General Manager Notes: Pre-season in the books...
We suck. In pre-season. But will we when it counts?
Our 53-men roster is set. Really. I'm not going scavenger hunting through the free agents pile and the trade block. Let's take a look at the players that are supposed to make the 2096 season a success for the Maassluis Merchantmen! (As per usual, I'll round overall ratings down to the 5's and 10's.)
| player | cur/fut | how acquired | notes
|
| QB Earnest Ashley | 55/55 | '94 pick #39 | our starting QB
|
| QB Efrain Batcheck | 45/45 | '96 FA | our backup, mentor QB
|
| QB Kelvin Everett | 10/40 | '96 pick #77 | our project?
|
| QB Jon Giles | 25/35 | '93 URFA | just a kick holder
|
| RB Trey Beyer | 35/35 | '91 pick #137 | RB rotation
|
| RB Jack Crane | 40/40 | '95 FA | RB rotation
|
| RB Ronnie Vanden Bosch | 30/35 | | RB rotation
|
| FB Clay Brosseau | 20/20 | '86 URFA | lead FB
|
| FB Owen Johnston | 25/25 | '94 URFA | backup FB
|
| TE Renaldo Crawford | 15/15 | '88 FA | run blocking TE
|
| TE Clay Gaynor | 55/55 | '90 pick #17 | starting TE
|
| TE Clarence Gore | 40/40 | '91 pick #151 | receiving TE2
|
| TE Ike Nixon | 25/25 | '93 URFA | backup TE
|
| FL Mark Perkins | 20/20 | '92 URFA | our PR guy
|
| FL Branden Sandlin | 35/35 | '87 pick #186 | gold old WR4
|
| FL Ed Schulz | 55/70 | '93 pick #16 | our fast WR1
|
| FL George Stuckey | 50/50 | '90 pick #50 | our decent WR2
|
| FL Darien Thompson | 15/25 | '96 pick #206 | our KR guy
|
| SE Theodore Bondy | 35/35 | '82 pick #8 | our legend WR3
|
| C Robbie Zinn | 65/65 | '93 pick #34 | starting C
|
| LG Nickolas Toler | 45/75 | '96 pick #12 | our OL6 project
|
| RG Vince Henselman | 30/50 | '95 URFA | reserve run blocking G
|
| RG Todd Springer | 60/60 | '96 FA | our starting LG
|
| RG Andre Watson | 30/30 | '86 pick #125 | veteran backup G
|
| LT Isaac Delgado | 75/75 | '94 pick #14 | complete OT
|
| LT Johnnie Houston | 60/60 | '94 pick #46 | pass protection LT
|
| RT Howard Humphrey | 45/45 | '85 pick #9 | our starting RG
|
| P Shaun Barlow | 60/60 | '96 FA | our punter
|
| K Dylan McMullen | 70/70 | '94 FA | our kicker
|
| LDE Archie Exner | 45/45 | '87 URFA | pass rusher
|
| LDE Gene Kondovski | 35/35 | '86 pick #90 | another pass rusher
|
| LDE Richie Piotte | 70/70 | '95 pick #48 | our star DE
|
| RDE Caiden Croyle | 55/55 | '95 FA | Piotte's side kick
|
| RDT Caleb Domis | 45/45 | '93 pick #187 | pass rusher
|
| RDT Harold Gough | 45/45 | '94 pick #78 | pass rusher
|
| RDT Jerome Shumate | 55/55 | '96 FA | complete DT
|
| NT Darien Fletcher | 55/55 | '89 pick #9 | stud DT
|
| WILB Andrew Cochrane | 40/40 | '94 URFA | run defender, special teamer
|
| MLB Daquan Espino | 50/50 | '86 pick #29 | unhappy backup
|
| MLB Hayden McNeil | 55/55 | '96 FA | run defender
|
| MLB Brant Rayburn | 10/10 | '90 URFA | special teamer
|
| SLB Brandon Brady | 65/65 | '90 pick #19 | our star LB
|
| SLB Clayton Jackson | 40/40 | '87 pick #89 | pass defending LB
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| WLB Jose Meadows | 25/25 | '93 URFA | special teamer
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| LCB Ernie Grant | 65/80 | '95 pick #17 | our shutdown CB
|
| LCB Adam Harmon | 40/40 | '90 URFA | zone defender
|
| LCB Omar Leszynski | 20/50 | '96 pick #78 | reserve
|
| LCB Bryson Swafford | 50/50 | '94 pick #43 | running downs CB
|
| LCB Zachery Weisz | 45/45 | '94 pick #81 | zone defender
|
| SS Devon Farrell | 65/65 | '91 pick #28 | our star S
|
| SS Chuck Murray | 45/45 | '90 URFA | running downs S
|
| FS Jon Brotzman | 35/35 | '90 URFA | passing downs S
|
| LS Travis Hamilton | 20/20 | '96 FA | long snapper
|
Question marks remaining?
Jon Giles is our kick holder, but Efrain Batcheck is decent enough to actually consider dropping Giles and actually do that scavenger hunting. Kelvin Everett looks too promising to give up on him now.
The wide receiver situation is good, but not great. Schulz and Stuckey have proven they can play ball, while Bondy and Sandlin will be cohesion rising WR3 and WR4 options. Yes, Sandlin will be back to the active roster.
I'm flipping coins between Toler, Springer and Humphrey for 2 OL starting roles. Zinn is our center, Houston the LT, Douglas the RT or LG. Toler is our future stud, he needs playing time, but Springer is currently much better. Humphrey is a running game cohesion bomb for the OL, but he's also a pass protection liability. Maybe we're going to take a game by game kind of approach...
On the D-Line I'm thinking it might be better to split up Piotte and Croyle and team them up with the long timers Exner and Kondovski to spread the talent and cohesion around. At the DT spot that's less of an issue as Fletcher is the only cohesion bomb.
At the linebacker group, It's worth considering to push Rayburn aside and add Brady to the special teams unit as our third linebacker.
I think that gets you up to date with where we stand.