Mitchbrant's Dynasty - Operation Sports

Monday, September 2, 2019

Posted on September 2, 2019 at 05:12 PM.

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Toronto Pre-Season Roster
#	NAME	POS	AGE	HT	WT	COLLEGE
71	Hakeem Adeniji	RT	24	6-5	310	Kansas
93	Jonathan Allen	RE	27	6-3	294	Alabama
40	Deontay Anderson	FS	23	6-2	217	Houston
49	Nick Bawden	FB	26	6-2	245	San Diego State
80	Tarik Black	WR	24	6-3	215	MIchigan
89	Rahim Brinkley	WR	22	6-5	222	Ohio State
22	Anthony Brown	CB	28	5-11	196	Purdue
74	Calais Campbell	LE	36	6-8	300	Miami
26	Cade Carney	HB	24	5-11	215	Wake Forest
76	Michael Christie	RG	22	6-4	335	Maryland
20	Landon Collins	SS	28	6-0	218	Alabama
70	Maliek Collins	DT	27	6-2	305	Nebraska
63	Trystan Colon-Castillo	LG	24	6-4	315	Missouri
50	Kamalei Correa	ROLB	28	6-3	241	Boise State
54	Lavonte David	MLB	32	6-1	233	Nebraska
18	Josh Doctson	WR	29	6-2	206	TCU
88	Matt Flanagan	TE	27	6-6	260	Pittsburgh
28	Mike Ford	CB	27	6-0	194	SE Missouri State
56	Reuben Foster	MLB	28	6-1	228	Alabama
87	Mike Gesicki	TE	26	6-6	253	Penn State
29	Derrius Guice	HB	25	5-11	225	LSU
83	Emanuel Hall	WR	25	6-3	195	Missouri
30	Vernon Hargreaves III	CB	27	5-10	205	Florida
13	Kelvin Harmon	TE	25	6-2	221	N.C. State
7	Dwayne Haskins Jr.	QB	25	6-3	231	Ohio State
66	Jordan Haye	RT	22	6-8	324	Florida
1	Trey Hendrickson	RE	27	6-4	270	FAU
85	Tee Higgins	WR	23	6-4	200	Clemson
60	Trey HIll	LT	22	6-4	325	Georgia
57	Cole Holcomb	MLB	26	6-1	231	North Carolina
24	Noah Igbinoghene	CB	22	6-0	200	Auburn
34	Keaontay Ingram	HB	22	6-1	200	Texas
98	Matthew Ioannidis	LE	28	6-3	305	Temple
37	Justin Jackson	HB	26	6-0	199	Northwestern
77	Colton Jackson	LT	24	6-5	298	Arkansas
36	Christian Jarrett	HB	23	5-10	229	UTSA
51	Buddy Johnson	MLB	23	6-2	228	Texas A&M
95	Nazair Jones	DT	27	6-5	292	North Carolina
92	Dre'Mont Jones	LE	25	6-3	281	Ohio State
79	Josh Jones	RT	24	6-7	310	Houston
#	NAME	POS	AGE	HT	WT	COLLEGE
97	Carlo Kemp	DT	23	6-3	288	Michigan
84	Dawson Knox	TE	25	6-4	257	Ole Miss
3	Evan Lawrie	QB	23	6-6	230	N.C. State
55	Frankie Luvu	LOLB	25	6-3	236	Washington State
91	Aron Marion	LOLB	22	6-3	241	N.C. State
6	Sam Martin	P	32	6-1	211	Appalachian State
78	Wes Martin	LG	26	6-3	311	Indiana
41	Layne McKillop	FB	21	5-11	258	Indiana State
17	Terry McLaurin	WR	25	6-0	208	Ohio State
82	Rondale Moore	WR	21	5-9	184	Purdue
31	Fabian Moreau	CB	28	6-0	198	UCLA
25	Zach Moss	HB	24	5-10	215	Utah
35	Montae Nicholson	FS	26	6-2	216	Michigan State
23	Tre Norwood	CB	23	6-0	187	Oklahoma
64	Alex Palczewski	RT	24	6-6	300	Illinois
94	Da'Ron Payne	DT	25	6-3	319	Alabama
58	Jaelan Phillips	ROLB	23	6-5	245	Miami
72	Ross Piershabacher	C	27	6-4	309	Alabama
16	Desmond Ridder	QB	23	6-4	217	Cincinnati
73	Chase Roullier	C	29	6-4	310	Wyoming
39	Tavon Savage	SS	23	5-11	201	Colorado
75	Brandon Scherff	RG	30	6-5	319	Iowa
96	Tyler Shelvin	DT	23	6-3	360	LSU
65	Rashawn Slater	LG	23	56-3	314	Northwestern
19	Equanimeous St. Brown	WR	25	6-5	214	Notre Dame
33	Caden Sterns	CB	21	6-1	205	Texas
99	LaRon Stokes	LE	23	6-4	257	Oklahoma
90	Montez Sweat	ROLB	25	6-6	260	Mississippi State
8	Andre Szmyt	K	23	6-1	194	Syracuse
86	Marquez Valdes-Scantling	WR	27	6-4	206	USF
2	Kaare Vedvik	P	28	6-3	210	Marshall
38	Kary Vincent Jr	CB	23	5-10	186	LSU
27	Lamont Wade	SS	22	5-9	198	Penn State
59	Pete Werner	ROLB	23	6-3	236	Ohio State
32	Xavier Woods	FS	27	5-11	205	LA. Tech

TORONTO- The pre-season roster has been set for the Thunderbirds. There will definitely be some position battles worth watching. Running back will be particularly interesting to see what happens. Darrius Guice has the starting spot locked up, but who they keep beside him is a mystery. The Thunderbirds currently have five running backs fighting for 2 or 3 spots behind Guice. Zach Moss and Cade Carney were the backups for Guice last year and took over carrying the load after Guice broke his ankle. Their rosters spots are not safe. Toronto signed Justin Jackson, drafted Christian Jarrett, and brought back Keaonty Ingram from the practice squad.

