[MIJB#19]

General Manager Notes: Moe Sheldon stays!
Well how about that!

So, playing game of chicken with a quarterback that no other team has any reasonable interest in can work? Maybe, maybe not. What was he asking again, $111M with a $34M bonus? His agent turns out to be not so stubborn at all [game technically, his agent scores 4/100 in stubbornness, are we onto something here?] and right before training camp, we offered him a $38M deal with a $16M bonus.

The signing of Sheldon has come with a price: the departure of two long-time secondary players.

I decided to release safety Riddick Newsome after 8 seasons worth of 100 regular season and 9 games in the playoffs. We signed him during the 2084 post-season and then he grew into his 4th year in IHOF into a starting role with us. Last side he spent entirely on inactive, such can be the life of a veteran long timer. I doubt he'll find a new home elsewhere, his special teams skills are pedestrian and the main reason why he lost the battle with the youngsters on the team.

Cornerback Jessie McNeil turned down serval lowball offers. Our 5th round pick in 2087 played in 92 games for us (5 of those in the playoffs) and with 3 pick sixes actually had quite the contribution last season, in limited action as our dimeback. We gambled on him to sign, but he didn't. He's good enough to play dimeback in this league, but somehow I suspect other teams will ignore him and force him into retirement after just 6 seasons, excluding this 7th season.

We did add up to exactly 60 players for training camp and pre-season. Six undrafted rookies and a veteran special teamer/wide receiver in Lamont Ramirez. The undrafted rookies are kick holder/emergency quarterback Jon Giles, special teamer/running back Darien Bettencourt, tight end/special teamer Ike Nixon and special teamers/linebackers Archie Pizir and Jose Meadows. Yeah, special teamers was the trend here.

Training camp results were a mixed bag, sort of. Rookie C Robbie Zinn stood out the most by making the most progress, shortly behind him rookie DT Caleb Domis. Also making good progress were rookie S Gabriel Cromer, third year LB Trenton Prescott and third year WR Rickey Lyle. Behind them were rookies WR Ed Schulz and DE Donald Wolfe, third year DE Trent Donovan and second year G Heath Gaylor.

Despite Schulz' unimpressive progress, we have every reason to think he's going to be our new star WR. If he survives the curiosity of pre-season partying...