Tweet
Trade Bulletin
Ogres are ugly….right?
Ask any kid. Watch the Shrek movie.
Ogres are green. Ogres stink. Ogres are repulsive.
Nobody likes Ogres!
Best thing to do is ignore ‘em. Pretend they don’t exist. Look the other way.
They’re not pretty!
Well, over in Lansing, Jason the GM of the IFL Ogres has had enough of being ignored.
Lansing are doing all they can to pretty up their Ogres.
The league has been warned….beauty is skin deep and the Ogres want to be noticed!
Lansing are getting a makeover!
Since 2019, the Lansing Ogres have been largely overlooked.
They were a losing franchise, had a new GM unknown to the IFL and in 2019 they’d traded away their star receiver Bernard Strong in a mega deal with West Virginia.
What was there to like?
They had a fairly decent running back in ‘Charlie’ Ward and a highly rated rookie CB in Jimmie Hamilton but your eye didn’t want to linger too long on the Ogres.
Like we said….green and repulsive. All bulk and no finesse.
A quick one and done playoff appearance in 2020 did little to convince IFL watchers otherwise.
Well, quietly, almost unnoticed, the Ogres have been for a makeover.
It started with the first overall pick of the 2020 draft when North Carolina State QB Bryant Bruce was drafted as the new face of the franchise.
Bruce has now served his apprenticeship and looks ready to unleash on the league.
But what good is a star QB if he has no weapons to throw to?
Cue a blockbuster trade between the Ogres and the Norfolk Vipers.
That blockbuster deal saw the Lansing Ogres finally fill their glaring need for a true no1 receiver by grabbing flanker Darrell Logan from the Norfolk Vipers.
Finally, QB Bruce has a target.
Finally the Ogres offense is more than a one dimensional battering ram.
Finally, you can look at the Ogres and perhaps see something beautiful beneath the warts and the boogers!
Darrell Logan (photo courtesy of Norfolk Vipers)
The Ogres paid a handsome price for Logan, sending their 2023 1st and 2nd rd picks, their 2024 1st rd pick and their 2025 2nd rd pick to clinch the deal.
The 7th year vet was the 1.23 pick for the Vipers in the 2016 draft.
He has two 1000yd seasons to his name (2019 and 2021 seasons) but he has usually been there or thereabouts and that in a low key Vipers passing attack.
Through his 6yr career prior to this season, Logan had 396 catches for 5496yds and 42 TD’s.
Logan has good size (6ft / 197lbs), has very good endurance, safe hands and is a precise route runner.
He’s particularly reliable on 3rd down but blistering speed is his greatest asset.
Speed kills and with a recent dash time of 4.38, Logan is a home run threat every play and will stretch the field on any defense.
There are some players more willing to take a hit over the middle, and a few will generate more YAC, but there is no doubt Logan is a genuine no1 receiver.
Logan during his last training session as a Viper.
Lansing have had a glaring gap at receiver in recent times.
The Ogres’ elite young QB Bryant Bruce has recently been vocal in his desire for a no1 receiving threat and it seems his GM has listened.
Despite the handsome price paid to bring Logan to Lansing, there is no doubt his acquisition makes Lansing (2- 0) a genuine contender for at least the NFC championship.
Unlocked was able to talk to both the Lansing and the Norfolk GM’s to grab the inside scoop on the deal:
First up, Jason, GM of the Lansing Ogres:
Thanks for noticing the solid young roster we have built over the past 4 years since taking over the team.
We feel really good about the directon this team is heading. We feel as if acquiring Darrell Logan was a big step towards our goals...being competitive each week, win the division, and
make the playoffs.
Once you are in, anything can happen.
To sum it up, Darrell Logan is the single biggest acquisition, outside of the draft, since taking over the team.
Some will say that we overpaid, but beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
We felt that we needed to aggressively go after Darrell Logan because he is the biggest need on our team.
A #1 type receiver is something that we have been trying to find in the past season or two.
He should make everyone around him better.
Darrell was disappointed about leaving the city and team that he loved, but is looking forward to
the fresh start.
He expressed his excitement about playing with the young star on the rise, Bryant Bruce.
Bruce expressed sheer happiness when we told him about the trade.
