FanPost

A Far Fetched Theory about Kliff Kingsbury's Endgame

Denny Medley-USA TODAY Sports

With the NFL Draft just weeks away and the Cardinals still sitting on the #1 Overall Pick, plenty of theories have been put out there about what Arizona plans to do. Do they trade Josh Rosen and select Kyler Murray? Do they keep Rosen and select Kyler Murray? Do they draft Joey Bosa? Do they draft Quinnen Williams? Or do they trade back? Many NFL analysts are still confused about what the Cardinals plan for Kingsbury and the team even is. Is this a reload, a retool or a rebuild? Assuming this is complete rebuild and that the cardinals do not believe they will be contenders this year, we explore a (admittedly far-fetched) theory about what the Cardinal’s true endgame might be.

The Trade

One of the many ideas being touted by NFL analysts and fans alike is the idea that the Cardinals trade back and acquire more picks and impact players. The recent mock draft from Draft Wire’s Luke Easterling has the Cardinals making a trade with the Raiders. The Raiders would acquire #1 Overall while the Cardinals would acquire #4, #27 and #35, giving the team 4 selections within the first 35 picks.

According to ESPN the Oakland Raiders had Kyler Murray for a private workout last week. During the combine and Oklahoma’s pro day Jon Gruden was reported to have been "in love with Kyler Murray" and it makes a lot of sense. Murray is an Al Davis pick. He’s fast, he’s got a strong arm, he’s got guts and on paper he’s a generational talent. The Raiders are moving to Las Vegas in 2020 and they need to make a big splash to bring in a new generation of fans. They brought in Antonio Brown to be the flashy #1 receiver they desperately needed, but the quarterback situation is where there is a question mark.

A few seasons ago Derek Carr looked like he was the franchise QB the Raiders looked like they desperately needed…and then he broke his leg just prior to the Raiders first playoff game since the Rich Gannon era. In 2018 Jack Del Rio was fired (despite protests from the team’s captains) and Mark Davis channeled his father’s ghost and brought Jon Gruden out of retirement with a 10 year/$100mm deal (yes you heard that right). Gruden proceeded to trade away Khalil Mack and Amari Cooper (Carr’s two best friends on the team) for a substantial draft haul and put question marks on whether or not Carr was going to be Gruden’s guy. Well Chucky has committed to Carr for this upcoming season, but that doesn’t mean he won’t draft his replacement. Bringing in Kyler Murray, while keeping Carr on the roster, allows for the dynamic Heisman Trophy winner to learn behind a true professional for a season before he takes over. It also allows Murray to fulfill his obligation to the Oakland A’s, most likely ceremoniously throwing out the first pitch at a home game after the draft. Arizona has doen a marvelous job selling to the NFL that they plan on taking Kyler Murray #1 overall, so if Oakland wants him, they have the draft capital to get him.

Kyler Murray and Jon Gruden

The Draft

According to Easterling’s Mock Draft (which for the sake of this article we will say is what will happen) the Cardinals (addressing their needs on the D-Line) select Quinnen Williams out of Alabama #4 overall; Murray goes to Oakland and Bosa go to San Francisco.

Easterling writes "If the Cardinals are indeed sticking with Josh Rosen at quarterback this is the ideal scenario. They move back just three spots, get to more premium picks to restock a weak roster, and still land arguably the best overall prospect in the draft."

Quinnen Williams

Moving down to #27 the Cardinals address their needs on the offensive line, which has been the Achilles’ heel of the team for years. Selecting Offensive Tackle Dalton Risner out of Kansas State, he writes "After making a huge trade and still getting a stud defender at No. 4, the Cardinals now have to surround Rosen with more offensive talent. That starts with improving his protection, and getting a versatile, complete blocker like Risner would be ideal here."

Dalton Risner

Moving on to day 2 the Cardinals address their need at wide receiver and draft the hometown hero, N’Keal Harry out of ASU. Putting him in a situation where he can learn team up with Larry Fitzgerald and Christian Kirk would give Arizona a lethal trio, especially in the Red Zone.

N

At #35 Easterling has Arizona address their need at corner back and select Deandre Baker out of Georgia. Baker was a stud defender at Georgia last season, beating out Greedy Williams for the Jack Tatum Award. Teaming him up with Patrick Peterson and Robert Alford would give the Cardinals three shutdown corners.

Deandre Baker

With simply trading back with the Raiders, the Cardinals are able to fill their biggest needs at O-Line, D-Line, wide receiver and cornerback in the first 2 rounds while being able to utilize the mid-to-late rounds to finish rounding out the roster with young talent. Josh Rosen no longer has to worry about losing his starting position on the Cardinals…at least for now.

