Bruce Arians, GM get 4-year deals

TEMPE, Ariz. -- The Arizona Cardinals are making sure the foundation of their franchise is in place for the next few years.

Less than a week after announcing a new contract for star receiver Larry Fitzgerald, the Cardinals announced Monday new four-year contracts for coach Bruce Arians and general manager Steve Keim.

The new deals will keep them with the Cardinals through the 2018 season.

Arians' initial contract with the Cardinals was for four years with a team option for a fifth and made him the lowest-paid coach in the NFC West at just more than $3 million per season.

Terms of their new contracts were not announced.

Arians and Keim will discuss their new contracts at a news conference Tuesday.

"Two years ago, we hired Steve and Bruce a few days apart and believed we had something really special," Cardinals president Michael Bidwill said. "Every day since then, they have done nothing but validate that belief.

"The team's performance over the last two seasons certainly reflects how talented they are in their respective roles, and it was important that we reward them for their accomplishments. I speak not only for myself but all Cardinals fans when I say how thrilled we all are that Steve and Bruce are now under contract through 2018."

They were hired within nine days of each other in 2013. In their two seasons together, the Cardinals have won 21 games -- including a franchise record-tying 11 in 2014 -- and went to the playoffs last season.

Keim, 42, has rebuilt Arizona's roster through 410 roster moves over the past two years and was responsible for acquiring 40 of the 53 players on the Cardinals' final roster of 2014.

A former Cardinals college scout who joined the franchise in 1999, Keim ascended the scouting ladder before becoming the team's vice president of player personnel in 2012 and, a year later, its general manager.

Arians, 62, has won the most games in his first two seasons as a Cardinals coach. He was named coach of the year in January after leading the Cardinals to an 11-5 record despite 21 players missing 109 total games.

He also won the award in 2012 after spending part of the season as the Indianapolis Colts' interim coach, becoming the first coach in NFL history to win the award multiple times in a three-year span with different teams.