Cape Town Year II Review & Off Season

5-12, 7th place

The Makana just need more top line talent across the board. What they have is good–Jared AllenCalais Campbell and Alan Page on defense; Randall McDanielSteve Hutchinson, and Adrian Peterson on offense–but there isn’t enough. And some positions–especially LB and DB are downright weak.

With a victory over Addis Ababa in week two, Cape Town was at .500 and hopes were high for a better season. Then came 7 consecutive losses. They won 3 of their last 7 games, which was certainly better, but still. It was a bit confounding: this is a team that beat Istanbul on the road, after all.

This could have been an important year for Cape Town, as Fran Tarkenton lay claim to the QB job, which bodes well for the future as long as he can stay healthy. That may seem odd to say, given how weak the Makana offense was overall.

The Off Season

Expect almost all of the focus to be on the defensive side of the ball.

Bottom Line

Strengths

RB, DL, G/C.

Needs

Defensive upgrades. DL depth. LB. DB.

Offense

Pts: 11th
Rush/G: 5th
Pass/G: 15th
Yards/Play: 14th

Skill

Fran Tarkenton (9.4 AV, 2081 passing yards, 20:5 TD:interception in 12 games) did enough to claim the starting job, which means Teddy Bridgewater (4.6 AV) will be on the move. Tarkenton was a little erratic, but his numbers were good otherwise across the board.

Adrian Peterson (14.2 AV, 1831 rush yards, 14 rush TDs) was a truly elite back in Year II, and Ben Tate (0.9 AV) once again was fantastic in support off the bench. Tate seems content with his role in Cape Town, although the same cannot be said for Andre Ellington (0.3 AV).

The receivers offer some choices. Randy Moss (10.2 AV, 997 receiving yards, 13 TDs) and Larry Fitzgerald (9.9 AV, 83 receptions) are a great pair, and Cris Carter (5.0 AV) was quite good, perhaps even good enough to pass Greg Jennings (3.2 AV) on the depth chart. Cordarrell Patterson (1.0 AV) remains an intriguing talent as well.

Kyle Rudolph (2.0 AV) was solid at TE, but no more than that, as was Jim Dray (0.5 AV). The Makana will be looking for more here.

OL

The starting five should be set, leaving a pretty good player available to boot. Steve Hutchinson (12.2 AV, 34 holes) and Randall McDaniel (9.9 AV) were elite performers in Year II, and Gary Zimmerman (5.4 AV, 25 holes in 6 games) was outpacing them all before being injured. John Sullivan (7.2 AV) at C and Grady Alderman (7.3 AV) at T round out the group, leaving Jared Veldheer (3.9 AV) to look for a job elsewhere.

Special Teams

Fuad Reveiz (1.2 AV) continued to hold down the place-kicking duties adequately, but the year long experiment of Drew Butler (0.0 AV) at P was a bit of a failure.

Chuck Latourette (5.7 AV, 32.3 KO Return Average) is a bit of a unicorn: a kick returner with the AV of a regular starter (he filled in at DB, but didn’t earn much credit for his work there). Latourette is the clear starter here, and Patrick Peterson has always been adequate returning punts.

Kevin McDermott (0.0 AV) was the leading ST Gunner.

Defense

Pts/G: 13th
Rush Yards/G: 9th
Pass Yards/G: 13th
Yards/P: 15th

DL

Jared Allen (12.7 AV, 82 tackles, 12 hurries, 20 stuffs, 12 deflections) continues to be among the most disruptive pass rushers in the game, and with Calais Campbell (12.6 AV, 74 tackles, 16 hurries, 3 sacks, 11 stuffs) and Alan Page (9.2 AV, 3 sacks) clogging the middle, there’s just not a lot of room for offenses against the Makana front four. The other outside position is an area of need, as Campbell is probably more suited to DT than DE. This year, however, Sharrif Floyd (6.3 AV) was solid as the 4th lineman, although his future with the club may come down to a numbers game.

