Arizona Cardinals respond to Steve Wilks' burner phone testimony: 'Not admissible'

Former Arizona Cardinals coach Steve Wilks testified in California on Friday via videoconference that he was given a burner phone by a team executive to communicate with General Manager Steve Keim during the then-GM's suspension from the league, according to a transcript of the deposition obtained by ESPN. "It was a directive from Keim as well as Bidwill," Wilks said in the deposition, according to ESPN. "They both knew.

" According to ESPN's report on Wilks' deposition transcript, team owner Michael Bidwill and other executives for the Cardinals communicated with Keim during his 5-week suspension from the NFL in the summer of 2018 after Keim pleaded guilty to extreme DUI. The Cardinals issued a statement in response to the ESPN story, saying that Wilks' testimony was "not admissible. " "As much as we would like to share the truth of what transpired, the confidentiality order in place prohibits us from doing so.

The only comment we are permitted to make is the following: The Arbitrator ruled that because we were denied an opportunity for cross-examination, on the current state of the record, the deposition testimony of Mr. Wilks is not admissible. " In April, news broke that former Arizona Cardinals senior personnel executive Terry McDonough had filed an arbitration claim to NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell accusing Bidwill of gross misconduct, including cheating, discrimination and harassment.

ESPN first reported the news. Report: Former Cardinals exec McDonough filed amended complaint to NFL in wake of team's statement ESPN reported Wednesday that "Wilks provided new details about the use of burner phones, alleged incidents he witnessed between McDonough and Bidwill, and his overall coaching experience," in response to questions posed by McDonough's attorney. The Cardinals complained to Jeffrey Mishkin, the arbitrator appointed by the NFL in the case, and issued the statement about the testimony not being admissible.

The ESPN report continued: "According to the correspondence reviewed by ESPN, Cardinals attorneys previously asked Mishkin to destroy the videotape and transcript of Wilks' testimony. Mishkin ruled Monday to keep the material, according to two sources with knowledge of the arbitration proceedings. " Wilks is currently the defensive coordinator for the San Francisco 49ers.

He only spent one season with Arizona, the 2018 season, and was fired after the Cardinals went 3-13. Keim was Arizona's general manager from 2013 through the 2022 season before stepping down. Details in Steve Wilks' deposition testimony According to ESPN, Wilks testified that former Cardinals vice president of football administration Mike Disner gave him a burner phone "sometime between July 18 and July 20.

" The report said: "Wilks said Disner told him that the two of them, along with Keim, McDonough and Matt Caracciolo, the team's vice president of football operations and facilities, received burner phones. He said Disner showed him how his phone had been preloaded with 'everybody's initials' and phone numbers. Bidwill himself used a burner phone to communicate with Keim, who had multiple burner phones, according to Wilks.

" Wilks testified: "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 refuted a statement from the Cardinals that Bidwill had taken "swift action" to retrieve the burner phones when he learned of them, according to his testimony. He said, according to ESPN: "No one retrieved the burner phones until Keim came back [from his suspension], so it wasn't swift.

" Wilks said Disner collected Wilks' burner phone after Keim 'was back in the building. '" More from the ESPN report According to ESPN, "Wilks also testified that he never witnessed McDonough being 'combative towards colleagues in leadership,' being willfully insubordinate, or having 'friction with his colleagues,' all claims previously made by the Cardinals following McDonough's complaint. " ESPN also reported: "Asked if he felt that Bidwill 'bullied, belittled, and criticized' McDonough in a personnel meeting following the on-field incident, as alleged in the arbitration complaint, Wilks replied, 'Yes.

'" Wilks also said, according to ESPN, that Bidwill "berated him multiple times" with one of those times occurring after a game in front of Wilks' 9-year-old son. .