Arizona Cardinals’ Zaven Collins addresses state of team
At 2-5, the Arizona Cardinals are trying to turn things around and get a much-needed win coming off their Week 8 bye in the 2025 season.
Kyler Murray will not start against the Dallas Cowboys on Monday Night Football, Cardinals head coach Jonathan Gannon said in his press conference Nov. 1.
That leaves Jacoby Brissett as the Cardinals’ starter for the third consecutive game. Gannon did leave the door open for Murray to serve as the backup.
“I do want to give it the next couple days to see if Kyler could possibly have a role on gameday,” Gannon said.
Brissett has out-performed Murray in his two starts, but Gannon said that the decision was purely health-related.
“He’s just not ready to go yet,” Gannon said. “But obviously that position’s a little bit different cause you’ve gotta have a plan ready. That’s why I’m just saying, Jacoby’s starting. But if he can have a role, he can have a role, but you take it one day at a time. But I know he wants to be out there and he’s doing everything he can.”
Gannon did not provide a clear answer when asked whether Murray’s injury could be long-term, but he did say that injured reserve is not currently on the table as a possibility.
Later, Gannon was asked why Murray could be active but not ready to start.
“There’s a lot of different scenarios that can happen in two days that you would make the decision, what’s best for the player and best for the team to that be the case,” Gannon said. “… Weird things have happened outside of your control for 48 hours leading up to a game, and things change. So that’s kind of the reason.”
Regardless, it’s the latest twist in what has been a strange injury timeline for Murray.
He initially suffered his foot injury in the Cardinals’ Week 5 loss to the Titans. In that game, he entered the locker room for a brief evaluation but quickly returned to finish the game.
Murray did not play the following week, with Gannon saying that the Cardinals reached that decision on Saturday, one day before the game. Murray was again inactive in Week 7. As the Cardinals entered their bye, ESPN reported that Murray was “expected” to return this week against Dallas.
Then, on Thursday, Oct. 30, Gannon was asked whether the Cardinals were preparing Murray to start and responded, “Yeah.”
Kyler will not be ready to start, Gannon said. He might have a role on gameday as a backup.
— Theo Mackie (@theo_mackie) November 1, 2025
The story, though, quickly began to look less certain. During the open portion of the Cardinals’ first two practices of the week, Brissett took reps with Marvin Harrison Jr., Trey McBride and Michael Wilson, while Murray exclusively worked with the backups. Meanwhile, the Cardinals canceled Murray’s typical mid-week press conference.
Then, in his final press conference before the game, Gannon announced that Murray would not start. It’s the first time that Gannon has revealed Murray’s status ahead of time. Previously, the Cardinals had not publicly ruled Murray out until releasing their official game statuses 90 minutes before kickoff.
It’s a timeline that raises questions regarding the short-term and long-term future of the Cardinals quarterback position — and whether Murray will, indeed, be reinserted as the starter.
After all, Brissett has led the Cardinals’ offense to its two highest-scoring days of the year. He is averaging 7.4 yards per attempt to Murray’s 6.0 yards per attempt. He’s also throwing more touchdowns, taking fewer sacks and throwing fewer interceptions.
But for now, the Cardinals’ position is clear, at least publicly: This is a matter of health, not performance.
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Theo Mackie covers the Arizona Cardinals for The Arizona Republic. For story tips, feedback or questions, he can be reached by email at theo.mackie@gannett.com and on Twitter @theo_mackie.
Reach Jeremy Cluff at jeremy.cluff@arizonarepublic.com. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter @Jeremy_Cluff.
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