Rod Graves vs Steve Keim Top 10 Picks

[JosiahLee]

I thought it would be fun to compare the top 10 picks from the last two GM’s of the Cardinals.

I’ll start with Rod Graves’ top 10 picks and mention that he was GM much longer than Keim has been GM (Rod was in charge from 97’-12’ & Keim has been GM since 13’)

With that said, here are my favorite picks from each GM:

Rod Graves:

-Anquan Boldin 3x Pro Bowler
-Larry Fitzgerald 11x Pro Bowler
-Daryl Washington 1x Pro Bowler
-Darnell Dockett 3x Pro Bowler
-Pat Tillman
-Patrick Peterson 7x Pro Bowler
-Antrel Rolle 3x Pro Bowler
-Calais Campbell 3x Pro Bowler
-Adrian Wilson 5x Pro Bowler
-Karlos Dansby

*Honorable mentions:

-Antonio Smith 1x Pro Bowler
-Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie 2x Pro Bowler
-Gerald Hayes

Steve Keim:

-Josh Rosen
-Christian Kirk
-Budda Baker 1x Pro Bowler
-D.J. Humphries
-David Johnson 1x Pro Bowler
-Marcus Golden
-John Brown
-Tyrann Mathieu 1x Pro Bowler
-Michael Floyd
-Bobbie Massie

*Honorable mentions:

-Alex Okafor

In conclusion, Rod Graves sat as GM for a total of 16 years compared to Keim’s 5 years and counting. So even though it’s not exactly a fair comparison, I feel like Graves was the better “drafter” but I give Keim the edge when it comes to free agent signings.

But if I had to pick one skill for a GM tonhave, it would be to draft well.

 

[NJCardFan]

Graves began his tenure while tightwad Bill Bidwill was still in charge. In his 2nd year as GM this team made the playoffs for the first time in 16 years and won their first playoff game in almost 40 years. Most of his drafts produced at least 1 serviceable player. Names you left out that played pretty well or at least were decent for us are:

Corey Chavous
Anthony Clement
Michael Pittman
Zach Waltz
Jake Plummer
Chris Dishman
LJ Shelton
David Boston
Joel Makovicka
Adrian Wilson
Kyle Vanden Bosche
Reggie Wells

Hell, there are more impact players still on this team drafted by Graves than by Keim.

Free agents he brought in were Duane Starks, Dexter Jackson, Edgerrin James, Adrian Murrell, Eric Metcalf, Chris Jacke, Kurt Warner, Fred Jones, Bert Berry, Chike Okeafor, among others so it's not a complete free agent win by Keim.

 

[juza76]

keim was overatted
A lot of bad draft picks but what make me cringe mostly is his inaptitude to draft adequate offensive lineman considering he played the position in college

 

[Veer]

keim was overatted
A lot of bad draft picks but what make me cringe mostly is his inaptitude to draft adequate offensive lineman considering he played the position in college

1st round busts and not being able to fix the OL will be his downfall. In fairness, I think his hit rate from rounds 2 til 7 is above average. But we aren't able to run the ball and protect our QB, which spells doom. Getting next to nothing out of our 1st rounders, regardless of position, has set the roster back for years.

 

[Finito]

I thought it would be fun to compare the top 10 picks from the last two GM’s of the Cardinals.

I’ll start with Rod Graves’ top 10 picks and mention that he was GM much longer than Keim has been GM (Rod was in charge from 97’-12’ & Keim has been GM since 13’)

With that said, here are my favorite picks from each GM:

Rod Graves:

-Anquan Boldin 3x Pro Bowler
-Larry Fitzgerald 11x Pro Bowler
-Daryl Washington 1x Pro Bowler
-Darnell Dockett 3x Pro Bowler
-Pat Tillman
-Patrick Peterson 7x Pro Bowler
-Antrel Rolle 3x Pro Bowler
-Calais Campbell 3x Pro Bowler
-Adrian Wilson 5x Pro Bowler
-Karlos Dansby

*Honorable mentions:

-Antonio Smith 1x Pro Bowler
-Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie 2x Pro Bowler
-Gerald Hayes

Steve Keim:

-Josh Rosen
-Christian Kirk
-Budda Baker 1x Pro Bowler
-D.J. Humphries
-David Johnson 1x Pro Bowler
-Marcus Golden
-John Brown
-Tyrann Mathieu 1x Pro Bowler
-Michael Floyd
-Bobbie Massie

*Honorable mentions:

-Alex Okafor

In conclusion, Rod Graves sat as GM for a total of 16 years compared to Keim’s 5 years and counting. So even though it’s not exactly a fair comparison, I feel like Graves was the better “drafter” but I give Keim the edge when it comes to free agent signings.

