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Josh Weinfuss
TEMPE, Ariz. — Kyler Murray stood on the sideline Sunday in his black hoodie and black sweatpants, watching the Arizona Cardinals franchise he was once supposed to save lose yet again.
And there was nothing he could do about it.
He couldn’t scramble away from an entire defense like he did in Las Vegas in 2022 or outsprint a linebacker for the end zone like he did twice last season.
Murray’s season ended last week when coach Jonathan Gannon announced Murray wouldn’t return from a foot injury that’s sidelined him since Week 6. It’s possible Murray won’t return to the Cardinals at all. If that’s the case, Murray’s seven years will be defined by what could’ve been.
After announcing that Murray was out for the rest of 2025, Gannon declined to say last week if he expects Murray to be his quarterback in 2026.
Los Angeles Rams on Ā«Monday Night Football.Ā»
When the Cardinals paired Murray with Kliff Kingsbury, an offensive savant Arizona hired months before drafting Murray, they thought they had found the perfect marriage.
Kingsbury, who coached at Texas Tech at the time, recruited Murray during his prep days in Dallas and had stayed close to the quarterback and his family throughout Murray’s college days. The Cardinals thought Kingsbury was the perfect coach to help Murray transition to the NFL. And he was, until he wasn’t.
They produced quality numbers and steady improvement through 2021, when Murray had his lone playoff appearance. Then the cracks started to show. Murray yelled at Kingsbury to calm down during Arizona’s Thursday night game against the New Orleans Saints in 2022. By the time Murray tore his ACL that December on Ā«Monday Night Football,Ā» the two were hardly speaking.
This Kyler Murray-Kliff Kingsbury exchange š pic.twitter.com/ofIQbSK1xd
ā NFL on ESPN (@ESPNNFL) October 21, 2022
Murray wanted his voice heard in personnel decisions and draft choices, according to a source familiar with the situation. For the most part, the Cardinals dismissed his requests to add certain players until trading for Marquise Brown in a draft-day move in 2022, giving Murray one of his best friends and a former college teammate.
Perhaps the most famous feud involving Murray came during his extension negotiation in 2022. Cardinals brass didn’t think Murray was studying film at home enough after comparing the time he spent on his tablet outside of the facility to that of his teammates. The team added an independent study clause into his contract that required Murray to study at home for four hours a week in addition to what he was studying at the Cardinals’ facility. When the addendum was leaked, the backlash was so fierce that the Cardinals removed it from his contract days later.
The problems on the field were supposed to change in 2023 after the Cardinals fired Kingsbury and hired Jonathan Gannon, who brought Drew Petzing and his NFL-style offense from Cleveland.
For the first time in his football career, Murray wasn’t playing in an Air Raid-style system. He had finally moved past the collegiate schemes and was running an offense rooted in the West Coast offense. As he returned from the ACL injury he suffered in 2022, there were signs of change. Murray’s stance and footwork were tweaked. He was going under center more. He was allowed to be the passer he always knew he was while using his legs as a complement as opposed to relying on his legs as a primary option.
Everything appeared to start clicking last season when Murray led Arizona into first place in the NFC West as late as Week 11. Then Arizona lost five of its last seven.
Yet, there was hope for this season.
Murray was, in his own words, completely recovered from his 2022 ACL injury. He was in the third season in Petzing’s scheme. Wide receiver Marvin Harrison Jr. was expected to make a jump from Year 1 to Year 2. The offensive cohesiveness was at an all-time high after every skill player returned from 2024. And, on top of all that, Arizona had shown last season what it was capable of. This was supposed to be the year Arizona took a jump into being a contender in what’s become a vaunted NFC West.
And Murray was supposed to be the centerpiece of it all.
Tennessee Titans. It was third-and-12 and the Cardinals were up 21-6 when the snap bounced off Murray’s face mask. That was the play during which Murray apparently injured his foot.
And then Murray went on injured reserve with a 2-3 record, and his back-up Jacoby Brissett ignited Arizona’s passing offense for most of his eight starts, awakening the likes of Trey McBride and Michael Wilson and showing what Arizona’s offense was capable of.
While what happens with Murray and the Cardinals has yet to be written, Murray may have been prophetic earlier this season. During his last Wednesday news conference of the season heading to Arizona’s Week 5 game against the Tennessee Titans, Murray was asked about the Cardinals’ plans to build a new practice facility that is scheduled to be ready by 2028.
Ā«It’s beautiful,Ā» Murray said. ‘I don’t know when it’s coming out, but I hope I’m here to see it.Ā»
