Charger fans were not happy with his preseason performance however I’ve read elsewhere that he did well in preseason. If the Cardinals are interested in him I’d have to think that there is something the professional talent evaluators see that is worthwhile. His highlight reel from college is pretty good. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UdlemnigJ-s

I don’t know if the Cardinals have any edge over Seattle, not if it’s Whitehurst’s choice where he signs. The talk about something other than a 3rd round pick came up at the very first mention of a potential deal. I’d bet this guy was on the radar for a while and wonder what sort of back room wheeling and dealing may have been going on ahead of time.

According to Darren Urban and another source Larry Foote is all set to sign with the Steelers once again pending a physical. Guess this FO didn’t show him the numbers he wanted to see because I can’t think of any other factors that would lead him away from a team up until a few days ago he was ‘begging’ to sign with.

Giving up a third round pick for a third-string quarterback who’s never thrown an NFL pass sounds like a terrible, terrible idea. Especially when more experienced quarterbacks like Derek Anderson are available without having to give up a pick, and guys like Brady Quinn and Shaun Hill are being traded for a song.

Ok, did as much research as I could on a guy who has never thrown a regular season pass….the news ain’t good! Whitehurst has 4 years of preseasons under his belt and here are the numbers:
104-197 (53%) 1031 yds. TD-5 INT-6 YPA-5.2 6 fumbles(3 lost)
Now I don’t care as much about the low completion % if you are throwing down the field, but when I saw the brutal 5.2 YPA, I looked into the numbers a little further and found out that in his 197 att. he has only 2 pass completions for more than 20 yards(40 and 41 yards both to Craig Davis). You would think some run and catch plays would bring that number up but….
He also seems to take an inordinate amt.of sacks in looking at some of the play-by-play action in his games for a supposedly mobile QB and didn’t make any big plays running out of the pocket.
But the 6 INTs and 6 fumbles in 197 atempts(1/16.4) as compared to TD’s(1/39.4) are frighteningly bad.
But, in 2009, he did, arguably have his best camp with the following numbers:
34-60(56%) 386 yds TD’s-2 INT’s-2 YPA 6.43 Fumbles 3(2 lost)
Still nothing to write home about. So I read the recaps hoping maybe he made plays that might have stood out and the only mention about him was that he was resposible for 3 TO’s on 3 consecutive series vs Seattle.
So, my question is this. How exactly did the FO get interested in him in the first palce?

Ok here is how the 2 QB’s compared, preseason style. I broke this down year by year and totaled it up at the bottom. There is an asterisk for the 2008 season and one game is deleted and will be addressed after the stats.
2006
KW: 33-45(73%) 386 yds. 3 TD’s 1 INT 8.47 YPA Fumbles 0
ML: 29-47(62%) 312 yds. 2 TD’s 0 INT 6.64 YPA Fumbles 1 (0 lost)

2007
KW: 16-20(80%) 245 yds. 1 TD 0 INT 12.25 YPA Fumbles 2(1 lost)
ML: 24-40(60%) 329 yds. 2 TD’s 0 INT 8.23 YPA Fumbles 0

2008*
KW: 12-17(71%) 142 yds. 0 TD 0 INT 8.35 YPA Fumbles 1(0 lost)
ML: 24-34(71%) 330 yds. 2 TD’s 0 INT 9.71 YPA Fumbles 2(1 lost)

2009
KW: 24-46(52%) 320 yds. 0 TD 3 INT 6.96 YPA Fumbles 1(0 lost)
ML: 39-66(59%) 521 yds. 3 TD 2 INT 7.89 YPA Fumbles 0

So here are the totals for the 4 yrs between the 2, less 1 asterisk game in 2008

KW: 85-128(66%) 1088 yds. 4 TD 4 INT 8.50 YPA Fumbles 4(1 lost)
ML: 116-187(62%) 1492 yds. 9 TD 2 INT 7.89 YPA Fumbles 3(1 lost)

So as you can see, at least from ML’s preseason numbers he has had success. But now for the one game I didn’t include, and the reason why.
Going into the 2008 preseason, no one new for sure who the starting QB for AZ would be. KW was benched in 2006 in favor of rookie ML and ML was the starting QB in 2007 up until his injury in game 5 shelved him for the season. Yes, KW did come in in game 3 when ML struggled vs BLT, and got some play in game 4 vs heavily favored Pitt, but in that game, with AZ nursing a 7 point 4th quater lead, it was ML who was the choice and he led AZ on the game deciding TD drive, and procedded to start game 5 where he got injured.
But the norm in the NFL is that you don’t lose your starting job because of injury and ML started the 1st preseason game and played very well. But in game 2, it was KW who got the start beginning the controversy until game 3 vs OAK when ML, admittedly, choked! The numbers were so bad(4-12 24 yds 0 TD 3 INT) it pretty much sealed the fate of who was going to be the starter opening day. But I think it is very important to point out that he returned in the final preseason game and played fantastic(10-14 177 yds. 1 TD 0 INT) as he was in for 3 drives, moving the team every time for drives of 90 yds, 56 yds & 64 yds scoring 2 TD’s.
So I kept the numbers out, because I wanted to put my own positive spin on a ngeative situation, but also because I felt it skewed the numbers so that you couldn’t get a real feel as to how well he has played so far…in the PRESEASON, of course. But here are the numbers with every game included and they still are pretty good.

ML: 120-199(60%) 1504 yds. 9 TD’s 5 INT’s 7.56 YPA 3 Fumbles(1 lost)

My work here is done!