Quarterback drama has persisted throughout the offseason’s early months, and one of the early contributors here is back in the mix. Kyler Murray is seeking a Cardinals extension before the draft, but two weeks ahead of the event, nothing is on the horizon.
The Cardinals have not made Murray an offer, according to NFL.com’s Tom Pelissero. The team still wants to keep Murray long-term, but the sides are not negotiating. This has understandably led other teams to monitor this situation, which ties into Murray’s camp wanting an extension by the draft (Twitter links). The 24-year-old standout became extension-eligible in January, and his side has ramped up the pressure on the Cardinals to hammer out a deal. Team Murray still views the draft as a deadline, Albert Breer of SI.com tweets.
Murray’s agent pulled his extension offer weeks ago, Pelissero adds. The market has undoubtedly changed, with Deshaun Watson signing a fully guaranteed $230MM deal with the Browns and Aaron Rodgers raising the per-year bar beyond $50MM. Murray has established himself as one of the league’s top young quarterbacks, though the two-time Pro Bowler has seen his play tail off after hot starts in each of the past two seasons.
A report of the Cardinals being annoyed by Murray started the drama in Arizona, and Murray had issues of his own with the organization. Murray soon scrubbed the Cards from his social media accounts, and his agent sent out a much-discussed statement regarding his client’s extension pursuit. This led to the start of a peacemaking effort, but it is clear the sides have work to do to complete that.
The former No. 1 overall pick is under contract for two more seasons, via the fifth-year option the Cardinals plan to pick up, but it has not been uncommon to see teams extend franchise quarterbacks after their third seasons. Watson, Russell Wilson and Patrick Mahomes received monster re-ups after their third years. Of course, the post-Year 3 deals the Rams and Eagles gave Jared Goff and Carson Wentz, respectively, might factor into the Cards’ decision-making here. Both extensions led to trades that saddled those teams with record-setting dead-money sums.
The draft plays a role here due to Murray’s camp believing more teams would be interested ahead of the event. Even though this year’s quarterback crop has not been highly praised, teams will undoubtedly make big investments at the position, thus narrowing potential Murray destinations and reducing his leverage. Cardinals owner Michael Bidwill called Murray’s extension process “complicated” and did not seem to be on the same page regarding a pre-draft extension. The team holds considerable leverage here anyway, but it will be interesting to see how Murray’s side operates in the coming days.
I can’t understand why some of these players hold out for more money when they’re barely halfway through their rookie deals…another diva!!
He’s more than halfway through, he’s eligible to be extended for the first time, and he’s not holding out. Does that clear it up a little?
Reports are Murray won’t play without a new deal. That would be called holding out.
He hasn’t held out. A report of a possible course of action is not the same as an actual course of action. And to call a guy a diva for negotiating for a better contract as soon as he’s allowed to is garbage. Rookie deals artificially deflate salary, especially for QBs. He risks his future every time he steps on the field. He’d be crazy NOT to push to get his second contract.
I never called him a diva. And have no issue with him working his contract however he sees fit. But the fact is, reports are he’s not playing without a deal. The only reason he is not holding out now is because it’s April.
The diva thing was calling back to the original post to which I replied. And no, he’s not holding out until he’s holding out.
Opinions vary
Threatening a hold out and actually holding out are very different things.
Murray is overrated and likely not worth what he will get. I do not see him lasting long enough physically. He is one of the most Jeckel and Hyde QBs in the league. I don’t think he will ever be consistent enough to win a Super Bowl.
Why don’t they trade him for Mayfield?
He’s quite the player for a little guy
DC should have offered their 1st pick straight up. But no, Carson was a better option.
You mean for the next 4-5 years? Because that’s what it would have taken….
No way. He’s an average starter, 22-23-1. Plus a $40m annual deal. 1 pick. He doesn’t have the leverage he claims. 1st pick means nothing, just ask Baker about that.
Judging a QB entirely by his team’s record is asinine. Murray didn’t assemble the rest of the team. They’d be a whole lot worse than that without him.
Always love these arguments. AZ hot start 9-2 something like that, was on Murray. but the collapse is on everyone else. Sure.
