Kurt Warner on the FUTURES of Jonathan Gannon & Kyler Murray with the Arizona Cardinals

Kurt Warner on the FUTURES of Jonathan Gannon & Kyler Murray with the Arizona Cardinals

I mean, I couldn’t believe it when my son texts me and he’s like, he went 47 of 57 and I was like, “Oh my gosh.” Like, you know, and then I I see the penalties and then I see that I lost my 20 and I’m like, “How does that even h like what happened in this game?” Kurt, I’m going to ask you kind of an unconventional question because we’ve had this conversation, Bo and I have over the last 24 to 48 hours and it it it sure seems like, you know, barring just a bunch of lopsided defeats, Jonathan Ganon is going to remain the head coach of this team entering 2026. and does not have a winning record, does not have a winning season. It’ll be his fourth year next year. And you know, there are some that are very critical of that decision. Then there are others that applaud Michael Bidwell and the patience, whereas maybe historically this franchise, other franchises are quick to run through coaches. Do you think the Cardinals could benefit from giving Jonathan Ganon another year? And do you think there’s a problem in the NFL with running through coaches too quickly? Uh, I mean, always, especially when they’re a first-time coach. Um, because I I think we all have to go through a learning curve. And as much as we want, you know, it’s it’s like when we draft someone high uh in the draft and we expect them to come in as a finished product, it’s it doesn’t work like that. You know, there’s a process that they have to go through. When you hire a a firsttime head coach, um, you know, and I don’t know what the time period is. um you know, three years, four years before you can truly tell what a player or a coach is going to be, what you can hang your hat on and and if they’re the right guy. But I feel like there has to be, you know, at least three years for you to go, okay, this is what we think we have and then we can ask the question, do we think what we have is good enough moving forward. Um, but I mean I think we all felt this was you know this has been moving in the right direction and you you know you you liked what they were doing. Um, and you like the way that coach Ganon leads the team. Like I I mean I feel very com comfortable with you know from where he started to where he’s at now that he’s growing into this position and you know has has handled it well. Um but but again, you know, it got to it’s got to couple with um you know, putting the right team on the field and then leading to wins and finding ways to get your guys, you know, to that next level. Whether that’s getting the right guys in because you don’t have the right guys in, right, or doing your part to help these guys learn how to finish and how to take that next step um you know, in in the process. And so, you know, again, when I came here, um, you know, this organization was in a certain place and nobody expected to win, you know, and a lot of people, you know, will look at my first couple years here in Arizona and was like, “Oh, you know, those are lost years. Kirk was, you know, terrible in those years.” And, you know, that sort of stuff. And and I get it and I understand why. But what they don’t understand is how hard that process is to get an organization and to get people to believe and to get people to invest in what it takes to be successful at this level. And so, you know, you’re going to go through some growing pains and you’re going to go through some of those those hard times where, you know, it just doesn’t look good and you wonder, okay, are we are we making any progress? you know, and then you bring in a piece here and you bring in a piece there or um you know, shared stories with you guys about Larry Fitzgerald, you know, kind of what his mindset was when I got here and then obviously what his mindset became and what his mindset was when he left were completely different. um as he grew and he as he developed and as he saw how you know this thing has to be done at this level if you want to be consistently really really good and and competitive and so um so yeah I think patience is is so important um you know as I said especially with guys that are stepping into a spot for the first time is you have to you know give them a chance and and as long as you’re seeing that growth that to me is the most important thing when it gets stagnant and it stops stops and you don’t see that anymore and you go, “Okay, this is what we think our limit is with this guy.” That’s when to me you you step back and go, “Okay, is it time to move forward or you know or do we think we have enough there?” Um, you know, to to take that step forward, I guess, with with them in the organization. Yeah, it just seems like they’re in the storm right now. this team. They’re just trying to really kind of find their way out of it. You know, to to use some similarities again with that 08 team like you guys had that horrific game against the Jets. You know, it was back-to-back losses. It was it was brutal. Like I think it was 34 nothing before half. They go down 35 nothing to the Seahawks and they have this game against the NerS. You guys were able to win the next game. Like you go up against the Bills and you you like how do you pick yourself up in the face of this adversity? probably the most adversity some of these guys have ever faced. We’re talking about a young coaching staff that maybe hasn’t been down this road