Arizona Cardinals Begin Clearing Cap Space by Releasing Brown

Peyton Manning or no Peyton Manning, the Arizona Cardinals intend to release offensive tackle Levi Brown in order to save cap space, presumably to go after free agents.  It would be a surprise if more cuts did not follow.  Brown was a big cap figure for 2012, in the order of a $17 million hit to the cap.  Now, by releasing Brown, the Cards can lure Manning and/or other top free agents to the desert.

Not only is Brown saving the Cards $17 million against the cap, he is finally being set free after a sub par career to this point.  Brown, as we all know, was drafted ahead of running back Adrian Peterson, whom the Minnesota Vikings took in the first round of the 2007 NFL Draft.

Brown already was behind the eight-ball with fans for being the guy the Cards took over Peterson.  He was going to fail here even if he was double the player he ended up being.  He was going to need to be a superstar in fans minds in order to succeed in Arizona.  Unfortunately for him, he never played like a first-round pick.

Going into the off-season the Cards gave Brown a vote of confidence, but really you had to think behind closed doors the Cards were concerned all along.  I give the Cars credit for not throwing Brown under the bus, probably realizing they made a mistake in drafting him instead of Peterson.  That wasn’t Brown’s fault, but Brown was going to have to live up to the standards that Peterson created in Minnesota.  It never happened.

Brown will undoubtedly end up somewhere else.  I think a younger team may benefit from Brown’s experience, but he will most likely never again command the type of money Arizona paid him.  I say good luck to him.