The Arizona Cardinals are going through a change within the organization. Head coach Bruce Arians has decided to retire and Steve Wilks has been brought in to bring the red birds back to their winning ways. The man in charge of personnel decisions in Arizona, Steve Keim has been rewarded for putting together a pretty solid roster, minus the quarterback position. Keim and the organization have agreed to a new contract extension.
Dan Graziano of ESPN was the first to report the news:
“Source: The Arizona Cardinals and GM Steve Keim have agreed to a contract extension through 2022.”
Team president Michael Bidwell is showing faith in Keim to find a new franchise quarterback. Obviously, Blaine Gabbert and Drew Stanton are not the guys to do it. Carson Palmer also finally decided to retire which leaves a black hole at the quarterback position. There’s no doubt that finding a quarterback is the task at hand for Keim and the Cardinals. The good news is ownership is giving him a ton of time to find one.
Keim has been really great since taking over in 2013. Only four general managers have more wins than Keim since that stretch (Belichick, Schneider, Colbert, Elway). Keim has won almost 62 percent of his games in the NFL (49-30-1). That’s pretty incredible considering he hasn’t had a real quarterback the entire time he has been with the team.
Keim’s draft track record speaks for itself. Tyrann Mathieu in the third round? Check. David Johnson in the third round? Check. Swindling Bill Belichick and trading for Chandler Jones? Check. Keim has been awesome. Now it’s time to see if his new head coach Steve Wilks is up for the challenge. Wilks has only spent one year as a defensive coordinator with Carolina prior to the promotion.
