Cardinals' Bruce Arians says Logan Thomas wasn't ready to start last season
The Arizona Cardinals limped into the 2014 playoffs after season-ending injuries to quarterbacks Carson Palmer and Drew Stanton curtailed their hopes of making a deep run.
Ryan Lindley was thrust into the Cardinals' starting role and put together one of the most abhorrent performances in NFL history, throwing for a mere 82 yards in a 27-16 playoff defeat to the Carolina Panthers.
Some questioned why the Cardinals didn't turn to Logan Thomas, a strong-armed quarterback out of Virginia Tech with questionable accuracy.
Cardinals head coach Bruce Arians summarized his rationale Friday.
"We drafted him for two years from now, not November," Arians told the team's official website. "It just so happened his number got called (earlier). I was not going to let him fail (in San Francisco) because once you fail those scars never go away.
"It's very hard to get the guys back in the locker room if you cost them the playoffs. I just wasn't going to put him in that situation. Right or wrong, it just was my decision."
Thomas played sparingly last season, completing just one of his nine passes. If it's any consolation, Thomas's lone completion went for an 81-yard touchdown.
Arians may have saved Thomas from imploding mentally, but it's hard to imagine that he would've been a worse option than Lindley, who capitulated under duress.