The Quarterback Situation

Sticking with Josh Rosen as quarterback for at least a couple of seasons could be Arizona’s plan all along. They’ve paired him up with his former UCLA Teammate to help him acclimate to Tom Clements’ style while also building a solid team around him. I wouldn’t be surprised if Steve Keim makes multiple trades back in the first round to acquire more picks for the future and building the team that Kliff Kingsbury envisions. As long as the Cardinals continue to improve, Keim and Kingsbury’s jobs should be safe. But here is where things get fun.

Last week Sean McVay played a cruel prank on Kliff Kingsbury. McVay, Kingsbury and Patrick Mahomes were out to dinner when McVay convinced Kingsbury that Roger Goodell was calling to inform them that they would be losing a draft pick for "tampering" with Mahomes. Naturally Kingsbury was very concerned, before McVay told him it was all a prank. According to the story, Kingsbury’s confusion/concern stemmed from the fact that he acknowledged Mahomes was still under contract for 3 more years. Now to most people that would seem like no big deal, but it definitely caught my attention.

Patrick Mahomes is coming off an MVP season in Kansas City where he led them to the AFC Championship Game, before losing to New England. Even though Mahomes replicating his 50 TD/5,000 Yard season is a little hard to imagine while still being under his rookie contract, he’s probably going to be the NFL’s first $200 million man. Mahomes is under his rookie contract until 2021 and a lot can happen before then. The Chiefs are set for a drop off this upcoming season after losing a chunk of their core players including Kareem Hunt, Dee Ford and Eric Berry. While they did add some solid players ot replace them, the amount of talent gained-to-loss is not equal. Chief’s management has made it clear that they intend to make Tyreek Hill the highest paid wide receiver of all time, as well as making sure Travis Kelce is given what he’s worth. As any NFL team will tell you, investing the majority of your cap space into only a handful of players rarely works out. If the Chiefs miss either miss completely or quickly exit the playoffs the next two years, it would not be inconceivable for ownership to move on from Andy Reid. Forcing Mahomes to acclimate to a new coach’s scheme during the final year of his deal could be enough for him to not want to return (no matter how loved he currently is in KC). For some reason everyone thinks that if a team wants to resign their franchise player then they will, but occasionally they just don’t want to return (Josh Norman, Le’Veon Bell, etc).

This is where the Cardinals could step in. By 2021, Kingsbury’s personalized team should be built with plenty of young players in from the next 3 drafts mixed in with solid veterans. The Cardinals should be able to tell by then if Josh Rosen is their guy or if they need to move on. With plenty of cap room more than likely being available, the Cardinals could opt to trade Rosen away to a team where he could thrive (such as the Chargers) for a mid-round pick and attempt to reunite Patrick Mahomes with his college coach. According to overthecap.com a fair market contract for Mahomes would be 4 years/$140mm or 6 years/$210mm. Given that the salary cap is expected to grow and the fact that the majority of the roster will be under rookie or team friendly contracts, that is completely doable. Steve Keim has made it obvious that he will try to acquire players he loved in the draft but that the team didn’t draft (Terrell Suggs, Adrian Peterson, Mike Glennon, etc) and the fact that Cardinals were planning on drafting Mahomes in 2017 would make this signing a no brainer. Arizona doesn’t have much luck drafting a QB to be the face of the franchise, with Jake Plummer being the most successful, but they do have luck when it comes to bringing in other players that have had success with other teams (Kurt Warner and Carson Palmer). By the start of the 2022 season, the Cardinals would be staring at a bright future ahead with a team built in Kingsbury’s image.

Kingsbury and Mahomes

*Disclaimer*

Now this is all merely speculation as I have no insider knowledge as to the inner workings of NFL teams, instead relying on facts that are public and adding in my own speculation, but after the miserable 2017 season you have to look at all future possibilities. Is that all likely to happen? Probably not. Are the Cardinals going to take Kyler Murray and trade Josh Rosen this month? Probably.

Don’t get me wrong, I believe that Josh Rosen and Kyler Murray are both going to very good players in this league one day, and I would be happy with either of them leading the Cardinals into the future, but from purely a fan’s wish list, I think it would be a lot more fun to see the Cardinals and Rams battling it out for supremacy of the division with the creative offensive play callers in Kliff Kingsbury and Sean McVay and their two gunslinger quarterbacks in Patrick Mahomes and Jared Goff putting up tons of points and dazzling fans for years to come.

Now I’m not a fool, and obviously I know this is HIGHLY unlikely to happen, but hey it’s the NFL. You can never say never.

<em>This is a FanPost and does not necessarily reflect the views of Revenge of the Birds' (ROTB) editors. It does reflect the views of this particular fan though, which is as important as the views of ROTB's editors.</em>