[MIJB#19]

General Manager Notes: The tough decision made
When longtimers don't make the 53 men cut.

This past off-season we've said goodbye to four longtime members of the Merchantmen, all differing in the magnitude of their roles and performances. Sure, we've released 11 men in total, many were undrafted rookies, but 4 of them deserve being mentioned here.

We'll kick off with two special teamers slash linebackers. Jose Meadows joined us as an undrafted rookie in 2093 and played in 111 regular season games. He barely played on defense, but was involved on special teams with 4 forced fumbles and 5 recoveries. Andrew Cochrane joined us in 2094, also undrafted, played in 93 games, but unlike Meadows also had a role on our defense in 2096 and 2097. But mostly a special teamer, Cochrane was, and he'll be coming half a season short of joining our Club of 100. So it goes.

An undisputed member of that Club of 100, wide receiver George Stuckey was a cap casualty during free agency. A second round pick for us in 2090, he became a cherished target, initially as our WR3, but between 2094 and 2098 he was a clear cut starter with more than 100 targets each season. He missed out on a 1000-yard season by just 2 yards, but nevertheless scored 41 touchdowns for us. He's not retired yet, but it seems unlikely that despite his talent, he'll get a chance elsewhere. If that's the case, he'll retire with 142 regular season and 4 playoffs games on his resume for us.

But the biggest name that we said "bye bye" to this off-season has to be Darien Fletcher. Loyal fans and readers know that I can at times get overenthusiastic about a defensive tackle and back in the 2089 draft that happened when we got the opportunity to pick Fletcher at the #9 overall slot. In my eyes the best player of his class. Can we say he lived up to that? Not exactly, but his pass rush ability up the middle was undisputed. I mean, he didn't reach the level of the exceptionally talented all-time greats Shaun "The Behemoth" Hartman and Charles Gomez *, but Fletcher will be in the mix for third best defensive tackle to ever player for the Merchantmen. With 514 tackles, 60.5 sacks, 16 forced fumbles and what not, he's a phenomenon anyway. Fletcher was picked in the Solecismic All-IHOF teams four times, with 2089 being his only first team selection. With 194 games played for us, he's in good company of guys who came a season short of the double century club. Had we've been to the playoffs more than just twice during his tenure, I'm sure he might have topped that 200 mark.

* Yeah, I know Dennis Lucas was picked into the Solecmismic Hall of Fame while Charles Gomez hasn't been, but Lucas racked up the pass rush numbers playing defensive end most of the time and unfairly gets credited for being an up the middle phenomenon. He was great, but I struggle to consider him to be on the same page as Gomez and Hartman and even feel uncomfortable comparing him to the likes of Fletcher, Glen Stiegler or even Heath Oliver, whom we parted ways with after just 5 seasons. So, there's your credits once again, Dennis Lucas. You're still third highest in sacks for us behind the undisputed Daquan "Da Machine" Strugielski and Shaun Hartman.

So, these four veterans left us, but all four can still play some damn good football. But our cap situation ruled here. Sorry guys, we wanted to salvage the offensive starters and, well, you can see how much they're doing with all that money. I hope they prove us wrong after winning 19 or just 18 in a row from here on. But that feels incredibly unlikely...


Oh, speaking of departures, we have two more players to talk about here.

Tight end Clarence Gore, after 10 seasons with us, we decided to not give him the money he wanted and now he's a backup for the Colorado Cutthroats. He played in 145 regular season games for us and 4 playoffs games in his first two seasons as an IHOF pro. He made a splash debut as a fifth round rookie in 2091, making 75 catches for 863 yards and 7 touchdowns. All three are career highs for him. As soon as we downgraded his role on the offense, our team stopped making the playoffs. Although we tried to boost him back in in 2099, but he never got back to being the kind of player he was in his first two seasons.

And then there was Brandon Brady, once a linebacker, next in line to be the next coming of a long tradition of excellent linebackers. He was our #19 overall pick in the 2090 draft and was an undisputed starter on the teams that made the playoffs in '91 and '92. But after 179 games with us, we gambled on signing him late in free agency and before making him an offer, he moved on to the Williamsburg Colonials, where he took on the role of a run stopping defensive end. He had 7 100-tackle seasons with us, while also being active on our pass defense with 14 interceptions and 97 defended passes in regular season action.

Good for you, Gore and Brady, that you found new homes. It can be tough to get another chance in this cutthroat business...