Looking forward to new season update with four trades on first day of free agency itself……

The new GM made 7 trades so far this offseason. 6 of them were before the first week of FA. Fans have mixed opinions on these trades. Some fans are happy the team is finally making moves and can watch what should be a winning team. While others are worried because the Tornadoes traded away their future for what could be short term success. There were also 27 players signed to the roster in FA. I have a ton of transactions to write about so I’m just going to do this by position group. It will take me a while to write about all of it but while everyone else is drafting their first rounders I figured I’d get started on it since I don’t have a pick till the 3rd round. I’ll start with the Defense since that was where most of the chaos happened.

Safeties
The Safety room started with SS Joseph Frazier who led the team in tackles last season but is now the backup and is on the trade block. We also have SS William Lemon who was 3rd in the league in tackles in 2090 just to be a backup last season and a roster bubble player this season. At FS we had FS William Odle who started his rookie year, was a backup last season and is now on the roster bubble. With 63 players on the team after FA and 7 draft picks it will be hard for roster bubble players to even make the preseason 60-man roster.

Now let’s talk about the new guys. One of the first moves awest would make would be to address the starting safeties. FS Luis Daniels will be the starting FS this season. He would cost one of the 3 first round picks traded this offseason. He is now under contract for the next 6 seasons. SS Gary Jones will be the starting SS this season. He would also cost a first-round pick. Both players were former top ten picks who busted. The last Safety we brought in was from FA. Somehow after starting 62 of 63 games for the Manta Rays in his first 4 seasons FS Harrison Macdonald was not resigned. He only received 2 contract offers so the Tornadoes will pay him about 5 million a year for the next 4 seasons to be a backup. All 3 new Safeties were corners at their previous teams, but the Tornadoes needed Safeties.

Corners
There wasn’t too much change at the CB position. We got good production from our corners last season so Dwight Hearn and Dustin Sherrod will keep their starting jobs for 2092. Welcome back CB Curtis Crabtree. He was a former 1st round pick in 2081 but wasn’t resigned, now he gets to come back where it all started. Crabtree will get an opportunity to win the 3rd or 4th CB job. Despite being a starter for the last 2 seasons and having 5 interceptions last season the Armada cut CB Jim Maxwell at the start of the postseason. The Tornadoes signed Maxwell off waivers in the Divisional round. He will also have a shot at being the CB 3 or 4. CB Joseph Gutierrez was picked up off waivers at the beginning of last season and will also compete to be a backup corner. CB Scott Douglas was the CB 3 last season but when it comes time to make roster cuts he may be the odd man out.

(If anyone needs a depth corner CB Scott Douglas and CB Curtis Crabtree are available for a 6th round pick.
SS Joseph Frazier is also available for a 3rd round pick)

A lot of changes happened at the linebacker position for the Tornadoes. There is not a starter or 2nd string linebacker who was on the team last season. I am just going to cover the new linebackers. There are a few left over linebackers on the roster bubble that will be available for trade for very cheap.

WLB

WLB Jaffe Joffer was acquired by trade from the Stampede. Awest drafted Joffer in the first round in 2085 and he wanted Joffer back. Joffer hit the trade block, and awest didn’t hesitate to make an offer. Joffer is entering the last year of his prime, so the Stampede GM was ready to move on and get younger. It would cost the Tornadoes a 4th year WR and a 4th round pick. Just like the converted Safety room Joffer was a CB his whole career, but the Tornadoes needed a linebacker. The backup will be WLB Game J. Hunter. The former 1st round pick spent his first 9 seasons with the Owls where he never made the playoffs. Now that he is past his prime, he only got one contract offer. The other teams may have been concerned about his age or his injury history as he had 3 injuries last season 2 of them serious. But in his previous 8 seasons he only missed 2 games. It may just be a band aid solution to bring on Hunter as a backup, but for one year league minimum we will take it. Hunter should be an upgrade over last years backup.

MLB

Awest would have to give up this year 13th overall pick to get MLB Edward Hardy and another LB. Hardy was a backup DE for the Trident his first 4 seasons, but awest thinks he will make a good starting LB given the chance. The Tornadoes new backup MLB George Foley was in a very similar situation as Hardy. Foley was also a DE his first 4 seasons, but awest thinks he can play LB. Despite being a starter and former 1st round pick, the Manta Rays would not resign him. Which gave the Tornadoes a chance to sign him for 10 million per year over the next 6 seasons.

