Arizona Cardinals rookie film room: 5 plays that define Kyler Murray

Final notes, thoughts, tidbits

Although I was very much in support of Josh Rosen and didn’t care too much for Keim’s handling of the situation, the logic to drafting Kyler Murray at No. 1, even with Rosen on the roster, makes sense. Murray is an electrifying product with both the arm and legs to make a difference on every play — he simply can change the game on any given snap.

You’ll notice that I avoided most of Murray’s big runs, and all of the shorter passes, why? Well, Murray won’t be able to run for 70 yards week-in-and-week-out in the NFL, the players are simply bigger, faster, and stronger. For as impressive as those plays are, they came against weaker competition. But that doesn’t take away how fast and quick he is.

As for the shorter passes; Oklahoma’s offense destroyed defenses last year on short, quick, death-by-paper-cut passes. Like Baker Mayfield before him, Murray was able to take advantage of often open players by throwing accurate and well-timed passes. But, eight-yard slants don’t define Murray, his arm strength, processing, running ability, anticipation, and touch does.

Now for the negatives. For as good as Kyler is mechanically, you’d like to see him continue to clean up his footwork. Although he showed improvement in this area through his college football tenure, it will need to take another step in the NFL. He sometimes also floats passes when he should throw them with zip and vice-versa. However, these are things that can easily be coached out and won’t hinder his ability to start and make an impact day one.

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