Arizona Cardinals

Is trading Kyler Murray best solution for Cardinals?

Published Apr. 19, 2022 7:59 p.m. ET

Kyler Murray's offseason spat with the Arizona Cardinals looks destined for a full-blown breakup.

The diminutive quarterback piqued interest around an exit from the desert early this offseason by unfollowing the Cardinals on social media, scrubbing any mention of them from his Instagram page, and releasing a controversial letter from his agent in a bid for a new contract.

However, the letter concluded with Murray hoping the "organization will commit" to him, adding in late March that he's "not too concerned about his future as a Cardinal."

NFL analyst James Jones doesn't share Murray's reconciliatory expectations, however, stating on the "NFL Network's NFL Total Access Show" on Monday that he expects the Cardinals to trade Murray this offseason.

"I think we've seen the last of Kyler Murray in an Arizona Cardinals uniform," Jones said. "I think somebody is going to give a deal to the Arizona Cardinals that gets Kyler Murray out of there and gets him on a new team. There's too much going on [that] I don't know if the organization wants to deal with."

Speaking on "The Herd" on Tuesday, Colin Cowherd cautioned the Cardinals against trading Murray, adding that he'd like to see Arizona construct a valuable but front-loaded contract for their QB.

"I would re-sign him," Cowherd said. "I would structure it based on the idea that I’ll pay him a ton of money guaranteed early. I don't want to get trapped late because I do worry about his health."

Murray joined the Cardinals as the first overall pick in the 2019 NFL Draft, with some detractors questioning Murray's commitment to football and slight 5-foot-10 frame. He emerged as an immediate star, however, earning Offensive Rookie of the Year posting 3,722 passing yards during his first NFL season.

Along with consecutive Pro Bowl nominations in 2020 and 2021, Murray also enjoyed annual increases in quarterback rating, yards per game and winning percentage, culminating in Arizona's first playoff appearance since 2015 last season.

"[Murray] is just wildly talented, like crazy talented," Cowherd said. "He's gotten better every year, [the Cardinals] won more games every year and they love him."

The flip side to Murray's success is his unorthodox and often stubborn mindset on and off the field. Murray revealed that he doesn't watch film and reports paint him as aloof and often disagreeable, spending little time with his teammates this offseason.

Cowherd notes that the Cardinals were well aware of Murray's behavioral concerns before drafting him, theorizing that the franchise has a long-term plan for and a better handle on Murray's off-field antics than many outsiders think.

"This is being presented as, ‘Oh my god, can you believe it?’" Cowherd said. "They've been doing this stuff behind the scenes for years. They knew this day would come. They strongly believed he would be more of a holdout guy than a Dak [Prescott], or a [Tom] Brady or a Russell Wilson. That was his personality."