[MIJB#19]

General Manager Notes: 2121 roster set, almost?

Pre-season action has commenced and in our first two games, we scored a league most 68 points and allowed 31, the 7th lowest figure. But the real news was the cutdown to 53 players, as after these games, I've already made up my mind, at least pretty much.

RB Renaldo Billodeaux is by far the biggest name on the list of casualties. A late 7th round pick in 2111, he came in with a phenomenal rookie campaign, running for 1,105 yards and a 5.9 yards per carry average. With his hole recognition, breakaway speed and elusiveness, Billodeaux set new standards for what a Merchantmen running back should be capable of. Despite all that, he was in a time-share with a power back throughout his career, which made his 4 1,000-yard seasons that much more impressive. After 155 regular season games, his tally for the Merchantmen has added up to 8,880 yards (4.71 yards per carry) and 66 touchdowns rushing, with his fair share of good and bad showings in 7 playoffs games throughout. It makes him easily a top 5 rusher in Merchantmen history.

P Andre Marincic was a 7th round pick in 2119, punted for us for 2 seasons, but with the arrival of 4th round rookie Devon Middleton, Marincic' time is up. A very good corner-coffin punter, Marincic deserves a second chance elsewhere in the league, but I doubt he'll get it.

LB Brendan Tatum leaves us after 2 seasons. As an undrafted rookie, he played in 11 games in 2119, although seeing little action those games. Last season we kept him off the field all season long. With the arrival of 2nd round pick Cristian Beyer, there really was no roster spot anymore for a backup linebacker without special teams value.

LB Scottie Rice will leave us after 3 seasons of service. A 2118 undrafted rookie, Rice's run defense skills was interesting, but last season we didn't use him much. Lacking special teams skills, there was no roster space anymore for him.

QB Orlando Garrett returned to us after having spent 2118 inactive, 2119 as our kick holder and 2120 without a contract until we signed him during the playoffs after our last game. It was interesting to consider bringing him back as the kick holder, but he's just barely an improvement over QB Al Schneider.

LS Bobby Waters failed to unseat our veteran and as an undrafted rookie leaves us already. He's a top 16 long snapper in the league, so if half the league isn't asleep, he should get a new gig in time for the last 2 pre-season games elsewhere.

CB Cooper Baker didn't wow on the second look at mid-pre-season, but he's still an interesting prospect with excellent man-to-man potential. The kid deserves a chance, maybe a team like Miami, where management can get a lot out of these kind of players, will give him a chance.

And as a write this, I'm second guessing the release of Billodeaux. His hole recognition (50) held up admirably well, despite a huge drop in overall ability. But at the same time, this release frees up the cap space to sign QB Renaldo Wilson to a new 3-year deal without having to go with a backloaded structure. We made Wilson a generous offer, but if for whatever reasons he turns it down, we'll go the backloaded route and have some spare money to extend some of our potential free agents, we have 9 more unrestricted free agents next off-season.