conraddobler
I want my 2$
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http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news?slug=freeagentsatlas&prov=cnnsi&type=lgns
It can't be easy to be the Arizona Cardinals these days. Before Wednesday, they had to be wondering if their money was green and their breath was bad. Or vice versa.
In the opening weeks of free agency, despite all their wining and dining, the red-carpet treatment and the rented limos, they were the ones who got taken for a ride in the end. It's enough to give you a complex about your team complex.
Flush with cash and willing to throw it around this offseason, the Cardinals have been begging, pleading and inviting somebody to pick their pocket. Finally, on Wednesday, the lucky 13th day of free agency, they found a few soft touches, signing four players: Tampa Bay free safety Dexter Jackson, the reigning Super Bowl MVP; journeyman Baltimore quarterback Jeff Blake; Rams fullback James Hodgins; and Jets linebacker James Darling.
But until those breakthroughs, every visit from a free agent -- and there have been about 10 of them so far -- had ended up the same way. The Cardinals would welcome their guest with open arms and an open wallet, only to find another player with a closed mind about coming to Arizona.
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For a team that had about 28 million reasons to be loved at the start of business on Wednesday, Arizona remains one of the loneliest outposts in the NFL. Things have been so bad for the down-on-their-luck Cardinals of late that they even lost one free agent to the Bengals. Does it get more demoralizing than that?
Arizona had tried everything but flashing a little leg at free-agent prospects, and still the results were nonexistent. With a league-high $28.4 million of cap room to play with before Wednesday's four deals, they weren't just bidding for players, they were out-bidding their competitors in free agency, sometimes by millions. But it wasn't enough.
You got the feeling that if Cardinals head coach Dave McGinnis decided to unwind in Las Vegas this weekend, his blackjack bets might not have been taken seriously.
"I understand the frustrations of some of our fans," Rod Graves, the team's new vice president of football operations told the Arizona Republic on Tuesday after the team lost out on Bears linebacker Rosevelt Colvin, who signed with New England.
"We can't twist arms to have people accept our deals, even when they are the best offers made to them. I would certainly have liked to have had several players in place and enjoy conversations about the new players under contract, but that hasn't happened."
For his part, McGinnis has maintained his characteristic upbeat demeanor, even in the face of so many defections and disappointments. It'd be easy for him to throw his own pity party and bemoan his many losses. But given his nature, it'd be about as likely as the Cardinals selling out Sun Devil Stadium in 2003.
"I know what some of the outside perceptions are," McGinnis said Wednesday, shortly after Arizona got some rare good news with the signings of Jackson, Hodgins, Blake and Darling. "And when you lose guys, it hurts. But I stay extremely positive in all of this. I'm not anywhere near the ranks of being frustrated. It's not on my radar screen to be concerned about what's not happening. I just keep working on what can be done."
In signing four veterans on Wednesday, the Cardinals took a step in the right direction.
"I'm not going to sit stationary with this thing under my feet," McGinnis said. "We're going to move. We're going to keep going."
But there remains plenty that needs doing. Even with the Cardinals' belated signing spree, it has been a gloomy offseason in the Valley of the Sun. Here are some of the lowlights:
The Cardinals lost their starting quarterback, Jake Plummer, and their No. 1 receiver, David Boston, via free agency on the same day, receiving absolutely zilch in return for a pair of players who were the franchise's biggest stars. How does that happen?
Colvin, Arizona's top priority in free agency, said thanks, but no thanks, spurning a signing bonus of about $13 million from the Cardinals to take less than $10 million from New England.
Highly regarded Titans defensive tackle John Thornton visited Arizona last Friday, let the Cardinals buy him a nice meal or two, then promptly signed with Cincinnati that night.
Steelers quarterback Kordell Stewart came to town, received a nice $3 million per year offer to replace Plummer, but then proceeded to keep the Cardinals on a string of sorts, waiting to see if his first choice, Chicago, upped the ante. With Blake's arrival, Stewart is no longer a possibility.
The Cardinals made offers to or visited with Packers defensive end Vonnie Holliday and 49ers defensive end Chike Okeafor, without landing either one.
And Arizona persuaded Jackson not to sign with Pittsburgh, his first choice, by paying him $9.5 million in the first three years of the five-year, $14 million deal -- or $2.5 million more than the Steelers were willing to fork out in the same span. Otherwise, Jackson was going, going and almost gone.
