Arizona Cardinals: To keep Kyler Murray or to not keep him?
The Arizona Cardinals have an interesting situation on their hands going forward. Should they stick with Kyler Murray or turn their attention to another QB in the 2024 NFL Draft? What the Cardinals plan on doing with their QB situation might be the biggest story of the offseason. Right now, they hold the second overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft and may or may not have their franchise QB in the building.
Kyler Murray missed the first chunk of the season recovering from his ACL tear in 2022. He's obviously still getting up to speed in this new offense, but Murray is back and does look like he's full-speed, too. The Cardinals are 2-10 on the season, and no one should be surprised. They were not going to be good this year; the roster is lacking a ton of talent and Murray wasn't playing until a few weeks ago.
Well, they have an interesting situation on their hands. Kyler Murray is a franchise QB, but he's on a very lucrative QB contract extension that the current regime in Arizona did not give to him. Furthermore, the contract is tradeable next offseason and does give the team a ton of cap relief.
In fact, according to overthecap.com, trading Kyler Murray in 2024 saves them over $38 million on their cap space, which is enough space to sign several high-quality starters. The scenario for the Cardinals here is obvious if they move on from Murray:
Reset the QB position with a rookie passer who is cost-controlled. Resetting at the position is also likely more in line with them doing a "tear it all down" type of rebuild. And if Caleb Williams does declare for the 2024 NFL Draft, he'll likely go #1 overall, so the next best QB prospect looks to be Drake Maye from UNC.
The biggest question for the Arizona Cardinals might be if they think Drake Maye is best-suited for their rebuilding process than already having a franchise QB in Kyler Murray in the building. The Cardinals would also have to factor what kind of trade compensation they could get for Murray.
Perhaps a first-round pick and another mid-round pick would be a good enough deal for Arizona to make that trade. Either way, what the Cards plan on doing with their quarterback situation in 2024 might be the biggest story of the coming offseason.