Michael Bidwill: Cardinals Unwilling To Give Up Draft Picks For Sean Payton
Jonathan Gannon was hired to become the new head coach of the Arizona Cardinals. It just so happens that he wasn’t exactly their first choice. It turns out that Arizona wanted Sean Payton. They just weren’t willing to pay the draft compensation cost that the Saints wanted and eventually got from Denver. Cards owner Michael Bidwill talked about it recently on a local radio call.
“We spent a lot of time. The issues around coach Payton had nothing to do with the money, the compensation we would be paying him,” Bidwill said. “It was all the compensation, the draft compensation to the Saints. We just weren’t willing to go with what the Saints wanted us to give up. It would have been too costly to the team for us to rebuild that roster. It was really a series of tradeoffs. I still felt like we got great coaches out there that can get this team turned around. I think we were right when you look at JG.”
By the way, how can you blame him? Trading a first and second rounder like Denver did for Payton is a banana land move. Payton is a great coach but how can you justify giving up that kind of draft capital? The Cardinals have the third overall pick. Are you just supposed to ship that out of town in order to top the Broncos offer? Something that any competent franchise should never consider.
It remains to be seen who the Cardinals will take with their first round pick they were unwilling to part with for Payton. They likely will get one of Jalen Carter or Will Anderson when they are on the clock.
