Phantoms trade down.

[JesterBlaze]

The Lawrence Phantoms traded away their #7 overall pick to the St. Louis Cardinals for the Cardinals' #20, #27, and #81 overall picks in the now-in-session IFL draft. The move gives the Phantoms 5 picks in the first 3 rounds.

Coach Hunter Crawford explained the trade:

"There were a couple of stud players left on the board at #7 but none that matched our system. Some fans will second guess this trade but maybe those fans don't know our system and what type of players it takes to be successful in that system. We know exactly the type of players we're targeting and the value just wasn't there for us at #7.

We now have 5 picks in the first 81 spots and have 28 potential draftees projected as quality players for our system by the end of the season. We're very confident that we'll get quality talent from those spots."

Rumor has it that the Oakland Assassins organization was attempting to package together a 2nd trade proposal of their own at the exact time Lawrence and St. Louis were signing league papers confirming this trade.

[Jave]

Oakland press, Oakland, Ca

The Oakland front office has denied that any such trade proposal was ever offered for the 7th overall pick.
" We could have put a package together to compete for the seventh pick in the draft, however no one contacted us regarding an offer, and the trade was announced before we had a chance to react. This was a mistake on the Phantoms part as we feel we could have submitted quite a competitive offer for it, however, no "Offical" offer was ever put on the table." Oakland is confident that the players we have already drafted is enough to field a winning unit this year.

We expect a press conference any time now regarding the signings of Hamilton and Connell, stay tuned!!