TEMPE, Ariz. — Cardinals left tackle Levi Brown admires the way quarterback Kevin Kolb managed the club’s public and prolonged flirtation with free agent Peyton Manning.
“I would have been pissed,” Brown said. “You give a guy one year and just be done with it?
“You stick with a guy, give him a chance to work and get better, see where you can go.”
For better or for worse, that is now the plan after the Cards lost out to the Broncos in the chase for the future Hall-of-Fame quarterback.
Kolb said Monday on the first day of the Cardinals’ strength and conditioning program that he understood the club’s motivation.
“Everybody knows what this league is about,” Kolb said. “You understand that you have to fight for your job every single day. It’s management’s job here and in every organization to make sure they do their best to improve every position. In my mind, it’s their right to go look wherever they need to look.”
Kolb said that while coach Ken Whisenhunt called him “right off the bat” when the Cards entered the Manning sweepstakes, he felt a few things, namely communication, could have been handled better.
“We’ve discussed those,” Kolb said. “No matter what you’re doing — relationships, business — communication is the key, and I think it’s the same thing here.”
It’s been a common assumption that this whole ordeal will add fuel to Kolb’s competitive fires this season. He admitted Monday that is the case.
“You get fueled by a lot of things,” he said. “Sure, that will add some sort of spark, but I’m fighting for my job anyways. John (Skelton) and I are competing. There’s plenty to get fired up about and get a spark about.
“More than that, it’s my responsibility. They made some big moves to get me here, and it’s my responsibility to hold up my end of the deal. I don’t look at it as something to prove. I look at it as my job.”
Kolb said in the days before his $7 million roster bonus was due on March 17, he turned off his phone and played a lot with his kids to keep his mind free of worry. But his even-keel approach to the game and his life also helped.
“The way I try to do things is look at the big picture,” he said. “With God and family first, that’s the only way you get through things like this. That was my perspective. I’m glad it’s behind us, and we move forward.”
Kolb will do that free of the concussions symptoms that he said still dogged him three weeks after the season ended.
“When I first went home, it was still pretty severe,” he said. “It kind of worried me, because I thought once I got away from the game, it would clear up pretty fast. It didn’t, and I stayed in contact with our guys here. Within three to four days after that three-week period, it was fine.”
With a few months' perspective on the season, Kolb admitted that the injuries and the lack of an offseason made it difficult to find a rhythm last year.
“It was just an awkward season,” he said. “I’ve been through a few tough ones so far in my career, so it helps me deal with each one. Every time you go through one it builds character.”
Kolb insists there will be no lingering resentment toward the organization for pursuing Manning.
“You can’t get your feelings hurt in this business. That’s just the way it is. You’re going to be held accountable,” he said.
Brown, who went through his own ordeal this offseason before re-signing with the Cards, said Kolb deserves his shot.
“I feel like he's a good quarterback,” Brown said. “I feel we can win with him.”
