Mitch
Crawled Through 5 FB Fields
The good news is that the Cardinals will be much better coached this year. Stronger coaching and preparation, combined with a more tenacious mindset on the part of the players, might lead to several more victories than the five the Cardinals earned last year.
The bad news is the front office remains one of the most ill-prepared, disorganized and poorly run managements in pro sports. Witness the recent developments.
1. Last year the Cardinals saved an extra $10M on the cap at the expense of disregarding some critical team needs....such as adding personnel to the much beleaguered offensive line...particularly addressing the offensive tackle position.
It was clear that Oliver Ross was not the player they thought they signed as a free agent in 2005.
It was clear that OLB Orlando Huff was a liability on the defense.
It was clear that the Cardinals were very weak at CB and FS, especially in terms of pass coverage.
With $10M still on hand, the Cardinals added no free agent OTs, OLBers, CBs or FSs.
2. Then, during the season, in the midst of a horrendous nine game losing streak, Rod Graves declares to the media, "We are a couple of players away" from becoming winners. Hard to accept this type of rhetoric from a VP of Football Operations who elected to sit on $10M.
3. In an effort to save face regarding the extra cap space the Cardinals first inked DT Darnell Dockett to a lucrative long-term contract extension...which incidentally had teammates rolling their eyes in disbelief, when asked about it.
In my opinion, Darnell Dockett was not deserving of such a lucrative extension...he did put together a couple of good games, his first two good games since his rookie year, but Dockett is a "hit or miss" player who does a heckuva lot more missing than hitting.
The wiser thing would have been to have Dockett play out his original contract and guage his improvement along the way, particluarly in light of the fact that suddenly, with the additions of Kendrick Clancy, Gabe Watson, Jonathan Lewis and Chris Cooper at DT, the Cardinals are not in desperate shape there.
4. Then the Cardinals signed MLB Gerald Hayes to a lucrative long-term extension. Hayes, who barely saw the field in his first three years with the Cardinals, mostly due to injuries, did turn in a fine campaign at MLB for the Cards in his contract year, that is, until he was lost for the season again come December. While I like Hayes...and actually think he is better suited to play SLB...his injury history with the club makes his re-signing a considerable risk. History does have a habit of repeating itself, particularly with oft-injured players in the NFL...just ask Duane Starks.
5. The Cards made a move to re-sign FS Araon Francisco to a long term deal. Francisco's contract was well earned, as Francisco played tenaciously in 2006 and showed flashes of promise as a free safety and special teams ace. It appeared that Francisco had just become the heir to Robert Griffith's starting FS position...that is, until the Cardinals signed FS Terrance Holt today (contract terms not announced yet)...more on Holt later.
6. The Cardinals elect not to franchise T Leonard Davis...which was a very good decision---IF there's a solid plan in place to replace Davis. To this very second, there have been no true OT free agents brought in and all we, the fans, have heard is a blurb from Ken Whisenhunt that maybe Oliver Ross will overcome injuries and rise to the occasion (yeah? Fat chance)...other than that, the Cardinals' hopes for a decent season may hinge on the remote chance that T Joe Thomas will slide to the #5 pick.
7. We head into free agency with a reported $34M in cap space...and suddenly, much to everyone's surprise (and even the Cardinals???!!!) contract escalators, roster bonuses and signinging bonuses of a handful of existing Cardinal players and three recent signings (Shipp, Milligan and Al Johnson) have diminished the $34M down to a paltry $11M...
A. How do we know that the Cardinals didn't even know their actual cap space?...the fans have been told that the team's intention was to sign 6-8 free agents (none of the big splash variety)...as of this morning Al Johnson was the only free agent the Cardinals signed and with a rookie draft pool to consider (in the neighborhood of $5M)...how in the world are the Cardinals going to sign 6 or 7 more free agents with $6M?
B. Even worse...how and why in the world would the Cardinals elect to devote $7M of that precious cap space to signing a center who didn't even start last year AND after the Cardinals had decided to offer the incumbent center, Nick Leckey, a handsome $1.3M RFA tender???
