1960 Free Agency
Making a Return
After being selected 1st overall in the 1953 NAAF draft, QB Lee Rogers was unable to deliver at the level that was expected of him. In fact, his play was so messy that he was traded after two seasons and then cut the next season. He shifted his focus and moved on to play for the Baltimore Lancers of the ACFL. He still struggled to get starts in the first year and it appeared that he was going to become frustrated once again, but he took some advice from the people in Baltimore instead. Over the next few seasons, Rogers worked his way up to the starting role and got Baltimore to a playoff spot. However, with his contract up this season, he thought about his options. In the end, with LB Gideon Jura, and others talking about the issues within the ACFL, he decided to look back into the NAAF. While there were several teams interested in bringing Lee Rogers to their team. It was GM Virgil Gross of Montreal who ended up reeling in the QB. Gross is skeptical of QB Stanislav Ovechkin and thought that bringing in Rogers for competition would be a good idea. Rogers very realistically gets some action this season, pretty much unless Ovechkin finds himself playing with the best of the best.
Devonshire to Providence, Alston to Worcester
RB Marcus Devonshire was this year’s edition of players leaving the crumbling Athletics squad. The veteran RB certainly still has a few years to give and wanted to be starting this year. Providence provided that opportunity, and Devonshire signed a 3-year deal worth $24,000 a season. Devonshire will come into Providence being probably the best RB the team has had still in the prime of their career. Of course, the Gold Stars would make another move involving last year’s starting RB Bernard Alston. Alston struggled with ball security and consistency, and a change of scenery might be the best thing. The Gold Stars would send him to Worcester in exchange for DB Denis Kirchner. Kirchner hasn’t been exactly what the Athletics wanted and with the other DB’s on their roster, he was expendable. Providence certainly needs the help on their back end and Kirchner will likely get a lot of snaps for the Gold Stars this season.
Overall Free Agency Recap
There were a few QB’s moving around this season. The biggest name was Lee Rogers, but QB Terry Bourbon, QB Oscar Rigano, and QB Brian Meadows were all hot topics. Bourbon would end up going to Worcester to back up QB Gene Bishop, but with Bishop’s struggles, Bourbon may get an opportunity. The Royals would bring in QB Oscar Rigano, while Brian Meadows would end up heading to Long Island to backup QB Lyle Painter. The other interesting names would be QB Rigobert St-Hilaire going to Providence and QB Andrew Sexton landing in Indiana to potentially fight for a starting job.
As for the running backs, RB Lawrence Sharp would return to Worcester with a chance to fight RB Bernard Alston and RB Leo Ravelli for the starting job. RB Armondo Amaro would make the shift to Louisville to provide that team with an interesting RB that can throw. RB Timothy Weeks would land in Ottawa to round out that core group.
WR Marqués Gardner would make the move to Boston to provide the Independents with more WR depth, while former Independent’s WR Angus Stevenson would land in Indiana to become a part of a very bright young WR core. DL Sam Laframboise would make the shift over to Louisville to add to their DL. DB Amos King would land in Indiana with S Marc-Antoine Marchand heading to Montreal to backup youngster S Garet deVale.
The Virgil Gross Effect
There were 4 trades during the rest of the offseason and the only one not to have Montreal’s Virgil Gross involved was the RB Bernard Alston trade between the Gold Stars and Athletics. They would start with acquiring depth pieces from the London Tigers. WR Mickey Auger and LB Harvey Phillips are 26 and 24 respectively and should be good long term depth options for the team. In exchange for the two, the Tigers would receive their old DB Louie White who is likely in his final season and a 1961 4th Rounder. The Tigers mainly made the deal to open up roster spots for rookies, WR Russell Wilcox and LB Gideon Jura.
The final trade was the smallest with the Rouge acquiring RB Pierre LeStrange for the second time in the NAAF. They would send the Blue Wings a 1962 4th rounder for the RB which may become a 3rd Rounder if Montreal uses LeStrange for 4 starts this season. Like London, the Blue Wings were looking to make space for younger talent and would bring up RB Jimmy Golden and RB Cody Barnes to fill out the run-game behind RB Johnnie Stafford.
Top 15 Free Agents
BONUS - QB Lee Rogers - MTL - 1Y, $17,500
1 - RB Marcus Devonshire - WOR -> PRO - 3Y, $24,000
2 - QB Terry Bourbon - BOS -> WOR - 2Y, $15,500
3 - RB Lawrence Sharp - LOU -> WOR - 2Y, $14,500
4 - QB Oscar Rigano - MTL -> OTT - 2Y, $13,000
5 - RB Armondo Amaro - LI -> LOU - 2Y, $13,000
6 - WR Angus Stevenson - BOS -> IND - 3Y, $17,500
7 - QB Brian Meadows - OTT -> LI - 2Y, $15,000
8 - DL Sam Laframboise - MTL -> LOU - 2Y, $17,500
9 - WR Marqués Gardner - WOR -> BOS - 1Y, $10,000
10 - S Marc-Antoine Marchand - LDN -> MTL - 2Y, $12,000
11 - QB Rigobert St-Hilaire - MTL -> PRO - 2Y, $15,000
12 - RB Timothy Weeks - LDN -> OTT - 1Y, $13,500
13 - DB Amos King - LDN -> IND - 3Y, $15,000
14 - QB Andrew Sexton - MTL -> IND - 1Y, $12,000
15 - K Nathaniel King - LDN - Unsigned
Undrafted Free Agents (Signed to Reserve Rosters)
S Jay Shephard -> WOR
RB Wesley Foreman -> IND
LB Ben Jenkins -> LOU
DL Bart Samson -> MTL
QB Des Midget -> LI
DL Dion Johnson -> PRO
OL Jim Denison -> BUF
OL Doug Dix -> OTT
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