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+---- Thread: *Looking at Minnesota's offense (/showthread.php?tid=24985)
*Looking at Minnesota's offense - 24redcrayons - 08-12-2020
The Minnesota Grey Ducks have experienced a dramatic overhaul in the past two seasons. Compared to its roster from two seasons ago, there are close to no players that still remain on the roster. As such, I have decided to take the time to take a look at the roster of the Grey Ducks for this upcoming season and give my takes on which positions the Grey Ducks are lacking at and which ones they are strong at.
Quarterback
Quarterback is one of the positions where the Grey Ducks actually have some sort of continuity. Sim Snowbow is a capped quarterback who has been on the Grey Ducks for a number of seasons now. Arguably, this is probably the best position to have continuity at, as rookie and newer quarterbacks who are not yet at the 250 TPE cap tend to have incredibly inconsistent games. This is likely due to the sheer amount of things that quarterbacks are asked to do, so part of it is inherent in the difficulty of the position itself. A point I would like to make also is the fact that even capped quarterbacks at the DSFL are inconsistent. Take a look at Sim Snowbow, for example. For the last three seasons at least, he has been QB1 for the Grey Ducks. However, his stats from season to season are still incredibly inconsistent. He went from leading the league in passing yards to a middle of the pack QB. I think that this speaks volumes about an issue that many in the DSFL have brought up - the fact that perhaps 250 TPE is too low for QBs, and they should be granted a higher TPE cap in order to have some better semblance of consistency. Backing up for Sim Snowbow is Matt Peterson. As of the most current update, Matt Peterson is only sitting at 97 TPE. Given that he is a rookie, I believe that Matt Peterson will absolutely be given time to develop into a starting caliber QB, but as of now, the Grey Ducks would be smart to play Peterson sparingly, perhaps giving him some garbage time minutes. This is important, because if Peterson were to be handed the reins to Minnesota’s offense, chances are that he would not have a great season, which would absolutely demolish the confidence of a rookie QB and possibly stunt his growth for the immediate future. All in all, given the fact that Minnesota has a starting veteran QB and has drafted an active rookie QB this year, I’d say that the QB position is a net positive of Minnesota. The Grey Ducks are set for the foreseeable future in the QB position.
Running Backs
One of the positions where the Grey Ducks have seen the largest amount of turnover is at the running back position. In the last two seasons, the Grey Ducks had a rather lethal running game, with their lethal one-two punch in Lamar Jackson and Zed Keppler two seasons ago. Last season, Zed Keppler remained on the team, and was able to produce a lot for the team. However, these two bell-cows have since graduated and moved on, and the Minnesota Grey Ducks were forced to look to the draft in order to find a new running back. In this draft, it seems that they were able to pick up three running backs, Mike Rotchburns, Jameson Vermillon and Frankie Lantz. However, it seems that so far, only Rotchburns and Vermillon has managed to stay active, sitting at a pretty 185 and 152 TPE so far., respectively Frankie Lantz has only one post and seems to have gone inactive the day he was created. However, if Rotchburns and Vermillon can manage to stay active and become capped, it would be more than enough for the Grey Ducks to possibly continue their lethal rushing offense, perhaps signaling a return to form for the Grey Ducks back to the lethal two one-two combo that Jamar and Keppler presented.. As such, I think that the backfield for the Grey Ducks is very much an enigma. Jameson or Rotchburns could absolutely have a breakout year and win OROTY, but they could very much go IA and leave the Grey Ducks one dimensional. Due to this unpredictability and my relatively risk-averse nature, I’d have to leave the Grey Ducks running backs as a slight negative, albeit one with incredible volatility and potential for incredibly upside.
Offensive Line
The Minnesota Grey Ducks have been dominant in the trenches for the past couple of seasons, largely due to their offensive line. In the past two seasons, the Grey Ducks offensive line was anchored by tackles Dick Thunder and Julio Jones. Dick Thunder however, seems to have stopped updating and has stagnated at 97 TPE, while Julio Jones was a capped offensive lineman who was called up at the beginning of this season. Minnesota’s offensive line was very potent, and a huge factor in Sim Snowbow being able to lead the league in throwing yards, as well as a huge factor in the breakout performance of Jamar Lackson in his rookie year. Julio Jones, a 7th round DSFL pick, was eventually voted to the DSFL pro bowl unanimously twice, and won Offensive Lineman of the Year two years in a row. Thus, losing him has to be a huge blow to the team. In an attempt to replace the production that Jones achieved, the Grey Ducks looked to recreate that same success through the draft, selecting Sterling Moss in this year’s draft. However, as of now, it seems that this pick has not paid off. Sterling Moss has not been seen on the site since August 7th, and has stagnated at 59 TPE, which means that he has only earned 9 TPE total. Due to this, it seems that the Grey Ducks are kind of in a bind, as none of their human offensive lineman have over 100 TPE. This may create huge issues for the Ducks in the form of additional QB pressures, knockdowns, hurries, and sacks. As such, I would have to say that the offensive line position is a net negative for the Grey Ducks. In order to possibly remedy some of the symptoms of this issue, the Grey Ducks could either look to trade for a new offensive lineman, or perhaps look to their running backs and tight ends and ask them to play pass protection more. However, this is ultimately not ideal, as it would take away TPE from their other meaningful stats. I will be watching this aspect of Minnesota with great intrigue.
