ESPN’s Riddick: Cardinals in tough spot if they fired GM Steve Keim

Louis Riddick would think about taking an NFL front office position if it provided the right opportunity for him.

The former NFL safety and front office executive would be picky about leaving his post as an ESPN analyst, however. If he were to consider re-entering the NFL as an executive, Riddick would heed the the advice of current New York Jets defensive coordinator Gregg Williams.

“It’s hard enough to win because of,” Riddick explained to Doug & Wolf on 98.7 FM Arizona’s Sports Station. “It’s impossible to win in spite of.”

In other words, when he thinks about what situation would be right for him, Riddick would prefer an owner handed him the keys — all of them.

“Get everything in line as best you possibly can if you have the power to have choice and take those situations above others any day of the week,” Riddick said.

That’s why the Arizona Cardinals would find themselves in a tricky spot if president Michael Bidwill would come to the conclusion that his front office needed a shakeup, according to Riddick.

General manager Steve Keim took his job title in 2013 and immediate success followed under head coach Bruce Arians.

But Arizona is 3-16-1 since Arians departed after the 2017 season. Keim and Bidwill have hired and fired head coach Steve Wilks, hired head coach Kliff Kingsbury and are on their third starting quarterback and third offensive play-caller in a season and a quarter.

Keim may be on the hot seat, though no indications from the Cardinals themselves would suggest it.

But it’s at least the public perception.

So would an opening atop Arizona’s front office be enticing despite Keim having just hired Kingsbury, who installed an Air Raid offense?

Would a candidate want the job despite the Cardinals having already commited to a non-traditional franchise quarterback?

“I don’t think the Air Raid is something that necessarily can’t lead to success as long as it’s combined with another sound philosophical approach or other sound philosophical approaches,” Riddick said. “So it’d be interesting to see how people ultimately view this job. I think it’s more than just Kliff and Kyler Murray.

“It’s going to have to do with ownership … how much leeway you really have to shape the football operations to the way you want to? Some owners don’t want you firing people who have been with the organization a long time, whether that be equipment managers, weight coaches, groundskeepers, player support program people.”

Riddick doesn’t know how much blame for the Cardinals’ recent losing is on Keim.

It’s hard to gauge how many of the big decisions, such as coaching hires, have been influenced by him and how much.

Bidwill, of course, has a say in coaching hires and fires.

That’s perhaps why it would be surprising to see him make a change atop Arizona’s football operations department in the immediate future — it would jeopardize Kingsbury’s job security and potentially set off another round of wholesale changes.

If Bidwill did fire Keim, however, the franchise would be required to sell its job opening as much as it would need candidates to sell themselves.

“Those are the kinds of situations that are tough because what it can wind up doing is setting you back as far as what your ultimate plan is and kind of delay the inevitable,” Riddick said. “That’s something that you’d really have to talk to ownership about … and decide if it’s best for you. In many cases, it isn’t what’s best and ultimately it’s the kind of thing that doesn’t really set you up for success.

“There would be some (interest) simply because of the fact that (people) want to be a general manager,” Riddick added. “There’d be some that say ‘yes’ to get the job and then once they got in the door would be trying to enact change as quickly as possible. There are some that would say ‘yes,’ would come in and say, ‘Hey, there’s enough Air Raid components in the NFL that is resulting in success (to keep Kingsbury).'”

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