On Monday, the Cardinals posted something on X. Something that should be obvious. Something that has prompted some to wonder whether maybe it wasn’t previously obvious. Or maybe that it shouldn’t be.
The Cardinals posted “our franchise quarterback,” with Kyler Murray’s name and multiple photographs of him.
OK. Fine. Great. He’s their franchise quarterback. We thought we already knew that.
So why point it out on Monday, February 26?
There’s been no indication that the Cardinals, who have the fourth pick in the 2024 draft, are thinking about doing to Murray what they did five years ago to Josh Rosen, drafting a new franchise quarterback and then getting rid of the old one. And while Rosen was clearly not a franchise quarterback at the time, the Cardinals had traded up to No. 10 just one year earlier to draft him.
A pre-June 1 trade of Murray would result in a $46.2 million cap charge. It also would free the Cardinals of $37 million in 2024 salary obligations to Murray, and it would actually be lower than his current cap number of $51.8 million.
Again, no one was thinking the Cardinals were thinking about moving on from Murray. Monday’s seemingly random tweet, given that the entire league is heading to Indianapolis, maybe was strategic.
Hey, rest of the NFL. Check this out. We have a franchise quarterback. Yes we do. Look at our franchise quarterback. Don’t you wish you had a franchise quarterback like him?
On one hand, it sounds ridiculous to think the Cardinals would use such obviously superficial and clumsy tactics to spontaneously generate a trade market for Murray. Then again, Michael Scott did it with the oven mitt Phyllis knitted for him when Secret Santa shifted to Yankee Swap.
“Reverse psychology is an awesome tool,” Michael Scott explained at the time. “I don’t know if you guys know about it, but basically you can make someone think the opposite of what you believe, and that tricks them into doing something stupid. Works like a charm.”
As stupid as it was, Meredith eventually took the oven mitt.
Thanks to Monday’s tweet, some are wondering whether Michael Bidwill’s football team is touting its franchise quarterback in the same way Michael Scott touted his hand-knitted oven mitt.
