Predicting the CDL 2022 offseason: Florida Mutineers
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The Florida Mutineers have spent the past two Call of Duty League seasons steeped in mediocrity. While the teams have shown flashes of talent at times, Florida has largely been a bottom-four team in the league.

Florida hit rock bottom when they were bounced out of CDL Champs by the New York Subliners, a team that was 50 points behind them entering Major IV. The Mutineers are one of only three teams to keep two players on their roster for three straight years (Atlanta FaZe, Dallas Empire/OpTic Texas). However, those two players, Joe “Owakening” Conley and Cesar “Skyz” Bueno, are now free agents and will dictate the course of Florida’s 2022 offseason.

Owakening and Skyz have both had large says in Florida’s roster over the past two seasons. They’ve been the cornerstones of the organization and even switched up their roles for the 2022 season to accommodate new players. These role swaps, mixed with some of the players the Mutineers brought in, were arguably their downfall in 2022.

Florida has esports legend Tom “OGRE2” Ryan as general manager and he will need to navigate a tough offseason in a couple of weeks. Here’s a look at Florida’s situation and what they could do for 2023.

The Florida Mutineers’ current roster

After Champs concludes in one week, the Florida Mutineers will have three free agents and three players with team options. Michael “MajorManiak” Szymaniak, Brendan “2ReaL” Stockdale and David “Davpadie” Maslowski all have team options for next season. Owakening, Skyz and Christian “Yeez” Faircloth are free agents.

At this point, it’s completely unclear what Florida will do with all of these players.

The Mutineers finished the season poorly after shipping submachine gun player Reece “Vivid” Drost off to Boston and replacing Davpadie with MajorManiak. Many fans felt the entire Florida roster was not put together correctly, as the team had multiple assault rifle players (with Owakening running an AR-heavy flex role) and didn’t give their SMG players enough support. This was evident in Vivid and 2ReaL’s poor overall kill/death numbers during their time with Florida.

So not only does Florida have work to do with their actual roster, but they have to figure out what way they want to construct the roster.

If they want to retain Owakening and Skyz, which will require some serious cash, the Mutineers need to pair them with some fast-paced SMG players so it balances out the roster. Adding another AR player in addition to Owakening and Skyz has proven to not work. Florida has had the most success when Owakening and Skyz run the ARs. However, the Mutineers might be looking at a total rebuild for the 2022 off-season.

Looking at possible moves for Florida

Skyz Florida Mutineers
Provided by CDL

For starters, let’s look at Florida’s team options for next season. We don’t envision them retaining 2ReaL, as his rookie season wasn’t too strong. While he certainly didn’t get any help from the roster he was on, it’s tough to see Florida retaining 2ReaL unless it’s in a substitute role.

Next are the AR players in Davpadie and MajorManiak. Neither had a terrific Vanguard season, but we could see the organization re-signing Davpadie if they’re committed to a rebuild and gathering younger players. MajorManiak could also slide in on the roster if the Mutineers want a veteran presence in the case of a mini rebuild. But Major, in all likelihood, moves on in the offseason.

Option 1: Retaining free agents

That leaves the free agents to be. Starting off with Yeez, Florida could finally give him the chance that fans have been craving.

Yeez has been a substitute for over a year and has never been given a true shot at making the roster. Yeez is a high-octane SMG that would be a perfect fit for the Mutineers’ roster. He’s also young and wouldn’t cost much, which might be attractive to Florida if the Mutineers truly want to start over.

As for Owakening and Skyz, it all depends on what direction the Mutineers want to go in 2023. If they want to rebuild their roster, then both players are long gone. However, the Mutineers could opt to keep one or both players and try to retool the roster in a different way than they did in 2022. The Mutineers could keep Owakening or Skyz and put them in a flex role alongside Davpadie on main AR and Yeez as the slaying SMG.

The only role Florida would need to fill in that scenario is an entry SMG. For this, the Mutineers would likely need to dip into the amateur pool of players or possibly explore a trade with another team. The team has shown a willingness to sign amateur players and plug them in as starters in the past, so that’s definitely a route we can see them taking.

Option 2: Complete rebuild

As previously mentioned, it’s also entirely possible that Florida releases all or most of the players from 2022. This would mean starting from scratch, and the Mutineers would look to sign a mix of amateur players and cheaper professionals.

We don’t know who teams will release in the coming weeks, so Florida could definitely have options in professional players. However, in a rebuild, the Mutineers would likely also look to the amateur side of the scene.

It’s impossible to say who Florida would look to sign at this point. The Mutineers’ entire offseason depends on what they choose to do with the duo of Owakening and Skyz. If they want to retain one or both of them, then that changes the trajectory of their offseason completely. If both players go elsewhere, though, then the Mutineers roster will presumably look 100% different in 2023.


Joey Carr is a full-time writer for multiple esports and gaming websites. He has 7+ years of experience covering esports and traditional sporting events, including DreamHack Atlanta, Call of Duty Championships 2017, and Super Bowl 53.


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