Gauging the runningbacks

[Mulli]

Did Keim tell Whiz Ryan Williams didn't fumble in college?

Just wondering...

 

[kerouac9]

How much responsibility? I'd say much less than 50%.

Personally, I think the guy has done an excellent job of restocking the roster given where it was at season's end 2012.
And whatever responsibility Keim may have had in deciding WHO to bring him, I don't think he had much to do with the amount paid to some of the questionable free agent talent that was brought in.

He has done exactly the right thing in signing almost every free agent to a ONE year prove-it contract with minimal bonus money. The previous regime threw buckets of money at career underachievers like Adam Synder and Terrence Holt or injury-risks like Al Johnson or Travis Laboy.

NFL Network's Albert Breer was on with M.J. a few days ago and claimed there was serious doubt whether the Cardinals could even retain Keim. Make no mistake about it, he is viewed very favorably in NFL circles and I feel he's off to a good start in restocking the roster.

Not every FA acquistion will pan out. But with the quantity of new talent added, some will. And those that don't are gone at season's end with little or no salary cap impact. That is a 100% improvement from the Whisenhunt-Graves regime's Pittsburgh West mentality and overpaying questionable or over-aged players.
======================================================
Mike Sando: Good luck evaluating the job Keim has done since hiring on with the Cardinals in 1999. He's been the team's vice president of player personnel most recently, but lots of people have contributed to the player evaluation process in Arizona over the years.

http://espn.go.com/blog/nfcwest/post/_/id/87956/a-few-thoughts-on-keim-as-cardinals-gm

I think that's fair. I don't have any problem with absolving Steve Keim of guilt for the Colledge, Snyder, Bradley, etc. contracts. But he does have some responsibility for the drafting of players over the last five-plus years. And his apologists seem to have a hard time admitting even that.

Ryan Williams? Keim had nothing to do with that.
If Bobby Massie never starts another game as a Cardinal? Keim wasn't part of that discussion.
Beanie Wells? All Whis and Graves.
Patrick Peterson? Bold move by Keim.
Kevin Kolb? The report was that all the major players in the organization were in on Kolb: Whis, Graves, Michael Bidwill, and Steve Keim. He gets some guilt for that.
If Jamell Flemming doesn't make it out of his second training camp, does Keim bear some more responsibility>

 

[Mulli]

Ya, how many more OLB's will they draft before they can settle on one who can rush the passer?

Acho is pretty good, but...

 

[Buckybird]

Ya, how many more OLB's will they draft before they can settle on one who can rush the passer?

Acho is pretty good, but...

That's the problem...they keep trying to strike gold with mid-late rounders and subpar FAs & get exactly that with their play. Sounds like what Wiz & Co did with the Oline & why it was in shambles!

 

[Duckjake]

Personally, I think the guy has done an excellent job of restocking the roster given where it was at season's end 2012.

The only changes that really had to be made were accomplished when the Cards picked up Carson Palmer and drafted Cooper.

What we hope Kiem has done is remake the rest of the roster to the specifications of the new Head Coach and that the new coach knows what he's doing.

 

[Chopper0080]

How much responsibility? I'd say much less than 50%.

Personally, I think the guy has done an excellent job of restocking the roster given where it was at season's end 2012.
And whatever responsibility Keim may have had in deciding WHO to bring him, I don't think he had much to do with the amount paid to some of the questionable free agent talent that was brought in.

He has done exactly the right thing in signing almost every free agent to a ONE year prove-it contract with minimal bonus money. The previous regime threw buckets of money at career underachievers like Adam Synder and Terrence Holt or injury-risks like Al Johnson or Travis Laboy.

NFL Network's Albert Breer was on with M.J. a few days ago and claimed there was serious doubt whether the Cardinals could even retain Keim. Make no mistake about it, he is viewed very favorably in NFL circles and I feel he's off to a good start in restocking the roster.

Not every FA acquistion will pan out. But with the quantity of new talent added, some will. And those that don't are gone at season's end with little or no salary cap impact. That is a 100% improvement from the Whisenhunt-Graves regime's Pittsburgh West mentality and overpaying questionable or over-aged players.
======================================================
Mike Sando: Good luck evaluating the job Keim has done since hiring on with the Cardinals in 1999. He's been the team's vice president of player personnel most recently, but lots of people have contributed to the player evaluation process in Arizona over the years.

http://espn.go.com/blog/nfcwest/post/_/id/87956/a-few-thoughts-on-keim-as-cardinals-gm

Agreed, I would say probably between 30% and 40%. The point is that he does share some of that failure and some refuse to acknowledge that. Does this mean he will fail? Nope, but let's wait to see some results before we crown this guy as the savior of the franchise's front office.

Also, I get that you like the one year deals, but where does that put us for next year. If Winston has a great year, are we outbidding the rest of the league? We need to start drafting players who can come in and fill these future holes and the previous front office, which included Keim, did a piss poor job of that.

 

[THESMEL]

Whatchmacardit- We don't know BO yet about the 2013 AZ Cardinals- except we will likely be last place in rush attempts.

 

[AzStevenCal]

Agreed, I would say probably between 30% and 40%. The point is that he does share some of that failure and some refuse to acknowledge that. Does this mean he will fail? Nope, but let's wait to see some results before we crown this guy as the savior of the franchise's front office.

Also, I get that you like the one year deals, but where does that put us for next year. If Winston has a great year, are we outbidding the rest of the league? We need to start drafting players who can come in and fill these future holes and the previous front office, which included Keim, did a piss poor job of that.

Who? I haven't seen people flocking to the board to completely absolve him. I've seen some blanket support when K9 points a finger his way for various specific picks but that's about it. I think the vast majority would agree that it was a screwed up front office and he was part of it. We just don't know whether he was driving the bus or being dragged behind it.

Maybe Keim is 30% responsible for the good and the bad, maybe he's 2% responsible and maybe he's 90% responsible. We have no way to know other than to project forward based on what he has done since being named GM. For many of us, his recent actions bode well for our future but I think we all realize we might be singing a different tune in a year or two.

Steve

 

[cardpa]

Can't really make a call on SK yet. What role he played in previous drafts is pure speculation. What will give us a idea of his role will be what results we see in this year's draft choices and how they perform and how the draft choices go in the next two years.

If they are superior to the last 3 drafts of the Whiz/Graves regime then I say he had very limited input when the name was taken off the board and sent to the podium. If they resemble the last three drafts of Whiz/Graves then I say he had a good deal of input to those drafts.

At least we didn't see any Buster Davis in this draft. Swope a mistake. I will give a mulligan on that one.

 

[BullheadCardFan]

What we hope Kiem has done is remake the rest of the roster to the specifications of the new Head Coach and that the new coach knows what he's doing.

This about sums it up.

A few games in and we will know what our team looks like on the field.