Tight End
The tight end position is a curious one. A great tight end can be just as valuable as a top wide receiver, but can also serve as a lead blocker on running plays and my opinion, the Grey Ducks have significantly improved their tight end position from last year. Looking back at the roster from last year, it’s fairly surprising to see that in fact, the Grey Ducks did not seem to have a human tight end even on the roster. Furthermore, the bots that did play the position were below average at best. In comparison, the Grey Ducks roster from two years ago, when they won their division, had two human tight ends that were relatively high earning. I’m not saying that correlation implies causation, but there is no way that having a capped tight end did not help the Grey Ducks campaign. Perhaps the Grey Ducks are looking to recapture some of their magic from their fairytale run two seasons ago, or perhaps they just looked to take the best player available, either way, they decided to invest one of their picks into the tight end position this draft, with the selection of Cleg Manclaw and Stephon Trummer. From an initial look, it seems that the two tight ends were meant to play different roles, with Manclaw serving more as a blocker, and Trummer serving more as a receiver. However, Trummer seems to have gone inactive, stagnating at 69 TPE while Manclaw has remained incredibly active and is close to breaking 100 TPE already. As such, it would come as no surprise if Manclaw took over more of a receiving role and Trummer was relegated to more of a blocking role. Either way, I think that the Grey Ducks tight end position is already looking significantly better than that of last year, and if Manclaw continues to stay active, that they could end up having one of the better tight end corps in the entire league. Another issue, however, that may throw a wrench into things is the offensive line situation as addressed previously. Manclaw may be asked to pick up more blocking duties, sheerly due to the fact that there is not a significant amount of TPE on the offensive line, which would ultimately change everything. Despite this, however,I would consider this position to be a net positive for the Grey Ducks, one with a relatively high floor and a very high ceiling.
Wide Receiver
Wide receiver has long been a position where the Grey Ducks have been incredibly blessed. From their acquisition of Tylus to Kai Sakura, wideouts have never been a position where the Grey Ducks needed to worry at all, and their QB has always had a plethora of weapons to choose from. Although the two receiving gurus that I mentioned earlier have moved on to the ISFL and have departed the Ducks, early indications show that the Grey Ducks will be absolutely fine in this position group, and should see little to no dropoff in production and talent on the receiving side. In this draft, the Grey Ducks were able to pick up four wideouts, Killian Chambers, Lebby Newton, Willy Weasel, and Noah Akerele. Out of the four selections, the Ducks were able to hit on an astonishing 75% of their selections, as Killian Chambers, Lebby Newton, and Noah Akerele all seem to be active, high TPE earning players at the wide receiver position. In fact, Killian Chambers and Noah Akerele are both at or above the 150 TPE threshold already. At this rate, these two players will very likely be capped by the end of the season, and will be able to contribute heavily to the team in both this season and future seasons. All in all, I think that this position group is absolutely a net benefit to the Grey Ducks, and that this group of wide receivers has the possibility to become the best receiving corps in the entire DSFL. This is likely the most promising group on the offensive side of the ball.
Closing Remarks
All in all, I believe that the Minnesota Grey Ducks have had a fantastic draft this year. They were able to successfully draft a number of highly active and high earning players, which is really all you can ask for in this league. Despite all of the departures, the Grey Ducks were able to bounce back heavily and set themselves up for success in the future. Out of the five position groups that I talked about, three of them are very much set up for success, with the other two lagging behind slightly. However, those two positions groups that are lacking, running backs and offensive linemen, are positions that are very much increasing in popularity, so the Grey Ducks likely will be able to find suitable replacements in the next draft. I think that the Grey Ducks’ future looks incredibly bright, and hope that they are able to capitalize on this successful draft in the future. I will likely also seek to do this in the upcoming future for Minnesota’s defensive side of the ball, so keep an eye out for that.
RE: Looking at Minnesota's offense - Vainknight13 - 08-12-2020
You forgot about Mike Rotchburns in running backs! Part 2 of the two headed running attack!
RE: Looking at Minnesota's offense - SchoolboyShue - 08-13-2020
(08-12-2020, 05:30 PM)Vainknight13 Wrote: You forgot about Mike Rotchburns in running backs! Part 2 of the two headed running attack!Always getting forgotten :-( 185 TPE too
RE: Looking at Minnesota's offense - ThunderTitan82 - 08-13-2020
This was great! Do the Defense next!!!
RE: Looking at Minnesota's offense - Vainknight13 - 08-13-2020
SchoolboyShue Wrote:Vainknight13 Wrote:You forgot about Mike Rotchburns in running backs! Part 2 of the two headed running attack!Always getting forgotten :-( 185 TPE too
I'll never forget you fam!