One of the biggest weekends in the NFL off season is wrapping up in Indianapolis which means that the media has been working overtime trying to cover all of the breaking news. The Arizona Cardinals aren't in the forefront of draft preparation, as they're accustomed to being, thanks to a fantastic playoff run but there's still plenty of news to keep us busy.
- As Andrew wrote on Friday, Anquan Boldin softened his "never coming back" stance late last week and said that he would be open to signing a new contract if the right one was offered.
- Darren Urban confirmed the story but added a new twist. Apparently Boldin is in fact open to signing a new contract but only if the contract offer is made by Tuesday (yea, tomorrow) and of course if it's not then he wants to be traded. As if the story wasn't crazy enough, Rod Graves responded by saying that any demands of a deadline were news to him.
- Mike Sando has an interesting story about the Cardinals taking another step in their transformation into "Steelers West." Apparently the Steelers have a policy in which they won't renegotiate anyone's contract with more than one year remaining, unless it's a quarterback. That's sure sounds like an attractive policy but it would sure ruffle some feathers among guys currently under contract. As Steelers' GM Kevin Colbert points out though, after it's been in place and every player knows the organization's stance, few try to rock the boat:
"It's something that we're very consistent with and it eliminates any kind of potential problem because you've been consistent with guys who have been big parts of your success. They all wait their turn. They understand that. They don't even try to test that for the most part....Our players know that policy. Right, wrong or indifferent, it works for us and it works for them. They accept that. They know there is no reason to try to change that because it's not going to change anytime soon...."
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This is obviously a story that isn't going away any time soon. The Cardinals have plenty of other free agents to negotiate with and Boldin doesn't appear to be one of their first priorities. How patient will he be and do the Cardinals really care how much noise he makes for the next couple of months? Does the 'one year left' policy sound like something that the Cardinals should employ?