Whisenhunt on developing young QB Ryan Lindley
May 2, 2012, 2:21 AM | Updated: 5:30 pm
The Arizona Cardinals stayed
true to their draft board this week, and watched it
pay dividends with the players afforded to them.
One draft pick that was a bit of head scratcher was the
selection of San Diego State quarterback Ryan Lindley 185th overall.
While Lindley boasts a strong frame and was a consistent
presence on the field for the Aztecs, he struggled
mightily with his accuracy.
Still, when Cardinals head coach Ken Whisenhunt saw
Lindley still available in the sixth round, he trusted not
only the draft board but also his gut instinct on the
potential of the young signal caller.
“This year [Lindley] lost his receivers,” Whisenhunt told
Arizona Sports 620’s Doug & Wolf Tuesday.
“He wasn’t as productive this season, but he’s been a
productive college quarterback and he’s a big guy that can
move so when you come to that point in the draft and you
see him on your board and he’s sticking out and his
measurable, his height, his size, his speed, his arm
strength, they were all good.”
For Whisenhunt, the opportunity to draft and cultivate a
quarterback with Lindley’s skills, makeup and upside was
too tempting a prospect to pass up.
“Then you look at his production in that offense, it was
good and then you think about the quarterback position in
this league and having to try to develop young guys,
that’s what kind of came together and why we picked him
where we did,” Whisenhunt explained.
Whisenhunt is interested in getting his first glimpse of
Lindley in camp over the coming weeks and monitoring the
growth of his young quarterback under the watchful eye of
new quarterbacks coach John McNulty.
“I am anxious to see him in here in a couple weeks in our
minicamp and see where he is and see where he can progress
through training camp,” Whisenhunt said.
