Adrian Wilson doesn’t want to hide the bias, so he fesses up. He and Karlos Dansby are tight.

Their wives are good friends; Wilson said Dansby is his closest friend on the team.

So that’s the prism within which the Cardinals’ safety evaluates the linebacker, a linebacker who is playing under the franchise tag this season and is scheduled to become an unrestricted free agent.

“Karlos,” Wilson said, “is the type of player we need to keep.”

It’s Dansby’s skills on the field that generate Wilson’s response. And there has been little question the Cardinals want to keep their 2004 second-round pick around long-term.

They can’t do it right now – under the rules of the franchise tag, Dansby is collecting a one-year salary of more than $8 million, but the team cannot re-sign him to a new deal until the season is over. The two sides tried to talk about a long-term deal last offseason before the tag was used, but Dansby eyed the monster contract former teammate Calvin Pace got from the Jets (six years, $42 million with $22 million in guarantees) and talks went nowhere.

In the meantime, Dansby waits.

“I am in the dark right now,” Dansby said. “I don’t have a clue what will take place. READ MORE