But if I had to pick one skill for a GM tonhave, it would be to draft well.

The team drafted better when Denny Green got here. That can't be looked over. Also Dansby, docket and CC were all in one draft and Rolle's best years came in NY not here.

 

[WindCardinal]

The team drafted better when Denny Green got here. That can't be looked over. Also Dansby, docket and CC were all in one draft and Rolle's best years came in NY not here.

Campbell was 2008, other 2 were 2004

 

[RugbyMuffin]

The team drafted better when Denny Green got here. That can't be looked over. Also Dansby, docket and CC were all in one draft and Rolle's best years came in NY not here.

Rod Graves was horrible.

Dennis Green was the mind behind most of the names listed at the top of this post.

Green knew how to evaluate players better than Graves ,and Kiem combined.

That being said, while Keim has had some EXTREMELY bad signings, and drafts, he also has ZERO luck. NONE.

Daryl Washington
Michael Floyd
Tyrann Mathieu
John Brown*

That is some good talent that just fell apart.

Something about John Brown's condition in living in the desert ? Seriously, how screwed up is that ?

 

[az jam]

I didn't like Graves. He abdicated the draft to whoever was the head coach. He made few trades and was slow on signing free agents. Keim is far better. However many of his draft picks have not worked out very well.

 

[Finito]

Campbell was 2008, other 2 were 2004

Yeah my bad it was Fitz, Dansby and Docket all in the same draft and even Antonio Smith that year.

 

[RugbyMuffin]

I would also mention, that Rod Graves is the moron that:

1. Didn't resign Karlos Dansby
2. Didn't resign Antrel Rolle
4. Traded Anquan Boldin and screwed up contract negotiations with him.
5. Drafted Levi Brown
6. The Terrell Suggs incident.

We won't even go into the Travis LaBoy, Adam Snyder, Dexter Jackson, Daryn College type signs in place of players listed above.

Graves was horrible.

Keim is at least competent, sub-average competent but Graves was like bringing a pea shooter with a 180 degree angle at the end to a rocket launcher fight.

 

[Zeno]

Graves began his tenure while tightwad Bill Bidwill was still in charge. In his 2nd year as GM this team made the playoffs for the first time in 16 years and won their first playoff game in almost 40 years. Most of his drafts produced at least 1 serviceable player. Names you left out that played pretty well or at least were decent for us are:

Corey Chavous
Anthony Clement
Michael Pittman
Zach Waltz
Jake Plummer
Chris Dishman
LJ Shelton
David Boston
Joel Makovicka
Adrian Wilson
Kyle Vanden Bosche
Reggie Wells

Hell, there are more impact players still on this team drafted by Graves than by Keim.

Free agents he brought in were Duane Starks, Dexter Jackson, Edgerrin James, Adrian Murrell, Eric Metcalf, Chris Jacke, Kurt Warner, Fred Jones, Bert Berry, Chike Okeafor, among others so it's not a complete free agent win by Keim.

I am pretty sure a lot of those guys were drafted by Bob Ferguson and not Graves.

 

[Ohcrap75]

Yeah my bad it was Fitz, Dansby and Docket all in the same draft and even Antonio Smith that year.

That was an amazing draft. Funny how fans, myself included, envision these results every year at draft time.

 

[Arz101]

That list is un-questionable how far Keim has to go. Boy, that list is impressive compared to Keim's.

ooo boy!

 

[GatorAZ]

Rod Graves was horrible.

Dennis Green was the mind behind most of the names listed at the top of this post.

