Gunzlingr
05-01-2003, 09:00 AM
If hope has as many lives as a cat, Arizona Cardinals fans better start digging that hole in the backyard. In a month when hope springs eternal in the hearts and minds of nearly all NFL fans, those who follow the football equivalent of Fredo, are short on sanguineness and far on faultfinding. And who can blame them?
After finishing at the bottom of the NFL in sacks for the third straight season, the Cardinals came in 2003's off-season in need of an elite pass rusher. Two efforts in free-agency failed to produce any, leaving the NFL Draft as the final opportunity for the Cardinals to fix this prolonged problem. So with the 6th pick in the 2003 NFL Draft it seemed as if Terrell Suggs, Arizona icon and NCAA single season sack record holder, would be a perfect fit. As luck would have it (or maybe not), Suggs had ran two sub 4.8's and chased away the only two potential draft suitors picking ahead of the Cardinals in the weeks prior to the draft.
But please keep in mind that these are the Arizona Cardinals, and when the football gods hand them a gift, they turn around and give it to someone else and then pay them for taking it. One couldn't describe the Cardinals-New Orleans Saints trade scenario any better. In case you missed it, Arizona talked the Saints into letting them out of taking #1 pass rusher Suggs, and then gave New Orleans 17 spots in the 2nd round and a 4th round pick for the right of not doing so. In return the Cardinals got the 17 &18th selections, picks they used on consensus 2nd Round prospects Bryant Johnson and Calvin Pace.
more (http://www.football.com/nfl/hopeless_cards.shtml)
After finishing at the bottom of the NFL in sacks for the third straight season, the Cardinals came in 2003's off-season in need of an elite pass rusher. Two efforts in free-agency failed to produce any, leaving the NFL Draft as the final opportunity for the Cardinals to fix this prolonged problem. So with the 6th pick in the 2003 NFL Draft it seemed as if Terrell Suggs, Arizona icon and NCAA single season sack record holder, would be a perfect fit. As luck would have it (or maybe not), Suggs had ran two sub 4.8's and chased away the only two potential draft suitors picking ahead of the Cardinals in the weeks prior to the draft.
But please keep in mind that these are the Arizona Cardinals, and when the football gods hand them a gift, they turn around and give it to someone else and then pay them for taking it. One couldn't describe the Cardinals-New Orleans Saints trade scenario any better. In case you missed it, Arizona talked the Saints into letting them out of taking #1 pass rusher Suggs, and then gave New Orleans 17 spots in the 2nd round and a 4th round pick for the right of not doing so. In return the Cardinals got the 17 &18th selections, picks they used on consensus 2nd Round prospects Bryant Johnson and Calvin Pace.
more (http://www.football.com/nfl/hopeless_cards.shtml)