A few Graves notes:
He agreed with the assumption that the Cards would try to add (1) a defensive lineman (either DE or DT, (2) a veteran CB (to play nickel and push Barrett and Clark) and (3) another veteran receiver.
Regarding the telephone tag bit with Robinson and the "we'd love to have him here" remark coupled with Marcus' subequent re-signing with the Raves, I think Rod's style is - when there are reasons to no longer be interested in a player - he won't always be totally candid with the public (partly because he'd rather "go the high road" and not say anything that might denigrate the player).
As soon as Rod said that talks would be put off til after the draft, I was pretty sure it was decided the Cards wouldn't sign Marcus. Further, that they'd continue to say nice things about wanting to sign Marcus, but, after the draft, they'd say: "Oops! Too many receivers in camp. Pity!" And that's pretty much what happened.
If I was a player negotiating with the Cardinals, and they were to say "Trust us; we'll do the right thing later", the way the Robinson thing was handled would make me very leery. I think this is what happened with regard to the injury waiver - players and agents are concerned that all the good intentions that the Cards are expressing before minicamp would somehow fade away "due to unforeseen circumstances" (much as the positive karma regarding Robinson shifted "due to all the receivers we added in the draft and free agency).
