Hey friends! I referenced in my last post how delays would be common for a while as I’m in the midst of opening my business but I could not have predicted just how true that would be. We’re about three years behind the stream so we will be combining these two years in an attempt to help catch back up! Unfortunately delays will likely continue until I get this thing open, however I don’t intend to do two years in one again as it is quite the endeavor. This recap will also take on a slightly different format as I try to condense the information. As always if you do want more info send me a message or feel free to rewatch the twitch stream as well. Thank you all again so much for the support and patience!
Note: If you don’t want to be spoiled be careful when you click on Twitch links. Just a warning.
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Last year’s disastrous ending has left a bitter taste in fans mouths. Dublin squandered away a big lead which ultimately cost them a trip to the Super Bowl. Seven years in, fans are beginning to question whether K-Dubs has what it takes to carry a team to the promised land. He has gotten them close but even with all the weapons around him he often seems to falter when the spotlight is at it’s brightest. Owner Matt has been mysteriously silent about the whole affair, something which has only fueled the speculation further. Is K-Dubs truly on the hot seat? Is this year make or break?
The time to strike is now to be quite frank. Yes the team is still floating in kind of weird balance between young and old but with how close we were last season now is the time. Average will simply not be tolerated. We make a couple of moves right before the season, the biggest being that we dump Billups to get a younger WR in Ashley Waddell. Here’s hoping the promising Waddell can live up to the billing that Billups simply never did.
Week 1 @ Arizona
You can watch the matchup here. Let’s get it!
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K-Dubs turns the ball over 3 times and we lose to a team we are rated much higher then. There are a lot of different ways to put the memory of last season behind us, this isn’t one of them.
Weeks 2 & 3
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We have two tough matchups following the Cardinals in the Lions and Saints. The Lions are led by perennial MVP candidate Jalen Hurts and are always a tough match for us. The Saints are never rated highly but we have historically struggled against QB Jameis Winston, something which is embarrassing in it’s own right. We have two close games but drop both of them, 19-25 and 17-20 respectively. K-Dubs scores a single TD in both games and currently stands at 3 TDs to 4 TOs on the season. We’re 0-3 and the city of Dublin is in shambles.
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Weeks 4-7
We have a revenge matchup against the Cowboys but our chances look dismal. We go down 14-3 early before putting up 28 unanswered points and stealing a 31-21 win. We’re 1-3 but beating the team that dashed our hopes last season feels damn good. K-Dubs throws 3 TDs to match his 3 TO’s and Bacon has a field day.
We follow up the big win against the Cowboys with a 27-17 win over the Eagles led by another banner day from Jamal Bacon. At 2-3 our fortunes begin looking up and two division wins bode well for our chances when it comes to tiebreakers. We debate heavily whether or not to offload some of our older guys but decide to hang on for now.
A 14-22 loss to Buck Lamb and the Jacksonville Jaguars makes tanking seem like a much more clear decision. We’re technically only two games back but with K-Dubs having yet another turnover heavy performance this really doesn’t seem like our year. We make the move I’ve been dreading all season and trade the heart of our defense, Matthew Ioannidis ,and a 4th Rd Pick to the Raiders for their 1st Round Pick and 79 LT Marquan Warrick. Warrick becomes a starter at RG for us and Bonner takes over the DT2 spot as rookie Boatman takes over the DT1 spot. Boatman is already up to an 81 so the extra reps for him and Bonner should pay future dividends.
Week 8-10
We prepare for the future and put in some of our younger players. We take on the NFL leading Cowboys and accept our fate. Well at least we planned on it, instead we pull off a 27-10 win. K-Dubs plays perfect football and it seems we forgot to tell the rest of the team we were tanking. Not sure what to do with this. Our pick range is somewhere between 3 and 22 at this point. This is a weird year.
It then gets weirder. We beat the 49ers 32-17 and the Giants 31-3. This team has no business winning games like this but here we are. We’re now 5-4 and I just have no idea what to do strategy wise. Boatman has started to play very well and is looking like he can at least be a solid starter for a decade.