Green knew how to evaluate players better than Graves ,and Kiem combined.

That being said, while Keim has had some EXTREMELY bad signings, and drafts, he also has ZERO luck. NONE.

Daryl Washington
Michael Floyd
Tyrann Mathieu
John Brown*

That is some good talent that just fell apart.

Something about John Brown's condition in living in the desert ? Seriously, how screwed up is that ?

Denny had a good gut when it came to college players... I always thought he’d be a great college coach. He’d be a great recruiter and the players respected him.

 

[wa52lz]

Seems like they both whiffed on their first 5 #1 picks and hit on #6 (we'll see with Rosen). Hard to Compare when Graves had 18 First round picks and Keim has had 6

Graves vs Keim:
97- Tom Knight vs 2013 Cooper
98- Wadsworth vs 2014 Buccanon
99- Boston vs 2015 Humphries
00- Shelton vs 2016 Nkemdiche
01- L. Davis vs 2018 Rosen

 

[Zeno]

Seems like they both whiffed on their first 5 #1 picks and hit on #6 (we'll see with Rosen). Hard to Compare when Graves had 18 First round picks and Keim has had 6

Graves vs Keim:
97- Tom Knight vs 2013 Cooper
98- Wadsworth vs 2014 Buccanon
99- Boston vs 2015 Humphries
00- Shelton vs 2016 Nkemdiche
01- L. Davis vs 2018 Rosen

Bob Ferguson ran the Cardinals draft from 96-2002 not Rod Graves.

 

[GuernseyCard]

I thought it would be fun to compare the top 10 picks from the last two GM’s of the Cardinals.

I’ll start with Rod Graves’ top 10 picks and mention that he was GM much longer than Keim has been GM (Rod was in charge from 97’-12’ & Keim has been GM since 13’)

With that said, here are my favorite picks from each GM:

Rod Graves:

-Anquan Boldin 3x Pro Bowler
-Larry Fitzgerald 11x Pro Bowler
-Daryl Washington 1x Pro Bowler
-Darnell Dockett 3x Pro Bowler
-Pat Tillman
-Patrick Peterson 7x Pro Bowler
-Antrel Rolle 3x Pro Bowler
-Calais Campbell 3x Pro Bowler
-Adrian Wilson 5x Pro Bowler
-Karlos Dansby

*Honorable mentions:

-Antonio Smith 1x Pro Bowler
-Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie 2x Pro Bowler
-Gerald Hayes

Steve Keim:

-Josh Rosen
-Christian Kirk
-Budda Baker 1x Pro Bowler
-D.J. Humphries
-David Johnson 1x Pro Bowler
-Marcus Golden
-John Brown
-Tyrann Mathieu 1x Pro Bowler
-Michael Floyd
-Bobbie Massie

*Honorable mentions:

-Alex Okafor

In conclusion, Rod Graves sat as GM for a total of 16 years compared to Keim’s 5 years and counting. So even though it’s not exactly a fair comparison, I feel like Graves was the better “drafter” but I give Keim the edge when it comes to free agent signings.

But if I had to pick one skill for a GM tonhave, it would be to draft well.

And who was the head of college scouting during most of those years with Graves at the helm ?

 

[Zeno]

I think people are mis-remembering their timelines.

Bob Ferguson 1996-2002
Rod Graves 2003-2012
Steve Keim 2013-Present

 

[oaken1]

I thought it would be fun to compare the top 10 picks from the last two GM’s of the Cardinals.

I’ll start with Rod Graves’ top 10 picks and mention that he was GM much longer than Keim has been GM (Rod was in charge from 97’-12’ & Keim has been GM since 13’)

With that said, here are my favorite picks from each GM:

Rod Graves:

-Anquan Boldin 3x Pro Bowler
-Larry Fitzgerald 11x Pro Bowler
-Daryl Washington 1x Pro Bowler
-Darnell Dockett 3x Pro Bowler
-Pat Tillman
-Patrick Peterson 7x Pro Bowler
-Antrel Rolle 3x Pro Bowler
-Calais Campbell 3x Pro Bowler
-Adrian Wilson 5x Pro Bowler
-Karlos Dansby

