[MIJB#19]

General Manager Notes: The luxury of having cap space...
...and finding nobody to spend it on.

Pre-draft free agency didn't go by unnoticed in Maassluis. A sensational number of 6 veteran players signed a contract with the Merchantmen to spend, at least, training camp in and around the Oranje Haven facilities.

Quarterback Efrain Batcheck, 29 years old, 7th season in the league. Was the Outer Banks Ospreys' starter for the last two seasons after riding the Harlem Apollos' bench for four seasons. A former fifth round pick, what not to love about that aspect? We signed him to a two year deal with a $5M bonus and salaries of $7M, which we all know are much less guaranteed. Will battle with Ernest Ashley for the starter role, or otherwise will be forced to mentor him.

Punter Shaun Barlow, 31 years old, 10th season in IHOF. Signed with the Rochester Razorbacks as an undrafted rookie in 2087 and after 6 seasons there was signed by the Williamsburg Colonials. Was twice an All IHOF first teamer. We offered him a 3-year contract, worth $10M/year, including the $10M bonus. This likely leads to the departure of both Doug James (oh, what could have been) and Old Doug Guynes.

Defensive tackle Jerome Shumate, 28 years old, 5th season in the league. A fifth round pick for the Chicago Norsemen back in 2092. He's a bit on the light side to play on the inside, but lacks the height to play outside, so we'll likely put him on the inside anyway, focusing on running downs. We gave him a 3-year deal worth $28M, only the $7M bonus truly guaranteed.

Linebacker Evan Hicks, 33 years old, 12th season in the IHOF. A third rounder midway the '80s, played out his rookie contract with the Chicago Norsemen and after contract disputes in the 2088 off-season decided he wanted to play elsewhere and was signed by the Augusta Greenjackets, who released them this off-season. Should bolster our run defense, if he holds up in camp. Otherwise will walk away with just the $1M bonus on the 1-year deal he signed with us.

Linebacker Hayden McNeil, 31 years old, 11th season in the league. Discovered by the Hanalei Dragons back in 2086 at the end of the fourth round, played out his rookie contract there and then hopped around from the Snapfinger Jazz (4 seasons) to the Houston Mustangs (1 season) and the Arizona Miners (1 season), that last one in a backup role. We see him as an improvement of our running downs unit, or he will walk away with a $2M signing bonus from the 1-year contract we agreed on.

Long snapper Travis Hampton, 30 years old, spent 7 seasons with the Harlem Apollos after being hired as an undrafted rookie. We decided to spend pretty heavy for the position he plays (a $3.5M bonus on a $12.5M 2-year deal), as our staff thinks he's the best guy in business.

And then the draft came, or continued, however you see it. Following the selection of guard Nickolas Toler in the first round, we dealt away a lot of picks, received others as compensation, even traded back into the late fifth round and finished the draft with 8 rookies. After Toler we picked quarterback Kelvin Everett and safety Omar Leszynski in the third round, running back Ronnie Vanden Bosch late in the fifth round (I'm going to regret picking a guy from Den Bosch, it could be a recipe for heartbreak), safety Paul Figures in the sixth round, then we rounded out with three seventh round picks kickoff returning wide receiver Darien Thompson, wide receiver Sebastian Hamilton (our OC is high on high, the rest of the league's OC's thinks much less of him) and long snapper Shawn Goldberg (he was an insurance pick in case Hampton wouldn't sign with us, turns out our staff currently thinks Goldberg is a top8 long snapper in the league, how about that.)

Given the overall ineptitude of our coordinators in judging young players' skills, it was a tough, expensive, but responsible decision to invest in veterans. It will result in an unusual low number of undrafted rookies to join us for training camp.

Which leaves us sitting at $86M under the cap, with 62 players signed. I'm fully expecting to spend a good chunk of that money on players that will be out of contract after this season, to begin with wide receiver George Stuckey, as he decided to tell us he deserves to get a new 4-year deal for roughly $15M/year, which is actually just a small raise over his current $12.75M final season. He's going to get it, although not as backloaded as he's requesting. We'll do the same thing with several other players, but not until mid pre-season, as we all know that football players can do crazy stuff after pre-season week 2 that can make them look completely different.

Training camp will be important too, we'll find out a bit more about our younger players' development. I think that's the next thing we'll report on. Or maybe I'll get into the post-draft, pre-training camp signings before that, we'll see how it goes.