THE ROLAND REPORT: SEASON 25 FA REACTIONS
THE ROLAND REPORT: SEASON 25 FA REACTIONS
Well look who is back. Well, it's not Jason Miller this time. He is living it up on some beach somewhere. I guess you will have to deal with the man behind the mask here. Chad Roland. Your favorite SFL personality coming at you with some reactions to yesterday's SFL FA period. We got to see it all. Good signings, bad signings, Cam doing a great job talking to all the guests, hearing Harish Prasad talk about that AMAZING FA CLASS IN CAROLINA! Oh shoot, is my bias showing?? Anyway, below are my top 5 best AND worse FA signings in the SFL yesterday.
NUMBER 5
BEST – YAYO MONTANA – CHS
The talk of the off-season was “Where is Yayo going”? The SFL world was his oyster, and he could have went anywhere he wanted. But he chose Charleston and converted to HB. In all honesty, I almost put this signing in the worst column. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a major upgrade from what Charleston had before, but Yayo was a WR and when you look at their roster at this current moment their best WR is Nic Twice, and they don’t have Doug Britton anymore. I am curious if maybe not keeping Montana at WR will cost them. But the main question is will Greg Soto be coaching? If he does, then this could be even better than the #5 spot. Time will tell if this will be an amazing pickup but even this move won’t catch them up to Carolina.
WORST – LA OFFENSE WEAPONS
I probably should have said this earlier, but I just don’t have to talk about players. I can put teams in here as well and LA is on this list. Yes, I have given LA grief in the past on shows and have said publicly during broadcasts that they should blow it up. Well time to see what has happened. They did bring in Anthony Wyo at CB which should help a defense that really didn’t need much help. Yes, they lost Rachelle to Carolina, but their defense has always been decent. The offense has been problems for several YEARS. Not seasons, YEARS. And they were not able to secure any top FAs in that category. It will be interesting to see what new ownership group and FO can do but so far, not so great
NUMBER 4
BEST – JERMAINE MENEFIELD – PITT
The Riverhogs go out and I believe had one of the best opening FA days in the SFL. They brought in Doug Day at OLB to pair him up with his former Bash Brother Brian Craven, they get Doug Britton to unretire for what I feel like is the 4th time at WR and then the best one of them all was Jermaine Menefield at CB. This team was 15th against the pass which isn’t bad, but it isn’t good either. They already have Tom Creeg along with the safeties of Cory Mennor, Cain Vasquez and Todd Rigsby. Menefield has the skills to be a #1 on most teams and his contract is friendly at 1.9 million. Great job again by the FO staff of PITT.
WORST – FLORIDA QB
This situation is just odd. Now Florida could have themselves a QB and I could be wrong here but as of right now they don’t. So this goes on the list. Dynasty was the best QB FA which went to Carolina, but the question I must ask is this. Is the appeal of FLA not great anymore? Do FAs even want to go to FLA? As of right now it doesn’t seem to be but if they go out and get a rookie for example, I can fully say now that just count them out of the playoffs again this season. I’m sure once Eddie Gauge reads this, I will get a DM with 20 reasons why to never count Mighty out. To that I say “Bring it on Eddie”
NUMBER 3
BEST – DUANE SAMMONS – WASHINGTON
Washington had one of if not the best turnarounds in SFL history. A team that went from publicly celebrating 20 wins in franchise history while in Motor City to a team that moves to Washington and almost makes the SFL championship game. Crazy turnaround and I'll give flowers to that entire organization for it. Now they go into the offseason and when I look at their roster, the position I felt that needed upgraded the most was RB. And boy did they upgrade. Duane Sammons when I called games for both LOU and DEN, Duane always seemed to pop up the tape. One of the best built backs in the SFL, he will fit right into what Thump and the gang want to do. The Trident with this signing has put the SFL on notice as an instant contender for the chip in Season 25.
WORST – KEVIN BRACKETT – VANCOUVER
Wait… Am I really going to be putting Kevin Brackett in as a bad signing?? Yes. Its fine if you all think I am nuts, but some guys don’t need to move positions. There are guys that just should not move positions (I’m looking at you Will Todd.. FB.. Really??) If Will Todd was a FA FB I would have put him here, but I don’t see Kevin Brackett as a DE. This guy can be a monster at LB and some guys just shouldn’t play out of position. If you want to move him there in certain formations but keep him at LB that’s cool. But I mean Vancouver had a stout defense last season and they must know something that might make Brackett even more of a monster at DE. Me personally, I don’t like the move but I’m just crazy I guess.
NUMBER 2
BEST – RACHELLE COLSTON – CAROLINA
I mean c’mon. I had to put someone in here from Carolina. Maybe I need to hide my bias… Anyway, it was going to be tough for someone to replace E.Bari Amen-Eaglin (RIP buddy) but to bring back Rachelle Colston in this defense is huge. She is a natural safety so putting her in the back end of this defense was a huge get for Carolina. She was a top priority for Carolina, and they nailed it with this signing.
WORST – SHAUN PARENT – DET
I mean look. No offense to Shaun at all but I made this point in the TSAT server the other day. 4.6 MILLION for a DT is WAY TOO MUCH. You can say whatever you want but at LEAST cut that contract in half and MAYBE we can talk. This team is still a rebuilding team for sure but making Shaun Parent the focal point of where your money goes is maybe not the best idea. I know people “pay for pressure” but with just over 4 sacks the entire season in CHI I don’t know if this is money well spent. Now... I will say this. CHI did only have 2 DL so maybe coming here to pair up with Rob Cherry and Thomas Matthews will help open up Parent to not get all the double teams and what not. Can’t be too sure but to me, I’m sure if I was a GM/Owner still 4.6 million would not be spent on DT. Especially when my offense was one of the worst in the league last season and is currently with no big playmakers on offense.
NUMBER 1
WORST – D’BRICKASHAW MOLLINEAUX – CHI
I was going to put Parent here at 1 just for contract reasons but props to Rob Cherry for pointing this out. Mollineaux was an OL convert over to DT for Chicago and my god I don’t know what CHI is doing here. I mean the only positive thing I can say here is “At least you aren’t paying Parent 4.6” Looking at his stats he is about as aggressive as a box of kittens, and he can tackle like my 11-year-old daughter. The one thing he does have is size at 335 but are we signing him to be prepared for the Tush Push or something?? Ty Ptak was sacked 42 times last season which was 2nd worst in SFL and they currently have no OL on the roster. This was just an overall bad move. If they left him at Tackle, I would have not considered it a top 5 signing but he wouldn’t be on this list. Just another odd move by Chicago and it will be interesting to see how they build this roster out. I heard rumblings of an “amazing off-season” for Chicago and so far…. Meh
BEST – REGGO DINERO – BALTIMORE
How is no one talking about this sneaky signing. Baltimore can come out of LF and provide some amazing signings when they need it. Reggo is that signing. I am not sure on the status of Ivory Ervin or Mac Chimah at this time, but I know that Daley Holder retired. If they keep Ervin and Chimah, then bringing in a guy that has #1 talent along with that crew is simply a great signing that must be talked about.
There you go SFL. Let the debate begin. Who did I miss? Where did I go wrong?