The Arizona Cardinals are excited about the upcoming season, especially because quarterback Kyler Murray is healthy and will have a full offseason of reps.
They believe he can and will play at a high level moving forward.
However, in new offseason quarterback rankings by Touchdown Wire’s Jarrett Bailey, that optimism isn’t shared.
Murray is ranked only 15th.
Murray being healthy for a full season throwing to Marvin Harrison Jr.? I don’t know what their record will be, but I know they won’t be boring.
It is understandable. He only played half a season and, for the first five games he was back, his numbers were fairly pedestrian. However, the way he played over the final three games, he probably should be ranked higher.
Over the final three games, he completed 71.7% of his passes for 724 yards, six touchdowns and one interception, which is a passer rating of 108.3.
He led one fourth-quarter comeback and had one game-winning drive. He would have had a second game-winning drive had Matt Prater made a 51-yard field goal in the finale as time expired.
They were a missed kick from finishing the season 4-4 in Murray’s starts when he was surrounding by a roster that lacked talent and had one of the worst defenses in the league.
Basing rankings on all he did last season in the eight starts, I don’t know if there is a quarterback he should move ahead of, and perhaps that is a testament to the play at the position for about half the league.
But with how he finished last year, with a reloaded defense that should not be bottom-of-the-league and with Harrison catching passes from him, he should be a top-10 player this season and, with a little consistency, he can push into the top five.
It would be timely to have him put together a full season of what he have seen from him in the past over stretches and half seasons.
