Joey Porter Returns to His Former Coach in Arizona

Joey Porter had been floating around in free agency with only a few nibbles here and there, but he's now finally found a new home with the Arizona Cardinals and his former coaches, Ken Whisenhunt and Russ Grimm.

It's somewhat of a perplexing move given that the Cardinals do not run a 3-4, but they do run a hybrid defense every once in a while and could use Porter as a situational pass-rusher.

Well, they could have, but since they signed him to a three-year, $17.5 million contract that could, with incentives, push it's way to $24.5 million, he must immediately become a starter.

At almost $6 million per season, the Cardinals cannot afford to watch him sit on the bench very often. They must get an immediate return out of Porter, and I'm not sure they're going to like what they see.

I've always seen Porter as an overrated player in general, but now that his age is catching up with him it's getting even worse. I'm not sure how he convinced the Cardinals that he's anything more than a third-down pass-rusher, but he did and they bought it hook, line, and sinker.

Now they have a linebacker who is past his prime and playing in the wrong scheme.

Oh, and he's incredibly overpaid.

Something tells me this is the year of the San Francisco 49ers in the NFC West.