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1977 Pre-Season

KC Beckam is retained as coach, although we do not extend his contract past the 1977 season. He may walk away after this upcoming season.

We fire our offensive and defensive coordinators, and sign Jamal Martin (Barcelona offensive coordinator) and Gino Crane (Barcelona defensive coordinator) to the roles. Barcelona went 0-16 in the previous season but Martin and Crane are upgrades. Jared Cornplow, former assistant coach at the Raiders, is hired to the same role for London.

Our former offensive coordinator picks up a job with the Miami Dolphins, and our former defensive coordinator with the Oakland Raiders.

We pick fourth overall in the draft, behind Barcelona, Mexico City and Tampa Bay. The best five rated prospects are RB Tony Dorsett, DT Bob Baumhower, CB Herman Edwards, RB Wilbert Montgomery and OT Ted Albrecht.

Just five players are under contract for 1977. Six if you count the kicker, who is by far the best rated player on the team.

We can sign 14 free agents before the draft, with maximum ratings of 38 for defense, 32 for offense, and 58 for kickers/punters.

I re-sign a number of players so we have 21 under contract before the start of free agency.

14 offers are made, with the following players signing for the Monarchs:

WLB Al Palewicz (29/38) - Kansas City
LCB Perry Smith (35/42) - Green Bay
SS Terry Brown (34/34) - Cleveland
LT Tom Drougas (27/32) - Miami
FB Sam Scarber (27/28) - Free agent (former San Diego)
SE Walker Gillette (30/30) - San Diego
QB Gary Huff (24/37) - Chicago
RDE Joe Owens (36/36) - Houston
RB Fred Willis (29/29) - Houston
LDE Jeff Yeates (37/41) - Buffalo
TE Charlie Young (32/32) - Philadelphia

Young is the last player from the original crop of offers to sign for us, in Stage 11. So, we reach out to three more before the draft.

MLB Tim Kearney (29/29) - Detroit
FL Howard Twilley (29/29) - Miami
LG John Watson (28/33) - San Francisco

Top 10 Players Changing Teams in 1977 (as per Grey Sheet):

RDE John Andrews (61/61) - Miami --> Mexico City
LG Mike Montler (61/61) - Buffalo --> Atlanta
RG Tommy Lyons (58/58) - Denver --> Cleveland
LDE Bubba Smith (49/49) - Houston --> Minnesota
RG Bruce Van Dyke (60/60) - Green Bay --> Kansas City
LG Gale Gillingham (59/59) - Green Bay --> Toronto
FB Marv Hubbard (69/69) - Oakland --> Barcelona
WLB George Webster (57/57) - New England --> San Francisco
SLB Pat Hughes (54/54) - New York Giants --> Toronto
RB Jim Kiick (50/50) - Denver --> Seattle

So, onto the draft! Barcelona look certain to take Tony Dorsett, while we are hoping that either Baumhower or Edwards will drop into our lap at #4.

1.01 - Barcelona Dragons - RB Tony Dorsett (62/76)
1.02 - Mexico City Aztecs - QB Tommy Kramer (12/60)
1.03 - Tampa Bay Buccaneers - WLB Robin Cole (40/60)

Well, that was a mild surprise. We have to choose between the two highest players on our board, of which we were mildly hopeful just one would still be available.

In the end, we decide that you play to win the game, so we take the cornerback.

1.04 - London Monarchs - LCB Herman Edwards (35/56)

Baumbauer falls all the way to 10, where he is drafted by Toronto.

1.05 - New York Giants - QB Matt Robinson (10/42)
1.06 - Kansas City Chiefs - RB Wilbert Montgomery (54/61)
1.07 - New Orleans Saints - FL Stanley Morgan (42/64)
1.08 - Baltimore Colts - SS Nolan Cromwell (33/35)
1.09 - New York Jets - SLB Bruce Huther (27/58)
1.10 - Toronto Huskies - NT Bob Baumhower (41/64)

The rest of our draft panned out relatively poorly.

2.03 - London Monarchs - WLB Dave Lewis (23/42)
3.06 - London Monarchs - QB Steve DeBerg (9/44)
4.05 - London Monarchs - RDE Joe Campbell (13/33)
5.04 - London Monarchs - RCB Mark Mitchell (11/29)
6.03 - London Monarchs - SE Johnny Perkins (17/31)
7.06 - London Monarchs - FB Sidney Thornton (21/29)

With 11 vacancies on our roster, and our full quota of 14 free agents already signed, we wait until the final stage of free agency before making a few offers. None are really worth mentioning. Our RDE Burnell Bullard (32/37) begins an absurd holdout. Disappointingly, the random number gods reward him with a fat new contract worth $5.73 over five years!

Let's see how the 1977 rookies went at training camp.

LCB Herman Edwards (35/56) --> (38/54)
WLB Dave Lewis (23/42) --> (27/41)
QB Steve DeBerg (9/44) --> (14/44)
RDE Joe Campbell (13/33) --> (15/29)
RCB Mark Mitchell (11/29) --> (13/27)
SE Johnny Perkins (17/31) --> (19/31)
FB Sidney Thornton (21/29) --> (23/31)

Beckam seems to be favouring DeBerg as the starter in pre-season, ahead of Huff who started 11 games for Chicago last year, going 5-6 in that time.

Pre-Season Results:
Won 41-16 v Philadelphia
Won 13-10 at Tampa Bay
Lost 11-37 at Dallas
Lost 17-47 v Atlanta

We are dead last in the power rankings heading into the new season.