The context of this clip was about a potential shock landing spot for Shedeur Sanders, but perhaps the more important takeaway here is that Murray isn’t exactly on firm ground with the Cardinals. Cardinals coach Jonathan Gannon said that there’s a “100 percent” chance of Murray being the team’s starting quarterback in 2025 earlier in the offseason, and we’re not actually worried about Murray’s status for this season, but it is possible he’s a trade candidate next year if he doesn’t show improvement. The Cardinals could free up quite a bit of cap space by trading him ahead of the 2026 season.

Murray said he’s now fully recovered from his 2022 ACL injury, adding that he “felt something” in his surgically repaired knee early in the 2024 season. “I don’t want to get too scheme based, but I do feel like I have to run more next year,” Murray said in a recent interview. “I’m open to running more next year, just because it’s such a weapon, you know, it’s such a weapon. ... I think where we get better is making things happen outside the pocket. When plays break down, we need to be better there.” Murray last season had 572 yards and five touchdowns on 78 rushing attempts. He logged 4.6 rushes per game, way short of his career high of 8.4 rushing attempts per game in 2020, when he finished with 819 yards and 11 scores on the ground.

Gannon also said on Monday that Murray is “a top-level, franchise quarterback.” While opinions may differ on whether or not Murray is a “top-level” quarterback, it’s hard to argue against him remaining as the team’s starter next season. Not because of his play but because of the five-year, $230.5 million contract extension he signed in the 2022 offseason. Murray is under contract through 2028 and carries a cap hit just north of $45 million next season. It’s unlikely any team would want to trade for Murray given his cap hit, and the dead cap hit he carries in 2025 tops out at just over $63 million. The Cardinals don’t have many options outside of playing Murray, who threw for 3851-21-11 in his first full season as a starter since 2020.

The four-score start was Murray’s first of the year, and helped him sneak past 20 through the air on the season. An every-week starter for the first time since 2020, Murray appeared fully healthy after that was not the case during his eight-game post-ACL cameo last season. Unfortunately, the better health was not accompanied by another step forward as a player. It was more of the same for a quarterback who rips chunk gains on the ground, but not as often as fellow dual-threats Lamar Jackson and Josh Allen. Murray also again disappointed as a down-field passer despite the addition of first-round boundary man Marvin Harrison Jr. He entered Week 18 in the bottom half of Pro Football Focus’ deep passing grade, for instance. Bryce Young and dead-armed Kirk Cousins both generated more yardage on attempts of 20-plus yards. On the whole, Murray’s touchdown rate was a new career low, unacceptably so. No longer a spring chicken going on age 28, Murray seems unlikely to find a new career gear absent pairing up with an offensive Svengali. That is not on the horizon in Arizona.