THE CONVERSATION: Arizona Cardinals Kyler Murray Situation Explained From All Angles

THE CONVERSATION: Arizona Cardinals Kyler Murray Situation Explained From All Angles

After seven years, it’s finally time to have the conversation about Kyler Murray. Let’s discuss. [Music] You are Locked On Cardinals, your daily Arizona Cardinals podcast, part of the Locked On podcast network. Your team every day. Locked on Cardinals. How is Clancy here? It’s time. It’s time to have the conversation. This is not going to be the conversation you think it’s going to be. And this is going to be the conversation you absolutely think it’s going to be all meshed into one 25 to 28 minute podcast. Today’s episode of Lock Dog Cardinals is brought to you by FanDuel. Uh right now, new customers can bet five bucks and if your bet wins, you get $300 in bonus bets to use across the app. So, I’m not winding this up for this to be some sort of dramatic like he should never play football for the Cardinals again. No. But I’m going to look at this from a couple different perspectives. I’m going to tell the future first. I’ll do that in the last segment. So, I’ll tell the future last. Yep. Um I’m going to talk about this from a coaching perspective. what the best situation would look like for the coaches, not just for this year, but for their future as well, which is fascinating. And most importantly, what really matters is from the on the- field perspective between Kyler Murray and whoever the hell else is is quarterbacking that’s not him. Jacobe Brassett’s going to be used because it’s been him. Jacobe Brassette is more than likely not the long-term solution for the Arizona Cardinals. But what we’ve seen develop throughout this year is something that I think has had most people a little bit surprised. And you know, the the Kyler naysayers would be, “Oh, the Lee’s been doing this forever. Why would it be different this year?” That they all talk like that. I can almost guarantee. And then the others are like, “This is not Kyler’s fault. So when you look at what’s happened on the field, the eight quarters of football that Jacobe Brassette has played have looked better than any set of eight straight quarters that Kyler Murray’s played this year. That is factual by every metric, by every statistic, by using your damn eyeballs. That is factual. So maybe the most grounded, rational reason as to why is that Drew Petting’s offense doesn’t fit Kyler Murray’s skill set. Okay, so we can talk about that. Um, it’s fit his skill set sometimes, just not all the time. So, what does that look like when the offense when the offensive line keeps the pocket deep, gives him time to go through his progressions, it’s good. It works for him, but when they don’t, it doesn’t. Or is the having no run game bad because he can’t throw the ball 45 times a game? Or is Kyler Murray just unable to go through his progressions? Or is this just dumb luck from Jacobe Brassette for two games that’s made this offense hum? Like it’s a completely different offense as compared to what Kyler Murray’s done. There’s so many different angles. This isn’t a coin with two sides. This is a kaleidoscope of potential reasons why this is happening. And the conversation surrounding Kyler Murray specifically now is why is Jacobe Brassette playing better than him and keeping the Cardinals offense looking competent from second one to the last second when Kyler Murray isn’t doing that? That is a question. not saying, you know, I’ll be, oh, it’s a quarterback controversy. No, it’s not. It’s not a quarterback controversy. I will talk about why on the final segment. That’s called a tease. Wish it didn’t go high pitch like that. This is not a quarterback controversy. And also, Jacobe Brassette is giving the Cardinals the better chance to win games. Um, both can be true. the peak of this offense, the best parts, the best moments of this offense, like the flashball memories, Kyler Murray’s been quarterback, but the highest floor by about 30 rungs on a 31 run ladder has been with Jacob Brassette. So yes, third and 23s, third and 15s to uh Z Jones to Marv. Great floor. Kyler Murray the second quarter in the beginning of the third against Carolina, the first half or the first 202 minutes of the of the um of the uh Tennessee game, the last quarter of Seattle, all peaks, all Kyler. the highest functioning this offense has looked in spurts. Kyler Murray, the floor, it’s so much higher than Kyler Murray, you can’t even see the differentiator. You can’t even see the gap because it’s so much astronomically higher with Jacobe Brcett at quarterback. Both can be true. We’re having two very different conversations at the same exact time in the same exact time space continuum. And it seems like we’re speaking different languages from different times with different teams. It’s the best way I can describe it. We’re all speaking the same language, but nobody’s understanding what anybody’s saying because it doesn’t really compute as to why we’re here. Outside of the fact that maybe what Jacobe Brassette can do is cater more to this offense than what Kyler Murray can do. So, is that a Drew Petting thing? Maybe not. Maybe it’s a wrong quarterback thing, even though he’s the more talented quarterback. So, the