Cardinals are a mess, on and off the field

When Arizona Cardinals coach Kliff Kingsbury was fired in mid-January, NFL Media reported that he turned down multiple teams for offensive coordinator positions and instead bought a one-way ticket to Thailand.

Working four years for the Cardinals will do that to a person.

The Cardinals haven’t won much over the years — no championships since 1947, and a 4-13 record last season that got the coach and general manager fired. But they lead the league in utter dysfunction, on the field and in the front office.

A quick recap of the current state of the Cardinals:

▪ Franchise quarterback Kyler Murray, who relies on his elite athleticism, is rehabbing a torn ACL suffered in December. His availability for the start of the season is unknown, and he may not be his old self until 2024.

▪ The roster is being systematically dismantled, with star players such as J.J. Watt, Zach Allen, and Byron Murphy already gone, and DeAndre Hopkins soon on his way out. Former safety, scout, and personnel executive Adrian Wilson, a Cardinal for 20 years, also left for Carolina.

▪ The head coaching job sat vacant for more than a month, with the team cycling through at least 12 candidates and being rejected by almost all of the top ones before landing on first-time head coach Jonathan Gannon.

▪ In an anonymous survey released last month from the NFL Players Association, Cardinals players ranked their team’s facilities 31st out of 32 and accused owner Michael Bidwill of being cheap and not caring about families.

▪ Bidwill and the Cardinals are now embroiled in two legal disputes — one from last year from former coach Steve Wilks as part of Brian Flores’s workplace discrimination lawsuit, and a new arbitration from former executive Terry McDonough, accusing Bidwill of cheating, discrimination, workplace harassment, and more.

On the plus side, at least the Cardinals are reportedly getting new uniforms later this month.

The 2023 season is shaping up to be a lean one under Gannon and new GM

Monti Ossenfort. Murray will be working his way back, and the Cardinals have barely spent any money this offseason while unloading pricey veterans.

The Cardinals have at least a glimmer of hope for the future. They are clearing the deck to have flexibility in 2024, when Murray should be back to form. And the Cardinals are hoping to trade the No. 3 pick in this year’s draft for a haul of picks to go along with Nos. 34 and 66, plus whatever they can get for Hopkins.

The Cardinals also may be addressing some of the concerns from the NFLPA survey. Gannon said the weight room, which got an “F-minus” for being a safety hazard, according to some players, has been upgraded, and tight end

Zach Ertz spoke of other general improvements.

But the working environment in the front office appears to be truly dysfunctional. Bidwill sounds like a real peach of a boss, based on some of the accusations and his recent conduct.

As written last week, McDonough, a 10-year Cardinals executive who was recently let go, filed an arbitration suit with the NFL, accusing Bidwill of using burner phones to skirt the rules of GM

Steve Keim’s five-week suspension during 2018 training camp, as well as being “abusive” and creating “an environment of fear for minority employees.” Bidwill responded by hiring a notoriously aggressive PR strategist who smeared McDonough’s character with unrelated claims of domestic violence and abandoning his responsibility to one of his children.

McDonough found support this past week from former Cardinals chief operating officer Ron Minegar, who resigned in January 2020 after two decades. One page of Minegar’s resignation letter to Bidwill in December 2019 was included by McDonough in his arbitration suit.

“I acknowledge that you have had to deal with a ton of issues this past year, but you come to work angry every day,” Minegar wrote in the letter, obtained by Pro Football Talk. “You talk down to almost everyone. You’ve become arrogant and condescending. You need to get credit for everything when things are going well and are quick to point the finger at everyone else when we are struggling.”

“Its not just me — everyone in this building is impacted by your constant negativity,” Minegar continued. “Our lack of sustained success combined with your daily anger is extremely frustrating and makes me feel like I’ve squandered 19 years of my career here.”

Minegar’s letter also backed up McDonough’s claim that Bidwill squashed a 2019 review of the team’s workplace culture after employees were highly critical and placed the blame mostly on Bidwill, which the owner denied.

“Sadly, we learned that a majority of our employees are working in fear,” Minegar wrote. “There are several factors, but much of this was directed at you based on the poor interaction they’ve had with you . . . What was your reaction when you saw the preliminary responses? Instead of leaning into it and trying to change things for the better, you shut the study down.”

