The Anquan Boldin drama is starting to heat up once again. A large part of this is thanks to agent Drew Rosenhaus. Drew is shopping Anquan and talking to teams about trades. It's a very common tactic that Drew uses for all his clients. Hopefully it's not as bad as it seems and hopefully the there's a reasonable way to resolve this. But things are starting to get a bit more heated.

Boldin said he believes coach Ken Whisenhunt is getting too involved with the negotiation process.

"At this point we have no relationship, and I don't see that changing," Boldin told NFL Network on Monday. "It's just gotten to a point where I think lines were crossed. If you ask me, coaches should be coaches, management should be management, and I don't think those lines should be crossed. But when you cross those lines, you put yourself in position for things like this to happen."

Profootballtalk.com reported that there was a "full-blown cold war" between the Cardinals and Boldin and that Whisenhunt and Anquan are not speaking. Whisenhunt denied this and said their relationship is fine. 

Apparently the latest offer the Cardinals made to Anquan was half of what Larry Fitzgerald received in his recent contract signing. It's tough for me or any other fan that is outside the negotiation process to sit here and act like we know exactly what's going on. That's why I have trouble giving an opinion on this. It's tough to tell what's a rumor and what's not and who's at fault with a lot of the situation.

Mark saw this whole situation coming months before it ever happened. I know Mark well enough to know he absolutely loves both Larry Fitzgerald and Anquan Boldin. But he loves the Cardinals even more. He had been saying in many post, including this one about how the Cardinals needed to trade Fitzgerald, that the Cardinals can't afford to sign Larry for a huge contract because it will devastate the teams salary cap and cause jealousy in the locker room. Mark before anyone else has said the Cardinals can't sign Fitz because of the jealously it will cause with Boldin and other players in the organization. Well he was right about that, Fitzgerald's contract opened both Anquan's and Drew Rosenhaus's eyes and made them realize they could get so much more. When Mark wrote that the Cardinals needed to trade Larry I was not too happy with him. But I'm starting to see that he might have had a point. 

The thought of Larry Fitzgerald or Anquan Boldin not being an Arizona Cardinal sickens me. Literally I will be miserable if they were to ever lose either of those players, obviously it won't be Fitz at this point. What I'm getting at is that I love both these guys, I just don't know if they can afford two of the best receivers in the league. I hope there's a way things can work out but I just don't see it happening at this point. 

I'm sure if the Cardinals wanted they could make Anquan and every Cardinal fan happy by giving him the huge contract. But it would just hurt the rest of the team too much in the years to come especially with salary cap and depth which is something we all complain about. I don't exactly know what the Cardinals should do, but I know one way or another I'm probably going to be upset. 

 Before I quit rambling I have to say this... I in a heterosexual way LOVE Anquan Boldin! NO ONE in the NFL deserves a big contract more than Anquan. He works harder and plays tougher than any football player I've ever seen. I know he isn't exactly eating plumpy'nut in some small shack trying to stay alive because of the lack of money and food he has, but he deserves Fitzgerald type money.

I guess deep down I hope the Cardinals give him a new contract even though it could hurt the team in the long run. I just won't be able to stand seeing Boldin in another teams uniform. Hopefully somehow this whole thing can work out. I've gotta say I'm glad I'm not the one making the decision on this. 

This was written by Eli Wahlstrom on MVN.com

Kurt Warner got the start and I think he made the most of it. Kurt was 6 of 9 passing for 54 yards while leading the Cards down the field for a touchdown. Warner hasn’t lost anything from his great 2007 season and didn’t do anything to lose his job, so it’s unfortunate that he won’t be the starter. When you look at most quarterbacks that start hitting the wall at an old age they’re guys that lose their athletic ability and lose their arm. Kurt was never a good athlete to begin with so he hasn’t lost much in that area, and his arm looks as strong and as accurate as ever. It’s frustrating to watch a guy that deserves the starting job sit on the bench. Which is what will be happening unless Leinart gets off to a start like he did last season.

Matt Leinart did play well yesterday, well enough to at least keep his starting job. Matt was 7 of 11 for 62 yards with one nice touchdown pass to Steve Breaston. Like I said before, Matt is going to have to lose the starting job, because at this point Kurt can’t do enough to win it. The problem with that is I think Leinart will be just good enough to not lose his job this season, but not do good enough to lead the Cardinals to the playoffs. But hopefully Matt lives up to the hype and potential and can get the job done.

