Phantoms 2025 Off-Season, Step-by-Step

[JesterBlaze]

Draft Picks
1.16 - 1/2 to LR for 2026 1st and 3rd
1.27 - Traded to LR for 3.29 and London's 2026 1st Round Pick
1.30 - Traded to OAK for a 2026 2nd and 2027 2nd

2.2 - CB, Carl Kovacs
2.20 - DT->DE, Phil Eikanger

2.26 - 2/2 to LR for 2026 1st and 3rd
2.28 - 1/3 to LR for 2027 2nd and 3rd
3.29 - 2/3 to LR for 2027 2nd and 3rd
3.29 - Received back in the 1.27 trade deal. Then traded to HOU with 2026 LRK pick for 2.20.
4.28 - 3/3 to LR for 2027 2nd and 3rd
5.12 - 1/5 to OAK for 2026 4th and 2027 4th
5.27 - 2/5 to OAK for 2026 4th and 2027 4th
5.29 - 3/5 to OAK for 2026 4th and 2027 4th
6.26 - 4/5 to OAK for 2026 4th and 2027 4th
7.29 - 5/5 to OAK for 2026 4th and 2027 4th


Wants
Fix Cap Situation - DONE



Needs
QB2/3
TE3 - Resigned Matthew Costello
C2
LG2
RG2 - Resigned Vernon Galoob
RT2
LDE1 (Franchise Joe Peterson who will move to RDE this season)
LDE2 - Drafted Phil Eikanger (Pick 2.20)
RDE2 - Resigned Lorenzo Magana
RDT2 (Charles Denver, RFA) - Offer on table.
WLB2
FS2 - Resigned Stan Corbett


ST
Affinities



TC Settings (From 2024)

TR: 2:45
Pass: 3:00
ST: 1:45
Def: 2:50
Run: 2:00
Films: 0:40
Functions: 3:30

[JesterBlaze]

Insert by Spark Wonup
Lawrence Sun Times


Despite what happens from here on out, the story of the Phantoms off-season was always going to come down to Roderick Amos.

No off-season moves of genius would ever replace a QB whose 3rd All-Time in winning % and 1st if you consider "complete careers". No disrespect to Travis Kennedy and Karl Bauer, who are both in front of Amos and are great talents, but there's a realistic possibility that either or both will come across some bumps in the road before it's done.

An Amos retirement would have freed up plenty of cap space that could never have been used to replace him. I guess that's why GMs sign the contracts to begin with!

Our beloved Phantoms look poised to stay the course and return the exact starting line-up they did in 2024 as they have all but 1 of their draft picks on the block and moved 8 in a total of 10 minutes today.

I got a few minutes with GM Jester Blaze today and find this quote quite informing:

"I don't think we're one of the favorites going into the 2025 season but I think that we have a much better than average chance at another Trophy and don't see how shaking things up would improve that chance."

"You can't win the IFL Bowl every season, however you can lose it with merely one bad move. I think returning the same squad that won a few games in 2024 to the field is better than losing cohesion and vets in a short-sighted chase of the tail. I see us being a good, but maybe not Championship caliber, team for the next couple years with a possible spike again in the near future. Newark is young and just won it all. There's no reason to believe that they can't do it all again or that there's a quick fix to leapfrogging them, rather I put the onus on them to repeat in the same fashion they just won."

"And that's not even mentioning a handful of other teams with an equal chance of bringing home the trophy. 2025 will be a very competitive year I believe!"

[Matt]

Not sure how young we are. I think we have a decent mixture, but we could fall flat on our face this year if any of my WR's take a dive

[JesterBlaze]

Franchised Joe Peterson, LDE, who I'll probably try to switch to RDE this season.

Sent CB Bernie Weisz to camp. Hope he progresses quickly and to full fruition expected.

Bumped all ticket prices 10% due to a drop in profits last season.

