Steve Keim wasn't about to announce any trades Friday morning or even talk about any possibilities specifically. But the recent rumors floated this week -- potentially shopping Deone Bucannon or Haason Reddick or even David Johnson (the latter which was always somewhat ridiculous) -- didn't go unnoticed by the general manager.

"One part of my job is to have dialogue with other teams," Keim said during an appearance on the "Doug and Wolf" show on 98.7, Arizona's Sports Station. "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."

Generally, Keim said, he's open to listening about any possible scenario, because that's the job.

"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."

-- Keim said there still is a "lot of inconsistency" from the Cardinals, despite their first victory last weekend. He was happy with the takeaways, he said, but "we didn't get any style points" and "there are still a lot of things that frustrated me, frustrated all of us."

-- On the subject of getting David Johnson producing more in the running game, "it's all about playing in unison," Keim said. "It needs to be blocked up better, maybe schemed better, could be David Johnson running with better patience or better eyes, it's all of us. There's no doubt it needs to be corrected. ... David Johnson, at some point and time and hopefully sooner rather than later, is going to have a breakout game."

-- DT Robert Nkemdiche has a good chance of returning to the field this week after missing last week with a foot injury, and Keim acknowledged that Nkemdiche has often been banged up in his career and "we need Robert to play."

"Ability doesn't matter if you don't have availability," Keim said.

-- Keim wouldn't say if new wide receiver Kendall Wright would play in Minnesota, but said that he's looked good in practice and that he is a guy who "is going to catch the football."

"We've had far too many drops this season," Keim said.