[MIJB#19]

General Manager Notes: The 2118 Off-season continues

Our 2118 roster is taking shape. Sure, training camp and pre-season can throw a wrench in the engine, but with just the post draft free agency remaining, we're already up to 56 players signed.

A good number of contract renegotiations with the expensive players and some additional ones willing to sign for less, we had little trouble getting making a $100M cap space shift from roughly $63M over the cap to $19M under the cap after the arrival of rookies. There was a rush of draft day trades, which saw us part ways with both the #25 and #27 overall picks for 2119 1st round picks from Orlando and Frederick, as well as our 2nd round pick for a 2nd rounder from Frederick in 2119. Both are the kind of teams that should be considered above .500 land in terms of skilled management, but both are stuck in tough divisions. I mean, as it is, there really are no "easy" division, bar two maybe. The European Division was meh-ish when we were still flirting with a winning record.

We still ended up grabbing 7 rookies in this draft. I prefer to lump this usually together with the undrafted rookie free agents harvest, but as that score is yet to come, we'll mention them anyway. G Greg Brizzolara was our pick at #12 overall. Quite high for an offensive linemen, in particular for a guard with questionable run blocking technique, but this kid is considered to be an exceptionally talented pass blocking guard. We'll stick him to LT Dan Clancy and that part of our blocking duties is taken care of. We picked 6 more offensive players and none from other units.

RB Jackson Powell looks interesting with hole recognition, breakaway speed and plenty of upside in terms of endurance, special teams skills, route running, third down running and excellent blitz pickup potential. This could be our new third down back. FB Ricky Anderson doesn't bring the special teams skills I hoped for, at least, that's the first look talking, but he does bring in the right amount of blocking skills (potentially). We also picked special teamer and route runner TE Kyle Baker and big-play WR Corey Marshall. RT John Gerdes and RT William Wiggins might hope to get a shot at a starting spot, but we already found out Wiggins is a red flag player, that makes it unlikely for him to make the pre-season roster.

Those 7 are our entire acquisition for the off-season so far, we signed zero veteran free agents from other teams (so far), but did bring back all but two free agents. DT Bryan Lomax, LB Ezekiel O'Neal, CB Asher McElroy and CB Adrian Kornegay re-signed as restricted free agents, all to much better contracts than minimum deals and for several seasons. Unrestricted free agents WR Antonio Price and LB Nicolas Giles both signed for 2 years with what was basically a lowball contract offer, but they are likely casualties in pre-season. RB Benjamin Reilly and TE J.J. Lang are now free for all, I doubt we'll see them return to camp in Maassluis.

DT Carlos Fisher and DE Christopher Wrighster announced hold outs. Yes, we'll likely cave, as in, make them a fair offer now and another right before training camp. Fisher already has turned down a very reasonable and rich contract before he decided to hold out. WR Rufus Montgomery also turned down a very reasonable contract.

So, that's where we are. A very conservative off-season so far, with a serious attempt to go into the 2118 season with the same defensive players as 2117 and subsequently 2116 as well. The offense needed a bit of refreshment on the O-Line, so that's where our draft focus was. G Brizzolara fitted in, but the targets for the RT slot all felt either lacking or not worth picking as high as where we sat. In trade talks, I've been kind of open towards some teams that I preferred to trade with out of conference teams. Without naming them, I was offered fair value by some of our clear rivals in the AOC, which to me was something I shouldn't do again. WR Gus Barrymore once was picked by the Gothenburg Giants after we traded with them and that kid had some of his best games against us, scoring a good portion of his 100-yard games against us.

So yeah, that's where we are: we're in anticipation of what our undrafted rookie class of 2118 will be and then go from training camp to pre-season and get ready for the regular season. Hopefully with the roster looking the way it does now, mostly.