Arizona Cardinals quarterback Kyler Murray can be the next to have an explosive season like Josh Allen did with the Buffalo Bills in 2020.
For Kyler Murray and the Arizona Cardinals, finally having a young and mobile franchise quarterback is something they’ve never had before. Murray has taken the Cardinals from a three-win team to a potential playoff contender in just two short years.
However, Arizona still needs Murray to take the next step and clinch a playoff berth. He hasn’t eclipsed 4,000 passing yards in a season yet and he has kept the Cardinals in games with his legs more than his arm at times.
That’s great when the talent is still there, but ultimately, the transition to a pure passer will need to arrive.
There are three reasons that Murray will do just that with Arizona during the upcoming season. If all of these happen this year, then the Cardinals should be a playoff team for the first time since 2015.
Murray will succeed because of Hudson
Mason Cole, the previous starting center for the Cardinals, was just as frustrating as former kicker Chandler Catanzaro. Rodney Hudson taking over in the middle of Arizona’s offensive line is so refreshing, as he is an NFL center who knows how to actually become an anchor and not a liability.
Hudson has the experience that Cole never had and playing in the AFC West with the Kansas City Chiefs and Las Vegas Raiders, where the defensive lines were pretty stout, also gives Hudson an advantage.
Another thing that Kyler Murray won’t have to worry about is that Hudson can call his own protections and be the quarterback of the offensive line.
Preventing leaks in the A-gaps of the offensive line is huge. Technically, Cole only gave up 1.5 sacks last season, but he was terrible when it came to run blocking.
When former Cardinals running back Kenyan Drake carried the ball last year, he was stopped behind the line of scrimmage 20 percent of the time. We all know that a team’s run-to-pass ratio is so important for play-calling. When Arizona’s running backs couldn’t run the ball effectively in 2020, opponents locked in on Murray to make his life a nightmare.
All of these factors listed above will make a difference for Murray in 2021, who will have more time to pass the ball and better support from his rushing attack.
Murray will make the leap due to Moore’s emergence
Arizona’s second-round pick out of Purdue, Rondale Moore, has grown on me. Initially, the selection of the wide receiver was frustrating, but the pass-catching needs for the Cardinals were too big for the team to not address them in this year’s NFL Draft.
Moore brings success from his Boilermaker days with plays that Arizona head coach Kliff Kingsbury wants to use in his air raid offense.
With Moore being able to run bubble screens, jet sweeps, and catch slants over the middle, his arrival could potentially add the missing component to the Cardinals’ offense. It seems like this Kingsbury offense has been on the extreme ends when it comes to each type of passing play.
Meaning that the play-calls are either short, bubble screens close to the line of scrimmage, or they are 25-yard zingers downfield. There has really been nothing in-between (just look at DeAndre Hopkins‘ average depth of target last year).
With Moore going over the middle, it should allow Hopkins to toy with the defense as he wishes. More option routes could be in-store or more continued deep crossing patterns. If Arizona doesn’t want to utilize a tight end very much next season, Moore can work out of the slot and be the presence in the middle that the offense has been lacking.
Kingsbury’s improvements and offensive re-tooling will push Murray into MVP form
The best way to summarize last year for the Cardinals was by my fellow writer on Raising Zona, Scott Allen, who said it was “a season of questionable calls.” It’s just baffling at how bad things really were down the stretch for Arizona in 2020.
But the NFL usually gives second chances, and as Kliff Kingsbury enters his third season at the helm of the Cardinals, he’s going to have to learn from his previous mistakes or face being fired.
Another issue was that Hopkins was targeted on nearly 29 percent of Murray’s 558 attempted passes last year (160 out of 558). Newcomers to Arizona’s wide receiver room, A.J. Green and Rondale Moore, will make sure this number is lower and more spread out in 2021.
Not to mention that Sean Kugler will serve as the Cardinals’ run game coordinator this season, which is hopefully a de-facto offensive coordinator role.
Everything mixes easily into Kingsbury’s offense for 2021. An improved blocking scheme, more diversity in the passing game, and not making questionable decisions when matchups are on the line will benefit Kyler Murray.
Come September, it’ll be put up or shut up time for this team. Let’s hope for the best.