Klutch Sports Group has hired former Cardinals general manager Steve Keim as its new general manager, according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter.
Although Keim has not worked in the NFL since taking a leave of absence from the Cardinals late in the 2022 season, he spent 10 years as the NFC West team’s GM. The Cardinals made the playoffs just three times during Keim’s tenure, though that is a better success rate than the franchise has displayed in decades. The Cards ventured to the 2015 NFC championship game, and Keim’s regime — despite enduring a rough 2022 — acquired some cornerstone pieces that have ended up boosting the current Arizona front office.
Keim, 52, worked his way up through the Cardinals organization, starting as a regional college scout in 1999 and rising all the way to general manager in 2013. He remained in that position until January 2023, when he stepped down to focus on his health. Keim has not worked in the NFL since that Cardinals separation late in the 2022 season.
Keim finished with an 80-80-2 record as Arizona’s general manager, being atop the front office when the team traded for Carson Palmer, drafted Kyler Murray and traded for DeAndre Hopkins. Keim also oversaw the talks that produced Murray’s five-year, $230.5MM extension
The Cardinals extended Keim and then-HC Kliff Kingsbury months before they hammered out the Murray deal, but ownership reversed course after the 2022 Arizona edition unraveled and finished 4-13. Michael Bidwill bailed on Keim and Kingsbury at season’s end, not bringing back the veteran decision-maker and canning the HC who had pushed for Murray.
Klutch Sports Group is believed to be the first agency to hire a former NFL general manager to the same position within an agency. Keim will work with Klutch’s team of agents, bringing decades of NFL front office experience to the agency.
“Steve gives us a tremendous amount of depth through the lens of knowledge, experience and expertise,”’ said Klutch CEO Rich Paul. “This is a game changer for us and I imagine the industry. His entire life has been loving the game of football, and we couldn’t be happier to have him join us.”
Unemployment services should direct their clients to NFL front offices. Once you have a job in an NFL front office, you are guaranteed employment for life. No obvious skillset required.
The front office bloat within the NFL is almost comical. The real challenge is trying to create job titles that actually sound important. At the Bears website I found someone who is the Executive Vice President of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion & Chief Impact Officer…lol.
His agent must’ve written this article.
They failed to mention him being at the helm when they drafted Josh Rosen, getting suspended for “extreme” DUI (still trying to understand how the law identifies “extreme”), exhibiting such poor judgement that he was accused of using burner phones to communicate with the team during said suspension, being addicted to pain meds, being accused of racial discrimination, etc.
Not for me to judge, but at least have the honesty to mention it in the article. The “writer” of the article seems to have done a cut/paste of Keim’s wiki page (conveniently scrubbed of anything referenced above).
Yawn