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Voice of the Cardinals Podcast, Preseason Week 4

On this weeks Voice of The Cardinals Radio, Eli and Mark talk about the 3rd preseason football game against the Oakland Raiders and also talk a little about the current Quarterback drama between Matt Leinart and Kurt Warner.

 

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Cardinals Cut Four

The Arizona Cardinals have cut down to 75 players as of Monday. No Matt Leinart is not declining fast enough to be cut from the 75 man roster. But here are the four players that were unfortunately cut from the team…

CB Marcus Brown

WR Jemalle Cornelius

C Hercules Satale

DL Bryan Robinson- Not the Bryan Robinson that is fighting for a starting spot on the defensive line. It’s the Bryan Robinson that was an undrafted free agent.

So no surprises here, It will get interesting after next weeks game against the Denver Broncos.

Warner to Be Named Starter over Leinart

Arizona Cardinals sources told ESPN that Kurt Warner will be named the starting quarterback over Matt Leinart. This comes a night after Leinart’s 3 interception half against the Oakland Raiders, which was topped off with a 2.8 overall quarterback rating for the game.

The possibility of Kurt Warner becoming the starting quarterback over Matt Leinart was talked about among Cardinal fans, but I just don’t know how many of us really thought it would happen before the season. I give Whisenhunt credit for wanting to play the better player now and not give into the marketing machine and Hollywood star of the Cardinals. I know there’s a bunch of Cardinal fans that couldn’t be happier with this decision. But on the flip side there’s just as many frustrated with Whisenhunt for putting the future of the franchise on the bench. The only thing I can say is we’re all Cardinals fans first and we should be supporting and rooting for whoever is quarterback. We know Kurt is slow and sometimes fumbles the ball, but I’d like to think he makes up for that with his ability to hang in the pocket on other plays and deliver the football where it needs to be. He’s a proven winner and I feel confident with him throwing the ball.

For all of you who wanted Matt to be the Cardinals quarterback I ask what did Matt do to earn the starting quarterback job? Be popular and show up to red carpet events in Hollywood? What did Kurt do to earn the job? He played 11 of the best games of his career to finished out the 2007 season and has looked great in training camp. Being young doesn’t just give you the job especially if the guy your fighting is a two time MVP and Super Bowl Champ.

Whether your a Matt Leinart supporter or a Kurt Warner fan, you have to admit this is a disappointing day in Arizona Cardinals football.  I wouldn’t say it’s tragic because Matt is still young and maybe at some point if Kurt is injured or isn’t playing well, Leinart can come fill in and take the team where it needs to go. But for the time being we have to accept that our first round pick a couple years ago isn’t living up to the hype and is being payed $50 million to be a back up. Hopefully Matt can get back on track someday and be the guy everyone expected him to be.

Cut Okeafor, sign Boldin. Problem solved?

In case any Cardinal fan has been living in a hole this month, or just out of the country or state on an extended vacation to avoid the Arizona Monsoon heat, Anquan Boldin has taken his marching orders from the reptilian Drew Rosenhaus and started his campaign to talk his way out of Arizona. This standard Rosenhaus playbook is, miss off season work outs, show up for training camp and announce to the national media how unhappy you are, mix in a few little injuries that keep you on the side line to miss work with your team and then throw your coach under the bus and say you will never resign with the team. I’m old enough to not really care about the theatrics and to know that the second Anquan gets the money he wants, he will be back to his old self and pronounce it was all just business. Make no mistake, this is not about respect but it is all about money. Nothing more, nothing less.

However, as readers will recall I was predicting exactly this when the Fitzgerald salary decision was being made and I actually recommended that they trade Larry Fitzgerald because of the damage it would do to the cap, morale and the rest of the team. Definitely not Larry’s fault he signed a great contract and the Cardinals put them selves in this position from day one. Well they signed Larry, and make no mistake I am delighted he is on our team, but the predicted locker room anger surfaced with Dockett, Boldin, Dansby and Wilson all really annoyed about the huge pay disparity between their contracts and Fitzgerald.

