Kent Graham begins the season as the unquestioned quarterback
starter for the Cardinals, and he sums up this rather astounding
fact in blunt fashion: "This is it. My career."
It has taken Graham 11 years to get to this point. Eleven years
of heartache and frustration and broken promises, 11 years since
he was the tall, golden-haired cannon arm out of Wheaton, Ill.,
the most sought-after quarterback prospect in the country. Notre
Dame got him—then sat him on the bench for two years to watch
Tony Rice operate Lou Holtz's offense, which called for a
scrambling quarterback. At 6'5", 230 pounds, Graham didn't
qualify.
Graham transferred to Ohio State, only to spend his junior year
with the Buckeyes behind Greg Frey before finally winning the
starting job as a senior. It didn't get any easier after the
Giants drafted him in the eighth round in 1992. For two years he
competed with Dave Brown for the job of Phil Simms's backup.
Then in 1994, with Simms retired, came the summer shoot-out,
winner to take the starting job. Though Graham held his own,
Brown was a first-round supplemental draft pick with $4.6 million of owner
Wellington Mara's money tied up in him. Guess who got the job?
"I was told that four exhibition games would decide it," Graham
says. "The decision was made after two."
In 1995 Graham backed up Scott Mitchell in Detroit. In March '96
he signed with Arizona to take over for a fading Dave Krieg.
Then in came Boomer Esiason, and it was back to the bench.
Graham replaced Esiason after three games last season, and the
Cardinals promptly won three of five. In a 31-28 victory over
the Rams, Graham threw for 366 yards and four touchdowns; later,
in a 31-21 loss to the Jets, he threw for 255 yards and three
scores. Graham seemed on his way to a permanent No. 1 job when
he tore a ligament in his left knee against the Giants on Nov.
3. Back came Esiason—only to be replaced again by Graham as the
late-season starter.
Despite the topsy-turvy 1996 season, Vince Tobin and his staff
had seen enough of Graham to install him as the main man this
year. "We're going with him," Tobin says. "There's an awful lot
of upside there. Terrific firepower, and now he's picked up
touch to go with it. His problem is that he's only started 23
games since high school."
There's another problem: Jake Plummer. The whole state of
Arizona went delirious when, in the second round in 1997, the
Cardinals drafted Jake the Snake, the hero of Arizona State's
run at the national championship last year. For 11 years Graham
was on the underside, trying to move up. Now the challenge comes
from below. Graham is 28, the prime age for a quarterback. At
$650,000, he is one of the league's lowest-paid starting
signal-callers, but he's also in the last year of his contract.
"If I deliver, the big money will come," Graham says. "This is
it for me."
Why dwell at such length on the Cardinals' quarterback position?
Because this is a team that has spent the past six years trying
to fill the spot. A big showing by Graham—heaven knows he's
due—and the rest could fall neatly into place.
Rob Moore and Frank Sanders are big league receivers, fullback
Larry Centers is the NFL's most productive pass catcher out of
the backfield, LeShon Johnson and Leeland McElroy have shown
flashes running the ball. The offensive line? Fingers crossed
here. Could be better.
Tobin is a defensive coach at heart, and last year the Cards
climbed from 26th to 21st in the league despite an anemic pass
rush that produced only 28 sacks, 12 1/2 of them by rookie end Simeon Rice. A healthy year by oft-injured Eric Swann, the two-time All-Pro tackle,
could address that deficiency.
The Cards' draft focused on the secondary. They spent their
first pick on Iowa cornerback Tom Knight, whose stock soared
just before the selection meetings. He'll go on the right side,
opposite All-Pro Aeneas Williams. Another corner, Ohio State's
Ty Howard, came in the third round, and he could be a steal.
He's a terrific cover guy whose only knock is his size.
"I've been 5'9 1/2" all my life," Howard says, which would have
made him the biggest newborn in history.
The ill-fated Buddy Ryan era, which ended in 1995, is a distant
memory in Phoenix. The feeling in the locker room is that Tobin
is doing things right. Kent Graham would certainly agree.
—by Paul Zimmerman
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