[MIJB#19]

General Manager Notes: The 53 for 2121
Okay, I'm still not 100% sure these are the 53 men we're going to want to start the 2121 season with, but any further roster changes leading up to the opening day game at Oranje Haven against Paris are extremely unlikely.

Let's do a quick rundown of the entire list of 53 players and do as promised: mentioning why he's on our team and how long they've been on the team.



Quarterbacks

65/65 QB Renaldo Wilson, 34, 2nd year
starting QB

35/45 QB Al Schneider, 25, 2nd year
kick holder, backup QB, potential future starting QB

05/05 QB Tyrone D'Arms, 36, 2nd year
inactive mentor to Al Schneider



Backfield

55/55 RB Jackson Powell, 25, 4th year
main ball carrying RB, receiving RB, special teamer

50/50 FB Rich Hartman, 25, 4th year
starting FB, backup special teamer

35/50 RB Glyn Sloane, 23, rookie
inactive, potential future main ball carrying RB

35/35 RB Diego Kosters - 23, 2nd year
special teamer (steps in for RB Powell or FB Holse if injured)

20/25 RB Preston Tanner, 23, rookie
short yardage RB

10/10 FB Kenneth Holse, 33, 12th year
elite special teamer



Tight Ends

65/65 TE Francisco Andersen, 24, 3rd year
starting TE, rotational special teamer

40/40 TE Kyle Baker, 26, 4th year
second TE, red zone TE, rotational special teamer

35/35 TE Perry Bussey, 26, 1st year
third TE, third down TE, rotational special teamer

25/35 TE Sedrick Hill, 21, rookie
inactive backup TE, backup special teamer



Wide Receivers

60/60 WR Rufus Montgomery, 29, 7th year
downfield receiver, third down receiver

60/60 WR Rodolfo Lane, 32, 10th year
big-play receiver, punt returner, special teamer

50/50 WR Roman Randle, 26, 3rd year
big-play receiver, third-down receiver

30/40 WR Tyrone Dillon, 24, 2nd year
inactive, potential future WR3

20/20 WR Blake Begay, 28, 8th year
special teamer, mentor to Tyrone Dillon

10/10 WR Maurice Sweeney, 29, 8th year
kickoff returner



Offensive Linemen

75/75 LT Dan Clancy, 28, 8th year
elite pass blocker

75/75 G Greg Brizzolara, 26, 4th year
elite pass blocker

60/60 G James Tucker, 25, 3rd year
all-round G

45/45 C Tracy Stewart, 26, 3rd year
starting C

45/45 LT Roy Wilkerson, 37, 2nd year
run blocking RT

45/45 G Alfred Pearsall, 30, 8th year
run blocking G

30/55 C Chester Coffey, 23, 2nd year
backup C

30/35 C Clyde Van Lanen, 23, 3rd year
inactive 8th OL



Defensive Linemen

80/80 DT Floyd Dillon, 23, 2nd year
elite DT, will play on most downs

55/55 DT Rodney Gagliardi, 31, 2nd year
punishing pass rusher up the middle

50/55 DT Jeremiah Cortez, 24, 3rd year
punishing run defender, special teamer

50/50 DE Roger Graf, 22, 2nd year
punishing pass rusher

50/50 DE Phil Wakefield, 23, 3rd year
pass rusher

45/45 DT Neil Burton, 24, 3rd year
run defender

35/35 DE Glen Kafka, 29, 3rd year
punishing pass rusher, will play on runnning/neutral downs

30/30 DE B.J. Shellhaas, 27, 1st year*
special teamer, running downs end
* due to signing him in 2120 playoffs, will get a tiny cohesion boost



Linebackers

60/60 LB Sam Hastings, 26, 3rd year
all downs LB

30/60 LB Cristian Beyer, 23, rookie
potential best running downs LB

45/45 LB Jorge Mayes, 32, 9th year
neutral downs LB, second passing downs LB

45/45 LB Ezekiel O'Neal, 29, 6th year
running downs LB, special teamer

25/25 LB Xavier Hoover, 34, 13th year
special teamer, backup running downs LB

15/30 LB Luther Goffee, 23, 2nd year
future elite special teamer
* due to signing him in 2120 playoffs, will get a tiny cohesion boost



Secondary

75/75 CB Andre McAninch, 22, 2nd year
all-downs CB, CB2 on passing downs

60/60 CB Zachary Blair, 27, 6th year
shutdown corner

50/50 S Cesar Welch, 28, 6th year
neutral downs SS, running downs SS

45/45 CB Asher McElroy, 28, 7th year
ball-hawker on neutral downs

40/40 S Kim Fox, 26, 3rd year
special teamer, passing downs SS, running downs FS

35/35 S Peter Hinsley, 31, 8th year
passing downs FS

30/30 CB Marquis Wolf, 28, 6th year
short yardage CB, nickelback

20/35 S Max Junker, 23, 2nd year
special teamer (potential elite), future starter

25/25 CB Billy Cochrane, 23, 2nd year
special teamer, dime back



Special Teamers

50/60 P Devon Middleton, 22, rookie
corner-coffin punter

85/85 K Jeffery DeGroot, 27, 5th year
elite kicker, all-time great kickoff kicker

20/20 LS Roderick Kaeding, 28, 7th year
elite LS



I may have miscalculated the active/inactive slots,, if so, CB Asher McElroy will likely end up being the odd man out and falling to an inactive role. But, a football season is 21 weeks long, we will need several of the inactive guys sooner or later due to injuries.

The starting RG role is one I'm still mulling over. G James Tucker has more technical talent than G Alfred Pearsall, but Tucker's intelligence is a penalties risk. We may end up starting Pearsall at RT with LT Roy Wilkerson dropping to the backup role, Wilkerson isn't undisputed. But Wilkerson was the best run blocking right tackle on the market, combined with a small cohesion boost, he was the best option for 2121 for the RT spot.

The running back group could end up in some sort of rotation. RB Jackson Powell looms ready to play the role Renaldo Billodeaux played for a decade, while RB Preston Tanner might be the guy to play the Rusty Kemp power back role, which Powell was forced to play in recent seasons. Sloane is kind of a Billodeaux clone, but he needs a season or two in the wings to gel with the offensive line. Powell is demanding nearly $28.5M per season, which we're not going to give him. He'll hit the open market in 2122.

On the linebackers group, LB Cristian Beyer jumps into a small role, splitting time with veteran LB Jorge Mayes, cohesive LB Ezekiel O'Neal and all-downs LB Sam Hastings. LB Xavier Hoover is our LB5 for now, but unless we really need him due to injuries, LB Luther Goffee will likely jump into the active 46 at some point as one of our special teamers.

Lastly, the wide receiver group has gotten tricky due to WR Roman Randle's unexpected small decline. It's questionable he can still produce a 1,500-yard season like last season. I'm still a novice in flipping around this supposedly awesome trio of Randle, WR Rodolfo Lane and WR Rufus Montgomery to get the most out of them all and get all three close to 1,000 yards. With TE Francisco Andersen around, we have another proven 1,000-yard receiver. Montgomery is the one still unproven with a career high of 657 yards. I'll try to push TE Kyle Baker into the touchdown machine role that Arnie Huffman had, but free agent signing TE Perry Bussey was added to challenge Baker for that role. Last season all three tight ends had their share of production.