before. Like where do you even start? Well, I mean I think you start by hanging on to the good things that you know that you’re doing. Um you know and I think you can pull a lot of good things um you know from you know what we saw. I mean, even if you you look at the 49er game um yesterday, I mean, there was a lot of good things, a lot of good things that their offense did, you know, and what seven 17 penalties or whatever. Well, those are the things that, you know, that get things going haywire very quickly. Um, and then I think the other thing is, uh, you focus on making sure that you start fast because again, you know, things can spiral really quickly when you don’t have a great football team or a great mindset as a football team and and you’ve been losing a lot of games that things go against you early and then they get out of hand. If you can start fast and be competitive early, uh, that just breeds confidence within your team. And again, as we’re taking this process, right? You know, when you’ve got a team that’s that’s already won and been successful, um, you know, that doesn’t that doesn’t apply as much. You know, you you expect a certain standard all the time. But when you’re a team that’s learning how to win, it’s important that you start fast and you get things going early and and you focus on the positive things that you can do and you take that uh and run towards the next week, you know, believing that, hey, if we if we do this, it’ll lead to a win. And then just like, you know, one win can lead to another win as opposed to one loss can lead to another loss. And so, um, that’s really what you’re trying to do. You’re trying to stack it. And again, I’ll throw the analogy out, you know, in ‘ 07. I remember that year, you know, we were up and down and trying to figure it out, but we won our last two games of that season, and I felt like, you know, those back-to-back wins at the end of ‘ 07 um gave us so much momentum and confidence moving forward that we believe differently about our team going into ‘ 08. and you know, so I I I think trying to stack some things here down the stretch and get a couple, you know, really good wins under their belt or, you know, maybe you have a winning record here, um, you know, from this point forward and and those are the things you hang on to and grab a hold of and then, you know, you try to use that to catapult you forward the next year. So instead of losing these games, you’re believing and you’re winning these games uh early in the season and now things start to turn in that, you know, that opposite direction. Kurt, we had you on about a month ago talking hypotheticals with Kyler Murray uh in the offseason. We fast forward to now and those appear to be at least in the speculation of reality as Adam Shfter, Ian Rapaort feel like a a divorce could be imminent with the once upon a time first overall pick. Um how difficult of a situation is this for the Cardinals to navigate? um given the fact that you know wasn’t drafted by this regime. He’s on injured reserve now. He he clearly probably will have a market this off seasonason, but as Bo and I talk on the regular here, you trade Kyler Murray. What does that leave you in your quarterback room? Like h how sensitive of a situation is this to navigate for a regime that looks like is going to get at least one more year? Um, yeah. I mean, I think I think there’s so many ways to look at it. Yeah. But I think ultimately, you know, no matter where you sit, I think the question always has to come back to, do we believe Kyler is the guy that can lead us to the next level, can can help us take the next step. That to me is is the whole question. Um, and you know, you know, as a regime or or as an or you have to answer that question like you might want him to be, um, but do you truly believe that he is? Um, or you might truly believe that he is and it’s just about, you know, circumstances and what’s happened. But that’s the question that you have to answer. Um, and I don’t know if I use this analogy on this show with you guys, but, you know, I think back to the Cincinnati Bengals when, you know, they were just a a losing franchise. I remember back in 1999 when we played Cincinnati, the third game of the year when I was with the Rams and the headline was, you know, this is the losingest team. Whoever loses this game will be the losingest team of the 90s. So that’s where that organization has been. Then they they got Andy Dalton and Andy Dalton made them a perennial winner. Uh they would win their division, they would get to the playoffs every year, but they would never be able to take the next step from that. You know, Andy was was good and he was great for the organization and he gave them what they needed at that time, but he was limited and the organization finally realized like, man, Andy was great and he did what we needed him to do to to change that culture. But Andy’s not getting us to that to that next step. He’s not taking us there. So, they let Andy Dalton go, who was a really really good starting quarterback in the league, and they went out and got Joe Burrow. and they went and got Joe Burrow because they said that’s the guy that can take us to the next step and he has. You know, obviously we know all the issues with the injury, but just in and of itself playing football, he has taken them to the next step and got them to a Super Bowl. And so those are the tough decisions that sometimes you have to make. And it’s not to say that Kyler’s