Arizona Cardinals QB Kyler Murray named one of NFL's biggest enigmas entering 2025
Arizona Cardinals quarterback Kyler Murray is perhaps the team's most polarizing figures. He might be one of the more polarizing players in the league. We saw the talent early in his career and has played stretches of seasons at an MVP level. But he also has had very average stretches, too.
As such, NFL.com's Bucky Brooks calls him one of the seven biggest enigmas in the league entering 2025, players who flash greatness but are frustrating.
The former No. 1 overall pick is a gifted playmaker with a pair of Pro Bowls and the 2019 Offensive Rookie of the Year award on his résumé. At times, Murray has played at a high level and captivated the football world as an electric dual-threat quarterback. However, the seventh-year pro sports a 36-45-1 career record and lacks a playoff win as the Cardinals' QB1, having thrown two picks and posted a 40.9 passer rating in his lone postseason appearance. Though his early accomplishments prompted Arizona to sign him to a blockbuster extension (five years, $230.5 million) back in the 2022 offseason, the Cardinals need him to provide more consistent excellence to justify the return on their investment in a league that measures quarterback success by wins and rings.
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There are reasons for his uneven play. Injuries to him and key players in 2021 derailed their season, leading to their playoff blowout loss. 2022 was just a dumpster fire of a season for a lot of reasons, Murray's play included.
But in 2023, he played the back half of the season coming back from ACL surgery with a roster that was gutted. He was better in 2024 but the Cardinals lost five of their final seven games and he turned the ball over more.
He has been the quarterback to late seasons failures (2020, 2021, 2024), and while reasons can be given, he needs to shake that reputation.
This season is important because the talent on the team more resembles what the Cardinals had in 2021. The defense has been overhauled and, when the Cardinals played great defense in the first half of 2021, Murray was the leading MVP candidate.
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Is this the year he had things right and carries the weight as a franchise quarterback, or will he simply be the quarterback who is good but not consistently great enough to be the difference maker on a winning team?
Get more Cardinals and NFL coverage from Cards Wire's Jess Root and others by listening to the latest on the Rise Up, See Red podcast. Subscribe on Spotify, YouTube or Apple podcasts.
This article originally appeared on Cards Wire: Kyler Murray is one of NFL's biggest enigmas entering 2025
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