The face of the Cardinals for the majority of the past seven years, Murray will now embark on a career reclamation. He perhaps has landed in the best place possible with O’Connell.
O’Connell has had previous success in Minnesota with Kirk Cousins and Sam Darnold, who left the Vikings last offseason to captain the Seattle Seahawks to a Super Bowl LX triumph.
The 28-year-old Murray played just five games last year, completing 68.3% of his passes for a paltry 192.4 yards per game, six touchdowns, three interceptions and an 88.6 passer ranking. A dynamic dual-threat when he’s at his best, Murray was unable to lead the Cardinals to much offensive prominence through the air or on the ground, with veteran backup Jacoby Brissett leading the Cards to more production when he took over — even if wins didn’t follow.
Beginning with a torn ACL in 2022 and followed by last year’s pedal foot injury, Murray has missed 27 total games from 2022-25. His play has also noticeably waned.
The 2019 AP NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year and a two-time Pro Bowler, Murray concludes his career in Arizona third in franchise history with 20,460 passing yards and 121 passing touchdowns, and with 3,193 rushing yards and 32 TDs on the ground. His rushing numbers are tops in club chronicle for a quarterback (excluding Hall of Famer Charley Trippi, who was primarily a running back and defensive back).
Over his first three years, Murray produced 3,700 passing yards and 20 or more touchdown passes each season, joining Justin Herbert, Andrew Luck and Peyton Manning as the only players in NFL history with such stats to begin a career, per NFL Research.
He’s also one of only two players (Josh Allen being the other) all time to average 230-plus passing yards and 30-plus rushing yards per game.
However, since tearing his ACL in 2022, Murray’s rushing has dropped. He averaged 38.7 yards per game from 2019-2022 and scored 23 touchdowns on the ground. In comparison, he’s scored just nine rushing TDs and averaged 33 yards a game since 2023.