future-----In answer to your question in the initial post about why we are so down on Graves, try to understand that, (while you visit here occasionally), we have been here day after day, week after week, year after year, WAITING for our organization to make that one signing that will put us over the top.
Right now, we are poised to complete the re-structuring of out O-line. We have brought in three O-linemen to look at in free agency, 1-guard (very expensive), 2-guard (not so expensive), 3-a left tackle (not so expensive). We released our (too expensive) tackle and then re-signed him at a lower salary, (very good). We signed the not so expensive guard that we brought in, also good. If we would simply sign the visiting tackle, we would be light years ahead of where we have been with our O-line for years now. The problem is that we haven't done so. The truth is, we may not have even signed the not so expensive visiting guard, (except that his wife wanted to be here), so he signed. Note: the encouragement to do so did not come from Graves, but from his wife who lived here growing up. Now we sit and wait.
The problem is that this happens each and every year. Last year we made a huge number of signings, only to stop short of getting one of several available Wide Receivers who were in our price range. The front office and coaching staff had simply decided that they had ENOUGH receivers. We never pursued a #2 WR, electing to go on the cheap with the tight ends we had signed. Well, Todd Heap was injured nearly all year, and we were always one receiver short of getting the job done.
The year before, we brought in Joey Porter and a linebacker. After working out, (and waiting all weekend), the linebacker left without getting an offer from our FO and signed with his former team. Joey Porter, (who wanted to play here), had to embarass the front off office by going to the media and asking for an offer. NOW he was no prize catch to be sure, but he too would have been gone if not for the fact that he WANTED to play here badly enough to call out the FO.
Sadly, this has been the pattern for those of us that live Cardinals football everyday. It gets old quickly, and eventually becomes something that we choke on year after year. They select players that the scouts say we can use. They bring them in for visits, and then they stop, (just short of signing that one or two players that will make the difference for the team for that particular year). We have ALWAYS had the money to do so-----we just don't do it, electing to sit on the money instead.
Completing a FULL roster is a GM's primary function. Ours always seems to stop short, unless someone embarasses them into finishing the job each year. It has become maddening to us fans to see this happen each year, almost without fail.
So, now we wait again for the FO to act. IF----they sign a LT we are set for the draft, and a chance to set up our O-line for the next 7-10 years. If not, we will once again go into a season, either being able to run block, (or to pass block), but not both, OR have depth, (or no depth), and it is due to our lack of initiative as an organization to finish the GM's job. The longer we wait, the easier it is for the visiting players to sign elsewhere.
