Speaker 1: Welcome to another edition of the Day Pash Podcast. The
Speaker 1: Arizona Cardinals, for the first time since nineteen seventy four,
Speaker 1: are five and oh. I was two years old the
Speaker 1: last time. The Cardinals won their first five games of
Speaker 1: the season, and this one against the forty nine Ers
Speaker 1: was a lot different than the others. This was a
Speaker 1: battle the Cardinals found a different way to win compared
Speaker 1: two weeks one through four. If Tennessee was a snapshot
Speaker 1: of what the Cardinals could become and the Rams potentially
Speaker 1: what the Cardinals might be. The forty nine Ers game
Speaker 1: was a lot different, but it tells you a lot
Speaker 1: about where this team is. It's different than what we've
Speaker 1: seen in the past. Kyler Murray's playing like an MVP,
Speaker 1: but the defense is good enough to win you a game.
Speaker 1: Who better to talk about the five and oh star
Speaker 1: for the Cardinals than general manager Steve Time. He's our
Speaker 1: guest today on the Dave Pash Podcast. Among the subjects
Speaker 1: will cover the growth and maturation of quarterback Kyler Murray.
Speaker 1: The thing I see more now is two things pre
Speaker 1: snap and post snap. The things he can do with
Speaker 1: his eyes. You start to see him manipulating safeties and
Speaker 1: defenders where he can look off and locate secondary and
Speaker 1: third options, whereas before it might have been one, two
Speaker 1: and in run time also talks about what it's like
Speaker 1: to be a general manager day in and day out.
Speaker 1: He'll get into the rookie class and how they're progressing,
Speaker 1: when he first thought Cliff Kingsbury would make a good
Speaker 1: NFL head coach, and what he and Cliff did this
Speaker 1: summer with a celebrity musician. You can follow us on
Speaker 1: Twitter at pashpot, where you're presented by bet MGM, the
Speaker 1: official sports betting partner of the Arizona Cardinals and Heila
Speaker 1: River Hotels and Casinos. Without further ado, the general manager
Speaker 1: of the Arizona Cardinals and two time NFL Executive of
Speaker 1: the Year, Steve Kind. So, Steve, let me start by
Speaker 1: way of a story going back to two thousand and two.
Speaker 1: I feel like Wolf. It was two thousand and two.
Speaker 1: Give me a beat, Steve. So, two thousand and two,
Speaker 1: I get the Arizona Cardinals radio play by play job.
Speaker 1: I'd done the Bills preseason games in two thousand and one,
Speaker 1: so I'd been in an NFL training camp, but this
Speaker 1: was like my first camp as the broadcaster as the guy,
Speaker 1: and I didn't really know anybody other than my broadcast team.
Speaker 1: And I met my first training camp, but I think
Speaker 1: it was the first day. And there's a knock on
Speaker 1: my door my dorm room in Flagstaff, and I turn around.
Speaker 1: I look and it looks like one of the players,
Speaker 1: offensive lineman, Guy bald young, my age, late twenties, and
Speaker 1: it's He says, Hi, my name's Steve Kim. I'm one
Speaker 1: of the scouts here. We have some mutual friends at
Speaker 1: Syracuse and you and I struck up a conversation and
Speaker 1: you said, hey, man, anything you need, any questions about
Speaker 1: any players or whatever, any help I can extend you,
Speaker 1: you let me know. And so I would come up
Speaker 1: to you at training camp and ask you about a
Speaker 1: certain player that you scouted, and you and I struck
Speaker 1: up a friendship, and here we are twenty years later.
Speaker 1: You've risen to not only general manager, but two time
Speaker 1: Executive of the Year in the NFL. So the reason
Speaker 1: I tell that story is when I look at five
Speaker 1: and zero and I think of all the people that
Speaker 1: I'm happy is for You're at the top of the list. Man,
Speaker 1: because our friendship and because of what you've been able
Speaker 1: to do with this organization. I know, you got to
Speaker 1: think big picture. You can't get too excited, But how
Speaker 1: does it feel for you to be five and oh? Well,
Speaker 1: I mean, it obviously feels great. But at the same time,
Speaker 1: you know, I mean, I think that when you're in
Speaker 1: the fire, so to speak, you can't enjoy or I
Speaker 1: should say, it's hard to enjoy the process. You know,
Speaker 1: it's always thinking about tomorrow next week, and you really
Speaker 1: don't have a chance to think about I need to
Speaker 1: enjoy this win because you're thinking about the next game
Speaker 1: and we have to win that game. That's a balance
Speaker 1: that I think that all of us struggle with on
Speaker 1: a day to day basis, is, you know, enjoying the
Speaker 1: process and the grind and all those sort of things,
Speaker 1: because when you lose in a national football league, it's
Speaker 1: the end of the world. When you win, you take
Speaker 1: a deep breath and say, okay, one to the next.
Speaker 1: So for me, you know, obviously it's rewarding to be
Speaker 1: five and oh. And to go back to the first
Speaker 1: part of your story, the biggest difference is is now
Speaker 1: you have no hair. I know, and I had like
Speaker 1: almost a fulhead of air back so the twenty years
Speaker 1: is showing up one. I know, bro, I know, man.
Speaker 1: You know last year obviously things started well. This year
Speaker 1: feels different to me? Does it feel and again, I
Speaker 1: know you got to kind of stay in the moment,
Speaker 1: but does it feel different to you in terms of
Speaker 1: the energy, the leadership, in the locker room, just the
Speaker 1: vibe overall. Yeah, And I think it's the way I
Speaker 1: see it is. It's a it's an air of confidence,
Speaker 1: not cockiness. There's humility in there. Yet at the same time,
Speaker 1: there are enough guys who believe in what we've built,
Speaker 1: you know, the organization, they believe in the leadership. To me,
Speaker 1: that's half the battle, because when you put a team together,
Speaker 1: and we've talked about this before, it doesn't matter how
Speaker 1: talented you are until they come together and jail as
Speaker 1: a team. No different from the year we went to
Speaker 1: the Super Bowl. I mean, look, we went into the
Speaker 1: East Coast and got trashed twice that I can remember
Speaker 1: for sure, playing in Philadelphia and Philadelphia and New England.
