Both Arizona and Seattle bring in Derek Anderson for a visit.
Both Arizona and Seattle don't start negotiating with Whitehurst until after they brought in Anderson.
Could both teams be using Whitehurst as a ploy to lower Andersons demands?
It's a possibility, but it might be an indictment of Anderson more than anything else. His visits might have been very underwhelming, thus compelling the Cardinals and Seahawks to pull the trigger on the kind of deal that would require compensation to the Chargers.
I'd rather not give up a third round pick, but since we have two of them, I think I'd be more comfortable giving one of them up than going through some of the latter rounds without a pick. If we were to give San Diego a 4th, we'd be without a draft pick for two full rounds, and could miss out on some value guys that we've traditionally picked well. Drafting a quarterback somewhere between the 3rd and 6th round this year seemed to be an inevitability, since we have to fill two roster spots at the position anyways. Whitehurst was drafted in the same area a few years ago, and his experience in the NFL probably makes him more valuable than any rookie we'd choose in that range.
Articles I'd read mentioned Whitehurst as one of the more appealing RFA's in this year's free agency class, even before the Cardinals showed any interest. There's a history in the league of players who were backups, and even third stringers, coming into a starter's role and having a great deal of success. Matt Schaub, Jake Delhomme, Matt Hasselbeck, Brett Favre, and Steve Young stand out as examples of guys who were either stuck behind a fantastic player, or didn't suit the system they were in, that found a great deal of success once moving to another team.
I'm not ready to anoint Charlie Whitehurst as the next great NFL quarterback, but his experience sets him above a rookie, were Matt to get hurt, or even just play terribly.
No matter what, I'd prefer him over Derek Anderson. I wouldn't be opposed to bringing both in, but Whitehurst has the benefit of not playing some of the worst football I've seen from a quarterback in the past year.
