The Cardinals have acquired 27-year old safety Kerry Rhodes from the Jets for a 4th round pick in 2010 and a 7th round pick in 2011.  Rhodes played in 16 games for the Jets last season and he made 63 tackles, had 2 tackles for a loss, defensed 13 passes and he had 3 interceptions.  Rhodes has now played in 80 games in his NFL career and he has 417 tackles, 6 forced fumbles, 9 sacks, he has defensed 47 passes and he has 15 interceptions.  I like this trade for the Cardinals as Rhodes will replace Antrel Rolle who recently signed with the Giants.

The Cardinals have traded 29-year old WR Anquan Boldin and a 5th round pick in the 2010 NFL Draft to the Ravens for a 3rd and 4th round pick in the 2010 draft.  Boldin played in 15 games for the Cardinals last season and he caught 84 passes for 1,024 yards (12.2 avg) with 4 TD grabs.  He also carried the ball 3 times for 12 yards (4.0 ypc) last season.  Boldin played in 95 games in his 7 years with the Cardinals in which he caught 586 passes for 7,520 yards (12.8 avg) with 44 TD grabs.  He also carried the ball 36 times for 209 yards (5.8 ypc) with 1 TD run with the Cardinals.  The Cardinals will be counting on their young receivers to step up with Boldin going on to the Ravens in 2010.

The Cardinals have released 27-year old safety Antrel Rolle.  Rolle played in 15 games for the Cardinals last season and he finished with 72 tackles, 2 tackles for a loss, 1.5 sacks, he forced 1 fumble, defensed 8 passes and he had 4 interceptions.  Rolle played in 68 games in his career for the Cardinals and he finished up with 337 tackles, 36 passes defensed, 1.5 sacks, 3 forced fumbles and 12 interceptions (4 returned for TDs).  The Cardinals will have a hard time replacing Rolle as he was a playmaker for the D.

29-year old WR Anquan Boldin is on the trading block for the Cardinals.  He played in 15 games last season for the Cardinals and he caught 84 passes for 1,024 yards (12.2 avg) with 4 TD grabs.  Boldin also carried the ball 3 times for 12 yards (4.0 ypc) last season.  Boldin has now played in 95 games in his career with the Cardinals in which he has caught 586 passes for 7,520 yards (12.8 avg) with 44 TD grabs.  He has also carried the ball 36 times for 209 yards (5.8 ypc) with 1 TD run.  The reason that the Cardinals are willing to trade Boldin is because they are going to run the ball more in 2010 and they already have his replacement (Steve Breaston) on the roster.  Teams like the Dolphins and Browns are two teams that will likely be offering the Cardinals a deal for Boldin.

With Matt Leinart the likely QB for the 2010 season look for the Cardinals to run the ball more in 2010.  Beanie Wells and Tim Hightower are a pretty good combo at RB so it just makes sense for the Cardinals to run a more balanced offense in 2010.  Wells carried the ball 176 times for 793 yards (4.5 ypc) with 7 TD runs last season.  He has some work to do as a receiver out of the backfield as he only caught 12 passes last season but they went for 143 yards (11.9 avg) so the potential is there for improvement.  Tim Hightower carried the ball 143 times for 598 yards (4.2 ypc) with 8 TD runs last season.  He is a good receiver out of the backfield too as he caught 63 passes for 428 yards (6.8 avg) last season.  The best way to protect a unproven QB is with the running game and I’m quite certain that the Cardinals will average over 100 yards rushing per game in 2010.