The Heat Index presents a letter that the Cardinals might have sent to quarterback Kevin Kolb after they gave up their pursuit of Peyton Manning:

Arizona Cardinals Football Club

8701 S. Hardy Drive

Tempe, AZ, 85284-0888

Dear Kevin:

All us here with the Cardinals hope this finds you well and enjoying your off-season back home in Texas. We assume you have cable, satellite and Internet service down there and followed our recent dalliance with Peyton Manning.

You kept a low profile during the proceedings, as did your agent, so it was difficult for our fans to gauge your reaction to our attempt to replace you. But it's not hard to guess your feelings. I imagine our old marketing slogan of "We're in this together!" rings as hollow to you as a ripe watermelon.

That's understandable. In fact, we hope you're mad. We prefer it. If you weren't, we would wonder if your competitive juices had dried up. We trust that's not the case.

Here's the main point of this letter, what the so-called journalists downstairs in the press room call the "nut graph." To paraphrase the bit from the "Seinfeld" episode: "It wasn't you, it was him." We had a chance to get Peyton Manning, the great one, and, well, you are still Kevin Kolb, the unproven one. Can you blame us?

Let's face it, last season went bad almost from the day after we traded for you. That silly NFL rule prevented you from starting camp with many of the other players, and we know how difficult it was for you -- heck, for anybody -- to learn a new offensive system in just a few weeks time.

Then you suffered the foot injury in Baltimore, missed four games, then suffered the concussion later in the season, missing the last three. You never really got to play quarterback after our defense turned the corner. And while your replacement, John Skelton, wasn't great, he showed us some moxie in the fourth quarters.

Still, we are sticking by you. I know this might be hard for you to believe right now, especially after we spent a recent weekend with Peyton Manning. You probably feel like you are our second choice for the prom.

And you were. But you know what? You still get to go to the prom, which is better than sitting home and sulking. We expect you to be our starter in 2012, unless injury befalls you again, or Skelton lights it up in training camp and the preseason.

We realize that might seem like a wishy-washy commitment, but is it realistic to expect more? You missed seven complete games and most of an eighth last year with injuries. And while we realize that wasn't your fault, that's a cold, hard fact. Injuries are the biggest reason you didn't seize the job. If you had been able to play the way we expected, chances are we would not have flirted with Manning.

But we did, and the whole world saw us. That's because we didn't really try to hide it, and, shoot, we figured if it made you mad, what was the downside? That you would be motivated to prove us wrong? Well, good, we like players who find extra motivation. And if you had lashed out and said you didn't want to be a Cardinal ever again? Well, that would have told us something about you, too.

To your credit, you are not that kind of person. We were pretty confident of that. You've said many times your experiences in Philadelphia -- replacing Donovan McNabb, being replaced by Michael Vick -- made you realize that the NFL is a business.

And speaking of business, we probably don't have to point out that you've been well compensated. You made $12 million last season. Enclosed you'll find the pay stub for the $7 million roster bonus we deposited in your account on Saturday.

In two seasons with the Cardinals, you will have made $20.5 million. Lots of people who had a bad week of work would love to have that to fall back on. It softens the landing.

We trust, though, that it's not all about the money for you. You're the son of a coach. You grew up in a competitive world. Every indication you've given us is that you are driven by the desire to succeed.

Despite what old stereotypes others might cling to, so are we. That's why we courted Peyton Manning. We are not writing this letter seeking your forgiveness, but understanding. We would like nothing better than for you to show us that pursuing Manning was folly, that a great quarterback was in our locker room the whole time.

In reality our marketing slogan should be: "We're all in this together, unless we can find someone better." We both know that's the way the NFL works.

Sincerely,

The Arizona Cardinals Football Club

Reach The Heat Index at 602-444-8335 or kent.somers@arizonarepublic.com.