The Cardinals signed Derek Anderson as competition for Matt Leinart, and while I think it's good that they aren't just handing the position to Leinart (who has done nothing to earn it), I don't think Anderson is the right guy. I've documented on here before how bad Derek Anderson was last season; basically, he was neck-and-neck with JaMarcus Russell for worst starting QB in the league. Anderson is a great deep-ball thrower with sketchy accuracy and questionable decision-making abilities. Basically, he's the antithesis of what Arizona should be looking for in a QB.
Arizona is losing one of the greatest rhythm throwers of all-time in Kurt Warner, and replacing him with two guys who are not rhythm throwers at all. Leinart possesses a lot of the same weaknesses as Anderson, only to a lesser extent but with a worse deep ball. What made the Arizona passing game so great was the accuracy and timing in which Warner got rid of the football; both Leinart and Anderson are incapable of running an offense that way. Between these two, I would personally start Anderson since he at least has one strength while Leinart possesses a bunch of mediocre skills. But I think Arizona is making a big mistake going with these two at QB. The Cardinals don't need a strong arm at QB (Warner didn't have that strong of an arm); they need someone who can get the ball to those receivers in good position and good timing.
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The Seahawks traded for Charlie Whitehurst from the Chargers to potentially unseat Matt Hasselbeck (Hasselbeck can't stay healthy, so even if he's the opening day starter Whitehurst will play at some point), and while I think it's good the Seahawks acquired a young QB, I'm not so sure Whitehurst is the right guy.
See, the great thing for Whitehurst is that he hasn't played. In an odd way, this makes him more attractive because teams haven't seen him fail yet. He hasn't thrown an INT or taken a bad sack or had a 10-30 day; he hasn't even thrown an NFL pass yet. So teams can still dream on him; we've seen Derek Anderson and Brady Quinn throw incompletions and interceptions but Whitehurst...who knows what he can do!
These type of moves (acquiring an untested young veteran to start) tend to be about 50-50; sometimes you get Hasselbeck, Mark Brunell or Matt Schaub, and sometimes you get Rob Johnson, Scott Mitchell or A.J. Feeley. I don't have anything personal against Whitehurst, although I didn't much care for him coming out of college. It just amazes me how a guy who's never played and was relegated to 3rd string is now all of a sudden starter material.
And let's just get this potential talking point out of the way (from the national football post): "I like the move, in part because the Chargers liked Whitehurst. They liked his work habits, his leadership skills, his arm, his toughness. He just never had an opportunity to display those skills while in San Diego."
Okay, Whitehurst was never going to play ahead of Philip Rivers, but you're telling me the Chargers liked him so much that they never moved him ahead of Billy Volek on the depth chart, and them traded him to the Seahawks? That's a funny way to show you really like a player. I like Volek just fine as a backup QB, and I would say he's one of the better backups in the league, but there's no way he would hold down a good young QB with starter potential.
Whitehurst probably hates that he's never had a chance to play yet, but it's actually worked out for him; a couple incompletions or an interception in limited work and all of a sudden the Seahawks and Cardinals aren't so interested.
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