Thehealthiestscratch wrote:

Man, Chicago has such a good identity and team. Hard not to abandon my Pirates when they are smacking us in the face with the trophy.

Yeah Washington has become a punching bag as it seems for Chicago, good thing for the Pirates, is they're still rising, where as Chicago is a year or two removed from their peaked as it seems, this year's Z-men weren't as good as either of the past 3 years statistically. 

BlogDunk wrote:

I Live in Chicago

Then you'll be a great Zephyrs fan, there's a couple of them around here. I'm gonna release some updated sigs with the offseason post so you can scoop one up there if you want!

Dang it Washington, the Zephyrs are turning into this league's Patriots
 

1960 NFA Offseason Pt. 1 

8th Annual NFA Draft
1st- DT Bob Daniels- University of Ohio - Pittsburgh Ironmen    
-Pittsburgh was expected to take QB Kieth Lincoln, but it’s become apparent that they’re going to keep with QB Pete Blair, a guy who didn’t show anything impressive last season as a rookie. DT Bob Daniels was a top defense player in the country last year, and will be good for Pittsburgh, it’s just a confusing pick since he isn’t what the Ironmen needed. 

2nd- QB Kieth Lincoln- Tennessee State University- Los Angeles Tigers    
-The Tigers got their man in QB Kieth Lincoln. The Tigers haven’t had a true leader of the offense since Pearson left, so they are really happy Pittsburgh passed up on Lincoln. Lincoln led the country in passing yards last year for Tennessee State, leading them to a big bowl win in his last game. 

3rd- RB Charley Rodgers - Georgia A&M University- Detroit Bombers*    
-The Bombers traded up to get RB Charley Rodgers, the thought is that the lack of a run game last year really dragged the rest of the offense down, Rodgers was predicted to be picked at five to Cleveland, but Detroit must’ve really had eyes on him. He’s the best running back in this class, out at Georgia A&M, he ran over 20 times a game and was a site to see. One of the best prospects in general in this draft, drawing comparisons to former MVP Quentin Brookes. 

4th- T Ron Clement -Mississippi Christian University- New York Cannons    
-This was the most predicted pick in the draft. New York takes a top prospect to boost up the o-line. Hopefully to cut back on the large amount of sacks QB Jim Sandusky took last season. 

5th- T Preston Allen -University of Kansas- Cleveland Rangers    
-Super similar to the pick before them, the Rangers had offensive troubles last year, hopefully this will help build up a better o-line for QB Ryle Hanson in the next couple years. 

Other Notable Picks:
12th- WR Val Goodman - Nebraska State University- Los Angeles Tigers
20th- WR Wayne Schick - Detroit State University - Chicago Zephyrs
25th- TE Ed Carolan - California State University - Cleveland Rangers
26th- DT Chick Stevenson - Florida University - Boston Gaels 

*Detroit traded their first round pick, a second and an eighth rounder to the Hornets to move up. 

Expansion Draft Notable Picks:
1st- WR Jim Churchwell- New York Cannons- Seattle Lumberjacks
4th- DE Don Langston - Minneapolis Blue Ox - San Francisco Whales
6th- QB Jack Lockwood- Free Agency - San Francisco Whales
11th- DE Frederick Collingwood- University of Washington- Seattle Lumberjacks 
16th- WR Arnold Wittstein - Free Agency - San Francisco Whales 

Roster Changes:
-Pittsburgh trades DE Robert Fox for DE Ace Rupper. Ace Rupper is on the downslide, being traded to his 4th team in 5 years. The Gaels dumped him and a pick to upgrade to the younger Fox, Fox was a good part of the Ironmen defense, but has become frustrated with losing and injuries. Rupper will hopefully be a good leader and vet for Ironmen's future.
-Seattle Lumberjacks sign their first free agent; QB Elliot Hollander. Previously with Tigers, Hollander had a decent season with the Tigers last season, but the organization has moved on, especially after drafting QB Kieth Lincoln. He’s the presumed starter for Seattle.
-Tigers made more moves, they traded RB Rob Dimitroff to Whales for RB Tommy Mason. San Francisco drafted RB Tommy Mason in the expansion draft from Philadelphia, where he saw minimal snaps. Dimitroff was the second pick in the 6th NFA Draft, his two years in St. Louis was rough and he’s looking for a new start in San Fran.
-TE William Flaherty signs with Philadelphia. The Hornets picked him up after he didn’t see many snaps the last year and a half in Washington.
-Rangers trade for RB Bill Rhodes from Minneapolis. Rangers now have RB Mohammod Lowe and RB Bill Rhodes on the roster, both a bit old, but it will hopefully give their offense a much needed boost.
-Finally, QB Eugene Addams resigns with Philadelphia, stating his loyalty to the Hornets fanbase. 