progress of this conversation is marred and like tagged and scarred by, oh, it’s a quarterback controversy. Ooh. Ooh. Let’s let’s let’s fight them up against each other. There’s so many other pieces that are going into this that have nothing to do with just Jacobe Brassette or just Kyler Murray. And it’s very very difficult for me. Like it’s like let’s talk about me for a second guys. I’m the most important person. Like I’ve been team Kyler since he came back week one 2019 when they were left for dead at halftime against Detroit in his first NFL game and he brought him back to tie that game and was as I say Tmaine Brock football off his chest plate that wasn’t intercepted that could have won you a game in fantastical fashion in his first game as an NFL player. And then you’ve got I mean the Hill Murray, you’ve got the game against the Raiders at the start of the 2022 season. You’ve got fantastical that we’ve seen from Kyler Murray. We saw four game-winning comebacks game come from behind wins last year. So that’s why it’s so difficult to digest the fact that that quarterback can’t get two first downs to salt a game away when they’ve had four opportunities to do it. So, at some point, the conversation needs to be had with why why can’t that elite NFL player do what other quarterbacks do every week? Some who are less talented than him. And at this point, it could be argued that the answer doesn’t really matter and that the writing’s on the wall come 2026. And the impetus for that, for the accelerator, the jet fuel of this conversation is that Jacobe Brassette has made it look so easy against far tougher opponents than what Kyler Murray’s faced this year. He makes it look effortless. And it’s not perfect. He’s getting beat up. He’s thrown the ball 45 times. It’s not perfect. None of this is perfect. This is all a Travis mockery of a situation. But the fact that you’re putting in two parts can’t close. One part Jacobe Brassett’s making this look easy. And it’s not perfect. Two parts can’t close. One part Jacobe Brassette making it look easy in the bowl of dysfunction that’s been the Arizona Cardinals forever. That’s why this so this conversation is so much more complicated than Jacobe Brassette versus Kyler Murray because that’s not what this is about. This is about Kyler Murray versus Kyler Murray. And it’s wild that we’re having this conversation so soon this season. It’s wild. Lockdown Cardinals your team every day. That’s on the field. That’s a lot of different moving parts. And I told you this conversation was going to be different than you thought. like this isn’t going to be a place where I’m going to be like, “Oh, sit them. Sit them because that’s 100% what they’re going to do.” A spoiler alert, there is no quarterback controversy. I’ll discuss it in the final segment after talking about from a coach’s perspective, which is maybe more complicated, believe it or not. I’ll discuss it, you know, right when uh my mouse starts to work, which is super cool when my mouse works. I love when my mouse works because it makes my life easier. I’m Cody Ror from Lockdown Broncos and this episode is brought to you by Pelaton. Pelaton is shaping the future of fitness with the brand new Pelaton crossraining tread plus powered by Pelaton IQ. This is Pelaton’s most advanced equipment yet, giving you realtime guidance and endless ways to move. Whether you’re running, lifting, or you’re crossraining with your favorite instructors like Alex Tusant, it’s training reimagined to make your workout more personal, Pelaton is built for breakthroughs. With features that help you plan, stay motivated, and hit peak performance. You can let yourself run, lift, flex, and go, while Pelaton handles all the rest. Plus, Pelaton IQ provides real time strength coaching, tracking your progress, and suggesting weights that challenge you so you can get stronger. Plus the new movement tracking camera. It counts your reps and corrects your form in real time, making sure every rep is safer and smarter. So, let yourself run, lift, flex, push, and go. Explore the new Pelaton crossraining tread plus at onepelon.com. This episode of Locked on Cardinals is also brought to you by our friends at Mazda. Man, Mazda crafts cars for those who do more than just simply move. And Maz Mazda delivers confidence with every ride with more IHS top safety pick awards than anyone else. From footwork to breath work, athletes sweat all the details. And Mazda brings this same intention to how we craft every model. You can feel, you know, the Japanese craftsmanship in every detail. From the metallic accents to available Napa leather upholstery, and you can make everyday drives feel like anything but. From smooth handling to intuitive controls, with all-wheel drive standard in every crossover SUV, you can drive with confidence through almost any season. Like our players, we sweat every detail because when you make every move count, impossible becomes irrelevant. Mazda, move and be moved. Please go to the YouTube channel, search locked in Arizona Cardinal, hit that subscribe button, man. You know the drill. You know it. Bye-bye Brock’s going to join me tomorrow. I may get another guest for Thursday. I’m being lazy this week. Excuse me. It’s the by week. Um, but