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Cleveland GM, mike17 answers internet questions from fans on the Cleveland Clawz homepage:
BearClawz45: Do you have any idea what you're doing?
mike17 : Is that a real question?
GoClawzers: Dude, we need linebackers! Vance is gone, all we have is RJ Doyle, and you didn't draft one till round 5? What gives?
mike17: You're right. We went into this draft feeling like we needed to pick up some quality young linebackers. Unfortunately, there were several other teams that
went into the draft thinking the same thing. Rather than overpay for a linebacker prospect or 2, we felt that we could get better value from our picks by taking
the best available players. The 'backers we did draft don't have 1st or 2nd round pedigree, but we feel they will be able to contribute and we did pick up a few
veteran guys in free agency. So to be direct, we are aware of the holes we have at LB and we brought in some guys. They may not be big names, but don't forget Sedrick Vance was a 6th round pick.
ClevelandRocks76: You traded the Clawz 1sts for the next 2 years?? Are you stupid???
mike17: It was an aggressive move, but we felt this draft class was one of the best we've seen in the IFL in several seasons. The Clawz have a solid team, with only
a few holes. We felt like filling those holes now would put us in a better place for the future, rather than waiting to fill them with draft picks next year or the year
after. It won't take long to see if the gamble was worth it... Just wait for the Perkins-to-Vaughn highlights to start piling up on IFL sportscenter.
Perkins4Prez: Nice job getting a top flight WR for Perkins! What made you decide to trade up?
mike17: I appreciate someone that thinks we did something right!We had several targets for our pick at 1.22. Linebacker and wideout were our top needs. After
seeing 2 top wideouts get taken at 1.1 and 1.8, we felt like we needed to make a move up to grab an excellent prospect at a need position. We inquired with
several teams about moving up and surprisingly Orlando was not only receptive to our offer, but didn't try to make us overpay for the pick. Raymond Vaughn was
the number 3 player on our draft board behind Diedrich and Swift, so he was an easy choice once we had the pick. Vaughn, Bud Weiser and Donny Bressany will make excellent targets for Corey Perkins for many years, I have no doubt.
SackAholic: Why no DTs? Johnson and Borgerson ain't gonna live forever you know.
mike17: It's no secret the Clawz are planning a move to the 3-4 defensive scheme, but not while we have 2 great DTs on the roster. As long as JJ and Jessie want to keep
lacing them up we'll stay with the 4-3, and we're not out looking for their replacements right now. We feel Teddy McCormick and Adam Williams will be more than servicable as Nose Tackles when the need arises. That being said, we do need some help at linebacker in order to make that switch. We brought in several nice LB prospects and we'll have some time to let them develop while Jessie and JJ are still harassing QBs in the AC North.
TheLineMan: Guard, Britt Hines retired this year and you drafted tackles...You know those aren't the same right?
mike17: Britt's retirement was a surprise and it left our line in a less than desirable position. The plan is to move Tackle, Gabe Belin to left guard and for now,
we'll be letting our draftees Cole Fletcher and Vernon Muyers stay at left and right tackle, respectively. Gabe was a guard for many years, and he should fill in well. We're very excited about our 2 young tackles, and we hope they can provide quality depth to the high-caliber line we already have.
GrOuNdPoUnDeR: Everybody knows Hunter Battle sucks on 3rd down. Who's handling that now that Rambo is gone?
mike17: Karl Ricci has proved he has the ability to be very good coming off the bench, spelling Battle last year. He will fight for 3rd down duties with rookie
Sherman Elliot. It was not part of our plan to bring in a RB this year, but we felt like Elliot fell extremely far from his projected draft position. We expect he
will be a very capable player, and we'll have some healthy competition between he and Ricci for second string and third down duties.
D-Fence: The secondary is average at best and you did nothing to improve it. In fact, you traded our most talented safety! You better hope we can keep dropping 30 points a game!
mike17: It's true we could use a little help in the pass defense department. The surprise loss of safety Ronnie Yager last season was a devastating blow. We do have 2 excellent corners in Johnny Edens and Anthony Cantwell, but we could use some depth behind them. Also, we have a glut of equally average safeties. As talented as Pat Wiggins was, he was not as familiar with our system as the other guys we have had on the team for several seasons. A committee approach will be taken to our coverage over the top again this year. Expect to see 4-5 guys getting equal playing time there. The Clawz will definitely have the talent on the field to compete in pass coverage, however, I feel we did not do enough to improve this unit and you may see the Clawz make some moves to acquire secondary help in the coming days.
ClawzNation: We've gotten real used to making the playoffs around here. You chumps better not be planning a rebuild in a couple seasons.
mike17: I can assure you that the Clawz future is bright and we plan to keep winning until somebody can stop us. Thanks for the questions everyone, I hope I provided some insight into the reasons behind our offseason moves. Wish us luck this season, and GO CLAWZ!