Still need a LOT of cap room but have 5 players over 70 OVR in last season of contract which usually means quite a bit of cap relief in the current season. Expecting to leave QB Roderick Amos to retire or be franchised next year. Note that you should always remember the next year's franchise tag when restructuring current contracts.

[JesterBlaze]

2 trades thus far:

2.28, 3.29, 4.28 to LR for a 2nd and 3rd which are 2 years away.

Since the NFL rule of thumb on draft pick trades is a "round per year", meaning a current 4th gets traded for a 3rd in the next season, this one took some thought before confirming. In the end I wanted out of this season's draft and the loss of "full market value" was one that I was willing to take. Afterwards I noticed that LR had traded some of it's current highly ranked players which made the pill easier to swallow. I might end up with top-12 picks in 2027... or not.


5.12, 5.27, 5.29, 6.26, and 7.29 for a 2026 4th and a 2027 4th.

Good trade for both sides. Oakland is in complete rebuild mode and has 5 picks to add some quality that drops in the draft. I have future picks when I *might* have the cap room to use them. I wanted all 2027 picks with this year's trades but I somehow lack a 2026 4th of my own so this one fits nicely.

[JesterBlaze]

Biggest cap problems yet. Funny how I'm the only team running into them - other than London this season - and I run into them harder and harder each season WHILE trading all high draft picks.

This is the season something has to give though so multiple great players have been put on the block.

[Matt]

seeing some of the demands on my team. like WTF.

[JesterBlaze]

Biggest cap problems yet. Funny how I'm the only team running into them - other than London this season - and I run into them harder and harder each season WHILE trading all high draft picks.

This is the season something has to give though so multiple great players have been put on the block.

OK WTF did London do?!?!? $25.7M in cap space after $2M last time I looked.

Obviously I'm doing something wrong since I'm the only team in cap trouble and haven't had a "real" draft pick in a long time. I gotta see what positions can be ignored (FOF flaw) in this "team game".

[JesterBlaze]

Traded 1.16 and 2.26 to LR for a 2026 1st and 3rd. Tough deal to accept but the clock was winding down on 1.16 and I don't have the cash for such draft slots.

[JesterBlaze]

Yet another trade with Little Rock. One might think we were sharing an office this off-season.

This time it's the 1.27 pick traded for 3.29 and London's 2026 1st. Liking some of the talent still on this year's draft board but have to free up the cap space.

[JesterBlaze]

Put on the clock and thus pressed to do something I traded 1.30 to OAK for a 2026 2nd Rounder and a 2027 2nd Rounder. I'll probably lose out on this traded but simply couldn't afford the price tag of 1.30.

At 2.2 I got the same guy, CB Carl Kovacs, that I would have taken at 1.30. Insiders tell me that Kovacs will drop from his projected value which isn't a good thing. I need M2M players on my defense.

[JesterBlaze]

Hoping to create the cap space I traded up from 3.29 at the cost of a 2026 LRK 3rd rounder to select DT->DE Phil Eikanger, a very short very lightweight DLineman. I've had success in the past every time that I've swapped a DT to DE so I'm hoping the trend continues.

[JesterBlaze]

Cap problem solved and came away with two 2nd Round Picks in the draft. Still have 5 needs but basically the Phantoms off-season is done and was a success.

[VitoStallion]

grats

[JesterBlaze]

Phantoms Pre-Camp Draft Status

Our 2.2 CB, Carl Kovacs, comes in a little under what I expected at 45/59 but our 2.20 pick, DT Phil Eikanger, which almost never happened due to a draft utility mix-up, comes out at a whopping 39/67 with an expected increase on move to DE. Hopefully we landed another great Phantom 2nd round DE to replace the about-to-retire Willie Bo, also of 2nd round DT->DE path.

5.31 pick Kurt "The Big Hurt" Atherton comes out at an acceptable 26/47, also with a potential increase on move from DE->DT.

Here's hoping for a good TC!!