Even Graves has admitted that the team's history of failure means the Cardinals have to overwhelm a potential free agent, not just woo him on an equal footing with the other 31 NFL teams. Arizona believed it was in the driver's seat to land Colvin, a headline free agent who could have taken some of the sting out of Plummer's and Boston's departures, and was dumbfounded when his agent called late Monday to inform the organization that Colvin had no desire to play for a team in the West.
So what was Colvin's free-agent visit to Arizona all about? Good question. Rest assured the Cardinals know a cop-out excuse when they hear one. What Colvin couldn't bring himself to say, of course, was that he wasn't up for signing on with a perennial loser.
"I know we're targeting the right people," McGinnis said. "And we want people who want to be here. But there are 31 other teams out there trying to get good people, too. You bring them in, and you're honest and straightforward with them, and tell them what you're trying to accomplish. I try not to get more complicated than that."
But unfortunately for McGinnis, who along with Graves has the respect of many throughout the league, things are always more complicated than they appear for his Cardinals. After its surprising 4-2 start last season, Arizona went belly-up amid a rash of injuries, losing nine of its last 10 games to finish 5-11. And then, with Plummer's and Boston's exits, the losses kept right on coming this offseason.
Here's another reason the Cardinals find it so difficult to attract free agents: Most of them know McGinnis has just two years remaining on his contract, meaning he's probably another 5-11 season away from being a candidate for unemployment. With no veteran starting quarterback candidate until Blake arrived Wednesday, no No. 1 receiver and only one truly frontline addition so far, Arizona's situation isn't going to draw free agents like moths to a light.
On Thursday, the Cardinals will welcome to Tempe the highest-profile free-agent visitor in club history: Emmitt Smith. The former Cowboys running back and the NFL's all-time leading rusher is starting his free-agency shopping with a trip to Arizona.
Though Smith repeatedly has said he would like to carry the ball for a Super Bowl contender and probably hopes the Cardinals are nothing more than his fallback plan, McGinnis says they'll be in there swinging for the fences, unafraid of getting no for an answer.
After all, they've gotten used to it. Coming from Smith, one of the game's legendary names, it might not even feel like rejection. Let's face it, the Cardinals have been turned down by lesser men. Quite a few of them. And that was just last week.
Don Banks covers pro football for SI.com.
Overall more gloomy than it really needs to be but it's like turning around an aircraft carrier. It takes time and space to do I think a few more things and we might get some more positive media coverage.
It can't be easy to be the Arizona Cardinals these days. Before Wednesday, they had to be wondering if their money was green and their breath was bad. Or vice versa.
In the opening weeks of free agency, despite all their wining and dining, the red-carpet treatment and the rented limos, they were the ones who got taken for a ride in the end. It's enough to give you a complex about your team complex.
Flush with cash and willing to throw it around this offseason, the Cardinals have been begging, pleading and inviting somebody to pick their pocket. Finally, on Wednesday, the lucky 13th day of free agency, they found a few soft touches, signing four players: Tampa Bay free safety Dexter Jackson, the reigning Super Bowl MVP; journeyman Baltimore quarterback Jeff Blake; Rams fullback James Hodgins; and Jets linebacker James Darling.
But until those breakthroughs, every visit from a free agent -- and there have been about 10 of them so far -- had ended up the same way. The Cardinals would welcome their guest with open arms and an open wallet, only to find another player with a closed mind about coming to Arizona.
ADVERTISEMENT
For a team that had about 28 million reasons to be loved at the start of business on Wednesday, Arizona remains one of the loneliest outposts in the NFL. Things have been so bad for the down-on-their-luck Cardinals of late that they even lost one free agent to the Bengals. Does it get more demoralizing than that?
Arizona had tried everything but flashing a little leg at free-agent prospects, and still the results were nonexistent. With a league-high $28.4 million of cap room to play with before Wednesday's four deals, they weren't just bidding for players, they were out-bidding their competitors in free agency, sometimes by millions. But it wasn't enough.
You got the feeling that if Cardinals head coach Dave McGinnis decided to unwind in Las Vegas this weekend, his blackjack bets might not have been taken seriously.
"I understand the frustrations of some of our fans," Rod Graves, the team's new vice president of football operations told the Arizona Republic on Tuesday after the team lost out on Bears linebacker Rosevelt Colvin, who signed with New England.
"We can't twist arms to have people accept our deals, even when they are the best offers made to them. I would certainly have liked to have had several players in place and enjoy conversations about the new players under contract, but that hasn't happened."
For his part, McGinnis has maintained his characteristic upbeat demeanor, even in the face of so many defections and disappointments. It'd be easy for him to throw his own pity party and bemoan his many losses. But given his nature, it'd be about as likely as the Cardinals selling out Sun Devil Stadium in 2003.
