When the Cardinals signed Kyler Murray to a contract extension two years ago, they raised questions about Murray’s work ethic by inserting a clause into his contract that required him to do a certain amount of film study — the film study it should go without saying that every franchise quarterback is doing whether his contract requires it or not.
Cardinals General Manager Monti Ossenfort wasn’t there when those questions were raised, but he says that during his time in Arizona, Murray has done nothing but show he’s serious about the job of franchise quarterback.
Ossenfort said on Arizona Sports 98.7 that Murray did everything right, first rehabbing his torn ACL and then getting to work on learning the offense, learning his teammates and becoming the team leader.
“I heard some of those stories. It’s hard for me to comment; I wasn’t here,” Ossenfort said. “All I can say is from the second I walked into the building, seeing how he attacked his rehab — that was hard, what Kyler had to do last year. And I’m not talking solely the rehab, but he had to learn, all the transition we had on the roster, all the transition we had on the coaching staff. For him to try to ingrain himself in that while not really being a part of it because most of the time he was off to the side working on his rehab, the way he was able to come back last year and start that process and go full force this offseason where he’s been right in the middle of everything we’re doing: Workouts, practice, meetings, on the field in OTAs. That’s enabled him to really see what we’re doing, buy into it, be a part of it, and take that role of what comes with the job description of being a starting quarterback. So to see Kyler grow into that, I can’t comment on where he was, all I can know is the growth I’ve seen out of him, physically, mentally, from a leadership standpoint, here in the year and a half that we’ve been here, it’s been great to see.”
Ossenfort inherited Murray and his big contract, but he sounds devoted to Murray as his franchise quarterback, and to building around a quarterback he believes in.