So the question now is, what do the Cardinals do to get Anquan signed long term, restore order to the locker room and salary cap and not dramatically hurt the teams chances this year? A quick look at the top salary cap numbers shows only two or three prominent names that could be cut at the end of camp to make the room necessary to give the increasingly bitter and disruptive Boldin the money needed to shut him up and get him back to playing football at full speed.

The three names that jump out are Mike Gandy with a cap number of about 6.5 million, Chike Okeafor at 5.6 million and Al Johnson at about $3.5 million. My rough estimates say that the Cardinals, after the release of Marcell Shipp earlier this month, have approximately 3.4 million under the cap at this moment, with other roster cuts of some veteran linebackers potentially saving another $750,000 or so. I suspect in order to give Boldin the bump in pay he wants, the team is going to need to have at the very least $6 million of 2008 cap room to absorb the bump for this year and the hit for the bonus he would demand to extend his deal. Ideally they need at least $7.5 million of cap space so they retain room to pick up a vet off waivers during the season when the inevitable injury bug hits. So, if we have about  $3.4 million we need to find at least $4 million to get us where the team needs to be.

So ask yourself the question, what area are the Cardinals absolutely loaded at this season, with difficult cuts needing to be made and good players hitting the streets? Well it sure isn’t the offensive line, so I would consider the dependable Gandy safe and Al Johnson secure as well. That leaves us with the loaded group of veteran line backers that the team has assembled and the dramatically over paid Chike Okeafor sitting there on the bubble. Take a look at the linebackers currently on the roster. Okeafor, Haggans, Harrington, Hayes, Biesel, Moore, Stewart, Dansby, Highsmith. At the bare minimum at least two of those guys have to go on cut down day and more likely three need to either be moved to the practice squad or hit the streets.

If you have been watching camp, Okeafor has had a good camp, bounced back from injury and is his usual steady, intense self. A very good player, a good teammate and a great guy to have on your squad. However, is this guy supposed to be the 4th highest paid player on your team this season when Haggans is pushing him hard for the starting spot and he is on the back side of his career? Obviously, in a perfect world you keep him because he adds valuable depth, experience and toughness to a vastly improved front seven. However, you are building a TEAM here and the fact is if you have a disgruntled Boldin, your dead this year. The third receivers are most definitely not ready to step into Q’s shoes and take over, and with out Boldin the defense will roll to Fitzgerald and that investment will be wasted as well. You need balance on both sides of the ball and the salary cap makes difficult choices part of the game. Why do I think the Cardinals should, and possibly might, cut Okeafor and then sign Boldin?

• Okeafor sat out last nights Oakland game with a previously undisclosed hip flexor tightness. I personally think they might try to trade him and didn’t want to risk another injury to Okeafor before they have him hit the streets or send him in a trade.
• Clark Haggan’s has been outplaying Okeafor and he is really ticked off that he didn’t get big money in free agency this year. He NEEDS a big year to make money on his next deal and he’s playing like a monster so far. You don’t lose much if anything at all if Haggan’s is your SLB over Okeafor.
• Depth at linebacker is the teams biggest strength, with the recent move to bring in Brandon Moore from SF adding one more smart, versatile vet adding to the mix. Along with the potential of Chris Harrington and Ali Highsmith as rookies and the mixture of solid vets, you are going to have some quality guys watching from the bench. Do you really want to tie up big money to have Okeafor watching Haggans?

• The receivers when Boldin is out are one of the weakest spots on the entire team. Breaston has improved but he’s no number two, Early Doucett isn’t even close and don’t get me started on Jereme Urban. If you want to win this year and in the next few years you have to sign Boldin or your investment in Fitzgerald is wasted as teams will blanket him due to lack of respect for your number 2 guy.
• You can always find veteran linebackers to fill a gap. Take a look at New England. It’s almost impossible to find free agent receivers the quality of Boldin.
• Okeafor is likely gone at the end of this season or will have to play for a serious pay cut. Why ruin this season when you know he’s out of here next year under most plausible scenarios.

In summary, I hate to see a class act like Okeafor go, but thats the smart move here. Sentiment doesn’t get it done in the NFL and if this team really wants to win the NFC West, which it is looking as if they have the potential to get it done, then solve this problem, balance your salary cap and say good bye to Okeafor now, not in the off season when it does you no good.