Arizona Cardinals quarterback Kyler Murray is no stranger to criticism. As a former first-overall draft pick, Murray has had sky-high expectations for quite some time. Whether those expectations were fair or not, he's failed to live up to them so far in his NFL career.
According to one analyst, Kyler Murray's contract is the worst one on the Cardinals' books heading into the 2025 season.
Is Kyler Murray's contract the worst the Cardinals have?
In a recent article, NFL Spin Zone's Lou Scataglia identified the worst contract on every NFL team heading into the 2025 season. For the Arizona Cardinals, he chose quarterback Kyler Murray.
Kyler Murray makes an average of $46.1 million per year on his current contract. He signed the deal in 2022 after a promising start to his career. At the time, Murray was one of the highest-paid quarterbacks in the league. Since then, other passers like Dak Prescott, Tua Tagovailoa, Brock Purdy, Trevor Lawrence, and more have inked deals that surpass Murray's. Murray is currently the 12th-highest-paid quarterback in the league, based on average annual value (AAV).
That's not truly that bad. Murray has been an average starting quarterback over the last few years. Sure, he's being paid slightly more than that level, but his contract isn't crippling the team like some others around the league.
Scataglia doesn't rip Murray as a player, either. He says, "The Arizona Cardinals have had some decent success with the first overall pick in the 2019 NFL Draft, but nothing consistent has ever materialized."
It's a fair analysis. Murray has been decent, but he's never been consistent enough to lift the Cardinals to the contender status that fans crave.
If anything, this goes to show that the Cardinals don't have many bad contracts on their books. After Murray, the team's current largest cap hits are from Jonah Williams, Jalen Thompson, Justin Jones, and Budda Baker. A couple of those players may have underperformed their pay level, but none of those contracts are outrageous overpays.
Many of Arizona's main contributors are still on rookie contracts. This allows the team to have the financial flexibility to be aggressive in free agency like they were this offseason.
Kyler Murray's contract may be considered a slight overpay as things currently stand. If Murray can lead the Arizona Cardinals to a playoff berth in 2025, fans likely won't care what he's eing paid.