What’s clear is the 2024 version of Murray can’t be the ceiling. This season is not so much about the Cards trying to methodically win games around Murray — rather than a continual press to win primarily through him.
GLENDALE, Ariz. — Entering Year 7, the descriptors for the next phase of the Kyler Murray experience have been exhausted.
A referendum on his future.
A make-or-break season.
A turning point.
A watershed moment.
For three straight training camps under the current Arizona Cardinals regime, this language setting up a breakthrough or breakdown has gone on and on. Each version related to something that had supposedly changed in the Murray matrix. Maybe he was healthier than ever. Maybe his confidence was at an all-time high or some of the pieces around him had been improved. Perhaps he’d spent more time in the facility during the offseason, getting stronger or wiser or more sharp with his study and workout habits. Whatever the developments, the underlying theme was always consistently suggestive: The best Kyler Murray? It was the next Kyler Murray.
But turning 28 next month and longing for the next level of his game, there seems to be a reality settling into place when it comes to Murray’s development. It suggests the 2025 season is not so much about dreaming of the considerable ceiling that has never been consistently reached, but more about raising his floor to the point the franchise can methodically win games around him — rather than a continual press to win primarily through him.
“There’s always going to be those highs,” Cardinals general manager Monti Ossenfort said of Murray. “What we’ve got to do is hopefully eliminate those lows. … If he plays at the level where we can eliminate some of those lows, we can win with him. I don’t think it’s realistic to say that those exceptional games — we can’t just constantly expect them. What we’ve tried to do is put a complete team around him, which I don’t know that he’s ever had that. If we can put a complete team around him, we can win and we can go to the playoffs.”
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That “complete team” concept shouldn’t be interpreted as “complete offense.” Largely because the Cardinals made the decision to lean into the discipline of their draft and pro personnel evaluations this past offseason and commit to additions that only fit with the culture and team design that Ossenfort and head coach Jonathan Gannon have been meticulously following in each of their offseasons.
The result: Despite wanting to add more pieces around Murray, they stuck to their draft board and plucked six defensive players among their seven picks, with the lone selection on offense being guard Hayden Conner in the sixth round. Free agency produced much of the same, with four of Arizona’s top five total value free agency deals yielding defensive signings — and the lone top-five offensive signing being backup quarterback Jacoby Brissett.
Naturally, that led to some groaning in the fan base — which has had a front-row seat to: An offensive line that is still trying to find its way; a wide receiving corps that has a developing No. 1 in Marvin Harrison Jr. but still lacks a high-end No. 2; depth and high-end starters at running back and tight end. And in the middle of it all, a quarterback in Murray who is still struggling to find week-to-week consistency.
The upside to how the plan has come together for the Cardinals is that they are fiscally one of the strongest teams in the league when it comes to salary cap health. There’s virtually no dead money on Arizona’s cap in 2025 and there should be surplus cap space to roll into the 2026 season, barring forthcoming contract extensions. Not to mention the reality that defensively, the Cardinals have invested in their front line in a manner that is strikingly similar to the Philadelphia Eagles — which is suggestive that Gannon is inching closer to operating the type of hyper physical scheme that helped him reach a Super Bowl as Eagles defensive coordinator in the 2022 season.
This is good news for Cardinals fans. Gannon and Ossenfort said three years ago that Arizona would be built with a brand of meaningful patience that has — at times — been uncommon for the franchise and owner Michael Bidwill. There haven't been embarrassments or scandals inside the coaching staff or front office, and there aren't knee-jerk decisions from ownership that steered the team away from a blueprint that Gannon and Ossenfort believed in.
But some brands of dedication have consequences, and for the Cardinals it means the team has followed a road that has put defensive additions on the front burner. That has left the offense returning the same cast of players from 2024, hoping to find its growth from within this offseason.
“I need to coach a little better and we need to have young guys that we brought in here because of their fit — we need them to take a little bit of a step up,” offensive coordinator Drew Petzing said. “That’s the big thing. Where is that going to come from? … Quarterback, tight end, running back, we feel phenomenal.”
Of course, much of the headlines have come from Harrison reporting to camp at a rocked 220 pounds, giving him better strength to attack the football at the catch point. Harrison has also been working to become a better technician at the top of his routes, where many wideouts with adequate speed — but not elite speed — tend to create space. Beyond Harrison, Petzing is hoping that backup running back Trey Benson can carve out a bigger role for himself, particularly on third down when he can factor into the passing game in a way that differentiates his skills from starter James Conner. And on the tight end front, there will be an emphasis to expand some of the opportunities for Trey McBride in the red zone, potentially elevating his overall receiving profile to being a 1B option to Harrison's 1A role.
Even if that kind of growth is achieved, there’s no getting away from Murray being center mass when it comes to where the offense is going in 2025. To that end, the Cardinals are planning on implementing some scheme tweaks that involve slide protections with an emphasis on shoring up how the middle of the offensive line protects the quarterback — largely in hopes of eliminating the inside pressure that Murray has struggled with in the past. Arizona will also continue to lean into moving the pocket in different ways, allowing Murray to get outside of the tackle box at times to throw.
When you sift these efforts, the granular goal becomes clear for Arizona this season. Some of it is to find out whether scheme and talent can help Murray find a much-needed improved level of consistency, and some of it is to determine if Year 7 in his development (or lack thereof) leaves the franchise brain trust considering change at the position. What’s clear is the 2024 version of Murray can’t be the ceiling. Last season saw Murray throw seven of his 21 touchdown passes in just two games of what was, looking back, undermanned competition — Week 2 against the Los Angeles Rams and Week 18 against the San Francisco 49ers. Those two games, along with a Week 10 game against the New York Jets and a superb second half against the Miami Dolphins in Week 8, were his highlight moments. Beyond that, the vast remainder of his season was marked by a roller coaster-style of play that ended up undermining the Cardinals and coupling a 6-4 start with a 2-5 finish.
All along the way, Murray’s inconsistency was highlighted through turnovers and bad decisions. Other times, it was general inaccuracy or what appeared to be chemistry issues with Harrison and not being able to utilize McBride in the red zone more often. At times, some of it was exacerbated by injuries in the backfield. Often, the offensive line failed to hold up for a litany of reasons. But some or all of it manifested in Murray making miscues at costly moments and the Cardinals often failing to recover.
“It’s just finding the balance of — [Kyler] can hit the driver, he can hit a 4-iron off the tee, he make birdie or pars with the driver, he can make pars with the 4-iron,” Gannon said. “It’s knowing when he has to pick the spot, because you can make a bogey or a double with the driver, too. It’s such a corny analogy, but it’s true. He has to have the wherewithal to know, this is the time to pull the driver, this is the time to pull the 4-iron. I think he will take a step there.”
Finding the right club will be paramount this season, even with an offense that returns the same players from last season’s edition. Whether it’s through the aggregate of young players growing or Murray having some kind of breakthrough — or the defense carrying Arizona on its shoulders — the Murray Matrix has to change in 2025. And if it doesn’t?
What he is in Year 7 is simply what he is.
Category: General Sports
