Perhaps the Arizona Cardinals struggles are NOT on Kliff Kingsbury and/or Kyler Murray. Perhaps the blame should shift 100% to Steve Keim.
Well, well, well, don’t we have a nice little twist in the nice little saga that is the 2022 Arizona Cardinals season? For a while now, I’ve been critical of Kliff Kingsbury and Kyler Murray, stating neither were good fits for the Redbirds. And if Michael Bidwill planned on the team enjoying a winning season any time soon, he’d do best to lobby for their departure.
But perhaps it’s not Kyler, despite his flashes of immaturity all season. And perhaps it’s not even Kliff, who I previously believed was simply being egotistical to hang onto playcalling duties. Yeah, perhaps Kliff and Kyler can excel long-term as a coach/quarterback combo, and perhaps the real villain in this story is none other than general manager Steve Keim.
Below, I have embedded five tweets, one from Jordan Schultz, and five more from our favorite Chuck Harris, derived from an article entitled Schultz: The next 5 weeks will answer a lot of coaching questions by Jordan Schultz.
Check them out below if you haven’t seen them yet. I have also left a link to the aforementioned article at the bottom of this post.
Heavy criticism for #Cardinals GM Steve Keim, from a long-time NFL personnel staffer I spoke with.https://t.co/1Y88IngAGb pic.twitter.com/TIIEDfEZVS
— Jordan Schultz (@Schultz_Report) December 9, 2022
Should the Arizona Cardinals Keep Kliff? Keep Kyler? Fire Keim?
Overall, we know a few things about Steve Keim. One is that he routinely gives the Arizona Cardinals tight windows for success since his trades often pan out while his draft picks typically do not. The tweet below implies that neither Kingsbury or even an established coach like Frank Reich would succeed long-term under Keim. Check it out:
This is probably the strongest indictment I've heard about Cardinals GM Steve Keim.
— Chuck Harris (@chuckh3) December 9, 2022
From @Schultz_Report:
"The Cardinals' disappointing season isn't on Kingsbury. I'm honestly not sure who'd succeed in his position given the slew of issues inside that building.
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We also know that Michael Bidwill and Steve Keim are like fraternity brothers, and this completely negates what should be a business relationship between the two in what may be the most cutthroat business in America today, the NFL. Here are Tweets #2 and #3.
Let's start at the top with owner Michael Bidwill and general manager Steve Keim. The complete absence of accountability - especially from Keim - is appalling. His lack of professionalism permeates the entire franchise.
— Chuck Harris (@chuckh3) December 9, 2022
"Keim's a fan. He's been able to keep that job
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because of his relationship with Bidwill, but he's not a football savant or football mind. He's not a leader," a long-time personnel staff told me.
— Chuck Harris (@chuckh3) December 9, 2022
Kingsbury reports to Keim, who gave quarterback Kyler Murray a $240-million contract extension in July.
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And finally, the tweet that has made me question my own judgment of Murray and Kingsbury. Check the archives, and you will see a good two-dozen articles at least criticizing quarterback and coach. But this tweet, again, shared from Schultz’s article that was, in turn, derived from an NFL personnel staffer, is the most enthralling.
Murray is enormously talented, but there are clearly growing pains that he - like many young quarterbacks - must overcome. Kingsbury is a good offensive mind stuck in a no-win situation for an owner and GM who haven't a clue how to properly run a professional organization."
— Chuck Harris (@chuckh3) December 9, 2022
4/x
As much as I’ve disliked what Murray has done this season on and off the field, he does have franchise quarterback potential. And if given the choice, I’d rather see him in the desert than playing elsewhere given his massive contract and flashes of brilliance he has shown in the past. Perhaps I’ll end up saying the same about Kingsbury if Steve Keim is the real bad guy in this scenario.
So if Keim really has “no clue” how to run a professional football team, Bidwill needs to cut off this friendship. But if there is a Good Old Boys Club going on, then Bidwill and Keim are more likely to, in time, cut Kingsbury, and ultimately, Murray, loose, proving the owner, like his father before him, has absolutely no business running the Arizona Cardinals. And perhaps the Red Sea should let him know it.
Article Source: Schultz: The next 5 weeks will answer a lot of coaching questions by Jordan Schultz
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