After improbable Super Bowl, can the Cardinals stay together?

Putting together a team that defied the odds and reached the Super Bowl may prove easier than keeping that team together for the Arizona Cardinals.

By Dan Pompei, Chicago Tribune

General manager Rod Graves has three significant issues to deal with, starting Monday.

The first concerns the most important player on his roster. Quarterback Kurt Warner will be a free agent in a few weeks unless Graves does something about it. And his intent is to do something about it.

Graves is approaching his negotiations with optimism because he believes Warner wants to be a Cardinal as much as the Cardinals want him to stick around. Of course, the wild-card factor is retirement, and it might be more interesting to Warner than the Vikings, 49ers or Bears ever could be.

This is what Warner, sounding a bit like recently retired Colts coach Tony Dungy, told the Arizona Republic about it last week: "I'm going to step back and I'm going to pray about it. And I believe God is going to show me whether He wants me to continue in this game and if He's got more for me to accomplish, or if He's got some other calling in my life."

If Warner were to retire, the Cardinals still would be in better shape at quarterback than a lot of teams. That's because they have Matt Leinart, the 10th pick of the 2006 draft, waiting for his chance. In some ways, having Warner retire would be good for the Cardinals' master plan, but Graves says there is no urgency to get Leinart on the field.

Losing Warner would affect the Cardinals beyond the field.

"He's a great leader," Graves said. "He's done a lot for our team, for the development of Matt Leinart. Just having his presence has been significant. I understand the value of that given my experience in Chicago."

Graves is a former personnel director with the Bears.

"People see what Kurt does on the field, but he is an outstanding person. He's extraordinary, like what we saw in Walter (Payton) and (Mike) Singletary. When you take those kinds of people out of your program, it's hard to replace that kind of leadership, that kind of presence."

So the plan is to open negotiations with Warner's agent Mark Bartlestein pronto. Graves said he doesn't think using the franchise tag will be necessary. But it is a possibility.

If the Cardinals used the tag on Warner, it would not be available for linebacker Karlos Dansby, arguably their best player on the other side of the ball. Dansby played this year under the franchise tag, and he is set to become a free agent again.

If the Cardinals were unable to sign Dansby to a long-term deal and forced to tag him this time, it would set them back $9.6 million. Dansby is a fine player, but he is not an elite difference-maker. The Cardinals would have to swallow hard to pay him that.

The other major issue with the Cardinals involves wide receiver Anquan Boldin. He has expressed a desire to be traded in the past because the Cardinals did not extend his contract. But now the Cardinals are in position to extend his contract, which has two years remaining.

Graves has said the goal is to extend Boldin and keep him as a member of the team. Two things would have to happen for Boldin to be traded: He would have to refuse to negotiate with the Cardinals, and another team would have to blow away the Cardinals with a trade offer.

There is one more major concern for the Cardinals: They could lose offensive coordinator Todd Haley. The buzz in league circles is Haley is the favorite to succeed Herm Edwards as coach of the Chiefs.

If Haley goes, a successor could be named from within, with head coach Ken Whisenhunt taking a greater role in the offense.

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