[MIJB#19]

General Manager Notes: Blockbuster trade!
And this time, we were involved.

Ken Torphy, welcome to Maassluis. The top graded running back of this class, and perhaps the most promising kid at his position in years, was still unspoken for at pick 1.6. It cost us an arm and a leg, but for our second and third round picks this draft, the bonus second rounder this draft, our first and second round pick next draft and our first round pick in the draft after that, we got the right for that pick and selected Torphy. I actually made the same offer for the 1.4 and 1.5 picks, but those owners/general manager decided to pick their own offensive skill player.

Believe it or not, had we not landed Calvin Maxwell at 1.3, I still would have made this move after selecting tight end Gavin Burton at the 1.3 and sell the farm for Torphy. Burton like Torphy is a once per decade kind of talent at his position. Maxwell is, well, the best of his class, but he might not even be the highest graded wide receiver on team, given Vinny Buysse's pressence.

It's quite the surprise to have all these skill players on the same team, we haven't been this loaded since the 2025 season (HOF quarterback Rusty Harrison, HOF running back Stanley Givens, HOF receiver Gabe Springer). Maybe the 2078 season was close, but Walt Blair was our first round rookie running back then, but had an injury plagued season behind one-season rental quarterback Bennett Morris and the never to be underestimated J.R. Mills at wide receiver in his next to last season in the IHOF. This time around, all the kids are at the beginning of their careers.

If this doesn't get Earnest Ashley to play like a top10 quarterback, then nothing can save his career.

On top of mortgaging the future in terms of picks, we also mortgaged our financial future. We had to make a truckload of cap outs with our expensive players. Luckily, most of them have recently signed very long contracts, which means that we should be able to keep this offense together for at least 3 seasons. Guard Nickolas Toler is the only one that we still need to lock up this off-season.

It'll be trickier to find room under the cap in the fuure for defensive stars like DE Richie Piotte and CB Ernie Grant, but those are tomorrow's worries. Or the day after that even. Tomorrow's worries are to find the last bit of cap space to not only be $38M under the cap (which we are now), but still add a bit to it to be able to afford both these expensive 1.3 and 1.6 picks.