BearClawz45: Do you have any idea what you're doing?
mike17 : Is that a real question?
GoClawzers: Dude, we need linebackers! Vance is gone, all we have is RJ Doyle, and you didn't draft one till round 5? What gives?
mike17: You're right. We went into this draft feeling like we needed to pick up some quality young linebackers. Unfortunately, there were several other teams that
went into the draft thinking the same thing. Rather than overpay for a linebacker prospect or 2, we felt that we could get better value from our picks by taking
the best available players. The 'backers we did draft don't have 1st or 2nd round pedigree, but we feel they will be able to contribute and we did pick up a few
veteran guys in free agency. So to be direct, we are aware of the holes we have at LB and we brought in some guys. They may not be big names, but don't forget Sedrick Vance was a 6th round pick.
ClevelandRocks76: You traded the Clawz 1sts for the next 2 years?? Are you stupid???
mike17: It was an aggressive move, but we felt this draft class was one of the best we've seen in the IFL in several seasons. The Clawz have a solid team, with only
a few holes. We felt like filling those holes now would put us in a better place for the future, rather than waiting to fill them with draft picks next year or the year
after. It won't take long to see if the gamble was worth it... Just wait for the Perkins-to-Vaughn highlights to start piling up on IFL sportscenter.
Perkins4Prez: Nice job getting a top flight WR for Perkins! What made you decide to trade up?
mike17: I appreciate someone that thinks we did something right!We had several targets for our pick at 1.22. Linebacker and wideout were our top needs. After
seeing 2 top wideouts get taken at 1.1 and 1.8, we felt like we needed to make a move up to grab an excellent prospect at a need position. We inquired with
several teams about moving up and surprisingly Orlando was not only receptive to our offer, but didn't try to make us overpay for the pick. Raymond Vaughn was
the number 3 player on our draft board behind Diedrich and Swift, so he was an easy choice once we had the pick. Vaughn, Bud Weiser and Donny Bressany will make excellent targets for Corey Perkins for many years, I have no doubt.
SackAholic: Why no DTs? Johnson and Borgerson ain't gonna live forever you know.
mike17: It's no secret the Clawz are planning a move to the 3-4 defensive scheme, but not while we have 2 great DTs on the roster. As long as JJ and Jessie want to keep
lacing them up we'll stay with the 4-3, and we're not out looking for their replacements right now. We feel Teddy McCormick and Adam Williams will be more than servicable as Nose Tackles when the need arises. That being said, we do need some help at linebacker in order to make that switch. We brought in several nice LB prospects and we'll have some time to let them develop while Jessie and JJ are still harassing QBs in the AC North.
TheLineMan: Guard, Britt Hines retired this year and you drafted tackles...You know those aren't the same right?
mike17: Britt's retirement was a surprise and it left our line in a less than desirable position. The plan is to move Tackle, Gabe Belin to left guard and for now,
we'll be letting our draftees Cole Fletcher and Vernon Muyers stay at left and right tackle, respectively. Gabe was a guard for many years, and he should fill in well. We're very excited about our 2 young tackles, and we hope they can provide quality depth to the high-caliber line we already have.
GrOuNdPoUnDeR: Everybody knows Hunter Battle sucks on 3rd down. Who's handling that now that Rambo is gone?
mike17: Karl Ricci has proved he has the ability to be very good coming off the bench, spelling Battle last year. He will fight for 3rd down duties with rookie
Sherman Elliot. It was not part of our plan to bring in a RB this year, but we felt like Elliot fell extremely far from his projected draft position. We expect he
will be a very capable player, and we'll have some healthy competition between he and Ricci for second string and third down duties.
D-Fence: The secondary is average at best and you did nothing to improve it. In fact, you traded our most talented safety! You better hope we can keep dropping 30 points a game!
mike17: It's true we could use a little help in the pass defense department. The surprise loss of safety Ronnie Yager last season was a devastating blow. We do have 2 excellent corners in Johnny Edens and Anthony Cantwell, but we could use some depth behind them. Also, we have a glut of equally average safeties. As talented as Pat Wiggins was, he was not as familiar with our system as the other guys we have had on the team for several seasons. A committee approach will be taken to our coverage over the top again this year. Expect to see 4-5 guys getting equal playing time there. The Clawz will definitely have the talent on the field to compete in pass coverage, however, I feel we did not do enough to improve this unit and you may see the Clawz make some moves to acquire secondary help in the coming days.
ClawzNation: We've gotten real used to making the playoffs around here. You chumps better not be planning a rebuild in a couple seasons.
mike17: I can assure you that the Clawz future is bright and we plan to keep winning until somebody can stop us. Thanks for the questions everyone, I hope I provided some insight into the reasons behind our offseason moves. Wish us luck this season, and GO CLAWZ!
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