Kyler Murray

The Arizona Cardinals are getting star Quarterback Kyler Murray back in week 10 barring any setbacks according to Johnathan Gannon. Kyler Murray tore his ACL in week 13 last season. Many thought that the Cardinals could keep him out in an effort to tank, but the current regime never gave that impression. Now we get Kyler back to a 1-8 Cardinals team that up until this past weekend had been surprisingly competitive.

For 8 games the Cardinals played veteran Joshua Dobbs at QB after releasing veteran journeyman QB Colt McCoy before the season began. Dobbs poor tape eventually led HC Johnathan Gannon to trade him to the Vikings for a 6th round pick. Clayton Tune got the start this past weekend and as expected faired worse than Dobbs. The receivers on the Cardinals have been the biggest losers in the absence of Kyler Murray and they stand to see the biggest jump in value as a result of his return.

Kyler Murray has been a valuable fanatsy QB since he entered the NFL. The rushing ability and improvisational skills of Kyler are his biggest assets as a QB in both fantasy and the NFL. Coming off an ACL tear will be tough, QBs especially tend to run a lot less post ACL injury. Joshua Dobbs in this Arizona offense was able to have a lot more success than most thought he would, but a lot of that success came on the ground. Still it is encouraging for Kyler who is infinitely more talented than Dobbs. Where Kyler might not be as willing as a runner, we can still look forward to an increase in passing efficiency in Arizona. Marquise “Hollywood” Brown was able to make up for the lack of efficiency in his catch% numbers by scoring 4TDs with Dobbs, but with Kyler back we will see a bump in efficiency. Hollywood Brown before injury last year was on pace to finish as a WR1, we don’t expect that level of performance to return, but he will be more of a solid WR2 with WR1 upside as opposed to a WR3 if Kyler is even 80% of his pre-injury self. 2nd year TE Trey McBride has begun to make himself fanatsy relevant in recent weeks, he has earned 5 or more targets in his last 4 games including 14 targets against Baltimore. A bump up in efficiency can help solidify McBride as a weekly TE1 play. Other WRs on the Cardinals: Rondale Moore and Michael Wilson have become more interesting options with Kyler back as well. It remains to be seen how well the rookie WR Michael Wilson meshes with Kyler, but he has shown flashes with Dobbs being a true big body X WR on the outside for Kyler. Rondale Moore on the other hand has a little more of a rapport with Kyler, and has had some big weeks earning targets with Kyler at QB last year. Keep an eye on the target distribution between Moore and Wilson as one of them will be a WR3 or flex play if Kyler is back.

The Arizona Cardinals are in full tank mode. Murray, who went down with an ACL injury in late December, will remain on the PUP List to start the season. He will miss at least the first 4 games of the season. The Cardinals start their first four games with tough defenses, @Washington, vs NYG, vs Dallas, and @SF. It wouldn’t be a shock if they started 0-4, which begs whether the Cardinals simply let Kyler sit on the bench, or trade him for more valuable assets to build around their potential first-round QB (Caleb Williams?).

The Cardinals also released veteran backup Colt McCoy today, which leaves the QB room with Clayton Tune and newly acquired Josh Dobbs. Fantasy-wise, the news of Kyler’s PUP stint wasn’t unexpected, potentially making him a value in drafts that allow you to put him in the IR slot, or a potential steal in dynasty if he is traded. As far as 2023 goes, the front office is signaling that they do not look to be competitive this year and looking to the future. Whether or not they will commit to Kyler as part of their future remains to be seen, but at this point, it’s looking less and less likely that Murray will be a Cardinal in 2024.