ARIZONA CARDINALS

Steve Keim Time: Potential means nothing if you can’t execute

Aug 31, 2015, 1:07 PM

Oakland Raiders wide receiver Michael Crabtree (15) is tackled by Arizona Cardinals defensive back ...

Oakland Raiders wide receiver Michael Crabtree (15) is tackled by Arizona Cardinals defensive back Tony Jefferson, bottom, while under pressure from cornerback Jerraud Powers (25) and linebacker Kevin Minter (51) during the first half of an NFL preseason football game in Oakland, Calif., Sunday, Aug. 30, 2015. (AP Photo/Ben Margot)

(AP Photo/Ben Margot)

LISTEN: Steve Keim, Cardinals general manager

Sometimes, it’s best to go straight to the man in charge.

And when it comes to the Arizona Cardinals’ roster, that man is Steve Keim.

Arizona’s general manager since January 2013, Keim has overseen a transformation that has led to 21 wins over two seasons. His deft touch with the draft and free agency has led to the team becoming a contender in the NFC.

Lucky for us, Keim happens to be a weekly guest on the Doug and Wolf Show, right here on Arizona Sports 98.7 FM. And since what he has to say is important, we thought it would be a good idea to put his words into print, allowing you to read what the GM is thinking. So, without further ado, here’s this week’s edition, which follows Arizona’s 30-23 preseason win against the Oakland Raiders:

Thanks for waking up with us. What time did you get into the office today?

All good, man. About 5:50, so I got a few hours of sleep.

Is it as all bad as all of us thought it was when we watched the first half as fans?

Well, you know offensively there was a lot of issues to say the least. And I think to some degree, it was a great wakeup call. You know this team has read for the past several weeks about potential, but potential doesn’t mean anything if you don’t execute, if you don’t make plays and if you don’t play physical. Good wakeup call for our offense. I thought our defense was for the most part very very good. Some coverage issues from blown assignments a few times, but a few guys defensively played excellent and we were excited to see that.

When you look at the offensive line, are you concerned or is this just the way that it goes when you’ve got a guy that is hurt (Mike Iupati) and you’ve got another guy that may be suspended (Bobby Massie)?

Well the injury is certainly – and the suspension – don’t help, but again I’m not one to make excuses. I thought of the first five, Ted Larsen was the only one who even played solid. I thought that the other guys struggled, I thought that there were times where Carson held the ball too long so I agree with what coach said last night. There was some miscommunication with routes, particularly with young receivers and the backs didn’t shift at times when they were supposed to. When you have so many things go wrong at the same time, it’s a recipe for disaster.

How much of it is all of the things you just described and how much is it the Raiders’ pretty good front seven and mainly a good Khalil Mack?

Well there’s no question the type of player Khalil Mack is, I mean I think there was a reason why he was either the first or second player on our board when he came out of Buffalo. We had grades off the charts on him. It’s good to see he’s living up to his potential, but we’re going to face somebody that’s talented every week so again it’s a great reminder to our players – whether you’re Jared Veldheer or whether you’re Bradley Sowell – it doesn’t matter who you are, you have to bring your A game every week. They get paid on the other side as well so we just have to come together, use it as a wakeup call and a learning experience and get better this week.

Just watching Khalil Mack last night made me think of Lawrence Taylor. When you watch him, do you make that comparison?

Well I mean the guy is in his second year. I know that you can make a comparison from a physical skillset standpoint and I think that’s very accurate. You know I don’t want to crown him as a Hall of Famer yet, but as a player when you watch him on tape, I mean his upside, his potential is scary. He can turn speed into power, he can get the edge, he can drop and play in space, he’s as twitchy and as explosive as any player I’ve seen. So the sky is the limit for the guy and he plays hard too to top it off.  You have a lot of different things going for him that are pretty scary and can really cause offensive coordinators headaches.

As it stands right now is A.Q. Shipley your starting center for the Saints game or is that battle still ongoing?

