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Let's start off with some of the moves that were made last season:
2058 Free Agency Signings:
Peter Saucier WR - $58.32 for 2 years
Saucier was by far the best WR in FA that year. The only issue was that he was old. I signed him in hopes of getting the most talented WR this offense has seen in years but he ended up regressing hard, going from a 73 OVR in training camp to a 57 OVR in EX2. It was disappointing but he still produced 7 TD's so I'm ok with it. There is a very real chance that he gets cut this offseason, however, as Utah cant afford to spend this much money for a 7-9 team.
Brian Vaughn TE - $8.49 for 1 year
I wanted to bring in a TE that would challenge our starter for snaps and that's what Vaughn did. He really helped out our 2 TE sets that I want to run. He's old but I wouldn't be surprised if he comes back to the team next year.
Marcus Jacobs 43 WLB - $22.50 for 2 years
Nobody was bidding on Jacobs and I couldn't resist the chance to grab him last FA. He was a solid player for us and it helped to have another LB that could stay in on most downs. We still have him for another year and I think he's gonna produce.
Mitchell Thigpen T - $7.10 for 2 years
I signed Thigpen to be our swing tackle and it did not work. He allowed 7 sacks in 6 starts and I signed Bo Ricci to take over the 3rd tackle spot midseason instead.
Adam Boccaleri 3T - $5.7 for 2 years
Boccaleri was a cheap signing that I hoped would add depth to the rotation. He was pretty good as a run-stopping tackle and while he doesn't have that much juice as a pass rusher, I like him as a short-yardage guy who can be a spot starter.
Johnnie Capone DE - $16.80 for 3 years
Capone's ideal fit is inside and I think I might move him there next year. I hoped he would be able to start as a DE in the scheme but I think he's just too big.
2058 Draft:
1.01 - Erick Dotson, QB, Army
Boy did Dotson bomb hard. I figured he would be one of the top QB's in the league in 5 years but as it stands he looks to be a top 5 to 10 QB instead of a top 3 QB. Can't complain about his season though. He ended up with a lot of INT's but I think that's a growing pain with a bad offense.
1.27 - Kurt Seymour, G, Hawaii
Another guy that fell short of my expectations. I think he's still gonna be a good starter, but he's not the dominant OG that I thought he would be.
2.6 - Bernard Kuhn, WR, Iowa State
Kuhn was better than I expected, I will say that. I think that he looks like a good WR, just not the great one that I need. That gives me 3 guys that are ok, but that's not what you want out of 3 2nd round picks.
3.11 - Angel Bech, FB, Colorado
He isn't that great. If he was, I wouldn't have kept 2 FB's on the roster but I'm gonna wait another year to see if he improves.
4.1 - Nolan McGee, DE, Ohio
Didn't even make it onto the roster after preseason cuts.
5.1 - B.J. Richard, C, UCLA
Didn't make it onto the roster after preseason cuts.
6.1 - Gabe Flowers, CB, Mississippi
Again, got cut.
7.1 - Ricardo Buckner, WR, Howard
Got cut.
As you can see from the draft, I went offense heavy when I had an OC that has a terrible scouting bar. I need to fire the guy because every offensive guy I drafted was worse than expected. The top 3 were pretty good but I gotta hit on those later picks if I want to make it anywhere in this league.
Season Review
The Offense: An Overview
The offense had a lot to prove this year after years of mediocre play. This offense is built off the running game, with the short passing offense as a compliment to what should be good play from our RB's. That hasn't been the case for a while and it became apparent very quickly that we needed to rely on the arm of Dotson to win games. While he managed to do that for the first half of the season, his inexperience made it impossible for us to continue to win that way. The line looked better, but our best guard went down for the season in week 4 and we struggled to find continuity after that.
