Sports360AZ
Things are much quieter here at Cardinals headquarters on Day Three of free-agency.
On Wednesday, Arizona opened the floodgates, signing five players – Drew Stanton, Rashard Mendenhall, Yeremiah Bell, Jerraud Powers and Lorenzo Alexander – all of who address a need for the Cardinals at their respective positions.
The team brought in former Bengals linebacker Rey Maualuga for a visit yesterday, and he left without signing with the team (at least they’re doing their due diligence, even if they don’t sign every player that comes through the facility).
On Day Three, the Cardinals entertained linebacker Jesper Brinkley, formerly of the Vikings and cornerback Antoine Cason, formerly of the Chargers.
Currently, there’s no word on how things went with Brinkley, and from the word here in the press room, Cason left town, like Maualuga, without a deal.
Now just because a team lets a player go without signing him, doesn’t mean that they won’t revisit him at a later date (could be sooner, could be later, unless he’s already signed somewhere else). There’s so many different factors that play into a signing, and of course, not every player in free-agency is right for a team.
The countdown to Kevin Kolb getting his $2 million roster bonus is drawing near. From all accounts, Kolb, his agent and the team are trying to re-structure his contract, which might be what is tying things up with other potential signees.
As it stands, Kolb’s a $13.5 million hit against the cap, which is unacceptable given his track record so far with the team. You can see why the Cardinals want to, and need to, rework this contract.
Let’s stay with the quarterback conversation for a bit. Arizona has five right now. There’s no way they keep all five, that’s not going to happen.
Stanton is a low-risk, high-reward signing. He says he wants to be “the answer” for Arizona at quarterback, and he’s willing to do whatever it takes to be that guy.
He hasn’t thrown a regular season pass since 2010, so his arm should be plenty fresh.
Stanton signed a three-year, $8.2 million deal. Only $3 million of that is guaranteed, so if he bombs, the team isn’t out a whole lot. However, if he shows and proves, then it looks like a brilliant move on the Cardinals part.
Brian Hoyer is a restricted free-agent who got a second-round tender. Hoyer’s evidentally garnered interest from a few teams, so he could be here or he might not be here, depending on how things shake out.
The way Skelton and Lindley played last season, especially toward the end, was despicable to say the least. Granted, the offensive line was in shambles, and there wasn’t much of a running game to speak of, which put even more pressure on them, but it was just plain embarrassing to watch them play football.
There’s no guarantee either player will be on the roster this season based on their play.
That would leave the Cardinals to search for a quarterback next month in the NFL Draft. It’s a QB class that isn’t the most impressive class, but it does have some intriguing guys there that Arizona might jump on, like a Geno Smith, a Matt Barkley (depending on what he does at his Pro Day), or an E.J. Manuel in a later round.
Bottom line for Day Three: no signings to report, just a lot of juggling going on right now.
