MMQB on Cards

[sportznutt]

Kurt Warner and Anquan Boldin are gone, and defensive cornerstones Karlos Dansby and Antrel Rolle are too. Kerry Rhodes is in, but the Cards have some recovering to do. Strange days in the desert, and Ken Whisenhunt has been channeling his inner Steeler to makes sure he doesn't start believing the sky is falling.
"When I was in the AFC Central with Pittsburgh and Baltimore -- now it's the AFC North, of course -- I saw the Steelers lose Carnell Lake, Levon Kirkland, Rod Woodson, Jason Gildon, I'm sure there were others, and what did they do? They developed their own players. There's a lesson in that. The good teams are the ones that have a plan, and our organization has shown it's good at developing young players.''
Part of that development plan, this year, was making a trade for a 28-year-old safety instead of developing one in-house. The first thing the Cards did when they knew they might lose the unrestricted Rolle is talk to the Jets last weekend at the Scouting Combine; might Rhodes be available? And he was, despite the Jets' protestations to the contrary. The Cards were surprised at the amount of money Rolle, who wasn't even the best safety on his own team (Adrian Wilson was), earned from the Giants, who signed Rolle for five years and $42 million.
As it turned out, Rolle and Dansby broke the bank, the same way those Steelers guys did when foes wanted to buy pieces of the Steelers by buying a starter. Now Arizona has to hope Steve Breaston covers for Boldin, Matt Leinart for Warner and Rhodes for Rolle. At linebacker, the developmental pool is weak, so the Cards will bring in former Steelers (surprise!) Larry Foote and Joey Porter this week. Porter's more of a freelance rusher, while Foote is a run player almost exclusively. The problem is neither does the sideline-to-sideline stuff Dansby did.

Read More: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2010/writers/peter_king/03/07/freeagency/1.html#ixzz0hbLmwlno



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[JeffGollin]

Not a bad analysis, but I'm not sure I buy into media's CW that Dansby is a sideline to sideline LB (I mean he was good - in some games very solid - but I wouldn't necessarily equate him with a healthy Urlacher, Merriman, Vilma etc.).

What I would concede is that - when you evaluate the group of Cardinal LB's over the past half-dozen or more years, the unit generally hasn't been all that good - with Dansby, by contrast, being best of the lot and, therefore, a stabilizing force for good within the context of a very ordinary unit. To this degree, losing him hurts us.

But it's not as if we lost Lawrence Taylor. We lost a good ILB and need to replace him with someone equally as good or better.

 

[sportznutt]

I'm still happy we have Hayes.

 

[MoeIsBetter]

Read More: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2010/writers/peter_king/03/07/freeagency/1.html#ixzz0hbLmwlno ​

You missed the best part of the interview lol:

On the bright side -- there is one? -- Wilson and Rhodes should combine for an excellent 1-2 punch at safety. I talked to Rhodes on Sunday night, and he said he'd already gotten an enthusiastic text-message from Wilson. "We've got the two best safeties playing together in the NFL,'' Rhodes said. "I can cover, he can cover. I can blitz, he can blitz. I can play free safety, he can play free safety. I can play strong, he can play strong. It's going to be a great combination.''
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[stewdog1]

You missed the best part of the interview lol:

Don't tell that to Antron.

I'm curious though as to why we haven't shown an interest in CB Bodden? Wouldn't he be an immediate upgrade over McFadden? He is an UFA.

 

[MoeIsBetter]

Don't tell that to Antron.

I'm curious though as to why we haven't shown an interest in CB Bodden? Wouldn't he be an immediate upgrade over McFadden? He is an UFA.

Maybe they are telling us that they have that much faith in Toler. Why sign a guy to an expensive contract when you feel like you have a player just as good sitting on your roster waiting for a chance?

 

[kerouac9]

Not a bad analysis, but I'm not sure I buy into media's CW that Dansby is a sideline to sideline LB (I mean he was good - in some games very solid - but I wouldn't necessarily equate him with a healthy Urlacher, Merriman, Vilma etc.).

What I would concede is that - when you evaluate the group of Cardinal LB's over the past half-dozen or more years, the unit generally hasn't been all that good - with Dansby, by contrast, being best of the lot and, therefore, a stabilizing force for good within the context of a very ordinary unit. To this degree, losing him hurts us.

But it's not as if we lost Lawrence Taylor. We lost a good ILB and need to replace him with someone equally as good or better.

Shawne Merriman isn't an ILB, he's a pass-rushing OLB, like DeMarcus Ware. And he's certainly not a sideline-to-sideline player. Lawrence Taylor was a pass-rushing OLB, too.

