Offseason Bios: The Magnetic Turf

Team: The Magnetic Turf
Owner: Phil Sanders
2012 Finish: 7-6-0, 6th place overall
Budget as of 1/1/13: $93.00
Draft Pick Situation: 2013 and 2014 all intact

Contract Years Committed to 2013 (filled to reflect a full starting lineup of players): 43


RFA-eligible Players (likely to be retained in red):
Benjarvus Green-Ellis, Mikel Leshoure, Michael Brockers, William Moore, Jeff Demps

Projected 2013 Starting Lineup:*

QB: Robert Griffin III
RB: Alfred Morris
RB: Steven Jackson
WR: Brandon Marshall
WR: Victor Cruz
FLEX: Titus Young
TE: Vernon Davis
PK:  X
PN:  X
DE/DT1: Carlos Dunlap
DE/DT2: Calais Campbell
DE/DT3:  X
DE/DT4:  X
LB1: David Harris
LB2: Karlos Dansby
LB3: Dannell Ellerbe
CB1:  Javier Arenas
CB2: Patrick Peterson
S1:  X
S2:  X
OFF: X

TS:
Vick Ballard
LaMichael James
TY Hilton
AJ Jenkins
Rueben Randle

*No RFAs are used to make this lineup.

Weaknesses:
The Quarterback Massive Attack of 2012, Phil is so rich at that position that he could probably afford to put them in a vault and dive into them ala Scrooge McDuck.  The other positions...were not so stacked.  Inconsistent production from the Law Firm and Mikel "Row your boat" Leshoure made the RB2 position a wild card from week to week and the Flex was even less reliable with Titus Young unable to get out of his own way in Detroit.  Happily FA acquisition Alfred Morris was a lottery ticket that made good and allowed Phil to plug and play at least one reliable back.  A lack of depth at both RB and WR, combined with easily the most concentrated talent at QB in the league would have seemed to many to be the perfect recipe for a trade but none materialized and Phil missed out on the playoffs despite having 5 players finish in the overall top-20 in scoring.  Aside from those weak spots it's probably time to conclude that Vernon Davis might just be the Eli Manning of his position; one who only shows up in the playoffs and otherwise underwhelms.

Likely Off Season Targets:
Phil has a mid-sized stack of cash to play with in the offseason and all of his draft picks, not to mention the two largest trade chips in the league in Matty Ice, RGIII and Cam Newton (assuming he'd keep one).  That being said, elite chips are only worth trading if you can get elite value for them, and I'm not sure that Phil can.  Only 2 BORT teams have a pressing need for a QB, Chinese Mafia and Buffalo Stampede, and neither of those teams has anything really close to the kind of package to offer in trade that Phil seems to want.  A 2012 pre-season offer of Demarco Murray and 4 RD1 picks was rejected and I don't see either Jeremy or Da putting together an offer larger than that.  That being said, an RB1 and/or a TE1 are really the only free positions with large replacement value for Phil, so if a trade is done I expect one there.  Vick Ballard and TY Hilton will provide the depth there, so it's really only top-level talent that will improve Phil's squad.

Hypothetical Trades:
Matt Ryan for Adrian Peterson and RD1 pick
Matt Ryan for Darren McFadden, Heath Miller and 2014 RD2 pick
Robert Griffin III for Aaron Hernandez and 3 RD1 picks
$70 for CJ Spiller

2013 Outlook:
Looking good, but it will take action.  Like Buffalo Stampede last week, The Magnetic Turf is a team with elite enough players at marquee positions and enough terrible holes at other positions that replacing those holes with even league average players will result in huge upticks in performance.  Unfortunately for Phil, even league average players at RB2/TE1/WR3 are already rostered, so it will take trades to secure them.  Without a trade I expect another season in the 7-6 range and a 50-50 shot at the playoffs, but if he can get full value for any of his 3 elite signal-callers expect Phil to put up huge numbers and finish around 9 wins and a possible round 1 bye.