Depth remains an issue, as only Jerry Groom (1.1 AV) showed anything behind the front 4.

LB

Linebacker was an issue for Cape Town in Year II, and sorting out who gets another chance and who is jettisoned is probably the key challenge of the off season. Only 2 players were relatively healthy all year, but neither E.J. Junior (6.5 AV, 63 tackles) nor Karlos Dansby (6.4 AV, 63 tackles) particularly impressed. Junior was the better of the 2, and look for him to be retained.

Both Chad Greenway (3.0 AV) and Dale Meinert (1.3 AV) spent most of the season injured, but both have shown enough historically to get a shot in Year III, although neither’s position is guaranteed.

Joey Porter (2.2 AV) showed enough in 8 games to stick around as well, leaving Alex Okafor (0.6 AV) to find a reserve spot elsewhere.

DB

The secondary was healthier than the linebackers, but not particularly more effective. Aeneas Williams (5.8 AV, 82 tackles, 17 deflections) was solid and retains a starting position at CB, but the rest is all quite jumbled. Patrick Peterson’s (3.4 AV, 58 tackles, 5 interceptions, 12 deflections) special teams contributions and team-high 5 interceptions keep him around, but Joey Browner (4.6 AV, 3 interceptions) is a reserve at best.

Of the rest, Rodney Harrison (3.3 AV) and Tyrann Mathieu (1.9 AV) showed a lot of promise in limited time, and Jimmy Hill (3.2 AV), Chris Clemons (2.2 AV), Hugo Hollas (1.7 AV), Josh Jones (1.0 AV), and maybe Nate Ness (0.6 AV) all were good enough to play somewhere.

And that ignores Paul Krause (0.8 AV), who was great in Year I and only managed to see the field for 2 games in Year II.

If possible, the team would protect Williams, Peterson, Krause, and Mathieu and hope to retain a couple of the others through the various drafts.

Players Retained

Franchise

RB: Adrian Peterson
WR: Larry Fitzgerald
OL: Randall McDaniel, Steve Hutchinson, Grady Alderman
DL: Jared Allen, Alan Page, Calais Campbell
LB: Chad Greenway
DB: Aeneas Williams

Protected

QB: Fran Tarkenton
WR: Randy Moss, Cris Carter
OL: John Sullivan, Gary Zimmerman
DL: Sharrif Floyd
LB: E.J. Junior, Dale Meinert
DB: Patrick Peterson, Paul Krause, Tyrann Mathieu
K: Fuad Reveiz

Reserves

RB: Ben Tate
WR: Cordarrell Patterson
TE: Kevin McDermott
LB: Joey Porter

Taxis Kept

DL: Joe Robb
DL: Carl Eller

Players Waived

To Start Somewhere

WR: Santana Moss
DB: Darrell Green
TE: Kyle Rudolph
OL: Jared Veldheer
LB: Karlos Dansby

To Play Somewhere

QB: Teddy Bridgewater
RB: Andre Ellington
WR: Greg Jennings
TE: Jim Dray
LB: Alex Okafor, Jerry Groom
DB: Rodney Harrison, Jimmy Hill, Chris Clemons, Hugo Hollas, Josh Jones, Nate Ness, Joey Browner

Released

QB: Paul Christman, Matt Cassel, Neil Lomax, Kurt Warner
RB: Tommy Mason, John David Crow, Devontae Booker, Tim Hightower
TE: Doug Marsh, Paul Seymour
WR: Michael Floyd, Jaron Brown
OL: Jon Kolb, Kenyatta Walker, Ted Larsen, Branden Albert
DL: Jim Marshall, Ray McDonald, Michael Johnson, Joe Robb, Mike Pennell
LB: Markus Golden, Dontay Moch, John Tracey, Nick Kwiatkoski, Ervin Randle, Jon Condo, Bruce Irvin
DB: Zeke Moore, Dominique Hatfield, Demetri Goodson, O.J. Atogwe
P: Drew Butler
K: Andrew Franks