According to a report by the Arizona Republic, agent Drew Rosenhaus is apparently to blame for the mess that currently is Cardinals receiver Anquan Boldin’s contract situation.

Boldin is under contract for two more years with the Cardinals, at $2.75 million this year and $3 million in 2010, a deal Rosenhaus renegotiated in 2005.

Rosenhaus pushed for a new deal, however, after the Cardinals re-signed Fitzgerald to a four-year, $40 million extension before last season. The Cardinals told Boldin they would try to oblige but first had to attend to new deals for Dansby and Pro Bowl safety Adrian Wilson.

Boldin, under advice from Rosenhaus, demanded a trade last summer and said he would never re-sign with the Cardinals. His position softened in the ensuing months and, after helping the Cardinals reach Super Bowl XLIII, dialogue resumed about a new contract.

But through it all, Boldin’s reputation took a hit, although his performance on the field never came into question. He finished the 2008 regular season with 89 receptions for 1,038 yards and 11 touchdowns.

If this is true, it would make sense why Boldin plans to fire Rosenhaus and is now seeking new representation. Maybe Boldin would be willing to take a modest pay raise (whatever that entails) from the Cards, but Rosenhaus kept pushing for more. Either way, with Rosenhaus out of the way it seems like Boldin is a safe bet to stay in AZ. In fact, Boldin might even report to minicamp sometime this week as a sign of good faith to the team.

With his contract talks reaching a stalemate with the Cardinals, receiver Anquan Boldin plans to fire agent Drew Rosenhaus.

Rosenhaus, who represents more NFL players than any other agent, had tried pressuring the Cardinals into trading the 28-year-old receiver.

“Regarding Anquan Boldin, let me say that I have great respect for him. I’m hopeful we can work this out and he can return to the Rosenhaus Sports family in the near future. We are proud to continue to represent his brother, D.J. Boldin,” Rosenhaus said in a statement to ESPN.com. “We would also like to take this opportunity to announce that we have signed Will Allen to a 2-year contract extension with the Dolphins worth $16.2 million. We are pleased to announce today that we have re-signed New Orleans Saints tight end Jeremy Shockey [to a representation agreement].”

Boldin reached out to other agents in recent weeks, according to a source. He spoke with Kennard McGuire, CAA agents Tom Condon and Ben Dogra, and two of Fitzgerald’s agents, Eugene Parker and Paul Lawrence.

Under NFLPA rules, a player must wait five days after firing his agent before hiring a new one.

Boldin apparently didn’t like the way Rosenhaus was going about negotiations with the Cardinals, although it’s hardly the agent’s fault if a team doesn’t want to re-work a contract when the player still has two years remaining on the current one. Still, it’s interesting that Rosenhaus has lost a big client like Boldin. Normally, players are seeking Rosenhaus’ negotiation tactics, not firing him because of them.

According to the Arizona Republic, Anquan Boldin’s agent Drew Rosenhaus has submitted a contract offer to the Cardinals, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that the team is willing to negotiate at this time.

Rosenhaus said contrary to speculation, Boldin is not seeking a deal worth $10 million a year, which is what teammate Larry Fitzgerald is receiving. The recent offer is for less, Rosenhaus said.

An NFL source familiar with the proposal said the deal averaged just under $10 million per season.

Rosenhaus declined to say when he made the proposal to the Cardinals. He has discussed the proposal with Graves, he said, but the Cardinals have not responded with a counteroffer.

It could be the range of $8 million to $9 million a year on average. T.J. Houshmandzadeh signed a five-year, $40 million deal with Seattle this spring, with $15 million guaranteed.

Dallas traded for Roy Williams last year, then signed him to a five-year, $45 million deal with $20 million guaranteed.

If we’re talking solely about contract numbers, Boldin is definitely worth the $9 mil a year that Housh is getting. But it’s obviously not that simple for the Cards to just re-negotiate a deal like that for Boldin considering they’re already paying Fitzgerald $10 million a year. Plus, and this is a biggie, Boldin is still under contract for two more years. The Cardinals aren’t obligated to do anything with his contract if they don’t want to.

Nevertheless, at least the lines of communication are open between Rosenhaus and the Cardinals. We’ll see what Arizona’s countermove is.

Cardinals’ quarterback Kurt Warner underwent arthoscopic surgery on his left hip to repair a torn labrum.

Kurt Warner had surgery Tuesday to repair a labrum tear in his left hip, but the Cardinals quarterback is expected to recover quickly enough to return for most of the team’s offseason workouts.