The defense held Kansas City to no touchdowns till the final seconds of the game but they still have lots of room for improvement.  The run defense is just awful and it really reminds me of the Cardinals old. Darnell Dockett didn’t play and Gabe Watson was still out but there is still no excuse for some of the runs Arizona allowed yesterday. It’s starting to become a legit concern, Alan Branch keeps showing flashes but he’s going to need to get it done on every down while Gabe Watson is out. 2nd round pick Calais Campell started at DT yesterday and he did a very nice job. The problem is he’s more of defensive end than a defensive tackle but it was good the Cardinals tried him out in the position. Campell looks like he could make an immediate impact on the team both on defense and special teams. But it still might not solve the problem the Cardinals have with their run defense.

I know this is something on a lot of Cardinals fans mind and I think it’s even more important than we think it is. Neil Rackers kicked a ball out of bounds last night and missed a PAT. This wouldn’t be too concerning had Rackers not single handily cost the Cardinals any chance of making the playoffs last season by missing multiple game winning kicks. I’ve been more patient than anyone when it comes to Neil but at this point it’s just ridiculous. How could the Cardinals not draft or pick up a kick in free agency to at least compete with Neil during training camp? How many times can a guy cost you a game before you cut him? It’s really blowing my mind right now and I pray that Neil can find his 2005 form. If he doesn’t we could be seeing some more heartbreak.

A few players deserve to be talked about…

Tim Hightower is really showing us something. This guy was a AA college football player which means it should take him a long time to get use to the speed of the professional level. But Hightower continues to show great burst of speed good vision. I was somewhat sceptical that he could be the back of the future for the Cardinals but he might be the real deal.

Travis LaBoy had a great game recording 8 tackles and 2 sacks. This is very comforting knowing that we have a back up that can come in and make some plays on defense.

Ali Highsmith had another great game. I’d be very surprised if this undrafted free agent didn’t make the 53 man roster. Speaking of undrafted free agents, last years undrafted free agent center Lyle Sendlein has been doing as good if not better than Al Johnson. Sendlein had to go up against first round pick Glenn Dorsey and the massive Tank Tyler in yesterdays game and he was pushing those guys all over the field. He’s very impressive and I wouldn’t be surprised if he becomes the starter eventually.

Fullback Tim Castille had a breakout game. Well as much of a breakout game you can have while playing FB. Castille caught 4 balls for 45 yards including a touchdown from Briand St.Pierre. It wouldn’t surprise me if the Cardinals cut Terrelle Smith and made Castille the starter. Tim has looked great in training camp and now during the preseason games. Cutting Smith would save some money that could go towards an Anquan Boldin contract.

J.J. Arrington had the best game he’s had in a while. Maybe Arrington is starting to realize his career was in jeopardy and decided to make some plays. Who knows maybe J.J. will actually make the team and be the 3rd running back behind Edgerrin James and Tim Hightower. If you would have asked me a couple months ago if Arrington was going to be a Cardinal this season I would have definitely said no.

Alright, another solid game but much to improve on. Next week the Cardinals get the Raiders in Oakland. It should be another thrilling preseason game!

That being said, I think Kurt is going to seize the opportunity and show everyone that this shouldn’t even be a competition. I’m sure Warner wants to make this decision as difficult as he can on Whisenhunt and I expect him to do that by playing very well on Saturday.

It will be interesting to see how Matt Leinart handles all of this. Matt probably feels fairly confident that his job is safe since coach Whisenhunt already announced him the starter. But if Leinart starts getting shaky and Kurt is on his game, it will be interesting to see  how everyone reacts.

We should be able to see a little bit more of how the competition is going to shape out for the 3rd wide receiver spot after the Chiefs game. Early Doucet will get a chance to show what hes got and I think hes GOTS a lot (excuse my English). Early has looked very good at camp up in Flagstaff and I’d say him and Steve Breaston are neck and neck for the job right now. So lets continue to watch that battle.

Alan Branch needs to be watched because he could and should be the starting DT while Gabe Watson is out. The Cardinals are desperate for a whole plugger with Gabe out and Branch needs to be the guy to do it. Since we’re talking about last years second round pick I’ll bring up our 2007 first round pick Levi Brown. Levi is still young but man he needs to step up and be the first round pick that everyone was hoping he could be. Last season was a learning process but now it’s time for him to show everyone that he’s the real deal. So lets continue to watch last years draft picks, they could be a very big key to the Cardinals season.