not a really good quarterback. It’s not to say that Kyler’s not a starting quarterback in the NFL. The question is, is he what you guys, your organization needs to take you where you believe you can go? Um, and that’s the question that again, I I can’t answer. You know, where is the team right now? You know, what do we need from that position? Because we’ve seen we’ve seen it. We’ve seen him play at an MVP type level. It just hasn’t been as consistent as you, you know, would like it to be at the quarterback spot. So that to me becomes the question that the Cardinals are going to have to ask and this regime is going to have to ask when it comes to Kyler Murray. Not is he good uh not is he can he play at an MVP type level for period like no those questions have been answered but is he the right guy to lead us where we want to go and and and and have to go as a regime and that to me ultimately has to be you know where you you know fall on either side of the line. Yes, he’s that guy. Then we then you bring him back. Like if you believe it’s because of other reasons, you bring him back. And then if he’s not, then as tough as it may be, you have to move a different direction and then figure out to your point, um, okay, who where does that leave us? Yeah. You know, like where are we and and what position are we in? Do we go out and sign somebody? do we keep a Jacobe Brassette that uh that we believe can kind of keep the seat warm until we get that position and and can go get our Joe Burrow if that’s the direction that they choose to go. And um and that’s not an easy situation either because you guys know as well as I do. Um we we oftentimes have a struggle finding 32 starting quarterbacks in the league. So when when there’s not that many of them out there and you take a guy and say we’re going to let one of those guys go um in hopes of getting another one that’s that’s higher in the you know the um you know the hierarchy of the 32. We’ve seen a lot of teams do that too and they go 10 and 15 years um searching and grabbing and pulling and and trying to find it and they can’t find it either because you know quite frankly there’s just not a lot of Joe Burrows out there. you know, there’s not a lot of those elite guys out there, but, you know, you have to weigh how all of that, you know, changes or affects your organization moving forward. And um and again, I I don’t envy those positions. Um because it is an inexact science when it comes to the quarterback position and there’s no guarantee if you get rid of a a good one that you get a great one. There’s no Super Bowl MVP caliber guy that’s going to come your way again and save your organization. That’s unfortunate that doesn’t happen every offseason, but we’re due for that. Yeah. It muddies up my question though, Kurt, because I wanted to ask you like as far as what you’ve seen because you’ve done so many great QB confidentials on Kyler, breaking down the film and just what your thought would be, what scheme Kyler would fit in best. But like even if that’s the case, if you find the best scheme based off what what you’ve told us several times about the inconsistencies, even with the right scheme fit, could that bring consistency? What are your thoughts on on all that? Yeah. Uh I mean, I wish I could answer that. I think, you know, that’s one of those questions that’s really hard to answer unless you’re around a guy every day and and you really know what they do well, you know, and and like watching in practice what he would do consistently well. Um, you know, at the quarterback position and then then I could ask the question, okay, these are the things that that he’s great at and that I could count on every single week. Can we build a scheme around that? you know, can can we can we do something uh where we can use those skills each and like and be built that way, you know, because like to me, you know, just being, you know, the the incredible athlete that he is and you know, the incredible playmaking that he gives you, um that’s awesome, but I always sit back and go, okay, but but how do I truly take that and utilize that in a weekly game plan? like like what what are those things that you can do? And you know, of course, there’s certain things with naked bootlegs and you know, and you know, zone reads and and things like that, but normally I look at those things and go, but I don’t know if I can build a game plan around that and win every week against good teams, you know, just adding those few elements in. And so, again, that’s just that’s just one example with the athletic part of it. So I am a firm believer that even with our the great athletic quarterbacks we have in our business now that the best of those are the ones that play within scheme and structure in the pocket first and then bring the extra after that. And so that would be the question that you know that I would have to answer with Kyler is okay what are those things scheme-wise and in structure that he does really really well and you know if I take you know whatever you know percentage that is along with you know being able to bring his athleticism into it and that percentage does that get me to a high enough percentage you know where I can build a scheme and say yeah every if we’ve got to go in and run you know whatever 70 plays this week, I have got a scheme that I feel 100% comfortable with that Kyler can execute all 70 of those plays at an extremely high level. Uh because once you start getting away from that and