Arizona Cardinals quarterback Kyler Murray is staying locked in.
In the past two years, there has been a trend of second-year passers excelling and eventually winning the league MVP award. Both Patrick Mahomes (2018) and Lamar Jackson (2019) snagged their MVP trophies on their second season, which has put a ton of spotlight and pressure on the Cardinals' sophomore playmaker.
But the reigning Offensive Rookie of the Year is blocking out all the noise and is focusing on the task at hand.
“I don’t really pay any mind to it,” Murray said of the MVP talk (per azcardinals.com). “They’ve got to put somebody in the talk. I’ve got to go out and play well, and if I play well, I can put myself in that conversation. But as far as people talking and stuff like that, I don’t really pay attention to it.”
The 2019 first-overall pick for the Cardinals started all of his first 16 games in Arizona. Murray finished his rookie campaign with 3,722 passing yards and tallied 20 passing touchdowns. The Oklahoma alum also had 544 rushing yards and scored four rushing touchdowns in 93 carries. Clearly, the 23-year-old had an impressive debut for the Cardinals.
In the hopes of helping the team move forward, Arizona even added four-time Pro Bowl receiver DeAndre Hopkins into the mix which should be nothing but helpful for the young quarterback.
After a terrific rookie year, a lot are expecting for Murray to continue his momentum and all signs are pointing for him to have a breakout year and propel himself as one of the elite signal-callers in the league.
Watch out, world.