Cardinals Poised to Finally Break Through?

Starting today with the Arizona Cardinals, Mark Maske will dissect the offseason moves of each NFL team.

The Arizona Cardinals were a trendy preseason pick last year to be a playoff contender.

They went 5-11. Different coach. Same sorry franchise.

Last season's disappointments dropped Dennis Green to 11-21 in two seasons in Arizona, and there are rumblings that another losing season could put his job in jeopardy. The Cardinals move into their sparkly new stadium in Glendale, Ariz., next season, and they want to have a sparkly new team to play in it.

Finally, they may have achieved that.

With the signing of tailback Edgerrin James in March, Green has all the pieces on offense. The Cardinals began free agency with more salary cap space than any team in the league but the Minnesota Vikings, yet they started out the offseson telling anyone who would listen that didn't necessarily mean they would be big spenders once the market opened. According to Indianapolis Colts Coach Tony Dungy, the last time he saw Green before the Cardinals signed James, Green told him there was "no way" that Arizona would be in the running for James.

At the NFL scouting combine, with the league engulfed in labor uncertainty, Cardinals front-office chief Rod Graves said: "When you have a lot of cap room, teams think you're a candidate [to be big spenders in free agency]. I have to credit that to the agents. . . . There are reasons for teams to be cautious. There's still a lot of uncertainty. We're still trying to get our arms around it. I just don't see teams jumping out there."

But Graves also added then: "We're certainly poised from a cap standpoint to be aggressive in free agency."

And once the market opened, the Cardinals moved quickly and signed James to a four-year, $30 million contract that included a $7 million signing bonus and a $4.5 million roster bonus due almost immediately. This was nothing like the signing of Emmitt Smith in 2003. Then, Smith was almost 34 and in the twilight of a fabulous career. Now, James is 27 and at the peak of his career, coming off consecutive 1,500-yard rushing seasons for the Colts.

The Cardinals re-signed Kurt Warner while allowing fellow quarterback Josh McCown to depart for the Detroit Lions in free agency. Warner's eventual successor came on draft day, when the Cardinals scooped up USC quarterback Matt Leinart when Leinart slipped to the draft's 10th overall choice. Green called Leinart and told the quarterback, who was having the anguish of his draft-day mini-plummet chronicled by the television cameras while he sat in the players' waiting area in Radio City Music Hall in New York, it was a blessing that Leinart still was available for the 10th pick.

It was a blessing for Leinart, as well. When he takes over for Warner, he will inherit an offense that features James and two top-notch wide receivers, Anquan Boldin and Larry Fitzgerald. Leinart said on draft day he was happy to stay near the West Coast, in a warm-weather environment where he could play plenty of golf. He also said he'd met Warner recently and the two got along well, and he was pleased to be in a situation where he could learn from a veteran without necessarily having to play immediately. He likened it to the situation that his predecessor as USC's quarterback, Carson Palmer, had in Cincinnati when he entered the league, sitting for a season behind Jon Kitna before taking over as the Bengals' starter in his second season and leading them to the playoffs last season in his third year.

With James around, Warner could have a very good season in his second year in Arizona. He and Green know each other better, and Warner now has the sort of players around him that he had in his glory years in St. Louis.