[MIJB#19]

General Manager Notes: We have a new quarterback!
Nah, fooled ya.

Trade talks came and went by. We made a sound offer for a veteran quarterback, we stood a good chance to land him. But the other party reevaluated their situation and (rightfully) decided to stick with their man. Too bad for us, I think we would have made a great improvement. It would have ended Earnest Ashley's chances to get that $240M contract he's seeking for here. He would have been stuck in a hold out or play out the rookie contract situation.

The other option, the draft? The top two prospects were out of reach. As in, I could have tried to make a worthy offer for the 1.2 pick perhaps, something like three first round picks, it could have landed us a Michigan quarterback. We didn't make an offer for the pick, unlike another team in our conference. Will I completely ignore the draft from here on? Never say never...

However, we've started the negotiations with Earnest Ashley. We know his opening bid, our counter offer is, may I say so, a very generous $220 over 4 years offer, with basically $100M guaranteed. If he takes it, we're tied together for the next 3 seasons at minimum. If he turns it down, well... Let's not go ahead of that.

For a while I hoped that at the 1.15 slot we would easily land one of the two top prospects at guard. Well, so much for that, before the top10 was over, both were gone. Even the top rated wide receiver was taken after them. Imagine that! I didn't just leave it at that, I reached out to a team that picked ahead of us in the first round, in an attempt to get their rookie. No such luck either. I'm not going to tell which player just yet, maybe after the off-season is over, but fair to say, I think that player would have fit on our team. One of those guards? All in due time.

And that's not where the impasse ended. Once the #15 overall pick went on the clock, I glanced over the list of prospects that we interviewed and I saw three things: the first round prospects were already gone, or I came to the conclusion that he's undersized. The second and third round prospects felt like too much of a reach. It didn't take long to get an inquire from an interested team: the Arizona Miners offered their 1st round pick in the next draft. I got a bit cocky, asked for a bit more, but it's realistically a pick worth settling for, even though I'm not convinced it will be a lock to be a top10 pick. The alternative was a very interesting looking linebacker. It was very tempting, but took the trade out. And Arizona grabbed said linebacker.

So, so far, the off-season isn't getting us places, it's status quo at best. Still a couple of top half second round picks remaining of course. And another inquire or two out there to fill a couple of holes on our team. I've got to keep believing we can turn things around this off-season. It's certainly possible.