Speaker 1: There we came together late and jailed as a team
Speaker 1: and got hot at the right time. Twenty and fifteen,
Speaker 1: we went to an SC championship, you know, there was
Speaker 1: an air of confidence in that locker room. We had
Speaker 1: a talented team and we knew it. Yet we also
Speaker 1: enjoyed the process. We enjoyed each other. And I see
Speaker 1: that in this team. The guys really enjoyed being around
Speaker 1: each other and they sort of view it as a family.
Speaker 1: How about Kyler? Because everybody that I've talked to, and
Speaker 1: I'm including fellow broadcasters that call the games that meet
Speaker 1: with Kyler in comparison to last year, the term that
Speaker 1: I'm hearing is night and day in terms of his personality,
Speaker 1: his demeanor, his willingness and kind of owning being the
Speaker 1: franchise quarterback, and how you handle the media, how you
Speaker 1: deal with production meetings, all those things. What are you
Speaker 1: seeing in that respect from Kyler with leadership and how
Speaker 1: he is around the team? Yeah, I mean I think it's,
Speaker 1: you know, a natural ownership that he's taken on. And
Speaker 1: you know, it's like when I think about a kid
Speaker 1: going to high school and being a freshman, then you
Speaker 1: see him as a junior or senior, and how much
Speaker 1: different is he. I Mean, obviously people mature, they grow up,
Speaker 1: and not that he was immature, but understanding how to
Speaker 1: be a professional what it took on and off the field,
Speaker 1: and I think that's what sometimes we have a hard
Speaker 1: time within his business. You want to draft a guy
Speaker 1: and you want to get him through baggage claim and
Speaker 1: you want to throw them in and instantly they're plug
Speaker 1: in play, and that's just not it. Very few An
Speaker 1: Quambo's very few, Rondale Moore's it's not reality. These guys
Speaker 1: take some time, mostly processing seeing things playing at that speed,
Speaker 1: realizing that everybody around him is that good. And it's
Speaker 1: not as easy as people think. So you know, we
Speaker 1: want to be hard on him early on in the
Speaker 1: process and it can be difficult, and he's he's done
Speaker 1: a fantastic job, in my opinion, growing in a lot
Speaker 1: of different areas, mostly on the field. When you're looking
Speaker 1: at his ability to see with vision process things. The
Speaker 1: thing I see more now is two things pre snap
Speaker 1: and post snap, the things he can do with his eyes.
Speaker 1: You start to see him manipulating safeties and defenders where
Speaker 1: he can look off and locate secondary and third options,
Speaker 1: whereas before it might have been one, two and in run.
Speaker 1: How about Like I noticed this on Sunday, I watched
Speaker 1: him before the game going down to the defensive players
Speaker 1: saying a word high five in the offensive lineman before
Speaker 1: going out of the field for that last drive, not
Speaker 1: saying that didn't happen last year, but again, I feel
Speaker 1: like I'm seeing more of that. How important is that
Speaker 1: when you scout a quarterback, when you talk with players
Speaker 1: you're thinking of drafting. How much do you have to
Speaker 1: kind of think about how is this going to translate
Speaker 1: in terms of leadership and how a player is around
Speaker 1: his teammates. Yeah, I mean, I think that that's one
Speaker 1: of the hardest things that a talent evaluator has to do.
Speaker 1: You can see all the physical traits on tape, but
Speaker 1: you don't know how a guy is going to play
Speaker 1: and react within your system. You don't know how their
Speaker 1: leadership is going to come off. You don't know whether
Speaker 1: they're a vocal guy, whether they're a guy that likes
Speaker 1: to be out in front of people. Some people just
Speaker 1: like to do their job, and there's nothing wrong with
Speaker 1: that unless you're playing that position. You know, the quarterback
Speaker 1: is the alpha male. He's the guy that everybody looks
Speaker 1: to when things are good when things are bad. So
Speaker 1: the guy has got to be able to have thick skin.
Speaker 1: He's got to be able to have a short memory,
Speaker 1: sort of like a pitcher in baseball, get a home
Speaker 1: home un hit it off you, you can't think about
Speaker 1: it same thing. You throw a pick next play. And
Speaker 1: that's hard to do, especially when there's six five thousand
Speaker 1: people in the stadium and there's millions watching on TV.
Speaker 1: It's not for everybody to say that, Sure, what do
Speaker 1: you think is the next step for him? What do
Speaker 1: you as an organization want to see from him the
Speaker 1: rest of the season. I think it's just continued small things.
Speaker 1: Knowing down in distance, understanding little intricacies that you know,
Speaker 1: for example, when you're flushed out of the pocket, that
Speaker 1: you don't take a two yard loss by running out
Speaker 1: of bounds, that you get rid of the ball. Little
Speaker 1: things like that. But it's coming with time. We're continuing
Speaker 1: to see little things that he would not have done
Speaker 1: in the past, which is exactly what we thought. And
Speaker 1: year three, by the time we get to this point,
Speaker 1: which is where most guys, you get to that point
Speaker 1: in their career, you say, year three, you want to
Speaker 1: see them evolve and become the kind of player that
Speaker 1: you envisioned. And you look back and I think about
Speaker 1: the things that he did his rookie year and most
Speaker 1: of it was done based off of just pure athleticism
Speaker 1: and talent, which is amazing in itself. Then you look
Speaker 1: at your two and you started to see him ascend
Speaker 1: and do different things with us, and is his progression
Speaker 1: Now you're seeing the full compliment of things, which is
Speaker 1: why we're five. And oh, I remember when Russell Wilson
Speaker 1: came out, and I know there was some interest from
Speaker 1: the Cardinals. He ends up going in the third round
Speaker 1: and obviously had incredible success. And if Russell Wilson comes
Speaker 1: out today, he's probably the number one pick. But back
Speaker 1: then people were afraid right of size and stature. You
Speaker 1: guys take Kyler Murray number one overall, and it was
Speaker 1: almost as if that triggered the rest of the league
Speaker 1: to say, Yeah, it doesn't matter. This kid's talented. He's
Speaker 1: got a strong arm. We've seen him have success at
Speaker 1: every level. He's always played that way. He's pretty good
Speaker 1: at avoiding hits and not getting injured. Do you feel
Speaker 1: like you guys have set a trend because I mean,
Speaker 1: I'm just doing college games now and we used to
Speaker 1: look at Okay, he's got oh he can make every throw. Oh,
Speaker 1: he's got NFL size. We're not even talking about that
Speaker 1: stuff anymore or as much anyway. Yeah, I mean I
Speaker 1: think with the first hick, you know, possibly setting a trend,
Speaker 1: but not you know, in general, I think it's what
Speaker 1: you just said. I think it was Russell Wilson because
Speaker 1: we work in a business that you know, a lot
Speaker 1: of it is surrounded by comps. You know, what was
Speaker 1: a guy's height, weight, and speed at this position? And
Speaker 1: if he didn't have the required size and speed, you know,
Speaker 1: you'd put him in the back side of the board,
Speaker 1: or he would have to be a guy that proved it.
