BRUTUS
The big film room at the Bluecat practice complex was as familiar to Brutus as his own living room. In fact, for roughly six months out of the year, he spent more time in one of the fold-down movie theater type seats than he did his own living room. He even had 'his' seat, the leftmost seat on the second row.
From there, he'd dissected hundreds of offenses, and broke down blocking schemes and quarterbacks. He'd watch and rewatch films on these men, learning the way they moved, the way they positioned their bodies, the way they fought on the football field. By the end of each week, he felt he knew the men better than their own wives and children.
But as the film rolled by on the screen that morning, replaying clips from last year, he was distracted and he knew it. If Coach Pugh had called on him to even say what game of the year the film was from, he couldn't have told him.
He was distracted because of Linda. He'd gotten three texts from her the day before, two at around lunch time saying she had a mission and replying to his text, and a final one at around eight o'clock saying she was going to be out of touch for a few days, and might need to e-mail instead of text.
That was it.
No location where she was going, no mission, no information about how long she might be gone.
Just three texts. There was no update this morning, and now as he sat watching clips go by on the screen in front of him, he didn't know what to think. His thumb hovered over his phone, checking for notifications every few minutes, even though he knew there wouldn't be any.
"Brutus… hey, Brutus!" Coach Pugh called, jerking Brutus back into the moment. There was a point to all of this film right now, and Brutus had been called into the film room for a specific purpose. "You with us?"
"Yeah Coach." Brutus focused on the film.
It was last year's game against Chicago, one of his better performances despite having zero sacks. The defense had hemmed in Chicago's dual threat quarterback, and Grapefruit had returned a fumble all the way to the Chicago two yard line.
Even the Bluecat offense couldn't be stopped with that much of a gimmie.
"Good, because I've heard from the coaching staff and the bean counters upstairs," Coach Pugh said. "Now, Coach Huffman says that we need to hold off on drafting anything on the defensive side until at least the third round. He says that we're strong enough on defense, and we need to use every dollar we can under the cap to improve our offense. What do you say?"
Brutus considered what he knew of the upcoming draft, and the players currently available in free agency.
"We could use more strength in the middle," Brutus said. "Coach, what's the name of that kid out of Colorado, Richert or something?"
"Riker," Coach Huffman, who was the Bluecat defensive coordinator, said. "You think he'd help?"
"He's exactly what our defense needs," Brutus said. "Jerome's solid, but quarterbacks know they can take their time in the pocket against him. Riker would change that completely."
"The guy's only six-two," Huffman, who was a former defensive lineman himself, said. "Not going to be blocking many passes from someone like Horne."
"Having a strong presence in the middle changes everything," Brutus explained. "It makes every position on our defense more effective. Quarterbacks get nervous, receivers run sloppy routes, and our outside guys face fewer double teams."
"We'll see," Coach Pugh said. "Next up, I talked with John Mathers this morning. He wants a trade."
"What?" Brutus growled, sitting up.
He wasn't best of friends with John Mathers, the man was a flashy blowhard in the third year of his rookie contract. But he was a good cornerback, who was able to play both slot receivers and tight ends well.
"Why?"
"He thinks he's worth ten million a year, and wants to ink a long term deal ASAP," Coach Pugh said. "When I told him no nickel in the league was getting ten million a year, he said he wanted to be traded."
"Damn," Brutus grumbled, cracking his knuckles together.
Mathers was a blowhard, but he wasn't usually this stupid. Something must have been up with him to make him try to jump and bite on a long term contract now.
"Let me go talk to him, Coach. He's still on his rookie contract, right?"
"Yeah. We could franchise him after next season if we want to, but?—"
"If I can't talk some sense into him, I'd rather get what we can in a trade for him," Brutus said. "This team's about loyalty. We need guys who want to be here, who understand what we're building."
"He's right, Coach," Grapefruit, who was there to represent the defensive backs, said. "The way the rules are now, we need pressure up front. Our secondary can only cover for so long before flags start flying."
