Cardinals owner Michael Bidwill fired coach Kliff Kingsbury Monday morning and accepted the resignation of general manager Steve Keim the same day. This was, as you’ll remember, less than a year after signing both to sizable extensions meant to keep them in red polo shirts longer than a full election cycle.
Depending on the terms of these deals, Bidwill will be paying off these decisions for quite some time. The pressing question at the moment, though, is whether he will make Cardinals fans pay for them as well.
Here’s the thing about being an NFL owner that a lot of people don’t understand: If you want something, you can have something, as long as you’re willing to pay for it. If you want to be the Eagles this year, signing veteran free agents deep into November to bolster a run to the No. 1 seed, just open your checkbook. You want to be Robert Kraft, furnishing your club with whatever technology Bill Belichick stumbles into during a visit with some of the military’s most cutting-edge experts? Cool, hand over the credit card. If you want to be the 49ers, somehow rolling into the playoffs with relative health even though all of your best players are professional headbangers, you know what it takes to assemble the medical and recovery staff of your dreams.
Kingsbury was fired 10 months after receiving an extension from owner Michael Bidwill.
Joe Rondone/The Republic/USA TODAY NETWORK
If you want to make fans pay for your mistakes and view your own organizational failures as the cost of doing business, that’s fine, too. No one is going to stop you.
And that could happen in Arizona, which is in dire shape at the moment. Take a look at the roster, like we did a few weeks ago, and try to make a case for an expedited turnaround. It’s tough, but it’s not impossible. Pro Football Focus’s preseason roster ratings had the Cardinals in the high 20s, but that takes into account the contributions of J.J. Watt, who is now retired, and veterans such as Rodney Hudson, who played just four games this year before hitting injured reserve, and tight end Zach Ertz, who went on injured reserve just after Thanksgiving.
To make a worn analogy, the beams and pillars holding up this old house need replacing.
If money is no object, Bidwill could clear the decks and make a run at building the dream in Arizona. I’ve heard people say that this year is not the deepest of coaching pools, and to that, I say the pool is only as shallow as you want it to be. Not only is there an excellent list of young and able first- and second-time candidates, but there are the outer reaches of one’s imagination.
I don’t care if David Shaw doesn’t want to coach again. Call him. I don’t care if Nick Saban is entrenched at Alabama, determined to eviscerate NIL so he can continue his one-man monopoly of the sport. Offer him such a ridiculous amount of money that he’d have to get on a plane. On the veteran side, there’s Sean Payton, Bill Cowher, Tony Dungy and Marvin Lewis. Throw some cash around. Throw some weight around. Make some noise during the cycle.
As for the current head coaching and general manager market, don’t accept that the job is unattractive. Make it attractive. Get in the mix by offering more money, more resources, more chunks of power. San Francisco defensive coordinator DeMeco Ryans looks great in red and can probably put those first-round picks on defense to good use. The same could be said for Rams DC Raheem Morris, who, if not already the favored in-house candidate to replace a retired Sean McVay, would bring defensive expertise to Arizona and ties to a slew of talented coaches around the league. Eagles offensive coordinator Shane Steichen can make Kyler Murray work after succeeding with Philip Rivers, Justin Herbert and Jalen Hurts.
Of course, the Cardinals may opt for a safer route. They could ride out the storm with the people they have in the building, which is a legitimate possibility. Defensive coordinator Vance Joseph could get the full-time job. The tandem of Quentin Harris and Adrian Wilson could stay on and share general manager duties.
Bidwill could maintain some sense of comfort while saving himself the expense of furnishing an entirely new staff or making significant changes to the scouting department. Joseph did a lot of work behind the scenes to make this Cardinals team functional in recent years beyond just calling a defense. In that way, he deserves a chance to wear the headset again after two years with the Broncos.
And if that’s the case, invest in Joseph. Invest in whoever gets this job. Don’t make the next candidate another Steve Wilks, forced to wilt via the fumes of past successes. Don’t make the fans even more cynical than they already are, believing that they’re the ones who will have to suffer just because Kingsbury and Keim didn’t work out.
