[MIJB#19]

General Manager Notes: 2113 begins

Some of our preparation to 2113 started during the playoffs. After we got knocked out by the Orlando Talons in a could have should have game. But before their luck ran out in the next round as they lost on a miraculous Hail Mary touchdown pass by the Toronto Lake Monsters, who went on to humiliate the Gothenburg Giants in Gothenburg 37-6 and in the IHOF Bowl ran out of luck as well, falling 20-13 against the Fairbanks Northstars, a team that went in to the playoffs with a 9-6-1 record and a -12 points differential. Anyway, we signed a couple of young guys that would be restricted free agents in the early free agency period: RB Korey Burnett, WR Edgar Horn, C Duane Ondre, LB Charles Wintch and S Tanner Phillip. Burnett played in 15 games for the Colorado Cutthroats in 2111, Ondre in 1 games for the Houston Stallions that season. The others are void of any playing experience in IHOF.

Our cap situation is doable. We're $40M over the cap, but almost $57M if we add in the most expensive 4 draft picks in of the 6 we have in hand. With 47 players signed, it means we have can get to the 53-men roster with just using the picks and not signing any free agents. Which won't do though, as we have a 12 free agents listed as on roster. I'm confident I can work out renegotiations to get us under the cap at the start of free agency, a cap out of our most expensive player WR Jessie Vertelney would save roughly $30M in cap costs. I will also have to look at the 16 players in the final contract year, I need to figure out which are worth locking up through 2114 or even beyond. QB Drake Bishop, RB Bennett Holmes, TE Garrett Alcala, G Brett Stickney and DT Gabriel Morris are amongst that bunch and being in their 30s, they are candidates for a wait and see, or the other way around, might want to extend to keep them from retiring.

There are two major roster spot situations to address: quarterback and left tackle. I elaborated on that after our loss in Orlando and the situation is unchanged.

QB Harrison Singleton is estimated to miss the first 22 weeks of the season, which adds up to all of pre-season and the regular season. I'd love to see him back for the playoffs, but we'd actually have to find a suitable replacement to get there and if we do, it wouldn't make sense to hand the keys to a rusty Singleton after his replacement got us that far.

LT Harold Gruenwalder is a free agent and coming off his best season ever. Every other team in the league would only see him as backup material in a pass heavy offense, but if he doesn't crash in pre-season, he's worth keeping as our man on the left side of the line. RT Clayton Bernstein has flopped as a LT alternative, but he's still signed for 3 more seasons and after he started in the last 4 games due to injuries on the line, he came around and went from demanding a trade to being just 'disgruntled'.

All things considered, an interesting off-season coming up, where I hope we can build on a strange yet hopeful 2112 campaign towards ending the Giants' domination of the division and hopefully getting things done in the playoffs.