Posted by Darren Urban on March 15, 2012 – 8:22 pm

Friday is a big day for the Cardinals, after a relatively quiet Thursday. By tomorrow, the Cardinals, as has been noted a few places, should have tackle Levi Brown re-signed and back on the roster as they try to stabilize the offensive line. Meanwhile, the Peyton Manning watch builds to a crescendo — at least in Arizona — with the 1 p.m. Friday deadline to exercise Kevin Kolb’s roster bonus.

I have no doubt, and really haven’t for a while, that if Manning didn’t come to Arizona the Cards would stick with the three QBs they had in 2011. If they did get Manning in time, it’d be tough to keep Kolb. What would happen, many have asked, if the Cards were in limbo? If Manning hadn’t said yes but hadn’t said no, either, by the time the Cards had to decide on Kolb? That’ll be the big question.

ESPN’s Chris Mortensen, who out of everyone seems to have the best pulse of the Manning camp (and who seems to have been more middle-of-the-road in his approach than many) tweeted out tonight that he didn’t think Manning’s decision was imminent and, in regards to the Cards and the Kolb deadline, that Manning wouldn’t let that timeline affect his own timeline.

In the past, with free agency usually starting sooner, the first Friday of the NCAA hoops tournament — with the nice spring weather and potential spring training games to go to — always seemed to be so mellow wherever I have worked.

Not tomorrow.

Tags: free agency Posted in Blog