Fans will have to wait a little bit longer for Kyler Murray’s return. CBS Sports has reported that Kyler Murray will likely remain on the physically unable to perform (PUP) list past Week 4. According to ESPN insider Adam Schefter, Murray is “still considered weeks away from playing.” With very little clarity on the star QB's injury timeline there is now cause for concern of if he will be able to play this season.
Cardinals’ quarterback Kyler Murray is not expected to come off the Physically Unable to Perform list when he becomes eligible Monday and still is considered weeks away from playing, league sources told ESPN.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) September 30, 2023
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Throughout the entire rehab process the Cardinals have stressed that they will not rush Kyler Murray back onto the field. Until he is 100 percent healthy, fans should not expect Murray to be practicing let alone playing.
One of the frustrating parts of this process has been that the Arizona Cardinals organization has been hush on details regarding when he will be ready to practice. Jonathan Gannon has only most recently shared that “ itching to be back, but we’ll take it one day at a time.”
The problem is that the Cardinals are running out of time to take it one day at a time. There are a couple deadlines that are important to monitor to see if Kyler Murray will be able to play this season.
The first is that Kyler Murray has to be activated off the PUP list by Week 9. The next deadline is if Kyler Murray is activated off the PUP list the team has three weeks to activate him onto the active roster. If they do not, then his season is over.
The longer Kyler Murray remains absent from the team the more razor thin this margin becomes
Arizona Cardinals media have stood firm in projecting Kyler Murray to return between Weeks 6 and 8, but with the Schefter report that he is weeks away this would likely put him closer to Week 8 and possibly rub up against the Week 9 deadline. One point of comparison to get a clearer projection could be Von Miller, who suffered his own ACL tear on Thanksgiving Day and was activated off the PUP list this week.
This puts Von Miller around 10 and a half months removed from his injury. Kyler Murray suffered his injury on December 12th against the Patriots meaning he is nine months removed from his tear. The obvious limitations with this comparison is that these are two different players, playing two different positions, and no two ACL tears are the exact same, but it is more informative than what the Arizona Cardinals have been willing to share.
Regardless, Arizona Cardinals fans would be wise to monitor Von Miller’s recovery to have a rough estimate to see when Kyler Murray can return. Von Miller officially had surgery on his ACL almost exactly a month earlier than Kyler did.
Wherever Von Miller is at in his recovery, one can reasonably expect that Kyler is a month behind. Depending on how long it takes for Miller to be activated to the active roster, fans might have to reset their expectations.
It could take until Week 11 or 12 before Kyler is actually playing in games; far past when the Arizona Cardinals are expected to be playing in competitive games. Josh Dobbs has been reasonably successful filling in, but it is hard to see what the future of the Arizona Cardinals looks like without their star quarterback on the field.