Dansby is as good or better than guys like Nick Barnett (GB), Lofa Tatupu (SEA), Keith Brooking (DAL), Antonio Smith (Formerly of NYG), and Jerrod Mayo (NE). There aren't a lot of players I'd put on a tier above Dansby besides Patrick Willis.

 

[MoeIsBetter]

Shawne Merriman isn't an ILB, he's a pass-rushing OLB, like DeMarcus Ware. And he's certainly not a sideline-to-sideline player. Lawrence Taylor was a pass-rushing OLB, too.

Dansby is as good or better than guys like Nick Barnett (GB), Lofa Tatupu (SEA), Keith Brooking (DAL), Antonio Smith (Formerly of NYG), and Jerrod Mayo (NE). There aren't a lot of players I'd put on a tier above Dansby besides Patrick Willis.

There are a couple guys I'd take over Dansby. I agree he is an awesome ILB but he isn't irreplacable. He is in my top 5 though (but past the top 5 its really nothing special anyway):

Patrick Willis
John Beason
D'Qwell Jackson
Karlos Dansby
Barrett Ruud

 

[kerouac9]

There are a couple guys I'd take over Dansby. I agree he is an awesome ILB but he isn't irreplacable. He is in my top 5 though (but past the top 5 its really nothing special anyway):

Patrick Willis
John Beason
D'Qwell Jackson
Karlos Dansby
Barrett Ruud

Beason's probably better. I'm not sure about Jackson, especially since he only played 6 games last season.

I'm not a big Barrett Ruud guy, but that's mostly because he plays that Tampa-2, and it's really hard to project that performance into other defensive systems.

 

[football karma]

Beason's probably better. I'm not sure about Jackson, especially since he only played 6 games last season.

I'm not a big Barrett Ruud guy, but that's mostly because he plays that Tampa-2, and it's really hard to project that performance into other defensive systems.

Ruud might be a pretty good comparator -- as the Tampa 2 system asks their MLB to many of the things the Cardinals asked Dansby --- cover far more than blitz. No idea how the numbers stack up

btw: I would put DeMeco Ryans up in that mix

 

[MoeIsBetter]

Beason's probably better. I'm not sure about Jackson, especially since he only played 6 games last season.

I'm not a big Barrett Ruud guy, but that's mostly because he plays that Tampa-2, and it's really hard to project that performance into other defensive systems.

Agreed. But below Beason and Willis (MAYBE D'Qwell eventually), I would label the rest Teir 2 guys. Karlos just doesn't have what the other two have. But I do agree with you. Karlos is an amazing talent, but again, not irreplaceable.

 

[MoeIsBetter]

Ruud might be a pretty good comparator -- as the Tampa 2 system asks their MLB to many of the things the Cardinals asked Dansby --- cover far more than blitz. No idea how the numbers stack up

btw: I would put DeMeco Ryans up in that mix

Here are the numbers for Dansby vs Ruud

Stats KD vs BR
Tackles 89 107

Assists 20 35

Sacks 1 0

Pass Def 5 8

Interceptions 1 1

Forced Fumb 1 1

Interesting...

 

[kerouac9]

Ruud might be a pretty good comparator -- as the Tampa 2 system asks their MLB to many of the things the Cardinals asked Dansby --- cover far more than blitz. No idea how the numbers stack up

btw: I would put DeMeco Ryans up in that mix

Ryan has really regressed in the past couple of seasons. Now, he's almost a one-dimensional run-stuffer in that offense. 2 passes defensed and 1 sack last season, in which he played 16 games.

Maybe it's the change in scheme, but he's not the playmaker he was as a rookie.

 

[BullheadCardFan]

Don't tell that to Antron.

I'm curious though as to why we haven't shown an interest in CB Bodden? Wouldn't he be an immediate upgrade over McFadden? He is an UFA.

Maybe they are telling us that they have that much faith in Toler. Why sign a guy to an expensive contract when you feel like you have a player just as good sitting on your roster waiting for a chance?

Depth would be the answer. Can never have too much depth at CB.

It is a good question to ask why not Bodden?

Anybody have any input on him?

 

[187]

Depth would be the answer. Can never have too much depth at CB.

It is a good question to ask why not Bodden?

Anybody have any input on him?

He is very good in man coverage, the only reason I can see us not bringing him in for a visit is if Whiz and co have no intention on demoting McFadden. He had 5 picks and 19 pass deflections last year, which was overall the best season he's had thus far. I'd love to bring him in has our #2, but McFadden seems to be cemented into that role and I think Bodden is looking for starting cb money, not nickel/dime money.