[MIJB#19]

General Manager Notes: Pre-season action...
and how a crappy OC can make everything look hazy.

Anticipation is high when pre-season action is about halfway. Offensive and defensive coordinators will take a second stab at scouting the roster of their team. But when they're not all that great, it becomes even more of s crapshoot to figure out which 7 players of the 60-men pre-season roster shouldn't make the final list of 53 players for the regular season.

Special Teamers
90/90 (-1/-1) P Doug James (injured)
50/50 (nc/nc) P Doug Guynes
70/70 (-8/-8) K Dylan McMullen
20/20 (nc/nc) LS Bryce Karney
A decision to be made: James will miss the first 11 (or so) games of the regular season. Keeping him from injured reserve means that we can bring only 50 non-kickers into the regular season. But realistically he'll return during the season and should be better than Guynes. It should be worth it.

Secondary
65/65 (-1/-1) S Devon Farrell
50/70 (nc/-2) CB Ernie Grant (rookie)
40/45 (-8/-8) CB Bryson Swafford
45/45 (nc/nc) CB Zachery Weisz
35/35 (-9/-9) CB Jackie Richardson
35/35 (-3/-3) CB Adam Harmon
35/35 (+1/+1) S Chuck Murray
35/35 (+1/+1) CB Britt Hudson
35/35 (+4/+4) S Jon Brotzman
20/25 (nc/-1) CB Keegan Cosby
So, Richardson on the decline, Swafford got re-rescouted, Grant and Farrell still look good. Harmon took a bigger hit than it appears, but it might just be the rescouting going into the other direction (from overrated to underrated), he's still a starter. Weisz continues to be an elite zone defender. Cosby could be done as a Merchantmen player.

Linebackers
75/75 (+1/+1) OLB Brandon Brady
45/45 (+1/+1) ILB Daquan Espino
45/45 (+1/+1) OLB Clayton Jackson
35/35 (-7/-7) ILB Andrew Cochrane
35/35 (nc/nc) OLB Jose Meadows
15/15 (-4/-4) ILB Brant Rayburn
This is the group. Cochrane makes another swing, this time into the wrong direction. Puzzling stuff, I know. He's actually a worse special teamer than Rayburn and Meadows now, which is bad for his role.

Defensive Line
60/60 (-4/-4) DE Caiden Croyle (vet fa)
60/60 (nc/nc) DT Darien Fletcher
50/55 (+2/-8) DE Richie Piotte (rookie)
45/45 (-8/-8) DT Jumbo Mojica
45/45 (-5/-5) DE Gene Kondovski
45/45 (+1/+1) DT Harold Gough
40/40 (-2/-2) DE Archie Exner
40/40 (+1/+1) DT Caleb Domis
20/20 (-9/-9) DT Kurt Ackerman
Ackerman is still incredibly fast, but he's the odd man out. Mojica took a severe hit, but he's the second best run defending tackle if we keep cohesion in mind, otherwise Domis would be that, it's pretty close though. Croyle took the anticipated hit, Piotte is young and will go all over the place for the next season or two anyway.

Offensive Line
85/85 (+20/+20) C Robbie Zinn
60/60 (-6/-6) G Desmond Pritchett (vet fa)
55/65 (+8/+19 LT Johnnie Houston
55/55 (-1/-4) LT Isaac Delgado
50/50 (-3/-3) RT Howard Humphrey
35/35 (-4/-4) G Andre Watson
35/35 (-10/-10) G Hayden Gaylor
35/35 (-8/-8) C Aidan Doyle
25/50 (nc/+4) G Vince Henselman (rookie)
Okay, one has to go, but who? The starting 5 are set: Houston, Delgado, Zinn, Pritchett and Humphrey. Watson should be the main backup. Doyle is serviceable. Gaylor or Henselman is almost a coin flip.

Wide receivers and tight ends
55/70 (-1/-2) WR Ed Schulz
55/55 (nc/nc) TE Clay Gaynor
50/50 (-4/-4) WR Theodore Bondy
50/50 (-3/-3) TE Clarence Gore
45/45 (-3/-3) WR George Stuckey
40/40 (nc/nc) WR Rickey Lyle
40/40 (+1/+1) WR Branden Sandlin
25/35 (nc/-6) TE Ike Nixon
15/40 (nc/+22) WR Nicolas Coady (rookie)
25/25 (nc/nc) WR Mark Perkins
20/20 (-1/-1) TE Renaldo Crawford
Schulz, oh Schulz. The good thing is that we know he's good, but it's such an enigma. Bondy may sound like he's almost unchanged, but our OC thinks he's a very different kind of player now, he lost a lot of big-play speed. Rookie Coady is a big puzzle as well, I doubt he'll make the team, but he's just so interesting...

Backfield
45/45 (-12/-12) RB Jack Crane (vet fa)
40/40 (-9/-9) RB Trey Beyer
35/35 (-12/-12) RB Francisco Patter
40/45 (+4/-2) RB Edwin Harlow (rookie)
30/45 (-8/+8) RB Derek Finch (rookie)
30/45 (-7/+5) RB Benjamin Kapp (trade acq)
25/25 (-7/-7) FB Clay Brosseau
25/25 (-6/-8) FB Owen Johnston
Three guys will have to go, but who? Our OC is throwing these guys all over the place, especially the two rookies are going from 90's hol recognition, to something like 50/80, or vice versa. Brosseau might be on a fast decline. Too bad, I really like him. He's still a very good run blocker, don't misread me there, but he's re-scouted as no longer clearly top3 to second tier (3rd through 6th). Crane had the typical veteran signing decline. Kapp won't make the team, bummer about that late round pick that would otherwise likely missed the team as well. Will mull over the others.

Quarterbacks
35/35 (+2/+2) QB Earnest Ashley
20/35 (+3/+6) KH Jon Giles
25/25 (-4/-4) QB Moe Sheldon
So, Giles is now a good kick holder again and Ashley made progress? Sheldon turned into even more of a sack magnet than he already was. He's purely a mentor now, Giles purely a kick holder, Ashley our only serious option. But that was something we knew going into the pre-season already.

So, yeah, these coordinators, they're messing with everything and make it both harder and easier to make decision. Some players are obvious over the hill veterans ripe to get released, but you know me, I'm a bit more loyal than the average GM, especially if I think their cohesion can help overcome things.

Contract renegotiations will start too now, with those guys that will make the team and are worth it getting locked up. Fun times.