Speaker 1: It certainly wouldn't have been a high draft pick. But
Speaker 1: the fact that Russell Wilson at five ten was able
Speaker 1: to have that kind of success it led you to
Speaker 1: believe that height isn't everything. Because Russell had the compensating
Speaker 1: abilities to so to speak, mask his lack of height,
Speaker 1: which is big hand, strong arm, great feet, good vision,
Speaker 1: can make all the throws, has great decision making, placement,
Speaker 1: touches as a as a thrower. And when we studied Kyler,
Speaker 1: that was really what it came down to. Not only that,
Speaker 1: but he had rare and unusual speed, explosiveness, all the
Speaker 1: different traits that you would obviously love to seeing a
Speaker 1: guy who's six foot five, but he wasn't six ft five,
Speaker 1: So Canny still do it one hundred percent? In our mind,
Speaker 1: we felt like he could when you built this team,
Speaker 1: this particular group, the twenty twenty one version, and you
Speaker 1: knew you had to make some changes after the way
Speaker 1: things ended last year. And I know you've talked about
Speaker 1: this elsewhere, Maybe you can go a little bit more
Speaker 1: in depth here. What was top of mine for you?
Speaker 1: How disappointed were you with last year and health? Fired
Speaker 1: up were you to fix it? And what were your focuses? Well?
Speaker 1: I was probably more fired up than I've ever been
Speaker 1: because I saw what the template looked like and it
Speaker 1: looked like the possibilities were endless. There just needed to
Speaker 1: be some additions to areas where we had concerns, And
Speaker 1: I felt like it probably started with emotional maturity. And
Speaker 1: when I say emotional maturity, I mean that in a
Speaker 1: way where guys have to be able to handle success
Speaker 1: and adversity the same. You know where you're having success
Speaker 1: and you don't get too high if you're having some adversity,
Speaker 1: you have the strength and the metal toughness to battle through.
Speaker 1: It wasn't a pretty game against San fran and you know,
Speaker 1: there were things that weren't clean on tape that we
Speaker 1: would like to take back, and our coaches want to
Speaker 1: coach them up, but at the same time, to go
Speaker 1: through some rough patches the game and still be able
Speaker 1: to win that game seventeen to ten. I think is
Speaker 1: says a lot about the character of the men in
Speaker 1: that locker room and that's where it all started. That
Speaker 1: and then probably the physicality of this team, both on
Speaker 1: offense and defense, particularly on the offensive line and defensive lines.
Speaker 1: We saw that physicality on Sunday. That was a that
Speaker 1: was a battle and it was like the hit on
Speaker 1: the goal line. I don't know if you could hear
Speaker 1: that in your booth. We could almost hear that hit. Yeah,
Speaker 1: Isaiah Simmons amazing. And the and the collision and that
Speaker 1: sort of thing. And in today's day and age, you know,
Speaker 1: we've obviously tried to take the head out of the
Speaker 1: game and that sort of thing, but there are sometimes
Speaker 1: when you just have to have big collisions and you
Speaker 1: have to have guys willing to, as Wolfe would say,
Speaker 1: stick their face in the fan and and that play
Speaker 1: right there, just to me epitomized a lot of this team,
Speaker 1: something as small as that, where we have the ball,
Speaker 1: they have the ball and the you know what two
Speaker 1: or three yard line and obviously a game changing play
Speaker 1: right there in a momentum shifter because of our physicality.
Speaker 1: So you talk about physicality and leadership, the first guy
Speaker 1: that comes to mind is JJ Watt. Can you tell
Speaker 1: us how that went down this summer? I had Michael
Speaker 1: on and he's and I said, it's amazing that that
Speaker 1: didn't get out into the media. The DeAndre Hopkins thing
Speaker 1: didn't get out, And Michael said, yeah, Steve and I
Speaker 1: we talk about that and then we'll let you know,
Speaker 1: coach in when he needs to know what we're thinking
Speaker 1: of doing and get his input. But there's nobody too
Speaker 1: leaked because it's just you and Michael. So now that
Speaker 1: that's in the rear view mirror, how did that deal
Speaker 1: come down? And are you starting to see that leadership
Speaker 1: and physicality showing up out of him and how's that
Speaker 1: impact in the team. Yeah, and we got in early,
Speaker 1: you know, and I feel like, you know, when it
Speaker 1: comes to those type of trades, you have to be aggressive,
Speaker 1: yet at the same time, you know, when you have
Speaker 1: a player of JJ's stature or de Hoop stature, and
Speaker 1: you're trying to get something done and you feel like
Speaker 1: you're making some headway, you start to wonder, Man, is
Speaker 1: this is this? Is this a joke? Like are they
Speaker 1: really considering this or are they playing with our heads?
Speaker 1: And in JJ situation, I know he had a bunch
Speaker 1: of other suitors, and so many times I would look
Speaker 1: up at the TV and I would see JJ Watt
Speaker 1: narrows it down to three teams, and I'm thinking, I
Speaker 1: just got done talking to his agent. How he didn't
Speaker 1: tell me that, you know? And I'm thinking, you know what,
Speaker 1: either this guy is a master at BS or or
Speaker 1: quite frankly, like this is one of the best secrets
Speaker 1: in the NFL right now. And I'll never forget talking
Speaker 1: to Michael and telling them, you know, we got the
Speaker 1: deal done and the excitement that surrounded it. But JJ's
Speaker 1: agent let me know that JJ wanted to break the
Speaker 1: news and this was the picture that he was gonna post,
Speaker 1: which showed JJ and a Cardinal shirt squatting. And I'll
Speaker 1: never forget thinking to myself, Man, tomorrow at eleven am.