go, okay, I feel good with, you know, 50% of them or I feel good with 60% of them, that’s where we’re starting to take a dip. And so, you know, just to answer your question, I I just don’t know, you know, I’d have to see him every day and see what plays he loves and what throws he consistently makes or reads he consistently makes and then go, “Oh gosh, yeah, there’s plenty here for us to build uh, you know, build a scheme and build an offense around, you know, his incredible skill set.” Fair enough. The uh I saw after Jacob’s NFL record, 47 completions the other day, I looked up what your highest was, 40. You guys had the same amount of attempts, 57. What’s it like just dropping back and throwing it, ripping it that much in a in an NFL game? Yeah. I mean, a lot of it depends on the situation. Like, if you’re in a competitive situation, uh, so the game is competitive, it’s a blast. Uh, you know, I mean, you guys remember I played arena football, so we never handed it off. And so every time you, you know, it was a pass. And so it was awesome. It was backyard football and you know and and games were decided by your right arm. Um you know in a competitive situation in the NFL it’s awesome too because you just know man I get a I get a say in in all of this like what happens is is because of you know me throwing the football when you’re down in a game. Um it’s not quite as much fun. I mean, you love winging it around, but it’s like, you know, everybody makes a huge deal of of every mistake, which you get it, right? Because it’s a close game and and but it’s like, dude threw 57 times. Like, he’s going to make a mistake and and he didn’t make very many of them. I mean, 10 incompletions in 57 pass attempts is just stupid. Like, you know, that’s ridiculous. But, of course, there’s going to be an interception or two. You know, there’s going to be a a missed throw that happens and goes into the defender’s hand. So, um, so again, a lot of it just depends on that, but I I mean, he played awesome, and I I actually love the scheme that they play. You know, I tweeted today just about, um, you know, this idea of of the five out situations. You know, I I was a big proponent of getting the running back out free and putting pressure on the defense and getting in empty sets and and I thought the Cardinals utilized that extremely well. I mean, I thought San Francisco did, too, but I thought the Cardinals utilized that really, really well and had a bunch of good scheme things that I I really liked. and Jacobe uh I mean Jacobe was all over it. Um, you know, and so it was uh it just tough because he’s down in the game and I mean you go f I mean I couldn’t believe it when my son texts me and he’s like he went 47 of 57 and I was like oh my gosh like I’m looking up the score I’m like oh my gosh this must have come down to the wire. what h I mean 10 incompletions out of 57 you know and then I I see the penalties and then I see they lost by 20 and I’m like how does that even hap like you know so when I was watching the tape I’m trying to look and gauge okay did every incompletion come on third down like what happened in this game that uh that you can do that and get beat the way that they did it it was it’s hard to believe because he played an excellent football game and I really liked a lot of what they did playmakers guys making plays all over the place um but Yeah, I mean it’s it’s not fun in a game like that. Like you’d love to come out of that going, “I threw for 450 yards and I completed an NFL record and I had 83% completions out of 57.” Like all this stuff is mind-blowing. Um but you know what what does it mean at the end of the day when uh you know when you’re not even really competitive in the game? Yeah, he said he could care less. I mean obviously it’s the right thing to say, be humble, especially after you know taking a loss, but you got sacked five times in that game. He didn’t get sacked once. He certainly took his hits so a little bit which is also astounding. It was I mean yeah I mean the whole thing it was just you know cuz that’s all I could think when I was watching the tape is like you know where did his incompletions come from you know like what a couple of them were dropped couple of them were tipped on top of it and I mean you’re just like I yeah I thought he played an excellent football game. I I just again it’s it’s it’s almost hard to if you’re just watching the tape to even believe that it wasn’t a a close football game either. Um but yeah, there were definitely times where it’s like, “Oh man, great play.” And then all of a sudden you flip on the next one and it’s third and 20. You know, they’re moving back 10 yards. And so, um just all the, you know, the setbacks that they had in that game, unfortunately, um you know, they they couldn’t make it more competitive because he played he played awesome. We’re going to see if Jacobe can force the issue like you did at the end of the 2007 season. We got seven games to go. We’re going to chat with Kurt Warner the rest of the season. Kurt, uh safe travels this week. Talk to you soon. All right. Thanks, guys.

NFL Hall of Fame quarterback and Arizona Cardinals legend Kurt Warner joins Bo Brack and Johnny Venerable to discuss the state of the Arizona Cardinals between the current regime with Jonathan Gannon, whether the team will stick with quarterback Kyler Murray and the two most recent games for the team and backup Jacoby Brissett.

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