Cardinals "Mount Rushmore"

[BurqueCardFan]

SiriusXM Dog Day sports is doing a "Mount Rushmore" for all 32 teams. They have not done the NFC West yet, so I thought it would be interesting to see what everyone on here would say.
The rules are to pick four player from throughout the franchise history. 1 QB, 1 Offensive player, 1 defensive player and 1 "wild card" who could be anyone (i.e. player, coach, front office, etc..).
My Picks:
QB - Jim Hart (Thought about Warner but his tenure was such a short time)
Offense - Larry Fitz (Easy pick IMHO)
Defense - Aeneas Williams
Wild Card - Pat Tillman (Also thought about Warner here because that Superbowl run brought the franchise back to relevance).

Let's see your lists.

 

[Harry]

I’ll take Fitz & Williams but I’d add Larry Wilson & Jackie Smith.

 

[Cards Czar]

I’ll take Fitz & Williams but I’d add Larry Wilson & Jackie Smith.

I agree.

 

[GatorAZ]

Fitz
Aeneas
Kurt
<insert best St Louis Cardinal here>

 

[BigRedRage]

I have only watched intently for about 15 years.

1) fitz
2) Warner
3) Adrian Wilson
4) PAtrick peterson

I cant think of any player in the last 14 years that could supplant any of those players. Boldin is a close one for me. Palmer was really good but Warner took us to the bowl. Peterson is the best CB we have had since Aeneas williams and while I watched games as a little kid, I didnt know a ton of what I was watching. I know Aeneas is one of the best all time players but I am going 2000 and newer only.

 

[Dr. Jones]

Didn't we just do this?

 

[GuernseyCard]

Begins and ends with Hall of Fame members or soon to be..

Warner
Fitz
Aeneas
Wilson

* if PP21 makes it to the Hall he may displace one of the latter two.

 

[DVontel]

No mention of Chandler yet.

 

[Dr. Jones]

This has to be the list IMO:

Fitz - The greatest Cardinal ever.
Dierdorf - 5x 1st team all pro. 1x 2nd team. 6x pro bowl.
Aeneas - 4x 1st team all pro. 1x 2nd team. 8x pro bowl.
L. Wilson - 6x 1st team all-pro, 1x 2nd team. 75th and 100th NFL anniversary team. DPOY in 66. One of the greatest defensive players ever of ANY era.

Wehrli, Warner and Hart just outside looking in.

Pat shouldn't count. But name the stadium after him.

Chandler & Warner weren't/haven't been here long enough IMO.

 

[outcent13]

Josh Rosen, Leland McElroy, Lavar Fisher, and Darwin Walker.


Serious though, Larry, Kurt, Aeneas, and Pat Peterson.
I can see Chandler making this list with another good year or two.

 

[RON_IN_OC]

There can be no heads carved in stone list, without including Stoney Case!

 

[PACardsFan]

For starters, I would say that Lomax was better than Hart. If Lomax had Coryell around, God only knows how great he would have been. That being said, neither belong on the Cardinal Mount Rushmore. For me, only 2 are etched in stone (Larry Wilson & Fitz). Pardon the pun. My 4 would be:

1. Larry Wilson
2. Fitz
3. Jackie Smith
4. Aeneas

And I saw them all play in their primes.

 

[Garthshort]

For starters, I would say that Lomax was better than Hart. If Lomax had Coryell around, God only knows how great he would have been. That being said, neither belong on the Cardinal Mount Rushmore. For me, only 2 are etched in stone (Larry Wilson & Fitz). Pardon the pun. My 4 would be:

1. Larry Wilson
2. Fitz
3. Jackie Smith
4. Aeneas

And I saw them all play in their primes.

You must have been VERY young when Larry Wilson was in his prime. In the early sixties.

 

[GuernseyCard]

This has to be the list IMO:

Fitz - The greatest Cardinal ever.
Dierdorf - 5x 1st team all pro. 1x 2nd team. 6x pro bowl.
Aeneas - 4x 1st team all pro. 1x 2nd team. 8x pro bowl.
L. Wilson - 6x 1st team all-pro, 1x 2nd team. 75th and 100th NFL anniversary team. DPOY in 66. One of the greatest defensive players ever of ANY era.

Wehrli, Warner and Hart just outside looking in.

Pat shouldn't count. But name the stadium after him.

Chandler & Warner weren't/haven't been here long enough IMO.

Rules require a QB in the group.

 

[Dr. Jones]

Rules require a QB in the group.

I can't remove one of those four IMO. Jim Hart would be my version of the Crazy Horse Memorial currently under construction near Mt. Rushmore in the Black Hills.

I know @PACardsFan says Lomax was better..... And I deeply trust and respect his opinion but damn man.....This dude (Hart) was our QB from 1966 to 1983!!!!
4x Pro Bowler
1x 2nd team All Pro
OPOY in 1974
Man of the Year in 1975

Lomax only got to 2 Pro-Bowls in his career. I think his highs were great but his lows led to benchings IIRC. I love the guy, but he's not Jim Hart. Especially when you see 8 seasons versus 18 seasons.
Warner wasn't here long enough and wasn't at his best with us. He was great (One Pro-Bowl, Man of the year in 2008), but not his best.

 

[PACardsFan]

You must have been VERY young when Larry Wilson was in his prime. In the early sixties.

