Steve Keim noted -- as was easy to see -- that Calais Campbell played well in the loss to the Saints. And the Cardinals General Manager is not unaware of all the talk -- including by Campbell himself -- that Campbell might not be with the Cardinals next season with his free agency coming up (Campbell has made pretty clear he'd like to stay, but it's a business.) The Cardinals have a lot of players who are about to become free agents. Keim, speaking on the "Doug and Wolf" show on Arizona Sports 98.7, emphasized Monday it's not like the Cards aren't trying to be proactive with their roster.

"One thing public does not generally know, we have spoken to many agents regarding players whose contracts expire after the season and some whose contracts do not expire after the season that we'd just like to try to extend," Keim said. "It takes two sides. Those are conversations I'll keep to myself, that we don't generally talk about through the media. There are several players we'd like to have back, but it takes two sides."

-- Keim said the Michael Floyd situation and subsequent release was "an unfortunate incident for both sides. Michael has moved on and we have moved on and I wish him nothing but the best."

Keim was also asked about the reaction from the players about Floyd's release -- it wasn't hard to see Larry Fitzgerald wasn't thrilled with the situation -- and whether the team talked to the leaders in the locker room about the move.

"No, I think the one thing, as players, you never can tell what they are thinking," Keim said. "There is no doubt there is a tremendous amount of loyalty from player to player, which you have to respect. These guys are in the locker room and they are fighting and they are competing. There is a natural love. And listen, it's no different as an organization, you get emotionally attached to these players. So when you have to make tough decisions it's extremely difficult because you don't just think of guys as football players. You also care about the person."

(As for the reasons why Floyd was cut, team president Michael Bidwill addressed those Sunday.)

-- Overall, with the playoffs officially gone, Keim said his biggest disappointment was that the team "underachieved." He wants to use the lost season as a learning tool. Along those lines, it includes the need to build the "right kind of locker room." Looking at a guy's physical tools sometimes can overshadow the smarts a player has or his ability to process information, which need to be factored in.

"That's the hardest to see as an evaluator, the heart and the mind," Keim said.

-- Keim liked what he saw from Carson Palmer Sunday, as well as Smokey Brown, Campbell and Tony Jefferson. He thought the offensive line held up "fairly well" given their circumstances. As for some of the newer/younger guys, he noticed linebacker Scooby Wright make a good block on special teams and guard Taylor Boggs hold up after being beat early. Linebacker Sio Moore was active, although Keim acknowledged he got beat a few times later in the game. As for rookies Brandon Williams and Robert Nkemdiche, Keim was muted in his praise but he still gave some, saying Nkemdiche flashed a couple of times and he still feels both will improve heading into 2017.

"Like I said last week, we're using these last three games as somewhat of a litmus test of where you want to go in 2017 (with the roster)," Keim said.