Bruce Arians, Steve Keim Agree to New Contracts with Arizona Cardinals

The Arizona Cardinals made sure to keep head coach Bruce Arians and general manager Steve Keim in the desert, signing both to new contracts that will keep them with the team through 2018.       

NFL Network's Albert Breer reported the news on Monday, Arizona's vice president of media relations, Mark Dalton, provided comments from team president Michael Bidwill:

Kent Somers of AZCentral.com reported that both men got fifth-year options for 2019. Ian Rapoport of NFL.com reported the deal will pay Arians an average of $6 million a season.

Rapoport weighed in on the decision and also put the deals in perspective in relation to the rest of the league:

Arians, a two-time AP NFL Coach of the Year winner, has helped the Arizona Cardinals rise to be among the NFL's better teams despite playing in a tough NFC West. In his first two years at the helm, Arizona won a combined 21 games and made the playoffs in 2014-15 despite a poor quarterback situation.     

The fact that the Cardinals went 10-6 in Arians' maiden campaign, when division rivals Seattle and San Francisco played in the conference title game, served as a testament to how great of a hire he was.  

Bidwill explained to Arizona Sports 98.7 FM in February why he wanted to offer contract extensions to both Arians and Keim, per ArizonaSports.com's Adam Green (h/t NFL.com's Marc Sessler):

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I think it's the right thing to do, and I want to reward people that have had success and brought success to the team. I can't think of two people more deserving -- coach of the year, two times in three years, executive of the year. They've both done tremendous jobs, brought tremendous leadership and success to the organization and I want to be in the habit of rewarding people that bring that kind of success.

"

Instead of being intimidated by the three non-winning seasons that preceded his arrival, Arians promoted an attack-minded style of play on both sides of the ball.

Arizona has been known to blitz a lot under Arians, and it has operated his trademark vertical passing game with considerable success. There's little reason to believe Arians won't continue pushing the Cardinals on their promising course toward a potential Super Bowl run.

One area Arians needs to address is the uncertainty surrounding the most important position: quarterback. Carson Palmer went down with an ACL tear in 2014, leaving only Drew Stanton, Ryan Lindley and Logan Thomas on the quarterback depth chart. Stanton also injured his knee, thrusting Lindley into the starting role for the postseason.

If Keim can figure out a way to supply Arians with another competent passer, the team should have nothing to worry about in the coming years.

There's still a chance for the 35-year-old Palmer to bounce back despite the advanced stage of his career, and Thomas is talented and has plenty of room to develop. The search for the Cardinals' true QB of the future may result in a down year sometime soon.

Based on Arians' track record and the tremendous job he did taking over in an interim role in Indianapolis in 2012, though, "down year" probably isn't in his lexicon.  

Rampant NFL parity makes it hard enough to produce a consistent winner. The Cardinals took a big step in stabilizing a vital organizational role by giving both Arians and Keim new contracts.