[MIJB#19]

General Manager Notes: Start of 2095, The returns!
But Thong', Szott and Whiting retire.

Usually the retirement of a football player is news worthy, but in some rare cases, sticking along can be seen as such a big surprise that it's worth mentioning. Well, we've been on the retirement watch on many occasions before, but the retirement watch with Theodore Bondy has been on for serval off-seasons. And this off-season isn't the one he turns in the #80 jersey either. A huge opportunity for Ed Schulz to learn even more from his mentor and our promising quarterback Earnest Ashley.

RB Reggie Thongchanh called it a career after 10 seasons, 155 regular season and 11 playoffs games. Thong' was a 4th round pick in the 2085 draft and as a rookie already got a lot of carriers, ending up with 989 yards and 9 touchdowns. From there on it was a wild ride, usually stuck in a timeshare with Francisco Patter, still managing to get to 3 1,000-yard seasons, finishing his career with 8,353 yards and 50 touchdowns in regular season play. With those numbers he ranks 4th and 3rd in franchise history. He was also a tremendous punt returner and on the field on most special teams plays.

LG Michael Szott retired after 11 seasons with us, being active in 169 regular season and 11 playoffs games. As a second round pick in 2084, expectations were for him to become a starter. He saw some action in his rookie season and became a full time starter at the start of his second season on the team. A complete lineman, being a good pass protector and run blocker, he made 30+ key run blocks in 4 different seasons. He jumped into the top10 in franchise history in key run blocks last season, retiring at the #10 spot.

DE Tony Whiting retired after 9 seasons on team. An undrafted rookie that barely made the 53-men roster in 2086, he spent two seasons on the side lines and inactive, learning the tricks from the veterans. In 2088 he was added to the rotation of defensive ends and broke out with 10.0 sacks. It turned out to be his most productive season, while his role maintained to be in rotation, he finished his career with 36.5 sacks in 112 regular season games. Whiting also played in 4 playoffs games.

Down these three guys, we're going into the off-season with 47 players on board, with 8 draft picks, situated in the middle of the round (17th in the first round) with an additional medium high 4th round pick. Two players are unrestricted free agents: punter Doug Guynes and center Aidan Doyle. Both were late signings last season, with Doyle jumping in as our new backup interior lineman and with Guynes taking over for Doug James after his devastating knee injury. James will miss the pre-season and as of now the expactations are he'll be out for 2/3rd of the regular season as well, roughly. Fullback Owen Johnston and linebacker Andrew Cochrane are restricted free agents, but both look worth re-signing for a second season on team.

Our cap situation? We're $45.7M under the cap. Yes, not over, but under the cap. Solecismic's cap calculations estimate us at $22.8M of cap space to work with after signing draft picks, but we all know it will be slightly higher due to the double counting of the 52nd through 55th players.

How to react on these retirements? Well, quite simply, we picked those two rookie offensive tackles last season and at meant that guard Andre Watson was demoted to a backup role. If he doesn't regress, he's a perfectly fine player to put back into the lineup, whilst we'll also look for a new backup. Hayden Gaylor is a fine guard as well, but we can use the luxury of three starting caliber tackles and position on of them on the inside, next to the outstanding center Robbie Zinn.

The loss of Whiting means that we'll open our eyes for young pass rushing defensive linemen once again. I would have liked to bring back Trent Donovan, we released him late in the 2094 pre-season for cap reasons, but he decided to retire and not wait for a new team this off-season. Too bad, we could have used him now.

Last but not least, a couple of other players that have retired this off-season (or may have already last off-season and I failed to notice):
* Wide receiver Artie Blazewicz, we actually named a play after him and run a play inspired by him in our current game plan. Played 127 regular season games and 9 playoffs games with us, had one 1,000-yard season, scored 24 touchdowns, including 2 kickoff returns.
* Safety Riddick Newsome. Played eaxctly 100 regular season games with us, 9 more games in the playoffs. Made 10 interceptions, defended 44 passes.
* Running back Asher Ford. Mostly a special teamer, but we did let him carry the ball 24 times in the 65 regular season games he was active in. Was also active in 4 playoffs games.
* Defensive end Trent Donovan. We picked him up as an undrafted rookie linebacker, moved him to defensive end, released him on opening day 2091, brought him back in the playoffs, kept him inactive in 2092 after signing a 2-year contract, then gave him a lot of playing time in 2093, offered him rotation starter money in the 2094 pre-season and subsequently released him again on opening day to make cap space to lock up safety Devon Farrell. A pity that he retired after just 16 games in the league.

Speaking of Devon Farrell, he received All-IHOF honors for his performance in 2094. Defensive tackle Darien Fletcher was honored as an All-IHOF second teamer. Quarterback Earnest Ashely missed out on offensive rookie honors to Bordeaux' guard Floyd Kennedy, who was an All-IHOF second teamer. We can and will respect that, that kid played well and may turn out to be an all-time great at his position.

So, on to the staff reshuffling and then it's time to prepare for the draft. And free agency, we have cap space now and might be able to not spend it all on contract extentions. But we'll have to wait and see for a bit...

Oh, and Douglas Grosz won his first IHOF Bowl ring. Kudos, kid, well played.