SLB

Back up the dump truck for SLB George Jetson. The Tornadoes have plenty of cap space, so we decided to use it. Jetson is owed 168 million over the next 6 seasons, but if the Tornadoes want to cut him at any time that would free up a ton of cap space as Jetson is guaranteed very little. Jetson was a CB for the Rival Gauchos his first 8 seasons. All 3 of the Tornadoes’ new starting LBs will have to learn a new position this season. The new backup SLB will be SLB Jonathan Reynolds who was also acquired in the trade to get Hardy. Awest had to get creative to assemble this unit of linebackers who should be much better than last season, but there are some questions about the age of the outside linebackers. Even though awest brought on 6 new linebackers this offseason it will still be a position of need in the draft to get younger at the position.

Last year’s remaining linebackers are available for trade for 5th round picks. Baudoin would be a 4th since he is the most likely to make the team. WLB David Alvarez, WLB Bill Baudoin, MLB Douglas Hennis, and Allen Godbout.

Very little changes were needed on the defensive line so I will just skim over it and move on to the offensive line. Both lines were a strength last season, so most additions were just depth.

D-line
The starters will remain the same. The most notable addition is DT Craig Lavalley. He would be the next man up if there was an injury or fatigue from the starting DTs.

C
The biggest question mark for the line heading into the offseason is who will play center. Center was by far our weakest position on the line last season. We tried 3 different centers last season, and they combined to give up 75 tackles. We brought in 3 new centers in FA to try and fix that problem. C Ruben Wood will get the first chance to earn the starting job. He started his first 13 seasons as the center for our division rival Gauchos. C Arch Stanton will back him up. Stanton wanted to come back to where it started. He was drafted by the Tornadoes in 2078. Both guys are considering retirement after this season, and we could be right back in the same situation next year. At least some changes were made, and we should get better play from our centers this year. Center is still a position of need for the future but that will most likely be a next year problem as we didn’t take one in the draft.

G+T
3 other additions were made to be backups who could start if the starters go down or don’t perform. LG Michael Nall, LT Dwight Bustos, and RG 8 Piece Reynolds. The O-line was already a strength for the Tornadoes, but it definitely got stronger in FA.

As I had mentioned before, the passing game for the Tornadoes last season was not ideal. The QB threw for just 4 TDs and was 26th in completion %. The goal in the offseason was to make sure that the QB would have no more excuses. It doesn’t look like that goal has been accomplished but a lot of changes were made. There were 5 new rookie offensive players drafted in the late rounds but I will address them after TC.

Play Maker Additions
The Tornadoes added 4 new play makers in FA. The big addition is Boom Boom Boone. I said Play Makers instead of WR because it is still unclear where Boone and others will play. The featured pass catcher in this offense will be the TE and we want the ball in Boone’s hands so right now it looks like the plan is to play him at TE. James Daniels was also acquired in the trade to get Boone. Without having true backups for TE and FB Daniels is currently in the depth chart to backup WR, TE, FB and kick returner. He was also considered to be a backup RB. If there is an injury to any of those positions Daniels would most likely be the next man up. WR Jerry Stanley was an undrafted 3rd year FA who got his first contract in FA. As of today, Stanley is set to get a chance to be WR 2 for the Tornadoes. We also brought in WR Eric Gupton in FA to be a backup.

Play Maker Changes
WR Lance Stuart barely played last season. He had 139 plays mostly on special teams as of today he is set to be the WR 1. Going into the season our WR 1 and 2 have combined 5 catches in their careers. Very questionable decision making by our GM on this one. Changes could still be made within the roster or bringing in a WR via trade but it’s getting late in the offseason to do so. WR Michael Rhynes was our WR 1 last season and was ok. He is set to be our WR 3 but could move up the depth chart depending on the play of the guys ahead of him. FB Larry Plowman was the starting TE last season. The plan today is to have him move over to FB to make room for Boone who was questionably moved to TE instead of his natural WR position. RB Napoleon Kirk was WR 2 last season in his one start at RB he averaged over 7 YPC so he earned a chance to play RB this season. RB Christopher Paquet was the starting FB last season he has moved over to RB 2 to make room for Plowman at FB. As of today there is not a single playmaker in the same spot in the depth chart as they were last season.

QB
QB Arthur Gayle will start again this season. But it should be a new look offense with all the moving positions of his playmakers. We brought in journeyman and career backup QB Carlos Davis to be his new backup. In year 10 Davis has still never thrown a regular season pass. It would be fun if we started Davis week one to complete a pass to Stanley.