Even worse...Al Johnson does not play offensive tackle...or strong side linebacker...or cover cornerback...which are the GLARING needs of this football team. Even with today's signing of Terrance Holt (who, like Johnson, will now likely take the place of a player the Cardinals gave a nice extension or tender to)...NONE of these glaring needs have been addressed...
Wonder when Rod Graves is going to tell us "we are a couple of players away" this year?
8. Ken Whisenhunt says that Terrence Holt was their top rated UFA FS...that he didn't think they had a chance of getting him...and that he is a big, strong FS to play the "physical style of football" we are looking for.
Does Whisenhunt really know what he's talking about? First of all, how Terrence Holt ranks as the top free safety over Ken Hamlin and Deon Grant is beyond belief...secondly, yes Holt is tall, but he is not physical...not even close (in fact he was so soft and slow in 2005 that the Lions felt they had to draft a FS on day one, spending a 2nd rounder on Daniel Bullocks of Nebraska---Holt did hold Bullocks off this year until late, but, let's just say that Detroit was not very interested in re-signing Terrence Holt)...thirdly, the Cardinals just suffered through two seasons of having a slow FS to offer deep help for the team's weak CBs...and now we sign another slow FS. Unreal!
And even worse...the most sure-fired future All Pro (FS LaRon Landry of LSU) in this year's draft will most likely be available at #5 for the Cardinals.
Now the Cardinals will likely have to start rookies at LT, SLB and CB (plus, the decision that Antrel Rolle and Eric Green should be fine at CB with better coaching is so flawed that one has to wonder whether the Cardinals will ever get a personnel director who can evaluate the real value of players).
I think Whiz is deferring his own judgement of defensive players in lieu of Rod Graves' and Clancy Pendergast's opinions...and just as Jo Sparkes said in her excellent article this morning...prove to us, Coach Whiz, that you can take a stand and hold your ground...because, guess what??, if you don't, in the midst of these preposterous cap and personnel decisions, you are going to be back to looking for coordinator jobs somewhere in the near future.
The bad news is the front office remains one of the most ill-prepared, disorganized and poorly run managements in pro sports. Witness the recent developments.
1. Last year the Cardinals saved an extra $10M on the cap at the expense of disregarding some critical team needs....such as adding personnel to the much beleaguered offensive line...particularly addressing the offensive tackle position.
It was clear that Oliver Ross was not the player they thought they signed as a free agent in 2005.
It was clear that OLB Orlando Huff was a liability on the defense.
It was clear that the Cardinals were very weak at CB and FS, especially in terms of pass coverage.
With $10M still on hand, the Cardinals added no free agent OTs, OLBers, CBs or FSs.
2. Then, during the season, in the midst of a horrendous nine game losing streak, Rod Graves declares to the media, "We are a couple of players away" from becoming winners. Hard to accept this type of rhetoric from a VP of Football Operations who elected to sit on $10M.
3. In an effort to save face regarding the extra cap space the Cardinals first inked DT Darnell Dockett to a lucrative long-term contract extension...which incidentally had teammates rolling their eyes in disbelief, when asked about it.
In my opinion, Darnell Dockett was not deserving of such a lucrative extension...he did put together a couple of good games, his first two good games since his rookie year, but Dockett is a "hit or miss" player who does a heckuva lot more missing than hitting.
The wiser thing would have been to have Dockett play out his original contract and guage his improvement along the way, particluarly in light of the fact that suddenly, with the additions of Kendrick Clancy, Gabe Watson, Jonathan Lewis and Chris Cooper at DT, the Cardinals are not in desperate shape there.
4. Then the Cardinals signed MLB Gerald Hayes to a lucrative long-term extension. Hayes, who barely saw the field in his first three years with the Cardinals, mostly due to injuries, did turn in a fine campaign at MLB for the Cards in his contract year, that is, until he was lost for the season again come December. While I like Hayes...and actually think he is better suited to play SLB...his injury history with the club makes his re-signing a considerable risk. History does have a habit of repeating itself, particularly with oft-injured players in the NFL...just ask Duane Starks.
