Tag: Michael Bidwill

Arizona Cardinals owner Michael Bidwill hospitalized with COVID-19

Arizona Cardinals owner Michael Bidwill is hospitalized in Rhode Island with COVID-19.

The owner of the Arizona Cardinals, Michael Bidwill, has been hospitalized with COVID-19, the Arizona Republic reported Friday, and the team confirmed afterward.

Bidwill, 55, is in Rhode Island. He has been on the East Coast for a few weeks and wasn’t feeling well earlier this week, suffering a headache and fever.

He went for a test that came back positive. Bidwill’s doctor recommended he admit himself to the hospital. His symptoms have subsided and Bidwill is expected to be released sometime this weekend.

Bidwill, 55, has been president of the family-owned team since 2007, after previously serving as vice president and general counsel.

New York Knicks and Rangers owner James Dolan was diagnosed with the coronavirus in late March, but was did not experienced any significant symptoms. Dolan donated blood plasma to try and help doctors develop treatments for other patients.

 

Michael Bidwill pleased with Cardinals’ offseason thus far

“There are a few more steps, but I like on paper how it’s come together,” he said last week.

The Arizona Cardinals were fairly aggressive to begin the offseason. They pulled off a trade for receiver DeAndre Hopkins, largely considering around the league as quite lopsided. They added defensive starters and re-signed a bunch of players who were with the team in 2019.

It has left a good impression on Michael Bidwill the team’s chairman and president.

“I feel very good,” he said in a video press conference recently. “There’s obviously a lot more work to be done. The draft will be an important part of our addition player talent.”

The Cardinals have six picks in the draft and then will add undrafted rookies to the roster. He also anticipates other free agent additions of veteran players.

“It always seems like after the draft there are late signings as we get closer to camp,” he said.

General manager Steve Keim has often added starters to the roster near to or after the start of training camp.

“There are a few more steps, but I like on paper how it’s come together,” he added. “Not just the players with how they perform on the field but also the things we have heard about them with what kind of teammates they are, what kind of leaders they are in the locker room and their commitment to the game.”

All of this was done while having limited access to team headquarters with the coronavirus pandemic.

“I’m really proud of the work that has been done under some difficult situations by our personnel folks.”

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Listen to the latest from Cards Wire’s Jess Root on his podcast, Rise Up, See Red. Subscribe on Apple podcasts or Stitcher Radio.

Ep. 262

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Ep. 261

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Michael Bidwill suggests Cardinals will tag LT D.J. Humphries

It sounds like Humphries will be around in 2020 even if a long-term contract is not signed.

Among the Arizona Cardinals players who will be free agents next month if they do not sign a contract extension with the team is starting left tackle D.J. Humphries. He has stated before he doesn’t want to hit free agency and wants to remain with the Cardinals.

The feeling appears to be mutual, according to Cardinals chairman and president Michael Bidwill. And it appears the Cardinals could use one of the tools at their disposal to keep Humphries around at least another year.

“We’d like to have him back and we also have the tag out there, the franchise tag, that we can use,” Bidwill said on Arizona Sports 98.7 FM on Wednesday. “We’ll see where we end up.”

The Cardinals have both the franchise tag and the transition tag they can use to keep Humphries from hitting free agency. The franchise tag would pay Humphries a little more than $16 million for 2020. Depending on whether they use the exclusive or non-exclusive tag, Humphries could negotiate with other teams and the Cardinals could match or let him go and receive two first-round draft picks. Using the transition tag on him would pay him more than $14 million for 2020 but allow him to negotiate with other teams, but the Cardinals could match the offer.

Teams commonly use the tags to extend the window of contract negotiations.

If they are going to use one of the available tags on Humphries, they must do it between February 25 and March 10. They must have a multi-year extension in place by July 15 or they cannot negotiate a longer deal until after the 2020 season.

Humphries, the team’s 2015 first-round draft pick, made it through a season healthy for the first time since he began playing. His rookie season he was inactive all year. He finished 2016 missing the final games with a concussion. In 2017 and 2018, knee injuries landed him on injured reserve.

He played all but two offensive snaps in 2019 and allowed only two sacks, although he was among the league’s leaders in penalties by offensive linemen.

He is a leader in the room and entering his prime.

Ideally, the Cardinals and Humphries can come to terms on a deal before the Cardinals have the chance to use the tag.

No matter how things play out, it appears Humphries probably will still be the team’s starting left tackle in 2020.

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Listen to the latest from Cards Wire’s Jess Root on his podcast, Rise Up, See Red. Subscribe on Apple podcasts or Stitcher Radio.

Ep. 257

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Ep. 256

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Michael Bidwill says GM Steve Keim deserves credit for direction of Cardinals

“I feel like we’ve certainly turned, and for as much as the Cardinals are going in the right direction, Steve Keim deserves a lot of credit for that.”

The Arizona Cardinals have not made the playoffs in their last four seasons and have only won 21 games total in those four seasons, including only eight in the last two seasons. For that reason, many feel that general manager Steve Keim should be on the hot seat. Many fans believe he should be fired.

