Why the Larry Fitzgerald and Kevin Kolb Deals Hurt the Arizona Cardinals' Future

The Arizona Cardinals have given a combined $180 million to franchise receiver Larry Fitzgerald and unproven quarterback Kevin Kolb this summer, with over $70 million of those contracts guaranteed. Neither player is worth close to that amount.

Over a year removed from a heartbreaking Super Bowl loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers, the Cardinals are trying to build another winning team, but the cost of doing that has been way too high.

Fitzgerald is the most talented wide receiver in football, and without a decent quarterback last season, he still put up stats that 75 percent of the NFL's wide receivers would be proud of.

But giving him $120 million for eight seasons, with about $50 million of that guaranteed, is way too much. In fact, it's the largest contract ever given to a wide receiver.

There's no question that Fitzgerald would have commanded a high salary if he hit the free agency market next summer, but there's no way a team should spend over $100 million on someone other than a star quarterback.

Speaking of quarterbacks, the Cardinals realized their most glaring weakness last season was at that position, so they traded for Philadelphia Eagles backup Kevin Kolb.

The price paid to acquire Kolb was extremely high, and it was the worst move of the summer by any team.

The Cardinals gave up an All-Pro caliber cornerback in Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie and a second-round pick for Kolb, who is at best an average to above-average player.

But the Cardinals didn't stop there with overpaying for Kolb. Once they acquired him, the team signed him to a five-year, $64 million contract with about $21 million in guaranteed money.

That's insane for a player who hasn't even proved he can be a good starting quarterback for a full season.

In 19 NFL games during his four-year career, Kolb has thrown for 11 touchdown passes with 14 interceptions. His career quarterback rating is only 73.1.

Those are not stats worthy of a massive contract, but it just goes to show you how much money an average quarterback can make. 

Let's quickly recap what the Cardinals have done this offseason.

They've made no effort to improve a defense which gave up the fourth-most yards in the NFL last season, and furthermore, they traded away their best cornerback from a defense that gave up the 10th-most passing yards per game.

With no improvements to a bad defense, which gave up the third-most points per game last season despite playing in a very weak division, the Cardinals will once again be a mediocre team.

On offense, the only real addition they made was acquiring an overrated quarterback who has never shown he can be fully healthy and productive for a full season. That said, Kolb still got a new $64 million contract.

If someone as mediocre as Kevin Kolb can make that much money, I'm going to have to forgive Brett Favre for trying to hang around as long as he did. Quarterbacks are going to get paid even if they're not elite; that's the way the league works in this pass-first era of the NFL.

The Cardinals are hoping to make another run at the NFC West title and go deep into the playoffs this season, but $170 million later, you could make the case the team is worse now than it was before the lockout.

Nicholas Goss is a Featured Columnist at Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter for the latest sports news.