[MIJB#19]

General Manager Notes: Plan F, no more..
Two players didn't make the cut: Ramirez and Farley.

Wide receiver Lamont Ramirez' release should have been unsurprising. Despite that he was our second best special teamer in the wide receivers group, even after showing up horribly out of shape after our first pre-season game, it was pointless to hold on to him. It means he leaves us after one training camp and two pre-season games.

Quarterback Francisco Farley's departure is a much bigger story. An undrafted rookie signing in 2087, he rode the bench behind Ellis McAlister. After we separated ways with McAlister, Moe Sheldon was signed in the 2088 off-season and Farley become our opening day starter. It didn't last long, we gave him just 3 starts and then Sheldon took over. In 2089 Brandon Bell was our first round pick and Farley dropped to third in line. In 2091, Farley got to start in week 17 as we had locked up the #2 seed in the playoffs. Last season he returned to second string after the release of Bell, but sitting behind the undisputed Sheldon. This off-season, contract talks with Sheldon went through to the 11th hour, as he was signed just before training camp, with Farley until then penciled in as the 2093 starter. But after the first pre-season game, Farley seemingly turned from questionable QB2 material into a barely useful QB3. With the emergence of rookie seventh round pick Lorenzo Emerson, Farley's horrible pre-season stats were reason enough to release him. It ends Farley's stint with the Merchantmen after 6 seasons, 18 games played, 4 starts, completing 50% of his passes for 594 yards, 4 touchdowns and 6 interceptions, with an 0-4 record as a starter. That's how quickly life can change: from starter just before camp to probably not making an IHOF roster for opening day 2093.

A positive effect of these releases was opening up about $1.6M of cape space, but it proved to be way short of what the crazy player agent of Brandon Brady is demanding. He wants quarterback money, we offered it to him: $210M over 5 years, with a $48M signing bonus. Maybe his agent is still pissed about the offer we gave to his other client Moe Sheldon, but we have a track record of loyalty to star players. Well, at least those that are exceptionally talented (Theodore Bondy, Kirk Hitchcock), we try really hard to keep them.

Although, especially at linebacker, we've sacrificed several all-IHOF caliber stars in the past decade or two (Gabe Hamilton, Antonio Battle, Glenn Brewer, Craig McCorkle). Maybe they do have an argument. But a signing bonus of $48M over 5 years means cutting him next off-season will put us at a dead cap hit of roughly $39M, which would be almost pointless when a cap out offer will be better for the cap situation and will result in another $37M signing bonus for Brady. And that should escalade into another $37M signing bonus in 2095, when another cap out is a likely possibility. It's reasonable to assume that Brady hereby has turned down $130M of guaranteed money.

But it is what it is, Brady's agent wants him to go to the open market. We have about 28 hours to make him one final offer he can't refuse, but it may be wiser to use the $6M unused cap space on three other starters soon to become a free agent. Or maybe that underperforming kicker Mark Giles' agent will get a phone call. For now, I'll sleep on that decision.

Will we make any other changes to the 53-men roster before opening day? There's at least one quarterback out there who should be an upgrade over Sheldon. There's a running back that we cut after camp 2092, was a starter elsewhere in the league and is still a kid we could use in a rotation. And there are some guys out there who would be an upgrade to our special teams unit. So, never say never, despite that it's extremely unlikely...