Cardinals Starting Quarterback To Be Determined

Added on Feb 20, 2012 by Scott in

NFL

Kevin Kolb and John Skelton are laughing and smiling in the picture, but that probably won’t be the case once training camp begins in six months. According to Arizona head coach Ken Whisenhunt, the team’s starting quarterback will be an open competition between Kolb, who was handed $64 million last summer, and Skelton, a fifth-round pick in the 2010 NFL Draft.

Whisenhunt is banking on one of the two signal-callers emerging as a reliable starter before the season kicks off.

“Both guys are going to get opportunities because John certainly deserves it from the way that he played over the back half of the season and Kevin certainly deserves it from the reason that we went out, got him, and brought him in,” Whisenhunt told KTAR-AM in Phoenix.”

This isn’t what the Cardinals had in mind when they traded for Kolb. He was supposed to be the franchise quarterback for years to come. However, the extended lockout, a spate of injuries and maddening inconsistency plagued him the entire 2011 season.

Meanwhile, Skelton wasn’t much better on paper, but he did something Kolb didn’t: win games. Skleton went 5-2 as a starter, Kolb was 3-6. Neither really passed the eyeball test, although Skleton did perform well under pressure and was responsible for comeback wins against Philadelphia and San Francisco.

Whisenhunt feels confident the cloudy situation will clear itself up in the long run.

“We’ve got two guys that we feel like can play. They’ve shown at times that they can do things very well, they’ve shown at times that they are knuckleheads and it’s our job to get the players that are there on our team to play better. That’s what we’re going to do and we’re excited about that.”

Despite the positive spin, this is a nightmare. Having two guys who can play means you don’t have one. Andy Reid said the same exact thing when he had Kolb and Vick, and you see how that turned out. Bottom line: Kevin Kolb needs to prove once and for all he’s a legit starting quarterback, because so far he’s failed to do so,

Source: NFL.com