[MIJB#19]

General Manager Notes: drafted rookies first look
It's early, but you know how it goes.

The six rookies that we selected in the 2091 draft have reported to the team facilities. Not an overwhelming class, but neither a sign that we completely butchered our chances to do well in what other GM's claimed to be a deep class. Rounding to the nearest '5s or '10s, here's what these guys overall are scouted at by our staff:
10/30 QB Bert Martin
35/45 RB Trey Beyer
30/40 RB Patrick Joseph
30/45 TE Clarence Gore
20/50 WR Rickey Lyle
35/65 S Devon Farrell

Martin is an interesting case. He's green, but first look has him as a 90-ish sense rush guy, 60-ish long passing, perhaps an alternate option as a kick holder.
Beyer and Joseph are more similar than I expected. Both breakaway speed in the 60-65 range and hole recognition in the 70-75 range. Joseph a special teamer and more elusive, Beyer potentially an okay receiver (50-ish route running), neither has the endurance to be a full time starter.
Gore comes in as being roughly 30/60 in route running with 60-ish big play ability and okay pass blocking skills. He won't be very useful on run blocking duties though (10/25-ish).
Lyle comes in with a 70-ish big play ability and an enigmatic 5/85ish route running ability and potential. Yes, he's extremely green. 40/60 and 45/70 in return skills makes him a viable option, possibly even the new #1 punt returner.
Farrell is obviously the make or break player of this draft. Developed enough to already jump into a starting role and has the endurance to be an all downs player. 70-ish intercepting potential, 90-ish zone defense, 55-ish run defending, 50-ish play diagnosis, this kid can play ball.

But these are just the first looks at them. We have to understand that a lot can happen between now and opening day. One thing that will happen is that we'll make offers to 14 free agents to add up to the 70-player maximum for training camp. Still mulling over whether Chuck Murray is worth getting a signing bonus as this second year kid has become less likely to make the final 53-men roster after the arrival of Devon Farrell. I'll probably still see him as more useful on the defense than Salvador Harper.

Same applies to tight end Renaldo Crawford, a quality run blocker and starter in the 2089 season. Thing is: he wants more money that we realistically can afford right now. We're under the cap now, by $4.4M, but that's really all that we have left.

Another team showed interest for one of our young wide receivers. I'm open to dealing him, as I'm personally not yet convinced he fits on our system, but he's got talent nevertheless and if used well could be a serious WR2 or WR3 option for many teams. I'm stalling things until at least after training camp, to give us another chance to look at this kid.

Linebacker Moe Iveans has left the team, he signed with the Kansas Creationists, as was to be expected. No other teams showed interest, including us. An unlucky situation for all involved, we traded for him with the Hanalei Dragons, initially just to have a quality LB3 on team, but after Daquan Espino and Iveans both had a horrific 2089 pre-season, we grabbed Branden Brady with our 2090 first round pick and there really was no room for Iveans anymore behind Brady, Espino and the emerging Clayton Jackson.

Speaking of Espino, we indeed agreed terms to a new contract, in which he receives much less salary, but in return got a signing bonus to make the chances much more solid for him to make our team in the next two seasons as well.

Negotiations with defensive end Gene Kondovski failed once again. We'll re-evaluate the situation after early pre-season action, as we're under the cap now and no longer need to rush into getting a deal done. His current deal is rich enough for him to not consider taking a stand. As did none of our other players: we're not confronted with any holdouts this off-season.

Looking over the undrafted rookies collective, I've noticed 10 guys that actually may be an upgrade to one of our depth backups. Half of them were on the radar during the draft, but the other half have come to my attention after the scouting staff has made some more thorough observations and reports. We're going to lowball most of them, lacking the cap space to offer hefty singing boni, but we'll see what the competition will do.

More on that tomorrow...