I started watching the Cardinals in 64. It was the same season that the Cardinals beat the Yankees in the WS. That’s what started me as a Cardinals fan in football. I was 6. Being the only boy in a family of 8, I started watching sports with my Dad very early on. Larry Wilson was a Pro Bowl selection from 65-70, so I definitely saw him in his prime. I still remember the game when he had the interception with a cast on both hands. He was no doubt my father’s favorite player.

 

[PACardsFan]

I can't remove one of those four IMO. Jim Hart would be my version of the Crazy Horse Memorial currently under construction near Mt. Rushmore in the Black Hills.

I know @PACardsFan says Lomax was better..... And I deeply trust and respect his opinion but damn man.....This dude (Hart) was our QB from 1966 to 1983!!!!
4x Pro Bowler
1x 2nd team All Pro
OPOY in 1974
Man of the Year in 1975

Lomax only got to 2 Pro-Bowls in his career. I think his highs were great but his lows led to benchings IIRC. I love the guy, but he's not Jim Hart. Especially when you see 8 seasons versus 18 seasons.
Warner wasn't here long enough and wasn't at his best with us. He was great (One Pro-Bowl, Man of the year in 2008), but not his best.

I started watching the Cardinals in 64, so I was lucky enough to see both of them. I'm not trying to disrespect Hart, but if you take away the Coryell (maybe the greatest offensive mind ever) years, he was a below average QB in the NFL. And he played behind some of the greatest OLines ever. His OLines were great even before Coryell. Their careers followed one another, so the game hadn't changed too drastically, and you can compare some important stats:

Hart
Career TD-INT (209-247) - That's really bad
Career QB Rating - 66
Career Completion % - 51.1%
34,639 career yards passing in 201 games - 172 yds per game
23 game winning drives (many of them during the Coryell years)
2 playoff games & he played poorly in both. 1974 vs MN he went 18/40 (45%) for 200 yards, 1 td, 1 int, passer rating 58
vs LAR in 75 - 22/41 (53%), 291 yards (inflated because they went down 28-0 early, and Rams went into a soft zone the rest of the game), 1 td, 3 picks (1 was a pick 6), Passer rating 54
Only exceeded 3000 yards passing twice - 3008 in 67 & 3121 in 78

Lomax
Career TD-INT (136-90)
Career QB Rating - 82.7
Career Completion - 58%
22,771 career yards in 108 games - 211 per game
12 game winning drives in a much shorter career.
Threw for 4,614 yards in 84, also 3 more seasons when he was over 3000 (3214 (85), 3387 (87), 3395 (88)

If you go by longevity, then Hart is the guy. But Lomax was significantly a more talented player on the field. If you absolutely have to put a QB on the Cardinal Mount Rushmore, then I would lean more towards Warner or Lomax.

 

[jmt]

Sorry but Warner does not belong on the list. Super Bowl or not, he was not here long enough and is a Ram.

 

[BigRedRage]

Warner all day. We would still be in a super bowl drought if it was not for him.

 

[cardpa]

This has to be the list IMO:

Fitz - The greatest Cardinal ever.
Dierdorf - 5x 1st team all pro. 1x 2nd team. 6x pro bowl.
Aeneas - 4x 1st team all pro. 1x 2nd team. 8x pro bowl.
L. Wilson - 6x 1st team all-pro, 1x 2nd team. 75th and 100th NFL anniversary team. DPOY in 66. One of the greatest defensive players ever of ANY era.

Wehrli, Warner and Hart just outside looking in.

Pat shouldn't count. But name the stadium after him.

Chandler & Warner weren't/haven't been here long enough IMO.

I can't argue with this one. Would have been my selections too.

 

[Harry]

You must have been VERY young when Larry Wilson was in his prime. In the early sixties.

Hey, I saw them all too. I was born in 1947, so I was a teenager when they came to STL. Most of us were really excited to have real football in town.

 

[PACardsFan]

Hey, I saw them all too. I was born in 1947, so I was a teenager when they came to STL. Most of us were really excited to have real football in town.

Cardinals were pretty damn good in the 60's, were very exciting, and had a ton of talent too. They had bad luck with injuries & just couldn't develop any consistency year to year.

1960 - 6-5-1
1961 - 7-7
1962 - 4-9-1
1963 - 9-5 (Emergence of Charley Johnson QB. When healthy, very good!)
1964 - 9-3-2
1965 - 5-9 (Charley Johnson & Larry Wilson injured)
1966 - 8-5-1 (Started 7-1, but major injuries across the board)
1967 - 6-7-1 (Hart's rookie season, throws 30+ interceptions)
1968 - 9-4-1 (finished season 8-1, but still didn't make playoffs)
1969 - 4-9-1 (11 players undergo surgery)

 

[JeffGollin]

Jim Hart
Charley Trippi
Aeneas
Fitz

 

[Card'em]

People forget about Roger Wherli the 5 time first team all-pro cornerback. I think he was better than Aeneas Williams.

Fitz
Dand Dierdorf
Larry Wilson
Roger Wherli

 

[Buckybird]

Easy choices if you’ve followed the franchise long enough

1) Fitz-Legendary

2) Larry Wilson-was known as “Mr Cardinal” before #11. 40+ years of service to Big Red & on 75th & 100th anniversary NFL teams.

3) Warner-the franchise had won 1 playoff game in 50 years until #13 donned the Cardinal red, he won 4 & had us 2:37 from winning the World championship!!! Warner also said he believes his best years as an NFL QB were in 2008 & 2009

4) Aeneas-when you can use only part of a players name & you know whom it is & he’s in the HOF, he belongs!!! #35 made himself great with his effort, technique & his play on the field that produced turnovers.