[MIJB#19]

Merchantmen release four, put Jacke on injured reserve
The Maassluis Merchantmen management today announced the moves required to go to the limited 53-men roster. The team had to bring bad news to five players and all five moves were tough to make. The management want to acknowledge the fans that the following five players will not play for the Merchantmen in 2006: safety Bernard Buffington, defensive tackle Stanley Jacke, punter Lester Murrell, tight end Jack Ohare and linebacker Sam Sasa.

Buffington is a rookie free agent and had an impressive camp. Sadly for him, he wasn't good enough in zone defense, while he could be an interesting reserve player for other system.

Jacke was put on injured reserve with a knee injury. Clearly the injury was not bad enough to put him on the list, but this move makes sure he won't go unemployed and he could return for the 2007 season.

Murrell looked promissing, yet couldn't beat Roscoe Corrales to win the punter job. Unlike with the kicking duties, there was no way to retain both players. The management thinks Murrell has a very good chance to become the premier punter elsewhere.

Ohare was a run block specialist and in pre-season showed he can catch a ball too. That said, going with four tight ends on roster made little sense. Maybe we'll regret the move, Ohare was the second best run blocker of the group, but we had to make adecission.

Sasa has been unlucky being on this team. Probably for about two-third of all other teams he'd been still on the roster, but the Merchantmen acquired Josh Weisberg and Carl Meier in the off-season as backup linebackers. We even tried to land Sasa a job in Fairbanks or Chesapeake, but neither move worked out and now we suspect some team will pick him up before or during the season.