[MIJB#19]

General Manager Notes: The day we all fear, and sometimes love, or both
Pre-season week 2. You know it.

This is one of those days where you know something's coming, but not quite where it will go and feel afterwards. It's not exactly that tension when you're about to make a phone call to that special person that you hope will finally be ready to give you a chance to get to know you better and sparkle the positive vibes you hope she has for you as well, but it's somewhat close. So, what did the randomness of destiny in mind for us?

Wait, let's take you with me on this journey a little bit more.

I woke up more than an hour before the alarm was set...
Okay, not that far back.

Days like these, they go in three shifts of tension. First, there's the moment the game is played. Ask all the owners and GM's in the league, none of them even remotely care about the result and few will be bothered to investigate the play by play and box score. No, everybody is waiting for all the staff members and the league scout to re-evaluate the players.

Step one, the league office announces the results of the games and lets the league scout and a specific report from one team in the league make a leaguewide evaluation, with a list of the players that have made the most progress and those that looked like total duds.

You hope to see your own players on that first list, well, our undrafted rookie linebacker Brant Rayburn did. Good for you, kid!

Then you scroll down to the second list. No Merchantmen players. Oh goody!

But that's not all there is. The second stage is the league scout's report on your own team. You know going into the numbers that the league scout by no means can do a reliable report, or at least not as reliable as your own staff. But being stuck outside your team network, you go can't help yourself and do take a look.

Brandon Bell went 10 points up on the scale of 1-100. Holy smokes! Moe Sheldon went 7 points up. Kid Rayburn, +19. Goodness, we're back in business with our quarterbacks? Then you notice the evaluation of Sheldon from the league scout from the previous point in time was far off from your team's assessment. And you also realize that a young quarterback like Bell is hard to pinpoint, especially for a league scout who, by lack of interest, didn't land a better job in the league.

You go on with your normal day life, this particular day having some kind of planned phone call, but still slightly different from an average conference call. A bunch of normal conference calls follow and then, after the last one, it's time to shift the attention and get onto the team's network and find out what your own staff has to report.

Brandon Bell +1/-1, drats, stupid league scout. Moe Sheldon +2/+2, good, but not awesome. Bryan Rayburn +1/+5. Okay, some good news. And then you stare at the reports on your first round picks.

Dang.

Okay, not the end of the world, but -2/-8 for the highest pick you ever spent on a tight end and then +1/-5 on the linebacker that you though was the best player in the entire draft class, that's disappointing to read. Even if the league office still grades your draft as the 3rd best in the league, seeing your first round picks not at the very least hold ground, it's a bummer.

But it's not the end of the world, your awesome cornerback duo went -2/-2 (the new guy Richardson, not all that bad) and +1/+1 (Hitchcock, you old dog! Who said you can't peak in your 30s?).

Then the night falls, and loneliness... No wait, that's a different story.

Anyway, it was a mixed back this day in the life of a GM/owner in the IHOF. Some good news, some bad news. To put things into perspective, it's best to look over the roster just like you did after training camp and look at it from the "what have we got?" point of view?


Quarterbacks
45/45 +2/+2 Moe Sheldon (9th, 3rd with us)
20/35 +1/-1 Brandon Bell (2nd)
30/35 -1/-2 Francisco Farley (4th)
15/25 nc/+1 Carlton Mathews (R)
Yup, that's the new pecking order. Sheldon starts, Bell on the bench, Farley inactive, Mathews released.

Running backs
55/55 +3/+3 Francisco Patter (4th)
35/35 no ch. Reggie Thongchanh (6th)
30/30 +1/-1 Braxton Szporluk (5th, 3rd with us)
25/25 +1/+1 Asher Ford (4th, 3rd with us)
Patter and Thong' the one-two punch, Ford the special teamer, Szporluk released.

Fullback
45/45 +1/+1 Clay Brosseau (5th)
Nothing new here, Brosseau is our guy.

Tight ends
30/55 -2/-8 Clay Gaynor (R)
35/35 -6/-6 Sherman Bridges (10th, 1st with us)
30/40 -1/nc Jeffery Blake (3rd)
30/30 no ch. Renaldo Crawford (4th, 3rd with us)
Gaynor the starter, Blake and Crawford the other blockers, Bridges the special teamer? I'll have to browse over the whole team, 4 active will be a bit much, but that's what we're looking at for now.

