[MIJB#19]

General Manager Notes: We have a new quarterback!
Wait, again?

Merchantmen football fans, there's going to be a new ball thrower in town. We agreed terms with the Colorado Cutthroats to acquire QB Evan Drake in return for our 2105 first round pick. Drake was originally drafted in 2094 by the Arizona Miners, in the second round, 2 picks after QB Earnest Ashley. In 2096 he was traded to Colorado after having been demoted to backup duties in only his second season in Arizona. After 8 seasons of starting for the Cutthroats, he has fallen out of interest with the ownership there, despite that he lead them to the NAC Championshipgame in 2098. Drake topped the 4,000-yard mark just once and also only once topped 6.5 yards per attempt in a season. Drake is 3 years younger than Ashley and overall a slightly more talented quarterback, or so says my staff.

So, what happens next with Ashley? Well, he's officially on the trading block, but I'm not convinced we should send him packing his stuff and go play elsewhere right away. I'm going to want to see him at least through the first pre-season action, just in case Drake falls apart. At the same time, our second round pick from last season, QB Randy Walters, I'm going to be open to letting him walk before training camp. Sure, if there are no quick buyers, we'll wait and see where he is after early pre-season games, but it's quite clear that I'm not going to let us go through another season with 4 quarterbacks on roster.

Acquiring Drake will make our cap situation pretty tight again. We've already started talking with WR Vinny Buysse to rework his contract and open up a bit more than the roughly $8M we're short to be able to afford Drake and all the incoming rookies. Worst (or best) case, we'll rework the deal with Ashley at mid-pre-season to get the cap space to lock up players that are out of contract after the 2104 season, as that's something to keep in mind here as well.

So, want to know a bit more about Drake's ability? First of all, he's got outstanding sense rush ability (100) and has the strong arm to throw long (90) and deep (85) passes. he can throw short (100) and what not. He won't scramble, but that wasn't part of Ashley's style either. Will his playing style clash with our offensive coordinator? Possibly, but we'll have to work on our game plan either way. With Drake involved, we need to find ways to make the short passing game work. We have the state of the art receiving duo to make it work, don't we?

So, are there any downsides to this? Although Drake is entering his 11th season (as is Ashley), I'm confident that if we work out an enticing deal with him and commit to him, he'll stick with us until his late 30s. Is that worth a 1st round pick? If he brings us back to the playoffs and then some, then yes. We dropped the ball on The Lost Cause a handful of seasons ago, I hope we don't do that here and do our best to get as much out of this guy as we can.