight in camp and moved him to corner afterwards. Really, really high INT bar that's already almost fully developed. Very happy with this addition, although his name is in the wrong order.

5.18 S Darrell Jamison 18/37 past injustices
Our unworthy backup plan to Beckett looks pretty bad. An interesting development is after his move to safety, he acquired the "past injustices" tag. I don't know, though...

Other Teams' Rookies

Elsewhere around the league, I'm feeling I really dodged a bullet with DT Blaine "Really, Scout, Very Underrated?" Serrano. Good to see my top two 2nd round targets, WRs Broderick Rafter and Bernie Springer, are both looking like stars. Too bad I didn't get to them.

And again with the much-mentioned 5.17 S Marty Beckett. That's the kind of late round, non-random-success player we all need to start paying attention to. Hopefully we'll be able to find more Becketts in future years, and actually draft them.

Waco's 4.4 G Santiago Ellison was also somebody we had our eyes on in Round 4 and now looks first round quality. Nice work, Rob.

[Matt]

What does the past injustices mean?

[Delandis]

What does the past injustices mean?

This. I was going to ask this when I was reading this at work.

[Aston]

It means when I cut him and then try clicking "submit offer", the message "My client won't resign with you due to past injustices" comes up.

I like to think it's a good sign, but it probably doesn't mean all that much. If he's good enough, he'd definitely get mad, right? (Although there are probably a lot of 30-40 rated players that could go either way)

[Matt]

So it's the new "cut test"?

[Aston]

Nah, well, sort of. I don't think cut test / keeping track of ratings is much more than a curiosity (thank goodness, what a chore).

It's more of when roster cutdown times come, I try not to release the wrong guys. Given it's hard to say for sure, sometimes something like this just gives me enough pause to think, "Well, maybe there's something to his madness."

Guys on this margin are probably nothing special anyway, but even passable talent is hard to come by sometimes...