[MIJB#19]

General Manager Notes: And then there were 62!
Draft completed and we signed a bunch.

Our training camp roster is pretty much set. We finished the draft with a couple of 7th round picks in FB Randy Julian and DE Mel Adams. They were the top 2 on our board remaining and I figured they'd deserve a training camp and potential a pre-season to prove themselves. The selection of Adams came after we acquired the 7.23 pick from the Williamsburg Colonials for LB Trey Ford. I like Ford, but he had become an unpopular leader. But, aside from that, it wasn't cut and dry that he would make our 53-men roster anyway.

On top of that, we saw a good bunch of veteran free agents sign with us. Most prominently S Blaine Wright, he flirted with the Colorado Cutthroats for weeks, but eventually re-signed. He was joined by LS Bennett Brock (previously Fort Wayne Fury), S Pete Weaver (Capital City Blues), LB/ST Luke Thompson (Paris Musketeers), RB/KR Morris Pritchard (Fort Wayne), TE/ST Bryan Goldade (Chesapeake Chitterlings), LT Andres Blair (Orlando Talons) and G Bruce Strong (Williamsburg Colonials). And we re-signed restricted free agent WR/ST Calvin Hancock.

This brings us to 62 players signed. One of them is threatening to sit out the season: LB Abraham Desimone. The 4th year pro thinks he had a career year (he didn't), so we'll have to determine where we go with him and the rest of the front seven group, which has become crowded after the signings of DT Ben Courcy and LB Thompson, selections of DE Gabriel Morris and DE Mel Adams and in return the departure of LB Ford and LB/ST Wally Cooley (unwilling to re-sign with us), which means we'll likely have to let at least 2 of the bunch go.

We'll be offering contracts to 8 free agents, to potentially add up to 70 for training camp, but I won't be upset if we end up with the 62 we have so far. Or 61 if we don't work something out with LB Desimone before camp.

The five rookies have already reported in Maassluis for their first medical checkup and first evaluation. We have to be very optimistic about them. The staff assessed them on a 1-100 scale roughly as:
5/55 QB Randy Walters
35/50 RB Bennett Holmes
25/40 FB Randy Julian
25/45 DE Mel Adams
40/80 DE Gabriel Morris
30/80 LB Gus Coleman

Especially Morris and Coleman, jump out, but I can't be unhappy with Holmes either. Walters is obviously an unknown for now, extremely green, while the 7th round picks will be longshots to make the eventual 53-men roster. Upon training camp, we'll make a decision on DE Morris whether he will make the move to DT, depending on his ability to bulk up, while LB Coleman should also gain wait to earn his spot as a MLB. It's unlikely we'll move him to SS, which was the suggestion of a fellow IHOF owner/general manager, but our staff predicts he'll be close to worthless at that position.

Our cap situation is kind of healthy. We're $7.12M under the cap, with 52 players signed through next season. 10 players are in the final year of contract, being QB/KH Malachi Manning, TE/ST Bryan Goldade, TE/ST Wesley Martin, C Marvin Bratsch, P Manuel Szymanski, DE Robbie Dobreski, DT Harold Gough, LB Abraham Desimone, CB Zachery Weisz and S Devon Farrell. We'll talk with them at mid-pre-season. QB/KH Manning should be easy to extend, TE Goldade will be free after the season, TE Martin wants bit of a raise, C Bratsch needs to be talked with, P Szymanski wants a raise, DE Dobreski an extension that's roughly in the same salary level, DT Gough wants a bit of a raise, holdout LB Desimone wants a big raise (from $3.69M to $11.76M), CB Weisz just an additional year and S Farrell asks an additional year at a reduced salary. That's a healthy situation to me.

So, up next: additional pre-season signings and then we'll take a look at where to go from there.