Week 11-15
We lose a very tight 13-16 game to the Texans dropping us to ,500 but then win a tight 20-13 win against the Giants. This team is aggressively mediocre which is the worst case scenario, too bad to win but too good to lose. This does not bode wall for our draft position. Boatman has a monster game at the right time though and his dev tating gets bumped up to Superstar. Boatman also wins DPOTW and bumps his rating all the way up to an 84 OVR as a rookie. I very thoroughly underestimated Boatman, my goal was for him to hit 80 this season but he has much bigger things in mind.
We then lose 22-30 to the Seahawks, 17-19 to the Eagles and 27-34 to the Colts. We officially embrace our tank status at 6-8. This season has been bizarre in so many ways but our young guys have taken massive strides in their Overall ratings which a big boon for the team.
Week 16-17
We finish the season by beating the Titans 27-24 and beating the Rams 34-3. Our worst case scenario happens as we finish 8-8 and out of the playoffs despite playing our backups. One benefit is that Elijah Beck ,who entered the year as our number 4 WR, goes off and gets his dev rate upgraded. He will replace Sims as the main slot WR in all likelihood next season. Boatman is up to an 87 Overall as a rookie and Bacon is also up to an 87 Overall. There has been a crazy amount of rating development among our young guys this season which will make some of these toughs decisions a lot easier. Still, winning twice here really hurts our draft position.
End of Season Recap:
Jamal Bacon, Chase Young, Oliver Boatman, Anthony Morris and Zach “Swaggy” Stamer all make the pro bowl. Of our fives players who made the pro bowl two are second year players and two are rookie which bodes extremely well for the future of the ‘Rocks. Oliver Boatman wins DROTY and finishes 2nd in the race for Best DL. Zach “Swaggy” Stamer wins KOTY as a rookie. Bacon, despite being the top HB in the Pro Bowl, gets snubbed in the Best RB race. Boatman ends up at an 89 OVR once you factor in the XP he gained from his awards ,making him the second best player on our team at the end of his rookie season. This teams is in a youth movement suddenly as all our young guys take major steps forward.
K-Dubs on the other hand has a horrible season, something which is only made worse by the fact that his old college rival Buck Lamb won top billing as the AFC’s Pro Bowl QB. The chatter is growing louder about where the ‘Rocks go from here. The Cowboys win the SB which only adds insult to injury. The move clearly seems to be to go young, but would that still incorporate the face of this Franchise? The ‘Rocks have some big questions to answer.
The Draft
We get a youngish 77 OVR CB in Terrence Ford in FA for cheap which gives us a lot more flexibility draft wise. We stay put otherwise as we prepare for the draft. We begin seriously discussing the idea of moving on from K-Dubs. I’m incredibly apprehensive about it but some very compelling arguments are made in favor of why we should. We end up laying out the parameters under which we’d consider moving on and agree to watch the draft slowly as we continued to debate. You can watch the debate/draft unfold here. It goes on for a bit so feel free to skip ahead too.
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That made me nauseous. The entire Franchise hangs in the balance of this one decision…..but…….
We officially moved on from the hero of Akron, Ohio. My heart hurts as we turn this page but it had to be done. Chester Allen, the former Akron foe, was simply too good a value at the 11th Overall pick so we sent K-Dubs to Denver along with some capital and made the deal. I can already hear the angry messages but this team is young now and it needed a new face. K-Dubs was at the beginning of his regression and the writing was on the wall. The rest of the draft goes as follows
1st Round: WR New Mexico - Clifford McCloud - 70 OVR
1st Round: LE Cincinnati - Kevonne Underwood - 70 OVR
2nd Round: RE Miami - Tim Winter - 72 OVR
3rd Round: WR Nebraksa - Frank McDougal - 59 OVR
6th Round: CB UCONN - Victor Meadows - 57 OVR
7th Round P Akron - Adam Henry - 78 OVR
A bizarre season, followed by a bizarre draft ending with our best draft pick being a 7th round punter. These are strange times in Dublin. Below is a glimpse of how our lineup looks after the draft.
Despite our young age, we are solid 84 OVRs across the board. This is Chester Allen’s team now and the hope is that all the talent around him can position him to outperform the average rookie. The Shamrock fan base is heavily divided on how to feel about the move, and K-Dubs hasn’t handled the move gracefully, but these are our ‘Rocks now. The future is here.
