[MIJB#19]

General Manager Notes: 2083 draft class joins the club house
The rookies are here! We've welcomed the seven rookies that we selected in the 2083 draft to Maassluis, signing them all to their league mandated four-year contracts. We also welcomed a new backup center in Angel Carter.

Angel Carter has been a starter in the league for 13 seasons, missing significant time in 2074 and 2080 due to injuries. He's a strong lineman, being better in making gaps for the running game than a role on the pass protection. It'll be a challenge to keep him happy behind Butch Pearson, because he's still a starting caliber center. We signed him to a one-year deal.

Okay, now our draft class:
1.9 DT Heath Oliver (graded 63/84)
1.22 S Bart Guthrie (37/65)
2.12 LT Nathan Hadinger (19/64)
5.14 QB Weston Witkop (7/26)
5.23 S Alexander Marty (22/44)
6.23 WR Corbin Tharp (28/37)
7.23 LB Billy Springer (23/39)

Oliver is obviously the cream of the crop. My staff already sees him as a top20 defensive tackle as he is right now, expecting him to into becoming a top5 defensive tackle. The assessment of his pass rushing skills and play diagnosis are on the low end to my liking. But the kid is still a short but not to be underestimated play maker, in potential.

Bart Guthrie is considered to potentially be amongst the top15 safeties. He'll need to develop for a bit, but I suspect we'll throw him out there into the starting lineup from the get go. We'll move him to strong safety, which seems to fit better with his run defending skills.

Nathan Hadinger by my staff is ranked in the top10 pass protecting tackles. In potential that is, right now they see him as being as green as grass. That's very disappointing, we had hoped to find a player that can grow into a starting role early on, but this basically means he'll likely have to wait in the wings for a season or two behind Louie Murray and Oscar Meadows.

Weston Witkop is currently looking like he won't even be good enough to make the team. But he's got good sense rush ability and scored very highly on the Solecismic Test. It might turn out to be a coin flip between him and previous draft's fourth round pick Kelly Blalock. Unless I see room for two projects.

Alexander Marty gives us another safety with the ability to pick off the quarterback. The staff sees him as a bit of a similar player as Maurice Harkleroad, which means he could turn out to be a potential starter by his third season. For now, it's likely he'll make the team as one of the seven inactive players on that 53 men roster at best.

Corbin Tharp skipped the combine, but we were willing to gamble on this kid. His route running and big-play ability skills are acceptable for a pro football player. But unless he makes good progress, he won't unseat one of the 2082 guys. Except that we're still talking with Ross Willbrandt for a return to us, knowing he might be forced to miss the entire season and we'll have to deal with Artie Blazewicz, currently holding out for the kind of contract we usually don't give to a WR3.

Billy Springer has good odds to make the team. Good special teamer with hard hitting skills, that's the kind of guy you want to play on your unit to stop the opposing kick or punt returner. Overall, his potential is similar to the kind of player Darien Stokes is right now, which bodes well for Springer, as Stokes is our third linebacker in formations with 7 or 8 front seven players.

On to late free agency to add a couple of undrafted rookies to increase our training camp roster to at least 60 players.