Speaker 1: When he posts this, the Internet is going to literally
Speaker 1: break because people are going to be shocked, especially whenever
Speaker 1: John Clayton came out and said it was down to
Speaker 1: three teams and we weren't one of them. I do
Speaker 1: the same thing when I went to ESPN. Steve had
Speaker 1: a big ESPN shirt squat in seven hundred pounds. If
Speaker 1: the Internet were around then it would it would have
Speaker 1: blown up. Continuing with the theme of physicality, James Connor
Speaker 1: five touchdowns in three games, change of pace. When you
Speaker 1: were watching tape on him and trying to make the
Speaker 1: decision with the running back room, what went into that
Speaker 1: decision and how pleased are you with the way he's played? Yeah,
Speaker 1: and you know you look at the big pitcher and
Speaker 1: you say, okay, Well, in the NFL, in today's day
Speaker 1: and age, most teams have a couple backs to compliment
Speaker 1: each other. Team we're playing this week, you know with Cleveland,
Speaker 1: they have two great backs. You know, we love everything
Speaker 1: about Chase Edmonds, but we also look back and we think, okay,
Speaker 1: you look at the game last year when we were
Speaker 1: playing New England and we had the ball right before
Speaker 1: half on the one inch line, and we couldn't pound
Speaker 1: it in something to be said for a bigger back
Speaker 1: that can finish games, that can do the things that
Speaker 1: James does. And I don't think most people understand how
Speaker 1: big James is until you walk up on him and
Speaker 1: you see that the guy's guys. He's probably six two,
Speaker 1: two hundred and thirty pounds, runs with an attitude, runs
Speaker 1: with the physicality that you look for. And I think
Speaker 1: the other thing that's surprising about him is he's niftier
Speaker 1: and a little quicker than you you would anticipate for
Speaker 1: being that size, so he catches people off guar, already
Speaker 1: has soft hands and really feel what we did offensively.
Speaker 1: James Saxon had intimate knowledge of him being his coach
Speaker 1: at one time in Pittsburgh, and then we've brought him
Speaker 1: out here for a visit, spent some time with him
Speaker 1: and really fell in love with the person as well.
Speaker 1: So I thought he was a great fit and to me,
Speaker 1: so far, it's been a really good signing. All Right.
Speaker 1: I want to get back into this team in twenty
Speaker 1: twenty one, but I want to give the fans a
Speaker 1: little bit of insight into what the day in the
Speaker 1: life of a NFL general manager is like, is every
Speaker 1: day different for you? Do you wake up not knowing
Speaker 1: what the day is going to bring. Do you have
Speaker 1: a certain routine as opposed to when you get up,
Speaker 1: when you go to bed? What you do each day?
Speaker 1: Give me a sense of a normal week in season
Speaker 1: for Steve Kin, Well, I'm not proud to tell you this,
Speaker 1: but I'm sort of like a grandpa. I think I
Speaker 1: probably stay up to about nine or nine thirty most nights.
Speaker 1: That being said, I don't sleep well. And again I'm
Speaker 1: not bragging about this, but I like this morning. I
Speaker 1: was up at three thirty. I was here by probably
Speaker 1: four or fifteen. And again that's not the brag. It's
Speaker 1: the fact that I can't sleep, which is unfortunate. So
Speaker 1: the bags under my eyes are the telltale sign. So
Speaker 1: I'll come in and you know, it's nice and quiet,
Speaker 1: and here the interesting fact that people wouldn't know. I've
Speaker 1: been in here as early as three forty five am
Speaker 1: and there's always one vehicle out in the parking lot
Speaker 1: and it's a white forward raptor and I've never beat
Speaker 1: Cliff Kingsbury in here. I don't know if the guy sleeps,
Speaker 1: if he's a vampire, or what he is. But that
Speaker 1: guy is in here every morning before I can get here,
Speaker 1: and it's it's amazing. So I'll get in and first
Speaker 1: thing I usually do is the thing that I love
Speaker 1: the most, which is watch film, whether it's college or pro.
Speaker 1: And before you know most people get in the office,
Speaker 1: it gives me a chance to have some meditation time
Speaker 1: I like to call it, which is really just watching tape,
Speaker 1: listening to music whatever it may be, podcasts of years
Speaker 1: and it's refreshing, relaxing. It's what I love to do
Speaker 1: and I unfortunately don't get to do as much as
Speaker 1: I'd like. Then are you on the phone a good
Speaker 1: part of the day? Are you looking at Okay, this
Speaker 1: player got hurt, so now we got to start to
Speaker 1: look at either players that are on the practice squad
Speaker 1: or players that are the roster who have been inactive,
Speaker 1: or we got to look at other teams for trades. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I mean it's constant dialogue and depending on the game,
Speaker 1: you know how many injuries you incurred and what the
Speaker 1: moves that you have to make that week. The practice
Speaker 1: squad players that you have to flip. Generally we bring
Speaker 1: in guys on Mondays. They get physicals Tuesday morning. We
Speaker 1: work them out on Tuesday mid morning because that's our
Speaker 1: day off of practice. Then we have to make some
Speaker 1: roster moves. But you know, generally it's constant dialogue all
Speaker 1: day with guys like coach and our scouting department to
Speaker 1: talk about the ready list and players that we want
Speaker 1: to bring in for workouts, and the training room staff
Speaker 1: and all those guys with you know, the injuries and
Speaker 1: how long players are going to be out and trying
Speaker 1: to forecast that. So it's constant dialogue, you know, meeting
Speaker 1: with Michael and talking about the team, and you know,
Speaker 1: we have a lot of dialogue on a daily basis.
Speaker 1: Generally probably two or three times we talk about the
Speaker 1: roster and different things with the organization. Again, the thing
Speaker 1: that we have to do that's different from a lot
Speaker 1: of people was planning for the future, not just the present.
Speaker 1: What's on the playlist when you're watching film, what music?
Speaker 1: You know, I'm generally a country music fan. I gotta
Speaker 1: give it to my buddy Blake Shelton, who was a big,
Speaker 1: diehard Cardinal fan, So I gotta give him a little
Speaker 1: shout out. Cliff and I went on tour with him
Speaker 1: for a couple of days this past year, which was
Speaker 1: a lot of fun. Got to see what it's like
Speaker 1: to sleep on a bus, which I don't ever want
Speaker 1: to do again. But it was a nice bus. Though
Speaker 1: it was a nice bus, but those sleeping areas aren't
Speaker 1: made for a guy who's six two and a half
Speaker 1: two hundred and eighty pounds. I would have paid money
Speaker 1: to see you and Cliff like on bunk beds and
Speaker 1: a bus with Blake Shelton. Cliff told me, I think
Speaker 1: it was one day three. He heard me at about
Speaker 1: four am dragging my bag to get off there, giggling
Speaker 1: because I was so delirious. I was ready to go.
