Tuesday, Sept. 28, 2004 | 9:25 a.m.
Gladiators exposed for expansion draft:
The Las Vegas Gladiators will shuffle their crowded 2005 roster a bit during Wednesday's expansion draft for the Nashville Kats.
Las Vegas recently acquired Nashville's sixth and ninth overall selections in the draft, dealing away its choice in the upcoming dispersal draft for the defunct Carolina franchise. General manager Dan Dolby said Monday that the Gladiators plan to use their picks to acquire help at fullback and offensive line.
Getting help at those positions would allow Dolby to focus on other spots in free agency, including kicker and depth at the skill positions. Teams have been allowed to contact free agents since Sept. 1, but cannot sign players until Oct. 1.
"Our secondary and our specialists, we feel really good about," Dolby said.
The acquired picks could just be helping to replace players lost in the expansion draft, though. Teams were allowed to shield up to 16 players whose rights they control, and the Gladiators exposed nine players who can be selected.
For every Gladiator who is chosen, Las Vegas will be allowed to pull back another player from its exposed list. Existing teams can lose up to six players in the draft.
Notable among exposed Gladiators are cornerback T.J. Hill and receiver/ linebacker Maurice Bryant. Hill has been with the Gladiators since for two years and was the team's top defensive specialist last year until blowing out his knee at Georgia early in the season. If he is fully recovered from the injury, Hill may be one of the more attractive players in the draft.
"If they're willing to take the chance, T.J.'s a player who's proved himself," Dolby said.
Signed last offseason, Bryant served an important role in all facets of the game at times. He caught 34 passes for 349 yards and nine touchdowns, intercepted a pass and returned kicks for Las Vegas in 10 games. But his volatile personality earned him an ejection during the year and former head coach Frank Haege hinted at the end of the season that Bryant might not be brought back because of it.
Dolby said he does not know which of his exposed players are being looked at by either Nashville or Chicago, which acquired the first three picks in the draft Monday in exchange for two-time Arena Football League lineman of the year James Baron.
Dolby also said that giving up his dispersal draft pick, which was ninth overall, was not a hard choice considering the dearth of talent on Carolina's roster.
"There was nothing on their roster that we felt would benefit us," Dolby said
Live draft results will be posted Wednesday on the AFL's Web site at arenafootball.com.
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