Warner played with the injury most of the 2008 season. The arthroscopic surgery, performed by Dr. Marc Philippon of the Steadman Hawkins clinic in Vail, Co., also allowed for the cleaning out of loose fragments in the area.

Dr. Philippon called the surgery a success and Warner’s range of motion in the hip was immediately improved. Warner’s rehabilitation began quickly in Colorado.

Warner will likely sit out the team’s mandatory minicamp May 1-3. The hope is he can begin on-field work when the Cardinals begin their voluntary organized team activities beginning May 19.

Cardinal fans can breathe easy because this was a minor surgery. It’s actually good that Warner got it out of the way now so he has plenty of time to recover before next season.

Granted, this surgery could hinder his blazing speed next season…now that would be a shame.

According to NFL.com’s Adam Schefter, the Cardinals are expected to place the franchise tag on free agent linebacker Karlos Dansby on Wednesday.

Arizona is expected to make Dansby its franchise player by Wednesday, meaning QB Kurt Warner will not receive the tag and can test the free-agent market if he doesn’t re-sign with the team before then.

But the Cardinals likely feel good about their chances of retaining Warner. Otherwise, they wouldn’t make the move with Dansby and their lone franchise tag.

Ordinarily, the franchise tag entitles a player to earn the average of the five highest-paid players at his position or 20 percent more than last year’s salary — whichever is greater. The 20 percent rule for Dansby is greater, meaning his franchise tag with Arizona will be worth a cool $9.6 million. But it also will limit Dansby from signing with another team.

This is a no-brainer for the Cards, especially considering the franchise tag for a quarterback this year is over $16 million. They have a better shot of Warner returning on his own, so not allowing Dansby to walk on his own omission is smart.

If for some reason Arizona doesn’t follow through with the tag, Dansby will be one of the most sought after linebackers on the free agent market.

Although Arizona Republic contributor Kent Somers writes that Kurt Warner and the Cardinals could begin discussing a new contract as early as this week, he also doesn’t squash the idea that Warner could still retire this offseason.

I think it’s a mistake, however, to view that as a definitive sign that Warner isn’t retiring. Warner has said there are a number of factors to consider in making the decision, and I think he’ll weigh all of them before making a commitment.

Warner has said several times that one of the most important factors will be how interested the Cardinals are in having him back. And there’s no better way to gauge that interest than seeing what the team is willing to offer in a new contract. That’s what Bartelstein is doing now. It would be silly for Warner to say he wants to play again, only to find the Cardinals are offering far below what he thinks is fair.

Another factor in Warner’s decision will be assessing the team’s determination to keep its core of talented players. He is also curious about Ken Whisenhunt’s plans for the offensive coaching staff. Warner was close with coordinator Todd Haley, now the Chiefs coach. Jeff Rutledge, the quarterbacks coach, has been fired. How Whisenhunt fills those spots will factor in Warner’s decision. It might not be a huge part of it, given that Whisenhunt is going to call plays, but it will have an impact.

Money, too, will play a part. Warner and his wife Brenda do a lot of charity work through their foundation, First Things First, and he’s told me before that he won’t have problems staying busy in retirement. It wouldn’t be surprising to see him on television, either. But there’s nowhere else he can make the kind of money the Cardinals likely will pay him — $8 million to $10 million a year.

Even with all the potential factors that Somers highlighted in his article, I think we’ll see Warner back in a Cardinal uniform for at least another year. It has to be tough for a player to taste another Super Bowl, not win it and then retire in the offseason, especially when it’s a top competitor like Warner. I bet we see a deal get done early in the free agency period.

Could the NFC Champions considering hiring the “Mad Scientist” to run their offense in 2009?

File this one in the rumor category . . . but I’ve heard that the Cardinals called the 49ers on Friday to ask for the cell number of Mike Martz, whom Singletary fired two days after the season. I have not been able to confirm this happened, so take it for what it’s worth.

So might Whisenhunt seriously consider Martz as the man to take over the offense? Might that help convince Kurt Warner to go ahead and sign a two-year deal to remain with the Cardinals? Certainly, the Cardinals’ talent on offense would seem to be a better fit for Martz’s offensive style than what he had last season with the 49ers.

Even though it’s only a rumor it’s certainly a viable one. Warner and Martz have worked together before and considering the Cardinals don’t have much of a running game for Mad Martz to ruin, this could be a nice match.

Could you imagine what Larry Fitzgerald, Steve Breaston and Anquan Boldin (assuming he’s still in ‘Zona next year) could do in Martz’s offense? Wow.