Well that battle is still ongoing. I thought Lyle did some nice things in there last night, the guy who I thought also did some nice things on the second unit was Earl Watford who played at right tackle. I thought Earl played pretty good, and actually he got in the game early enough to match up against Khalil Mack and really held his own. So that was refreshing to see, but again there hasn’t been a preseason guy in the last two years that I’ve been general manager where I haven’t been concerned and we’ve had some ups and some downs. I know Coach and his staff will get a lot of things fixed, but there’s some things too to get excited for – Alex Okafor, man did he play well. Kevin Minter continues to play well. Calais Campbell was at times unblockable as well. I’m sure the Oakland Raiders are saying some of the same things about Calais as we’re saying about Khalil Mack.

What is Mike Iupati’s status right now?

He’s rehabbing, nothing has changed. I did see him prior to my travel to the Bay Area and he was walking around okay. It’s just one of those things that he’ll continue to rehab and we’re excited for his return because prior to the injury he was playing really really well.

What do you know about Bobby Massie? Does the NFL inform you? Do you just read reports as well? Do you not find out until after the appeal is heard? What’s his status as you know it?

Until we get any information about the appeal, and we’ll get that from the league office at some point, so right now we’re on hold.

Do you think you’re going to see Chris Johnson on Thursday? 

There’s a good chance. Two of the players that we’re excited about, or have been excited about in the past, Chris Johnson and Sean Weatherspoon, both have a chance to go this Thursday night. I know all of our fans and everybody here internally is looking forward to seeing those guys on the field.

Has Kevin Minter actually proven this preseason to be a three-down linebacker?

That’s what’s amazing. When I was watching the game on film last night on the plane, just when you see him just from a body type standpoint, he looks so much leaner, he looks so much quicker and his natural coverability is so much better than it was the last couple of years. I think there’s no question that he’s changed his body and his movement is better, but just his urgency, the way he’s playing football, his command of the defense, it’s really exciting to see. We talked about this last week, sometimes guys come through baggage claim and they’re meaty contributors and some guys take a little time.

Can you take us through the process of the time table, what’s going to happen and when it’s going to happen and when you’re going to be down to 75?

Coach and I talked about the guys on the plane last night that we will most likely release today. I will go down after this phone call and talk to coach one more time and we’ll confirm the guys we’re releasing. We have our personnel department and everybody ready to grab the players, it’s not a happy day for all of us because you do get emotionally attached to some of these guys, it’s tough. You know, it’s a tough decision.

Do you plan on having everybody know if they’ve made the final 75 today?

Correct. There’s no reason to waste any time. We’ll practice actually this afternoon, so at some point mid-morning here we’ll alert most of these guys.

Are there any names that you’ve already seen released from other teams that you’ve already started to reach out to?

No not right now. That’s something that as soon as we make our own cuts, that we’ll gather back up with our pro department – Terry McDonough, myself – and we’ll go back over all the names. That’s a process that happens every day. We’re constantly getting updates and calls from agents telling us even before it’s reported that the player has been released and if we have any interest let them know.

Bruce Arians was saying sometimes the cut to 75 is even more difficult than the cut to 53. Do you agree with that? And if so, can you explain that?

Yeah because you still have a third preseason game to play, so it’s tricky from a depth standpoint. We know that we don’t want to play a lot of our starters this Thursday night, so you have to have enough bodies to play – enough healthy bodies. So it can be complicating at certain positions where you don’t have a lot of depth and you also don’t want to player your starter. It’s dicey and it’s something that Coach and I have talked through and we feel pretty good about the plan as of right now.

Do you have a general idea already of about how many quarterbacks will be on your 53-man roster?

Yeah I have a general idea but I’m certainly not going to tell you guys.

How much does Thursday night really affect that quarterback contest? Is it kind of already set how many quarterbacks unless something magical happens Thursday night?

I will say this, last night our two young guys played pretty good. Phillip had nice command of the offense and did some good things and I thought Logan made some nice throws.

 Is there any logic in when to cut veterans that you see that applies to yourself and how you guys do it as well?

Yeah, I think sometimes I do believe that. Sometimes you’ve just got to rip the band-aid off and it can be difficult. Not only just for you as a personnel department or as a coaching staff to deal with it, but for the guys in the locker room to deal with it. The one philosophy that I’ve had that I’ve always believed is that you get rid of a player a year too early than a year too late. That’s a really tough balance to find because you do get to count on these guys because when a guy is a real pro he brings a lot of things to the table, whether it’s leadership or understanding, the schematical side of it. It’s tough. It’s never an easy day for us to release a guy that we’ve had a relationship with.

 

 

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