When the Cardinals selected cornerback Patrick Peterson with the fifth pick on Thursday night, it seemed to lend support to the notion that they had already chosen a veteran quarterback to lead them next season.
Len Pasquarelli of the Sports Xchange reported that the team “already have an understanding” with Marc Bulger about being their next quarterback. Bulger spent last season as a backup in Baltimore and will become a free agent whenever the next league year begins. There’s a history of interest between the Cardinals and Bulger and a desire to win now certainly makes going the veteran route more appealing than taking a flier on a young quarterback in the draft.
General manager Rod Graves met the media on Thursday night and generally addressed the likelihood that the team will pick up a quarterback once free agency gets underway. When he was asked about the rumored “understanding,” however, he passed the mic to coach Ken Whisenhunt.
“I don’t know anything about that,” Whisenhunt said.
Bob McManaman of the Arizona Republic writes that Whisenhunt was grinning when he said that so feel free to draw your own conclusions. McManaman also brought up the names of other possible veteran additions -- Kevin Kolb, Kyle Orton, Carson Palmer -- but Bulger would be a cheaper alternative to all the other usual suspects.