When I was covering the Cardinals for the East Valley Tribune, the team held the 10th overall selection in the draft. There was much talk about whether the team might take a quarterback of the future. Kurt Warner was, after all, getting older and was only OK in 2005. The Cards had signed a big-name running back in Edgerrin James, however, and Kurt -- understandably -- wanted to see the Cards go in a different direction with an eye on maybe reaching a Super Bowl.
"What's the best way to do that?" Warner said at the time. "Not to take a guy who's going to take over my job. Go get somebody who can help us next year."
(The Cardinals drafted Matt Leinart. Leinart was inserted for Warner early in 2006 at QB. Then Leinart struggled in 2007, Warner got his job back, and eventually, Warner got his Super Bowl trip regardless.)
It's not always an easy decision. Heck, it's hard for a team needing a QB right now sometimes to pull the trigger in the draft -- see the Browns, who desperately need a quarterback yet are likely to take defensive lineman Myles Garrett with the first pick instead, because there isn't an Andrew Luck available. That decision gets that much harder for a team like the Cardinals, who have Carson Palmer in place and will sit any quarterback they might draft in 2017. Meanwhile, if the Cards want to gear up for a potential run this season, with the clock ticking on Palmer and Larry Fitzgerald, finding an immediate impact guy (on defense) makes a lot of sense with the first-round pick.
Still, the glaring long-term need for a quarterback doesn't go away.
The Cardinals are in a good spot with Palmer. He is willing to mentor a young quarterback. He's made that clear recently, and said the same back in 2014, when he still knew he was going to play a few more years.
"I know I'm not going to play forever," Palmer said at the time. "It's hard for us players to admit that. The older you get the harder it is to admit it. You don't see it happening. You still feel good, you still feel confident, you still feel healthy. But that's the reality. That's the business. It doesn't matter how you feel about it, whether it irks you or you don't care. That's the game."
The first round, and the 13th pick, await.
