Sports360AZKevin Kolb will remain with the Arizona Cardinals, after the team announces they are no longer in the Manning sweepstakes.
ESPN’s Suzy Kolber reports the Arizona Cardinals are going to restructure quarterback Kevin Kolb’s contract in addition to paying him his $7 million bonus due Saturday.
There was speculation earlier Friday that Manning was not interested in coming to the Cardinals, but the team remained silent on their chances of landing the free agent until a statement was issued around 2 p.m. by Coach Ken Whisenhunt.
The Cardinals still have some work to due in free agency.
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Head Coach Ken Whisenhunt issued the following statement:
Regarding today’s developments and our quarterback position, acquiring Peyton Manning is no longer an option for us.
Since the end of last season we made it very clear that our plan was to head into 2012 with Kevin Kolb and John Skelton, let the process play out and – like at every position – go with the quarterback who gives us the best chance to win.
Obviously something very unique and unexpected presented itself. We’ve said it many times: if there’s an opportunity to make our team better we’ll explore it; we view the potential of adding a first-ballot Hall of Fame quarterback as one of those. The organization quickly put together an aggressive plan to go after it. We’re proud of that and feel very strongly about what we have to offer as a team and as an organization. In the end it didn’t work out but from our perspective it was very positive and we certainly don’t have any regrets about it.
We sit here today in the same spot we were heading into the offseason. That’s with two experienced quarterbacks who have both demonstrated positive things in the past and who we feel good about. Like we said at the end of the season when we won seven of the last nine games, carrying the momentum of that strong finish into 2012 is important and that remains unchanged.
