Steve Keim Took Control of His Draft - And He Had a Plan in Place

[GuernseyCard]

What KEIM did with 2020 draft capital:

ARIZONA CARDINALS
Round 1 (8): LB Isaiah Simmons, Clemson
Round 2: Traded to Texans for D. Hopkins (WO)
Round 3 (72): T Josh Jones, Houston
Round 4 (114): DI Leki Fotu, Utah
Round 4 (131): DI Rashard Lawrence, LSU
Round 5: Traded to Miami for K. Drake (RB)
Round 5: Supplemental: drafted J. Thompson (S)
Round 6 (202): LB Evan Weaver, Cal
Round 7 (222): RB Eno Benjamin, Arizona State

 

[gimpy]

"So I like the picks at face value but not going to get too excited about anyone other than Simmons until the season starts"

Come on BritCard. Get excited. Now is the time to get excited. Do it. . I know I am .

 

[BullheadCardFan]

What KEIM did with 2020 draft capital:

ARIZONA CARDINALS
Round 1 (8): LB Isaiah Simmons, Clemson
Round 2: Traded to Texans for D. Hopkins (WO)
Round 3 (72): T Josh Jones, Houston
Round 4 (114): DI Leki Fotu, Utah
Round 4 (131): DI Rashard Lawrence, LSU
Round 5: Traded to Miami for K. Drake (RB)
Round 5: Supplemental: drafted J. Thompson (S)
Round 6 (202): LB Evan Weaver, Cal
Round 7 (222): RB Eno Benjamin, Arizona State

Solid list for sure.

SK has redeemed himself. Looking for big things this year.

 

[JCSunsfan]

Looks to me like he had no plan in place. He just took the highest player on his board when the pick came up. He just got really lucky about who came up when.

Not that there is anything wrong with that.

 

[WhyAlwaysMe]

Looks to me like he had no plan in place. He just took the highest player on his board when the pick came up. He just got really lucky about who came up when.

Not that there is anything wrong with that.

disagree

fotu/Lawrence/Weaver are very complementary with Simmons and Budda

obv Jones was straight value; he might be a better LT than Hump in two years

 

[WisconsinCard]

disagree

fotu/Lawrence/Weaver are very complementary with Simmons and Budda

obv Jones was straight value; he might be a better LT than Hump in two years

Don't see it but hope he's a great RT for years to come. Could fill I at LT if need to.

 

[JeffGollin]

Keim did a number of notable things in this draft:

• Recognized defense’s deficiencies and brought in NFL-caliber plays to fill holes
• Stayed away from small school players
• Let the draft come to him. Didn’t seem like he was eager to trade up or trade back into rounds. Only had six picks to start.
• Didn’t give up on any of the three rookie WRs from last season.

All kudos to SK.

That said: It wasn't so much that a "plan" drove his drafting strategy, but more that "events on the ground" pointed to our being really sucky in various aspects of interior defensive play.

Of course, SK could have ignored our lackluster defense and we'd have remained sucky. But he didn't, and I think it will turn out that we're an improved defensive FB team.

 

[Finito]

All kudos to SK.

That said: It wasn't so much that a "plan" drove his drafting strategy, but more that "events on the ground" pointed to our being really sucky in various aspects of interior defensive play.

Of course, SK could have ignored our lackluster defense and we'd have remained sucky. But he didn't, and I think it will turn out that we're an improved defensive FB team.

of course it was look at free agency everything we did was on the front 7 of our defense then went in to the draft and 3 of the first 4 picks were front 7 defensive players

 

[Cards4thebowl]

Its pretty clear Kliff Kingsbury is the defacto GM now.

Keim is finally sitting on the sidelines after 7 terrible years thank goodness.

 

[WisconsinCard]

Its pretty clear Kliff Kingsbury is the defacto GM now.

Keim is finally sitting on the sidelines after 7 terrible years thank goodness.

I don't think so.

 

[slanidrac16]

I like the draft but every year we say something similar and are left disappointed.

We all did the same last year and outside Kyler nobody did anything.

Murphy was poor. Isabella barely played. Allen did nothing and got injured. Etc etc

So I like the picks at face value but not going to get too excited about anyone other than Simmons until the season starts.

I always look at draft picks at what they are going to be in two years, except for our first and maybe our second round picks.

