[MIJB#19]

General Manager Notes: Time to make a plan
And to hand out a bunch of signing boni.

Pre-season action finished. We have to admit that the bad news was our overall inability to score points. In 4 games we scored 42 points en route to 1 victory, ouch. To be fair, we explicitly didn't make a true effort to set a game plan, but bad news it was regardless. One thing was clear though: quarterback Kelvin Everett isn't IHOF material. As proved our kick holder Jon Giles, he will never be more than just that: a kick holder. But more shocking was Bert Ta'Amu's inability to gain ground, a very worrying trend.

The defense held a third opponent below 300 yards, but in Colorado the defense wasn't really there. We got run all over (193 rushing yards) and let their starting quarterback complete 8 of 10 passes for 128 yards. Ouch.

We went into the last two pre-season games with 53 men on roster. These will also be the guys that go into opening weekend as our guys, but I'm not at all convinced all these guys will make it throughout the regular season, the bye week might see us make some moves. The five players that failed to make the cut?

Running back Trey Beyer had been on the team for 6 seasons since being a 5th round selection in the 2091 draft. After 3 season in a backup role, we made him our top ball carrier in 2094, by far his best season with 5.47 yards per carry and 8 touchdowns. But the decline set in and was very noticeable by our staff.

Running back Jack Crane leaves Maassluis after 2 seasons. Signed as a sure hands ball carrier from Gothenburg, where he was a 6-time 1,000-yard rusher, for us his production was just 661 yards and 3 touchdowns in 27 regular season games.

Guard Vince Henselman leaves us after 2 seasons of inactivity after being a 2095 undrafted rookie free agent signing. A couple of undrafted rookies from this season's class, safety Artie Hall and defensive end Bruce Nekolny, failed to take the job of any of the returning defenders, nor convinced enough to stick around as a project.

So, quarterback kelvin Everett did make the 53-men list, but I'm definitely keeping my eyes open for an upgrade at other positions. Last season's third round pick is already on my not-gonna-happen list. I made a serious effort to acquire a player at a position of need, but both trade attempts failed, both teams decided to give the player I inquired for a bigger role on their team in the upcoming regular season. Too bad, but it won't stop me from trying...