MVN - Most Valuable Network

Rosenhaus Looking to Hold out Boldin

Well NFL agent Drew Rosenhaus has struck again. Yes, the same Drew Rosenhaus that’s had Chad Johnson, Terrell Owens, Javon Walker, Lance Briggs, and others hold out of training camp, looks to be advising Arizona Cardinal wide receiver Anquan Boldin to hold out as well.

As fans we can’t completely understand the importance of training camp. We know and have seen enough to figure out that it’s not a good thing for a player to miss the offseason work outs. But the degree it actually matters is something I don’t think we can comprehend. The players that do hold out usually come back slow and sluggish and sometimes never fully recover. When rookies hold out it can sometimes be so detrimental that they never recover. Luckily Anquan Boldin is no rookie but he is the leader of the Cardinals football team. Having one of your captains missing for the summer can be a bad start to a season. For whatever reason chemistry sometimes gets messed up and it causes this trickle down affect to the other players on the team. The Cardinals drafted a cornerback in Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie in the first round and another wide receiver in Early Doucet in the third round. Both of these young players need to practice and be around Anquan as much as possible so they can learn and compete with a Pro Bowl caliber player. Yes, they have Larry Fitzgerald but they’ll need the competition and leadership of Boldin there also.

It seems like every player Drew Rosenhaus comes in contact with holds out for money. I don’t think this is a coincidence. Not all of these players are demanding more money from their teams, it’s mostly Rosenhaus manipulating these players into thinking they should get that extra money. If anyone deserves a little extra money it’s Anquan Boldin. But it still bothers me that some guy is out there controlling Boldin’s career and affecting his play on the field with off the field issues. Agents ruin players more than they help them, I just hope this issue gets resolved before things get too serious. Boldin will eventually get the huge pay day that Larry Fitzgerald got but at what expense to the Cardinals and himself?

Like I said before, the trade rumors that linger around are nothing more than rumors. They were created by Rosenhaus so Anquan’s value would increase. So everyone should just ignore those and stop asking questions about them. Boldin will be a Cardinal this season but when he’ll show up is the question? Don’t expect this Rosenhaus issue to go away soon, he’s also the agent of DT Darnell Dockett who is also looking for more money. You got to admit that Drew Rosenhaus is a great agent, he always gets his players money. But to us football fans he really is the Antichrist.

Cardinals sign their 5th round pick

The Arizona Cardinals have come to terms with 5th round pick, RB Tim Hightower. Hightower’s 3 year deal is the first contract signed by any of the Cardinals 2008 draft picks. As the offseason begins to progress I expect the Cardinals to knock down a few more contracts from the 2008 draft class.

Signing players early is never a bad sign. When was the last time you heard someone say, “to bad that guy signed his contract so early, it really ruined his year.” It just doesn’t seem to happen that way. So hopefully we’ll start seeing more young guys sign early on like Hightower so they don’t have to make up the learning curve. It’s obviously very important to show up as early and often to offseason training when you’ve never played professional football before.

I don’t know how good Tim Hightower is going to be. At first I thought he might make a very minor impact for the Cardinals. But the more I see Tim play the more I think he could really contribute. Hightower’s powerful short burst and excellent hands could make him a very nice third down back this next season. On top of all that, Tim has showed that he could be a very effective special teams guy, and anyone that knows the Cardinals realizes the importance of having solid special teams players.

I don’t think Hightower will make an immediate impact in the first few games of the season, but as time goes on and he grows I think he could become a very important piece to the Cardinals puzzle.

Peter King gives Cardinals below average ranking for 2008

Before I get into my post, I should tell you all that I’m a little frustrated right now because I’m watching a replay of the Chicago Bears vs Arizona Cardinals MNF game. Nothing has changed obviously, the Cardinals are still about to lose, Urlacher hasn’t been blocked, Devin Hester still took it to the house, and yes, Neil did just pull the field goal wide left again. Bad idea on my part to write a post while watching this game. Lesson learned, I won’t do that again.