we’ll see. Still TBD. Uh, but again, please go to the YouTube channel, search lock Arizona. You know it. Numbers have been up. Thank you so much for everybody who’s hanging. Uh, you know, I’m just happy that you’re here. I’ve been saying that for, you know, my ninth season now. Um, regardless of how much I believe the Arizona Cardinals organization has taken part in my hairines recession, um, I wouldn’t change this for the world. So, thanks for being here. Uh, truly truly, uh, more than anything. Much appreciated. Um, the coaches, yikes. So, we’re going to talk, you can, you know, you can find, I’m sure, the more generic, well, look at the numbers. Look at the stats. Look at this. We’re going to talk about a little bit more in depth. Let’s challenge our brains a little bit. There’s a couple different schools of thought, and it is just going to absolutely fester during the by-week, man. Like, this is either the best or the worst time to have a by-week. I was talking uh we did the Cardinal squad show Sunday night and J Douglas who used to play with uh multiple teams in the NFL offensive lineman um he’s great. Uh I asked him before we at towards the end it’s like what is this bye-week going to be like for the players? What’s it going to be? What’s it going to be like for the coaches? Cuz there’s a glaring difference between the last two weeks and the and the five weeks before. And they both ended in losses. So of course like on the Kyler side, it’s not like they’re winning games without Kyler Murray. Um Jal continued to say and he he you know he was saying it like he repeated it to be t to be kind of cheeky towards the end but he just kept saying the same thing. You got to put the guy out there who gives you the best chance to win. And it’s easy to be like oh well yeah Jacobe start him. But from a coach’s perspective there’s so many different things that go into play. One, Jonathan came here to coach Kyler Murray to play quarterback for him. Okay, that’s not going to change in two games when Kyler Murray’s was injured. It’s not going to change. Um, Drew Petting, he’s playing, he’s coaching for a job. I I don’t know this, but and of course I don’t know this, but if you’re a human being and you’re calling plays for one quarterback who plays well for, you know, 30% of some games, but when it’s good, it’s incredibly all, you know, Pro Bowl good level good and then sometimes his bottom three and then Jacobe Brassette just comes in there and hucks it and the Cardinals are in games. Who would, and this is not rhetorical, who if you were Drew Pating, who would you rather quarterback this team if your job’s on the line? That’s the tough one. If you’re Drew Petting, who do you want to quarterback if your job’s on the line? going up against one of the worst defense, even though they played pretty well last week against Washington because I mean, uh, Jaden got hurt, but going Monday night against one of the worst defenses in the NFL. That’s the brain bender. It’s like, no, it’s not. It’s it’s it’s Jacobe. Look what’s happened the last two weeks. It’s not that simple. And not to say that, you know, he has the he has the the final decision on on things, but like when it comes down to it, I’m not saying coaches are selfish and I’m going say it’s human nature. It’s like you go home, crack a beer or whatever, Fanta, and you’re sitting watching game film of Jacobe Brassette if you’re Drew Petting and then game film of watching Kyler Murray. Maybe he’s calling some of the same plays and Jacob’s executing Kyler isn’t. It’s like I I I’ve alluded to this a lot. Like the NFL becomes fantasy football mid-season when it comes to guys outperforming others. You got to put the best product out there. Is Kyler Murray still the best product? I’m sure. But does it look like that the last couple weeks? No. This is not driving Kyler Murray out of town because he got injured. There’s so many comments about like, “Oh, you’re sabotaging Kyler.” What are you talking about? We’re watching games without our eyes closed and without earplugs in and seeing night and day difference with the pop of this offense. Night and day. Every metric, every eyeball, every iris, every another part of the eye that I don’t know. I used to know all of them. Lens, cone, C minus in science. Um, from a coach’s perspective, you loyal to your dude and you’re going down with the ship or can the Cardinals make a run with Jacobe Brassette? Like, I’m not these aren’t rhetorical. This is me discussing with you all of the possibilities that could be going through human beings heads. And if you think that Jonathan Ganon doesn’t notice a difference, I don’t know what to tell you. And also, this isn’t a quarterback controversy. If you’re Drew Pensing, how do you not look at what’s happened the last two games, and be like, I want that guy. And a reminder from the first segment, the peaks, the highest tippy top that this offense has been run, Kyler, the floor astronomically higher with Jacobe Brassette. Which one is more beneficial for a team in the long run? I’ll let you answer that yourself. There is no quarterback controversy here. Kyler Murray is going to start when he’s healthy. I’ll discuss what that future looks like next. This episode of Lockdown Cardinals is