He feels like we do, that Darrell Logan will make everyone around him better.
Some will talk about us being chamionship contenders but we are focused more on our immediate goals.
We want to play smart solid mistake free football for 60 minutes, and be competitive every week.
The secondary goal is to win the division, which will not be an easy task due to Pennsylvania's dominance.
If we make the playoffs, anything can happen.
Darrell brings the ability to stretch the field, and will make opposing defensive coordinators stay up late figuring out a way to stop him.
He also brings a strong winning veteran pressence to a somewhat
young and hungry Lansing team.
When Darrel is on his 'A' game, he is as good as anyone out there in
the league.
We feel like the trade for Darrell Logan, coupled with getting our top receiver Mercury Bridges back in a few weeks, will make for a fun season in Lansing.
We enjoyed our time talking with you, and look forward to the rest of this season.
Over to R00k, GM of the Norfolk Vipers:
Q. Did you have much interest in Logan and did any other team come close to matching Lansing's offer for him?
Interest was extremely high.
I had to delete messages from my mailbox to keep up with the traffic.
The chat line in the draft room came in handy as well. Negotiations started right after the initial posting in the afternoon and continued until the wee early morning hours.
There were serious offers made by almost all of the suitors.
As for the winning bid, Lansing's offer was comparable to one which they had received for their WR Bernard Strong from WV a season or so ago.
Coincidentally, Strong and Logan were draft mates and it was Strong that set WV on a championship course.
I cannot speak for Jason, Lansing's GM, but I believe he understands the value of such a receiver in the right system and was willing to go the extra mile to have such a receiver back on his team.
Q. Just how good a receiver is Logan, perhaps in comparison to wideouts in the rest of the IFL?
Logan is and can be as good as WV's Shaw or Lawrence's Greene or Tulsas Albrickson or Andrews.
In his defense, he did not get those gaudy numbers in Norfolk because he was not used in the same way as those other wideouts.
As an explanation:
So it probably could be said that we squandered his talents as he became somewhat of a decoy and I was not prepared or had the know-how to change offensive schemes.
Q. How did his teamates react to the news? Cavazos must be disappointed?
The team has made the playoffs for the last five years ... but have been "one and done" in each of those playoff campaigns.
Given this track record and the pathetic performance against
So, with rook's new mood of a rebuild in the front office, shock is rampant in the
Everybody is on edge and Cavazos himself knows that he is not immune from the finger being pointed at him either.
Q. How well do you expect him to do in
I think he has a bright future in
It seems that the National Conference has more of the elite receivers and such passing attacks are a way of life over there.
Reaction around the league was fairly mixed:
One GM stated:
"Big trade. Somewhat surprising but fair value for both teams.
Timing for each makes perfect sense.
Flawless Victory all around!!"
Another was more shocked by an earlier trade:
Getting Bruce a target was a must for
They did the right thing here.
I was kind of more shocked that
A 2nd sure, but a 1st?
Keith is a stud and young. But a 1st?"
Not all GM’s felt the trade was a good one for
"Two firsts and two seconds for a 7 year vet that has barely two 1000 yard seasons?
I thought this was the IFL not
One GM was unsure it was even a good trade for either team:
“I think it was too early for a trade like this to go down.
Yet another GM had this to say:
“Big price but he has big potential on the right team.
If the Ogres miss the playoffs the price will have been too much, but if he makes the difference then the Ogres have made the right decision.
A guy like Bruce is too good to have no weapons.
I applaud Jason's gutsy decision.”
You might ask what is Unlocked’s take on the deal?
Well, the Ogres needed a no1 wideout….period.
They don’t grow on trees and are notoriously difficult to acquire in the IFL.
You get what you pay for in this life.
He is a relatively young top 10 receiver and immediately boosts the Ogres offense up to the next level.
He’ll keep Bruce happy and take the pressure off Ward.
Does
On the face of it, the gut reaction is maybe not.
We don’t think any other team offered what
However, if he gets his new team over the hump and making a playoff run, then it’s hard to argue against the deal.
If
This could well be one of those win – win situations.
Trade Bulletin - part 2
Like buses, no sooner has one big deal gone through then another one hits the Commissioner’s fax machine.
