This year’s frenzied free agency and trade period has already been dubbed by many as Christmas and Thanksgiving mixed into one, Scheftergeddon (named after ESPN Insider Adam Schefter), the gift that keeps on giving and so on and so forth.

But the way I see it, at least when it comes to the Arizona Cardinals, the 2011 off-season will be viewed as the marriage, for better and for worse and for richer and for poorer, that shifts the team’s fortunes for the next five to 10 years.

When the Cardinals traded former Pro Bowl cornerback Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie and a 2nd round draft pick for Eagles’ quarterback Kevin Kolb on Thursday, they essentially told the football world, “we value raw potential over proven production.”

In many ways the acquisition of Kolb (a quarterback whose career starts can be counted on two hands), was a lot like marrying a girl you’ve only dated for a few months. Sure, she fits in nicely with a lifestyle that use to be filled with self-pity drinking binges and solo trips to the drive-in movie theater, but in the end will making a long-term commitment with her equate to total and utter happiness?

It is no secret that in 2010, the Cardinals sans Kurt Warner were the quintessential definition of unbearable to watch. From Derek Anderson’s pathetic touchdown to interception ratio (7:10), to the liability Max Hall posed simply by taking snaps (one touchdown, six interceptions, 14 sacks and a QB rating of 35.7) to the sheer inexperience John Skelton (two touchdowns, two interceptions and a QB rating of 62.3) displayed in bad late-season losses to below .500 teams like the Panthers, Rams and Niners, Arizona’s offense nose-dived from elite to embarrassment (27th in points per game and 31st in total offense and team touchdowns) in just one season.

Truth be told, heading into this post-lockout bonanza, there would be no simple fixes for the level of ineptitude the Cardinals’ offense managed to reach in 2010. Even if the team had settled on potential short-term stop gaps like Kyle Orton (threw for 7,555 yards and 41 touchdowns his last two years), Matt Hasselbeck (a 3,000-yard passer in three of his last four campaigns) or Marc Bulger (who frankly should be thought of a backup at this point his career), the problems of yesteryear wouldn’t suddenly vanish.

With the retirement of Alan Faneca, the expiring contracts of guard Deuce Litui (whose work ethic is easily comparable to a lightswitch at a Motel 6) and center Lyle Sendelein and the health concerns plaguing tackle Brandon Keith (coming off knee surgery), the offensive line quite frankly may have been a good place for the Cardinals to start.

But, of course, in the quarterback-centered universe we live in, that was never going to be the case. As soon as the Packers returned the Lombardi Trophy to Green Bay in February, only two football-related stories garnered any attention from the media over the past four months: the labor conflict and Kevin Kolb’s possible destinations.

While both have now been resolved, the latter still is worthy of a few heads shakes and fist bangs into the nearest object that suffices.  

When Kolb burst onto the scene unexpectedly two years ago throwing for back-to-back 300-yard games in his first two professional starts (1st player in NFL history to do so), the league took notice, as did  the Eagles’ organization. There must be something magical about this guy, because like the Cardinals, the venerable Andy Reid saw the type of potential in Kolb that made it easy to part ways with six-time Pro Bowler Donovan McNabb after 11 years.

Oh, was he was fooled.

Kolb exited stage left in Week 1 with a concussion, and earned the dubious role of clipboard holder behind Michael Vick for the better part of the 2010 season. Although he would see time as the starter in mid-October, his uneven results (seven touchdowns, seven interceptions and 76.1 QB rating) reflected that of an unproven player going up against defenses that had finally wised up to his act.

To me, that sounds a lot like what the Red Birds already had lining up behind center during their 5-11 campaign a year ago.

You know that saying, “Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, also shame on you.” Now’s probably a good time to start chanting that if you reside in the Valley of the Sun.

Look, taking a chance on Kolb’s potential, as General Manager Rod Graves has so willingly done, is one thing. Mortgaging the farm in order to seek out that potential is quite another.

There was a reason the market on Kolb was as dry as the new place he will be calling home. Simply put, the Eagles' asking price (a high-caliber defensive player coupled with a first round pick) for a quarterback with more deficiencies than career wins was highway robbery in its purest form. 

With other viable, cheaper quarterback options out there when free agency began and little interest outside of Glendale surrounding Kolb, the leverage should have been in the Cardinals’ corner. But the team, in its best effort to appease its fans and star wideout Larry Fitzgerald (who will be a free agent in 2012) sooner rather than later, set their sights on one name and one name only. In doing so, they fell victim to the game of chicken the Eagles so desperately wanted to play.  And from here, it looks as though the team made a cannonball splash without checking the depth of the pool first.

Arizona not only lost a dynamic defensive asset in fourth-year corner Rodgers-Cromartie (four touchdowns and 13 career interceptions) but a 2nd round pick in 2012, that could turn in to a very lucrative selection given the quick transition the Cardinals are trying to pull in one fell swoop.

Throw in the fact that Kolb’s five-year contract extension will pay him like a upper echelon starting quarterback (upwards of $20 million guaranteed) instead of the $1.1 million the final year of his rookie contract entitles him to, and the Cardinals have basically given the keys to their franchise over to a high-risk, immobile quarterback with an offensive line that is more of a question market than a security blanket.

Graves and the Bidwill family have made it clear that they are tied to this marriage for the long haul. Let’s just hope their sudden leap of faith has more to do with intellect than affinity. If not, the Cardinals and their fans might soon get to see how the other half lives--the divorced, that is.

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