Reality: Graves gets A+ for all rookies signed and no veteran hold-outs!

[AZCardsWin]

I have to be honest when I say I can't remember the last time that every Cardinal's draft pick & veterans were all in this early into training camp. Seems like every year the Cardinals have there #1 draft pick being one of the last in the NFL to sign.

GM Rod Graves has done an outstanding job building this team up over the past 5 years. This year when all is said and done I will not be surprised to see him as the "NFL Executive of the Year" following a 10-6 NFC West winning Cardinals season.

On a side note about Anquan Boldin:
Having "unfortunately" worked at Ground Zero in NYC following the 9-11 attacks and in Louisiana after Hurricane Katrina I gained a "great" appreciation for the things in life we take for granted. Anquan Boldin is a multi-millionare who will probably retire in his mid 30's and never have to take on another job the rest of his life. His family is financially set for life. He signed a contract extention offered by the Cardinals two years ago that made all of that possible. Honor your contract (which in essence is your word) and let your only talking this season be done on the field!

Go Cards!
Tim in NJ

 

[SuperSpck]

Did you vote in the poll?

http://www.arizonasportsfans.com/vb/f4/poll-cardinals-off-season-115846.html

 

[joeshmo]

When did we ever have a veteran hold out of training camp? For Graves or otherwise.

Draft picks an accomplishment yes, but having no veteran holdouts is not an accomplishment in todays NFL when players can be charged 15K a day on top of a pro rated portion of their gauranteed money as well. It just doesnt happen and Hester figured that out after just one day.

 

[40yearfan]

Tim, nidan, circle the wagons. We are about to be attacked with vicious, verbal verbocity and severly chastized.

 

[RON_IN_OC]

When did we ever have a veteran hold out of training camp? For Graves or otherwise.

Draft picks an accomplishment yes, but having no veteran holdouts is not an accomplishment in todays NFL when players can be charged 15K a day on top of a pro rated portion of their gauranteed money as well. It just doesnt happen and Hester figured that out after just one day.

Mark Smith???

 

[Sandan]

I doubt it Nostradamus is still licking his wounds.

But not sure I'm ready to crown RG just yet, lets see how well they do this year

 

[DaisyCutter]

Graves's biggest challenge will come after this season, when 4 starting players will be unrestricted free agents, as well as 3 or 4 more important depth players. And several other players will be high-value RFAs.

Even if the Cards perform to a playoff level, the 2009 offseason could mirror the 1998 offseason.


I think this gentleman might have something to say about this situation, but it can't be repeated on a family message board:

You must be registered for see images

 

[cardsfanmd]

Aside from all of that I was just getting ready to post what Joe already said. I credit Graves with signing all the picks, A-. not A+ (DRC was still a little late).

A vet holdout wouldn't be totally his fault though even if it did occur. You can't be a holdout unless you are under contract, and Graves' job is to get you under contract, so a player holding out really coudn't be blamed entirely on him IMO. If you want to say that the players are holding out because of a certain poor job he did with another guys contract then I would agree, but only to an extent.

 

[Redheart]

...He signed a contract extention offered by the Cardinals two years ago that made all of that possible. Honor your contract (which in essence is your word) and let your only talking this season be done on the field!...Tim in NJ

And he got a boat load of money up front, one of the reasons his salery (cap hit) for the next three years is nice and low...thanks to Graves.

He is coming off a bad injury, he is 28 and will be 30 - 31 when he KNOWS he will get some more guaranteed money.

Q wants another big guaranteed pay day; he is one injury away....

If they had not already chosen a #1 WR for this team and paid HIM, Fitz, I would say pay Boldin.

Now we need to trade Boldin and fill holes and gain depth and get an overall improvement in our team.

I think we have enough young WR talent, I believe collected for this purpose by Graves, to off-set the loss of Q at the WR position.

Q didn't just fire his Cardinal "bridge" with management; he also torched his Cardinal Captain and Leader standing, too.

 

[TigToad]

I don't get the conclusion you just drew.


Boldin is under contract for 3 years.

Boldin's cap hit is low for his skill level.

Why on Earth do we have to trade him?

It's a great situation for the Cardinals.

And he got a boat load of money up front, one of the reasons his salery (cap hit) for the next three years is nice and low...thanks to Graves.

He is coming off a bad injury, he is 28 and will be 30 - 31 when he KNOWS he will get some more guaranteed money.

Q wants another big guaranteed pay day; he is one injury away....

If they had not already chosen a #1 WR for this team and paid HIM, Fitz, I would say pay Boldin.

Now we need to trade Boldin and fill holes and gain depth and get an overall improvement in our team.

I think we have enough young WR talent, I believe collected for this purpose by Graves, to off-set the loss of Q at the WR position.