YEAR 8
The mood in Dublin is mixed to say the least. Half the fan base is disgusted by Owner Matt’s lack of loyalty to their favorite son Kenneth “K-Dubs” Washington. The other half is in love with Owner Matt’s decisiveness and believe Chester Allen is their new chosen son. The addition of Cam Newton to mentor Chester has received equally mixed reviews but really highlights where Owner Matt’s head is at these days. He is tired of the half measures and has committed to a new bolder approach to team ownership.
At the end of the day all the noise in Dublin is just that, noise. No one will truly be happy until a title is won and every move the Shamrocks make is with that singular goal in mind. The ‘Rocks may take a step back this year with a new QB but the belief is that Chester Allen gets the ‘Rocks closer to the title in the long run than treading water with K-Dubs ever could. It is time to find out if that belief was true.
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Every move we make this season is in the interest of getting younger and better. We move Azvaeus Frampton up to the number two corner spot as CJ Henderson becomes simply a depth piece. We also trade WR Steven Sims for backup LB Marquel Dixon and a 6th Round Pick. Sims has been Mr. Consistent for us but Elijah Beck showed enough last season that we believed it was time to give the UF Alumni a shot. This team is about equal rating wise to the previous seasons but is much much younger and with higher dev ratings. We also sign a young 76 OVR OL Rashaun Lee off the FA list and drop P Brady Anthony. I see this as a building season but who knows, maybe we’ll shock the world? You can watch the first half of the Year 8 stream here and the second half here.
Week 1 vs Buccaneers
You can watch the game here
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Yikes. I’m not gonna bother posting the box score here, we lost by a lot. The Bucs win 41-16 as our defense gets decimated. Allen has 0 TDs and 1 INT but does throw for well over 300 Yard. Bacon, Beck and McLaurin all go over 100 yards on offense and I’m just truly perplexed how we didn’t score more points. Here’s hoping that this game was a fluke.
Weeks 2 - 5
We lose our next game against the 49ers 31-21 and things are looking all too similar to last season. Allen does have back to back 300 yard passing games however and Bacon continues to be a star.
Things begin to turn around as we win 30-27 over the Bears and 42-24 over the Bills before dropping a game 16-20 against the Eagles. Allen goes for 10 TDs - 3 INTs in those games with 6 of them coming against a talented Bills teams. We’re 2-3 on the season but there is some clear talent on this team. Bacon is dominating teams and Beck is coming into his own in a big way.
Weeks 6 - 9
We drop a tight 23-24 game against the Panthers before winning 35-21 against the Atlanta Falcons. The Falcons are one of the top teams in the NFL in this universe so that win sends a massive message. We then drop another close game to the Saints 24-27 before beating the Giants 37-20. Allen throws 11 TDs in those games and is just beginning to look like something special. Boatman joins the 90 OVR club and Bacon is one of the best backs in the league.
Halfway through the season we are 4-5 and right in the thick of the playoff race. Allen as a rookie is in the running for OPOTY and Murray, Brackett and Young are all in the running for DPOTY. Bacon, Boatman, Beck, Waddell, Carpenter, Sweat, Hoskins and Stamer are all in the running for their position awards as well as the guys already named. Things are looking interesting for our young team.
It’s not all good news though as both Bacon and Tiny inform us they intend to test out FA. Getting into a bidding war is not something we wanted but those are tomorrow’s worries.
Week 11-14
Things continue on their interesting pace as we tie the Cowboys 31-31, beat the Dolphins 27-20, lose to the Giants 21-27 and blow out the Patriots 38-7. At 6-6-1 we are in an all too familiar spot but the playoff competition looks much more friendly to us this season. With the amount of young pieces we have now I am happy with whatever result here. Even if we do finish aggressively average again, with the kind of rookie season Allen is putting together it is impossible to be mad. Against the Patriots alone Allen threw for 5 TDs.
Week 15-17
We finish in an exciting fashion as we drop a 27-24 game against the Eagles before beating the Jets 17-16 and the Cowboys 30-22. At 8-7-1 things are gonna be close. We lost so many close games this year but we still have an outside shot
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Unfortunately that shot misses as we miss out on the playoffs by a measly half a game. We lost so many close games this season but none hurt more than the tie against the Cowboys in which we were screwed by poor clock management. We certainly beat expectations this season but that doesn’t make this hurt less. The Playoffs were ours this season, we just needed the smallest bit more from our guys.
