Recent Cardinals decision about Kyler Murray is the correct one

Arizona Cardinals head coach Kliff Kingsbury announced on Thursday that quarterback Kyler Murray will not be playing in the team’s preseason finale on Saturday.

Last week was the first time Arizona Cardinals fans got to see quarterback Kyler Murray on the field since he attempted to get the team into the playoffs on an injured ankle in the 2020 regular-season finale against the Los Angeles Rams.

Murray’s efforts weren’t enough for the Cardinals that day, however, as they fell to the Rams and were left on the outside of the postseason for the fifth year in a row.

Not that it wasn’t in the past, but keeping their top quarterback healthy for the majority of the schedule feels like an even bigger priority for Arizona this season. With a healthy Murray out on the field each week, the Cardinals have the talent to go toe-to-toe with just about any team in the NFL this year.

Arizona Cardinals keeping Kyler Murray out of team’s 2021 preseason finale

In their preseason matchup against the Kansas City Chiefs last week, Arizona had Murray and the majority of their starters out on the field for their first three offensive drives of the game.

Those three drives couldn’t have gone much worse for the Cardinals and their top quarterback. Murray actually ended up getting sacked more times (twice) than the number of times he completed a pass against the Chiefs (once).

For this week, Arizona isn’t going to be putting their starting quarterback in harm’s way when the team heads on the road to take on the New Orleans Saints in their final preseason game of the year.

On Thursday, Cardinals head coach Kliff Kingsbury announced that Murray will not be suiting up for Saturday’s matchup with the Saints.

With so much of Arizona’s offensive success depending on their quarterback, this was an easy decision for Kingsbury to make. Murray isn’t magically going to be a much better signal-caller if he plays in the Cardinals’ final preseason game, so keeping him out and preventing him from getting injured is the correct choice.

The next time Arizona fans will see Murray on the field will be for the team’s 2021 regular-season opener on September 12 against the Tennessee Titans.