Speaker 1: I was like, get me to the Ritz Carlton as
Speaker 1: fast as I can. I told the story about you know,
Speaker 1: you engaging in a conversation with me and initiating that relationship.
Speaker 1: And I watch on the field before games how you
Speaker 1: interact with other gms like you're friends with them. And
Speaker 1: Frank Kelliender was on last week and he made the
Speaker 1: point because he knows you, and he said, you know,
Speaker 1: you almost have to be friends with other general managers
Speaker 1: because you got to do business with them. So how
Speaker 1: does that work? I mean, how much of making deals
Speaker 1: happen is because you've got a relationship with someone other
Speaker 1: deals that get done with gms you don't like. Uh,
Speaker 1: you know, I don't know that it's that I don't like.
Speaker 1: It's probably more that I don't have a long term
Speaker 1: relationship with, you know. And the one thing that that
Speaker 1: most GMS have that other people don't is growing up
Speaker 1: in the business. A lot of the gms were scouts
Speaker 1: at one time on the road. So for thirteen years
Speaker 1: I spent one hundred and eighty five days on the road,
Speaker 1: traveling from city to city and in many cases being
Speaker 1: away from your family, away from your friends, and you
Speaker 1: sort of become like a nomad. And really the other
Speaker 1: people that you spend a lot of time with, And
Speaker 1: I'm talking about eight hours a day in a dark
Speaker 1: film room with John Schneider or you know, Less Need
Speaker 1: or any other GM in the NFL Jason light. And
Speaker 1: you know, as you're spending eight hours with those guys,
Speaker 1: you're in the same room. You know, you're staying at
Speaker 1: the same hotels. You may go to the same place
Speaker 1: to eat for dinner and catch up for a couple
Speaker 1: hours before you go right. Five hours of reports so
Speaker 1: you develop these relationships and then it carries you throughout
Speaker 1: the rest of your life. And it's no different from Listen,
Speaker 1: you have a job to do, which I respect, So
Speaker 1: anything I can do to help you with your job
Speaker 1: is something that's important to me. Now, am I going
Speaker 1: to tell you about the trade I might have just consummated?
Speaker 1: Of course not. You got to know what to obviously
Speaker 1: tell people what not to. No different if I'm doing
Speaker 1: a trade with Howie Roseman or I'm doing a trade
Speaker 1: with Brandon Bean. It helps the process. When you have
Speaker 1: that relationship. You're not going to again give trade secrets,
Speaker 1: but you're going to develop a relationship and just the
Speaker 1: way you communicate certainly helps you. Mentioned Jason, he texted
Speaker 1: Wolf and I during one of the preseason TV games
Speaker 1: and said, I will buy you both a steak dinner
Speaker 1: if you can somehow get on the air that Steve
Speaker 1: and I are good buddies. I'm like, does he think
Speaker 1: we're amateurs? I looked at Wolf like you didn't think
Speaker 1: we can work this in So of course we show
Speaker 1: you and Michael in the booth and Nurse Michael Bidwell,
Speaker 1: team owner and Arizona Cardinals gym Steve Kim, you know,
Speaker 1: congratulations to the Buccaneers, you know, the defending champs, and
Speaker 1: Jason liked their GM. We used to be here and
Speaker 1: it's still good friends with Steve Kim. So like five
Speaker 1: minutes later and Jason Hurd, He's like, dang it, text
Speaker 1: like I'm like, what did you think you would think
Speaker 1: after getting the Super Bowl ring that you would need
Speaker 1: the shameless plug anymore? I know you guys are still tight.
Speaker 1: And look, this is someone that I know he was
Speaker 1: in New England prior to coming here, but you know
Speaker 1: he's from the Steve Kim tree. Is that rewarding to
Speaker 1: see what Jason is doing down in Tampa? Yeah. I
Speaker 1: mean another guy that I grew up in the business
Speaker 1: with and spent a lot of time on the road. Obviously,
Speaker 1: I have a tremendous amount of respect for him. I
Speaker 1: mean talk to him several times a week, you know.
Speaker 1: For me, a guy that you know earned his way
Speaker 1: and has done an unbelievab job and had some rough
Speaker 1: years you know that we all go through in this business.
Speaker 1: It's not easy. And just awfully proud of him. Man,
Speaker 1: he is he has done a fantastic job and in
Speaker 1: this business I think you kind of know who's going
Speaker 1: to be successful. It's not just the player evaluation part.
Speaker 1: It's not just understanding how to negotiate contracts, whatever it
Speaker 1: may be. Because there's so many facets to this job.
Speaker 1: People don't understand. It's just getting the big picture and
Speaker 1: understanding people and managing people and having that personality. It's
Speaker 1: it's not for everybody. Obviously, you have to have thick
Speaker 1: skin in this business because it's difficult. You're being judged
Speaker 1: on everything you do. There's seventy million people that play
Speaker 1: fantasy football, and sixty nine of them think they're better
Speaker 1: than you. You know, and I get that. It's it's
Speaker 1: a results based business, so getting into it, you have
Speaker 1: to know what you're getting into, and you have to
Speaker 1: be able to look at the big picture and understand
Speaker 1: it and respect the process you talked about all those
Speaker 1: years on the road working your way up. You really
Speaker 1: don't see it a lot in professional sports, where a
Speaker 1: guy works his way up through the ranks at one
Speaker 1: team and stays with that team, it eventually moves from
Speaker 1: a scout to general manager. I think of Eric Spoelstra
Speaker 1: in the NBA, who is a video coordinator with the heat,
Speaker 1: worked his way up, assistant coach, all this successful head coach,
Speaker 1: and I think of you being a scout here working
Speaker 1: your way up and eventually becoming the general manager of
Speaker 1: this team. Why do you think that is? Do you
Speaker 1: think because because I'm sure you had opportunities before you
Speaker 1: got the general manager job to look elsewhere. Why do
Speaker 1: you think it is that guys sometimes just look to
Speaker 1: take the first job because it's a GM opportunity. And
Speaker 1: it could be said for coaches too. Sometimes coaches look
Speaker 1: for the first job to leave to try to take
Speaker 1: it rather than waiting for the right job. Yeah, you know.
