Arizona Cardinals quarterback Kyler Murray is riding high after leading an upset win over the San Francisco 49ers in Week 5. And on Monday, Murray announced he was launching his Call of Duty partnership.
Murray infamously had an “independent study” clause in his 2022 extension, which required him to study film for at least four hours during game weeks. Arizona removed the clause after it received significant attention and became dubbed “the video game clause.”
In announcing the partnership, Murray directly referenced the criticism he received following the extension.
To the trolls who memed me into a bag, thank you!
I’m officially launching my @CallofDuty partnership! #CODPartnership #TheReplacer #BlackOps6 pic.twitter.com/JwpZKxSzYo
— Kyler Murray (@K1)
NFL World Has Jokes For Kyler Murray’s Call of Duty Partnership
In the wake of Murray’s post, the immediate reaction was the realization that Murray heard all the noise about his contract clause, despite mostly reacting diplomatically to the situation in press conference settings.
ESPN’s Mina Kimes posted on X (formerly known as Twitter), “Oh my god he actually did it.”
ESPN Cardinals reporter Josh Weinfuss posted: “Amazing. He heard everything…”
Still, others had jokes about what this would mean for his strong start to the season, as well as how Murray’s past production has been affected by the annual CoD release dates.
The new Call of Duty usually comes out around Halloween each year
Kyler Murray (Career)
September-October: 22.0 fantasy points per game
November-January: 19.3 fantasy points per game https://t.co/LyBXk2Fobi— Scott Barrett (@ScottBarrettDFB)
Arif Hasan from www.wideleft.football added, “oh. oh no”
With “Call of Duty: Black Ops 6” set to launch on Oct. 25, others were joking that the trajectory of the Cardinals’ season could be affected by the game and its ability to distract Murray.
The Cardinals have 2 more games before the new Call of Duty releases.
The sims will not account for this. https://t.co/lhZsODoBPL
— Jake Tribbey (@JakeTribbey)
To date, Murray has looked fully recovered from the torn ACL he suffered in Dec. 2022. He’s thrown for 972 yards with seven touchdowns and two interceptions while adding 247 yards on the ground. On Sunday, he recorded a career-long 50-yard rushing touchdown in the win over the San Francisco 49ers.
Bye bye Ky 👋 @AZCardinals take an early lead!
📺: #AZvsSF on FOX
📱: https://t.co/waVpO909ge pic.twitter.com/EUHKDDLEoO— NFL (@NFL)
For the season, Murray leads the NFL with an astonishing 10.7 yards per rush. His 136 yards on scrambles rank second behind Jayden Daniels, illustrating his signature elusiveness that was missing at times last year (161 scramble yards).
Murray is already a made man with his $103.3 million in guarantees from his last contract. Thankfully for him, this contract won’t cause nearly as much consternation about his off-field hobbies as his last one.