2022 Annual Review Thread - Tell us about your team's season.

[UmmBerrto]

I am Sooo excited about this new team I am taking over for the upcoming 2023 SandBox season.

The Clash were division winners in 2022 as an abandoned team that finished with a 10-6 record

and a nice bankroll of available cap space,

(though also saddled with a bunch of unsigned free agents).

Taking over ownership of the Clash prior to the 2023 Rookie Draft gave me an excellent opportunity to examine

the needs of the future and prepare changes.

I was able to identify several key players available in the later rounds of the rookie pool who have already made key impacts in the

short lived 2023 football season within their respective professional teams, lifting their value above their real-world draft positions.

Because the Clash happened to be in a league, that at the time of this draft, had been abandoned by many other owners,

this left these late round standouts up for grabs to the few team owners who were actually paying attention.

One of the few Owners who was paying attention to the draft turned out to be the kind of owner who clearly put more stock in the

first few rounds of the draft then he does the final few rounds, and in a regular league full of active owners,

I would tend to agree with him. However, He and I had a moment here where our two agendas aligned and his desire, seemed

to be, to escape the mundane final four rounds of this year's rookie draft and avoid the same rounds in next years,

which then coincided with my need to lock in several individuals that though drafted in later rounds professionally were

gaining attention much earlier in the other more occupied and active leagues.

What laid on the table before me was the kind of Hershel Walker/Ricky Williams type of trade that had the potential to turn an

abandoned team into a perennial powerhouse or result in getting a GM/Head Coach fired, (as it did Coach Ditka).

Should I, (knowing the kind of young talent slated to be available in 2024), trade the Cheyenne Clash's 2024 First Round Pick for

2023 4th-7th round picks plus their 2024 4th-7th round picks and the free agent rights to a relatively productive young back up?

It took me nearly two days of agonizing debate within my own mind as I weighed both the wisdom and foolishness

of the potential outcomes of this drastic exchange.

A future First round pick for two handfuls of magic beans and an unproven guy who I have to pay a franchise contract too or

potentially overpay for in the free agent market, or potentially lose to another team,

(which basically means he amounts to some dirt to go with the beans).

There is another owner, in another league, he and I had exchanged phone numbers during this year's drafts for trade talks.

I texted him the situation, just to gather a different opinion from someone who knows what this game is like.

He didn't think it was a trade he would make; I agreed with him in direct principle, but there were some specific

guys on the table that it appeared were definitely going to fall into my lap, if I had the late round picks available.

The kind of guys that if this rookie draft had been pushed back to mid-season

they could have been drafted as high as the first two rounds, at least it looked that way at the moment, from my perspective.

Neither of these other two owners were able to see the beauty of what was opening up in the window of my mind.

Well, the clock struck, time was up, and a choice had to be made, I looked at what I saw with faith and hope and struck the deal.

The Cheyenne Clash's future #1 pick for rounds 4-7 now, future rounds 4-7 and a 0yr contract roll player.

I can already imagine what many other owners are thinking; sounds like the kind of deal some cheater would pull off to steal a #1.

Rounds 4-7 are full of guys who get cut from rosters within their first few years. In exchange for a #1? No way this is legit.

I know I look like an idiot to many; however, I believe in what I think I saw, and I believe in those guys,

I believe there is something special at hand.

Did I get the guys I wanted to get with this trade? You bet I did. Will I sign that 0yr guy? probably not to a franchise tag,

and I hope I don't regret letting him test the market, I hope to retain his services at a reasonable price.

What about the 2024 draft? What will my counterpart get with my #1? What will I get with his 4-7's?

Well, we will just have to see, won't we.

Ither way, it added some fun and drama to my week,

in a way that inspired me to carry that same energy into my personal/professional life,

to get out and take some chances for what I believe in, what I believe I see,

even if there aren't many others that can see the same things just yet.

I believe we both got what we wanted, what we both felt was in our best interest.

Yet, I believe it feels more like a win for me, because in some small way, I needed to see myself believe in myself.

To see me choose faith and hope again, even if it is just while playing an exaggeratedly cerebral game of coded fiction.

My thanks go out to the Designers, Maintainers and Participants of this Alternate Reality Football Game,

From me to you all, for what you have committed yourselves to being a part of.

You are appreciated,

Sincerely,

The New GM of the Cheyenne Clash