The Cardinals needed rush linebacker help. They have been trying to transition to a 3-4 (smartly making a gradual transition rather than abruptly shifting schemes like the Bills did). As a 3-4 team, they would need to get a ton more pressure from their linebackers. They had 43 sacks last year, but their leaders in sacks from the rush linebacker position were Bert Berry with 6, Clark Haggans with 5, and Chike Okeafor with 4.5 and Berry recently retired. That being said, 17.5 million seems like a lot to pay a soon to be 33 year old rush linebacker. Yes, his 9 sacks would have led the Cardinals last year, but there wasn’t exactly a ton of offers out there for Porter because of his age and how he forced himself out of Miami. The only other team I heard out there interested in Porter was the Redskins, who I could see spending this much for him, but needing to outbid the traditionally cost careless Washington Redskins to get Porter is not an excuse for paying him this much money.

His age hurts the Cardinals in two ways. One, in the most obvious way, he could start to deteriorate very soon. His 9 sacks in 2009 were good, but down 8.5 from his 17.5 in 2008. He should continue slowing down like that and probably won’t finish this deal as a member of the Cardinals. Two, though the Cardinals needed a rush linebacker, they didn’t need another old rush linebacker. Both Haggans and Okeafor are 33 or older also. They needed a shot of youth at the rush linebacker position, to give them a future rush linebacker to pair with Brown, and Porter is certainly not that. I can only hope this doesn’t deter the Cardinals from pursuing guys like Jerry Hughes, who reminds me of a young Joey Porter, in the 2010 NFL Draft. This was not a good use of money.

Grade: C