Chairman and team president Michael Bidwill doesn’t agree. Just as Bidwill spoke of the confidence he has in Keim to fix the team when the team announced the firing of Steve Wilks in January 2019, he continues to give Keim support and praise.

What would Bidwill say to fans who aren’t a fan of Kiem?

“I’d say he just picked the rookie of the year,” he said in a radio interview on Arizona Sports 98.7 FM on Wednesday. “He obviously had a lot to do with hiring Kliff Kingsbury.”

Kyler Murray and Kingsbury are the two major bright spots for the team. In general, people see the Cardinals as an up-and-coming team. For that, Keim deserves credit.

“He’s done a lot of things right,” Bidwill said. “I feel like we’ve certainly turned, and for as much as the Cardinals are going in the right direction, Steve Keim deserves a lot of credit for that. I hope fans recognize that was a lot of his decision-making.”

He pointed out the trade for Kenyan Drake, who was the team’s leading rusher and looks like a player the team would like to bring back.

“There are a lot of good things that are happening,” he said.

He recognizes the criticism Keim has received but also blames last year’s issues on Keim.

“He’s received his fair share of criticism,” he added. “Some of these draft picks didn’t work out, but you look at just last year. Look at the number of starters that were not available on our defense. Had they been available, the season could have been on the defensive side of the ball much different. That had to do with injury and other things you can’t blame any general manager for.”

You can’t blame a GM for injuries of PED suspensions. The offense got better. The defense didn’t improve but because of reasons that Keim couldn’t likely have fixed.

It is true he has the team in the right direction. However, the fact they were in a bad situation to begin with was also largely his fault.

To Bidwill’s credit, he has allowed Keim to fix things. If things do get turned around, he will have been proven right and the mistakes Keim has made will simply be forgotten.

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Listen to the latest from Cards Wire’s Jess Root on his podcast, Rise Up, See Red. Subscribe on Apple podcasts or Stitcher Radio.

Ep. 257

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Ep. 256

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Cardinals still hope David Johnson can reach 2016 levels of production

Chairman and team president Michael Bidwill would not speculate as to what might happen with Johnson this offseason.

One of the biggest questions for the Arizona Cardinals this offseason is how they will handle running back David Johnson and his contract. Due to make a fully-guaranteed $10.2 million, it is largely believed the team will at least attempt to trade him after gaining only 715 total yards from scrimmage and getting benched the second half of the season.

However, as long as he is on the roster, the hope is he can get back to being as good as he was a few seasons.

“My expectations are obviously go back to the 2016 season and his rookie year,” said Cardinals team president and chairman Michael Bidwill in a radio interview on Arizona Sports 98.7 FM on Wednesday. ‘He was such a productive player on the field. Those are his, too. He had some real challenges this year getting back to those levels on the field.”

Bidwill, though, would not speculate as to what the team would do with Johnson.

“He’s a member of the organization just like anybody else that’s under contract and that’s where it is,” he said.

Bidwill praised Johnson for his community work, noting why Johnson was the team’s selection for the Walter Payton Man of the Year award.

He also said that any move made with Johnson would be done by general manager Steve Keim and not him.

Free agency begins next month and no trades can happen until then, although they can be agreed upon before then.

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Listen to the latest from Cards Wire’s Jess Root on his podcast, Rise Up, See Red. Subscribe on Apple podcasts or Stitcher Radio.

Ep. 257

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Ep. 256

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Michael Bidwill: ‘Lots of moving parts’ in re-signing RB Kenyan Drake

“It takes two people to make a deal,” the team president and chairman said on the radio.

When pending free agent running back Kenyan Drake changed his Twitter profile picture, many fans got excited at the speculation of what it meant. Arizona Cardinals team president Michael Bidwill doesn’t read too much into it but does see it as a positive.

“It’s a positive that he had his Cardinals uniform on and I think that’s the only conclusion you can draw,” he said on Arizona Sports 98.7 FM on Wednesday.

It was clear that Bidwill wouldn’t mind having him back and he believes Drake likes it in Arizona.

“We know that we loved him and it was a great selection,” he continued. “(General manager) Steve Keim and the personnel group did a great job here in acquiring Kenyan. It was an aggressive move and it really paid off. I think Kenyan really enjoyed his time here.”

Actually getting Drake under contract could be tricky.

“As we go forward, he’s obviously a free agent,” Bidwill said. “It takes two people to make a deal. There are a lot of moving parts.”

Part of that will be his salary demands. Part of that is probably the money already committed to David Johnson.

But getting back to the profile photo, Bidwill appeared to be pleased it wasn’t the alternative — wiping his profile of anything Cardinals-related.

“It’s just great that he had a Cardinals uniform and we get to talk to him about rejoining us next year.”

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Listen to the latest from Cards Wire’s Jess Root on his podcast, Rise Up, See Red. Subscribe on Apple podcasts or Stitcher Radio.

Ep. 257

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Ep. 256

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