[MIJB#19]

What Do The Merchantmen Have With Defensive Ends?
When Wally 'World' Wilcox retired this off-season, a big name stepped away from the International House Of Football. Wilcox had just played a full season as a backup with the Maassluis Merchantmen and had no problems with it. Looking back, how could such a high profile player live with riding the bench? Let's look at what's going on in Maassluis.

The Merchantmen defensive line starts with Charles Gomez. Back in the day of the league draft, the Merchantmen made Gomez their first selection and to date he's been the top paid player. Gomez is a three-time All IHOF selection and holds IHOF record amongst defensive tackles in single-season tackles (99 in 2006), career tackles (286) and career sacks (32.0). Gomez is the big guy in the middle and makes it easier for the ends to make plays.

With Harold Wells, Deon Chapa and Cecil Doney, the Merchantmen's initial group of ends was one of future stars. All left the team over two years ago, but today, especially Wells and Chapa are concidered to be amongst the elite ends in the game. So why did he Merchantmen say goodbye to these studs who can do it all on the line?

General manager M.IJ.B. explains: "It's a salary cap issue. Defensive ends are amongst the highly paid players. We don't want to invest 25% of our cap room in the defensive line, so we scout for cheaper ends." And it shows, of the four defensive ends on roster, these guys account for just over one million dollars per player. Even if rookie Brenden Henderson and free agent Charles Layfield are signed, the team would invest just 6% of their cap on the position.

With so little money invested, you'd think production would be low, but that isn't true at all. The Merchantmen defense led the IHOF in sacks during the 2007 season. With Gomez making the pressure, the ends could easily turn around the tackles and make sacks. And for the new season, the addition of Erwin Baranowski and Brenden Henderson could improve the production, while Aaron Sherrill and Omar Gougeon are only getting better.

But now comes the crucial element, how were these guys acquired? Albert Bernardo, the long-time member of the Merchantmen was a free agent signing. Baranowski was recently acquired in trade for a mid to low round pick, while Gougeon, Sherrill and Hederson were draft picks, taken in the low fourth to high sixth round. Sherrill even out performed eight higher selected rookies, to lead all rookies with 6.5 sacks.

Head coach Leroy Van Der Woude has another explanation for the succes: "Young players need the time to develope. Guys like Aaron Sherrill and Omar Gougeon have enough potential to play the position very well. We give them playing time and let them rest enough, giving the eager backups also time to shine. Where other teams waste the talented of highly picked guys, in Maassluis these guys get all the confidence they need"

For the 2008 season, the Merchantmen have a reputation to defend. Coming of a season as the best defense in terms of allowing points and allowing offensive touchdowns. The eyes will be more on the youngesters than before, its time to prove they're for real. By adding two or three new ends who can compete, the Merchantmen think they got it covered and are ready to go. But only time will tell whether 2007 was a fluke and whether the ends can produce when Charles Gomez isn't around.