The Passing Attack
The passing game looked to come in with a fresh new look with the addition of Peter Saucier and Erick Dotson. Dotson, the #1 pick showed off his franchise-changing talent to start off the year, but he couldn't keep the magic up for long, as he ended the season throwing 14 TD's to 15 INT's. Still, he looked good and hopefully with a new OC and a new offense, he can look even better next year. Saucier was a disappointment this season, only bringing in 53 catches for 495 yards. He managed to snag 7 TD's which was good but at his salary level, he needs to do more than that. Luckily the emergence of Donnell Fuller managed to soften that blow as Fuller exploded in this offense, bringing in 63 targets for 730 yards and 4 TDs. Fuller does not look like a #1 guy, but he looks like a solid #2 and with young receivers like Liam Billig and Bernard Kuhn behind him, hopefully, the passing game can reach a respectable level this year.
The Rushing Attack
The running game was really hit or miss. Both our RB's have very high elusiveness so they get tackled behind the line a lot. They played fine but the offense needs a north-south kind of runner to really unlock its full potential.
The Defense
The defense wasn't great but it wasn't bad either. We really struggled with takeaways, only getting 18 total (9 fumbles, 9 INT's). Our rushing defense was solid (3.9 YPC) but the pass defense was a mixed bag. We allowed the lowest YPC (9.78) but the 3rd highest passer rating (88.5). The pass rush was bad and we only had 1 consistent pass rusher in Ben Cabral who had 10 sacks and 24 hurries. The next best pass rusher was Corbin MacDowell who had 2.5 sacks and 13 hurries.
Team Superlatives:
MVP: Brendan Sinclair
OROY: Erick Dotson
DROY: N/A (I messed up and none of the defensive rookies I brought on were any good)
Most Improved: Donnell Fuller
Future Outlook
The first big move I want to make is moving on from Howard Murray as our OC. He has some great bars in every category except the one we need most right now: Scouting. He is a terrible scout and we need someone that can properly evaluate offensive prospects.
After that, I want to start trying to move some of the expensive vets on this team. They have some good years ahead of them but we need to free up some room and add draft capital. Expect Utah to be a big seller this year.
Biggest Needs: (in no particular order)
DE
CB
DT
S
WR
TE
2058 Free Agency Signings:
Peter Saucier WR - $58.32 for 2 years
Saucier was by far the best WR in FA that year. The only issue was that he was old. I signed him in hopes of getting the most talented WR this offense has seen in years but he ended up regressing hard, going from a 73 OVR in training camp to a 57 OVR in EX2. It was disappointing but he still produced 7 TD's so I'm ok with it. There is a very real chance that he gets cut this offseason, however, as Utah cant afford to spend this much money for a 7-9 team.
Brian Vaughn TE - $8.49 for 1 year
I wanted to bring in a TE that would challenge our starter for snaps and that's what Vaughn did. He really helped out our 2 TE sets that I want to run. He's old but I wouldn't be surprised if he comes back to the team next year.
Marcus Jacobs 43 WLB - $22.50 for 2 years
Nobody was bidding on Jacobs and I couldn't resist the chance to grab him last FA. He was a solid player for us and it helped to have another LB that could stay in on most downs. We still have him for another year and I think he's gonna produce.
Mitchell Thigpen T - $7.10 for 2 years
I signed Thigpen to be our swing tackle and it did not work. He allowed 7 sacks in 6 starts and I signed Bo Ricci to take over the 3rd tackle spot midseason instead.
Adam Boccaleri 3T - $5.7 for 2 years
Boccaleri was a cheap signing that I hoped would add depth to the rotation. He was pretty good as a run-stopping tackle and while he doesn't have that much juice as a pass rusher, I like him as a short-yardage guy who can be a spot starter.
Johnnie Capone DE - $16.80 for 3 years
Capone's ideal fit is inside and I think I might move him there next year. I hoped he would be able to start as a DE in the scheme but I think he's just too big.
2058 Draft:
1.01 - Erick Dotson, QB, Army
Boy did Dotson bomb hard. I figured he would be one of the top QB's in the league in 5 years but as it stands he looks to be a top 5 to 10 QB instead of a top 3 QB. Can't complain about his season though. He ended up with a lot of INT's but I think that's a growing pain with a bad offense.
