Arizona Cardinals' Kevin Kolb: Offensive Answer or Injury-Prone Disaster?

In the days leading up to the NFL lockout, rumors began to spread that Kevin Kolb of the Philadelphia Eagles was No. 1 on the list of quarterbacks the Arizona Cardinals would target and acquire.

There were others on that list—Matt Hasselbeck, Kyle Orton, Donovan McNabb and even the now-retired Marc Bulger—but Kolb seemed to be the guy they wanted from the start.

Local media outlets would not shut up about him.

All summer long, the only football story being reported other than the lockout itself was the Kolb debate: Would the Cardinals trade for him? Should they trade for him? What should they give up to get an unknown? Would Arizona be better off drafting one of the quarterbacks available with their first round pick?

It’s all anyone within range of Phoenix sports talk-radio heard throughout the spring and summer months.

At the conclusion of the lockout, the national media picked up on the Kolb chronicle faster than the time it took me to come up with an analogy for this sentence. NFL Network had the “Kolb Watch” in which they would break from regularly scheduled programming whenever something new in the story came out.

On July 28, 2011, just three days after the end of the lockout, the Cardinals completed the trade with Philadelphia for Kolb.

In return for Kolb, the Eagles received cornerback Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie and Arizona’s second round pick in the 2012 draft. On top of that, the Cardinals signed the four-year backup QB to a five-year deal that can be worth as much as $63 million.

The contract is similar to the one Matt Schaub signed with the Houston Texans in 2007 to be their leader after backing up Michael Vick in Atlanta for three seasons.

After the deal was struck, everyone in the media hyped him as if he were the best thing since sliced bread. We were all sold on the fact that Kolb would turn the Cardinals’ franchise around as Kurt Warner did in the years he ran the huddle.

You can say what you want about Kolb not having an offseason with which to work in order to familiarize himself with his new teammates and the offense. You can explain that he’s been hurt half the season and hasn’t yet been able to fit into the offense correctly.

While those arguments may all be valid and true, the present is not what is being looked at here.

The future is most important. Kolb’s future, to be more specific.

As much as Arizona spent to get him, it is apparent they thought he was, or they were banking on the hope that he could develop into, a top-tier quarterback. Yes, he could be great. On the other hand, he could be just an expensive porcelain doll that breaks every time he’s touched.

Kolb has suffered multiple concussions throughout his career—the latest coming against the 49ers in Week 14, just a few plays into the game. It seemed like a glancing blow when it happened; surely not enough to see him removed from the game.

But he did not return, and has not returned since.

“I had a full psych exam,” Kolb told ESPN.com. “It showed that I’m a little slow with reaction stuff and some processing stuff from my baseline that I had earlier in the year. It basically just validates what we have been saying as far as the symptoms.”

“A little slow” is not what the Cardinals want to hear out of their top offseason acquisition. It may be a good thing the season is coming to a close so that he can rest and get his head right.

In an article from the Phoenix New Times on August 18, 2011, Dr. David Hovda, director of the Brain Injury Research Center at UCLA, was given the task of scanning the brain of a player from the Bruins’ football team.

“He said his bell was rung, but he was very cognizant,” said Hovda. “He remembered the name of the president and his girlfriend and the number of classes he was taking.”

What he found was shocking. Even with a slight bump to the head, the player’s brain had experienced a shutdown in energy generation similar to that of a comatose patient who had been in a severe car accident a few days prior. [Note the comparison in this picture]

In another article from scienceline.org, it is estimated that once you suffer a concussion, you are up to three times more likely to sustain another—especially within the first year after the initial injury.

What does that mean for Kolb? How about the Cardinals? They paid a lot of money and gave up a lot to acquire him from Philadelphia. What happens when he gets hit again and has to miss even more time?

The careers of Hall of Fame quarterbacks Steve Young and Troy Aikman were cut short due to concussions.

Though they both are enjoying careers in broadcasting and analyzing, what happens when they reach the later stage of life when former NFL players who endured many traumatic head injuries tend to develop dementia?

Are they next in the long line of former professional football players whose lives are cut short because of irreversible brain damage?

In hockey, Pittsburgh Penguins star Sidney Crosby received a blow in January of 2011 that resulted in a severe concussion. After nearly 11 months of not being able to play the game he loves, he was finally cleared by medical doctors in late November.

He returned to play on November 21, and on December 5 after another, far less violent hit, his future as a hockey player is in doubt.

At what point does Kolb say “enough is enough” and walk away with his body and brain still intact? After all is said and done, he will still be a husband and a father. To what capacity he can be that for his family may rest on the massive shoulders of his offensive line.

This is in no way meant to sound like he needs to retire immediately, because as long as he is healthy and can avoid another concussion, he can bring good things to the league—be it for Arizona or another club.

There is life after football. If he continues to be sidelined with injury, the best move the Cardinals can make is to move on without Kolb and put their money toward someone who can play without the worry of the next big hit possibly ending a career—or a life—before it is meant to end.

The answer to the Kolb conundrum may be staring the starting job in the face this week. John Skelton is expected to start the final game of the Cardinals’ 2011 season, and—though he hasn’t outperformed Kolb in any way other than in total team wins—he is younger and healthier than Kolb. He finds a way to turn it on late in ball games.

If Arizona can develop Skelton into the star he has the potential to be (meaning if they find a way to get him to play the first three quarters the way he does the fourth), Kolb may end up relegated to the bench, if not on another roster or out of the game altogether.

What is a life worth? A shot at the playoffs and a possible Super Bowl? A Pro Bowl or two and the rare opportunity of being enshrined in Canton with a bronze bust of your likeness? These are all things to be considered if you are Kevin Kolb.