End of Season Recap:
Jamal Bacon, Ashley Waddell, Elijah Beck, Jimmy Carpenter, Chase Young, Montez Sweat, Oliver Boatman, Kenneth Murray, Anthony Morris, Corey Brackett, Adam Henry and Jared Oliver as a PR all make the Pro Bowl. Allen despite his absurd stat line just narrowly missed out on both the Pro Bowl and ROTY. The second QB taken in the draft Brock Murphy wins ROTY instead. Allen finished 2nd in the Best QB race making the decision even more mind-blowing. The increase in INTs down the stretch really hurt him but damn what a year for Allen. K-Dubs also has a great year in Denver finishing 4th in MVP race but I still feel incredibly vindicated about our decision. Beck wins Best WR in his first season as the top Slot WR and also gets bumped to a Superstar Dev rating.
For a year we intended as a rebuilding season I am incredibly happy with what we saw. I’m as tired as finishing around .500 as anyone else, but our ratings keep climbing and I promise we are getting there. We decide to Franchise Tag bacon as a way to ensure we keep pushing forward. Tiny walks but other than that our team stays almost entirely intact. Our receiving totals are the best they’ve ever been and I seriously couldn’t be more excited about the direction of this team. I know it seems odd that I lamented 8-8 a year ago yet am pumped about 8-71 now but here we are.
Strange times indeed.
Free Agency
On top of Tiny we also let Montez Sweat and CJ Henderson walk. We lose some depth guys as well but those three are the losses we will feel the most. Those three have been fan favorites for going on a decade and the fan base no doubt will not be thrilled to see them walk. These tough decisions though get us closer to where we need to be to finally reach the promised land. We do attempt to sign Tiny a second time during FA but are outbid by the Patriots. We instead add a back up LB in 74 OVR Trae Mosley, a fringe starter in 79 OVR RT Lincoln Parsons and back up WR 75 OVR Glenn Richardson in FA. Other than that, we stay put.
The Draft
We enter into this draft with our eyes specifically geared towards CB and DE. You can watch the draft here or skip ahead.
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This was a hell of a pick. Campbell more than replaces CJ Henderson and figures to make an impact immediately. The rest of the Draft goes as follows:
Round 2: Reggie Hurst DE - BYU - 70 OVR (Hidden Dev)
Round 2: Micah McBride WR - Akron - 69 OVR (Hidden Dev)
Round 4: Brian Dailey FS - Washington State - 66 OVR (Hidden Dev)
Round 5: Russell Hewitt FB - Kansas - 68 OVR
Round 6: Ricky O’Donnell Jr QB - Northwestern - 61 OVR
Round 7: Eddie Garland TE - Penn State - 57 OVR
This was a really strong draft for the Shamrocks. To get that many hidden dev guys is absurd and represents a real opportunity for our team. Getting these guys playing time may be difficult but after seeing the journey of Elijah Beck I will never count out a guy with a High Dev rating.
Recap
As exciting as the draft was we end up pulling off a hell of a trade that was just as exciting as our draft picks. We sent Francis Capers, who has been solid for us but just buried on the Depth Chart, to the Eagles in return for 79 OVR 4th Year TE Nick Mann. Mann immediately fills the hole left by Tiny and improves this roster in a major way. Here is how our lineup looks going into the next season
This lineup is now FILLED with high dev trait guys which means we should grow massively throughout the season. We start at an 84 OVR Off and 85 OVR Def but I suspect we are going to grow massively. The ‘Rocks are here for the long haul and Chester Allen is ready to ascend
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Thank you all so much for the support! We are still one week behind on the newsletter compared to the stream but I should be able to catch everything up this weekend. I know this newsletter was a much less detailed look than normal but I just wanted to try my best to get everyone caught up. As always feel free to shoot any questions comments or concerns my way! If you don’t want to be spoiled I would wait until I catch up the newsletters before checking anything on my Twitch channel, just a heads up.
Let’s F’in Rock!