Kevin Kolb to the Arizona Cardinals has been a recurring rumor all summer. Multiple Arizona based beat writers have reported on it, logically it makes total sense and the general consensus is that their interest is real. The latest rumor comes from XTRA 910-AM sports radio who cites a source that says the Cardinals have settled on Kevin Kolb as their QB of choice when the lockout ends and are prepared to offer cornerback Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie straight up in trade.
Makes sense for both teams... AZ desperately needs a QB; Kolb has the biggest upside of the QB that could be become available. They have ID Kolb as the guy.
Philly needs a corner Nnamdi Asomugha is the number one free agent (take QB's out of he mix), Ike Taylor is 31 yrs old and would like to cash in...DRC is under contract the next 2 yrs making over about a million per yr. So the Eagles won't have to pay any signing bonus.
For his part, Kolb seems very open to a trade to Arizona. As a guest of the Dan Patrick show today, Kolb was asked about the rumored trade.
"I hope," Kolb said. "Arizona would be a great place. I've obviously envisioned myself there."
This isn't the first time this offseason he's expressed an interest in the Cardinals. Back when Larry Fitzgerald kind of endorsed Kolb as the teams' next QB, Kolb said he was flattered and hoped the Cardinals would be in the mix if the Eagles decided to trade him.
"If he's not the best than he's one of the best WRs in the NFL, a superstar, for a guy like that to say something about me it means a lot. Awful flattering and if something happens I hope their name comes up," Kolb said.
Cardinals coach Ken Whisenhunt also did a radio spot recently (with the same guy who reported Kolb for DRC rumor) and while he didn't address the Kolb rumors, he did say he was excited to get a QB.
"Absolutely. I don't know if anxious is the right word. I'm excited to do that, to get the opportunity. I feel confident that when we get the opportunity to do that we're gonna have success and we're gonna be excited about that just because I think we present a good opportunity for a quarterback. With our receivers and some of the things that we do. The one thing as a coach you want to have your team. You want to know what your team looks like, you want to know what challenges you face with that specific team going in and we're not there yet. We have a number of areas that we would like to address. We'd like to be aggressive and improve our football team and that's what we're going to do. You would certainly like for that to be happening right now because you're just excited about wanting to get started and wanting to get everyone up to speed."
So this tells us a couple things. For one, the Cardinals are absolutely 100% in the market for a QB and clearly don't see any of their in house guys as realistic options. Second, if he's "excited" and plans to be "aggressive" wouldn't you think that rules out guys like Marc Bulger and other re-treads? It sounds to me like Whisenhunt is going all out to find a franchise QB. And unless he thinks Kyle Orton is going to turn into a franchise QB on his third try, there's really only one guy on the market with that kind of potential...