The Arizona Cardinals seem to be set to keep starting quarterback Kyler Murray, and not trade or release him this offseason. The Pittsburgh Steelers had been considered one of the favorites to acquire Murray if he was traded, but head coach Jonathan Gannon said this week that’s not going to be the case.
“No, there’s no doubt,” Gannon said. “No. 1, our franchise quarterback, that’s who I love. … “Being here for a year with him now, I’m more convicted than when I got here.”
Murray, 26, was the No. 1 overall pick in the 2019 NFL Draft out of Oklahoma and seemed destined to be the Cardinals franchise quarterback for a long time when he broke into the league. Last July, he signed a five-year, $230.5 million contract extension with $160 million in guaranteed money.
Then the bottom fell out. Murray struggled through the first 11 games of the season, posting a career-low 87.2 passer rating and 53.6 QBR. Then he suffered a torn ACL on December 12.
Two days later, the Cardinals announced that Steve Keim, the general manager who had drafted Murray, was taking a leave of absence. He never returned. The Cardinals finished the season 4-13. Head coach Kliff Kingsbury was fired.
Murray took most of this season to return from the injury, and the Cardinals are well within a rebuild under new general manager Monti Ossenfort and Gannon.
Murray is a leftover from the previous regime that might not fit their plans, their budget, or their timeframe for competition. The 4-12 Cardinals are currently in the running for the No. 2 overall pick, depending on how things go this weekend.
That could land them one of the top two quarterbacks in the 2024 NFL Draft class, USC’s Caleb Williams and North Carolina’s Drake Maye.
So a trade could seem like it would be in the best interests for both parties, but it doesn’t seem that, now he’s gotten to know Murray some, Gannon wants to go down that road, especially with the Cardinals beat the Pittsburgh Steelers and Philadelphia Eagles on the road on the last four weeks.
“I always think he’s gonna play good, and he has,” Gannon said. “There’s no doubt he was a huge part to why we won that game (against the Eagles). I thought he lit it up, I thought he was lights out. At the end of the game, that was kind of, my expectation for him, is if you’ve got the ball in your hands, the team knows we have a chance to win the game. And that’s what he did.”
The Steelers were considered one of the betting favorites to acquire Murray when it looked more likely that Arizona would seek to move on from him. Those odds have since been taken off the board.