The Arizona Cardinals are in the process of overhauling their entire roster under the new leadership combo of general manager Monti Ossenfort and head coach Jonathan Gannon, who they hired following the conclusion of the 2022 season. This next season will be a pivotal one for the future of the team, with the fate of franchise quarterback Kyler Murray seemingly up in the air. Here’s a look at what’s going on with Murray and the Cardinals as we prepare for the 2023 season.
The Tank is On?
Roughly half the team’s roster has turned over since last season, as they let most of their free agents walk away. In their stead are a number of cheap veterans and bargain bin pickups who Ossenfort signed to one year contracts. With what essentially amounts to tryout deals, if the Cardinals find a diamond in the rough this year, they’ll have the financial flexibility to sign them long term next offseason without saddling themselves with a bunch of needless, risky contracts. It’s a low-risk, low-reward strategy, but even one hit might land them a franchise cornerstone moving forward.
With this strategy, many fans and media members are wondering if the Cardinals are planning to tank. They’re already expected to be one of the worst teams in the league this year, and the under the radar offseason doesn’t make it seem like they’re trying too hard to win. With a bunch of players playing for their jobs as they look to acquire a long term contract, though, the players on the Cardinals’ roster aren’t going to be slacking off…they have everything to prove.
Just because management wants to lose games doesn’t mean the players feel the same way, which might make for some interesting games down the stretch this season: make your picks for this season with these Arizona sportsbook bonuses.
Where Does Murray Fit In?
Or rather, does Murray fit in? The fifth-year quarterback was the darling of the outgoing regime, with former head coach Kliff Kingsbury looking specifically to coach the two-way star. Ex-general manager Steve Keim felt similarly, signing Murray to a massive five year, $230 million extension last offseason. The young quarterback has shown flashes of greatness at times, but he’s never been able to do so on a consistent basis. That isn’t all his fault, as Kingsbury was an awful head coach and the Cardinals did a poor job of surrounding him with the players he’d need to be successful. In a meritocracy like the NFL, though, extenuating circumstances don’t do you much good, and if Ossenfort and Gannon aren’t high on Murray this season, they have 230 million reasons to ship him out of town, especially as they try to clear out cap space to build the Cardinals roster according to their vision.
If the Cardinals trade him before June 1 of next year, they’ll be off the hook for the remainder of his contract, which is no small feat as it’ll amount to nearly $190 million. There is a definite way forward if that’s what they want to do, but getting on the right track will take some maneuvering.
Best and Worst Case Scenarios
For the Cardinals, the number one thing that they want to happen this season is for Murray to light it up on the field. He’s coming off an ugly knee injury, sure, but if he shows he can maintain a high level of play, it’ll go a long way toward proving he has a future in Arizona. Conversely, if the Cardinals are hell bent on shipping him out of town, it’ll be much easier to convince a team to take on the remainder of his contract—a contract that might become an albatross if they’re looking to get a decent haul in return for the quarterback—if he plays at a level deserving of the nine-figure deal the Cardinals handed him.
The worst case scenario for everyone involved, then, is that Murray continues to falter or suffers another injury. If the Cardinals get the top draft pick and want to move on from Murray—perhaps for a quarterback like Caleb Williams out of USC, the 2022 Heisman winner—they won’t want to have to keep Murray’s cap hit on the books in order to entice another team to pick him up. Murray, similarly, wants to stay healthy and continue playing at a high level.
It’ll be fascinating to see how this season unfolds, especially as the intentions of Ossenfort and Gannon become clear.