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On the eve of training camp the GM of the portland Phantoms held a press conference about the teams moves since he was hired at the begining of free angency and his thoughts on the team before the 1st training camp on his watch.
1st off I want to say that both myself and HC Galloway has worked hard together this offseason to put together the team we now have. When we looked at the team, its talent who was becoming a free agent, the amount of money we had to spend, who we though would or could be available we started working on a plan for the team.
I have to say the previous GM left the team in a good position for me when I stepped in.
Since both Coach Galloway and myself were new to the team we didn't jump right in to FA in a big way but chose to resign many of the glue type players on the team. It was also pretty clear that QB Eddie Castillo was going to a key player for us so resigning him was a priority. On defense OLB Ernie Hou was also a player we wanted to keep so he was given the franchise tag. We let Ernie know that we were making sure he stayed a Phantom and we =re going to sign him to a new deal sooner rather than later.
That was the start of FA so sexy signings but he extended our QB, OLB and C Benton three important pieces to us and the fans would remain in Portland.
As FA moved closer to the draft, some complained we weren't agressive enough in FA and missing out on talent. Please understand we had a new coaching staff and myself sign at the start of FA. We were all doing on team evaluation with the coaches what type of team were we going to be.
We saw how hard Castillo worked and how smart a player he has a very strong personality and desire to win. By far his best weapon was TE Marco ONeal. Our WR corps were not a top unit, and our Running backs were also not a real strength for the team but are good backs. The Secondary needed some improvement too.
Now is when we made our agressive move and signed two very good WR's in Nugent and Roosevelt, along with CB Dusty Dihn, a strong veteran CB.
Once we signed the WR's I recieved a text from Castillo, he was a very happy QB.
Were made most of our FA moves at least the bigger ones now and focused on our draft.
We had needs at CB, OLB, RB, Tackle, ans NT since were made the switch to a 3-4.
We drafted Casey Shannon as a young CB to help our secondary he is expected to sign soon.
Then we chose OLB Mario O'Pope to add more talent to our Linbacking unit.
Round three was an a pick we feel can really grow into something with hard work. RB Billy Joe McCarthy, this kid can move a pile when he runs hard.
In round four we felt we couldn't pass up TE Antonio Paeth, we Had a top TE but this kid was just to good in our eyes.
Round 5 was a NT we liked Lamar Hartzel, this kid is tough vs the run.
In round 6 we tabbed Tackle Vernon Sunia, he was drafted for depth and to protect Castillo.
Round 7 was a developmental ILB Harold Lucas, another good run defense piece that fits our WILB criteria.
Post draft was more roster tinkering to try and fill in the right pieces, including Tackle Donovan Carlton.
( reporter ) Is it true you went hard after RB Darrell Boulware? Is that any indication of our current RB and you faith in McCarthy?
Yes we did try hard to sign him, but Utah was able to sign him. We are always looking to improve the Phantoms, and if we see a player that fits our mold and he is available we will go after him. We would rather have to much talent than not enough.
No we do not think that reflects badly on our current RB's they are here because we want thm on the team. We just felt that Boulware is pretty special.
Thank you for your time and we hope you enjoy watching the team we have assembled for 2020.
1st off I want to say that both myself and HC Galloway has worked hard together this offseason to put together the team we now have. When we looked at the team, its talent who was becoming a free agent, the amount of money we had to spend, who we though would or could be available we started working on a plan for the team.
I have to say the previous GM left the team in a good position for me when I stepped in.
Since both Coach Galloway and myself were new to the team we didn't jump right in to FA in a big way but chose to resign many of the glue type players on the team. It was also pretty clear that QB Eddie Castillo was going to a key player for us so resigning him was a priority. On defense OLB Ernie Hou was also a player we wanted to keep so he was given the franchise tag. We let Ernie know that we were making sure he stayed a Phantom and we =re going to sign him to a new deal sooner rather than later.
That was the start of FA so sexy signings but he extended our QB, OLB and C Benton three important pieces to us and the fans would remain in Portland.
As FA moved closer to the draft, some complained we weren't agressive enough in FA and missing out on talent. Please understand we had a new coaching staff and myself sign at the start of FA. We were all doing on team evaluation with the coaches what type of team were we going to be.
We saw how hard Castillo worked and how smart a player he has a very strong personality and desire to win. By far his best weapon was TE Marco ONeal. Our WR corps were not a top unit, and our Running backs were also not a real strength for the team but are good backs. The Secondary needed some improvement too.
Now is when we made our agressive move and signed two very good WR's in Nugent and Roosevelt, along with CB Dusty Dihn, a strong veteran CB.
Once we signed the WR's I recieved a text from Castillo, he was a very happy QB.
Were made most of our FA moves at least the bigger ones now and focused on our draft.
We had needs at CB, OLB, RB, Tackle, ans NT since were made the switch to a 3-4.
We drafted Casey Shannon as a young CB to help our secondary he is expected to sign soon.
Then we chose OLB Mario O'Pope to add more talent to our Linbacking unit.
Round three was an a pick we feel can really grow into something with hard work. RB Billy Joe McCarthy, this kid can move a pile when he runs hard.
In round four we felt we couldn't pass up TE Antonio Paeth, we Had a top TE but this kid was just to good in our eyes.
Round 5 was a NT we liked Lamar Hartzel, this kid is tough vs the run.
In round 6 we tabbed Tackle Vernon Sunia, he was drafted for depth and to protect Castillo.
Round 7 was a developmental ILB Harold Lucas, another good run defense piece that fits our WILB criteria.
Post draft was more roster tinkering to try and fill in the right pieces, including Tackle Donovan Carlton.
( reporter ) Is it true you went hard after RB Darrell Boulware? Is that any indication of our current RB and you faith in McCarthy?
Yes we did try hard to sign him, but Utah was able to sign him. We are always looking to improve the Phantoms, and if we see a player that fits our mold and he is available we will go after him. We would rather have to much talent than not enough.
No we do not think that reflects badly on our current RB's they are here because we want thm on the team. We just felt that Boulware is pretty special.
Thank you for your time and we hope you enjoy watching the team we have assembled for 2020.
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