Wide receivers
75/75 -1/-1 Theodore Bondy (9th)
40/40 no ch. Brandin Sandlin (4th)
30/50 -1/-3 Trey Samuels (R)
35/40 no ch. Harris Wilkerson (2nd)
25/50 nc/-2 George Stuckey (R)
25/40 nc/-7 Griffin Iafigliola (R)
30/30 -7/-7 Santiago Messenger (3rd)
20/20 -6/-6 Tracy Arntt (3rd)
Theo and Sandlin the starters. WR3? It's up for grabs, kids. Messenger and Arntt took hits, but they will stay on as our kickoff return guys. Iafigliola will be released.

Offensive Linemen
70/70 -1/-1 Michael Szott (7th)
70/70 no ch. Butch Pearson (11th)
65/65 no ch. Howard Humphrey (6th)
60/60 -4/-4 Nathan Hadinger (8th)
45/45 no ch. Andre Watson (5th)
45/45 -6/-6 Darren Theisen (5th, 2nd with us)
30/30 -4/-4 Tyler Hamilton (4th)
25/40 -1/-5 Marvin Silvan (R)
30/30 no ch. Jared Labbe (5th)
Hadinger, Szott, Pearson, Watson, Humphrey. Our line for another season. Theisen will be released, despite being the best backup.

Punter
60/60 +1/+1 Doug Guynes (6th)
He didn't fall apart!

Kickers (yup, plural)
65/75 +2/-3 Mark Giles (R)
He held, basically.

Defensive Ends
60/60 no ch. Gene Kondovski (9th)
45/45 no ch. Archie Exner (4th)
40/40 -1/-1 Andy Russell (5th)
35/35 +2/+2 Tony Whiting (5th)
Continuity at this position, now there's something unexpected!

Defensive tackles
65/65 no ch. Darien Fletcher (2nd)
55/55 -1/-1 Jumbo Mojica (4th, 3rd with us)
35/35 no ch. A.J. Ritt (7th)
30/30 +1/+1 Kurt Ackerman (3rd)
Fletcher and Mojica the starters, Ritt and Ackerman the backups. We'll browse over the entire roster to determine whether both can be active, or just one.

Linebackers
50/70 +1/-5 Brandon Brady (R)
55/55 -1/-1 Daquan Espino (5th)
45/45 +4/+4 Clayton Jackson (4th)
40/40 -1/-1 Moe Iveans (5th, 2nd with us)
35/40 +1/-1 Malcolm Wentz (2nd)
30/40 +1/+5 Brant Rayburn (R)
25/25 no ch. Alec Palmer (3rd)
Brady and Espino, but Jackson will be our LB2 on passing downs. Iveans probably our LB3 on running downs. Rayburn and Palmer special teamers, number active based on room at other positions. Wentz will be released.

Cornerbacks
70/70 +1/+1 Kirk Hitchcock (10th)
70/70 -2/-2 Jackie Richardson (7th, 1st with us)
45/45 -1/-1 Ted Frias (3rd)
35/35 -3/-3 Jessie McNeil (4th)
20/40 nc/-1 Adam Harmon (R)
30/30 +1/+1 Courtney Blackwell (7th)
Hitchcock and Richardson the starters. Frias and McNeil the active backups. Harmon a project for the future, if we decide to keep him (we'll trim down to 54 today). Blackwell gets this pre-season to prove he's over the fumblitis.

Safeties
45/45 no ch. Alexander Marty (8th)
30/40 nc/+3 Chuck Murray (R)
35/35 -2/-2 Salvador Harper (4th)
30/30 no ch. Riddick Newsome (8th, 6th with us)
20/30 nc/-3 Jon Brotzman (R)
25/25 -12/-12 Bart Sword (5th, 3rd with us)
Still puzzling with these guys. Marty is a strong safety, Murray could be a running downs guy or a future strong safety, but Harper is better right now. Newsome is our passing downs free safety. Brotzman special teamer and future project. Sword will be axed.

Long Snappers
21/21 no ch. Bryce Karney (10th, 1st with us)
Don't believe the league scout and his -2/-2, we still think Karney was a good signing. Still top5 in the league.


All in all, it was an okay day. Sometimes having things not get worse is good enough for now, as long as there's potential for growth. I think there is, we got to give it a little bit of time, but by week 11 or so, I think that's roughly the right time to decide whether the course we set was right, or whether to turn the ship around and sail to other horizons, of course hoping to find the treasure.