Last offseason, an injured Cardinals‘s Kyler Murray stood on the sidelines next to Drew Petzing, watching how the Cardinals installed an entirely new offensive scheme. When Murray returned midseason against the Falcons, it was on those same sidelines that his offensive coordinator was blown away.
“He didn’t have a lot of reps on some of that stuff, so to go out there and be able to execute at full speed when it’s live, I thought was pretty impressive,” Petzing said.
In eight games, Murray threw for nearly 1,800 yards with 10 passing touchdowns and three on the ground. Before making his 2023 season debut following his ACL surgery, Murray only had nine practices with the team.
In those nine practices, the goal was to put together a plan to win the game on Sunday. The offseason, however, is a time where the staff gets to dive deep into the fundamentals and develop an identity that will include Murray from the start.
“It is definitely a lot more fun to coach him in May than it was getting him in mid-November,” Petzing said. “When we hit the field, it was like, ‘Alright, here’s the game plan. We got to go play.’ Now it’s ‘Hey, are you taking the right drop? Are your eyes in the right place? Do you feel that play the way we want it to be felt.
“I think all those conversations can happen now.”
Phase Two of the offseason program began this week. Coaches can now be on the field with the players, so the conversations between Murray and Petzing are taking place on the grass.
When the interactions were limited to the meeting rooms, Murray was still seeking instruction from the staff.
“The questions he’s asking are really good questions,” coach Jonathan Gannon said. “Drew and (quarterback coach Israel Woolfork) better be on it.”
Ahead of the season finale against the Seahawks, Murray said he couldn’t “wait just to be able to have a full, normal offseason. Obviously, I want to continue to get stronger in my leg and not only that, but just be able to be with the guys, get that rhythm and be able to go out there to throw routes and work on the little nuances of the game that we didn’t get to do this year.”
Cardinals first-round pick Marvin Harrison Jr. said that he would like to catch passes from his new field general as soon as possible. Murray has already spent time off campus with some of his targets. Tight end Trey McBride and wide receiver Michael Wilson were seen in a video shared on X of the teammates running routes.
“I don’t know if there’s another quarterback in the league more locked in than me,” Murray said.
Gannon could see that from his quarterback, relaying the fact that Murray has taken “ownership and command” going into his second year with the offense.
With new pieces added to the offense, Petzing hopes to stand on the sidelines and continue to be amazed by Murray.
“I think you certainly get excited when you have good players,” Petzing said. “But I think the real excitement is going to come from when we’re doing it out on the field and I can see it coming to fruition and really trying to put it together and watch it cooperate.”
