Ex-Cardinals GM raises $230,500,000 concern on Kyler Murray over QB's recent comments - "Didn't want to hear that"
Back in 2022, Kyler Murray recommitted to the Arizona Cardinals for five years and $230.5 million. Then he and his team went through a spate of injuries and severe regression, culminating in the NFC's second-worst record and threatening to invalidate the rationale behind the contract.
After hearing Murray's latest comments on his comeback, ex-general manager Steve Keim, the man who selected him first overall four years ago, has a warning.
In a soon-to-be-released episode of the Cardinals' mini-series "Flight Plan," Murray said he had to change his approach to the game:
"I've got to respect the person or understand the ins and outs or the rhymes and reasons for what we are doing. I'm going to listen. I'm going to be coachable and I'm going to do it to the best of my ability, but if the (expletive) ain't working, at some point, we all have to look in the mirror."
But Keim has his doubts on the matter, as he told Colin Cowherd Tuesday on FS1's "The Herd with Colin Cowherd":
“What he said, you don’t love it. When he added the word ‘but’ in, generally behind a positive, the word ‘but’ does not end in a positive light. I certainly didn’t want to hear that. Nor do fans want to hear a guy who’s making $46.1 million a year blame anybody but himself.
"I’m not saying that he’s a guy that blames people; yet at the same time, when you get that bag of cash, everybody expects you to take it on your shoulders.”
Steve Keim sets huge expectations for Kyler Murray with the Cardinals potentially in Caleb Williams sweepstakes
Even with the 2023 NFL draft long over, the depleted Arizona Cardinals are still looking toward the future. DraftKings believes that they will go 0-17 in an attempt to land USC's Heisman-winning dual-threat quarterback Caleb Williams in 2024 and make him, instead of Kyler Murray, the face of their franchise.
Continuing his thoughts on Kyler Murray, Keim said that how Murray would fare on his return from injury would determine his future in Glendale:
“I would actually have Kyler in my top five, four guys under pressure. Because if they do have a tough year - he's coming off an injury and he's got to prove himself… they're in a real predicament.”
He even claimed that if he were still GM, he would prefer Williams:
“If they win two football games and Caleb Williams is available… I would take the new kid.”
This could potentially happen next year, if the Cardinals suffer a terrible season. It would be interesting to see what they would do with Kyler Murray and his giant contract if that were to materialize.