Alright, that Bears loss was a thing of the past and the future is bright. But apparently Sports Illustrated’s Peter King doesn’t think so. Peter just came out with his NFL power rankings for 2008(click here for link). King ranked the Arizona Cardinals 21st out of the 32 teams in the NFL. I don’t know if I should be delighted or upset about this. 21st doesn’t sound that great, but when you compare it to Mel Kipers prediction that Arizona will be the worst team in the NFL, and to the 30th ranking King gave the Cardinals last year, It’s not that bad. When I saw King rank the Cardinals 30th last year I was livid. But I calmed down and remembered he doesn’t decide who wins the games. The Cards were able to finish 16th and prove Peter wrong and I believe they’ll do the same thing this season. Here’s King explaining why he doesn’t have Arizona ranked higher…

“Paul Zimmerman wanted me to put the Cards higher. But I don’t know who’s playing quarterback, nor how good that quarterback will be. I don’t know how much Edgerrin James has left coming off a 3.8-yards-per-carry season. I do know a defense that allowed a gaudy 399 points will be a little better because of the arrival of Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie at corner. But every year for the past three or four, some wise man in the media (I think it was me two years ago) says, “This is Arizona’s year.” And in the last four of those Arizona years, the Cards have gone 6-10, 5-11, 5-11 and 8-8.”

I think King makes a legit argument, who knows how well Matt Leinart will play. He could live up to the hype and take the Cards to the playoffs, or he could completely bomb and be replaced by Kurt Warner mid way through the season. Matt’s really going to be the wild card this year. I know there’s going to be other question marks on the team, but it’s really going to come down to Leinart. I personally see the Cardinals in the top 15 even with the instability at quarterback. Arizona has their core players coming back from last season, plus a few additions to add some depth where they didn’t have it last year. I’m not so much worried about Edgerrin James as I am with the offensive line. I love what Russ Grimm did last year but they’re still not incredibly strong and deep across the line. Hopefully another year together will prove to be valuable.

I can see where Peter King is coming from and I think he was a little more fair with his prediction this season. But I’d have to disagree with old Pete and show my bias by putting Arizona in the top half of the league for the 2008 season. But what does it matter what him and I think, we’re not the ones that get to decide the outcome. Even though I’m usually right and he’s usually wrong. It’s true!

Mel Kiper picks the Cardinals to have worst 2008 record in NFL

As I sat there watching TV last night I was reviewing on of the NFL Live wrap up’s that included Todd McShay, Mel Kiper jr. and a couple of other talking heads. As the show was coming to a conclusion they asked the panel one by one who they felt would have the number one pick in 2009, or in other words, which team was destined to have the worst season in the NFL.

Mel Kiper, and I still can’t believe he is serious, PICKED THE CARDINALS!

Mel, sorry big guy, you’re a moron.

His comment was followed up by some nonsense about how “The Cardinals hadn’t taken care of the Matt Leinart situation” and failed to address the replacement of Edgerrin James. I almost had to check my clock to make sure I wasn’t dreaming because the panel just stared at him slack jawed and let him push this garbage out of his mouth. The implication was what? That they should have drafted a QB? Or taken Mendenhall when they desperately needed a CB?

Mel, I have no idea what you are talking about, neither does anyone who even remotely follows this team. This team is deep at QB, has a solid coaching staff, a rebuilt offensive and defensive line, three quality receivers and a very good secondary. What in the world would possess you to think that the Cardinals would end up with the WORST record in the NFL?

Someone please bottle and save this idiotic prediction so we can toss it back to Mel when the Cardinals finish 2009 above 500 and fighting for a playoff spot. I’m glad he makes a living doing what he does, because he obviously has no idea what is even remotely going on with the Cardinals and it was just an easy slam at an organization that probably doesn’t give him the inside scoop he needs to feed his draft publication.

What a dope.