Kolb's deal and Kolb's extension are two separate decisions. We could of made the trade and not given him an extension. It's not like he was making 500k on a rookie contract. He was under a pretty lucrative contract the Eagles had given him.
Our front office thought that by locking up an unknown early on, they could shave a few million bucks from the cap to spend elsewhere. The problem is, they forgot to check whether or not the QB was any good. Or just hoped too much.
People keep putting the two together. Because without the 2nd separate horrible decision, we don't have him under contract. He might not even be on this team as it would be hard pressed to re-sign him after last year, but perhaps they pull a Levi and sign him for a makeshift 2-3 million per for a year or two. While Manning most likely would not have signed here, the bonus taking us out of the picture wouldn't of been there. We could of been free to go after other QB's. It might not be better overall right now. Maybe we have Flynn who is a question mark. Maybe we have our pick of veteran backups, and Skelton has more time to prepare as a starter for this season. When all is said and done. If Skelton is our starter, he'd of been better off with more reps from the get-go. The contract necessitated this competition. No extension. Hard pressed to have a QB controversy. Maybe there is still one, but between Skelton and some other veteran QB. We'll never know of course. But it isn't hard to fathom this.
Trading for a QB shows Fitz you're serious. Making sure he's good before signing him to an extension shows everyone, including Fitz, you're going to approach finding a QB correctly. That you're willing to take a risk to get one, but will be smart about it. Because the key is having a legitimate QB. Not thinking you have one. Signing any QB to more than they are worth, doesn't make them a better QB ever.
No way does Kolb light it up so much that he earns a much bigger paycheck that what we gave him. But if he earned 12...maybe 15 a season, then you'd be signing a known quantity. But that was a very long shot given the lockout and a new system. With hindsight we can see he never was going to even justify his current contract, which we never needed to give him. He was making I forget 5-6 million last year under his old contract? No legitimate reason to sign him before we knew how he'd fit in with us. He wasn't a free agent. He was traded to us and under contract. It was a step we didn't need to take.
I agree with others that Kelly's words are going to be locker room material for whenever a team faces Kolb as a starter in the future. I think defenses have been snowballing him (i.e. putting him in a position for things to snowball) for the past year, and if anyone hadn't gotten the message before, they will now. Defenses are going to continually try to force Kolb into his least comfortable spot. They smell blood. CKW probably knows this. I don't see how he doesn't. Maybe front office will overrule him, or maybe he'll still pick Kolb. I don't see it happening though. I think as mentioned on other threads the guys that most likely picked or lobbied the hardest for Kolb are gone. Meaning imo and guess that the front office is probably short on Kolb supporters (if it even matters), but that they wanted to be prudent given the investment. I think the evidence is in.
Kolb's eye level is extremely low. He is shellshocked. The Ryan Williams blitz pick up shows he has little trust in his overall blocking. Not that he should have a ton of course, but he can't break away from thinking about it first when under fire. But the way he reacted doomed the play, and forced him right into trouble. Regardless if he has a line that isn't great, he can't play behind it. We can wonder if he'd be slightly better under a better line, but it doesn't matter. Our QB has to play behind this line. Skelton seems to be able to do it. Kolb can't.
If he's really looking at refs, wow.
As a person who has been critical of Kolb, and the front office, and mindful of him being knocked out of the first game of 2010 with a concussion from before the trade, I always hoped to be proven wrong. We all want the Cards to do well. It just was hard to see Kolb doing that, and giving him that contract was asinine. There are certain aspects where Kolb shows some quality traits.
The problem is, he's been exposed, and the defenses he face will never allow those traits to come through consistently. Him behind our OL was a bad idea. It allowed the defenses to figure him out, messed with his head, and now I don't see how even a good ol could protect him adequately. Oh and the concussions are still a big question mark, they just haven't reared their ugly head yet. Maybe it wasn't our OL's fault. But a part of him that was ready to be shown on the NFL level. But our OL sure didn't help hide it. But our other QB's, even if they have occasional problems, seem to weather it much better.
I think he's done. Even if he goes anywhere else, even with a good line. The defenses will just load up the tape from his time here and repeat it. Had he never been here, maybe he gets by for a few years as a mediocre QB. I think that ship has sailed. He's too focused now on what's behind the line of scrimmage, and the defenses have figured him out. His already low eye level, has become even lower. Instead of trying to raise it, it's gone the other way.
Blame him, blame the line, blame the concussions. It doesn't matter. He just can't do it im(strong)o behind our line.
He still might have one more game to salvage his career. Anything can happen. But I'll go with the writing on the wall, as it's what I've been seeing somewhat the whole time and whatever has been added continues to fester on.
But yeah, it's worse that expected, though I guess in this league it works like that. When you find something new that works, it works well and can become extremely effective for a while. Or if something tanks, and is figured out, it can snowball and get really bad.
I think that is what has happened to Kolb. Even on the good drive, aided by a supreme return by Peterson, and Williams's running, Kolb just didn't screw it up. Which can be said as 'did well' in a limited sense. But he did miss open receivers. He did checkdown. It was enough given the field position, running, and getting good play at various points. But with everything going for Kolb in this situation, he failed to really seize the moment and make a passing statement. He won't always be in such a favorable position. So when he was in one, he needed to make a statement. He didn't.
CKW cut one Captain Checkdown, and while Kolb is not quite as bad at doing that, I wouldn't count on Sgt. Checkdown to be on the team either. Like we kept Skelton, we're going to keep Lindley. I agree it might still cost Bartel his spot. Maybe not. But a definite shot.
Leinart preferred to checkdown because it seems he doesn't want to throw int's mostly. Kolb checks down because he can't keep his eyes up long enough to find anyone, otherwise I'm sure he'd want to throw more down field than Leinart. So while similar in checkdown results, for different reasons, and thus some pretty big differences while some pretty stark similarities. Again the demeanor of the two seems fairly similar as well, but of course not with differences. More likable than Leinart imo, but the similar ho-hum attitude.
I also will take a different tack from Urban's message. I think the staff doesn't want to be known as throwing players under the bus (let me qualify that: as in when there is a real problem, not for lack of effort under the bus). That they didn't cave in to the perception about Kolb, and tried to keep it fair the whole time. I think this aspect speaks to CKW attempts to be a professional as a coach. I think CKW knows what is going on, and is merely putting out the perception and perhaps asking (or by subtlety not asking) Urban not to feed into it. Let the process play out, and at the end of the day, CKW will take all the info he has and make a decision. After last night, barring a miracle next week, Kolb won't be on the team come opening day imo.
Good luck Kolb. I don't hate you. Just don't think you should be qb'ing the Cards.
