Former Cardinals GM Steve Keim reveals how he ‘almost’ got fired for choosing Nick Bosa over Kyler Murray in the 2019 NFL Draft

Steve Keim was fired by the Cardinals after a disastrous 2022 season.

Former Cardinals GM Steve Keim reveals how he ‘almost’ got fired for choosing Nick Bosa over Kyler Murray in the 2019 NFL Draft

Steve Keim, Kyler Murray and Nick Bosa (Image via Revenge of the Birds and Yahoo Sports)

With the 2023 NFL draft just a few hours away, a hot topic of a previous year’s draft has come to light. Back in 2019, the Arizona Cardinals selected quarterback Kyler Murray first overall. While this might seem like an easy decision to an outsider because Murray just won the Heisman Trophy; however, it wasn’t.

Former Cardinals general manager Steve Keim revealed a few days back the San Francisco 49ers defensive end Nick Bosa warned him against picking Murray over him in the 2019 draft. Keim recalled on The Herd with Colin Cowherd, “So we were leaving, we were leaving the dinner and we’re walking out and I’ll never forget he puts his arm around me, Kliff Kingsbury, both of us in basically a headlock and he said, ‘I think you guys are probably going to end up taking that little quarterback and if you do, Steve, I will haunt you for the rest of your career.’”

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Steve Keim went even further and said on “The Dan Patrick Show” how selecting Nick Bosa over Kyler Murray would’ve been a grave mistake. “Well, Kyler got me an extension. Nick Bosa probably would have gotten me fired,” Keim said. “Well, your quarterback position is the guy who can propel your team the quickest. And he did that. Could Nick Bosa have gotten us to an 11-win team that year, two years ago?”

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Unfortunately for Steve Keim, he got fired after the 2022 season after the Cards registered a 4-13 season, one of the worst records posted by a team last year.

Related: Where did Christian Gonzalez go to college?

The Cardinals’ front office has ignored Kyler Murray’s last two draft choice requests

Kyler Murray
Kyler Murray (Image via Revenge of the Birds)

The Cardinals have the third overall pick in the 2023 NFL draft behind the Carolina Panthers and Houston Texans. Both these teams are set to pick a quarterback with their selection. Experts believe Arizona will select edge rusher Will Anderson Jr., DT Jalen Carter, or defensive end Tyree Wilson.

NFL analyst Warren Sharp took a look back at the Cardinals’ draft selections from a few years back. He uncovered evidence of how Kyler Murray wanted the front office to select offensive linemen in the previous two drafts so that he could have greater protection. Murray lobbied OL Creed Humphrey in 2021 and Tristan Wirfs in 2020; however, the Cards didn’t pay heed to their signal caller’s suggestion and let them go. Both Humphrey and Wirfs are among the best linemen in the league right now.

This year, Kyler Murray is pushing the team to draft OL Paris Johnson third overall. The draft stock of the Ohio State OL has increased, and he is a favorite to be the third pick.

Many fans believe it is extremely unwise of the Cardinals not to put some of the best talents in football to protect their franchise quarterback. Kyler Murray tore his ACL last season, leading to them being the third-worst team in 2022. The young gunslinger did have a bad season before suffering the injury. He went 3-8 in the 11 games he started that, too, after signing a huge contract extension at the start of the year. Murray signed a five-year, $230.5 million contract extension, with $160 million guaranteed.

It’ll be interesting to see how he performs in the 2023 season after recovering from his injury.

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