Offseason Bios: Dawg Pounders

Team: Dawg Pounders
Owner: Tracy Pinegar
2012 Finish: 6-7-0, 8th place overall
Budget as of 1/1/13: $129.00
Draft Pick Situation: All intact for 2013 and 2014

Contract Years Committed to 2013 (filled to reflect a full starting lineup of players): 40


RFA-eligible Players (likely to be retained in red):
Frank Gore, Hakeem Nicks, Demaryius Thomas, Owen Daniels, Jabaal Sheard, Donald Butler, Quentin Jammer, Antoine Winfield, Ronde Barber, Kerry Rhodes, NEP, Vincent Brown

Projected 2013 Starting Lineup:*

QB: Drew Brees
RB: Ahmad Bradshaw
RB: Maurice Jones-Drew
WR: Reggie Wayne
WR: Antonio Brown
FLEX: Danario Alexander
TE: Jimmy Graham
PK: Stephen Gostowski
PN: Bryan Anger
DE/DT1:  Jared Allen
DE/DT2:  Ndamukong Suh
DE/DT3: Julius Peppers
DE/DT4:  X
LB1: Lawrence Timmons
LB2: Ahmad Brooks
LB3: James Laurinaitis
CB1: Tramon Williams
CB2:  X
S1 X
S2:  X
OFF: CAR

TS:
Nick Foles
Travis Benjamin

*No RFAs are used to make this lineup.

Weaknesses:
If you can look past the sub-par 6-7 record you'll quickly see that Tracy's 2012 was a beast.  Unfortunately injuries to key players filled up her IR almost from Day One and aside from Danario Alexander their replacements were unable to produce at a high level consistently enough to get over the .500 hump.  Heading into 2013 there are some significant points of concern though, and one shouldn't fall into the trap of assuming that the Dawgs will regress to better reflect their Pythagorean record.  If MJD can't come back health from his lisfranc surgery there is a huge issue at both RB spots.  Frank Gore had a resurgent season this year but if new signal-caller Colin Kaepernick steals some of the rushing load can he keep it up for another year?  Gore has seen plenty of wear and tear in his career, and before this year was anything but durable.  Andre Brown and Ahmad Bradshaw appear to be the 2 backs out of luck in NY next year as well, making them really non-starters unless there's an injury to David Wilson.  There are not many backs that appear to be available in the UFA draft or RFA either so this might be an Achilles heel in 2013.  Another large question mark is the WR2/Flex situation, where Demaryius Thomas has put a possibly $70-sized bulls eye on his back in RFA.  If Tracy wants to keep him and bump Antonio Brown down to the Flex she'll have to pay through the nose for him.  Other than those spots Tracy has very few open roster spots compared to other teams and so will likely have one of the quieter off seasons aside from the addressing her big weaknesses.

Likely Off Season Targets:
As mentioned above Tracy has few gaps in her lineup but they're big ones.  I anticipate her matching any bids on Demaryius Thomas and then spending her picks on RB fliers and depth.  If Alex Smith gets traded to a good situation it'll be a welcome boost as her current QB2 is Nick Foles.  I do not see much trading here as her massive 2012 scoring output points towards making a few moves and hoping for better injury luck.

Hypothetical Trades:

Deangelo Williams for Alex Smith
Jimmy Graham for CJ Spiller
Re-sign NEP Off, trade CAR + $15 for Benjarvus Green-Ellis


2013 Outlook:
Are the first cracks appearing in the Dawg Pounders' armor?  After dealing out Rob Gronkowski Tracy failed to reap the benefits as MJD scored only 68.5pts and may have cost her the 2012 title.  Now she faces a 2013 season with very large question marks at the RB position even if MJD comes back healthy.  Her TE is still elite, as is her QB and Reggie Wayne's return to superstardom puts her ceiling right with the top teams, but the TS cupboard is bare and most of the FAAB will need to be used just to retain current players.  Additionally BORT is now entering possibly the one off season where it's a good thing to NOT have sunk contracts in your defense, and Tracy enters it with only 4 open positions.  She may have "deserved" a 9 or 10 win 2012, but in 2013 I think her actual record of 6-7 might show up again, and in this instance be backed up by the numbers.