Wow. What a blur yesterday was. The Cardinals trade WR Anquan Boldin and then learn that LB Karlos Dansby and FS Antrel Rolle have signed lucrative FA contracts with the Dolphins and Giants respectively.
The question is, why are these high profile players so eager to leave Arizona?
I think I can sum it up in two words: Calvin Pace.
When the Cardinals players a couple of years ago saw what Calvin Pace got on the FA market, after only putting together one solid season in Arizona, it flabbergasted the players and it whetted their FA imaginations.
This occurred before the Cardinals became a highly visible playoff and Super Bowl contender.
There's quite an allure for players to be smash FA hits, especially first day hits and Dansby and Rolle and even Boldin (seeing as he signed a 4 year deal asap after the trade) cashed in big-time. Apparently, starting with Calvin Pace and follwed up last year by the lucrative FA signing of DE Antonio Smith, Cardinal players are a big hit on the market.
The frustrating thing for the Cardinals' FO is that the Ravens, Dolphins and Giants managed to do in mere hours what the Cardinals had been trying to do for three years. It also appears that the Cardinals last-ditch offers were similar to the deals Dansby and Rolle signed. But, re-signing with the old cub as a hot shot marquis UFA is not sexy...not in the least.
Before we move on, I think of the three players, Anquan Boldin will have the most impact and will be the most successful. For one, he has the sheer physical and mental toughness that the other two don't have, and for two he got matched with the perfect team. Those fans will revere and idolize him. Plus, his contract is fair.
However, both Dansby and Rolle are going to have to play with the weight of their exorbitant contracts squarely on their shoulders....and they are going to have to do so under the kind of intense media and fan scrutiny that they have never been subjected to in the cozy shadows of the University of Phoenix stadium. Bill Parcells expects 100% commitment and toughness and maximum production and so do the Giants.
What's curious is that Dansby doesn't really fit the mold of a Parcellsian LB and he isn't going to be able to play in a tuxedo the way he did in Arizona. And, Antrel Rolle only started to warm up to the FS position this year, and yet he is now the highest paid safety in the NFL.
When you look at it from these angles, the Cardinals are better off moving ahead without them.
So here are the positives for the Cardinals as they move ahead:
1. When you look at the rest of the NFC West, none of the other teams landed DE Julius Peppers. I thought Pete Carroll would have liked to make this signing his first major splash, especially in light of how needy the Seahawks are suddenly for pass rushers.
Now there's talk that the Seahawks will give up their #6 pick to sign RFA WR Brandon Marshall. While Marshall is one of the best WRs in the NFL when he's healthy and in the right frame of mind, there still are major questions as to who is going to get him the ball, and by giving up the #6 pick the Seahawks will not be in a position to draft Sam Bradford or Jimmy Clausen. I say this is very good news if it indeed happens. Plus, we have a CB in DRC who can outrun and outquick Marshall.
In SF, they are courting QB David Carr and FS Matt Ware. Fine by me on both counts.
In STL, they signed QB A.J. Feeley, who has played so little in his career it's hard to know whether he will be able to wrest the starting job away from whomever else is on the roster.
Thus, after day one, even though the Cardinals lost three of their better players, they suddenly have an enormous purse of money to move ahead with, and by adding an extra third and fourth round pick, now have excellent draft flexibility to be able to draft both the BPA when given the opportunity and draft for need when BPA and need are a match.
And as someone at ASFN (please remind me who you are, you deserve the credit for sure) pointed out, the added picks may enable the Cardinals to consider signing a couple of RFAs if that's what they wish to do.
2. What's reasonable to expect is that the Cardinals should be able to sign several lower level (sub $3.7M per year) UFAs to fill immediate needs with veteran experience. LB Larry Foote would be a solid addition and would allow the Cardinals to bring along a draft pick behind him until the player is ready to start. LB Akin Ayodele who was released by the Dolphins yesterday is an excellent pass defender in the 3-4, and a solid tackler. He would not command more than $3.7M on the market. The Dolphins also released FS Gibril Wilson, who has talent and may be perfect for Matt Ware's role.
The Patriots showed a few years back that adding solid role players in free agency to mix in with the established players on the roster is often a very effective plan.
3. It was also good news for the Cardinals that Karlos Dansby signed right away because it now gives them the opportunity to sign two players to contracts that average more than $5.5M per year.
This would enable the Cardinals to pick up a starting FS such as Darren Sharper or Ryan Clark and an edge pass rusher such as Aaron Kampman or Joey Porter.
4. As for the draft, I was playing with some of the names that i saw on several of the mock drafts and here are a few that stood out.
The first one is the 7 round mock at NFLDraftsite...and get this, they have predicted this year's compensatory picks and they have the Cardinals receiving a 5th and a 7th. I know this may contradict the speculation on the board, but it's interesting that by their calculations the Cardinals would have a 5th round pick after all. They also predict, interestingly enough, that Baltimore will be receiving a third and a fourth...which essentially means they may not be void of picks in those rounds either. BTW, these comp picks have been on there a while...well before yesterday's trade.
Thus in using the players who were available on their mock at the spots where the Cardinals pick, I took the players that I thought were the best available:
#26-Dan Williams, DT, Tennessee/Kyle Wilson, CB, Boise St.
#58-Sean Weatherspoon, LB, Missouri/Eric Norwood, LB, South Carolina
#88-Akwasi Owusu-Ansuh, CB,/Mike Johnson, G, Alabama
#89-Jordan Shipley, WR, Texas/Erik Decker, WR, Minnesota
#124-J.D. Walton, C, Baylor/Harry Coleman, S, SU
#125-Dennis Pitta, TE, Utah/Micah Johnson, LB Kentucky
#166-Brandon Lang, DE, Troy/Robert Johnson, S, Utah
#198-John Skelton, QB, Fordham/Mike Kafka, QB, Northwestern
#237-Donald Butler, LB, Washington/Mike McLaughlin, LB, Boston College
#250-Trindan Holliday, KR/WR, LSU/Robert Vaughn, S, Connecticut
What's cool is that in both the third (#88,#89) and fourth rounds (#124, #125 app.) the Cardinals have back to back picks. Our minds are going to be racing a mile a minute thinking of the possibilities and combinations along with Mel and Mikey Mayock.