Elite DT Damon Ellard left the Vipers to return to the team that drafted him, the LA Matadors.
LA sent their 2023 2nd rd and 2024 1st rd picks to
Ellard is into his 7th year as a pro and has been voted All-League twice.
He is a big, old fashioned, space filling NT weighing in at 313lbs and 6’03ft tall.
A leader and a mentor, Ellard can match up against the best O-line men in the business.
He is known as a nasty son of a gun and is equally adept at collapsing the pocket from the inside as he is at stuffing the run.
Nobody pressures the middle quite like the Bulldozer.
Q: Are you pleased with the value you got and were any other teams in the bidding?
There were at least six teams in the hunt for
One other team was from
I never really talked directly with GM Hoosier on this trade. He just responded to the BLYE LIGHT special that was advertised.
Ellard had better ratings than
A big guy like Ellard, with his skill set, clogs up the middle and makes things happen for your other players.
He may or may get the big pass rush numbers from season to season.
If he doesn't one year, some one else will, I assure you.
I remember when we picked up Ellard ... he stayed on Los Angeles block for a long time ... so I offered a first, second and a replacement DT and that was good enough at that time.
One year later, I am pleased that we got back most of our investment.
As for the huge cap we lost, that really is not an issue for a team that is rebuilding.
The salary that is saved on Ellard next year will pay for the lost cap. Chinese dollars in my opinion.
Q:You have a nice pile of future draft picks now.
What are going to be the team's priorities in the rebuild?
Wow ... a tough question especially since the draft class is not published.
I have a starting nucleus of younger players on the defensive side of the ball that needs a little supplemental help.
Offense needs a total rehaul, starting with the line.
The winning strategy will probably be to take the best player available ... or if I see some stud that I just have to have ... move up and throw some draft picks at him.
Q:Of the two big trades, which player (Ellard or Logan) do you see as having the biggest immediate impact for his new team?
That is not a fair question in that they are two different types of players.
Ellard was the bully but a quiet leader that supported the rest of the defensive squad.
His impact cannot be measured in his individual numbers but of the whole defensive squads' improvement.
So, in all honesty, I think both will have immediate impact and in their own way.
Q:Can I ask you for a quick word on the Bauer trade to
Wow, those trade discussions were all over the board.
In a surprise, they shifted their attention to Bauer who was not on the block.
I had purposely left him off mostly because of his mentor skills for some new receiver blood I hope to get.
I also felt his skill set would be there long term as well.
Well,
From what I see, he will blend in real well with their existing receiving corps and I wish him well.
Over to LA for Hoosier’s take on business:
Q: How does Damon feel to be coming home to LA?
A: Well, I hope he feels damn glad about it, I know I am. I really didn't want to let the guy go in the first place. He adds to our defense...our d line is serviceable without him, but with him we're a hell of a lot better.
Q: Can you re-examine the first trade with Ellard going to
A: We sent Ellard to Norfolk for their first round pick in the 2021 draft, and the second round pick in the 2022 draft, and picked up a good defensive tackle in Clayton.
Clayton doesn't have the endurance of Ellard, but he is a good nickle and dime contributor since he's such a strong pass rusher.
The first and the second we gained in the trade went to
It was the reason we sent Ellard to
So we gained a franchise quarterback and a very strong pass rushing specialist at the defensive tackle spot.
Ellard's year in
Q: Looking at the recent
A: For me, it's about right.
I wanted the guy back, I drafted him and he was an All Star on our roster, so it's kinda nice to get him back.
And he's a Fan Favorite - we're still trying to improve our attendance.
It is especially nice that
That's a plus.
I really don't look at other trades much... in my opinion if you watch what other people do and how they place priorities on their trades, you're not really rolling the dice.
You've got to be yourself and manage your team.
If you're watching other people, then you restrict yourself and your options.
We're all different flavors and that's what makes a good league.
If we all traded the same way, where's the fun?
And I'm damn tired of missing out on the playoffs.
If you sit on the sidelines watching
Something's gotta give if we want to unseat
Well, that's all for this edition.
With Newark pushing out some big names on the trade wire, we might be talking trade again next week.
Until then, keep it here for all the IFL news.
Comment