Another position of interest is wide receiver. There are currently 9 spots on the roster. Last year the Thunderbirds kept 7 on their active roster, and I suspect them to do the same this year. The talent level is pretty equal with the bottom of the receiving corps. Rondale Moore, Tee Higgins, and first-round pick Rahim Brinkley are locks for the team. The rest is pretty much up in the air.

Saturday, August 31, 2019

2022 Draft Recap

Posted on August 31, 2019 at 10:52 PM.

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Thunderbird Draft Recap
Pick	Player	College	Pos	Ht	Wt
1(5)	Rahim Brinkley	Ohio State	WR	6'5"	222
2(5)	Jordan Haye	Florida	RT	6'8"	324
3(5)	Christian Jarrett	UTSA	HB	5'10"	229
4(5)	Michael Christie	Maryland	RG	6'4"	335
5(5)	Layne Mckillop	Indiana State	FB	5'11"	258
6(5)	Aron Marion	N.C. State	LOLB	6'3"	241
7(5)	Evan Lawrie	N.C. State	QB	6'6"	230

TORONTO- The 2020 draft class is headline by the first-round pick Rahim Brinkley. The 6-5 receiver from Ohio State will pair nicely with speedster Rondale Moore. Brinkley is a downfield threat who consistently made contested catches during college. If Brinkley can work on his route running abilities, he has the potential to be a star in the NFL. In college, he relied heavily on his height and athleticism to get open. He will need to work on his route running abilities in order to get separation at this level.

Free Agency Update

Posted on August 31, 2019 at 10:33 PM.

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TORONTO- The Thunderbirds missed out on the big-name free agents. There were a few big names in free agency this off-season, but the Thunderbirds were unable to land any of the big names. The biggest name was linebacker Leighton Vander Esch. The Thunderbirds reportedly offered Vander Esch a big time contract. Vander Esch turned down the contract and accepted a lesser contract to sign with the Eagles. He will join two other former Thunderbirds who signed with Philly, C.J. Ham and Shaun Dion Hamilton. Hamilton couldn't work out a deal during the re-signing period, but the Thunderbirds were interested in bringing back the young middle linebacker.

The Thunderbirds added a mix of veterans and young players during the offseason. They signed former pro bowl linebacker Lavonte David to a one year contract to help bring depth to the linebacking corps. Last year they did the same with Clay Matthews, who retired this offseason. They also added WR Marquez Valdes-Scantling and TE Mike Gesicki, who should be viable targets for Dwayne Haskins. The Thunderbirds also added 22-year-old safety Lamont Wade, who will back-up Landon Collins.

While no big names were signed, the Thunderbirds added some much-needed depth at a few positions. Toronto is hoping a good draft will help lift this team to a playoff team.

Toronto Transactions

Posted on August 31, 2019 at 10:23 PM.

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Transaction Update

Retire:
DE Ndamukong Suh retires after 12 years in NFL.
LB Clay Matthews retires after 13 years in NFL.

Re-Sign:
DT Nazair Jones to 1 year, $1.74M contract
LG Rashawn Slater to 1 year, $2.03M contract
DT Tyler Shelvin to 1 year, $1.42M contract
CB Tre Norwood to 1 year, $2.08M contract
CB Kary Vincent Jr. to 4 year, $8.4M contract
CB Noah Igbinoghene to 4 year, $8.4M contract
HB Keaontay Ingram to 4 year, $10.4M contract
DT Maliek Collins to 3 year, $11.8M contract

Released:
WR Paul Richardson released

Free Agents:
FB Nick Bawden to 1 year, $1.67M Contract
WR Marquez Valdes-Scantling to 2 year, $8.62M contract
SS Lamont Wade to 2 year, $4.7M Contract
MLB Lavonte David to 1 year, $2.66M contract
TE Mike Gesicki to 4 year, $16.1M contract
P Sam Martin to 1 year, $1.48M contract

Toronto Offseason

Posted on August 31, 2019 at 10:00 PM.

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The 2021 season was a disappointing one for Toronto. The team fell to 5-11 after a promising start. Injuries to key starters derailed this team. Coach Matt Hendricks is hoping that a good offseason will add some depth to this team. This team has a lot of youth and rising stars but could use some veteran presence to help as mentors.

The Thunderbirds have the fifth overall pick this year. There are many ways they could go with this pick. There a few spots that they would like to add talent to. If they aren't sold on Dwayne Haskins, the quarterback position is one that they could address. This draft class is not very deep, but there are a few prospects that are intriguing. One of those is quarterback Ian Cantrell. The 6'2" QB has a strong arm and possessed the ability to throw on the run. Cantrell was calm under pressure and showed great poise during his time at USF. He is projected to be a mid-first round pick, but he could go early if Toronto wanted a QB. Another intriguing prospect is Denton Wynn of Texas A&M. Wynn's arm strength has been well documented, but during the combine, Wynn showed great touch and feel for shorter and medium routes.

My favorite prospect in the draft is a defensive end, Adrian Alexander. The end showed the ability to bull rush and overpower lineman during his time at UCLA. He also has a great motor; never giving up on plays. I expect him to be the top pick in the draft.

The Thunderbirds also need help on the right side of their offensive line. They are young on the line and will probably look for free agents to help bolster the line.