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The Cardinals GM gave no hints on the plan with Kyler Murray this offseason.
The biggest story on the Arizona Cardinals this offseason is how the team will move on from Kyler Murray. General manager Monti Ossenfort spoke to reporters at the combine, with Murray’s future one of the first topics discussed.
“I know a lot of you, on the top of your mind, is our quarterback situation,” Ossenfort told PHNX Sports’ Bo Brack. “I’d say all options are on the table for us. We got Kyler, Jacoby [Brissett], Kedon [Slovis] all under contract as it pertains to that position.
“We’re going to look at every avenue to improve, and we’re going to continue our process with that.”
ESPN’s Josh Weinfuss notes that Ossenfort offered similar sentiments about former head coach Jonathan after his firing. Connecting those dots, it could imply that they will move on from the seven-year starter and hit the reset button at quarterback.
Interpreting Monti Ossenfort’s Remarks on Kyler Murray
It’s not too surprising that Ossenfort gave a non-answer to Murray’s future. The Cardinals’ general manager has to be judicious with public statements concerning Murray and the words he uses in those. Not only will it get played by local media, but other teams could use it as leverage in trade talks to pay a lower price.
The Cardinals are attempting to trade the seven-year veteran, due to his ginormous cap hit of $52.6 million, per overthecap.com. A trade would save Arizona $34.7 million in cap space in 2026, but his complicated contract could lead to a post-June 1 release instead. That would only create $5.142 million in cap room.
This would be the prime offseason for Ossenfort to dangle Murray. This year’s quarterback class is weak in the NFL Draft, which should increase his trade value. It creates an opportunity not only to get out of Murray’s bad contract but also to recoup some draft value in the process.
A trade frees up Ossenfort to be more aggressive in free agency to address the roster, as he’d have nearly $30 million more to spend. As of February 24, overthecap.com projects the Cardinals to have $27.658 million in effective cap space after accounting for the draft.
Monti Ossenfort on Kyler Murray
Even if the Cardinals are looking to move on from Murray, he’s still on the team. Ossenfort keeps in touch with his starting quarterback.
“I’ve always had a good dialogue with Kyler,” Ossenfort told Brack. “It wasn’t up to what Kyler wanted; it wasn’t up to what any of us wanted as a season as a whole.”
Murray only played the first five games of the season. He suffered a lisfranc injury in their Week 5 loss to the Tennessee Titans. The injury did not heal as expected, so the Cardinals shut him down for the rest of the season. Jacoby Brissett started the final 12 games.
Coming off a 3-14 season, the Cardinals will need to look everywhere to improve their roster.
“When you had the kind of year that we had, there is a lot of room for improvement. We got to find a way to do that. Not only at that position, at all positions.”
The NFL league year starts in a little over two weeks. At that point, there should be more clarity on the Cardinals’ plans for Murray and what they plan to do for a replacement.
Michael McDermott Michael McDermott is a writer at Heavy Sports covering the Arizona Diamondbacks and Major League Baseball. Michael has 10 years experience writing about the D-backs and their farm system for AZ Snake Pit, Burn City Sports, and Diamondbacks On SI. More about Michael McDermott
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