[MIJB#19]

General Manager Notes: Rookies report
And a hold out, guess who?

The 2105 draft has finished. Our draft class consists of 5 young prospects, all without a guarantee to make the 53 men roster for the upcoming season.

P Mack Nelson was our 3rd round pick. Trade talks abruptly halted and I was unable to pick them back up before we were sitting with 1 minute remaining on the clock. I went with the best player at the top of our list here. I haven't been unhappy with P Dana Louis (50/50ish), but Nelson is pretty close in current ability and has a higher potential ceiling (45/60ish). Nelson interviewed as "very underrated", I'm optimistic that there's room for improvement. But Louis might also improve in pre-season. It's quite possible I'll bring both into our pre-season roster.

QB Evan Kelley was our first of four 7th round picks. His sense rush looks a tad lower than anticipated, but then, we didn't interview him. We'll see after camp as we have that Randy Walters kid still around. We actually signed a mentor/kick holding specialist in QB Derek Bishop, which could result in a change of personnel in our QB group. Even Malachi Mannings spot isn't safe, Bishop and Manning are on par in it.

FB Tony Rosebrock was our second 7th round pick. He'll go into the mix with FB Damien Wanamaker and FB Randy Julian. It's quite possible that by the end of pre-season, only one of them is still on the team.

WR Kendrick LaMarche was our third 7th round pick. Upon arrival, his route running and special teams potentials both look less impressive than we hoped for. If he does develop, then it would be an ideal combination to be a WR3/4 and special teamer.

S Dennis Finley was our last 7th round pick. He might be swapped to CB, because he's more of a man to man and bump and run defender. The real treasure here is his punt returning ability. If his potential is true, this might be the end of Rondell Robertson in that specific role. If that happens, we'll put Robertson on the trading block, I'm sure there's a market for a player with his skill set.

Unrelated to the draft, S Blaine Wright has decided to hold out, again. His demands are exorbitant. And frankly, by signing Derek Shapiro this off-season and picking Craig Clancy and Lincoln Taylor last off-season, we anticipated on an upcoming departure. It's best to put him on the market and he'll find out that no other team is going to offer him $14M per season. It would be another blow to our cohesion though, after having traded CB Donnie Dogins.

Lastly, it's unlikely I'm going to go out there and make a lot of offers to undrafted rookie free agents. Despite our success with S Craig Clancy and LB Stephen Rhodes last season, I just don't see how and where we would be able to find a player that can make the 60-men pre-season roster, let alone survive the cutdown to 53. But never say "never."..