In 2021, the Arizona Cardinals flew too close to the sun. With QB Kyler Murray at the helm, they started 7-0 for the first time in 47 years just to have a late-season collapse that saw them lose in the Wild Card matchup to the Los Angeles Rams, who went on to win the Super Bowl.
Murray shined bright and finished as the QB10 that season. He was on his way to another solid fantasy season in 2022, despite the below-average Cardinals record, until in Week 14, he went down with a non-contact knee injury.
How do Murray’s injuries affect his fantasy football potential in 2023?
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What Happened to Kyler Murray?
The number one pick in the 2019 NFL Draft, Murray was drafted by the Arizona Cardinals to be their franchise QB. Even though the Cardinals’ improvement was slow and steady with Murray under center, his fantasy production was through the roof from the word “go.”
He finished his rookie season as QB7 only to follow it up with a QB2 season in 2020, where he threw for almost 4,000 yards and 26 TDs, ran for 819 yards, and had 11 TDs on the ground.
KYLER MURRAY 77 YARD TOUCHDOWN 🔥 (via @NFL) pic.twitter.com/XF5raJOyFd
— Overtime (@overtime)
That year, he had the second most rushing yards and rushing TDs among QBs.
In 2021, Murray continued to perform with his arms and legs, passing for 2,168 yards in the first nine games and running for 359. He sat out Weeks 10 and 11 dealing with a hamstring tweak, and after his Week 12 return, he had eight weeks as QB12 or better.
In Week 14 of the next year, Murray tore his ACL due to a non-contact injury and was placed on injured reserve (IR) mid-December, finishing the 2022 season having played 11 games.
What Are Arizona’s Options if Murray Misses Time?
The timeline for a player to return from an ACL injury is typically 9-12 months, putting Murray’s return past the start of the season. We already know Murray will start 2023 on the physically unable to perform list, meaning the earliest he could be under center would be Week 5, in early October.
There is no “if” in the question regarding who will start instead of Murray since we know the Cardinals will have at least four weeks with a different QB. Early in the preseason, it looked like that job would fall to Colt McCoy, who took over for some of the games in Murray’s absence last year. He was never higher than QB21 in the four games he played for Arizona.
The Cardinals traded for Cleveland Browns backup QB Joshua Dobbs in late August, turned around, and almost immediately released Colt McCoy.
Arizona drafted rookie QB Clayton Tune in the fifth round of the 2023 NFL Draft, and head coach Jonathan Gannon has yet to announce who will start the season.
What Does This Mean for Murray’s Fantasy Ranking?
With the knowledge that Murray will miss at least four games, his fantasy ranking is nowhere near where it has been in past seasons. Currently at QB29 in our PFN Consensus Rankings, his injury is already baked into his ADP. If you have an IR spot in your league, go ahead and grab Murray, stash him until his return, and see what he’s got.
There is a higher than zero chance that Murray will not play one down of football for the Arizona Cardinals this year. The ownership seems content to ship off any player that brings draft capital, presumably looking ahead to “crash for Caleb.”
If this is the case, there will be no need to play Murray — teams know what they are looking at if they attempt to trade for him, and if the Cardinals want to keep him as their starting QB, it will just be giving him even more time to rehab.
FYI, if you are a dynasty player, Murray is as low as he will ever be and an incredible asset to try to acquire, as long as you do not need him this season. He will be a starting QB in the NFL, either for the Arizona Cardinals or another team.
And it doesn’t even matter if the team he plays for is good — Murray has shown he can put up solid fantasy numbers regardless of the record of the team he plays for.
A rushing QB is worth their weight in gold, especially in a dynasty league, so I would be throwing everything against the wall to see if it sticks to get Murray on my squad.
