6-1-12: Arizona Cardinals Bird Droppings - Offseason Stuff

Time for todays links, including something Whiz mentioned about wanting Kolb to be the starter although he will give both guys a chance to win the job.

Cue the angry bickering in 3..... 2...... 1!

Arizona Cardinals' Kevin Kolb, John Skelton continue to split snaps at quarterback
Through the first two weeks of voluntary practices, Cardinals quarterbacks Kevin Kolb and John Skelton have split snaps with the starting unit as evenly as possible, coach Ken Whisenhhunt confirmed. "I'd have to go back and chart the plays. It might be 51 (percent) for one and 49 for the other," Whisenhunt said. "I don't think there is a great discrepancy." And what should be read into that? "That it's competition," Whisenhunt said, "which we've said all along."

Cardinals coach: 'I want Kevin to be our quarterback' - ArizonaSports.com
In what has become a daily occurrence, Cardinals coach Ken Whisenhunt was asked Thursday about how he's splitting the reps between quarterbacks Kevin Kolb and John Skelton. As you are well aware, the two are in what Whisenhunt is calling a "competition" for the starting job, and as far as we know it will be a while before a winner is determined. There are some who feel the amount of work the passers are getting in OTAs -- a 2+ months away from training camp and just more than three months from the regular season opener -- is indicative of who may be in the lead. Not so fast.

Mistaking The Point Of OTAs
Errors will happen, but players want to make it right even now

Word From the Birds Blog | Cards make scouting changes
The Cardinals have made some scouting department changes, adding a extra body to their previous group by hiring Zac Canty — who most recently spent the last two seasons as a pro personnel assistant with the Bears — as the team representative for the National Football Scouting Service, and also bringing in former Dolphins scouting assistant John Richter to scout the northeast region of the country. The team parted ways with scout Don Corzine.

Word From the Birds Blog | Whiz addresses QB competition (but not that other QB)
Coach Ken Whisenhunt said the Cardinals are trying to split the first-team reps between John Skelton and Kevin Kolb as close to 50/50 as they can. "I’d have to chart the plays," Whisenhunt said. "It might be 51 (percent) to 49. I don’t think there’s a great discrepancy." And what, he was asked, should be read into that? "That it’s a competition, like we’ve said all along," he said. Whisenhunt did insist that, out on the field, the other factors in the QB conversation — specifically, the amount of money Kolb makes and has been paid — doesn’t enter in. That’s been his philosophy.

Word From the Birds Blog | Gradually, Washington builds up
When Daryl Washington first arrived in Arizona, special teams coach Kevin Spencer asked him if he was the new strong safety. (I’m not sure if Spencer was joking, but I’m guessing he knew exactly who Washington was.) "That there told me I needed to put on some weight," said Washington, the Cards’ emerging star at inside linebacker. Washington was 228 when he first got to the NFL. Last season, he came in at 234 pounds. He weighed in last week, at the start of OTAs, at 243 pounds and "I didn’t feel it."

Squinting to see Cardinals' QB timeline - NFC West Blog - ESPN
Crawford from Glendale, Ariz., wants to know when the Arizona Cardinals will be most likely to name a starting quarterback. "Do you see the Cards having one named by mid-preseason rather than typically at the end?" he asks.

Fatherhood new motivation for Cardinals LB O'Brien Schofield - ArizonaSports.com
O'Brien Schofield is smiling. Then again, he's always smiling: on the field, off the field. But this smile is different. The Cardinals third-year linebacker was just congratulated on the birth of his son, eliciting a wide smile and the proverbial sparkle in the eyes.

Rob Housler hopes to make bigger impact in 2012 - ArizonaSports.com
Rookies all across the NFL have gotten their first taste of offseason action through OTAs in the month of May. For second-year players like Arizona Cardinals tight end Rob Housler, it's a first time learning experience as well.

Cardinals rookie Lindley learning through OTAs - ArizonaSports.com
Taken with the 185th pick of the 2012 draft by the Arizona Cardinals, quarterback Ryan Lindley is doing everything he can to soak in information during OTAs.

Season In Focus: Part Two
Darren Urban sits down with Arizona Cardinals DE Calais Campbell to talk about his new contract and the upcoming 2012 season.

Arizona Sports News:

Phoenix Mercury guard Diana Taurasi out indefinitely with strained left hip flexor
Diana Taurasi is out indefinitely with a strained left hip flexor, the Mercury announced on Thursday.

NFL News:

Lessons from Harbaugh's QB comments - NFC West Blog - ESPN
Jim Harbaugh's attempts to clarify the San Francisco 49ers' interest in Peyton Manning are having the opposite effect. I'll be curious to see whether Harbaugh learns from the experience.

Saints Coach 'Confident' Drew Brees Will Show Up - SBNation.com
The New Orleans Saints placed their franchise tag on superstar quarterback Drew Brees during the offseason, in order to prevent Brees from hitting the free agent market. At last word, there has been no progress in attempts at reaching a contract extension and Brees has expressed his frustration at the situation. Head coach Joe Vitt -- who is filling in for the suspended Sean Payton -- feels "confident" that Brees will attend training camp under the franchise tag. Vitt spoke with Ian Rapoport of NFL.com and had this to say about the situation:

Twitter Trades Von Miller To The Steelers - From Our Editors - SBNation.com
In the age of modern journalism and the rise of blogs, Twitter has become a powerful tool that has somewhat evened the playing field of reporting. It's even opened to door to purposeful false reports in order to troll and cause panic. On Wednesday, Denver Broncos defensive end Von Miller had to shoot down a rumor of himself being traded, on Twitter.

Hines Ward Hired By NBC, Will Now Live Inside Your Television - From Our Editors - SBNation.com
Hines Ward has done it all in his career. He's won two Super Bowls, been Super Bowl MVP, set Pittsburgh Steelers franchise records for receptions, receiving yards and touchdowns and, of course, has won a season of Dancing with the Stars. This fall, he'll be entering your television set and giving you his take on all things football.

Jonathan Vilma: NFL wouldn’t give me evidence | ProFootballTalk
Jonathan Vilma says Roger Goodell’s refusal to show him evidence of his activities in the Saints bounty program is the reason why he didn’t speak to league’s investigators about it.