If two of the 3 receivers step up this year, he’ll, even if one of them do this offense is really going to click.

we need Thompson and Murphy to take that next step. If they do this defense could be exceptional.

Bu the end of this year we will be able to give an honest grade to the 2019 class.

 

[juza76]

I always look at draft picks at what they are going to be in two years, except for our first and maybe our second round picks.

If two of the 3 receivers step up this year, he’ll, even if one of them do this offense is really going to click.

we need Thompson and Murphy to take that next step. If they do this defense could be exceptional.

Bu the end of this year we will be able to give an honest grade to the 2019 class.

Jalen did show some improvements and I'm sure he will be a legit starter
Actually the same cannot be said about Murphy, who regressed week by week

 

[Shaggy]

This ain’t fantasy football you don’t just load up on shiny toys.

our offense was actually pretty damn good last year and will only get better but we had the worst defense in the nfl. Everything we’ve done this offseason has been to improve the front 7 and our offensive line


I love it

Exactly. If the D was better last year, they would have won at least 2 to 3 more games. Offense was pretty good last year.

 

[SoonerLou]

Jalen did show some improvements and I'm sure he will be a legit starter
Actually the same cannot be said about Murphy, who regressed week by week

Yea he's going to have to step up next year. He seemed to get targeted a lot.

 

[juza76]

Yea he's going to have to step up next year. He seemed to get targeted a lot.

Normally u don't draft that high a cornerback with average lenght and athletic limitations

 

[Dr. Jones]

Its pretty clear Kliff Kingsbury is the defacto GM now.

Keim is finally sitting on the sidelines after 7 terrible years thank goodness.

I don't think so.

Yeah...... Me either.

I think Keim is, now more than ever, fully in charge.

 

[GuernseyCard]

Its pretty clear Kliff Kingsbury is the defacto GM now.

Keim is finally sitting on the sidelines after 7 terrible years thank goodness.

 

[GuernseyCard]

Jalen did show some improvements and I'm sure he will be a legit starter
Actually the same cannot be said about Murphy, who regressed week by week

Murphy will be in the slot, where he belongs, this season.

 

[slanidrac16]

Jalen did show some improvements and I'm sure he will be a legit starter
Actually the same cannot be said about Murphy, who regressed week by week

Not sure I agree with you on Murphy. The kid was thrust into the starting lineup and moved around all year. His nfl baptism may turn out to be a blessing when he’s able to play one position.

 

[WhyAlwaysMe]

Murphy will be in the slot, where he belongs, this season.

yes, he’s not nearly athletic enough to play on the outside

he’s a pure nickel slot guy

 

[WhyAlwaysMe]

Alford was 4.39 and 40in vert guy coming out of college. Those are outside CB
#s.

 

[Jetstream Green]

yes, he’s not nearly athletic enough to play on the outside

he’s a pure nickel slot guy

No, no, no and no... geez, it's because of his size and not his athletic ability that he might not hold up on the outside

 

[wit3card]

No, no, no and no... geez, it's because of his size and not his athletic ability that he might not hold up on the outside

Please can you post this 200 times, I hope some guys finally get it.

Again with his mearly 5'11 and a short wing span you can't compete with guys that are 6'3+ with a ling wing span, even if he would be faster and better, he would have problems by his body type limitations. He never could cover real #1 or a big #2. Further he was a man cover guy in high school and college and than had to play zone, that had another big impact on his production.

And yes he is only 4.5 fast, but Sherman is as well. But Sherman is taller and bigger. Sherman can disrupt the WR on the LOS and break the route and even if the ball is thrown his way, he isn't a short man, you can't easily outreach him or outmanuvre him. But this package isn't the one that Byron Murphy brings to the table.

In a Man cover with a smaller #2 Murphy could play as #2 CB, I think if Kirk plays outside, Murphy could man cover him and win around 50% of the snaps. And that is no nock on Kirk. But with zone, Murphy is a Nickel Corner. and even in Man if you don't have a Larry Type of Slot WR you play him in the nickel Slot CB position if possible. But again, if he gets better and in man he could cover OBJ type of #2 and that is worth something. The problem - VJ didn't play them in man, when everything we saw, showed everyone out there that man is the system they have to play, and with Simmons now, and Alford back, there is no argument to not play man. all 3 CB are better in man and Simmons is best in a man system, since there is no zone he has to cover or give away hints.