The Cardinals felt comfortable enough with their QB situation to pass on drafting a quarterback. The top three of the depth chart seems set with Leinart and Warner as 1 & 1a with St. Pierre a distant third. It's not uncommon though for a team to bring in an extra QB for training camp in order to keep the guys higher on the depth chart from taking too many reps. Sometimes these guys make the practice squad and sometimes they're just released. That makes me wonder how the Cardinals coaching staff feels about undrafted free agent signee, Anthony Morelli.
The former Penn State signal caller is a guy that has all the physical tools to succeed in any league. He's big (6'3 230), has decent athleticism and a strong arm that allows him to make all the throws, but the big red flag hanging from his resume is his ability to operate under pressure, read defenses and basically handle the mental aspects of playing QB in this league. The question that will face the coaching staff at the end of the season will be very clear, because every teams needs to have 3 quarterbacks somewhere on their team. The Cardinals can either keep 3 on their 53 man roster since St Pierre is not eligible for the practice squad or they can keep 2 on the active roster and Morelli on the practice squad. The problem for Morelli in that case is that he'll have to show the coaching staff quite a bit to unseat St Pierre who has a considerable amount of familiarity with the coaching staff from numerous days in Pittsburgh.
The Good: Joe Paterno called him the most talented quarterback he'd ever coached based on his superior arm strength, quick release and above average accuracy. Morelli's got a propensity for standing in the pocket and taking a hit while still remaining very durable. He's confident in his abilities and has shown he can be a leader.
The Bad: The book on Morelli's negative tendencies is everything having to do with the mental side of the game. He stares down receivers, has problems reading defenses, can't sense backside pressure well and crumbles under pressure. His confidence can also lead to problems as he forces to ball into tight areas too often and has a fumbling problem from holding onto ball to long.
Bottom Line: Every scouting report you read on Morelli is about the same and concludes something along the lines of "he could be a diamond in the rough but will need some serious development." Whether or not he sticks with the Cardinals in 2008, some team will give him a look and try and bring him along slowly. If a good quarterbacks coach can every connect his physical attributes to a solid mental game, he can be a great quarterback. Call me crazy but he reminds me of Tony Romo coming out of school, I'm not saying.......I'm just saying. Anybody see what I see or is this kid just another 'toolsy' player who doesn't have the head for the pros?