It’s fairly clear what needs to happen for the Arizona Cardinals to take the next step in 2024.
All eyes are on quarterback Kyler Murray as training camp approaches within the next few days. Much has changed since the last time he took the field fully healthy at camp, and most would argue the Cardinals are in a much better place as a result of their previous struggles.
Improvements were made to both sides of the ball, but for the Cardinals to reach new heights, Murray will be at the forefront of that change.
That was the point NFL insider Tom Pelissero made on The Rich Eisen Show ahead of training camp. After going through each NFC West team’s “non-negotiable” for 2024, Pelissero says Arizona needs Murray to play at the levels everybody at the team’s facility in Tempe knows he can:
“This is ambitious. It’s something that has come up a bunch of times when I’ve interviewed Trey McBride. I’ve talked to other people with the Cardinals – Paris Johnson as well. They don’t think it’s crazy to talk about Kyler Murray as a dark horse MVP candidate. They think that it’s in Kyler Murray,” Pelissero said.
“Remember last year, he’s coming off of a serious injury and wasn’t ready obviously at the start of the year. Comes in, plays, lost a lot of time on task with Drew Petzing’s offense. Now you’ve got a healthy offseason. Everybody has said positive things about how Kyler’s preparing, which has always been something that people have harped on with him. You gave him Marvin Harrison. So Kyler, he’s still in his prime athletically. He still can make people miss like anybody this side of Lamar [Jackson]. It’s a matter of harnessing that and trying to get the most out of it.
“I’m not saying he’s got to win the MVP. There’s a lot of good quarterbacks in the NFL. If the Cardinals are going to be relevant, if they’re gonna be a playoff contender, we at least have to be talking about Kyler Murray in that conversation.
“Everybody praises Drew Petzing too, a guy that I don’t think a lot of people knew. He was on the Vikings’ staff a long time. He was more recently the quarterbacks coach in Cleveland, now in his second year in Arizona. So as a play caller, he’s finally got more experience than he did going into last season. He’s really smart. One of the players – I think it was Kyler – called him a genius. We’re gonna see now, with a fully healthy, fully prepared Kyler Murray and the best receiver in the draft, what that Drew Petzing offense is really going to be all about.
“I think it’s a fun division. I think there’s a lot of intrigue there because of some of the new parts in places like Seattle. There’s also some of the guys that we’ve seen, the Kyler Murray’s of the world, it’s a matter of what do you get out of them in 2024? And right out of the gate, they got a big test going into Buffalo. The pressure will be on the Bills in that game. There’s no question. Home opener. First game without [Stefon] Diggs. Jonathan Gannon will have them ready to go just like he did every week last year, even though he didn’t have the talent.
“Monti Ossenfort’s done a great job in terms of making the most of his assets, the trades he made back in the 2023 draft to acquire future picks and high picks and really build out that roster. It’s a similar formula minus trading a quarterback for three first-round picks that Houston had. Yeah, you’re bad. You’re drafting up high. Not only get good players but also maximize what you’re getting with those good players by getting additional picks.
“Nick Caserio actually made the trade with Arizona to go up and make sure he got [CJ] Stroud and Will Anderson Jr. last year. Monti Ossenfort’s given them the resources to be aggressive on that front. And that’s the team that I think most people on the outside looking in are probably going to say going into the season on paper they’re fourth out of four [in the NFC West], but they have Kyler Murray. They have Marvin Harrison Jr.
“They’re getting a lot of other pieces still in place. That part’s a work in progress. Let’s see how they come out of the gate in 2024.”
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