No Smith, no problem — Cardinals have other options

This morning I wrote that I agreed with what NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport reported about the Cardinals; that they were very pessimistic the Niners would ever trade Alex Smith to a division rival.

That column had the shelf life of day-old bread. Right after it posted, the Niners traded Smith to the Chiefs.

Clearly the Cardinals don’t benefit from the move…on multiple levels. I’m not sure they were ever on the Niners’ list, but clearly, they’re off it now. San Francisco now has 15 draft picks (three coming from expected compensation picks), the latest of which was acquired for what was essentially a spare part in Smith. It gives them tremendous flexibility moving forward.

I wouldn’t have wanted the Cardinals to attempt to top the Chiefs’ offer. Smith is a good quarterback, but I look at him more as a product of his environment. He had a lot of talent around him in San Francisco. Maybe he’ll be a perfect fit in Kansas City. I suspect he’ll be…OK.

So what’s next for the Cards?

As much as I hate to admit it, I’m beginning to give more and more though to Gambo’s idea about Ryan Mallett. Tom Brady is clearly not going anywhere, so Mallett really isn’t being groomed for any type of promotion. He’s got the cannon arm Bruce Arians has implied he’s looking for. By sheer osmosis, whatever attitude problems he had coming into the draft should have been cured by hanging with Brady. The Patriots only have five draft picks this year so they’d be looking to add. Oh, and Cards personnel man Jason Licht was employed by New England when they drafted Mallett.

If you’re going to select a quarterback with your 2nd or 3rd round pick anyway, can you get one who is better than Mallett? In this draft? Questionable at best.

This piece in the Boston Herald reports the Patriots aren’t actively shopping him, but suggests they would want better than the 3rd rounder they used on Mallett in return.

WEEI says it’s time to move Mallett and suggests the Cardinals as one of the landing spots.

I still wouldn’t mind the Cards taking a look at Nick Foles as well.

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