With the dust settling, the extent of Arians’ deception is becoming more clear; G.M. Steve Keim told Adam Schein of SiriusXM Mad Dog Radio on Friday that the Cardinals were focused on one guy in the first round with the thought that he could become a franchise quarterback. But he was long gone by the time the birds were on the board.


“Well, you know, we liked Blake Bortles a lot,” Keim said. “We thought, when you looked at his size, his athleticism, his ability to improvise. He doesn’t have quite the arm strength that Ben Roethlisberger had but he has some of the same skill set, naturally with his foot speed and athleticism to get out of the pocket and make plays with his feet, as well as stand tall in the pocket and make some of the throws down the field. And he’s a guy, being a junior coming out, he still had some developing to do as well but we think his upside is pretty big.”

<a class="bbc_url" href='http://m.nbcsports.com/content/keim-admits-cardinals-liked-bortles'>http://m.nbcsports.com/content/keim-admits-cardinals-liked-bortles</a>

"We're all looking for franchise quarterbacks, young franchise quarterbacks, but you have to be convinced to take one in the first round that this is the guy," Keim said. "In my opinion, there was one guy we were focused on in the first round that we thought was a franchise quarterback ... We liked Blake Bortles a lot, when you looked at his size, his athleticism, his ability to improvise."

<a class="bbc_url" href='http://www.bigcatcountry.com/2014/5/17/5726086/blake-bortles-arizona-cardinals-steve-keim-best-qb'>http://www.bigcatcountry.com/2014/5/17/5726086/blake-bortles-arizona-cardinals-steve-keim-best-qb</a>


More and more evidence that we may have gotten the only true franchise QB in this draft.

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"Before you criticize a man, walk a mile in his shoes. That way, if he gets angry, he's a mile away and barefoot."

It's pretty clear simply looking at how the draft unfolded.

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"You do your own thing in your own time. You should be proud."

It's pretty clear simply looking at how the draft unfolded.

yep

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Should have picked Teddy.

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Should have picked Teddy.

 

Who should have? I'm glad the Vikings got him. Let them draft another QB 2 years from now.

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Should have picked Teddy.

I had this mistaken idea too, before the draft and while Bridgewater is going to have a decent career, it's clear now that Bortles has more upside.

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I'm condescending. That means I talk down to you.

Remember Steve Keim is one of the GM jags considered before Dave and he is a well respected Scout and an upcoming GM. If it is true, I think we got out guy (from a personal standpoint). I am sure Blake will take this opportunity and push himself and other around him and be a very good QB.

 

Only concern I am having is his arm strength. I hope his arm strength is just because of poor footwork which our QB coach/Jedd will fix it.

 

Lets give credit to Dave the way he handled. If he had shown any glimpse of whom he is going to draft,I am sure Cleveland/OAK might have leapfrogged to the Rams who would have taken a third round to go two spots down and Bortles would've been#2 pick.  Another thing I got impressed with Dave is he has the vision to look in the future draft and make decision. I would go back to the Leftwich draft where if we had done some bit of homework on this we had a good chance of landing a premier QB on that draft. I think Dave is the super steel. I am not mentioning Gus here because it was Dave who hired Gus and Gus is a great hire. Very humble, can work in small market team and be prideful on that (unlike Jack) and motivate the team. This team is going to achieve great heights. If we are lucky we may make a run for a Superbowl. I do feel, you should be lucky to some extent beyond the talent to get to the superbowl (injuries, matchup on the way etc, getting hot at the right time).

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LOL, it also came out that Johnny Football wanted to be drafted by the Jags because of Gus.

 

Good things are happening in Duval these days.

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Can I get a link for the johnny football thing?

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I think it was Peter King, who followed JohnnyF on his team visits.

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