After Sims, Tony left offers for four other players, DeMingo Graham, Lonnie Marts, Fakhir Brown, and Willie Whitehead.

At this time there was only one more trade to make before the day ended.

"Mr. Vermeil, how are you doing?"

"I"m doing well Mr. White, how can I help you?"

"I"m looking to do a trade. Seems I"m short a DE here and I was seeing if you could help."

"Who you looking at?"

There were multiple ways Tony could go with this, trying to pay high and get one of the starting DE or take one of their backups.

Granted Kevin Carter would go on to be first team all pro in 1999 he wasn"t available for trade.

"I"m looking at Leonard Little."

Paper was heard turning as d.i.c.k tried to find the name in the list.

"I"ll offer a fifth round."

"Can"t do that, we got at a third I would expect to break even."

"No way I can do that, I already traded away a second and third for Hines Ward."

"You got a second to give."

"Not easily and there is no way I"m trading it for a player I know nothing about."

"Let"s meet in the middle at a fourth."

"d.i.c.k, stop trying to screw me here. We both know a fifth-round pick is a more than fair deal." Tony internally sighed as that phrase left his mouth. If this was years later that clip would be replayed for the rest of his coaching career.

"You see something in him."

"I see nothing, there is too little film to see anything. If the film was all I cared for I would be asking about Kevin Carter because boy is he a star."

"First rounder next year and he is all yours."

"I"ll stay where we started, a fifth-round pick for Leonard Little."

Vermeil was silent as he contemplated the trade, a slow rhythmic tapping heard from his end.

"I"ll get back to you Roy."

"Take your time." Tony hung up the phone and went into the war room to find most of the coaches sitting around and talking about schemes for the season.

"Hey, I"ll be quick guys. I have a few updates for the players. I"ve made calls to free agents and had a trade with Pittsburgh for Hines Ward. Along with being in talks with St. Louis for a DE."

Palmer was the one to answer for everyone, "What"s the list of free agents?"

"Barry Sims T, Terrence Wilkins WR, DeMingo Graham G, Willie Whitehead DE, Fakhir Brown CB, and Lonnie Marts LB."

Palmer nodded and turned back to the coaches to continue talking plays. It had become obvious to them arguing with Roy would be a waste of time and get them nowhere.

Tony didn"t stay and went back to his office to waste time. Now it comes down to motivation, all the trades had been offered and there wasn"t much else he could do. Sure he could go calling up coaches about trade picks but there weren"t that many players he wanted/needed. Then he would also need to start worrying about cap s.p.a.ce. Right now it was a non-issue but the more star players he began looking at the more of a problem it would face. What made it a current non-issue was most of the players were on rookie contracts.

---

He continued to sit around in his office is constant boredom waiting for Vermeil to call him back, in modern days he would have taken out his phone and played on it but there weren"t many apps now a day and with the flashing screen saying came over it seemed Tony wasn"t good at Tetris.

To save him from his problem the office phone rang, "h.e.l.lo?"

"h.e.l.lo, Roy it"s d.i.c.k. I"m calling back about the Leonard trade."

"Yes, last we spoke it was a.s.sumed to be a fifth-round pick."

"Yes, and we have agreed here that is a fair offer."

"It"s been a pleasure, d.i.c.k."

"Have a good season."

"You as well."

Another problem solved. On paper, this team looked play-off worthy so long as they played in their prime which they wouldn"t. They were young and inexperienced but within a few years, they would be a force to be reckoned with.

With there now being nothing to do Tony looked out the window and saw it was maybe a little past 3 judging by the sun and the clock not far away.

He did a little organizing on his way out but was more in a rush for lunch. It was nothing big and took a sandwich from a streetside vendor. He sat around in a park and simply took in the nature of the city, something he had been doing a lot since arriving. It was all too new to him, he grew up in the middle of rural Pennsylvania and now being thrown into the middle of Cleveland was a shock.

The rest of the day pa.s.sed by in a flash as nothing eventful happened. The only thing of note would be Tony decided to shop for grocery following lunch.

With a cigarette in hand and himself sat on the lone matress Tony rubbed his face. "I"m almost there. This season has not even started but my blood is pumping more than imaginable and my nerves are on high alert."

He tossed his cigarette in an empty beer bottle and fell asleep. His thoughts never drifting back to his original life.