The arbitration case by former Arizona Cardinals vice president of personnel Terry McDonough against team owner Michael Bidwill has revealed new allegations. Former Cardinals head coach Steve Wilks testified that he was given a burner phone to communicate with then-general manager Steve Keim when the GM was serving a suspension, ESPN reports. Steve Wilks said Bidwill and Keim instructed the ex-Cardinals' coach to do so.
The Cardinals announced on July 17, 2018 that they suspended Keim for five weeks after he pleaded guilty to extreme DUI. According to a deposition transcript obtained by ESPN, Wilks said Cardinals vice president of football administration Mike Disner gave him a burner phone within three days of Keim's suspension.
“With me being a first-year head coach, I felt uncomfortable from the beginning that I worked this hard to get to this plateau and this opportunity, and then I was presented with this situation with being unethical,” Wilks testified.
Wilks testified that he only used the phone to communicate with Keim once, telling the GM how practice was going.
“That was the only time I reached out to Mr. Keim,” Wilks said.
Keim and Disner communicated during the suspension in order to ink running back David Johnson to a contract extension, Wilks testified. The coach said Bidwill used a burner phone to speak with Keim.
The NFL decided not to punish Keim further when the Cardinals suspended him. Arizona also fined Keim $200,000. Bidwill initially told Wilks that he shouldn't communicate with Keim during the suspension.
Wilks only lasted one season as the Cardinals' head coach. He was fired after leading Arizona to a 3-13 season.
Keim stayed with Arizona through the end of the 2023 season. The Cardinals said that Keim decided to step away from the team in order to focus on his health.
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