Arizona Cardinals general manager Steve Keim seemed to want to avoid Kyler Murray. He didn’t want to come to a realization he needed draft Murray. But he came to that conclusion anyway. Murray is a Cardinal. As a result, quarterback Josh Rosen is playing for the Miami Dolphins.

Keim explained his thought process in an interview with The Ringer’s Robert Mays, and the general manager said he was doing his best to turn on blinders toward Murray during the pre-draft process — in part because Rosen was in the building. Murray’s talent overwhelmed Keim, even when he was studying film on the Oklahoma’s opponents like Alabama defensive tackle Quinnen Williams.

Here’s what Keim told The Ringer:

“Taking this guy no. 1, I took a lot of grief for that,” Keim says with a sigh. “You have to make the tough decisions and avoid the outside noise— ‘Why’d you give up on this guy? Why would you trade this guy?’ … It’s unprecedented. I took [Rosen] in the top 10. I just felt that [Murray] was a generational talent that I just couldn’t pass up.”

That doesn’t explain why Keim ghosted Rosen after stringing him along during an “annoying” pre-draft process. That doesn’t explain why Keim hired and fired coach Steve Wilks in the span of a year. But if Murray does prove to be a generational talent, then those blemishes won’t matter. That’s how the NFL works: quarterbacks are king. If a general manager can find a franchise quarterback in the draft, that executive can also quickly find that job security comes next.

In the meantime, Keim will pump the tires of Murray — who may well be an excellent young quarterback — because Keim’s job depends upon Murray’s success. Here’s what Keim said of Murray’s tape after drafting him in April, via Arizona Sports 98.7:

“I’ve been doing this over 20 years. I’ve seen guys who have thrown it like him. I’ve seen guys who have run it like him. But I can tell you that I haven’t seen anybody that can do the combination that he brings to the table: the ability to throw the football with timing, accuracy and touch, and to be able to run the football, extend plays and create outside of the pocket.”

That’s what Murray has begun to do in preseason and training camp. And it’s what Keim and coach Kliff Kingsbury are hoping Murray can do more of when the regular season — and perhaps even the postseason — arrives.