"Quarterback Kurt Warner's retirement ended an era for the Cardinals, but did it alter the balance of power in one of the NFL's worst divisions?

With Warner starting, the Cardinals won the past two NFC West titles, but the next best team in the division, the 49ers, isn't clearing a place in the trophy case just because Warner is gone.

"I think it is a grave mistake for us, as a football team, to think just because you take Kurt Warner out of the mix, it's our division," 49ers coach Mike Singletary said Thursday from the scouting combine.

"The thing we have to do in San Francisco is to make sure that we are not looking at Seattle, we are not looking at what happened in Arizona. I don't care about those things. I'm thinking it's our division before we get Kurt Warner out. I was hoping we were thinking that way last year. I'm thinking that way this year. I want to think that way every year."

The 49ers' problem last year wasn't beating the Cardinals. They swept their two games against Arizona, with Warner starting both contests. The 49ers' defense played the Cardinals offense better than any division foe over the past two years.

No game of tag

The Cardinals did not use their franchise or transition tags this year, deciding to take their chances with re-signing players in free agency.

It was a given the Cardinals weren't going to tag inside linebacker Karlos Dansby for a third consecutive time. In the absence of a long-term contract, that would have guaranteed Dansby a 2010 salary of $16.4 million.

There weren't many other candidates among the team's free agents. Kicker Neil Rackers could have been tagged for about $2.8 million but the Cardinals passed on that. "