ELF: 2024 Milano Seamen – A Roster Breakdown
By Michael Voitek
The Milano Seamen finished the 2023 European League of Football season with a disappointing 2-10 record and with a new man under center it will be interesting to see if this team can take a step forward or stay toward the back of the pack.
They have made a couple of interesting coaching moves bringing in veteran Jim Ward who was the defensive coordinator with the Helvetic Guards.
The splashiest signing they made on the coaching side though was adding former Super Bowl winning coach Jon Gruden as an advisor.
Let’s break down the roster
The Seamen feature 50 players with four American imports and six European imports.
Offense
Quarterback
The Seamen have lost Italian-American legend Luke Zahradka to the Frankfurt Galaxy and will look to replace his high passing output with Zachary Bronkhorst. While at Division II Angelo University, Bronkhorst threw for 49 touchdowns and over 6,000 yards. It will be tough to replace the great Zahradka, but the Seaman will look to start and finish strong with Bronkhorst.
Running Back
The Seamen will also have to try and replace their top rusher from last year in Ali Khalife. They went with a strategy that I am not a fan of in this league and used an A-import on running back Patrick Carr.
Now, Carr was a very high recruit to college and played high D-I ball at University of Colorado and Houston, before stints in the NFL and CFL, but this is a guy who has not played a lot of ball since his injury in college and using an A-import here could hurt this Seaman that struggled last year.
Wide Receiver
At wide receiver, the Seamen will need to make up a lot of production with the loss of Jean Constant. Constant had 823 yards in eight games last year and was a pure force in this league. The team has re-signed surprising star of the 2023 season Juan Flores Calderon. Calderon had 817 yards last year with nine touchdowns and will look to carry a large load this year. Tommy Wilson, a British wideout, will be one to look out for this year. The 22 year old has speed and shiftiness and should pair nicely with Calderon.
Offensive Line
Up front, the Seamen have lost a huge load in Lewis Thomas. Thomas was a second team all-star last year, and the Seamen took one of the more interesting routes to replace him, using three E-imports on Brazilian big men. They signed Leandro Fonesca, Murilo Machada Silva (Wroclaw Panthers), and Lucas Soares Da Silva. The great wall of Brazil will look to carry this team into 2024.
Defense
Defensive line
The Seamen were the absolute worst team on defense all last year, giving up a terrible 5,300 yards and 68 total touchdowns. To fix this, they will need to develop some sort of pass rush and I just don’t see it happening. The team decided not to use an A-import on the defensive line, but did use one E-import on another Brazilian, Gabriel Montagner.
Linebacker
The best signing this team has made is Zachary Blair in the linebacking corps. Blair had 73 tackles, 4 sacks, and 18 tackles for loss last year. He’s a game changing type player and he’ll need to be for this team.
Defensive back
In the defensive backfield, the team re-signed Marquise Manning, who was solid for them last year with three interceptions in eight games. To help him out, the team signed Maxime De Falcis, a veteran who has played all over Europe including with the Berlin Thunder.
Wrapping up
I’m not going to mince my words here, but I hate how the Seamen are looking coming into 2024. They lost great talent all over the offense and did not do enough in my opinion to strengthen the worst defense in the entire ELF last year. Unless Bronkhorst is an absolute revelation, expect this team to finish near the bottom of the league.
Offseason Grade: D
