With the first overall pick of the 2019 NFL Draft, the Arizona Cardinals selected quarterback Kyler Murray. And in his rookie season in the league, Murray absolutely shined.
It is safe to say that the quarterback has an extremely bright future. And what's crazy about that bright future is, it might already be here.
Murray put up strong numbers in his rookie season. Not just in the air, but on the ground as well. After just one season, he has already established himself as one of the very best dual-threat quarterbacks in the entire league.
And he has plenty of weapons around him. Young weapons that will grow with him and get better as he gets better. But he also has veterans. Like Larry Fitzgerald, one of the greatest to ever play the game. A first-ballot Hall of Famer if there ever was one.
Oh, and of course there was that small addition the Cardinals made to their roster this offseason. I'm talking about that trade that landed them DeAndre Hopkins, the wide receiver who many believe to be the best in the game right now.
So we have a quarterback coming off an incredible rookie season who is only going to get better. And he has amazing weapons around him, including a superstar, a legendary veteran and tons of youngsters growing with Murray.
That sounds like a recipe for success.
With that in mind, what is the 2020 Kyler Murray fantasy football outlook? Let's take a look at his past, present, and future and try to determine exactly that.
2019 Kyler Murray Fantasy Stats
I've already touched on Murray's 2019 rookie season. It truly was fantastic. He had some struggles but for the most part, was on-point in his game.
Murray completed 64.4% of his passes for 3,722 yards and 20 touchdowns. While he did throw 12 interceptions, the good heavily outweighed the bad.
What really put him over the top was his running ability though. Murray racked up 544 rushing yards and another four touchdowns.
That right there was the kicker. His passing stats were really good, especially for a rookie. But throw in those rushing numbers and suddenly Murray is a legitimate threat in fantasy football.
And what is possibly even more important, he was pretty consistent. Yes, there were some really bad fantasy games stuck in there. But for most of the season, Murray was stringing together strong fantasy football games each week.
Murray did have three games with under 200 passing yards. However, the first one saw him throw two passing touchdowns and run for 69 yards on the ground. The second game was truly bad for fantasy, with no touchdowns and only 28 yards on the ground.
That being said, the third game saw him manage a touchdown and 40 more rushing yards. So he tended to keep those low passing games from hurting his fantasy numbers too much.
Murray only had three games without a touchdown. One was that terrible game we've already mentioned. The other two were a little better though. One included 220 passing yards and 13 rushing yards (no turnovers). And the other saw him throw for 349 yards and no turnovers.
The fact that Murray managed at least one touchdown in 13 games is pretty impressive. And it's important to remember he was a rookie. People tend to expect rookies to improve as they move forward.
With that in mind, and considering the additions Arizona has made, it's safe to assume Murray's 2020 (and beyond) will only be better.
2020 Kyler Murray Fantasy Projections
Speaking of 2020, what is Murray set to do in his sophomore season? Well, naturally you would expect the numbers to go up.
Murray was a rookie last season. So he is expected to make improvements. Not only that, but a lot of his top targets are extremely young too. They should be making improvements right along with their quarterback. And that immediately makes 2020 look appetizing for fantasy football owners to snatch up Murray.
But of course, we need to talk about Hopkins. Arguably the best receiver in the NFL today. He was traded to the Cardinals this offseason for peanuts in a trade that still confuses everyone.
Last season, with the Houston Texans, Hopkins managed 104 receptions for 1,165 yards and seven touchdowns. And what's crazy is that's not even close to his best season. Literally just the year before that, Hopkins shattered all of those numbers.
Now imagine Murray getting that receiver to throw to. Just with him being added, you could expect Murray to manage a few more touchdowns and a couple hundred more yards.
And that's not even taking into account the growth of the other weapons and of Murray himself.
Due to all of that, 2020 is looking to be a massive season for Murray in fantasy football. How massive, you ask? How do 4,000 passing yards and 28 touchdowns sound? Want to add to it? Sure. Let's throw in 600 rushing yards and five rushing touchdowns.
That's a pretty incredible season if you ask me.
Rank At Position
Quarterback is always a fun position to try and rank. Especially today with the running quarterback becoming so much more popular in the game.
It takes away from quarterbacks like Tom Brady, who will not be running much. Because suddenly if they throw for a few more touchdowns and yards, it will all be negated by the difference in the running game.
With that in mind, dual-threat quarterbacks are a great way to go for fantasy football. Lamar Jackson is the current standard-bearer in that category.
However, dual threats aren't the end-all-be-all. Patrick Mahomes is still the best option at the position, and he has never even topped 300 rushing yards in a season. He can run a bit, sure. But the main attraction when it comes to Mahomes is his arm.
So where exactly does Murray go? He's behind Mahomes and Jackson for sure. But does the running put him ahead of Brady and Drew Brees? What bout Aaron Rodgers, Dak Prescott, Russell Wilson and Carson Wentz?
And what about the other young quarterbacks that could take massive steps in 2020? Could Daniel Jones or Dwayne Haskins leap into major fantasy football relevancy? Could Deshaun Watson manage without Hopkins? And what about Baker Mayfield looking for his bounce-back season?
There are a lot of questions to be had. But for now, we have to focus on what we know. And what we know is Murray was the 2019 rookie of the year. His group of great weapons added the best wide receiver in the game. And he's only getting better.
With all that in mind, he makes it just into the top-five of all quarterbacks when it comes to fantasy football, taking that coveted number five spot.
Only Mahomes, Jackson, Wilson and Prescott are ahead of him.
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