No visits planned for this weekend..

[DakotaCardsFan]

http://azcardinals.com/news/detail.php?PRKey=2258

"The Cards do not plan on bringing in any free-agent visitors through the weekend, but they do intend to bring some in by next week.

Graves expressed confidence the Cards could find important new pieces without jumping into the free-agent fray right away. Last offseason, free agency began on March 1, but the Cards signed cornerback Rod Hood (March 11), fullback Terrelle Smith (March 23) and tackle Mike Gandy (April 2) well after. All three started in 2007."

 

[joeshmo]

They dont even have a depth player, or a role player, or a special teamer in mind? There has to be at least one guy they would like.

 

[Dr. Jones]

Not even a Kicker named Josh Brown??? Anyone???

 

[Buckybird]

I do not care about last season, I want this team to take the next step!!! our Gm and his inept ways may hinder this team from achieving it's goal. Don't blame Fitz, because these deals ( Fitz, Danby and Pace) should have been taken care of before the season ended!!! Great job by our GM!!!:notworthy

 

[Darth Llama]

Not a big surprise. Fitz greed really keeps us from getting any of the big names anyway, those are always the first to go. We're probably looking mostly at depth guys, since that's all we can afford.

 

[Duckjake]

Why is it "Fitz greed" and not the Cardinals greed? Or a combination of the two?

You could also say that management needs to give up what they want in a contract extension because it is hurting the team.

 

[joeshmo]

Not a big surprise. Fitz greed really keeps us from getting any of the big names anyway, those are always the first to go. We're probably looking mostly at depth guys, since that's all we can afford.

That is only if you actually believe we were going to sign any big names. Guess what we were not.

"What the Cardinals don't have is the cap space to be major players in free agency. They are believed to be between $5 million and $8 million under the cap. Even if they had space, they likely would sit out free agency's grand opening."

 

[DoTheDew]

I don't blame them, if you guys are complaining about the amount of money Fitz wants, then you wouldn't be happy with how much the opening weekend free agents are going to get. Graves is playing the market letting the so called superstars sign their overpriced deals and then when no one has money left he will get the depth and role players at fair market prices. Graves mentality might suck for building a football team, but he understands economics better than Bush thats for sure.

 

[SuperSpck]

Ya know, I'm happy about those 3 signing from last year. If they can get another batch like that, they can take the time they need.

 

[lobo]

Ya know, I'm happy about those 3 signing from last year. If they can get another batch like that, they can take the time they need.

Good logical point made. Yeah we signed Holt and he was not the answer, but on the whole...very good signings.

 

[dreamcastrocks]

Not a big surprise. Graves inability to structure contracts/negotiate really keeps us from getting any of the big names anyway, those are always the first to go. We're probably looking mostly at depth guys, since that's all we can afford.

Fixed that for you.

 

[joeshmo]

I don't blame them, if you guys are complaining about the amount of money Fitz wants, then you wouldn't be happy with how much the opening weekend free agents are going to get.

That is a very, very good point.

 

[joeshmo]

Good logical point made. Yeah we signed Holt and he was not the answer, but on the whole...very good signings.

It was, just wish we tried harder to get more much needed depth.

 

[RugbyMuffin]

No surprises here.

The front office said they are not getting into the crazy first week, and try to bring in a mega-star.

The only surprise that could come over the weekend is that the Cardinal did in fact sign a FA.

I am more concerned about the Fitz situation. Our free agency really won't start until the middle of next week, IMO.

 

[AZCB34]

if you guys are complaining about the amount of money Fitz wants, then you wouldn't be happy with how much the opening weekend free agents are going to get.

This is a good point, but one could argue that while the rest of the league is chasing around the top name FA, Graves could actually get some work done beyond pleading with Fitz and his agent and have a few visits and see what guys may or may not fit.

What happens is after the dust settles, every team in the league will be looking at the next tier of FA's as will the Cards and then Graves will be finally conducting his interviews and visits and then get into a bidding war over the tier 2 FA's.

Typical Graves thought process it seems. Wait to sstrike until everyone else is getting ready to strike the same irons.

 

[football karma]

Its interesting -- a certain mania takes over on day 1 of free agency-

its gets the blood moving to scroll through how [insert name of decent player here] signed with [insert name of NFL team, other than the Cardinals] for $[insert large dollar amount here]. Exciting!

And this is even after about umpteen different articles have come out over the last 60 days about how everyone is recognizing what a trap the first week of free agency is, and how good teams ignore the glamorous signings and add those mid level guys.


Funny.

 

[Chopper0080]

I don't have a real issue with slow playing the free agency game but I do worry about how it affects how we draft. Arizona has a glaring history of putting themselves in positions of filling specific needs through the draft rather than taking impact players who might be the best available. The reason for this is that we tend to leave holes in our roster after free agency that can't be filled anywhere else. I see this happening this year, specifically on the defensive side of the ball at linebacker and cornerback. While Jonathan Stewart and Brenden Albert might be the best players, potentially, available in the first two rounds we are putting ourselves in the postion of possibly passing on them to fill a need at a position because he don't have any other viable options. I maintain that you don't need to break the bank in free agency to be successful in the NFL but you do need to put your team in the position to take the best players available when you pick in the draft no matter the position.

note-if we leave holes at linebacker and draft Dan Conner at the 16 spot I might puke. Not because he isn't going to be a good player but because we aren't smart enough to know that we can trade down to get him.