Bad outweighs good for Arizona Cardinals general manager

Some particularly bad decisions over the past year have put Steve Keim’s job with the Arizona Cardinals organization in jeopardy

Things started to go south for the general manager of the Arizona Cardinals back in January. Faced with the unenviable task of replacing retired head coach Bruce Arians, Steve Keim made a terrible call. A choice that for all intents and purposes doomed the Cards’ 2018 campaign.

After a prolonged search, Keim ultimately settled on Carolina Panthers’ defensive coordinator Steve Wilks for the head job. The hire, for a lack of a better word, has been a disaster. Arizona’s record stands at an unacceptable 2 and 9, and there’s a very good chance that the squad will lose their final five contests to boot.

The Wilks mistake was only the first of many for Keim in ’18. That awful addition was made worse by the assistant coaches who joined Wilks in the desert. A staff of incompetent individuals that included Mike McCoy, Al Holcomb, Ray Brown and Jeff Rodgers, among others.

Keim has been inept at adding players, as well. The GM’s most-egregious error of the offseason was the Sam Bradford debacle. The Cardinals ended up paying the veteran quarterback over $13 million, despite the fact that he appeared in just three games.

Guard Justin Pugh was brought in to solidify the Cards’ offensive line, but has failed miserably in carrying out that assignment. The former New York Giant was signed to a five-year, $45 million deal, Keim’s biggest expenditure of the free agency period. Pugh, for the most part, played uninspiring football before being sidelined by a knee injury in week 10.

Speaking of the offensive line, the acquisition of right tackle Andre Smith was also a blatant miscalculation. The long-time Cincinnati Bengal had nothing left in the tank, and was released this past Monday.

Keim also missed on a pair of cornerbacks he brought to town. Arizona gave up a sixth-round draft pick for Jamar Taylor, but ultimately cut the former Cleveland Brown on November 20th. Free agent pickup Bene Benwikere got off to a fine start, but was also let go when the level of his play dropped dramatically.

There were a couple of other head-scratching signings that Keim was responsible for. The Cardinals were hoping that Brice Butler would bolster their wide-receiver corps, but the journeyman never made it to opening day. A fullback was added to the offense for the first time in years, but did Derrick Coleman really bring anything to the team?

Keim deserves praise for his first three years as Big Red’s general manager. There’ve been way too many blunders since 2016, however. The Cards are getting progressively worse, so perhaps it’s time for Keim to be replaced.