Who is the Mole?

Cast your vote:

One might ask, does it really matter who the mole is?

For starters, whoever leaked this …:

…is a colossal idiot.

It begs the question —- who deserves the immaturity/lack of leadership/finger pointing critiques more, Kyler or this FO mole?

A mature leader knows that mature leadership follows the adage of “praise publicly, criticize privately.”

Talk about finger pointing?

This unearthing of this surreptitious, cowardly critique is the epitome of finger pointing.

And it corroborates Kyler’s concern that he is being “framed as a scapegoat” for the Cardinals’ “embarrassing” 34-11 loss to the Rams in the playoffs.

Let me ask you something.

Did a mole (then called a “snake in the grass”) come out of his hole to call into question Patrick Peterson’s maturity, leadership and penchant for finger pointing after he scrubbed his socials of all Cardinals’ related photos?

How come with Kyler Murray, the Cardinals send out the mole?

Leaking these critiques to ESPN on Super Bowl Sunday has to rank as one of the stupidest, most absurd actions the Cardinals’ front office has ever taken. Oh, and there are plenty of absurd actions (or lack of actions) on that list.

This one has to take the cake.

What in the world does it accomplish?

What? Sending Kyler tough love through the national media is the team’s accomplishment, via a mole?

In light of Kyler’s misgivings with the organization, how does this leak improve or deescalate matters?

This is like pouring gasoline on a brush fire that’s festering near the facade of your own house.

The only thing I can think of as to why the mole leaked this inside info to ESPN was in preparation for the backlash the Cardinals FO may have to face if they choose not to sign Kyler Murray to a contract extension.

Regardless, this unearthing of the mole is yet another chapter about WHY the way in which the Cardinals do their business is so infuriating and carelessly self-destructive.

Let’s go back to the beginning of the Murray saga.

All the Cardinals had to come out and say is that they view Kyler Murray as a transcendent, generational talent who is too good pass up with the 2019 #1 pick. Having said that, then the Cardinals could have said how highly they still think of Josh Rosen and that under the circumstances, because Josh, in his own right, deserves to be a QB1 in this league, then it would behoove the team to listen to trade offers.

If the Cardinals opened up the phone lines prior to the draft when teams are more willing and eager to trade draft picks, then they might have gotten a late 1st rounder for Josh.

Instead —- what we got was this absurd down-to-the-second mystery of what the Cardinals were going to do, having at some points claimed that “Josh is our guy” —- and so, after taking Murray and with teams in their draft rooms now excited about using their own draft picks, the trade value for Josh Rosen was compromised —- additionally because teams would have been apt to think that the Cardinals must not think Josh is all that good.

Then came the unthinkable —- the Cardinals’ GM after keeping Josh Rosen twisting in the wind for three months —- didn’t have the decency to call Josh to tell him about the trade and to wish him good luck.

With Kyler Murray’s contract extension decision, if the Cardinals want to wait, they don’t have to come public with their critiques —- they could just say that the plan all along has been to try maximize the team’s cap space on Kyler’s rookie contract and that the plan is to sign him to an long-term extension next year.

Instead, again, the way this situation is being handled is not only risking a complete alienation of the Cardinals’ most talented home-picked young QB in its 102 year history, this public condemnation of Kyler has now potentially compromised Kyler’s value across the league.

The ironic good news for Kyler is that all teams have to do is look at the history of the Cardinals alienating their star players. It’s a growing list, headed up in recent years by Anquan Boldin, Kurt Warner, Tony Jefferson, Calais Campbell, Tyrann Mathieu, David Johnson, Patrick Peterson and Chandler Jones. And now, the cherry on the top in Kyler Murray.

So, who is this mole?

In the twitter poll, I left out Kliff Kingsbury because he lives by the mantra of “criticizing privately.”

Would Michael Bidwill, who was the architect of the Kingsbury/Murray foundation, spill these beans to Chris Mortensen? For an owner who jumped the gun on playoff ticket sales and sent out higher priced season ticket renewals a month earlier than normal, to air such critiques about Kyler Murray would seem completely insane.

How about Steve Keim? He was not one of the two people whom Bidwill went out of his way to thank when he announced the hiring of Kliff Kingsbury. And it was Keim himself who said that it took him until March to begin to warm up to the idea of drafting Kyler Murray.

Back when Steve Wilks was fired and made a scapegoat for the dysfunction in the front office, some fans and pundits speculated that Steve Keim was able to retain his job as GM, despite his 5 week DUI suspension and his decisions to sign Sam Bradford as QB to a $20M contract under Mike MCoy as OC, because Keim wanted BA’s top choice as his successor, James Bettcher.

At first, Keim was hoping to pair Bettcher with Norv Turner, but when it became clear that Turner was headed to Carolina, Keim shifted the focus to Mike McCoy.

The point is —- when Steve Wilks was hired, Bidwill and Keim were not on the same page.

This time around, Michael Bidwill decided to give Ernie Accorsi a call —- and with added help from Adrian Wilson —- Kliff Kingsbury emerged as Steve Wilk’s successor.

Could it be that Bidwill and Keim were not on the same page again?

Which begs the question, at this point who is Steve Keim on the same page with inside the organization? The owner, the coaches, the players?

As for Terry McDonough, he has become virtually invisible. Where once he was getting GM interviews, these days his name is never brought up. At times, McDonough used to be seen with Bidwill and Keim at home games, but has anyone noticed him over the past couple of years? As a long-time NFL exec, one would imagine that he has a good rapport with Chris Mortensen. Thus, it’s possible that McDonough is the mole, although, he would have to know that the leak could cost him his job. Is that a risk McDonough would be willing to take? We might know the answer if in the days ahead Terry McDonough is announcing his “retirement” like BA, Tom Clements and Malcolm Butler did.

Adrian Wilson has been firmly in the Kingsbury camp from the get-go, so, it would seem virtually unthinkable that he would leak information that could further render Kingsbury a lame duck.

Man, if any coach ever headed into a season looking like a lame duck, it’s Kliff Kingsbury.

It’s at this point where I would like to hear your thoughts about how Kyler Murray and the Cardinals can recover from this nationally broadcasted debacle.

What can be done?

Where do you think things go from here?

Who do you think the mole is and why does he still have a job?