Beef acquire 15 in trade with River City

With River City closing up shop last week, owner Jeff Sprowls wasn't about to let that talent go to waste and with confirmation of a 22-player deal, the Omaha Beef have just become the United Conference favorite.

The deal, which Sprowls confirmed to me this morning sent Joe Bevis, Ben Sankey, Paul Simpson, Darnell Terrell, Cornieules "Pig" Brown, Byron Jones, Daryon Bruteley, Ben Sankey, Luke McCardle, Randy Bell, Shawn Piper, Anthony Harris, Richard Birch, Joel Clinger and George Batiste to the Rage.

River City acquired Brent Hafford, Dorsey Golston, Harold Clewis, Zach Gradoville, Ricky Lebeda, Demitrius Wilbert, Johnnie Taylor in the deal that and were released, along with the rest of the Rage roster, on October 15.

The addition of "Pig" and Bevis alone provide the Beef with a huge upgrade on defense where they struggled at times last year, allowing nearly 47 points per outing.

On the offensive side, I see more negative than positive potentially coming out of this.

It is great to have a plethera of playmakers, but at some point players are going to get fustrated when balls don't come their way and may cause a rift in the locker room and with the amount of talent in the Beef locker room, there is not enough pigskin to go around.

Obviously we are a long way from seeing out it plays out -- all the players involved in the trade must sit out the first three games of the season according to league sources -- but as of now the Omaha Beef definatley have the look of a championship contender...

For more on the trade read the story in Thursday's Billings Gazette. (www.billingsgazette.com)