An Uncle Rico Production
The Future of Kyler Murray
With his future as a Cardinal in doubt & his team in prime position to earn the first overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft (if you can call it that), the future of former league-darling Kyler Murray is on loose-footing more so than anytime in his highly celebrated career. After having nothing but “yes men” & other types of ass-sniffers around him, Murray is, for the first team in his career, dealing with the prospect of rejection.
The guy has been at the top of nearly every sports league he’s played in. He’s a former #1 overall HSFB recruit & Gatorade Player of the Year out of Allen, TX and a two-sport athlete who went on to win college football’s highest award (Heisman Trophy) while also being drafted #9 overall in the MLB draft in the same year. He was drafted #1 overall in the 2019 NFL draft (choosing football over baseball) by the Arizona Cardinals & their new head coach Kliff Kingsbury.
Kingsbury is most notably known for crushing on Murray since his high school days & coaching his entire career with the Cardinals from up the ass of Murray. Murray saw his head coach as more of a “little brother” than a mentor/leader, an approach that clearly didn’t work. But another season-ending injury & head coach/general manager change later, Murray is on the outside looking in. Is Kyler Murray going to be an integral part of the Cardinals rebuild.
I get why there is so much hype surrounding the Cardinals taking USC QB Caleb Williams. And while I think the hype is real with Williams, it was his opponent this past Saturday who I’ve been petitioning Cardinals pundits & executives to take a look at. Notre Dame QB Sam Hartman is THE BEST DEEP BALL THROWER in the CFB. He displayed this once again, as #21 Notre Dame upset undefeated #10 USC in South Bend, IN. If they don’t figure out a way to utilize Brown’s talents, it will be an absolute waste, and Brown (like his fans) will be sure to let the Cardinal’s new brass know it.
It’s too early to call the Cardinals season a bust, and with the return of franchise QB Kyler Murray looming, things will only get more complicated. Murray is in the second year of his 5yr/$230.5M contract, a contract many thought he had not been earned. If Murray were a car, he would be the equivalent of a flashy, luxury sports car that is completely impractical, can go 0-60 mph really fast, but breaks down any time you need it, just run a few errands.
Kyler was a Kliff Kingsbury/Steve Keim guy, not a Jonathan Gannon guy. Both Kliff & Keim were fired as the head coach & general manager (respectively) at the conclusion of last season. Gannon inherited Murray. Should Murray play well in the remaining games, will Gannon opt to hitch his wagon to Murray’s (similar to Kingsbury) as the face of the Cardinals franchise? Should Murray be unspectacular, will Gannon & new GM Monti Ossenfort find a way to ship Murray out of the “Valley of the Sun”?
The best scenario for the new ruling-class of the Cardinals is for Murray to come back & manage to play at his former pro-bowl level, allowing his trade stock to elevate. Right now, Murray is a short, overpaid, injury-prone QB with athleticism & a terrible attitude. He’s a video game quarterback. At his best, he’ll put butts in seats & win a few games.
At his worst, he’ll be a failed leader & organizational cancer. If the Cardinals are to convince a team to undertake his massive contract (via trade), he will need to show his juice is still worth the squeeze. There will be plenty of teams looking for a potential “franchise” upgrade at quarterback. Look for a team like the Atlanta Falcons to get in on the Kyler Murray Sweepstakes this offseason.
