PHOENIX — Former Arizona Cardinals head coach Bruce Arians used to tell his coaches if you miss something really important because of football, I'll fire you.
You miss your kid's baseball game and/or a recital and I'll fire you.
Arians missed a lot of moments in his coaching career. His point was that there's always time to work, but don't miss the important stuff in life.
This past weekend, some members of the Cardinals, including head coach Jonathan Gannon and general manager Monti Ossenfort went to Norman, Oklahoma, to support their quarterback, Kyler Murray.
Murray was being honored by the University of Oklahoma with a statue.
Pretty cool, right?
Not according to longtime NFL writer Mike Florio.
He slammed the Cardinals, accusing them of slacking off on NFL Draft prep to go on a day trip.
Florio also called out Murray for being happy during their release party last Thursday night, suggesting Murray should be down in the dumps because the team was terrible last year and because Murray is coming back from a torn ACL.
Florio doubled down on his comments today on Pro Football Talk Live on Peacock.
"Could you imagine Bill Belichick doing that five days before the draft? Could you imagine any successful GM or head coach pulling the plug on draft preparations five days before to go fly to some statue unveiling in order to let the quarterback know they support him? I think the quarterback would understand," Florio said.
"(It's) kind of an important weekend, kind of an important week; there's always work to be done," Florio continued. "Sean Payton said at the pre-Draft press conference last week that the night before, he and Broncos GM George Paton watched 1,200 plays from only three players. There's plenty of work to be done. I don't care if you think you're done; you're not done."
Florio also appeared on Arizona Sports' Bickley & Marotta Monday morning to explain his take.
"The question is, what's the relationship with Kyler Murray? And, do you have a conversation with Kyler Murray along the lines of, we want to support you as much as we can, and the way we're going to do that is we're going to spend every waking moment we have in the runup to the Draft making sure we get the best possible players on the field that can be developed around you for your coming years as a member of the team," Florio said.
"I've talked to people around the league about this, and maybe it's generational, maybe I'm just talking to the older guard, but some people I talked to were happy this happened because it's all one big competition," Florio added. "And the people who were locked in all weekend long, looking at fifth-round, sixth-round, seventh-round prospects, studying film after film after film, they just kind of smile and nod when they hear something like this because it's all about the commitment you're willing to put in.
"And there are certain things that are non-negotiable," Florio continued. "A family member dies and you need to show support and respect, that's one thing. But for something like this, I think it would have been very easy for Monti Ossenfort and Jonathan Gannon to explain to Kyler Murray why they can't personally be there five days before the Draft."
This take is both crazy and wrong.
I'm all for calling out the Cardinals when they deserve it. But this is not one of those times.
Their draft board is done. Ossenfort said at their pre-Draft press conference last week that the board was 95% complete.
They've been working on it for months. They are ready for this weekend's test.
Also, did you know most NFL coaches have weekends off in the offseason, like normal folks?
Gannon gave his coaches the weekend off, meaning some staff members chose to spend their free time supporting their quarterback.
They flew private, so if they needed to work, they likely could have.
This idea that coaches are supposed to be locked away studying the NFL Draft is not rooted in reality or real life.
This is football after all, not rocket science.
The Cardinals have their fair share of issues. We've talked about them.
They have followed up all of their drama and chaos last year with even more drama and chaos this year.
They have a new head coach and a new general manager. They did not make any major free agent signings. Two top stars, Budda Baker and DeAndre Hopkins, want out. Their owner is being investigated.
The Cardinals also need to upgrade their practice facility along with their roster and, as already mentioned, their star quarterback is working back from a major knee injury and there is no timeline yet for his return.
Around the NFL, Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniels went to the Miami Heat game on Saturday, Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll was at the Seattle Kraken game, and 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan was at the Golden State Warriors game. There was not a word about any of those coaches "taking a break."
There is nothing dysfunctional about supporting a friend or teammate or family member. And if you can't celebrate or find happiness in that, then maybe you need to take a break.
Those are my comments. Let me hear yours on Twitter. Tweet me @CamCox12.