NFL Offseason: The Odds of Landing Kolb

A lot of speculation has gone on this offseason of what teams would want to have Kevin Kolb as their quarterback and what price they would have to pay in order to obtain him. The Arizona Cardinals have been thrown into the parade of teams that would seemingly be interested due to their lack of a good passer under center, but I for one am not so convinced.

Kevin Kolb had a 76.1 passer rating in 2010 where he played in seven games (starting in five of them). During this time he threw for a total of seven touchdowns and seven interceptions. Kolb completed roughly 61% of his passes and threw for an average of 6.3 yards. These numbers are nowhere near astounding and hardly justify a first round pick and more. Let's put this into perspective.

Charlie Whitehurst was a target of the Cardinals in the 2010 offseason. Before being traded to the Seattle Seahawks for a second round pick swap (which cost the Seahawks twenty places in that round) and a third round pick, he had only played in two games with the San Diego Chargers. By the way, those two games were in the 2006 season, his rookie year. Many felt that the Seahawks overpaid for Whitehurst's services and that he would not be a good enough player to replace Matt Hasselbeck when the time came. I am certainly glad the Cardinals did not chase that fish.

Fast forward to the current offseason. Kevin Kolb is on a Philadelphia Eagles team that has just announced that Michael Vick will be their designated franchise QB and Kolb now wants out if he won't start. Granted, he did make a great backup when Vick went down to injury last season, but is he worth this kind of investment for the Cardinals?

His arm strength is questionable, he only completes 44% of his passes during the two-minute warning, and his completion percentage declines rapidly as the game progresses. Kolb also completes only 41% of his passes in the 4^th quarter when his team is within seven. These stats tell me that he does not handle pressure well, which is a much overlooked trait that is needed in a quarterback.

Personally, I believe Kevin Kolb is overrated due to the lack of good quarterbacks in the draft and in free agency. Yes, he would be a considerable upgrade over our current QB lineup, but will he be able to show enough to keep Larry Fitzgerald around and take the Cardinals back to the top of the NFC West?

If the price drops to a second or third round pick due to the lack of interest in Kolb for a first rounder, then I would think the Cardinals front office would pull the trigger on a deal like that. But for a first round pick, they may as well draft a moldable young player like Blaine Gabbert or dare I say, Cam Newton. For that matter, why not get Matt Hasselbeck or Marc Bulger, in which case we would not have to surrender any picks at all?

Ken Whisenhunt and Rod Graves were reluctant to make a heavy investment in a questionable quarterback last season, let's hope they can show the same discretion this time around as well.