Q didn't just fire his Cardinal "bridge" with management; he also torched his Cardinal Captain and Leader standing, too.

 

[Crimson Warrior]

If our first round draft pick had been in the top five, then maybe I could get a little excited about getting DCR in more or less on time.

But not a #15 or whatever it was. He gets a "nice job Rod" though.

 

[Duckjake]

Anquan Boldin is a multi-millionaire who will probably retire in his mid 30's and never have to take on another job the rest of his life. His family is financially set for life. He signed a contract extension offered by the Cardinals two years ago that made all of that possible. Honor your contract (which in essence is your word) and let your only talking this season be done on the field!

To be fair you also have to note that he probably will not be able to walk normally by the time he is 50 and if as is typical with pro athletes will suffer from various physical aches and pains for most of his life. If I'm not mistaken the average life expectancy for pro football players is also well below normal for males.

Heck all I did was play a little high school football and I still have problems with my hands and back from getting banged up back then. Of course playing with those stupid leather helmets didn't help any.

 

[Stout]

To be fair you also have to note that he probably will not be able to walk normally by the time he is 50 and if as is typical with pro athletes will suffer from various physical aches and pains for most of his life. If I'm not mistaken the average life expectancy for pro football players is also well below normal for males.

Heck all I did was play a little high school football and I still have problems with my hands and back from getting banged up back then. Of course playing with those stupid leather helmets didn't help any.

They had helmets when you played?

 

[TJ]

I guess if you are forgetting the past. That Fitzgerald f-up is gonna hinder the cap for years amoungst others

 

[Redheart]

I don't get the conclusion you just drew.

Boldin is under contract for 3 years.

Boldin's cap hit is low for his skill level.

Why on Earth do we have to trade him?

It's a great situation for the Cardinals.

Captain Q becomes Boldin the cancer... Q plays very few of games in next two years due to various "nagging" injuries then suddenly has a monster year during his "contract" year...

If your wife turned to you in bed and said, "I hate your guts, I think you lied to me and mis-led me so I want a divorce; until we are divorced, you can expect the bare minimum from me. Oh yeah, get used to cold showers". Would you consider that a great situation?

 

[AZCardsWin]

They had helmets when you played?

LOL- thats not right...

Go Cards!
Tim in NJ

 

[Duckjake]

They had helmets when you played?

Yessir. They were brand new my freshman year. Here's my Senior picture:

 

[Duckjake]

And here's Stout's high school photo I found on google:

 

[MrYeahBut]

My grandfather showed me his helmet when I was a kid. He played for the Univ of Washington back around 1920. I think he used to fold his helmet and put it in his back pocket. Wish I could find that thing.

 

[Duckjake]

And of course there's always 40yearfans high school football foto:

 

[SuperSpck]

My grandfather showed me his helmet when I was a kid. He played for the Univ of Washington back around 1920. I think he used to fold his helmet and put it in his back pocket. Wish I could find that thing.

Proving today's players may be much faster and stronger, but man, those old cats were tough.

 

[Stout]

And here's Stout's high school photo I found on google:

Nah, that ain't me...I'm much uglier

 

[earthsci]

Captain Q becomes Boldin the cancer... Q plays very few of games in next two years due to various "nagging" injuries then suddenly has a monster year during his "contract" year...

If your wife turned to you in bed and said, "I hate your guts, I think you lied to me and mis-led me so I want a divorce; until we are divorced, you can expect the bare minimum from me. Oh yeah, get used to cold showers". Would you consider that a great situation?

Not even close.

First of all, by your analogy Q doing that would be similar to the wife getting grotesquely overweight and just sitting on the couch eating Bon Bons all day. No sex, no work, no nothing. And all of this being public knowledge. Who would want her for a wife after the divorce?

For the wife to get her pick of men when the divorce was final she would work hard to have a hot body, give the best sex one could imagine, bring home the bacon (a lot) and fry it up in the pan. All being public knowledge. That way the men would act like the dogs that they are and line up to court her.

Ladies, sorry for the sexist post, but I was just trying to address the particular analogy.

 

[john h]

Graves's biggest challenge will come after this season, when 4 starting players will be unrestricted free agents, as well as 3 or 4 more important depth players. And several other players will be high-value RFAs.

Even if the Cards perform to a playoff level, the 2009 offseason could mirror the 1998 offseason.


I think this gentleman might have something to say about this situation, but it can't be repeated on a family message board:

You must be registered for see images

Graves biggest challenge will be to win more games than he loses. Winning is all that really matters. All this other stuff is just chaff. If we can improve I can live with that. If we cannot improve then it is time for a change at GM. We have changed everything else except ownership.

 

[40yearfan]

And of course there's always 40yearfans high school football foto:

I looked somewhat natty in that top hat. It's a shame they didn't get my spats in the picture.