State of the Division

The Guazues have won the South America division 3 of the last 4 years. Each of those 3 seasons they had 5 losses. In 23 seasons GM Jhoseph never got his team over the 11-win mark. His teams are usually above average but nothing more. Last year they lost in the first round of the playoffs. But they did not use WR Neil Scott as they didn’t think he was ready in year one. RB Jerry Ramirez only played 7 games last season as he had 2 serious injuies. Jhoseph also drafted RT Lynn Sanchez to be his starting RT. Lynn isn’t fully developed but he could be an upgrade over last season where the RT gave up 15 sacks and 46 tackles. They also added Paul Burkett to start at DT. I think the biggest news for the Guazues is that the MVP WR Chili Wang lost a step this offseason. I’m sure he can still play at a high level, but it will be hard for him to get a 5th 1,000 yard receiving season if he can’t get that 21+ yards per catch he’s averaged the last 4 seasons. The Guazues might still be the favorite to win the division this season, but we will know more after week 1.

We all know the Tornadoes made a ton of moves this offseason. Those moves resulted in us having 14 new starters for week 1. Now it’s time to find out if those upgrades on paper will result in wins on the field. Even though the Tornadoes finished 2nd in the division we only had one win against the division. The Tornadoes should at least be competitive for the division. The Expectation is a winning season and making the playoffs. The goal is to win the division and give ourselves a chance to win the Ultimate Showdown. Awest has made some questionable moves so far but possibly the most questionable is deciding to start QB Carlos Davis in week 1. Davis in year 10 has never thrown a pass in the regular season.

The Gauchos made a lot of moves as well, mostly out of necessity because they let a lot of players walk in FA. Most of those moves were just to fill out the roster not necessarily upgrades. It’s too much for me to go through. My opinion is that these roster moves didn’t change much and the Gauchos shouldn’t be too much of a threat for the division. I won’t count them out before the season starts though, Shavar is always competitive.

On the other hand, I’ll go ahead and count out the Choppers. After a 3-win season Ritzi decided he was just a linebacker away and gave WLB Daniel Harrah a huge contract. Then Ritzi signed a kicker and punter then waited for the draft. Where he got WR Paul Yuen and a safety in the 4th round. Ritzi has neglected to sign into MFN in a week, hasn’t put players in the depth chart or made roster cuts. They have a few good pieces but the only thing the Choppers will be competing for is a top 5 pick if the owner isn’t active.

Great analisis

The Tornadoes move up to first in the power rankings and get a win over our biggest rival. We had been slowly climbing the power rankings since being ranked in the low 20s but jumped 13 spots to claim the number 1 spot. I would say that is unwaranted as the Tornadoes have accomplished nothing. It's great that the team has won 6 in a row after that disaster start to the season but through 7 games we have scored just 4 TDs. Maybe the Tornadoes have earned top 10 after 6 wins in a row but defenitly not number 1.

Several big moves were made since my last update. We did try to start QB Carlos Davis but that was a disaster as he threw 3 ints, took 9 sacks, and had a QB rating of 12. He was immediately cut after the game. QB Aurthur Gayle has played much better than he did his first 2 seasons now that he has been surrounded by good players. The only thing we would like to see is more TDs but Gayle has played excellent so his job is safe.

Very recentley we gave up our future for RB Pedro Richardson. We have only had him for 2 games but he has been great. Richardson has 290 total yards and is averaging over 5 yards per carry in those 2 games. We also got RDE Gator Jones he was fairly cheap to get since he is an older player but he was also given a big contract after we traded for him. Jones has 133 sacks in his career we are hoping he can keep that up in his later years. He got 2 sacks for us against the Gauzues. Our RDE had 16 sacks last year and started the season well but broke his ankle in week 3. We got no production from his backup so when Jones became available it made sense to trade for him.

We also decided to start a rookie. It didn't look like he would get any playing time this year as our 3rd round pick isn't ready to start yet, but WR Johnny Woodard is getting a chance at WR 2. It's unclear if he will keep that job this season but Woodard is a big part of this team's future at WR, and he should continue to get some playing time this season. Woodard made a huge play in his first game vs the Manta Rays. Late in the 4th quarter we were down by 4 and Woodard had a 58 yard catch and run to set us up for the game winning TD. Woodard starting means WR Jerry Stanley is no longer the WR 2. After having limited production his first 4 weeks Stanley was moved to WR 6 and is no longer active. We think Stanley is a good backup but he didn't do enough to keep him as the starter.

Adding Richardson and moving Woodard to WR 2 has left Napoleon Kirk without a starting spot. Kirk can play any skill position but isn't starting. He is getting some playing time mostly at WR 3 but he would move to be the starter should any skill position player get injured.

the ranking algorithm knows who you are! i expect the Tornadoes to make a playoff run and possibly win the Ultimate Showdown