Of course I think we’ll all have our eyes on Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie. I’m hoping Kansas City will throw at him a few times so we can see what we got. But maybe that’s a good thing if the Chiefs aren’t throwing at him? Either way I’d like to see him get involved.

Lets see if penalties and the starting defense improves this game. I think a lot of us Cardinal fans had deja vu after week one against the Saints.

Like always it should be a fun and interesting game. I’ll be getting back to you soon.

This was a post by Mark on MVN.com

It's tough to tell off two weeks of camp and one pre-season game but a few things are starting to come into focus for the Cardinals and their chances to break a 10 year play off drought. A few thoughts and observations as they enter the third week of camp:

1.  Anquan Boldin is not going to sell out his body in camp for this team until he gets a new contract. Lets face it guys, no one loves this guy more then I do. Q is my favorite Cardinal and the very first guy I would pick if I was starting a team from scratch, that's how much I love his toughness, competitiveness and leadership. However, I don't have blinders on and I've been around long enough to know when a guy is pulling back on the throttle and sending this management a message, " Ok, you don't want to pay me what I'm worth, then I'm only going to give 100% when I feel like 100%. " This guys been a warrior his entire career and we are now treated to a media cone of silence on his hamstring injury, almost two weeks off from hard drills, and everyone tip toeing around pretending every thing is ok. Well it's not and unless the Cardinals use some of the cap money from cutting Shipp and a few other high cap, low production guys ( J.J. Arrington ) or extending Warner in order to make cap room to sign Q, this is going to be an ugly season of " I'm not playing if I'm not 100%" from this former leader. The Cardinals absolutely need to get this done because as good as Steve Breaston and Early Doucet look, they aren't close to Boldin in quality or production. Everyone needs to stop pretending this isn't a huge issue just because the local media is afraid to report it as such for fear of losing access to the locker room or their sources.

2. Gabe Watson better get back on the field and be ready to play by the regular season because Branch and Robinson didn't look good at NT. One of the reasons the Saints starting offense and second string got such production was the inability of the nose tackles to get any penetration or pressure in the back field or to blow up running plays. Robinson is a tough veteran and great depth, but he's not a starting NFL nose tackle, and Alan Branch continued his one play off, one play on style of production that gets you beat in the NFL. Watson is a load and plays the nose exceptionally well, freeing up Dockett and Smith and the OLB's to get after the other teams quarterback. Hurry up and get well Gabe, the team definitely needs you and so does Dockett if he wants that upgraded contract and Pro-Bowl year.

3. DRC is going to become a legend in the next year or two.  Dick "Night Train" Lane, Larry Wilson, Rodger Wehrli, Aeneas Williams and now Dominique Rodgers Cromartie. This guy can absolutely fly, he closes on the ball like a young Lem Barney and as a certain New Orleans Saint tight end can testify this guy isn't afraid to put a guy to sleep when he comes into his zone. He's raw, just learning the basics, but what he has you can't teach. Buy your DRC jerseys early people, he's going to be incredible.

4. Tim Hightower is going to be a good second back but he's not ready for prime time just yet. He's coming out of a smaller college and program, but he looked good in Flagstaff when I saw him and pretty good against the Saints last week. He's a big step up from J.J. and Marcel, so as I said before, look for J.J. Arrington to get a few more games to try and demonstrate he has finally figured out the NFL game, but if he hasn't, expect him to hit the waiver wires and the Cardinals to go shopping for an end of camp replacement. Hightower finally gives them a legitimate second option to Edge which has been badly needed the last two years.

5. Levi Brown is no Tony Ugoh. Look, I'm never going to get over last years draft and the fact this team easily could have had Adrian Peterson and Tony Ugoh and instead now has Levi Brown and Alan Branch instead. ( Fortunately this years draft class looks like it's a winner ) Once again, I wish the local media would get the knee pads off and stop tip toeing around the fact that Levi Brown in both training camp and the Saints game looks at best pretty average. If he was a late first round pick or early second I'd say he's about what we expected. However, this guy has shown no ability to be dominant or All Pro which is what you are looking for when you draft top 5 position in the first round. His massive contract is going to choke this team for several years unless he seriously upgrades his play and turns into the monster he should be. Being decent and not a total bust isn't good enough when your one of the top 5 paid offensive linemen in the NFL.  The right side of the Cardinals line needs to pick it up, and that includes Deuce, because you have a first and second round pick on that side of the ball and they are being badly outplayed by a free agent center from Texas, a sixth round pick in Wells and a journey man LT in Gandy. Look for the Cardinals to make a major effort to draft more OL this next year because the depth and competition currently isn't adequate to get these two up to the level they need to be.

