3 Kyler Murray landing spots if he forces his way out of Arizona

What happens if Kyler Murray forces his way out of Arizona in 2022? We take a look at some fun possible landing spots for the former top pick.

Kyler Murray chose violence to start the 2022 offseason for the Arizona Cardinals.

Instead of reveling in the fact that they had a pretty great season as a team overall, Arizona Cardinals fans are left reading between the lines of Kyler Murray’s decision to wipe his social media clean of the Arizona Cardinals.

What if Kyler Murray forces his way out of Arizona in 2022?

There are a couple of reasonable theories as to why Murray would unfollow the Cardinals on social media.

First and foremost, it’s no coincidence that Murray is entering a contract year with the Cardinals. The former number one overall pick and Heisman Trophy winner chose football over baseball, and although the path to stardom in baseball would have taken much longer than Murray’s path to stardom in football has taken, the money in baseball — if you can get it — is pretty ridiculous, and fully guaranteed.

Still, Murray will have a chance to cash in very soon as an NFL player, but he’s still got the final year of his rookie deal plus the Cardinals have the built-in fifth-year team option.

It’s possible that Murray is making a bit of a scene just after the Pro Bowl as a way of posturing for a new contract sooner rather than later. You look around at the rest of the NFL and you might see someone like Lamar Jackson, who already has an MVP season under his belt, not having a new contract in place just yet.

Quarterbacks these days seem to have a bit of pull in regards to potential trades, and Murray has a bit of leverage in that he could threaten to go and play baseball where some guaranteed money might be waiting for him.

The other theory here is that Murray enjoyed his time at the Pro Bowl with the rest of his NFC teammates, and some of them got to talking over the course of the last week.

Murray posted a video of Mike Evans catching a touchdown pass on his IG stories, leading to even more questions…

So what about his future with the Cardinals?

Nothing has even been reported at this point regarding Murray wanting to be traded. We’re simply talking about him unfollowing the team on social media. But we all know what that means…

Here are some landing spots if Murray decides to force his way out of Arizona.

Kyler Murray landing spot #1: Tampa Bay Buccaneers

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers won themselves a Super Bowl in the first year they had Tom Brady.

In year two, they made a dramatic comeback against the Los Angeles Rams in the playoffs but fell just short.

Now, Tom Brady has retired. He’s finally done with the NFL after 222 — sorry, 22 — seasons.

At this particular point in time, you can’t really justify trading Kyler Murray to the Buccaneers, but again, his cryptic decision to unfollow all of the Cardinals social media and then post a video of Mike Evans catching this touchdown pass in the Pro Bowl?

It makes you wonder what those two discussed at the Pro Bowl.

Bruce Arians and Byron Leftwich are coming back to the Bucs, but it remains to be seen who else is coming back with them. The Bucs have an outstanding defense, but their list of impending unrestricted free agents is extensive and includes Chris Godwin, who is coming off of a major knee injury.

Will the Bucs bring Godwin back?

Maybe.

If Kyler Murray becomes available, the Bucs are undoubtedly a team that should inquire about his availability.

Kyler Murray destination #2: Pittsburgh Steelers

The Pittsburgh Steelers are in the market for some QB help for the first time since the 2004 offseason.

It was an amazing run with Ben Roethlisberger under center, and it’s been an amazing run for Mike Tomlin, who is in the top two of the best coaches in the NFL at this point and doesn’t have a single losing season to his name.

Tomlin and the Steelers aren’t just going to sit back and rebuild. They have a defense that is championship-ready and skill position players that rival just about any team in the NFL.

With their talent on both sides of the ball, the Steelers and GM Kevin Colbert must be aggressive this offseason. This will be Colbert’s final offseason in Pittsburgh and as he steps away, who knows what the future holds down the line?

As of right now, the Steelers seem like they have plenty of options at quarterback, including making a trade for a big-name player like Murray or Aaron Rodgers or Russell Wilson, or perhaps going the NFL Draft route and maybe acquiring a more modest-priced veteran to bridge the gap.

Whatever the Steelers do, the quarterback(s) they bring in will have no shortage of weapons to get the ball to.

Adding Kyler Murray’s dynamic talent to this offensive core would be an absolute thrill to watch on a weekly basis.

Kyler Murray landing spot #3: Las Vegas Raiders

What is Josh McDaniels scheming with the Las Vegas Raiders in 2022?

It’s hard to know at this point whether or not McDaniels will be keeping Derek Carr in place as his starting quarterback for 2022 and beyond.

I think it’s fair to speculate because there were already questions about whether or not Derek Carr would be back with the Raiders in 2022 before noted quarterback trader Josh McDaniels came to Vegas.

All kidding aside, any time there is a new general manager (Dave Ziegler) and head coach with any team, a quarterback change is almost certain to follow. Will that be the case for the 2022 Raiders?

We’ll see.

As for this very hypothetical scenario, what about sending Kyler Murray to the Raiders for Derek Carr and a bounty of picks?

That trade may not excite Cardinals fans all that much, but it would certainly put a better alternative in place than most other teams could offer.

All of this to say, the most likely motivation of Murray unfollowing the Cardinals on social media is contract-related.

If it’s not, then we had all better buckle in for some fun fireworks in the 2022 offseason. If Cardinals GM Steve Keim and head coach Kliff Kingsbury are on thin ice, then this kind of issue could be detrimental.