Denny Green on Rod Graves

[az jam]

I have a business associate that is a friend with Denny Green. He played football with him at Iowa along with ex Cardinal assistant coach Richard Solomon.
He said that Denny was extremely negative on Rod Graves. Denny felt that he ran the draft as Rod wasn't that involved and never studied film. Denny felt that Rod was just a pawn for the Bidwills and mainly watched the bottom line.
Denny was very upset with the contracts given to the first round picks which made it almost impossible to resign them as so much money was put into their final year of their contract. This was Mr. Bidwill's decision. He approved all contracts at that time. (maybe he still does?)

Finally, Denny was angry that Michael Bidwill & Rod Graves went and got Edgerrin James without any input form him. He felt that James best years were behind him. In fact they left him out of the negotiations completely as they knew Denny wanted to use that money to sign multiple agents.

I'm being honest on this. There is no insight into anything going on today just some history from the past.

 

[Phrazbit]

I have a business associate that is a friend with Denny Green. He played football with him at Iowa along with ex Cardinal assistant coach Richard Solomon.
He said that Denny was extremely negative on Rod Graves. Denny felt that he ran the draft as Rod wasn't that involved and never studied film. Denny felt that Rod was just a pawn for the Bidwills and mainly watched the bottom line.
Denny was very upset with the contracts given to the first round picks which made it almost impossible to resign them as so much money was put into their final year of their contract. This was Mr. Bidwill's decision. He approved all contracts at that time. (maybe he still does?)

Finally, Denny was angry that Michael Bidwill & Rod Graves went and got Edgerrin James without any input form him. He felt that James best years were behind him. In fact they left him out of the negotiations completely as they knew Denny wanted to use that money to sign multiple agents.

I'm being honest on this. There is no insight into anything going on today just some history from the past.

Green certainly was better at evaluation talent than any of us gave him credit for. I was not a fan of his coaching but I really miss his ability to draft.

 

[82CardsGrad]

I think it's safe to say that if not for Denny, there would be no Fitz in Arizona....

 

[Folster]

Can anybody post Denny's complete draft record with the Cards?

 

[CtCardinals78]

I think it's safe to say that if not for Denny, there would be no Fitz in Arizona....

I also think it's safe to say if not for Denny there would never have been a Super Bowl run in Arizona. I think DG would make a decent GM.

 

[Folster]

2004:
Round 1: Larry Fitzgerald
Round 2: Karlos Dansby
Round 3: Darnell Dockett
Round 4: Alex Stepanovich
Round 5: Antonio Smith
Round 6: Nick Leckey
Round 7: John Navarre

2005:
Round 1: Antrel Rolle
Round 2: J.J. Arrington
Round 3: Eric Green
Round 3: Darryl Blackstock
Round 4: Elton Brown
Round 5: Lance Mitchell
Round 7: LeRon McCoy

2006:
Round 1: Matt Leinart
Round 2: Taitusi (Deuce) Lutui
Round 3: Leonard Pope
Round 4: Gabriel Watson
Round 5: Brandon Johnson
Round 6: Jon Lewis
Round 7: Todd Watkins

He caught lightning in a bottle in 04, but 05 and 06 were pretty bad.

 

[SeattleCard]

2004... the best AZ draft in history... setting us up for the 08 and 09 teams (of course, Warner helped

 

[cardncubfan]

I also think it's safe to say if not for Denny there would never have been a Super Bowl run in Arizona. I think DG would make a decent GM.

I agree with this.

 

[Jasper]

I thought the Edge was a good signing. We needed a high profile signing over Marcel Shipp and JJ.

Weren't Bidwill's contracts usually spread out evenly instead of front or back loaded which eventually gave us salary cap space?

DG wasn't great, but could evaluate players much better than our current staff.

However no one could forgive him for that Bears game on MNF. If he didn't blow, there was a high chance DG instead of Whiz would have represented us in the Super Bowl.

 

[Capital Card]

I also think it's safe to say if not for Denny there would never have been a Super Bowl run in Arizona. I think DG would make a decent GM.

Agree that no SB run without Denny's contributions to the tallent on those teams.

I completely disagree that he would make a decent GM. Too much ego, and you'll never be able to attract or retain quality head coaches in that environment.

I think he could run the scouting dept, but that may be too "behind the scene" for him to accept.

 

[BigRedRage]

My friends sister used to date Denny greens brothers son and he said that Denny loved the bidwells as they would always have chili dog saturdays and ice cream mondays.

 

[blindseyed]

My friends sister used to date Denny greens brothers son and he said that Denny loved the bidwells as they would always have chili dog saturdays and ice cream mondays.

And PIE.....

 

[Russ Smith]

The part about Edge is weird because I distinctly recall Green being quoted as saying when you have to spend millions in FA on a RB to replace a 2nd round pick (JJ) something is wrong. I recall him saying the same thing about replacing Calvin Pace I think with Berry and he wanted the credit for that decision.

A guess would be the reason he doesn't want credit for signing Edge is he knows it probably played a role in the team not drafting Adrian Peterson and even though he was gone he wants to make it perfectly clear he had absolutely no part in that.

I never liked Green as a coach or a person but I have no doubt he would have been smart enough to pick Peterson.

 

[Cbus cardsfan]

The part about Edge is weird because I distinctly recall Green being quoted as saying when you have to spend millions in FA on a RB to replace a 2nd round pick (JJ) something is wrong. I recall him saying the same thing about replacing Calvin Pace I think with Berry and he wanted the credit for that decision.

