TEMPE, Ariz. -- Cardinals coach Ken Whisenhunt was asked Thursday what fans and media members should read into the fact that quarterbacks Kevin Kolb and John Skelton are splitting reps during organized team activities.
"That it’s a competition," he said, "like we’ve said all along."
Whisenhunt preaches competition at every position. He believes, and justifiably so, that it drives players to new heights and creates daily accountability for their performance and actions.
But there are reasons to take Whisenhunt’s comments on this matter with a grain of salt -- 19 million reasons, to be exact. That is the amount of money the Cards have already invested in Kolb, including his $7 million offseason roster bonus and excluding the Pro Bowl cornerback and second-round draft pick they shipped to Philadelphia to get him nearly a year ago.
"I'll be honest with you and say I obviously know how much we invested in Kevin,” Whisenhunt added. “I want Kevin to be successful. I want him to be our quarterback, but I’m not going to ignore the fact that John Skelton worked pretty hard and did a good job when he was in there playing. He’s earned the right to compete for that spot.”
That company line will endure at least through the early portion of training camp in Flagstaff, and both quarterbacks are publicly OK with that stance.
"I've said it a hundred times: 'If you are afraid to compete in this league, go home,'" Kolb said. “There is a lot of time between now and (the start of the season) and a lot of time to prove yourself."
When reminded how much money the team had invested in Kolb versus him, Skelton dismissed the thought.
"Whiz has said before it doesn't matter what your contract is, how long you've been in the league, what your past accolades are,” he said. “What happens is once you step on the field. What have you done in practice? What have you done in games? What have you done in the past?
"I can say that we’re equal at this point."
Equal ... except for that glaring investment and its obvious ramifications. This competition is nothing like the Matt Leinart-Derek Anderson battle two seasons ago. Whisenhunt wasn’t tied to Leinart since he didn’t draft him.
Whisenhunt is chained to Kolb.
Team president Michael Bidwill made that plain by reminding everyone Kolb is the quarterback his coaching staff and scouts believe can rekindle the glory days of Kurt Warner’s final two seasons, a quarterback who warranted loosening the purse strings last summer.
If Kolb is absolutely horrid in camp or gets injured, Skelton will get the nod. But don’t expect the former to happen. Kolb will be behind center when the Cardinals open the season Sept. 9 against the Seattle Seahawks.
When he is, you should root for him. Not only because his success is critical to that of the team, but because it would be difficult to find another NFL quarterback who exudes less ego, less bravado and less self-absorption than Kolb.
"He’s willing to assert himself, but he doesn’t have to go over the top," said first-year quarterbacks coach John McNulty, who coached the receivers last season. “Sometimes guys try to make a big, dramatic presentation of being a leader and it kind of turns guys off because they know it’s fake. I think with Kevin, everything’s genuine. He’s an intelligent, humble guy, and I think players respond to him."
We all know the vitals on Kolb. The lack of offseason reps and the lack of an early-edition playbook severely impacted his ability to master the offense before the regular season arrived. A foot injury further hampered those efforts, and a concussion suffered against the 49ers on Dec. 11 raises red flags for his future, even if he and Whisenhunt won’t acknowledge them.
But in a league so reliant on quarterback play, Kolb represents the immediate future of this franchise. And as the son of a coach, Kolb never ducks that responsibility or reassigns blame.
"I'm not hiding from anything. I'm not acting like it never happened," he said of his disastrous first season in Arizona. "That's something you write down and learn from. You put it in the back of your mind for later on when you hit something kind of like that experience again so you can say, 'I've been through this before. Now I know how to handle it.'"