Speaker 1: I mean I think that's a tough balance because you're
Speaker 1: so goal oriented and you want everything now today's world,
Speaker 1: that's the way we're built. And I think that it's
Speaker 1: it's hard to take a step back and look at
Speaker 1: the big pitcher and realize maybe this isn't good and
Speaker 1: good for me, or it's not a good fit. It's difficult,
Speaker 1: I know that, because you know, it's hard to turn
Speaker 1: down the compensation, and you know, obviously the fact that
Speaker 1: you get to run your own operation, when maybe that's
Speaker 1: the point is maybe it's not the right situation because
Speaker 1: you don't get to have a final saying something. But
Speaker 1: you know that that's the cool thing about me being
Speaker 1: in this position is to the fact that what you
Speaker 1: said has started here. I think myself and Brian Gudakinston
Speaker 1: Green Bay are the only two guys in the NFL
Speaker 1: that started off with their organizations at the lowest level,
Speaker 1: being Area Scout and working all the way up the GM.
Speaker 1: But the coolest thing about that for me is I
Speaker 1: don't just wear a cardinal on my polo. I wear
Speaker 1: a cardinal in my heart, man, because this is this
Speaker 1: isn't a job. This is my passion. Our fan base
Speaker 1: is my passion. Making the state of Arizona proud, making
Speaker 1: the Bidwell family proud, It's my passion. You know. Somebody said,
Speaker 1: what would be the coolest thing in the world for you?
Speaker 1: What would be your ultimate goal for you to envision
Speaker 1: before you retire, And I said, watching Michael bid Will
Speaker 1: hold that Lombardi Trophy that would right then and there,
Speaker 1: But that then we would get there and I'd probably
Speaker 1: say I want to see him do it twice then
Speaker 1: three times, so you know, just just making the people
Speaker 1: of Arizona proud, you know, And that's being here so
Speaker 1: long and seeing us go through tough times. That's always
Speaker 1: been sort of what I visualized. And I believe that
Speaker 1: one hundred percent. For fans that may be listening and say, Okay,
Speaker 1: you know Steve, that he's got to say that, Like,
Speaker 1: I believe that because you've even said things over the
Speaker 1: years to me, to Wolfe, to others of you really
Speaker 1: want to make you guys proud, really want you get
Speaker 1: guys to like what you're seeing. We want to do
Speaker 1: this right. So I believe that that is absolutely from
Speaker 1: the heart. I know as a kid, you've talked about
Speaker 1: you thought you'd be a GM someday. Did you think
Speaker 1: after you left NC State you play for a while
Speaker 1: and then eventually get into scouting or was this something
Speaker 1: like even in college you had your mindset on well,
Speaker 1: I had dreams of playing in the NFL and having
Speaker 1: an opportunity with the Dolphins. I think when I realized
Speaker 1: that I was a try hard guy that you know,
Speaker 1: had limited ability, but the thing that was probably the
Speaker 1: best was to get hurt, then to be released, and
Speaker 1: then I had some other opportunities. And I think I
Speaker 1: was smart enough, or at least self perceptive enough to
Speaker 1: realize you know what, let's let's move on to the
Speaker 1: next part of your career, which was great because it
Speaker 1: gave me the opportunity to start here at such a
Speaker 1: young age. You know, I started with the Cardinals I
Speaker 1: think at twenty five, and it helped me get my
Speaker 1: career started early and on track. And for about ten years,
Speaker 1: I just had my head down and I worked my
Speaker 1: tail off and had those goals and continually, you know,
Speaker 1: went through the ranks and was elevated to you know,
Speaker 1: National Scout, College Scouting Director and then ultimately Director of
Speaker 1: Player Personnel and then VP of Player Personnel. So the
Speaker 1: great part about that is is I every step of
Speaker 1: the way, and the coolest thing is when you start
Speaker 1: off at such a low level, you learn you know
Speaker 1: how organizations are run, not just you know what it's
Speaker 1: like to evaluate a guy at Notre Dame. You understand
Speaker 1: that there's parts of the business. So whether it's picking
Speaker 1: up a guy at the airport or taking him to
Speaker 1: get his physical or running an errand for a coach.
Speaker 1: I mean, there's a lot of different things that come
Speaker 1: with this business that people weren't prepared for, and so
Speaker 1: I learned a lot of great lessons along the way.
Speaker 1: You spoke earlier about you and Cliff going on tour
Speaker 1: with Blake Sheldon. So obviously you and Cliff were friends,
Speaker 1: and when you hired Cliff as the head coach, there
Speaker 1: were a lot of people that were curious as to
Speaker 1: what you saw. We're starting to see that here obviously
Speaker 1: in year three and I when Cliff was on here.
Speaker 1: You know, I knew Cliff from covering college and I
Speaker 1: remember Brian Greasy and I walking out of a meeting
Speaker 1: with Cliff when he was the offensive coordinator at Texas
Speaker 1: A and M. And we both were like, that dude
Speaker 1: is going to be a hit coach. Like that guy
Speaker 1: is smart, He's got a great personality, and I think
Speaker 1: people now he seems looser with the media. You're starting
Speaker 1: to see that little bit more. What were some of
Speaker 1: the things that you saw on Cliff and when did
Speaker 1: you start to see those things? Does it go back
Speaker 1: to when Manzelle was at A and M. Does it
Speaker 1: go back to Mahomes when he was coaching at Texas Tech,
Speaker 1: Like when did you have an idea that Cliff might
Speaker 1: be a good NFL head coach? Well through through the years,
Speaker 1: exactly what you're saying I mean getting to know him
Speaker 1: and going to scout players, whether it was at Houston
Speaker 1: or A and M or Texas Tech. Just the interaction
Speaker 1: that you would have with him. He always impressed me
Speaker 1: with the way he carried himself, the way he talked
Speaker 1: about the players, the way he coached him when I
Speaker 1: watched him coach on the field. And then I'll never
Speaker 1: forget Bruce Arians, myself and Michael flew in to work
Speaker 1: out Patrick Mahomes at Texas Tech, spent a lot of
Speaker 1: time with Cliff, and all three of us came away
Speaker 1: from that workout thinking, man, this guy he's impressive. You know,
Speaker 1: not just Patrick Mahomes, but Cliff as well and Michael,
Speaker 1: and I said, you know, one day, I think he's
Speaker 1: going to be a good not only head coach in
Speaker 1: college football, but he may have chanced to be a
Speaker 1: good head coach in the NFL. And fast forward started
Speaker 1: to think about how we could be innovative and do
Speaker 1: something some things differently. Sometimes people say, well it's it's
Speaker 1: you know, too early, like Sean McVay was too young
Speaker 1: too early. Sometimes guys have to grow in the business
Speaker 1: and they continually get better and grow within the business.