*Honorable mentions:

-Antonio Smith 1x Pro Bowler
-Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie 2x Pro Bowler
-Gerald Hayes

Steve Keim:

-Josh Rosen
-Christian Kirk
-Budda Baker 1x Pro Bowler
-D.J. Humphries
-David Johnson 1x Pro Bowler
-Marcus Golden
-John Brown
-Tyrann Mathieu 1x Pro Bowler
-Michael Floyd
-Bobbie Massie

*Honorable mentions:

-Alex Okafor

In conclusion, Rod Graves sat as GM for a total of 16 years compared to Keim’s 5 years and counting. So even though it’s not exactly a fair comparison, I feel like Graves was the better “drafter” but I give Keim the edge when it comes to free agent signings.

But if I had to pick one skill for a GM tonhave, it would be to draft well.

thats straight stale horse crap.

everyone knows when Denny Green was here he was in charge of the drafts...no point in giving the snail any credit other than not screwing up the hiring of denny green.

when folks are bad talkin wiz they never say..."He did it with rod graves players"...no, it's ..... "He did it with Denny Green's players"

The snail was never really in charge of anything...he was just a whipping boy for the team and a poster boy for ineptitude...the only smart things he ever did was get the hell out of the way

 

[MadCardDisease]

Have you people lost your minds!!!!

Do you not remember how bad the teams were under Rod Graves? When you are constantly picking #2 overall it isn't hard to hit on talent every once in a while. In 16 seasons the Cardinals while under Rod Graves had ONE season with Double Digit wins and that was in 2009 with 10 wins. Then there were 9 losing seasons with 8 wins or less! 6 seasons with 5 wins or less. There is a reason the human snail is no longer a GM in the league.

Compare that to Keim who has had 3 out of his 6 seasons with double digit wins.

 

[RugbyMuffin]

Have you people lost your minds!!!!

Do you not remember how bad the teams were under Rod Graves? When you are constantly picking #2 overall it isn't hard to hit on talent every once in a while. In 16 seasons the Cardinals while under Rod Graves had ONE season with Double Digit wins and that was in 2009 with 10 wins. Then there were 9 losing seasons with 8 wins or less! 6 seasons with 5 wins or less. There is a reason the human snail is no longer a GM in the league.

Compare that to Keim who has had 3 out of his 6 seasons with double digit wins.

A little bit.

Anyone who has to watch this football team has probably lost some of their mind, and this season is not helping.

 

[ARZCardinals]

Dennis Green was in charge and THAT is what turned this poo poo show into an NFL team.
Shoot prior to Green the team charged players for gatorade, shoes, pads and food.
Green taught the B's how cheap they were and how they'd never win with that attitude.
D. Green was the best thing to happen to this team...and we need another Denny Green today.

 

[Harry]

I’m certainly not going to endorse either guy, but Graves had an easier task. With record determining draft slot, Keim’s worse record was 7-8. Working with the 2002-2011 seasons, the Cards had fewer than 7 victories 6 times. The Cards biggest win total in Graves’ tenure was 10. Keim’s teams exceeded that twice. Graves had the best opportunities.

 

[gbrim21]

I think people are mis-remembering their timelines.

Bob Ferguson 1996-2002
Rod Graves 2003-2012
Steve Keim 2013-Present

Yeah, while Keim hasn't been great it's disingenuous to compare Graves' best picks with Keim's, when 1) Graves literally had twice as many drafts so far so he's had twice as many opportunities for guys to stick, and 2) he was always drafting at the top of the draft. Keim's only draft pick in the top 10 was Jonathan Cooper who wrecked his leg, and frankly that was a bad draft class anyway. It's harder to put together a list of studs you drafted when your team is drafting in the 20's because you, you know, win.

Take a deep breath Cardinals fans, there is always next year. Let's not start saying silly things like Graves was better than Keim, or Leinart was better than Rosen or whatever other version of romanticizing the dead you want to choose.

Sent from my Moto G (5) Plus using Tapatalk

 

[RugbyMuffin]

Keim is the best GM the Cardinals have had since landing in AZ.


...........................and that is not saying much.