With the offseason upon us, let’s take a look at the challenges that await some of our favorite Immersion teams.
Kamino Bounty Hunters
2012 Record: 6-7
2013 Draft Pick: 2.04
Cap Room: $90.37
Expiring Contracts
- Stevie Johnson, WR
- Jerome Simpson, WR
- Alan Branch, DT
- Linval Joseph, DT
- Justin Smith, DE
- Karlos Dansby, LB
- Johnathan Joseph, CB
- Charles Godfrey, S
- Dashon Goldson, S
- Kenny Phillips, S
Stevie Johnson had another productive season, and without him the Bounty Hunters have all of their eggs in the Green Bay receiving basket, having signed both James Jones and Jordy Nelson.
Holdouts (Scheduled Salary, Holdout Demands)
- Andy Dalton, QB ($3.92, $25.71)
- Stevan Ridley, RB ($1.40, $46.12)
- Tony Gonzalez, TE ($4.40, $10.41)
- Daryl Washington, LB ($13.20, $18.98)
- Sheldon Brown, CB ($1.33, $5.65)
- Ronde Barber, S ($2.20, $8.97)
The relative success of the Kamino Bounty Hunters has come at a high price in terms of holdouts. Andy Dalton is asking for a hefty raise, but he’s playing behind RGIII, so it’s doubtful that his demands will be met. Stevan Ridley is an interesting case. He certainly performed well, but he has 3 years left on his contract. Any payment to Ridley might be accompanied by a restructured contract:
The owner can meet the player’s contract demands. He will begin the season on time with his new salary.
- When meeting a holdout player’s contract demands, an owner can choose to restructure the number of years on the deal:
- Adding years will decrease the initial holdout salary by 5% per year, up to 15% (a max extension of 3 years.)
- Reducing years will increase the initial holdout salary by 5% per year, up to 40% (a max reduction of 8 years.)
The Bounty Hunters could pay a bit more to reduce that contract. Or, if they think Ridley is the truth and is going to be the truth for years to come, they can just pay him, and he’ll be among the highest paid backs in the league.
Tony Gonzalez might retire, so the holdout would be effectively moot, as the Bounty Hunters would no longer be on the hook for his normal contract, let alone a holdout.
Daryl Washington was the second best LB in the league in 2012. While that can change from year to year, he might actually be worth paying the increase to.
Positional Strength
Quarterback
RGIII is an elite fantasy QB, if he doesn’t get killed. Andy Dalton as a backup is fine too, even if he is a ginger.
Positional Weakness
Running Back
Steven Ridley is the top-dog, and Reggie Bush is next. Bush isn’t really a top-flight option, and he may be moving in the offseason. Ridley’s concern is that the Patriots might decide to base their offense on the bootleg pass to the eligible tackle and ignore the running game again. After Ridley and Bush it becomes a reality show of castoff formerly decent RBs whose time has passed them by.
Defensive Tackle
This is becoming a theme around the league. We’ve finally learned that this position is too volatile to invest multi-year contracts in. The Bounty Hunters don’t have any going into next season, which would make this a relatively weak position for them.
Defensive End
After two consecutive 27-tackle seasons, it’s clear that Justin Tuck is done, at least in fantasy terms. He’s stealing a lot of money from the Bounty Hunters, too.
Linebacker
After holdout Washington, the next best LB is Mason Foster. Courtney Upshaw might be promising, especially with Attention-Whore Ray Lewis retiring, but this is a position that requires depth, and the Bounty Hunters lack that.
Sullivan’s Island Silvertips
2012 Record: 6-7
2013 Draft Pick: 2.09
Cap Room: $59.76
Expiring Contracts
- Lance Ball, RB
- Steven Jackson, RB
- Felix Jones, RB
- Brandon Mebane, DT
- Henry Melton, DT
- Corey Williams, DT
- Greg Hardy, DE
- Michael Johnson, DE
- Mathias Kiwanuka, LB
- Barrett Ruud, LB
- Antoine Bethea, S
It looks like RB is taking a pretty big hit, as is DT. There’s no compelling reason to try to hang on to any of these players, however.
Holdouts (Scheduled Salary, Holdout Demands)
- None
This is one of those good news/bad news situations. It’s nice that nobody is holding out, but then again, nobody outplayed their contracts either.
Positional Strength
Quarterback
Holdout proof Cam Newton “struggled” in his second season, and by that I mean he still eclipsed 220 points and finished 7th in scoring among QBs. The backup is Joltin’ Joe Flacco, who is somehow the NFL’s highest paid player.
Wide Receiver
AJ Green was expected to do big things, and he did not disappoint. He made the All-Immersion Team in just his second season. Marques Colston and Steve Smith, who have been with Weldin in every league throughout their careers, also demonstrated that they still have some game. The wildcard is sorely underpaid Kenny Britt, who is capable of monster numbers when he’s not getting arrested.
Kicker
While most teams don’t have kickers under contract for more than a year, the Silvertips have Hartley and Graham signed to a combined three more years of kicking action.