Coaching Changes:
-Detroit fires Head Coach Joe Taylor after missing the postseason for the first time in 3 years. However, the team went 9-3 this season, it wasn’t a bad season necessarily, Henderson played well, the defense suffered injuries yes, but this seems like an overreaction. In return they hire Chester Osborne as HC. Osborne most recently led mid major university; the University of Pittsburgh, to an 8-2 record and a conference championship. Detroit also replaces OC Peter Green with Caleb Brown, much like Taylor’s exit, this seems like an overreaction to a slight offensive regression, it’ll be interesting if messing with the front offense will do more harm than good throughout the season.
-Ironmen replace OC Daniel Robinson with Robert Gray after a several year tenure in Pittsburgh. Hopefully Gray, who’s worked as a QB coach within the organization for a couple years and will hopefully help QB Pete Blair develop.
-Lumberjacks hire legendary HC Bob Urchin, OC Cliff Johnson, and DC Donnie Tracker. Bob Urchin was last coaching with the Ironmen in 1957, he led them to 3 Champions Bowl appearances in 15 years.
-Whales hire HC John Manfield, OC Bernard Ralph, and DC Clarence Williamson as their first coaching staff. Manfield comes from Illinois Tech University, where he built his way up in the organization, finally taking the role of DC before getting his first head coaching gig in San Fran.

League News:
-WR Henry Cox was the biggest retirement this offseason. He played for Minneapolis last but also played in Boston and New York in his 13 year career.
-The newly relocated Tigers officially move into Los Angeles County Stadium, a state of the art 56,000 stadium with room for another 20,000 seat expansion if wanted in the future.
-Ironmen owner John Coffee officially moves ownership to his son Joseph Coffee. John has become increasingly wary of his health as he has gotten older, and has been in and out of the hospital the past few years. His son Joseph is a much more laid back person, hopefully he will be able to rebuild the team better than his father has, and embrace the youth movement. 

Preseason Power Rankings:
1st: Chicago Zephyrs    
-The Zephyrs are atop this chart for a reason, with two former MVP’s and a stellar offensive cast, Chicago has Champions Bowl expectations once again. 
2nd: Boston Gaels    
-Boston’s rebuild is bearing the fruits of success. If their young core’s first few games last year was any indication for the future of this team, I’d be excited. 
3rd: Washington Pirates    
-Coming off another painful Champions Bowl loss, Washington came into the offseason with high hopes but failed to do much, they lost a few pieces on defense, but they’re still one or two pieces away from winning it. They’re still favorited to make the postseason, but they need to make the best of this window they have in the NFA East right now. 
4th: Detroit Bombers:    
-This roster is still jam packed with talent, but how they’ll finish this season is up to the injury bug, and the questionably revamped coaching staff. They’ve got to make it somewhere soon, Henderson is on the last year of his contract, and while it’s likely he’ll stay, Detroit’s gotta make sure to win 8 or 9 wins to ensure that. 
5th: Cleveland Rangers:  
 -Cleveland’s still got the most impressive defense in the league. They made small adjustments to the offseason this year, hopefully that proves to help them make it into the postseason again. 
6th: Minneapolis Blue Ox    
-While I’m assuming they’ll cool down this year, the Blue Ox still have an impressive offense, if the defense can step a bit more outside of the red zone and O’Connor can keep up the efficiency, they might make it back to the postseason. 
7th: Pittsburgh Ironmen    
-Pittsburgh’s fairly high on this list after such a rough season last year, but considering they’re moving to the NFA East conference this sesson, and they beat the two last place teams in the East last year, i think they’ll manage to get a couple more wins. 
8th: Philadelphia Hornets  
 -Philadelphia’s starting their rebuild, which is weird because they have a top 5 QB on the roster that they just resigned. It’s going to be a weird one in the City of Brotherly Love. 
9th: New York Cannons    
-If Jim Sandusky fails to improve from his sophomore season’s woes, I don’t see this team going anywhere. 
10th: Seattle Lumberjacks  
-Coach Bob Urchin might refuse this team to sink to the bottom of the standings, they’ve also got a capable QB who might be able to scrape together a couple wins for Seattle.
11th: Los Angeles Tigers
-While they may be second to last, they’re in the best shape that they’ve been in for the past couple years. They have direction now. It’ll be exciting to see how their first season in LA goes. 
12th: San Francisco Whales  
-As an expansion team, not much is expected. Hopefully they at least scrape a win or two together to stoke the flames of a new fanbase. 

Identity Changes:
-Chicago Zephyrs, Philadelphia Hornets, and Los Angeles Tigers all update identities.



C&C Appreciated, Pt. 2 will be up tomorrow, with the new expansion identities and updated sigs! I also added a bit more offseason fun, and finally got around to a much needed update to the uniforms. Enjoy!

Love the New Tigers logo and colors! Let's see if my Jacks can do anything in year one.
 

Tigers Make me think detroit