[MIJB#19]

General Manager Notes: 2080 Pre-draft
And so began the off-season without J.R. Mills. Ok, we've got a couple of wide receivers ready to step in, but Mills had become on of those receivers that felt he was 'my guy'. I've had that with Gabe Springer, Terry Haskell and on a slightly lower level with Vince McAlister. Guys that you knew would always be a threat for the opponent to out of nowhere make a big play. Terry Thomason had that to a certain degree, but never really managed to carry the team like those guys did. Brody Stevens has yet to live up to it, and I fear he'll forever will be a WR2, while Dennis Nadell has shown early flashes of being better than we've always thought he could be. With the gazelles Rico Techen and Dwight Clements waiting in the wings, I should feel confident we'll manage, but sentiments, y'know?

We've gone through a truckload of renegotiations. We had early trade talks for Antonio Battle, but I decided against it, despite knowing we have Craig McCorkle ready to step in and have Glenn Brewer in his contract year. It'll be a challenge to find the cap room to extend Brewer's contract... Battle accepted the cap out route, making him untradeable and costing us $54.29M in dead money if we'd decide to move him after all.

I've made the tough decision to cut cornerback Ezra Slocum. He was our second most expensive cornerback this season, yet spent the entire 2079 season inactive. In return, this means I'll have to find a way to figure out whether Amari Lavelli is worth keeping, because his fumbling habits make him more of a liability as a punt returner than an added value. He's still our CB2, so not quite a waste of a roster spot.

We've acquired the rights of rookie center Butch Pearson. Fast, strong, I hope he can be our OL6 this season or perhaps we'll be forced to play him at center and play Nicky Sherman at guard. You never know whether the offensive linemen show up in shape at training camp.

We've shipped our quartet of second round picks to the Texas Sharks for their first and second round picks next draft. We can't afford these picks, I'm terrible in second round picking and it was about time for us to finally get something for all those picks.

We've still got additional third, fourth and seventh round picks this draft. In total, we'll need about $15 million to be able to afford all those rookies. Sure, the league mandated accountants tell us we need $19.02M, but that includes picks that will be the 52nd and 53rd most expensive players.

The tight cap situation means a couple of players that haven't signed a renegotiated deal are still at risk of getting cut. Safety Rex Indoe wants a trade, but he's missing the point that we've missed on our safety targets in the draft class and will quite possible reinstate him as a starter. All IHOF fullback Gilbert Taliancich isn't safe either, Darien Latschaw is looking over Taliancich's shoulders to take over...