The Rodney Hudson situation is confusing fans
The 2022 offseason has been filled with ups and downs since the playoff loss to the much-hated rivals the Los Angeles Rams who made aggressive moves during and after the 2021 offseason trading for Matthew Stafford, signing Von Miller and Odell Beckham, winning the title and looking to repeat.
Meanwhile, the Cardinals have had a contract dispute with the presumed future of the franchise. The news about Hudson pondering retirement has been a powder keg ready to blow up the Cardinals’ 2022 season. What does it say about the Cardinals if Rodney decides to retire?
Well, since he entered the league in 2011, Hudson has been as good and solid as any Pro Bowl center in the league. He had his worst season last year PFF grade-wise but statistically only gave up 1 sack, committed 1 penalty, and had the highest Pass Pro efficiency in the NFC West. Yeah, he was pretty good.
It seems very likely that Rodney will retire. What’s going on in that head? In my opinion, he’s probably waiting on the mega-deal to be signed. Although to be honest I would try to avoid paying Kyler the high deal for other reasons I’ll go over in another article.
In the 3 years since implementing the air raid offense, the Cardinals have snapped the ball from the shotgun at one of the highest rates, if not the highest, in the NFL pretty much making any Cardinals center a long snapper. We all saw last year with Max Garcia at center that hitting a 5’10” target 5-7 yards away and getting in your stance as quickly as humanly possible while seeming to be an easy task, really isn’t easy.
Over snapping the ball, especially in crucial instances, can kill a drive, cause a safety, cause a punter to be backed up into his own end-zone, or worse, give the defense a chance to score a TD. Its a very important craft and just adds to the pressure that a center with the Cardinals needs to endure, that and of course making sure pressure doesn’t take out your QB for a couple of games.
Rodney Hudson has been in the league since 2011, and his true intention last year was to be released and join the Chiefs. Now that’s not going to be anywhere near a possibility, but last year’s ending gave Rodney at least a glance at what could be. Does he now see it as hopeless in his mind seeing that the offense could stay the same schematically?
Why wouldn’t he ponder it? That’s not a good sign for our offense coming into the 2022 season. Why did Rodney decide to wait after free agency, the draft, and June 1st cuts? Well, our owner ranks 30th in the league in big spending and 4th in the NFC West. The so-called “analytics” of free agent spending, overpaying for less production, and the gaffs of drafting classes put together by the great Steve Keim who earned a 5-year extension that no one was clamoring for. I would think Rodney didn’t sign up for this. That’s all in the middle of filming Hard Knocks which will give us a glimpse of the drama firsthand.
If the choice is made that Rodney will hang it up there are a few options. Go in-house, which seems obvious for the Cardinals, or sign an outside option (Tretter or Price). Maybe they have had talks with them and aren’t selling anything to these centers unless they know who they are snapping for and if they are being glorified long snappers in this offense. In-house might be the only way this offense operates like it always does which in my opinion is not good.
If negotiations are ongoing and the news is Kyler was signed but the offense will not change from being under center more often to sitting in the back of the pocket, having Justin Pugh at center (who is very solid, I like him a lot and he is capable at the position). That’s a tall task for any center. If the contract news drops and Rodney Hudson remains the center that could be good news as far as offensive formations. But if the news drops and Pugh is our center (and expect that unless we pay JC a premium) that’s terrible news for the offense formations-wise.
I expect the finger to be pointed at our Head Coach and the newly extended $45 million/year quarterback for holding this offense back.
Here’s to hoping for the best!
Check out Rashad Paynes’s recent article on the Rodney Hudson drama: Here!