brought to you by FanDuel, man. Um, FanDuel, man. FanDuel’s got an offer for you don’t want to miss because we’re in the middle smack dab of the NFL season. Dude, we’re going into week eight. Appreciate football. Right now, new customers can bet just $5 and get $300 in bonus bets. If you win, that’s right. Pick a bet, put down five bucks. If it hits, you’ll unlock $300 in bonus bets to use across the app. Like, good luck picking who the MVP is. You can bet on the futures there. Good luck picking who’s going to make the Super Bowl, you can bet on futures there. Like there’s so many different things. Single game parlays, if you want to put down a little, potentially win a lot. Like there’s so many different ways to get take part in the action on FanDuel. Again, if you’re a new customer, you bet $5. If that bet wins, you get $300 in bonus bets to use across the app. So, what are you waiting for? Visit fanuel.com to download the FanDuel app today and get started. at Clancy’s Corner on Twitter at locked on AC cards. Uh I just can’t believe that we’re here. We knew this was going to happen. It’s the Cardinals. It’s not if, it’s when. It’s like, come on, man. I love those conversations because it’s like anything that you say, most things don’t happen. Most things don’t happen. So, you’re like, “Well, I knew they weren’t going to win the Super Bowl.” Yeah. 31 teams don’t win the Super Bowl every year. Most things don’t happen. But if you put together a collection of actionables, things that actually did happen, and put them in a group and put them in a chronological line and start with the endgame as as as week one of the NFL season, you’d expect there to be a better situation than we’re dealing with a two and five, five win, five losses with from a combined 13 points. I think they’re the worst good team in the NFL. I don’t think they’re the best. They’re the best bad team. I think they’re the worst good team in the NFL. They just can’t close. They just can’t close. It’s time to tell the future. Clen Stradamus, Tyler Mur is going to start every day, every game for the end of for the rest of the year, starting in week nine if he’s healthy. That’s the future. Um, they’re going down with the ship and who knows they could turn it around. Like if they’re Okay, let me ask you this. I guess I can’t ask you. Let me pose a question that you can drop in the comments and answer. If you got to pick one guy between Jacobe Brasset and Kyler Murray to go on an absolute massive heater and beat a bunch of teams they’re not supposed to beat and just do the unthinkable, you got to pick Kyler. Like that’s the that that’s the the backwards way to look at this because it’s like you need the peaks more than the floor at this point. Um there’s no way Kyler Murray’s not starting if he’s healthy because it’s not just about this year. So say say Kyler Murray comes out and they lose or say you know he they comes out and they lose I don’t know 2410 or 2413. The the offense looks terrible against one of the worst defenses in the NFL and it looks night and day on the bad side compared to what we’ve seen the last couple weeks against very good defenses or you know at least above average defenses Green Bay specifically which Jacobe Brassette. If he’s a healthy scratch, if he’s a healthy clipboard QB2, he’s never going to be an Arizona Cardinal quarterback again. So it’s not just about this year, it’s about the future also. So, if you want to see what the kid’s made of, what the young man’s made of, I say kids because I’m old, but what the young man’s made of and you roll him out there and it’s not great. Not only, and listen, it’s easy. You’re It’s very easy to forget very quickly how good they looked for a large chunk of the Tennessee game because of all of the things that have happened after. If they won the Tennessee game, we’d be having a different conversation. If they won the San San Francisco game, we’d be having a different conversation. And that’s the mindscrew of all of this. Is it are we prisoners of the situation that is kind of thwarting our ability to have rational conversations about this, or is it really just about wins and losses, which I discussed to start the season? One thing is unequivocally true. If Kyler Murray does not start a game when he is healthy this year, he will no longer be an Arizona Cardinal and they will trade him in the offseason. So that begs the question, if he’s not starting and he’s healthy in week nine, and we’re jumping a million steps here, but if he’s not starting, if he’s not the starting quarterback and he’s healthy in week nine when they come back and Jacobe Brassette’s starting, trade him immediately. Like this is, oh, let’s wait till the offseason, gauge the market. No, no, no. move on because that is the biggest indicator of never coming back from this. It is and 100% is not going to happen. Kyler Murray is starting in Dallas week nine. He’ll be starting all the way through when he’s healthy. That’s what it’s going to be. Is it right? We don’t know. Is it wrong? We don’t know. Is it going to be that? Yes. You’re welcome. I’ve just told the future lockdown Cardinals your team every day. Remember without you there is no me buddy bro Bo Pro Brock joining me tomorrow. Talk to you then.

