1997... The Greatest Turnaround in USFC history

In a keeper league format, it's easy to mange a team with superstars. Any quality owner knows that in a keeper league, you are either extremely excited about your coming season or probably pretty anxious. You get no do-overs. The mess you make is the mess you must clean -up. My brothers and I created the USFC with each owner receiving 8 franchises.

I had teams with a good record of success and they continued to thrive well into 1997, and it's easy to do when Emmitt Smith is the centerpiece. I was still learning the game and with each passing season disappointment followed me. One of my teams in particular was terrible in 1996. The Baton Rouge Armada had back-to-back Number 1 picks in the 95 and 96 drafts. And to no surprise they had finished the 96 season 3-10 under the leadership of RB's Kijana Carter and Lawrence Phillips. Thus begins the greatest turnaround in USFC history.

I started the rebuilding project knowing I needed quality RB's in order to compete. I coax my brother Ryan into dealing RB Barry Sanders to me in an incredible Mega deal. Ryan would receive RB's Kijana Carter and Lawrence Phillps, WR Terrance Mathis(1,000 yd WR for Atlanta) and a number 1 pick in the 1998 draft. To Ryan's defense Barry Sanders was coming off his worst season to date(still over 1,000 yds though) and his net return included some talented players. Now that I had 1 RB position secured I knew I needed another.

I dialed in and traded my brother Derrick the 4th pick in the upcoming draft for Napoleon Kaufman of the Oakland Raiders. Kaufman was a young, small, fast as heck back who could catch and break big runs with the best of them. Adding future Pro Bowl WR Rob Moore of Arizona in the 2nd round and later QB Steve McNair sealed the deal for this team. The Armada opened the year with 10 straight wins only to drop 1 game and finish the regular season 12-1. The playoffs proved no match for other teams and Sanders ran his way to over 2,000 yards and 15+TD's. In a keeper league format, such a feat doesn't come along very often. I started to really understand the beautiful art of making trades.