Should GM Keim be feeling the heat?
There’s mounting public pressure on first-year head coach Steve Wilks and offensive coordinator Mike McCoy going into the Denver game on Thursday night, but what about General Manager Steve Keim?
The Cardinals squad that’s been assembled under his watch is a wreck, and as they say in football, everything starts up front.
Five offensive linemen were either limited or out of practice this week, and it looks like starting right guard Justin Pugh is going to try to play with his hand encased in some sort of club. (Don’t be surprised if he can’t go against the Broncos.)
The defensive front seven, meanwhile, can’t seem to play team ball for as long as needed to hold up for an offense that might as well be punting on third down. (Arizona is converting 22 percent on third. No team has been this bad since 2010.)
Why is this team struggling like
Kanye West in a public policy debate? Are the offensive problems simply a function of play calling? Are the defensive breakdowns a product of a flawed scheme?
Mostly, the Cardinals' woes are getting blamed on execution. Dropped passes on offense. Missed gap assignments on defense.
But what if it’s more than that? What if the players don’t fit the systems?
Do the players fit?
Wilks wants to run an attacking, aggressive defense and a bruising, runfirst offense. Is this the right roster to deliver results in those schemes? And if so, wouldn’t that fall to the general manager and the personnel department?
Steve Keim has declined requests seeking comment.
Wilks, for his part, said Wednesday that he and Keim are communicating well and doing all they can to improve the club.
“We’re constantly talking about the roster, trying to find ways to improve as we move forward,” Wilks said, adding he and Keim are having “constant dialogue on the performance of this football team, and the things we’ve got to do to move forward and get better. Communication is there every day.”
Anyone who has even one day inside an NFL front office has more experience than the guy writing this column, which is why Keim’s input would be so valuable. We’d like to know what the plan is moving forward or where it went wrong looking back. It would help us stay engaged and optimistic.
As it stands, we’re grasping for answers and can’t help but wonder whether more could have been done in the offseason to acquire guys who would be a better fit along the offensive and defensive fronts?
Last year’s draft was flush with quarterbacks, so why bring in Sam Bradford? It would have been enough to get Mike Glennon, call him the starter, then do what you need to do to move up for one of the youngsters. Keim also could have cut or traded Sam Bradford as soon as he drafted Josh Rosen.
That could have created a roster spot for a player more suited to smashmouth football.
Why carry three tailbacks? T.J. Logan isn’t getting on the field, and his skill-set is redundant with Chase Edmonds. Why draft Edmonds if you plan to keep Logan? Why not trade or release Logan if he’s not going to play?
There’s another spot for a systemspecific player.
What about O-line help?
The O-line has been injury riddled. Keim drafted two players to bolster the unit, Mason Cole, the starting center, and Korey Cunningham, a promising player who’s not yet ready.
But again, considering the offensive style, which has been heavy on runs up the middle, why not bring in as many young, big guys as possible?
If you don’t draft Edmonds, you’ve got options at tackle and guard. Tyrell Crosby, Jamarco Jones and Scott Quessenberry all were available.
Reports from Detroit indicate tackle Crosby is ready to play. Jones was pushing for time at tackle in Seattle before he got hurt. And Quessenberry, Josh Rosen’s college center, can play guard, providing versatility.
Sticking with the theme of offensive roster construction, why carry six receivers on a run-first squad that also has Ricky Seals-Jones and David Johnson? Each of those guys could line up at receiver and create mismatches.
Right now, guys like J.J. Nelson and Trent Sherfield aren’t contributing. It’s possible that both could be players at this level, but they don’t have the opportunity to show it. It’s not fair to them or the team.
That would make two more roster spots that could have gone to address areas of greater need during the peak season of player availability.
Each scenario would have given the players mentioned opportunities to find better situations. With a chance to contribute, they could improve their earning power.
It’s good to know that Wilks and Keim are communicating. It would be better to know the big-picture outline of their plan.
It could help ease the pressure.