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Ross D. Franklin / Associated Press
As a rookie in 2019, Kyler Murray was emerging from a college career in which he only spent one season as a starting quarterback. The Arizona Cardinals’ No.1 pick also accommodated a brand new coach at Kliff Kingsbury, but he still won the offensive rookie of the year award.
In his sophomore year in 2020, Murray hardly had time to establish chemistry with the new No.1 weapon DeAndre Hopkins due to what the COVID-19 pandemic has done this offseason and preseason. But he still improved statistically while producing a total of 37 passes and touchdowns in his first Pro Bowl campaign.
Now Murray and Kingsbury have just experienced their first full and proper offseason. And at the start of the 24-year-old’s third critical campaign in the NFL, it looks like he is emerging as an elite player with MVP potential for a team ready to fight in the difficult NFC West.
Murray and the powerful Cardinals offense put on the show for the second straight week as Arizona beat the Minnesota Vikings 34-33 on Sunday at home. He completed all but seven of 36 passes for exactly 400 yards and three touchdowns. He threw two interceptions, but rushed for 31 yards and another score as the Cards racked up more than 30 points to go 2-0.
Ross D. Franklin / Associated Press
He has completed 73.5% of his passes, posted a 121.5 passer rating and is on track to generate 77 total touchdowns this season.
According to ESPN.com’s Tristan H. Cockcroft, Murray is only the third quarterback in modern NFL history to have compiled more than 30 fantastic points in each of his team’s first two games.
But there is also the magic that cannot be fully represented in the score of the box. His speed and his dodge in the pocket on a second quarter of 77 yards touchdown pass at rookie Rondale Moore on Sunday was amazing, and his back foot deep shot to Christian Kirk in a crucial moment later in the same close game was just as special. His first shift touchdown pass to Hopkins on 3rd and long also involved heroic deeds after the pocket broke, as he walked away from defenders and sort of regained his vision to find his target in the end zone.
Focus on professional football classified six of his assists, a league record, as “big throws” in week 1, then came out in week 2 and topped that mark with a ridiculous nine of them. them.
It’s early days, but Murray – not Kansas City Chiefs’ pre-season MVP favorite Patrick Mahomes – leads the league in “How the hell did he do that?” moments.
Moments like these go a long way in explaining why Mahomes was MVP in 2018 and why Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson won the award in 2019. Both made it in sophomores, but neither did. facing the circumstances Murray had to face early in his career, so feels like Murray is at about the same point in his NFL run.
Jackson was 22 when he won the MVP title. Mahomes was 23 years old. Murray just turned 24 last month. It’s about time we started bringing these guys together when it comes to their athleticism, improvisational skills, and ability to take over games.
Murray completed five of his seven on Sunday deep pass attempts, and he’s now 10 of 16 on those shots this season. This is an extremely high completion rate, even though the sample size is small. He’s about to throw 26 interceptions, and anything in that range would be problematic. But this is unlikely to be the case.
His pick against the Tennessee Titans was sort of an arm kick with nothing going on at third base in a three-goal game, and his six pick against Minnesota required some remarkable play from the linebacker. Vikings Nick Vigil (a brutal choice in the third quarter on Sunday was less excusable).
The key is that the Cardinals are racking up yards and points and controlling games (they had possession 63% of the time in the fourth quarter earlier this season). As long as that is the case, Arizona will remain a Super Bowl contender and Murray will remain in the MVP race.
Brad Gagnon covered the NFL for Bleacher Report since 2012. Follow him on Twitter: @Brad_Gagnon.
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