A guess would be the reason he doesn't want credit for signing Edge is he knows it probably played a role in the team not drafting Adrian Peterson and even though he was gone he wants to make it perfectly clear he had absolutely no part in that.

I never liked Green as a coach or a person but I have no doubt he would have been smart enough to pick Peterson.

I think there is only about 1 person in football that is not smart enough to pick Peterson over Levi and that's the same guy who traded for Rick Mirer.

 

[Cheesebeef]

I think there is only about 1 person in football that is not smart enough to pick Peterson over Levi and that's the same guy who traded for Rick Mirer.

for TWO FIRST ROUND PICKS!?

 

[Jasper]

The part about Edge is weird because I distinctly recall Green being quoted as saying when you have to spend millions in FA on a RB to replace a 2nd round pick (JJ) something is wrong. I recall him saying the same thing about replacing Calvin Pace I think with Berry and he wanted the credit for that decision.

Berry for Pace was not bad.

Back then we actually replaced people.
Replace someone who sucks with someone that plays better.
Sign a free agent that is better to replace the ones we lost.

Now we just clean the house only to bring bags of dog crap back in.
If it looks like crap, smells like crap, and plays like crap it is crap.
However our current staff are trying to mold and shape the crap to save face on the bad decisions they made. They can't admit their crap!

 

[azsouthendzone]

I think there is only about 1 person in football that is not smart enough to pick Peterson over Levi and that's the same guy who traded for Rick Mirer.

Rick Mirer had great moxie and intangibles.

 

[conraddobler]

for TWO FIRST ROUND PICKS!?

I don't think it was actually two firsts.

But look at their reasoning as to why they did this trade.

http://forums.kffl.com/threads/266978-The-hidden-groin-kick-about-the-Rick-Mirer-trade......

They didn't think that any TE's were worth the pick there, which they needed, that was the year Tony Gonzales was drafted and he would of been on the board there.

 

[Russ Smith]

Berry for Pace was not bad.

Back then we actually replaced people.
Replace someone who sucks with someone that plays better.
Sign a free agent that is better to replace the ones we lost.

Now we just clean the house only to bring bags of dog crap back in.
If it looks like crap, smells like crap, and plays like crap it is crap.
However our current staff are trying to mold and shape the crap to save face on the bad decisions they made. They can't admit their crap!

My point was when the move was good, Berry, Denny took full credit for it. When the move was iffy, getting Edge at the end of his career he's apparently saying he wasn't in favor of it. That may be true, but when it happened he specifically commented about us HAVING to get a RB so soon after using a 2nd rounder on one, so I think then he was saying he was involved and now is implying he wasn't.

I said all along with Green I don't like him but the next coach will inherit more talent than Green did. That's exactly what happened.

 

[azsouthendzone]

How exactly did Edge not work out? Three years the Cards have had a 1,000 yard rusher in their time in AZ and Edge has two of those seasons. He also started in our only Super Bowl and probably would have gained another 1,000 that year if he didn't become the poster boy for the Whiz Dog House. Pretty good acquisition if you ask me.

 

[CtCardinals78]

How exactly did Edge not work out? Three years the Cards have had a 1,000 yard rusher in their time in AZ and Edge has two of those seasons. He also started in our only Super Bowl and probably would have gained another 1,000 that year if he didn't become the poster boy for the Whiz Dog House. Pretty good acquisition if you ask me.

Yup people crap all over Edge but besides Berry and Warner he has been one of the better FA acquisitions the Cards ever had in AZ and was much better than any FA acquisition Whiz ever made.

 

[Duckjake]

How exactly did Edge not work out? Three years the Cards have had a 1,000 yard rusher in their time in AZ and Edge has two of those seasons. He also started in our only Super Bowl and probably would have gained another 1,000 that year if he didn't become the poster boy for the Whiz Dog House. Pretty good acquisition if you ask me.

Ron Moore 1993, Garrison Hearst-1995 and Adrian Murrell-1998 all had over 1000 yards rushing for the Arizona Cardinals.

Thomas Shipp rushed for 1,345 yards in 2002.

But like you said Edge did it twice and was a workhorse for the Cards with over 320 carries in '06 and '07 and he did it with an offensive line worse than the one we have now.

I don't know how many times there was an unblocked defender in the backfield and Edge made him miss to get 3 yards instead of losing 2.

 

[Cbus cardsfan]

I never had a problem with the Edge signing. He could probably suit up tomorrow and be every bit as good as, probably better than Chester Taylor.

 

[az1965]

2004:
Round 1: Larry Fitzgerald
Round 2: Karlos Dansby
Round 3: Darnell Dockett
Round 4: Alex Stepanovich FAIL
Round 5: Antonio Smith
Round 6: Nick Leckey FAIL
Round 7: John Navarre FAIL

2005:
Round 1: Antrel Rolle
Round 2: J.J. Arrington FAIL
Round 3: Eric Green FAIL
Round 3: Darryl Blackstock FAIL
Round 4: Elton Brown FAIL
Round 5: Lance Mitchell FAIL who?
Round 7: LeRon McCoy FAIL who?

2006:
Round 1: Matt Leinart FAIL
Round 2: Taitusi (Deuce) Lutui
Round 3: Leonard Pope FAIL
Round 4: Gabriel Watson FAIL
Round 5: Brandon Johnson FAIL who?
Round 6: Jon Lewis FAIL who?
Round 7: Todd Watkins FAIL who?

He caught lightning in a bottle in 04, but 05 and 06 were pretty bad.

Yep, Denny was a great talent evaluator and draft expert!!

 

[azsouthendzone]

Edge could block as well. Hell Emmitt Smith did more than most RBs we have had. Damn this is depressing.