6. Matt Leinart wasn't horrible. As much as I'm hard on Levi Brown, Antrel Rolle and our string of second round busts, I have to be just as hard on Matt. You have to wonder just how low our expectations are when we are happy with the guy simply for staying in the pocket and making some easy check down throws or simple crossing pattern catch and runs to wide open receivers? His one impressive play came when he stepped up to his right under some pressure and threaded a ball into a receiver in between coverage, but the rest of the night was what we should expect from just about any NFL quarterback. Again, it's better then him having a miserable night, because this season pretty much rides on Matt's ability to earn this job and play well, but just making some simple throws and not screwing up isn't why he was a top ten pick. You can find a quarterback to "manage the game" ( also known as not screwing up ) in just about every round of the draft. By contrast, you pick a guy in the top ten so he can WIN you football games. The jury is still out and probably will be until the real bullets start flying in week one.

Ok, more to follow later this week, including a review of the potential 53 man roster. A lot of it will, as usual, depend on who gets injured and who doesn't, but so far so good as there are very few major injuries to the core group so knock on wood. One last thought to Cardinals management before I go though:

Sign Anquan Boldin to an extension now or risk a moderate shut down by the heart and soul of your team as he protects his body to prolong his career. GET IT DONE.

Lets switch things up and talk about the bad first…

The opening series of the game was not good at all. I know it was the first defensive series of the preseason but it still put a bad taste in my mouth. I felt like I was watching the Cardinals. By that I mean I felt like I was watching the same old Cardinals that get stupid penalties and allow big play after big play. Arizona is always among the league leaders in penalties and that was something Ken Whisenhunt said this team would work on a lot in the off season. Well they obviously haven’t perfected penalties yet. The starting defense itself was not that great, too many runs up the middle were allowed. It showed how important it is to have a hole plugger like Gabe Watson healthy.

Leonard Pope started where he left off from last season allowing a sack and getting a false start penalty. Hopefully Ben Patrick who had a nice catch can take his starting spot.

Special Teams wasn’t so special against the Saints. Terrible blocking and a couple big returns were allowed. That’s something the Cardinals have to improve on if they’re going to make the playoffs this season.

Now to my positives of the game…

Matt Leinart played very well completing 7 of 8 passes for 91 yards. I think the game plan for Matt was to build his confidence and get him comfortable after a 10 month layoff. Leinart managed the game nicely and completed his short passes and that was nice to see. We didn’t get any Kurt Warner which was too bad but hopefully we’ll get to see what Kurt has next week against Kansas City. Kurt made some interesting comments during the game to sideline reporter Michelle Tafoya pretty much saying he would welcome a trade as long as he would become the starting quarterback of that team. But for the time being I think Kurt loves Arizona and wants to be a Cardinal and will continue to work to become the starting quarterback here. It would be a mistake to trade Kurt in my opinion and I don’t think that will be happening. So lets not worry about that.

On the subject of quarterback, 3rd stringer Brian St.Pierre looked very nice as the emergency quarterback in case Leinart and Warner get injured. So that was pretty comforting for myself and I’m sure other Cardinal fans.

Another positive was rookie running back Tim Hightower. Hightower ran for 23 yards on 5 carries including a touchdown along with 2 catches for 11 yards.  It looks like Tim will be running away with the running back competition (I’m suppose to say pardon the pun but I hate saying that). Hightower looks like an exciting player and I can’t wait to see him next week.

Kenny Iwebema recorded a nice sack and Calais Campell looked pretty good in their first preseason game. Quietly the defensive player of the game for the Cardinals was undrafted rookie out of LSU Ali Highsmith. He lead the Cardinals in tackles with 6 and seemed to be all over the field including a big stop on 4th and goal. Highsmith seems like he has a real chance at making this team.

I should probably mention the wide receivers since that seems to be the most competitive competition. Early Doucet who looks to be one of the front runners for the number 3 receiver spot did not play so we couldn’t get a great read on things. But Steve Breaston looked real good and I’d say he might be in the lead after one game to get the spot behind Larry Fitzgerald and Anquan Boldin.

One more note… Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie had two tackles including one big hit knocking a Saints tight end out of the game. DRC did allow one catch but that was really it.

Overall nice first game, lots of things could and should improve over the next couple weeks. Nothing to panic about. Mark and I will be trying to get out a podcast on tonights game for you. So keep your eyes out for that.