"I know what some of the outside perceptions are," McGinnis said Wednesday, shortly after Arizona got some rare good news with the signings of Jackson, Hodgins, Blake and Darling. "And when you lose guys, it hurts. But I stay extremely positive in all of this. I'm not anywhere near the ranks of being frustrated. It's not on my radar screen to be concerned about what's not happening. I just keep working on what can be done."
In signing four veterans on Wednesday, the Cardinals took a step in the right direction.
"I'm not going to sit stationary with this thing under my feet," McGinnis said. "We're going to move. We're going to keep going."
But there remains plenty that needs doing. Even with the Cardinals' belated signing spree, it has been a gloomy offseason in the Valley of the Sun. Here are some of the lowlights:
The Cardinals lost their starting quarterback, Jake Plummer, and their No. 1 receiver, David Boston, via free agency on the same day, receiving absolutely zilch in return for a pair of players who were the franchise's biggest stars. How does that happen?
Colvin, Arizona's top priority in free agency, said thanks, but no thanks, spurning a signing bonus of about $13 million from the Cardinals to take less than $10 million from New England.
Highly regarded Titans defensive tackle John Thornton visited Arizona last Friday, let the Cardinals buy him a nice meal or two, then promptly signed with Cincinnati that night.
Steelers quarterback Kordell Stewart came to town, received a nice $3 million per year offer to replace Plummer, but then proceeded to keep the Cardinals on a string of sorts, waiting to see if his first choice, Chicago, upped the ante. With Blake's arrival, Stewart is no longer a possibility.
The Cardinals made offers to or visited with Packers defensive end Vonnie Holliday and 49ers defensive end Chike Okeafor, without landing either one.
And Arizona persuaded Jackson not to sign with Pittsburgh, his first choice, by paying him $9.5 million in the first three years of the five-year, $14 million deal -- or $2.5 million more than the Steelers were willing to fork out in the same span. Otherwise, Jackson was going, going and almost gone.
Even Graves has admitted that the team's history of failure means the Cardinals have to overwhelm a potential free agent, not just woo him on an equal footing with the other 31 NFL teams. Arizona believed it was in the driver's seat to land Colvin, a headline free agent who could have taken some of the sting out of Plummer's and Boston's departures, and was dumbfounded when his agent called late Monday to inform the organization that Colvin had no desire to play for a team in the West.
So what was Colvin's free-agent visit to Arizona all about? Good question. Rest assured the Cardinals know a cop-out excuse when they hear one. What Colvin couldn't bring himself to say, of course, was that he wasn't up for signing on with a perennial loser.
"I know we're targeting the right people," McGinnis said. "And we want people who want to be here. But there are 31 other teams out there trying to get good people, too. You bring them in, and you're honest and straightforward with them, and tell them what you're trying to accomplish. I try not to get more complicated than that."
But unfortunately for McGinnis, who along with Graves has the respect of many throughout the league, things are always more complicated than they appear for his Cardinals. After its surprising 4-2 start last season, Arizona went belly-up amid a rash of injuries, losing nine of its last 10 games to finish 5-11. And then, with Plummer's and Boston's exits, the losses kept right on coming this offseason.
Here's another reason the Cardinals find it so difficult to attract free agents: Most of them know McGinnis has just two years remaining on his contract, meaning he's probably another 5-11 season away from being a candidate for unemployment. With no veteran starting quarterback candidate until Blake arrived Wednesday, no No. 1 receiver and only one truly frontline addition so far, Arizona's situation isn't going to draw free agents like moths to a light.
On Thursday, the Cardinals will welcome to Tempe the highest-profile free-agent visitor in club history: Emmitt Smith. The former Cowboys running back and the NFL's all-time leading rusher is starting his free-agency shopping with a trip to Arizona.
Though Smith repeatedly has said he would like to carry the ball for a Super Bowl contender and probably hopes the Cardinals are nothing more than his fallback plan, McGinnis says they'll be in there swinging for the fences, unafraid of getting no for an answer.
After all, they've gotten used to it. Coming from Smith, one of the game's legendary names, it might not even feel like rejection. Let's face it, the Cardinals have been turned down by lesser men. Quite a few of them. And that was just last week.
Don Banks covers pro football for SI.com.
Overall more gloomy than it really needs to be but it's like turning around an aircraft carrier. It takes time and space to do I think a few more things and we might get some more positive media coverage.
