Bidwill Discusses Murray Drama, Disappointing 2021 Season
The Arizona Cardinals released their first episode of this offseason's "Flight Plan" series on YouTube Wednesday, which documents the organization's path through the offseason and any developments that emerged in that time.
And boy, have the Cardinals been in the news more than they would have liked.
The first episode documents everything from Kyler Murray's social media drama to losing free agents such as Christian Kirk and Chandler Jones.
Cardinals owner Michael Bidwill first began the episode discussing his team's disappointing end to last season.
“First of all, I’ve been around this game my whole life. You try not to get too high or too low but with the disappointing end to the season that we had last year, certainly it stung," Bidwill said. "But there are other times where you’re away from the game and around more business aspects that those things sort of fade to a distant memory.
"Still thinking about it and wishing that we would have continued to have success on the field and play through all the way through the Super Bowl and win it, but I’m not discouraged about our future at all because we still have that same core talent. So I feel pretty darn good going into the 2022 offseason.”
Super Bowl aspirations can't be had without a franchise quarterback, and the Cardinals know that after searching for years to find a passer that was good enough to one day hand over a large payday.
Arizona has that in Murray, or at least the organization believes they do despite waiting to negotiate an extension.
The circus around Murray, from sly remarks to his social media saga and even a laughable statement from his agent sprinkled between, could only be rivaled by the great Cirque du Soleil.
Bidwill says all the outside noise was just that, and nothing more.
He said, “Firstly, we all stayed in communication with Kyler and him with us. That never stopped. It was truly just noise from the outside. Unfortunately, it sort of got louder and louder at different points for different reasons but it never stopped us from talking with each other and having very good, constructive conversations about how we’re going to get better as an organization and him to continue to grow as a player.
"I’m excited for our future, it was great to see him back in the building the other day as we get ready for OTAs and all the off-season activities . . . I’m excited for it.”
Critics have not only made their voices heard on Murray's situation, but also Arizona's lack of activity in the open market of free agency. The Cardinals have brought in only a handful of outside talent, something that isn't reassuring a fan base that has watched the same core of players fall apart down the stretch of the last two seasons.
Bidwill says you don't always get what you pay for.
“If you look at the last five seasons, about two-thirds of the free agents that went to a different team and were paid more than $10 million played less than 75% play-time. Many were not starters, most of them didn’t go to the Pro Bowl. Just because you spend a lot of money in free agency doesn’t mean you get the greatest players out there," said Bidwill.
"Frankly when I look back at (general manager) Steve (Keim)’s success, Steve has had great success signing players that people have sort of forgotten about a little bit after the draft. I mean James Conner, we signed (him) in June of last year. (It was actually before the draft in April). There are a lot of great players out there. Being aggressive also means being patient and taking the risk that great players are going to be out there and having the confidence that we’ll be able to sign them at the right time.”
With the NFL draft only one week away, the Cardinals continue to be must-see television for the outside world.
