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Now that the 2010 Season has finally ended for the Cardinals, lets take a look at how some of the new guys played this season.
Rhodes was outstanding this season, and in my opinion he had a better season than the guy he replaced who somehow managed to go to a Pro Bowl after an average season with New York. Rhodes was good in coverage, and he made a ton of big plays this season. The stats that SBN provides don't show his two fumble returns for Touchdowns and his blocked Field Goal either. Rhodes will probably be here for a while.
A lot of us did not know what to think about Lenon when he was signed, and I remember a lot of people here not being in favor of the pickup (a lot of people wanted Larry Foote), but he had a very solid year. He led the team in tackles, and he did a good job taking Dansby's place. The biggest problem I had with him is that he seemed to struggle in coverage, but as a guy who is used to stuff the run he played pretty well. Hopefully Daryl Washington is going to be used as the coverage guy, he seemed like he was pretty good at that this season.
Another good pickup, a lot of us liked Rackers but he had problems making pressure kicks. Feely made one with five seconds left in the game against the Cowboys. That, along with his consistency and the monster 25 point game (including a touchdown run on a fake kick) he had against the Broncos was enough to make us feel good about him.
Well... he was better than Chike Okeafor. He had a solid three game run where he had four sacks, but other than that he wasn't very consistent this season at pressuring the Quarterback. And it looks like he might not be back next season because he will be making five million next year if he stays. At this point, the most value he has is as a guy who is in the rotation to help keep some of the other guys fresh, and as a guy who can provide some veteran leadership.
I don't know why he gets the defensive player stats on here, I don't know what website shows how many sacks he gave up, but he was obviously better at run blocking than pass blocking.
The stats say it all here.
The guys who left are shown after the jump. Vote in the poll and leave a comment on who you think had the best/worst performances.
Here is a look at the stats that some of the guys who left put up with their new teams.
He didn't put up the numbers that he normally had when he played in Arizona, but Baltimore had 12 wins this season so he probably doesn't care too much. He didn't really get a ton of catches in the last couple of games and it seemed like Joe Flacco preferred throwing to Mason down the stretch, but still a good season for Boldin. He also played in every game this season.
Good season, but for what he was being paid this year it was nothing elite. He missed the final two games because of an injury, and the Dolphins Defense wasn't as good without him (lost in overtime to the Lions, and blown out by the Patriots) on its way to a 7-9 finish. It also looks like their coach will be gone, and Chad Henne might be gone too.
Like I said about Dansby, good but nothing elite. He did not play like the second highest paid Safety in the NFL. It did seem like the Giants used him as a blitzer more than the Cardinals did, and they also used a lot of formations where they had three Safeties on the field. As a guy who just makes tackles like he was seemingly used this year, he did his job. But Rolle is a ball hawk who is very dangerous when he can get into position to pick off passes and get big returns off of them, and he only did that one time this season and that was against Drew Stanton. Rolle also had some controversial moments where he called out the coaches and said booing the team during a bad performance is like booing the troops when they get home from Iraq/Afghanistan.
Much better than he was with us, I'll say that. He just fits the Defense in Pittsburgh better than he did here. He actually picked off two passes after going an entire season without getting any picks when he was here.
He had a pretty good season in Houston, and he made a game winning kick in overtime against the Redskins in a game where Matt Schaub and Donovan McNabb threw for over 300 yards. The picture they used for him also makes me laugh.
He just sat on the bench all year in Houston learning their system and waiting for another chance to start somewhere. Maybe he will get it, everyone here knows I was a fan of Leinart and I would like to see him play well when he gets his chance to start again somewhere. It sounds like Gary Kubiak was impressed by him, so maybe he will get a shot. Somewhere like Cleveland or Tennessee might sign him in the offseason.