To defend themselves, Bidwill and PR consultant Jim McCarthy released snippets of a 2022 letter Minegar sent to Bidwill purporting to apologize to the owner. Minegar told Bidwill they could release the letter, but only if they released all of it. They didn’t.

“I wrote this very private note to Michael to ‘make amends’ as part of my program of sobriety, which I have undertaken for the past 1,000-plus days,” Minegar told PFT. “I am saddened to learn that portions of the September 2022 correspondence have been used by the Cardinals to erroneously signal I was retracting the statements I made in my 2019 resignation letter. This is blatantly false and must be interpreted as an attempt to deflect criticism. I stand by the statements I made in my December 2019 letter and am willing to discuss with the involved parties as part of the NFL’s arbitration process.”

There apparently is no limit to how low Bidwill will punch to defend himself. He’ll accuse a man of abandoning his child, and he’ll use out of context a private letter from a man in an alcohol abuse program. The types of slimy response that only strengthen the accusations against Bidwill.

No wonder Kingsbury wanted a oneway ticket out of town.

What’s the deal with Beckham?

The Ravens are usually pretty smart with their contracts, and at first glance, their investment into Odell Beckham Jr. is curious. Spending $18 million, with $15 million fully guaranteed, on a 30year-old receiver who hasn’t played in more than a year because of a torn ACL doesn’t seem like the wisest investment.

But there are a few reasons to like this move for the Ravens. One, the Ravens need to upgrade an uninspiring corps of receivers that features Rashod Bateman and Nelson Agholor. Two, it’s only a one-year investment in Beckham, and his 2023 cap number will be just $3.932 million.

And three, $15 million-$18 million is realistically a small price to pay if it ends the drama with Lamar Jackson and motivates him to return to Baltimore, on the franchise tag or with lowered expectations on a long-term deal.

Signing Beckham after trading Marquise Brown last year is the kind of olive branch that can bring Jackson back into the fold. NFL Media initially reported that Jackson actively recruited Beckham to Baltimore, though Beckham walked it back in a news conference on Thursday.

“Lamar, if you’re watching, I would love to get to work with you,” Beckham said.

Ravens GM Eric DeCosta reiterated that they want Jackson as their quarterback.

“Lamar’s in our plans,” DeCosta said. “We love Lamar. Our feelings about Lamar have not changed one bit since the end of the season.”

Beckham was productive for the Rams in their Super Bowl run two years ago but hasn’t amassed 1,000 receiving yards since 2019 and will have 19 months of rust by the time the 2023 season begins. But DeCosta said he is confident in Beckham after watching the film of Beckham’s workout from a few weeks ago.

“What we saw was extremely encouraging, and I can’t wait to see the progression from March to April to May to September,” DeCosta said. “We’re getting somebody who is ready to explode again, and he’s in the right environment with the right quarterback, with the right team, in the right city. It’s the perfect player at the perfect time.”

Looking ahead to the draft

A few notes on the NFL Draft, to be held April 27-29 in Kansas City:

▪ The biggest intrigue in Thursday night’s first round will center around quarterbacks Bryce Young, C.J. Stroud, Anthony Richardson, Will Levis, and Hendon Hooker. The biggest intrigue Friday night will center around quarterback Aaron Rodgers.

The Jets hold picks 42 and 43 in the second round, so if the Packers are serious about getting 2023 draft pick compensation for Rodgers, a trade has to happen by then. The Jets don’t pick again until No. 112 in the fourth round, which is likely too low for the Packers’ liking. A Rodgers trade would likely revolve around a second-round pick this year and a conditional first-round pick next year.

But there is a valid line of reasoning for the Packers not to execute a trade until after June 1 because of salary cap implications. If that ends up being the case, the draft will go with a whimper, and a trade might not happen until close to training camp in July (or later).

▪ It’s worth recalling that the Dolphins have forfeited their first-round pick, because on the broadcasts it’s going to sound funny when the announcers keep referring to “31” first-round picks. The Dolphins lost their pick, 21st overall, over tampering violations committed by owner Stephen Ross in pursuit of Tom Brady. The Dolphins join the 2008 and 2016 Patriots as the only teams to forfeit a first-round pick.

The Texans also forfeited a fifthround pick (the second pick of the round) because of a salary cap violation — securing a membership to a high-end Houston club and spa for Deshaun Watson.

