Arizona Cardinals’ Bidwill on new contracts for Arians, Keim: ‘This is the way it’s supposed to work’
Feb 23, 2015, 9:06 PM | Updated: 9:07 pm
The decision to come to agreements on new contracts for head coach Bruce Arians and general manager Steve Keim was an easy one for Arizona Cardinals president Michael Bidwill.
“This is the way it’s supposed to work, you hire good people, they do a great job and you reward them with new contracts,” Bidwill told Bickley and Marotta on Arizona Sports 98.7 FM Monday. “That’s the system we’ve got and I’m excited we were able to get them locked up and just concentrate on other things this offseason, including free agency which starts in just a couple of weeks.”
Indeed, it’s nice to get those contracts out of the way so that the organization can focus its attention elsewhere, but then again, it’s not as if something needed to be done with either deal.
Arians was under contract for another two years with a team option for 2017, while Keim had two years left on his deal. Both were hired in January 2014.
But while neither was going anywhere anytime soon, Bidwill saw it fit to reward them for their last two seasons of work.
“It was important to me because I wanted to make sure they were squared away with the right kind of contracts for the next couple of years, but also extend them,” he said. “As I said earlier, this is the plan, to continue this stability and the great success that we’re having.”
In Arians’ two seasons with the Cardinals, the team has won 21 games, which are the most in franchise history for a coach in his first 32 games with the team. He helped guide Arizona to the postseason last season, the franchise’s first trip to the playoffs since 2010.
Keim, who was hired to his post before Arians, has made more than 400 roster moves since taking over, and in the process has shown a knack for finding good bargains to help build a winning roster.
According to NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport, Keim’s contract places him among the top-10 highest paid GMs in the league, while Arians’ has him earning more than everyone but Philadelphia’s Chip Kelly for coaches who have yet to reach the Super Bowl.
