ESPN's John Clayton says that not only should the Cardinals trade for Eagles QB Kevin Kolb, he believes they want to and they will. Among the potential Kolb suitors, Clayton lists the Cards as the favorites.
Arizona: The Cardinals probably will offer two second-round picks to the Eagles, but Philadelphia will try to hold out for a first-rounder and even more. Odds: 2-1
He lists a number of recent QB trades including Matt Schaub to the Texans and Matt Cassel to the Patriots as the basis for his idea. He says that in the years following those trades, the offenses of those respective teams saw a marked improvement. He feels that Kolb could bring the same to the Cardinals.
Linking Kolb with the Cardinals should produce at least a spike of four or five points a game in the team's offense. The Cardinals averaged 18.2 points a game in a horrible 4-12 season. But the Cards have all the signs of a team that could make a significant jump in scoring.
The Cardinals QB play was so poor last year, that even if Kolb just stabilized the position, he'd still be worth the investment.
The Cardinals play in the highly suspect NFC West. Plugging in Kolb and his 60 percent accuracy should put the Cardinals -- at the very worst -- in the middle of the league for quarterback play. Orton could probably do the same.
If Kolb eventually becomes as good as Schaub, the Cardinals' offensive problems are resolved for years. At the very least, he should be able to bring them to the middle of the pack, which justifies the trade.
It should be interesting to see how accurate all the reporting about this Kolb to the Cardinals idea is. Most of the media is acting like it's a done deal.