Speaker 1: Just like a scout or GM would and felt like
Speaker 1: he would be a great fit. What's the biggest difference
Speaker 1: you've seen in him here in year three compared to
Speaker 1: years one and two. I would say the comfort level
Speaker 1: of being himself, letting his personality come out, and not
Speaker 1: being as guarded, and not guarded in a bad way,
Speaker 1: guarded in a way where you know you're the head
Speaker 1: coach of an NFL team. Sometimes there are guys who
Speaker 1: are almost as old as you, or if they're not,
Speaker 1: they're as old as you, and that can be tough,
Speaker 1: especially with guys that are, you know, future Hall of
Speaker 1: famers Larry Fitzgerald, guys like that, and now you're looking
Speaker 1: him in the face and you're telling them what to
Speaker 1: do and and you're trying to coach them up, so
Speaker 1: you're trying to build credibility with those type of players.
Speaker 1: So I just think that again, just coming into his
Speaker 1: own being more comfortable with not only the players but
Speaker 1: his own staff. And I think he's We've put together
Speaker 1: a really good coaching staff here that I've loved watching
Speaker 1: and working with daily. Just the way they've developed players.
Speaker 1: We're having a lot of young players that are having success.
Speaker 1: Guys in their first three years. You know, we make
Speaker 1: a big deal out of the leaders we brought in,
Speaker 1: the Rodney Hudson's, the AJ Greens, the JJ Watts's. That's
Speaker 1: great and it's been exactly what this organization needed in
Speaker 1: my opinion. But to have success being a five and
Speaker 1: O team, you have to have guys in the first
Speaker 1: three four years that their contracts have success. Guys like
Speaker 1: Jayalen Thompson, Chase Edmonds, Kyler Murray, Christian Kirk. Go down
Speaker 1: the list of the guys who were young Isaiah Simmons
Speaker 1: who were having success. You got to hit on those guys.
Speaker 1: What's the biggest difference with Isaiah? We talked about the
Speaker 1: big hit he's flashing. He had the pick last year
Speaker 1: against Seattle. He's obviously playing more. Is he just more comfortable?
Speaker 1: Is he more physical? Is he playing more physically or
Speaker 1: relying on his instincts more this year? I think comfort
Speaker 1: and confidence both because you take a guy who played
Speaker 1: at a number of different positions in college, then you're
Speaker 1: asking him to do some different things in the NFL.
Speaker 1: And we didn't have an offseason. Covid struck. It was
Speaker 1: tough one everybody. He didn't have an off season. He
Speaker 1: didn't took him a little while to get it like
Speaker 1: it does most young guys. Then he has a full offseason,
Speaker 1: and then he gains confidence. When he gained confidence, now
Speaker 1: all of a sudden, he can play full speed, play
Speaker 1: with your eyes. Now that's where we're reaping the benefits.
Speaker 1: We're seeing a guy that's playing full speed, playing physical,
Speaker 1: and trusting his eyes. Let's talk about a few of
Speaker 1: the rookies saving Collins. I think it was Game four
Speaker 1: against the Rams. He only played four snap so played
Speaker 1: much more on Sunday. Is he what you thought and
Speaker 1: hoped he would be or is it still too early
Speaker 1: to say that? Yeah? No, and I think that like
Speaker 1: the Rams game, I think the personnel and the offensive
Speaker 1: scheme dictated some of our personnel yesterday. I know he
Speaker 1: played forty some snaps and again made some mistakes yesterday,
Speaker 1: but also made some big plays and has been physical,
Speaker 1: has played downhill and has played fast, all the things
Speaker 1: that we thought he would do. But then there's some
Speaker 1: of the same mistakes that we thought would happen and
Speaker 1: will always happen for young players. So he's on the
Speaker 1: right track. He's exactly I think where we thought he
Speaker 1: would potentially be. And the only way he's going to
Speaker 1: get better is through experience and through snaps Marco Wilson,
Speaker 1: First of all, do you see him back against Cleveland?
Speaker 1: And then second, this guy looks like an absolute stud,
Speaker 1: like nothing phases him. How did you guys know that? Yeah,
Speaker 1: I think there's a good chance for sure. And he
Speaker 1: is a guy that you know, as soon as he
Speaker 1: came in, everything he did, you know, you start to
Speaker 1: think to yourself, well, a fourth round pick, even though
Speaker 1: we traded up, we loved him. But at the same time, like,
Speaker 1: are my eyes deceiving me? How every day is he
Speaker 1: stacking together practices where he looks like he looks you know,
Speaker 1: where he's going against Hop and aj and Ron Dale
Speaker 1: and he's having success. And then you know, we gained
Speaker 1: confidence in him, and he showed that he had the
Speaker 1: maturity level and the football acumen that you get excited about.
Speaker 1: And he just continued to gain confidence with the coaching
Speaker 1: staff through with the personnel staff. Throw him out there
Speaker 1: week one and guy doesn't miss a beat and has
Speaker 1: been excellent. A of a lot of credit goes to
Speaker 1: our scouting staff and those guys for you know, once
Speaker 1: we get past the first couple rounds. To me, once
Speaker 1: you get the rounds four through seven, that's where your
Speaker 1: scouting staff has to shine because most players have some
Speaker 1: type of holes at that point, and you have to
Speaker 1: find something that you believe in that you can fight
Speaker 1: for that even though this player may be missing certain traits,
Speaker 1: they make up for with other things and other strengths
Speaker 1: that you think are going to be make him a
Speaker 1: good pro. I'm sure the evaluation process on Rondale Moore
Speaker 1: was relatively simple when you were just watching tape, because
Speaker 1: he flashed on tape like I've got Iowa Purdue this
Speaker 1: week three thirty Eastern, twelve thirty in ABC. Sorry I
Speaker 1: had to throw that out there. But when he was
Speaker 1: at Perdue twenty eighteen, you made that incredible year. And
Speaker 1: then there's injuries, then there's COVID. Was the decision tough
Speaker 1: to take Rondale Moore where you did, no, because I
Speaker 1: think he would have gone higher if he didn't have
Speaker 1: some of the soft tissue issues and we didn't have
Speaker 1: COVID and we had a larger template to evaluate. I
Speaker 1: just think the guy, the things that he did on tape,
Speaker 1: his explosiveness, his ability to create mismatches how electric he
Speaker 1: is with the ball in his hands. To me, it
Speaker 1: was something that as soon as you saw him, you
Speaker 1: envisioned him now in this offense and the different things
Speaker 1: that Cliff lakes to do. Man, I thought that the
Speaker 1: possibilities were endless. I know some other teams at the
Speaker 1: top of round two that were very serious about taking
Speaker 1: him up there. So for him to slide into where
Speaker 1: we took him into, we thought it was a no brainer.
