Cards Playing Dumb Game with Warner

As the AP wire let us know Wednesday morning, Kurt Warner and his agent have made another counter-proposal to the Cardinals. The man who lead the Arizona Cardinals to their best season in franchise history racked up 4,583 yards (2nd in the league) and 30 touchdowns (third in the league) through the air in 2008. His 96.9 quarterback rating was the third best in the NFL.

The Cardinals have plenty of cap space, yet they won't offer Warner top-5 quarterback money. While people in Arizona are scratching their heads -- and that's putting it mildly, according to Phoenix resident Shane Bacon -- Warner is trying to make concessions just to stay a Cardinal.

The most recent figures are that Warner would be paid as a top-five quarterback if the Cardinals gave him two years and $29 million. Simply put, that's market value, because he's absolutely one of the five most valuable quarterbacks in the NFL. The Cardinals, though, have only offered two years and $20 million. For his part, Warner is apparently ready to accept a deal that is not quite what he deserves, as he's told the Cards he'd ink a deal for two years and $23 million.

(Warner's agent Mark) Bartelstein said Warner's counteroffer is "clearly below what his market value is out there and the Cardinals know that."

There's very little question that Warner is worth the money. Without him, the Cardinals would be left hoping that Matt Leinart would actually grow up, and even then you can't be sure he's good enough to take this team back to the playoffs. If the Cardinals are just trying to exploit the situation because they know Warner wants to stay, they are mistreating one of their most important employees. If they are low-balling him because they don't think he's worth the money, they are stupid. If they are trying to save money here, they are cheap, because they have plenty of cap space.

So what is it, Cards? Do you treat employees poorly, are you stupid, or are you cheap?

No matter the answer, it's bad.

Just freaking give the man the money he's earned, otherwise you'll be toiling in obscurity again for another 40 years.