Cardinals GM Steve Keim downplayed the recent reports that LB Deone Bucannon, LB Haason Reddick and RB David Johnson could be available for traded ahead of this year’s trade deadline.
“One part of my job is to have dialogue with other teams,” Keim said during an interview with 98.7, Arizona’s Sports Station, via AzCardinals.com. “The one thing I won’t do, I won’t confirm or deny those things in public, I think you do those things behind the scenes. But it’s a lot of gossip, people enjoy it, it’s water-cooler talk, and a lot of stuff you’ll read is certainly false.
“Wednesday I woke up to three different names that were brought to my attention and those conversations never happened. So I would just say, for most fans, tread lightly, because very rarely are those accurate.”
Keim added that it’s his job to listen to offers from other teams because you never know what could be available.
“That said, some of the names brought up to me will do nothing but bring a chuckle out of me,” Keim said. “You have to listen. You never know what the compensation is going to be. It might be something you couldn’t resist. You look back at the Heschel Walker trade with Dallas, you can never say never. … Sometimes, there’s a lot of procrastination, where you’ll call and there are a lot of conversations that go nowhere, unfortunately. But it’s part of the business and a fun one for fans to follow.”
Of the three, Bucannon is likely the name to watch, as Jason La Canfora reported that the Cardinals were “stepping up their efforts” to trade him.
Deone Bucannon, 26, is a former first-round pick of the Cardinals back in 2014. He played out the final year of his four-year, $7,709,200 contract when the Cardinals picked up his fifth-year option last year.
Bucannon stands to make a base salary of $8.71 million for the 2018 season before becoming an unrestricted free agent in 2019.
In 2018, Bucannon has appeared in five games for the Cardinals and recorded 14 tackles, no interceptions and one forced fumble.
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