I didn’t say any of those things, though. I’m saying he’s a very good QB elevating a dicy roster with a mediocre head coach and a GM who should have been fired years ago. Murray’s a top ten QB.
Sorry. It Murray isn’t there yet. Like I said, it was a fantastic roster at 9-2 then it falls apart it’s ‘dicey’.
Well, I said the rest of the roster is dicey, and someone else–possibly a strawman you made up–said their roster was fantastic when they were doing well. I’ve never said their roster is fantastic. I think it’s extremely top heavy, with some severe injury risk among their best players.
How do you explain 3 years in a row of bad finishes? Great starts, terrible endings. GM, coach, And QB all play a massive part in that.
I get why the Cards call him immature. What did they do, besides not lock him up for $40m? to see his attitude this off season, spoiled brat and the organization knows that.
Congratulations on reaching the conclusion you wanted to draw.
Same conclusion as the Crds.
And the Cards have a great track record of excellent judgement. That’s why they’ve made the playoffs six times since they moved to Arizona in 1988.
I never said it was a HoF franchise. I said Murray Isn’t as good as he thinks he is. He childish and has not earned a 2nd contract.
This is quite possibly the stupidest argument ever….
He’s a 2 time pro bowler and was rookie of the year. He’s all of 24 and took the cardinals from laughing stock to playoffs in all of 3 years despite playing for a coach who has never won anything but keeps failing up.
If Washington offered a single first rounder for Murray….they would get hung up and laughed at in .5 seconds. If you hate the guy, cool, but don’t make yourself look like a tool on here because you have 0 clue what young franchise QBs are worth.
I don’t hate Murray what so ever, but his teams always collapse at the end of the seasons. 3 years of proof for that.
as for the awards and accolades, it’s all marketing. The D/O ROY candidates fro next season will be top 10 picks. Already know that, it’s a given.
The only thing being a pro bowler really means is your team isn’t in the super bowl. Outside of that it doesn’t mean much.
Now if he was an all-pro, that’s a different story (I am assuming he wasn’t but I haven’t confirmed that since I don’t exactly care)
Could not agree more. He’s in the middle of the pack. He’s decent but with guys like Herbert, Burrow , Mahomes , Allen and a few more in the league for the foreseeable future … he will never win a Super Bowl
If he was so awesome, then why (a) did the cards remove him from their SM platforms after he removed them & (b) why not set some sort a parameters for a contract?
Incredible talent that should be thinking about football after that debacle against the Rams in the playoffs instead of the next contract that just makes him richer.
Overrated guy who has not won anything. Sit out your 2 years away from a deal!
4 years, I’d tag his ass twice if he was actually worth it.
Why is this dude so antsy to get paid?…
is he worried he’s not actually that good and he’ll be exposed next year? likely to get hurt?
Bidwill thinks the extension process is complicated? It seems pretty simple to me. You’ve invested heavily in offensive weapons so playing hardball with your QB makes no sense…especially when you know your going to have to match the market value anyway.
I’m amazed there can be this much discussion over something that is hardly news, it’s just business as usual.
What do we care? He’s not going anywhere. He’s going to get paid X amount of dollars. Play ball.
Teams need to stop with these extensions 2 years early and players love to do stupid things to make them look selfish. Scrubbing the Cardinals of his social media accounts shows a significant lack of maturity. That isn’t going to make the team want to accommodate you. If you want to sit out, go ahead, don’t play football for 2 years and be in breach of your contract and see what your value is once that ends. If one of these teams has the backbone to say no to these diva qbs this behavior might start to change.
QBs may be immature divas but they clearly have significantly more leverage now than they ever had before. Brady was basically dictating to Arians who he wanted on the Bucs roster. Rodgers has gotten concessions from the Packers that would have been a fantasy a decade ago. This trend will continue as QBs share of the salary cap climbs. Perhaps the time has come for the NFL to modify the passer centric model the game now employs.
The real issue is the kid doesn’t like football – except for the money. Thus he’ll never have the competitive attitude you need to win it all.
Almost 1/3 of the Cardinal victories since he arrived were the result of Murray leading a game winning drive…but obviously he lacks a competitive attitude.