The Arizona Cardinals haven't been having the season they were expecting to have in 2022, and while they were holding on by a thread heading into their Week 14 matchup against the New England Patriots, everything finally came crashing down when Kyler Murray tore his ACL on the third play of the game. Now Arizona can officially turn their attention to the 2023 season after a very disappointing 2022 campaign.

While Murray's actual well-being is far more important, his injury has had a massive impact on the fantasy football world, as well as the Cardinals and the NFL as a whole. With playoffs set to start in Week 15 if they haven't already, managers relying on Murray are going to have to find a replacement for the most important stretch of the season.

Beyond the 2022 season, it's worth wondering what Murray will look like when he returns to the field in 2023. Will he be the same stellar quarterback option he has been early on in his career, or will this injury reduce his value? Let's take a look at all this and more with Murray officially done for the final four weeks of the 2022 season.

Kyler Murray's fantasy football outlook

Prior to his injury, the 2022 season hadn't been a great year for Murray's fantasy managers. If you drafted Murray, chances are you were hoping to land one of the top five quarterbacks in the league. But Murray's struggles with injuries and poor play around him made him the 14th highest scoring quarterback to this point, and even when he played, he was only averaging the ninth most points per game for quarterbacks.

Still, there was hope that Murray could finally begin to turn things around for the playoffs. He finally had his top two targets in DeAndre Hopkins and Marquise Brown available for action at the same time, and appeared to have overcome the hamstring injury that had limited him earlier this season. Now, fantasy managers relying on that return to form will be forced to scramble for the remainder of the season.

Colt McCoy will take over for the Cardinals now, but he's not exactly a starting caliber fantasy option at this point. McCoy still has a pair of top targets at his disposal, but he hasn't shown an ability to win Arizona games with his arm. There are better options than a 36-year old backup for your fantasy team at this point.

Depending on who's available in your league, there's a decent chance you can make do with streaming a quarterback for the rest of the season. It's obviously not ideal, but the gap between the second tier of quarterbacks and third tier isn't that large this year. Guys like Trevor Lawrence and Jared Goff have been on fire recently, and they are still available in a decent amount of leagues.

There's also the possibility that guys like Geno Smith or Deshaun Watson are hanging around (not nearly as likely) which would be ideal additions, but it's clear there are options for replacing Murray. He wasn't producing at a rate that cannot be replaced, and if the rest of your team is in good shape, that's a loss that can be overcome in the playoffs.

Moving into the 2023 season, Murray's status, both on the field and in the fantasy realm, is ridiculously murky. Considering the timing of this injury, it's safe to assume that he likely won't be ready for the start of the 2023 season. That's not the worst case scenario, but it would obviously impact his draft stock.

There's also the question of whether or not this injury would impact Murray's performance. Murray is a quarterback reliant on scrambling and making plays with his legs, which conversely helps him establish fantasy value. Chances are he won't be running as much as he was to at least start next season, which immediately limits his fantasy value.

Given how talented of a player he is, it's not worth counting out Murray entirely to return and be similar to the player he was prior to this injury. But ACL injuries are tough to recover from, which is especially true considering the dynamicism Murray relies on to make plays under center for Arizona.

It will be worth monitoring Murray's status throughout the offseason, as it will play a big role in how his draft stock looks for the 2023 season. Kyler Murray will have a lot to prove when he returns to the field, and given his prior history of being a top quarterback option, it's worth keeping an eye on as he works his way back from this ACL injury, as he could end up being a sleeper pick at the position when it comes time to draft.