Steve Keim named Sporting News 2014 NFL Executive of the Year

The honors continue to come in for the Arizona Cardinals. General manager Steve Keim was named Pro Football Talk 2014 Executive of the Year. Bruce Arians was Coach of the Year. Todd Bowles was Assistant of the Year. Now Keim has received another honor.

At the NFL meetings  in Arizona, Keim was presented with an award, being named the Sporting News 2014 Executive of the Year.

Arizona swept the Sporting News awards. Keim is the top executive. Bruce Arians was named top coach and former defensive coordinator Todd Bowles was named top assistant.

The Sporting News Executive of the Year award is determined by a vote of NFL coaches and team executives. Sporting News has been in existence for 132 years and has given out the annual Executive of the Year award since 1955.

Keim's highlights from 2014 include:

• Earned NFL Executive of the Year honors from the editors of Pro Football Talk. He has taken home that honor in each of his first two seasons as GM.
• In 2014 the Cardinals tied the franchise record for wins a season (11) and earned a berth in the postseason despite 21 players missing 109 total games due to injury, including 14 games by QBs Carson Palmer and Drew Stanton. Between January and December of 2014, Keim made a total of 217 roster moves.
• Of the 53 players on the Cardinals roster at the end of the 2014 season, 40 were acquired by Keim during his time as GM. That total includes 13 of the team's 16 draft picks in the last two years.
• In addition to the contributions made by 2014 free agent signings such as LT Jared Veldheer, G/C Ted Larsen, DT Tommy Kelly and CB Antonio Cromartie, Keim added young talent in S Deone Bucannon and WR John Brown (NFL Draft) and K Chandler Catanzaro (rookie free agent). Bucannon earned PFWA All-Rookie honors at safety while Brown (four game-winning TD catches) and Catanzaro (17 consecutive FGs to start his career) went on to establish NFL rookie scoring records.
• Of the 310 points scored by the Cardinals in 2014, 176 were scored by players not with the team in 2013. Arizona's 150 points scored by rookies in '14 represented the third-best total in the NFL behind only Philadelphia (210) and Tampa Bay (187).

Last month Keim received a new contract with the Cardinals that will keep him with the team through 2018.