1.27 - Kurt Seymour, G, Hawaii
Another guy that fell short of my expectations. I think he's still gonna be a good starter, but he's not the dominant OG that I thought he would be.
2.6 - Bernard Kuhn, WR, Iowa State
Kuhn was better than I expected, I will say that. I think that he looks like a good WR, just not the great one that I need. That gives me 3 guys that are ok, but that's not what you want out of 3 2nd round picks.
3.11 - Angel Bech, FB, Colorado
He isn't that great. If he was, I wouldn't have kept 2 FB's on the roster but I'm gonna wait another year to see if he improves.
4.1 - Nolan McGee, DE, Ohio
Didn't even make it onto the roster after preseason cuts.
5.1 - B.J. Richard, C, UCLA
Didn't make it onto the roster after preseason cuts.
6.1 - Gabe Flowers, CB, Mississippi
Again, got cut.
7.1 - Ricardo Buckner, WR, Howard
Got cut.
As you can see from the draft, I went offense heavy when I had an OC that has a terrible scouting bar. I need to fire the guy because every offensive guy I drafted was worse than expected. The top 3 were pretty good but I gotta hit on those later picks if I want to make it anywhere in this league.
Season Review
The Offense: An Overview
The offense had a lot to prove this year after years of mediocre play. This offense is built off the running game, with the short passing offense as a compliment to what should be good play from our RB's. That hasn't been the case for a while and it became apparent very quickly that we needed to rely on the arm of Dotson to win games. While he managed to do that for the first half of the season, his inexperience made it impossible for us to continue to win that way. The line looked better, but our best guard went down for the season in week 4 and we struggled to find continuity after that.
The Passing Attack
The passing game looked to come in with a fresh new look with the addition of Peter Saucier and Erick Dotson. Dotson, the #1 pick showed off his franchise-changing talent to start off the year, but he couldn't keep the magic up for long, as he ended the season throwing 14 TD's to 15 INT's. Still, he looked good and hopefully with a new OC and a new offense, he can look even better next year. Saucier was a disappointment this season, only bringing in 53 catches for 495 yards. He managed to snag 7 TD's which was good but at his salary level, he needs to do more than that. Luckily the emergence of Donnell Fuller managed to soften that blow as Fuller exploded in this offense, bringing in 63 targets for 730 yards and 4 TDs. Fuller does not look like a #1 guy, but he looks like a solid #2 and with young receivers like Liam Billig and Bernard Kuhn behind him, hopefully, the passing game can reach a respectable level this year.
The Rushing Attack
The running game was really hit or miss. Both our RB's have very high elusiveness so they get tackled behind the line a lot. They played fine but the offense needs a north-south kind of runner to really unlock its full potential.
The Defense
The defense wasn't great but it wasn't bad either. We really struggled with takeaways, only getting 18 total (9 fumbles, 9 INT's). Our rushing defense was solid (3.9 YPC) but the pass defense was a mixed bag. We allowed the lowest YPC (9.78) but the 3rd highest passer rating (88.5). The pass rush was bad and we only had 1 consistent pass rusher in Ben Cabral who had 10 sacks and 24 hurries. The next best pass rusher was Corbin MacDowell who had 2.5 sacks and 13 hurries.
Team Superlatives:
MVP: Brendan Sinclair
OROY: Erick Dotson
DROY: N/A (I messed up and none of the defensive rookies I brought on were any good)
Most Improved: Donnell Fuller
Future Outlook
The first big move I want to make is moving on from Howard Murray as our OC. He has some great bars in every category except the one we need most right now: Scouting. He is a terrible scout and we need someone that can properly evaluate offensive prospects.
After that, I want to start trying to move some of the expensive vets on this team. They have some good years ahead of them but we need to free up some room and add draft capital. Expect Utah to be a big seller this year.
Biggest Needs: (in no particular order)
DE
CB
DT
S
WR
TE
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