NFL Combine: Cards begin search for young QBs; Glennon to enter FA market

Feb 28, 2018, 10:36 AM | Updated: 11:19 am

ArizonaSports.com lead editor

The Arizona Cardinals’ search for a depth chart’s worth of quarterbacks means they won’t rule anyone out after the first day of the 2018 NFL Draft Combine.

Even after taking in months-worth of film since the season ended, that means the work has just begun.

“It’s a checks and balances system,” general manager Steve Keim told The Blitz with B-Train and Jurecki on 98.7 FM Arizona’s Sports Station. “You look at the players you get excited about on tape in fall, which is the most important thing. This process is just to reaffirm your opinion. Really, it’s getting to know the person, getting to know how much they love the game, how they can learn it — and then again, the medical information that we acquire while we’re here in Indianapolis to know these guys are durable enough to have sustainable success.

“But I say this quite often, and that is, we go out in the fall, we fall in love with the player on tape and then we confuse ourselves in the spring because we get so enamored with the timing and the testing.”

Quarterbacks are scheduled to arrive at the combine Wednesday. There, they will undergo x-rays, exams, orientation and begin going through interviews with teams.

Arizona, which lost starting quarterback Carson Palmer to retirement, needs to also fill in the spaces vacated by backups Drew Stanton, Blaine Gabbert and Matt Barkley, all of whom are free agents.

The Cardinals will be scouting at least seven quarterbacks in the draft, including six of whom most draft analysts believe could garner first-round picks. While Keim knows that the supply-and-demand could make teams reach for quarterbacks, he and Arizona coach Steve Wilks each called their team’s philosophy an aggressive one.

Spoke to a couple scouts said QB Mason Rudolph throws the best deep ball of the quarterbacks in this years draft. The #AZCardinals will interview atleast seven or more quarterbacks here at the NFLCombine. @AZSports

— Mike Jurecki (@mikejurecki) February 28, 2018

“What I mean by aggressive right here is when free agency starts, we’re going to look to try to get the best one, not only have a Plan A, but a Plan B and a Plan C,” Wilks said at the combine podium. “It’s not just waiting for free agency. I think you have to possibly look at trades if that’s the case. And once again, the draft: We’re sitting at 15.

“Do we feel there’s a guy we need to move up for? So there’s all those things that go into play. When I talk about being aggressive, it’s not sitting back.”

Added Keim: “When you don’t have one, there’s no other way.”

Bears quarterback Mike Glennon to enter FA market

Chicago Bears quarterback Mike Glennon will be joining the Cardinals’ quarterback options on the free agent market.

Bears general manager Ryan Pace told reporters at the combine the team would release the 28-year-old quarterback when the new league year begins March 14.

Acquired before the 2017 season, Glennon only appeared in four games for the Bears, completing 66 percent of his passes for 833 yards, four touchdowns and five interceptions. He was replaced in Week 5 by rookie Mitch Trubisky.

Glennon’s contract was worth $29 million guaranteed had he remained for the entirety of his three-year deal.