Kyler Murray will make his long-awaited return from a torn ACL on Sunday. He suffered the injury 11 months ago in a December bout with the Atlanta Falcons. It’s rather poetic that Murray’s first game back will also be against the Falcons, who are on the road to face an Arizona Cardinals team officially helmed by the former No. 1 pick.
Last season was a difficult one for Murray, even before the injury. After two straight Pro Bowl nominations in 2020 and 2021, his numbers drooped slightly and the Cardinals as a whole floundered, sputtering to a 3-8 record prior to Murray’s season-ending incident.
He still produced at a respectable level individually — 66.4 percent completion rate with 2,368 passing yards, 14 touchdowns, and seven interceptions in 11 starts — but there were sudden questions about Murray’s status as the long-term answer at QB for the Cardinals. That was a rather inconvenient revelation given that he signed a five-year, $230.5 million contract before the season.
The Cardinals remained committed to Murray through the 2023 trade deadline. Now, with the Cardinals toiling at 1-8, Arizona is a frontrunner in the Caleb Williams or Drake Maye pursuit. The 2024 NFL Draft looms as a significant inflection point.
Murray’s performance over the next eight weeks could conceivably determine the Cardinals’ offseason game plan. If he performs well and the team stacks a few wins, Arizona is probably going to stand pat. If Arizona continues to hover at the bottom of the NFL standings, however, that could spell the end of Murray’s Arizona tenure.
Here are a few teams that should be scouting Murray in the event of potential trade availability.
3. New England Patriots
The New England Patriots’ season has been a proper disaster. The Mac Jones Experience has gone from solid to middling to utterly unbearable. Folks inside the organization are tired of Jones, and the Patriots’ backup plan(s) — Bailey Zappe, or Will Grier, or Malik Cunningham — don’t inspire much confidence.
Bill Belichick’s future with the franchise has come into sharp focus as more and more NFL insiders speculate about what lies beyond the 2023 campaign. Belichick has been at the reins in New England for 24 years, but with the Tom Brady era a fading memory and the Jones era on decidedly uneven terrain, he could be approaching a job change or a retirement ceremony.
Either way, the Patriots will have to address the QB problem. If Caleb Williams and Drake Maye aren’t on the table, it could behoove the Patriots to canvass the league for alternatives. Murray’s contract is a tough pill to swallow, but he’s only 26 years old. He has time to get back up to speed and maybe even better than before. At the very least, he’s a comfortable upgrade over the current QB situation.
It shouldn’t take much to wrench Murray away from the Cardinals given the size of his contract. The Patriots will either need to reboot the Belichick system or successfully usher in a new head coach. It’s hard to accomplish either outcome with Jones under center. Murray has the natural talent and the résumé to warrant a certain degree of optimism. He could move the Patriots back toward respectability.