Speaker 1: And then just after taking him and seeing how mature
Speaker 1: he is and how articulate and smart he is as
Speaker 1: a football player, it's been really rewarding a couple more
Speaker 1: We'll get you out of here because I know you
Speaker 1: have a job to do. More shameless self promotion I did.
Speaker 1: I'm doing a few Thursday night games for Westwood one.
Speaker 1: I did the Houston game a few weeks ago. And
Speaker 1: you know, David Johnson's barely playing and he was part
Speaker 1: of obviously the trade to get DeAndre Hopkins, and I
Speaker 1: still am in shock sometimes that he's here. Like you
Speaker 1: talked about JJ Watt when you were kind of going
Speaker 1: through the process, and you had to kind of like,
Speaker 1: it's j J Watt really considering coming to the Cardinals
Speaker 1: and when the blue check I had to look at
Speaker 1: the blue check mark when Schefter tweeted it out because
Speaker 1: I was at the gym, I was like, we got
Speaker 1: DeAndre that DeAndre Hopkins? Like is there another like a
Speaker 1: kid from a small school. It was like undrafted somewhere.
Speaker 1: How did you guys get DeAndre Hopkins? Because this guy,
Speaker 1: to me is still the best receiver in football. You know,
Speaker 1: you just have to do your due diligence and make
Speaker 1: the calls. And I'll never forget, you know, I talked
Speaker 1: for weeks with Bill O'Brien and we finally came to
Speaker 1: an agreement on a deal. It was right around the
Speaker 1: time and free agency, and I'll never forget. We had
Speaker 1: the deal greed upon and then COVID struck, And all
Speaker 1: deals are finalized based on, you know, both players passing
Speaker 1: contingent on passing and physical So the fact that COVID struck,
Speaker 1: we weren't able to get both of those players physicals.
Speaker 1: So we must have gone, I don't know, another two
Speaker 1: months without having the knowledge of whether you know, hop
Speaker 1: and David would pass the respective physicals, and so that
Speaker 1: that was alarming and needless to say, we were on
Speaker 1: pins and needles to make sure that everything was fine.
Speaker 1: But there was obviously a sigh of relief when they
Speaker 1: both passed and we were able to finalize everything. And
Speaker 1: you know, he's just been he's been phenomenal. I mean,
Speaker 1: the guy is competitive a teammates love him. Obviously, you
Speaker 1: guys have seen enough of him to realize that when
Speaker 1: game's on the line, given the ball, and it doesn't
Speaker 1: matter whether he's covered or not, he's going to come
Speaker 1: down with it. So he's a guy that just having
Speaker 1: him on the team, the way he carries himself, the
Speaker 1: way he competes, he to me, confidence permeates to the
Speaker 1: locker room when they think about number ten. I have
Speaker 1: to ask you this as the last question, otherwise I'm
Speaker 1: sure I would get people saying you're not doing your job.
Speaker 1: No one's talking about Larry Fitzgerald right now because the
Speaker 1: Cardinals are five, and oh, where do things stand with
Speaker 1: fits like, in your mind, is he retired or is
Speaker 1: it you know, there's there's a door open for conversation
Speaker 1: at some point in the future for him to play again. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean, I guess he hasn't announced any retirement, so
Speaker 1: I don't know. That. I mean, that's a question that
Speaker 1: I think he would have to answer. I know, prior
Speaker 1: to the season, way back probably last year, you know,
Speaker 1: we knew that the salary cap would would come down,
Speaker 1: and you know, we communicated and I let him know,
Speaker 1: listen and be helpful the sooner than later if you
Speaker 1: let me know what you're gonna do because of you know,
Speaker 1: the salary cap and trying to plan and forecasts for
Speaker 1: future things. So he you know, we were on the
Speaker 1: same page. And that's the way it's been every year.
Speaker 1: You know, last several years, he's done one one year
Speaker 1: contracts and we got him done relatively easy. So you know,
Speaker 1: the ball was in his court. And just you know, again,
Speaker 1: I know he's got a lot of things on his
Speaker 1: plate and he's having a lot of success with different
Speaker 1: you know things in his life, whether it's the Suns
Speaker 1: and different business opportunities. So like I said, you know,
Speaker 1: we miss him obviously. It's great in the locker room,
Speaker 1: great on the field. Guy's a consummate pro and one
Speaker 1: of my favorite people in the world, no question. Hey Steve,
Speaker 1: thanks so much for the time. Man really apreciate you
Speaker 1: doing this. Probably thanks Man, appreciate it. Always great to
Speaker 1: catch up with. Steve Kin been with the organization since
Speaker 1: nineteen ninety nine. Took over the general manager position in
Speaker 1: twenty thirteen, two time NFL Executive of the Year and
Speaker 1: the GM of the only unbeaten team left in professional
Speaker 1: football at five and zero. Great stuff on Kyler Murray
Speaker 1: and how he's matured as a leader and also some
Speaker 1: of the things he's doing on the field that we
Speaker 1: didn't see in years one and two. Also Steve's breakdown
Speaker 1: of the rookie class, how they're maturing, where J. J.
Speaker 1: Watt's leadership is showing up, and al Cliff Kingsbury has
Speaker 1: grown in year three. Appreciate Steve's time. I want to
Speaker 1: remind you that we are presented by BETMGM, the official
Speaker 1: sports betting partner of the Arizona Cardinals and Hila River
Speaker 1: Hotels and Casinos. Next week we'll talk with another general manager,
Speaker 1: the g M of the Phoenix Suns, James Jones will
Speaker 1: join the Dave Pash Podcast. Thanks to Steve time, and
Speaker 1: we'll talk to you Sunday from Cleveland when the Cardinals
Speaker 1: face the Browns.