After rumors last offseason that the Arizona Cardinals would look to get off of quarterback Kyler Murray's contract, things have certainly changed.

By carrying Murray on the roster through the weekend, the Cardinals locked in a $29.9 million guarantee for him for 2025. It’s not as though they could’ve just cut him without penalty over the last couple of weeks, since his $35.3 million for this coming season is already locked in, but things are a long way from where they were at this time last year, writes Albert Breer of SI:

“How’d Murray win over his new bosses? I collected some anecdotes …

  • Quickly, through his rehab from ACL surgery, Murray started blowing up what perception held. In the early parts of 2023, right after Gannon and Ossenfort were hired, some might’ve expected Murray to retreat to Texas or California. Instead, he was in Arizona and at the facility daily, working with Cardinals senior reconditioning coordinator, Buddy Morris, going above and beyond to work his knee back to health.
  • Oftentimes with players going through such a rehab, you’d see a reluctance to get too in the weeds on football stuff, but the opposite happened in April as the classroom-heavy beginning of the offseason program got going. At that point, there was no certainty that Murray would play at all in 2023, but he was engaged and inquisitive in working with OC Drew Petzing and staff, even as they built an offense that would look very different from the air raid schemes that Murray ran in high school, college and his first four years in the pros.
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An Arizona Cardinals logo surrounded by Jer'Zhan Newton, Cooper DeJean, Christian Haynes, and an NFL Draft background.

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Arizona Cardinals quarterback Kyler Murray and new Cardinals wide receiver Marvin Harrison Jr.

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Cardinals' Marvin Harrison Jr., Kyler Murray, JJ Watt stand next to NFL Draft logo

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  • Murray actually stayed in Arizona to keep working through parts of late June and July—after the offseason program concludes, but before training camp starts—which is very unusual for veterans, who normally use that time to get away. When he first got back out there (and after he’d established he was more coachable and relatable to teammates than previously advertised), he looked like Kyler.”

The Cardinals recently shared a social post simply saying “our franchise QB.”