[Chief Rum]

It was time for me to make some moves on the free agent market to shore up some weak spots. There were very few solutions out there, of course, but I think I was able to help out my depth at spots.

I was five players under the exhibition season 60-man roster limit. I found nine players I wanted to sign, so I had to drop four to get under the roster limit.

Money isn't an issue because I had almost $19 M to spend on new players. The Cards' cap hit came in under $50 M, while the cap is currently at $75 M for the league.

Here are the players I signed:

FB Rex Summers
WR Joe Ritchie
C Jared Swift
G Britt Sanderson
G Deon Hodges
K Graham Bolvin
CB Corey Grier
S Larry Hannah
S Marques Anderson

To make room under the roster limit, I released:

G Cameron Spikes
K Bill Gramatica
CB Emmanuel McDaniel
S Justin Lucas

Comments: Almost all of the above nine players signed are undrafted rookies this year. The lone exception is two-year man Marques Anderson. Also, almost all have the potential to end up far better than they are now (although few have the look of an actual future starter). Summers will back up Hodgins at fullbac (you'll recall I didn't have a backup FB at all). Ritchie was signed exclusively for his return duties. Swift gives me a guy with some skills in both run and pass blocking, and he will be the long snapper. Sanderson and Hodges are both guards with upside and could challenge Chris Dishman at one guard spot. Bolvin takes over for Gramatica and figures to improve. Grier has more upside, although the corner position remains a tremendously weak one. Hannah was signed purely for special teams work and he will be a gunner. Anderson was the top signee. He will be the top gunner on the team and a big improvement over my previous two backup safeties.

As for the releasees, Gramatica was easy--Bolvin was clearly better. McDaniel was replaced by Grier. The addition of both Hannah and Anderson made Lucan expendable. And the most interesting was the release of Spikes, who was the offensive line leader, despite being clearly the worst lineman on the team (and maybe even the worst player). Pete Kendall took over the leader spot, causing some changes in affinity and conflict for some other players.

Most interesting was a conflict between Blake and Kendall. Blake, I know you're the only semi-legit passer we have, but I assure you, if it comes down to you and Kendall, see ya, Blake.

CR