Cardinals owner Michael Bidwill taking different approach for GM hire

Arizona Cardinals owner Michael Bidwill is taking a different approach when it comes to hiring his next general manager.

Bidwill, who is a member of the NFL’s Workplace Diversity Committee, says the team has an advantage when it comes to knowing who the best candidates available on the market are.

The Cardinals owner added that the league had two “accelerator programs” in 2022, one in May and another in Dallas in December, which Bidwill was able to have access to.

“That gave us an ability to visit with and get to know a number of the up-and-coming GM and personnel candidates,” he said. “So I already feel like we’ve started down that road and these won’t be the first conversations I’ve had with a number of these folks — not knowing where we’d be today back in May or even last month.

“So I think it’s been a very good process that the NFL has created and it’s given me and us a real head start.”

However, this marks the first time in a decade that Bidwill will have to hire both a general manager and head coach in the same offseason after Rod Graves and Ken Whisenhunt were fired following the 2012 campaign.

And for the first time since 2013, the Cardinals owner will have to hire a new head coach without the aid of former Cardinals GM Steve Keim.

“Obviously this year I won’t have a general manager by my side but I’ve got the benefit of reaching out to a number of folks around the league, current general managers as well as other respected league executives about who the best and brightest are out there,” Bidwill said Monday.

Arizona’s general manager search is already underway, as the team has reportedly requested to interview multiple executives from around the league for its vacant GM position.

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