The Arizona Cardinals face a pivotal quarterback decision as Kyler Murray’s return looms. This episode dives deep into the Murray vs. Jacoby Brissett debate, analyzing their contrasting performances and impact on the team’s offensive strategy.

Host Alex Clancy breaks down the numbers, highlighting Brissett’s surprising efficiency and Murray’s struggles. He examines how each quarterback fits into the offensive scheme, their ability to progress through reads, and their overall command of the huddle. The discussion extends to the wider implications for the Cardinals’ season and long-term plans.

Alex explores the coaching dilemma faced by Jonathan Gannon and Drew Petzing. Should they stick with the hot hand in Brissett or return to their franchise quarterback? The episode weighs the pros and cons of each option, considering factors like team chemistry, financial commitments, and future draft strategies.

The podcast also speculates on Murray’s future with the Cardinals. Alex presents potential trade scenarios, evaluating possible suitors and return packages. He analyzes the financial implications of moving Murray and how it could reshape the team’s roster.

As Murray’s Week 9 return against the Dallas Cowboys approaches, Alex offers predictions on how the quarterback situation will unfold. He discusses the potential impact on team morale, fan reactions, and the Cardinals’ playoff aspirations.

This episode provides listeners with a comprehensive analysis of the Cardinals’ quarterback controversy, offering expert insights and bold predictions that will keep fans engaged and informed. Let’s discuss.

The Best Daily Arizona Cardinals Podcast. Host Alex Clancy (@ClancysCorner) take an unbiased approach covering the biggest Cards stories.

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