Cardinals owner Michael Bidwill touched on a number of key topics during a Friday radio interview, including rumors of acrimony between the team and QB Kyler Murray. In addition to his affirmation that Murray remains in the Cards’ long-term plans and that he has had “good conversations non-stop” with his star signal-caller, Bidwill also discussed head coach Kliff Kingsbury‘s future in the desert.
“I look at the college coaches who have made the transition from college to the pros and the ones that are successful, and Kliff is [successful],” Bidwill said, via Aaron Wilson of Pro Football Network. Throughout the interview, Bidwill reiterated that Kingsbury has a “bright future” and gave no indication that he is on a short leash.
Wilson, though, says that the 42-year-old HC is on “something of a hot seat” heading into 2022. If true, that would be due to Arizona’s late-season swoon that culminated in an ugly wild-card round loss to the eventual-Super Bowl champion Rams.
Indeed, we heard in early December that an extension for Kingsbury was one of the Cardinals’ top offseason priorities, but that report surfaced at a time when Arizona was sitting at 9-2. The team would go on to lose five of its final seven games, including the playoff defeat, which added to the narrative that Kingsbury is unable to make necessary in-season adjustments. As Wilson notes, Kingsbury’s teams at both the collegiate and professional levels have a 42-20-1 record in the first seven games of a season but are just 17-45 from the eighth game forward.
Bidwill ascribed the Cardinals’ stumbles down the stretch of the 2021 campaign primarily to the injuries suffered by Murray and top wideout DeAndre Hopkins. “I think [the struggles are] a combination of things, certainly (Hopkins’) impact on the field and off the field is huge,” Bidwill said. “And losing him from not only a football Xs and Os standpoint, but also from an emotional standpoint was big.”
He added, “Kyler got injured for three games. He certainly, before the injury, was playing at the top of his game, and then he came back. I think having a healthy Kyler Murray is always better than Kyler coming off of an injury. This team has a bright future and I’m excited about it, especially knowing those guys are coming back 100 percent.”
Kingsbury’s contract expires at the end of the 2022 season, but Arizona holds a team option for 2023. It remains to be seen if the Cardinals will explore an extension in the coming months, or if they wait to see if Kingsbury can overcome his reputation as a fast starter but slow finisher (as well as the concerns that have been expressed about his play-calling acumen).
At least publicly, Bidwill is confident in his HC’s abilities. “I feel like (Kingsbury’s) had an adjustment period. Had a few years to adjust and I feel like he’s going to get better and better because I feel like he understands the pro rules and the pro game and the pro speed and everything else much better than he did a couple of years ago,” Bidwill said. “We’ve got a bright future together. Kliff, Kyler, [general manager] Steve [Keim], all of us have to make great contributions as we go forward. I know they have a great relationship.”
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