Cardinals Increase Offer to Warner

February 23, 2009 · Paul Raymond · Jump to comments

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The Arizona Cardinals and Kurt Warner are actually getting closer to a contract extension. While a deal is still no where close, the Cardinals are moving closer to the salary Warner desires. ESPN’s John Clayton is reporting that the Cards have finally crossed the $10 million mark. Even thou its still far below what Warner is looking for, $12 to 16 million, at least the two sides are talking. The real question in the whole process is this. Is Kurt Warner a top five NFL quarterback?

The top five quarterbacks make salaries in the $14 to $16 million range. By asking for $12 mil plus you get the impression that Warner believes he is one of the top quarterbacks in the league. While it’s hard to argue with him since he was in the Super Bowl, it’s hard to justify. He did have an amazing season but he had two of the top five wide receivers in the league on his team. Not to take anything away from what he accomplished but most QBs would like as good as he did with Larry Fitzgerald and Anquan Boldin on your team.

Here’s what I think. Warner is definitely a Top 10 QB in the NFL right now, Top 5 that is arguable. A salary in the $10 to $12 million range is more then fair for a player of his age, especially when you consider how streaky his career has been. Now don’t get me wrong I don’t mean in accuracy, I mean in his performance and NO it’s not directly tied in with the amount of starts. He’s had plenty of seasons where he had ten plus starts and still not performed well.

For Warner to be that Top 5 QB, he needs Boldin back next year, he needs the two stud wideouts, they make him better. When you consider the big guys make him better, do you pay him like a Top QB who is forced to create the action at times? We’ll find out the Cardinals answer to that by Thursday night. What do you think?

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