On Thursday, the Arizona Cardinals signed quarterback Kyler Murray to an extension worth $230.5 million and $160 million in guarantees through 2028.
In March 2022, the Arizona Cardinals signed head coach Kliff Kingsbury and general manager Steve Keim to extensions through 2027. This implies owner Michael Bidwill has faith in the team’s brass. And with Murray on board, it further implies the trio will be together following any meltdown.
The apparent good news here is that each of the three contracts and their lengths imply franchise stability. And that is hard to come by in the NFL, where it is common to see ownership give up on regimes after two or three seasons.
This isn’t the case with Keim, who has been the general manager since 2013, or Kingsbury and Murray, who are heading into their fourth season.
But with the signing, there is also a lot of risk involved. However, the trio has not seen much success in recent years. So let’s break it down.
The Kliff, Kyler, and Keim trio can work for the Arizona Cardinals, but they must show more than they have since 2019.
Kliff Kingsbury has always had the same issue: He collapses in the second half of a respective football season. And it doesn’t matter if it’s at the NFL or the NCAA level. Following his first seven games in 2019, in which the Cardinals sat at 3-3-1, the Kliff/Kyler duo finished 2-8.
During the 2020 season, the Cardinals jumped out to a 5-2 record before finishing the season at 3-6. At one point in the season, the 6-3 Cardinals held the NFC West lead via a tiebreaker. However, following a 7-0 start in 2021, the Cardinals finished 4-7 (counting the playoffs). This gives Kingsbury a combined 9-21 record following the first seven games in each of his last three seasons combined.
Kingsbury’s combined record during the first seven games of the season? 15-5-1. So in his case, he must find a way to stay consistent all season long. If this trend continues, there is no way he is sticking around the desert for the duration of his contract. But it doesn’t stop with Kingsbury. Let’s talk about Keim.
Steve Keim must get playoff success fast and prove the Arizona Cardinals can be a consistent contender
Keim took over as the Arizona Cardinals general manager in 2013, and a year later, he was voted NFL Executive of the Year. But following a trip to the NFC Championship in 2015, Keim’s Cardinals have been turbulent at best.
Much of this has to do with poor drafting. Since 2015, Keim has swung and missed more often than he has hit in the NFL Draft. In 2016, he whiffed on Robert Nkemdiche, whose NFL career never took off.
In 2017, Keim had arguably his best draft with the Cardinals, having selected Haason Reddick and Budda Baker. Baker has turned into an All-Pro caliber player while Reddick morphed into a successful pass rusher, having logged 12.5 sacks during his final season in the desert.
Cardinal fans will forever remember the 2018 draft for Keim whiffing on Josh Rosen, who has bounced around with six NFL teams in less than five seasons. However, he did draft serviceable players in Christian Kirk and Chase Edmonds, both of which left in 2022 free agency.
2019 brought about three starters: Murray, Byron Murphy, and Zach Allen. Keim also drafted Jalen Thompson in the fifth round of the NFL Supplemental Draft. But the jury remains out on the 2020 and 2021 classes.
But as you can see, Keim’s questionable drafting since 2016 has given the Cardinals little to work with. As of 2022, Murray, Murphy, Allen, Thompson, Isaiah Simmons, Zaven Collins, Marco Wilson, and Budda Baker are the only draft picks since 2016 slated to start full-time in 2022.
Other picks, like Rondale Moore, Leki Fotu, and Rashard Lawrence, will also see time in the starting lineup. But they have yet to prove they can be long-term starters instead of role players at their respective positions.
In short, if Keim is hoping for this to work out, he needs picks like Fotu, Moore, and Lawrence to step up. He also needs to see more out of Collins, Simmons, and Wilson. Keim would also do well with seeing at least a few players from the 2022 class seize a few roles.
Kyler Murray must perform like the 200-million dollar man the Arizona Cardinals paid him to be
While Murray can put up some dazzling performances, the Arizona Cardinals need to get more out of their former number one overall pick.
Yes, he has two Pro Bowls, All-Rookie honors from 2019, and he even won Offensive Rookie of the Year. But career accolades mean nothing if you are not winning the division or taking your team deep into the playoffs.
For two straight seasons, Murray contributed to two epic collapses. And while head coach Kliff Kingsbury has been an expert in choking during the second half of the season, Murray is supposed to be the type of quarterback to prevent this from occurring.
And in 2022, he faces the real test when he will be forced to lead the team without star receiver DeAndre Hopkins.
For me, it doesn’t matter that Murray signed an extension, and I don’t care how much it is worth. The time has come for him to prove he can lead the Arizona Cardinals on the field and overcome the adversity that saw him put up a dreadful performance in a beatdown last season at the hands of the Los Angeles Rams.
The 2022 season will be Murray’s proving ground. It will be his test to show the NFL universe that he can do more than make mind-boggling plays and throw touchdown passes off his back foot. If he can elevate the talent around him without Hopkins’ presence, then Murray will have grown as a player.
If he can maintain his productivity through all 17 games and win in November and December, he will have grown. And by extension, he will be helping out Steve Keim and Kliff Kingsbury.
This section is not a knock on Murray. Instead, it is saying that, with a huge contract, he needs to play like one of the highest-paid players in the NFL.
Will the Kliff, Keim, and Kyler Trio Work?
I can neither say whether it will or won’t. Instead, it is safe to say that the Kliff, Keim, and Kyler trio can work for the Arizona Cardinals. But it all needs to start in 2022 with Kliff Kingsbury and Kyler Murray finding ways to win games in the second half of the season.
And no, injuries can no longer be an excuse. Murray is being paid like a franchise quarterback. Kingsbury is paid like a coach expected to be with the Arizona Cardinals long-term.
This means coach and quarterback need to take the pieces they have playing around them on the field and elevate their talent level. Even if Murray has nothing but backups surrounding him, it is his job to make the entire unit better.
And it is Kingsbury’s job to call the right plays to help Murray succeed in that endeavor. This means no more going for it on fourth and five in your own territory. It also means making sensible play calls instead of trying something exotic in hopes that you will outsmart the opponent and the 70,000-plus in attendance.
As for Keim, it means hitting and not whiffing on first-round draft and top picks. He’d better hope Simmons and Collins play better than they have in their careers. He better hope Trey McBride is the long-term solution at tight end in the future. Even Day Three picks like Marco Wilson – If they are starting, it means they better play like starters and not single-season stop gaps.
Overall, player, coach, and general manager have the potential to make this happen. They’ve been to the playoffs. That’s Step One. Now, they need to execute for an entire season. And Keim needs to continually try to add talent. This also needs to happen every in every single year of their respective contracts.