Yesterday I passed along a report that the players in the Cardinals’ locker room want John Skelton to beat out Kevin Kolb in the team’s quarterback competition. Unsurprisingly, Kolb doesn’t see it that way.
Kolb said that former NFL linebacker Willie McGinest, who now works at NFL Network, got it wrong when he said that the locker room wants Skelton. And Kolb said that when talking about McGinest’s report with teammates, they treated it like a joke.
“One of my offensive linemen was laughing about it,” Kolb told the Arizona Republic.
Skelton acknowledged that McGinest’s comments had the players in Arizona talking, but he said he doesn’t know who McGinest’s sources are.
“Some of the guys mentioned it in the locker room,” Skelton said. “I don’t know anything about that. I don’t know where he got that from. From what it seems, all things are equal both in the locker room and on the field.”
Cardinals coach Ken Whisenhunt, the man who will ultimately make the pick between Kolb and Skelton, said he hasn’t seen any evidence that the players want Skelton.
“I have no perception of that whatsoever, that that is going on. From what I have seen, standing in the huddle . . . the team responded to both guys and feel both guys can be successful for them,” Whisenhunt said.
Ultimately, the players in the Cardinals’ locker room will want the quarterback they think gives them the best chance to win. Skelton may be favored by some of his teammates now because the Cardinals won more games with Skelton last year. But if Kolb proves in training camp that he’s the better bet, his teammates will fall in behind him.
At least until he has a bad game in a Cardinals loss.