Report: Murray frustrated with Cardinals, embarrassed by playoff loss
Kyler Murray is becoming exasperated with the Arizona Cardinals, and the club's blowout playoff loss to the Los Angeles Rams left him feeling humiliated, ESPN's Chris Mortensen reports.
The quarterback believes Arizona's framing him as the scapegoat for its trouble. However, members of the Cardinals have also described Murray as self-centered, immature, and a finger-pointer, according to Mortensen.
Arizona is looking for Murray to improve as a leader with a focus on his maturity and on-field body language, among other traits, according to NFL Network's Mike Garafolo.
Speculation about a frayed relationship between Murray and the organization grew rampant after the passer removed any Cardinals-related content from his social media.
The Cardinals expressed excitement about moving forward with Murray in a response to Mortensen's report.
"Nothing has changed regarding our opinion and high regard for Kyler Murray. We, as a team, and Kyler, individually, have improved each year he's been in the league. We are excited to continue that improvement in 2022 and are excited that Kyler Murray is the quarterback leading us," the team said in a statement obtained by Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk.
Veteran players on the Cardinals intend to reach out to Murray while head coach Kliff Kingsbury is also doing a self-assessment to see where he can provide better help for his passer, Mortensen notes.
Murray was regarded as an early MVP candidate this season after a 7-0 start. However, his campaign took a nosedive when he lost six of his last eight starts. The star quarterback was also without top wideout DeAndre Hopkins, who remained sidelined after Week 14.
The 24-year-old struggled in the 34-11 wild-card loss to the Rams, completing just 55.9% of his passes for 137 yards with no touchdowns and two interceptions.
Murray did not take the final snaps in the playoff loss as Colt McCoy finished the game, which irked some in the organization, Garafolo adds.
Drafted first overall in 2019, Murray is eligible for a contract extension after playing three seasons. He has one more year left on his rookie deal, but the Cardinals can exercise a fifth-year option.