Barring a Clayton Tune Clinic, Arizona Cardinals quarterback Kyler Murray will and should get a chance to shine under head coach Jonathan Gannon.
Expect the Arizona Cardinals to give quarterback Kyler Murray his chance to thrive in the desert, and I hope he will, despite the fact that I am admittedly a big fan of Clayton Tune. One reason is that it’s hard to find a quarterback with natural talent like Murray possesses, and another reason is that he’s being paid like a franchise quarterback.
That said, I’d ideally love to see Tune win the starting job out of camp, manage the game well enough to guide the Cardinals to at least a decent record until Murray is healthy enough to return, and let Kyler do the rest. But you can probably see the issue with that previous sentence.
What if the above scenario happened, and Tune had the Cardinals playing better than everyone expected? Well, that alone could spell the end of Kyler’s tenure in the desert. So let’s explore the issue more in-depth below, as one of three reasons why Murray could be done in the desert following 2023.
3 reasons the Arizona Cardinals could part ways with Murray after 2023
1 - Clayton Tune overachieves
We’ve seen this happen a few times over the last decade, but obviously, the Trey Lance-Brock Purdy situation and the Tony Romo-Dak Prescott situation remain entrenched in most football fans’ minds. The Arizona Cardinals are a 4-13 or 5-12 team on paper, but what if Tune wins the job in training camp, then has this team somewhere at 4-4 or better by the time Murray’s cleared?
In this case, you have a rookie quarterback playing well for what’s supposed to be a bad football team. Do you make the switch at this point? If you do, that could be a telltale sign of a quarterback controversy, and that’s something neither quarterback needs.
I covered this issue more in-depth a few days back, and in this case, I would go with Tune and shop Murray following the season in this situation if the finances are there, but more on that later. Now, do I foresee this occurring? Not at this point, but it’s still worth talking about.