Kyler Murray has been a hot topic for debate this offseason amongst NFL fans.
Murray was by far the leader for MVP throughout the first seven weeks of the season. In those first seven games, Murray had 1,773 yards completing 72% of his passes along with 17 passing touchdowns and three rushing touchdowns with seven interceptions.
Murray and the Cardinals suffered their first loss of the season on a Thursday night against Green Bay. Murray struggled mightily, going 22 for 33 with no touchdowns and two interceptions in a 24-21 loss. Murray also injured his ankle on the game’s final drive, leading to him missing the next three games.
Once he returned, Murray struggled, finishing the seven games, including the postseason, putting up 1,511 yards, and completing 64% of his passes, with seven touchdowns and five interceptions that culminated in a 34-11 loss in the Wild Card Round to the Rams.
Several debates have started about where you rank Murray amongst the NFL’s elite going into this season and whether he is worth the money he’s asking for.
Here are Kyler Murray's target heat maps from @pff
— Alex Rollins (@AlexRollinsNFL) June 1, 2022
The graph on the right shows he barely targets the middle of the field and the red behind the LOS shows the Cardinals threw the highest % of screens in the league
Go balls, hitches, screens. That's their offense pic.twitter.com/yVPLBZozGz
Kyler Murray is one of the league’s top passers but still needs improvement.
Murrays is undoubtedly a top 10 Quarterback. But, this is what he can do in 2022 to quiet the doubts.
Murray must target the middle of the field more. I understand he’s shorter and may have trouble seeing over the middle of the area, but he has to be able to find ways around those, as big plays were left open over the middle.
Several examples are in the Cardinals’ week 18 loss to the Seahawks, where you can see Zach Ertz’s frustration from being missed multiple times.
Murray is one of the best deep-ball throwers in the league, especially for the high rate he throws them. According to PFF, Murray was the NFL’s top deep ball thrower and ranked in the top 10 for completion percentage yards per attempt, passer rating, and yards on passes thrown 20 or more yards.
You can see on Murray’s 2021 heat chart he rarely ever passed over the middle of the field, and that is something that may have contributed to making the Cardinals’ offense being figured out in the second half of the season.
If Murray and the Cardinals want to take their offense to the next level, it will have to be more than just screens and go balls. They’ll have to find a way for Murray to complete more passes over the middle in 2022.