5. The Cards made a move to re-sign FS Araon Francisco to a long term deal. Francisco's contract was well earned, as Francisco played tenaciously in 2006 and showed flashes of promise as a free safety and special teams ace. It appeared that Francisco had just become the heir to Robert Griffith's starting FS position...that is, until the Cardinals signed FS Terrance Holt today (contract terms not announced yet)...more on Holt later.
6. The Cardinals elect not to franchise T Leonard Davis...which was a very good decision---IF there's a solid plan in place to replace Davis. To this very second, there have been no true OT free agents brought in and all we, the fans, have heard is a blurb from Ken Whisenhunt that maybe Oliver Ross will overcome injuries and rise to the occasion (yeah? Fat chance)...other than that, the Cardinals' hopes for a decent season may hinge on the remote chance that T Joe Thomas will slide to the #5 pick.
7. We head into free agency with a reported $34M in cap space...and suddenly, much to everyone's surprise (and even the Cardinals???!!!) contract escalators, roster bonuses and signinging bonuses of a handful of existing Cardinal players and three recent signings (Shipp, Milligan and Al Johnson) have diminished the $34M down to a paltry $11M...
A. How do we know that the Cardinals didn't even know their actual cap space?...the fans have been told that the team's intention was to sign 6-8 free agents (none of the big splash variety)...as of this morning Al Johnson was the only free agent the Cardinals signed and with a rookie draft pool to consider (in the neighborhood of $5M)...how in the world are the Cardinals going to sign 6 or 7 more free agents with $6M?
B. Even worse...how and why in the world would the Cardinals elect to devote $7M of that precious cap space to signing a center who didn't even start last year AND after the Cardinals had decided to offer the incumbent center, Nick Leckey, a handsome $1.3M RFA tender???
Even worse...Al Johnson does not play offensive tackle...or strong side linebacker...or cover cornerback...which are the GLARING needs of this football team. Even with today's signing of Terrance Holt (who, like Johnson, will now likely take the place of a player the Cardinals gave a nice extension or tender to)...NONE of these glaring needs have been addressed...
Wonder when Rod Graves is going to tell us "we are a couple of players away" this year?
8. Ken Whisenhunt says that Terrence Holt was their top rated UFA FS...that he didn't think they had a chance of getting him...and that he is a big, strong FS to play the "physical style of football" we are looking for.
Does Whisenhunt really know what he's talking about? First of all, how Terrence Holt ranks as the top free safety over Ken Hamlin and Deon Grant is beyond belief...secondly, yes Holt is tall, but he is not physical...not even close (in fact he was so soft and slow in 2005 that the Lions felt they had to draft a FS on day one, spending a 2nd rounder on Daniel Bullocks of Nebraska---Holt did hold Bullocks off this year until late, but, let's just say that Detroit was not very interested in re-signing Terrence Holt)...thirdly, the Cardinals just suffered through two seasons of having a slow FS to offer deep help for the team's weak CBs...and now we sign another slow FS. Unreal!
And even worse...the most sure-fired future All Pro (FS LaRon Landry of LSU) in this year's draft will most likely be available at #5 for the Cardinals.
Now the Cardinals will likely have to start rookies at LT, SLB and CB (plus, the decision that Antrel Rolle and Eric Green should be fine at CB with better coaching is so flawed that one has to wonder whether the Cardinals will ever get a personnel director who can evaluate the real value of players).
I think Whiz is deferring his own judgement of defensive players in lieu of Rod Graves' and Clancy Pendergast's opinions...and just as Jo Sparkes said in her excellent article this morning...prove to us, Coach Whiz, that you can take a stand and hold your ground...because, guess what??, if you don't, in the midst of these preposterous cap and personnel decisions, you are going to be back to looking for coordinator jobs somewhere in the near future.
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