Finally, it’s the Giants who obtained safety Rolle

The Pro Bowl safety Antrel Rolle will be in the New York Giants jersey for the 2010 season as he has signed a five-year, $37 million contract with the Giants on the first day of free agency, one day after he was released by the Arizona Cardinals, also made an offer to retain the safety but was refused.

“I’m ecstatic,” the 27-year-old Rolle said. “Words can’t really express how I feel now. I had five great years with the Cardinals organization. But I felt it was time for a change. The Giants are a first-class organization all the way. There are great opportunities for me, and I am excited to be working with the players I’ll be working with. I think the sky’s going to be the limit as to what we can do.”

Spending all of his first five seasons only with the Cardinals, Rolle has played in 68 regular season games with 59 starts with career totals of 337 tackles, 12 interceptions, 36 passes defended, three forced fumbles and 1.5 sacks. He has also returned four interceptions for touchdowns. His joining filled in time the Giants’ hole at the position after Kenny Phillips was placed on IR with a serious knee injury early last season.

Cardinals tender second round pick to TE Patrick

Although tight end Ben Patrick is not a important part in the Arizona Cardinals’ passing game, the team just does not want to lost too much if they have to give up the three-year veteran. Thus the Cardinals are planning to send the second round qualifying tender to him to before Thursday’s deadline.

Patrick played in nine games last season, making seven starts, and caught 12 passes for 146 yards and two touchdowns. He’s considered a developing blocker and will give the Cardinals some continuity on offense as the team works to revamp the defense.

Putting on the Cardinals jersey as a seventh-round draft pick in 2007, Patrick is originally worth a higher-level tender. If not making proper offer in time, the Cardinals could have faced challenges from other teams looking to sign him away as a restricted free agent.

Cardinals have been ready for LT Gandy’s departure

Although the Arizona Cardinals may lose left tackle Mike Gandy as he may depart as a free agent, they will not have problem with offensive line at all. They have got prepared for Gandy’s departure because they still have right tackle Levi Brown on roster.

According to Cardinals Coach Ken Whisenhunt, Brown might be moved to left tackle if Gandy chooses to take off Cardinals jersey. Although their primary plan is keeping Brown on the right side because that his specialty is run blocking, they believe Brown could also do well on the left side if the club fails to retain Gandy with a reduced salary.

"I don’t think Levi really cares," Whisenhunt said via the team’s Web site. "The only thing he cares about is running the football because he likes getting on guys and mauling them."

Gandy is likely to leave because he is unwilling to stay with the Cardinals with cut salary. Making $5 million last season, he is expecting to get a great deal done as a free agent. As for the Cardinals, they use young tackles like Brandon Keith and Herman Johnson at right side if they have to move Brown to the left side.

Cardinals may finally trade WR Boldin out this offseason

Failing to deal wide receiver Anquan Boldin last offseason, the Arizona Cardinals seem determined to trade him this year, of course, with the best possible exchange. At least the team has made it clear that they want to trade Boldin with only question to be how much they can get in return.

"Our approach with Anquan is really the same as it was last year," Cardinals general manager Rod Graves said. "We will look at all the options and exploring and ultimately doing what is best for the team."

It would likely take multiple draft picks to land Boldin. But there have been already teams that are likely to acquire Boldin. The Miami Dolphins and Kansas City Chiefs are most likely and the Chicago Bears and New England Patriots are less likely.

What all these teams are worrying about before having Boldin put on their NFL jerseys is how much money the wide receiver will ask for after the 2010 season when he becomes a free agent. His current bargain is $3 million and is likely to raise it to $10 million on the open market.

Cardinals WR Boldin questionable for Sunday game

For the first time all week, the Arizona Cardinals wide receiver Anquan Boldin finally wore back his Cardinals jersey and participated in practice on a limited basis on Friday, but his status is still questionable for Sunday night’s game against the New York Giants.

Boldin sprained his right ankle in the second quarter of Sunday’s 27-3 victory against the Seahawks at Seattle. He returned to play in the third quarter, and then left the game for good with Arizona comfortably ahead. But he was unable to practice with the team on Wednesday and Thursday.

We may get to know whether Boldin will play Sunday by Saturday, as the team is scheduled to fly east for the game on Saturday morning. By so far the only player ruled out for Sunday game is tight end Stephen Spach, who skipped Friday practice with a sprained ankle.

QB Rodgers led Packers to another preseason win

I have to say the Green Bay Packers have some special wisdom in choosing a quarterback. Brett Favre will be remembered as a great quarterback and a former Packer even if he is now playing with the Minnesota Vikings. The one who took over Favre’s job in the Packers has proved himself to be another quarterback with talent. On Friday night’s preseason game, Aaron Rodgers led the Packers to the third preseason win at Arizona, a 44-37 victory over the Cardinals.

Rodgers threw for 258 yards and three touchdowns to open a 28-point halftime lead. He led the Packers’ No. 1 offense to four touchdowns and a field goal in their six possessions of the first half. Totally the offense made nine TDs and one field goal in 12 possessions and the starters even had not been forced to punt.

“That’s about as good as we can play on offense,” Rodgers said of the first half. “Talk about exciting. We’ve got a defense like that that can stop them and we get the ball back at the end. So many weapons, great play-calling, and it’s just us on offense executing.”

But what excited the Packers embarrassed the Cardinals a lot. Losing to Packers meant their third preseason loss, breaking their wish to have a preseason win. They tried hard and were once near to a win when there was 38 seconds to play. They cut the lead to 38-37 on Leinart’s 11-yard TD pass to Jason Wright, however, wide receiver Early Doucet dropped Leinart’s 2-point conversion pass and Packers WR Ruvell Martin took the chance and returned the subsequent onside kick attempt for a touchdown.