The draft technically has 261 slots, but will have only 259 drafted players. When it comes to contract time, the 21st pick will be vacated, and the player picked next will get the contract slotted to the player drafted 22nd, even though he is technically 21st overall.

▪ It was noteworthy that the Raiders hosted Georgia defensive tackle Jalen Carter in an official pre-draft visit this past week. The Athletic reported last month at the owners’ meetings that the Raiders, still reeling from Henry Ruggs’s vehicular manslaughter incident, had taken Carter off their draft board given his recent history. Carter was charged with reckless driving after he was involved in a fatal drag racing accident, and he also showed up out of shape to his Pro Day. Was The Athletic report erroneous, or did the Raiders decide to bring in Carter to create the appearance that they are still interested?

▪ Wednesday is the last day that a team can time, test, visit, interview, or conduct a physical examination with a draft-eligible player at its facility. Teams are allowed to bring in 30 players for these official visits.

Same behavior wouldn’t be fine

With the relationship between Bill Belichick and Mac Jones being under the microscope in recent weeks, one stat worth highlighting is that Jones was one of the NFL’s leaders in on-field fines in 2022.

Jones was fined for three incidents in 2022, tied with Seahawks receiver D.K. Metcalf for the most in the NFL. Jones was fined a total of $34,585 for a taunting penalty against the Bills in Week 13, and two incidents against the Bengals in Week 16, a low block on Eli Apple and for jumping late onto a pile.

Per the databases at Spotrac, Jones ranked seventh among all players in onfield fine money for 2022. And it is rare for a quarterback to earn even one fine in a season, let alone three. Last season, Jones accounted for three of the six fines given to quarterbacks, with two going to Brady (kicking, tripping) and one to Dak Prescott (celebration). In 2021, there were just three quarterback fines for on-field conduct, and in 2020 just one.

Jones plays with a passion that is often considered a positive for the starting quarterback and team leader. But he ventures too often into dirty play (and yelling at coaches) and needs to work on controlling his emotions.

Extra points

The ball isn’t officially over the goal line yet, but as of Friday afternoon New Jersey Devils and Philadelphia 76ers owner Josh Harris appeared to be on the verge of buying the Commanders from Daniel Snyder for approximately $6 billion. Washington’s .427 win percentage since Snyder bought the team in 1999 ranks 27th out of 32, and his tenure has been marked by bad teams, empty seats, petty feuds, constant turnover, and a frat-house culture that resulted in dozens of accusations of harassment and assault, a Congressional hearing, and now, essentially, the forced sale of the team. But while anyone is better than Snyder, Harris, 58, won’t necessarily be the team’s knight in shining armor just because he’s a Maryland native. Snyder was hailed as a local hero when he bought the team in 1999, and his ownership was a disaster . . . Amazon founder Jeff Bezos surprisingly didn’t bid on the Commanders, and a theory floated by the Washington Post and others makes a lot of sense, that Bezos instead is lining up to eventually purchase the Seahawks from the late Paul Allen’s sister. The theory is two-fold: The Seahawks are a cleaner investment for Bezos — a nice stadium, vibrant fan base, no lawsuits or bad history to untangle — and it will be tougher for the Commanders to get public money for a new stadium if they are owned by a guy worth more than $100 billion . . . Kliff Kingsbury may have wanted to buy a one-way ticket to Thailand after getting fired by the Cardinals, but he wouldn’t be able to collect his sizable buyout without working in football. So he found the perfect no-show job, hiring on as a senior football analyst with the University of Southern California, working with the quarterbacks in a support role . . . The Lions continue to remove evidence of the Matt Patricia era. They drafted three players in the first round from 2018-20, and now have traded two of them within the last six months — tight end T.J. Hockenson (2019) to the Vikings last season, and now cornerback Jeff Okudah (2020), a former No. 3 overall pick, to the Falcons for a fifth-rounder. But 2018 first-round pick Frank Ragnow remains as a solid starter . . . For all the talk of Lamar Jackson and his contract squabbles, Joe Burrow, Justin Herbert, and Jalen Hurts shouldn’t take another snap in practice until their teams give them fat contract extensions. Each is in line for a massive extension after finishing his third season, the earliest a player is allowed to sign a new contract after his rookie deal.