Kyler

Murray

This seems to be the consensus opinion regarding the Cardinals’ looming decision. Murray has a fully guaranteed $36,800,000 salary in 2025. If he is on the Cardinals’ roster at the beginning of the new league year, on March 11, it will trigger a $20 million guarantee for the following season. A release is possible, and could help Murray find a new starting role, albeit for less money than he may desire.

“That source compared Murray’s situation with Geno Smith’s when he was traded from Seattle to Las Vegas last March for a third-round pick. The source pointed out that Smith was more consistent during his last season with Seattle than Murray was in his five games with Arizona this season, however, the source added that Murray ‘is a more talented player,’” Weinfuss writes. He quotes another source that believes the Cardinals can get a second-round pick for Murray due to a down quarterback draft. It wouldn’t be exceptionally surprising to see Murray fetch a Day 2 pick in trade given desperation around the league.

Something has to change with the Cardinals losing 13 of their last 14 games in Gannon’s third year on the job, just don’t expect it to be the 42-year-old former defensive coordinator’s job status. Despite Kyler Murray being injured for much of the season, the offseason focus will be on how they can get rid of Murray rather than Gannon, according to Rapoport. Gannon, who inherited Murray, will also have a say along with GM Monti Ossenfort in selecting the next Cardinals QB. With Murray’s years of failure in Arizona outnumbering Gannon’s, it seems he was destined to lose this power struggle. At some point, though, the results have to turn around for Gannon to remain in place past next season.

In other words: If both GM Monti Ossenfort and head coach Jonathan Gannon get fired, Cardinals ownership will leave the quarterback decision up to their new braintrust. Most rumors that we’ve seen leading up to Black Monday have had Ossenfort safe — he’d probably bring back Jacoby Brissett on the second year of a two-year deal and then draft a quarterback to either push or develop behind Brissett. But given how disappointing the Cardinals have been en route to falling from 2-0 to 3-13, we shouldn’t be surprised if Ossenfort doesn’t survive.

Russini writes that executives around the league wouldn’t be surprised if Murray is on the move this offseason. Murray’s contract will complicate matters given his nearly $60 million dead cap hit next year and almost $40 million in guaranteed money. Still, Russini suggests the Cardinals could opt to release Murray in the unlikely scenario where they can’t find a trade partner. Even before Murray got hurt this year, the writing was on the wall that this marriage wasn’t working out. Now that he’s been ruled out for the year by coach Jonathan Gannon, it’s increasingly likely he’s played his final snaps with the Cardinals.

Gannon said on Monday that the team would not open Murray’s 21-day return window this week, but now the Cardinals’ head coach has ruled out any possibility of a return this season. According to Gannon, Murray’s recovery from a foot injury he suffered in Week 5 has not gone as hoped, leading to the belief that he will not return in 2025. Murray threw for 962-6-3 in the five games he appeared in this season, while leading the Cardinals to a 2-3 record. His last game came in a 22-21 loss to the one-win Titans. The former no. 1 overall pick signed a five-year, $230.5 million contract extension with the Cardinals in 2022 and remains under contract with the team through 2028. Whether or not the team sticks with him next season is to be determined, but Murray’s contract carries a dead cap hit just north of $57.5 million if he’s released next season. Since signing his new deal in the summer of 2022, Murray has gone 16-25 as a starter, with his best season coming in 2024 when he threw for 3851-21-11 while going 8-9. The losses don’t fall solely on Murray, but record aside, his performances have underwhelmed despite the team using multiple high draft picks to give him additional weapons in the passing game. With a new regime likely set to takeover in 2026, a decision will have to be made on Murray’s future with the team and whether or not it’s best to continue forward with him as the franchise QB.

Kedon Slovis will get at least one more game as Jacoby Brissett’s backup. Murray hasn’t played since Week 5 and was eventually benched for Jacoby Brissett, who outperformed Murray during his multi-week absence. Murray is under contract through the 2028 season, but there’s a good chance his time with the team will come to an end this offseason. The same can be said of Jonathan Gannon, but that’s a conversation for another day. The Cardinals don’t have anything to play for at this point, and any decisions to part with Murray could factor into whether the team decides to activate him at all over the final five weeks.

Presumably those discussions will take place after the season. Murray was benched in favor of Jacoby Brissett after seven seasons as the starting quarterback with the Cardinals and then placed on injured reserve with a foot injury. Murray is eligible to return from injured reserve in Week 14. The Cardinals will have to act fast this offseason as $19.5 million of Murray’s 2027 base salary becomes guaranteed on the fifth day of the new league year, which will come in mid-March. Schefter passes along that many sources believe Murray will be on a new team next year with one source saying a separation is imminent. Murray won’t turn 29 until next August, but his market could be limited due to a lackluster track record. While head coach Jonathan Gannon and GM Monti Offenfort weren’t part of the Cardinals organization when Murray was drafted and signed to an extension, they’ll incur a dead-cap hit of upwards of $50 million in 2026 if Murray is released.

He also added — and to be clear this is a pretty big thing for a general manager to say — “a lot can happen” when asked if Murray would be starting when he came back. Anyone without an IR spot to stash Murray in can definitely let go, and based on that frank evaluation of Murray’s prospects of getting his job back, re-draft managers with an IR spot might be able to stash someone more likely to help them this year.

Per ESPN’s Adam Schefter, the “Cardinals say this will give Murray the chance to focus on rehabbing his foot injury and that he is committed to getting back as soon as possible.” Should Murray actually return as soon as possible, it would be against the Rams in Week 14, after he sits out the requisite four games missed on injured reserve. Whether he would return to the team in a starting role is a separate issue. The injured reserve listing coincidentally comes after the team announced journeyman QB Jacoby Brissett would take over as the team’s starter. Perhaps time off gives Murray a chance to reset and he comes back stronger than ever. Regardless, the development is seemingly a positive one for Cardinals pass catchers, who have enjoyed on-target passes with Brissett at the helm.