2014/2015 recap

Key losses/gains:

AP – traded to Raiders.
Resulted in us having more cap during FA were we signed HB, Shane Vereen 81 OVR(daddyleague)+1^st pick(#26) which ended up getting ROLB Deshawn Douglas 79 OVR+WR Gareef Toomer 78 OVR


LOLB Anthony Barr – traded to Bucs
In return we got WR Mike Evans.


Xavier Rhodes – traded to Texans
Got picks back and the 3^rd 2015 from Texans brought me an upcoming star, RE Gage Scruggs 81 OVR.
For the 1^st next year from Texans got some picks this season from Rams, which also included us giving up some picks next season. Some picks were again traded away for picks next season during draft. But one of the 4^th from Rams actually ended us up drafting DT D’Andre Kearse, 76 OVR.
 

Free Agent signings:

Had a pretty big FA period, we got all our targets signed –


C Rodney Hudson – Already having Sullivan at center, but this might be an important step for Hudson to take the next step in NFL, getting some help from Sullivan certainly won’t do him any harm. We hope to see Hudson in a Vikings uniform for a long time.


SS  Trenton Robinson – Since Blanton might be heading out of Minnesota we needed to find a replacement as we had no intention of finding one in the draft, when Robinson hit the FA we saw the opportunity to get even stronger at this position.


WR Eddie Royal – Loosing a couple of WR’s through regression didn’t help, needed someone to fill in for the loss of Greg Jennings.


MLB Mason Foster – with a great showing in previous season for Bucs we wanted to make sure we had a backup if draft wouldn’t succeed, Foster will probably even be a starter this season alongside the newly drafted Gideon Alli.


ROLB Chad Greenway – after being cut because of a heavy paycheck we re-signed the experienced LB to make sure we had some extra firepower after draft.


CB Chris Houston – We were on shortage on CB, didn’t get to re-sign him during re-sign phase and after trading away Xavier Rhodes we needed someone with more xp to fill in on CB, Houston fulfills this role unless something would show up during draft.


HB Shane Vereen – after trading away one of the best RB’s in NFL, we were hoping to score on another trade which wasn’t going through because of the trade committee who thought that value for Marshawn “Beastmode” Lynch wasn’t there. Instead of having him as rental we went searching through FA and there we found exactly what we were looking for in Vereen, if he fills AP’s shoes by 50% I would consider that a success.

Free Agent pickup(with points): Sterlin McClure
 

Draft round by round:

Round 1 –
#6 - We had in mind to pick a ROLB this round, but the guy we had targeted was drafted at #1, to no real surprise, Brynnan Hammond [Only admins are allowed to see this link]
We had to look down on the paper and pick up another need we had, before taking an OLB again, we ended up getting our #1 MLB. Couldn’t really decide between Gideon Alli and Bill Jamison, but ended with picking Gideon Alli who will be starting this season(6 tackles in first preseason game). All in all, ok pick, but wish we had gotten Hammond instead
#16 - Traded up from 26^th to 16^th (WSH) for ROLB (Included a 3^rd(76),4^th(107))
Since Bill Jamison was picked and also Jorell Hopkins, we saw the need of getting in our ROLB, next on the list we had Deshawn Douglas. In after thought we maybe should have waited it out. But still happy we got a player that will go straight in as a starter.
Round 2 –
#38 – Had this pick for a WR, it went pretty much as planned, couldn’t decide between Dyjuan Armstead and Gareef Toomer, didn’t have the last scouting grade I needed on Dyjuan so went with Toomer. Goes straight in as 3^rd WR. Both would have, but still a good pick.
Round 3 –
#70 – Did we need a CB? Yes, definitely, and there was a speedy one available, Dareyon Crisp! Will get some shots this season, more next season.
#95 – Had this guy on my mind, liked the scouting I had done on him, only had two DE scouted saw one go pretty early and Gage Scruggs was projected to go in round 5, had to pull the trigger. We did right in that and we ended up with a DE who goes straight into the lineup.
Round 4 –
#122 – Wanted to make another move on the dline, so many DT’s had gone already. The 3 others I had scouted had been picked already, D’Andre Kearse  only one left, so since he still was left I couldn’t let him go. Had the same scouting grades on him for FMV, PMV and BSH as Montrae Carroll, who was picked early in 1^st round I believe it was. Once again a bullseye in late round, with 83 speed and 90 acc, 80 FMV and 82 PMV.
Round 5 –
#129 – Picked a HB, Randy Lane, nothing fancy about him…he’ll prob be sitting the bench all season…
#134 – Another CB, Brendan Hickmann.  So much speed and acc in this draft, with 93 speed and 97 acc he was no exception. 81 MCV and 79 ZCV is a good start, hope to see him get more time in the lineup by next season.
#139 – Would really want to improve our oline on G, but was a bit late and all good ones were gone by now.  Had scouted Ashton Stills and Dan McGee, first one a coming star at 79 OVR(91RBK, 80PBK),  McGee no worse at 80 OVR(92RBK,72PBK,85IBL and 91 STR). Don’t recall when they were gone, but think both were gone by early 2nd round. Already cut the guy I picked,  he just wasn’t worth giving a shot.
Round 6 –
#166 – Picking up a FS, Malcome Reynolds(69 OVR),  87 speed and 91 acc, which was good enough for me in this case. Not very splashy, but a decent pick nevertheless and a good backup.  81 ZCV, 81 POW, 71 TCK.
Traded away 6^th(171) for 5^th from WSH next season
Round 7 –
#198 – Picked up some Arkansas WR, cut him later on…Beckett Mcbride.
Traded away the last 7^th pick for a 6^th next season with Kansas City Chiefs
 

Outlook for the upcoming season:

Hopefully Bridgewater will rise from last season, his targets have been improved by a bit, Patterson is looking to improve his record from last season, Mike Evans moving in from Tampa will be taking most traffic passes and 3^rd WR will most likely be newly drafted  Gareef Toomer. Got many options, looking quite deep.  In defense more speed has been added with youth. LB’s were not doing their job well enough, and that will still be a question mark this upcoming season.

Improve by a bit from last season record perhaps, but our schedule doesn’t look that easy: 5-11

Nice write up m8. Happy to see that you're so active with the league. Good sign

Got me nervous for our division games  good write up

nice job