I sent an offer out to this lvl 15 CB. It's a good starting build, and the guy seems like he knows what he's doing. There's another lvl 15 guy with a slightly worse build who is also interested, but I was going to wait to see who else I hear from before offering to him. If you think he'd be good too, though, I'll offer to him tonight as well.

Anyway, would love some input on this.

Ok, the first guy I posted about (Lotta Fury) signed. The question is whether we should sign the other guy I posted about (Gronde Barber) or this third guy (lvl 16) who also has expressed interest. Or should I wait to see what else rolls in?

Sorry, Gyuri, with my nephew in town, I'm having trouble getting any time on the computer. I trust your judgement with bringing in new guys, though, so go for what you feel best.

If, for some reason, the start date comes sooner than expected and I haven't ordered the final set of corner seats, can you go ahead and get the loan and do it. In fact, as soon as they announce the begin of season, as long as it is closer than 10 days, go ahead and take the loan, buy the remaining corner, and use the extra funds to cover bonuses.

No problem.

By the way, I sense we may be a little unprepared for the season w/r/t the AI, as I'm a little busier this week than I have been, you have your nephew in town, ap has a friend and his family in town, and so there's not a ton of free time for free agency and setting AI tactics.

I'll do my best to handle the FA stuff (with ap's occasional help), but it's a massive time suck (I'd wager I've spent roughly six hours today sending out PMs and searching through players). As a result, it might be helpful if Inca and Etienne could take some time to think through the AI stuff on offense and defense. Maybe saving their own presets and coming up with a general approach (or looking through what's been done on ap's and Matej's presets so far and giving some input on additions/changes, etc.). I expect that Inca and Etienne are busy as well, but if we all take a little bit of time, hopefully will be in good shape come the start of the season (either this weekend or early next week).

By the way, I was just taking a look around the league, and some of the other top teams have added a serious number of lvl 20+ guys (mostly GMs players or other players from existing agents). We are going to be seriously out-leveled in a bunch of games, but I don't think we can afford to bid for the higher level guys in the FA market.

Gyuri wrote:

QUOTE:
By the way, I was just taking a look around the league, and some of the other top teams have added a serious number of lvl 20+ guys (mostly GMs players or other players from existing agents). We are going to be seriously out-leveled in a bunch of games, but I don't think we can afford to bid for the higher level guys in the FA market.

I think you should take a considered approach looking at the bigger picture. We don't want to get ourselves into a Leeds United situation where we overspend to try to keep up.

It could be their business plans won't work, isn't there something that that says if players aren't paid for 3 days they can become free agents.

JtS,

I completely agree with you about not becoming Leeds, and I think some teams may run into financial problems with the new rules. Other teams, however (like the Titans and the Red Bulls) seem to not have an issue with their finances. I'm guessing that either they've taken out a loan and are using it for players rather than stadium (which will hurt them next season), or else they've been signing and trading players for cash. It's this last approach that allows teams to get the higher level players (it's what the Buddhas did last season), but I think it's a bit unethical (really screws over the players) and far too time consuming.

Two TEs have responded to me, one a lvl 23 and one a lvl 19.

I'm not sure the lvl 19 is much better than our current starter (and he's not a good enough receiver to account for his lack of strength/blocking/carrying). The lvl 23 would be a clear improvement, although I'm not sure he's worth lvl 23 money, and the fact that he has spread his equipment around to nearly every single attribute makes me wonder if he knows what he's doing.

Anyway, any thoughts on these guys would be appreciated. My initial reaction is to say no and wait for something better/less bad.

Sheehs, been trying to reply to this thread for 10 minutes with no success. Two things:

1) Gyuri- have you had any problems signing people because we are in the red? Hopefully not, if you have, you can let people know that we are just waiting for the start date to be announced to get the loan.

2) I'm not sure what's going on with our advanced tactics at the moment. It seems to be a mishmash of everyones ideas on the offense side. The defense looks okay, but it looks set for 'real' not pre-season testing. Do we want to take that 'play-by-play' approach I mentioned upthread? I may have time to create a set of this kind before the test games (my nephew leaves Saturday). But they won't look anything like our normal tactics. I also don't see some changes that I know you made (Gyuri), and I'm not sure where they might be saved. Basically, it looks a mess at the moment. Maybe I just haven't figured it out yet.

I agree that neither of those TEs look great. See what else pops up is my advice.

Matej,

Re the offensive AI--I think the way it is showing up on my computer is how I left it. Basically, I left nearly everything in that was there when I loaded it (except "scripted 1", I think, b/c I messed up), but put my new scripted plays in above them so that the AI logic (quarter AI overrides general AI, higher in the list overrides lower in the list) would run those. In other words, I think everything that I did is there, but the order may be confusing. One thing I didn't do was set up goal line plays yet, I can do that later, unless you'd like to do it in the interim (by the way, let me know when you're not in there, as I think multiple people in the same page at the same time will cause problems).

Your right about the defensive AI, it only has things in there that ap and I were thinking about for the real season. I'm not sure, exactly, how to do useful preseason testing of plays on defensive (b/c defense is reactive, always having run stop on first down would be an issue).

By the way, the signing people problem is not (as far as I know) b/c we are in the red. It's mainly that most decent looking higher level free agents are getting around 100 PMs from people recruiting, so getting any one to respond is difficult. Going after people in the "players looking for teams" thread, is only useful if we want to pay over $200k per season, and posting in the "teams looking for players" thread has proven to be not particularly helpful.

You can cut Kibbie anytime you feel like it.

I was wondering (again) whether there was any time when an expiring contract = no chemistry hit. I don't think it does, but am not certain.

If it doesn't, then I'll cut Kibbie and the other guys we know are leaving (Gap Stopper, BaaH, super tanker).

By the way, what do you think about a lvl 18 TE with the following attributes (the GM tried to trade him to me, and when I said no asked whether we'd be interested in signing him as a FA, as he wants to do right by them):

Strength: 33.5 Blocking: 35.27
Speed: 40 Tackling: 12.89
Agility: 26.78 Throwing: 7
Jumping: 13 Catching: 45.5
Stamina: 31.63 Carrying: 17.81
Vision: 28.5 Kicking: 8
Confidence: 21.09 Punting: 8
Special Abilities
Blocking Abilities
1
1
1
0
0
Receiving Abilities
2
3
1
0
0

It would definitely be an upgrade (though not the massive one I was hoping for). One potential issue is I'm sensing that the trade market for mid-level TEs is fairly quiet, so I'm not sure what we'd be able to get for Joe Stoyevsky. Oddly, Klaus Cowman would probably fetch more on the market b/c of all the new lvl 13 capped teams, but I'd feel crappy trading him after we just signed him.

Any thoughts?

Matej,

It just occurred to me that I don't think I have the ability to take out a loan. At least I can't find the button that would let me do so, so I think that's something that you'll have to do. I'll try and give you a warning on her when an announcement comes as to the offseason ending.

Just signed the other lvl 15 CB that I had been in discussions with. ap and I are on the lookout for a good FS and TE, but these are more luxury pickups than needs at the moment(although a FS with a good build lvl 14 or above would be nice). In other words, our roster should now be more or less set.