Kingsbury’s influence grows in Cards’ draft process
Cardinals general manager Steve Keim repeated the oft-used adage by NFL coaches and team executives about the NFL draft happening Thursday in Las Vegas.
“We all know that the draft is the lifeblood of every organization,” Keim said to reporters at the team’s predraft media session at their practice facility.
As the draft is a team’s lifeblood, the relationship between an owner, general manager and head coach’s influence on draft picks are the vital organs that dictate how well the team moves forward.
Hall of Fame coach Bill Parcells had a famous quote about why he stepped down as New England Patriots head coach and general manager in January 1997, one year after he led them to the Super Bowl. His departure after four years in Foxborough stemmed from his disagreements with owner Robert Kraft regarding player personnel decisions, which culminated in their 1996 draft war room.
”It’s just like a friend of mine told me,” Parcells said. ”’If they want you to cook the dinner, at least they ought to let you shop for some of the groceries.’”
Per Parcells’ metaphor, Keim and Kingsbury said they aren’t lost in the supermarket, and will continue to shop well together in the draft under Cardinals owner
Michael Bidwill’s watch.
Keim said his decisions as Arizona’s nine-year GM and working with Bidwill has only gotten better.
“The thing about it that’s great is when you have an owner who’s present, who’s in the building, we have constant dialogue,” Keim said. “Whether it’s me telling him how the conversations are going upstairs or with the way the board’s being set. Basically, it creates sort of a checks and balances system, which I like.
“Because it’s not like he’s looking at the players and evaluating them, but at the same time he’s asking the right kind of questions: “Why do we have this guy over this guy?” Or ‘Would you consider trading here?’”
There have been 20 draft picks in Kliff Kingsbury’s tenure as the Cardinals coach and play-caller since he was hired in January 2019. Sixteen of them remain on their roster.
When Kingsbury was hired as a former college head coach at Texas Tech with a mediocre record and no NFL coaching experience, he didn’t have much leverage other than being viewed by many as mastermind of the Air Raid offense.
In addition, Kingsbury walked in with a proverbial easy touchdown scored as the Cardinals had the first overall pick to draft their star quarterback and Heisman winner Kyler Murray, a player with who he had a longtime connection since he recruited him during Murray’s high school days in their mutual native Texas.
Building around Murray, taking the team from their league-worst 3-13 record during the 2018 season to incremental improvements of 5-11, 8-8, and 11-6 (including their 10-2 start last season), their first playoff appearance in six years, and Kingsbury’s five-year extension (and Keim given the same) signed in March had also afforded him more influence in their war room for Thursday’s draft.
“I would just say a better understanding of it,” Kingsbury said Thursday about his influence on the Cardinals’ draft picks. “I think Steve and I have a great relationship now,” Kingsbury said. “We kind of know what each other is looking for in the process, but I’ve been in the same role all four years.”
Plus, the Cardinals went from dead last in team offense and 26th in team defense rankings in 2018. Year over year under Kingsbury, the Cardinals have steadily risen from 16th and 28th in team offense and team defense in his first season, respectively, to 13th and 12th in 2020 to 11th in both categories last year.
Keim said Kingsbury’s input on who to pick works alongside the evaluations from the scouting department, defensive coordinator Vance Joseph and special teams coach Jeff Rodgers.
They rank all 120 players on the draft board, but they’re focused on 50 and will finish up within the next couple of days.
The Cardinals have seven total picks in the first (No. 23), second (No. 55), third (No. 87), sixth (Nos. 201, 215), and seventh rounds (Nos. 244, 256).
Keim said they’ll probably have 26 or 27 projected first-round prospects on a scale of 85 and above, and they’ve given four alpha-bird grades.
Kingsbury mentioned Keim and himself look for the same intangibles in prospects to mirror their veterans.
“I think he has really done a great job bringing in high-character leadership, all those things,” Kingsbury said. “You see some the moves when you get a J.J. Watt, Zach Ertz, James Connor, A.J. Green, those are great role models for these young players to emulate and watch and see how it’s done at the highest level.
“We’re going to continue to try and do that. We feel like that’s helped us take some big steps the last couple of years, and hopefully that continues,” Keim said about Murray.
Keim didn’t disclose Murray’s wish list of draft picks, but said he plays a role in helping their draft process, too.
“I love to hear from our players, particularly Kyler and ‘Hop’ (Deandre Hopkins) and some of those guys,” Keim said.
“You have coaches who see things a certain way. You see scouts who see things a certain way. And then when you have players that come into the fold — sometimes maybe they’ve worked out with them up at EXOS or they’ve been to the college campus where they used to play, and they know the kid personally. It’s a different perspective, and to me there’s no reason why I shouldn’t pick their brain and try to learn.”
Keim added he always looks for local talent from Arizona State and Valley natives. That included their receiving yards leader last season and current Jacksonville Jaguars wideout Christian Kirk, running back and ASU alum Eno Benjamin, and Kirk’s former Scottsdale Saguaro teammate and cornerback Byron Murphy Jr.
Kingsbury said he used to do the same his own local talent from Texas.
“I think the first couple years it definitely helped,” Kingsbury said about players’ Texas origins influencing on his draft evaluations. “I was familiar with a lot of those guys coming out of the state and the Big 12. Now I’m kind of out of the loop. There are a couple of guys that were young, but really kind of out of touch with that group in Texas.”
Although the Cardinals didn’t draft Antoine Wesley, being a former Texas Tech player during Kingsbury’s time there as coach added much heft in signing the third-year WR in May 2021, and re-signing him to a one-year tender earlier this month.
But four of the 20 draft picks under Kingsbury are from the Lone Star State (Murray, Benjamin, safety Deionte Thompson, offensive tackles Josh Jones and Josh Miles) and are remain on Arizona’s roster.
“I think sometimes when you’re looking through this process and you see they were at some of these established programs in Texas, I mean they run it like a college, some of those high schools,” Kingsbury said. “To see that type of pedigree come up and then they handle their business in college, you definitely know that they’re about the right stuff.”