Positional Weakness
Running Back
The lead back going into 2013 is former first pick overall (2011) Mark Ingram. The Silvertips have ungodly money wrapped up in Jahvid “Maybe Retirement Is” Best. The RB corps is rounded out by Donald Brown and Evan Royster. Somehow the Silvertips have very little cap room (comparatively) and no first round pick. I’m not sure how they will fix this situation, short of fleecing someone out of their top back, Enright style.
Bestine Banthas
2012 Record: 6-7
2013 Draft Pick: 2.05
Cap Room: $98.90
Expiring Contracts
- Ben Roethlisberger, QB
- Jonathan Dwyer, RB
- Adrian Peterson, RB
- Antonio Brown, WR
- Brandon Stokely, WR
- Owen Daniels, TE
- Geno Atkins, DT
- CJ Mosley, DT
- Larry Foote, LB
- David Harris, LB
- Mike Adams, S
- Eric Weddle, S
- Roman Harper, S
The Banthas will most assuredly franchise tag Adrian Peterson, though it will cost them $72.74 to do so. They would be wise to apply the franchise tag to Geno Atkins, who is one of the few defensive tackles that can perform consistently well.
Holdouts (Scheduled Salary, Holdout Demands)
- Antoine Winfield, CB ($1.10, $9.15)
My guess is that Winfield is going to be told to suck it by management, especially considering how much money the cash-strapped Banthas have to dedicate to Adrian Peterson (ie, more than 70% of their currently available funds.) Besides, they have several competent corners in Stephon Gilmore, Cary Williams, and Josh Wilson.
Positional Strength
None
Wow, that sounds harsh. I’m not trying to be a huge jerk about it, but there is no positional group that stands out to me. There’s no group that can consistently beat their counterparts. This is not to say that the Banthas don’t have some good players, but they seem to be pretty far from competing with some of the elite teams in this league.
Positional Weakness
Running Back
Pierre Thomas, Jalen Parmele, and Rashard Mendenhall. Those are your running backs under contract for 2013. Peterson may get the highest salary ever, but the Banthas can’t afford to let him hit the open market.
Defensive Tackle
There won’t be any of them under contract, but this could turn into a position of strength if the franchise tag is applied to Atkins.
Safety
Again, none will be under contract, though safeties are easy enough to come by.
North Point Chitons
2012 Record: 6-7
2013 Draft Pick: 1.03
Cap Room: $98.46
Expiring Contracts
- Philip Rivers, QB
- Jackie Battle, RB
- Mike Goodson, RB
- Kevin Smith, RB
- Hakeem Nicks, WR
- Justin Tucker, PK
- Trent Cole, DE
- Brian Urlacher, LB
- LaMarr Woodley, LB
- Joe Haden, CB
- Terrence Newman, CB
- Charles Woodson, S
There isn’t a player on this list that can’t be replaced. Most of them have already been replaced in the starting lineup by other Chitons.
Holdouts (Scheduled Salary, Holdout Demands)
- None
No holdouts. That’s because the Chitons suck! OH SNAP! This actually looks to be a good year for the Chitons to reload, because they have some decent players, a ton of cap space, and the third pick in the draft.
Positional Strength
Quarterback
Matt Ryan established himself as the 5th best QB in the league last year. He has some pretty good targets to throw to, but if Gonzalez retires his safety net will be gone.
Tight End
Jimmy Graham. That guy’s a beast.
Defensive Tackle
Haloti Ngata had a down year and still finished 7th at his position. Rookie Fletcher Cox showed great promise.
Linebacker
Luke Kuechly was drafted in the first round last year, and deservedly so. He finished as the top scoring linebacker. The Chitons also drafted Zach Brown. Ever heard of him? No? Well, he scored 158 points last year, though 34 of them came in week 17. They also have Jerrell Freeman, Ryan Kerrigan, Aldon Smith, Sean Weatherspoon, and Demarcus Ware. If you don’t count rookie Mychal Kendricks, then the lowest scoring linebacker they have under contract next year is Clay Matthews. The only downside is that they can only start 4 of their 9 linebackers in any given week. Looks like some potential trade ammunition there. And they could use it to improve at running back, where they are horrid (see below.)
Positional Weakness
Running Back
How many Chitons running backs cracked 100 points last year? If you guessed zero, then you’re correct! In fact, their best RB, Demarco Murray, was 29th in scoring among running backs (388th in scoring overall.) In other words, every other team had more than two running backs that were better than North Point’s lead back (in fact, every other team had very near to three running backs, on average, that were better than NPC’s top guy.)
They have: Roy Helu, Demarco Murray, Bilal Powell, William Powell, Isaac Redman, and Beanie Wells returning.
Hopefully there are 3 good RB’s coming out in this year’s draft. They do have some cap space to work with, however, so might be able to make a splash in the FA market, depending on who is actually available.
© 2013, Josh Hammond. All rights reserved.
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