Former Cardinals coach believes Kyler Murray’s best football is still ahead
GLENDALE - Kyler Murray’s time in Arizona ended after the 2025 season, but not everyone who worked around him thinks the book is closed.
The Cardinals have already moved on from the former franchise quarterback, who was taken No. 1 overall in the 2019 NFL Draft and arrived with the kind of expectations that come with being the face of a team. Arizona hoped Murray would be the player to steer deep playoff runs with his mobility and his ability to diagnose defenses. That never fully happened.
Injuries and uneven play defined too much of his run with the Cardinals, and the organization decided to part ways with him after 2025. Murray has since landed with the Minnesota Vikings, but one former Cardinals coach still sees a much bigger ceiling.
“I think you’re about to see the best version of Kyler Murray,” one of Murray’s former Cardinals coaches said, requesting anonymity, according to The Athletic’s Alec Lewis. “And I’m f-ing pissed that I’m not going to get to be a part of it. I’m going to be jealous when he’s in a good environment, his headspace is good, and he shows people who the f- he is.”
Those are strong words, and they capture the split view Murray has always inspired in Arizona. The issues in his Cardinals tenure went beyond the box score at times, but the talent was never hard to see. People around him believed his skill set was rare enough to change games: the arm strength, the athleticism, the ability to make something out of nothing when the play broke down.
When Murray was rolling in Arizona, he looked every bit like the quarterback the Cardinals had envisioned. The problem was keeping that level of play steady across a full season.
Now he gets a fresh start in Minnesota, and that is where the belief from at least one former coach comes into focus. If Murray finds another gear with the Vikings, it will only strengthen the argument that the raw ability was always there.
For some in Arizona, the real question was never whether Murray could play. It was whether the right setting would finally let him show it.
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