obviously the cardinals are aware of the dline problems...I think they had a fairly decent plan in the offseason..and it probably looked something like this:
1. sign colvin - lb most of the time and can be a defensive end on pass rushing downs..
2. sign holliday..decent against the run and can slide down to a tackle position on passing downs (putting colvin on the end). If not comfortable with holliday..go after a guy like okeafor.
3. d tackle...resign the guys we have (davis, tanner), get bryant whipped into better shape and try to add depth (like thorton from tenn - who could possibly start if we do not take one at #6).
4. draft suggs if available..if not - take the best d tackle on the board (personally, I like robertson over kennedy).
so..we would have colvin, holliday, thorton for depth and either suggs or robertson...not a bad plan..we would have upgraded 3 or 4 of our front 7.
we were hugely under the cap and probably figured we could just outspend everyone for the free agents..and the rest would fall into place..suggs or a good dtackle will be there at #6.
well...everything that can go wrong...pretty much has..
1. Colvin signed elsewhere for less $$ than we were offering. In hindsight, it appears we never had a shot.
2. Holliday..either does not want to play here or is still overestimating his worth in the market. still could happen though..
3. Okeafor..comes in and we find problems with his back that changes our mind on him being offered a contract.
4. Thorton..not sure what went down here..thorton seemed to indicate after the fact he thought he would end up here (wife wanted to move west) ..he flew from phoenix to cincy falls in love with marvin lewis who offers him a contract on the spot..and he signs.. Unusual that he did not even wait to see what we were offering.. probably the only sincere guy in the lot..said he hated free agency and wanted to end it..and he did. Still unclear if cards were even going to offer a contract..
So.issue still not addressed. I personally doubt june 1 cuts will provide what we need. we could still snag holliday and cross our fingers on suggs.. pretty much everything that could go wrong..did.. I am sure graves and co. is extremely disappointed in the way this went down. in hindsight..not sure we could have done anything differently - except with thorton. he is not a world beater anyway..so he by himself would have not made a ton of difference.
we may be in trade down mode..try to get 2 late round picks or something if suggs is gone..and draft a tackle and an end..very risky strategy and not the preferred one..but not sure we have alot of choices. We are probably counting alot more on dennis johnson and marcus bell than we had planned..
