Arizona Cardinals quarterback Kyler Murray and his camp pulled their opening contract proposal off the table weeks ago, confirms Arizona Sports’ John Gambadoro.
NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero was first to report the contract update.
Pelissero adds that the Cardinals have yet to make a contract extension offer to the signal caller, who remains under contract for next season.
Despite the non-contract offer and other teams monitoring the situation, Arizona “insists Murray won’t be traded,” per Pelissero.
The MMQB’s Albert Breer followed up saying Murray and his camp have viewed the draft as the deadline for a new contract.
Murray’s agent, Erik Burkhardt, explained in February via a statement that the original proposal given to the team provided financial protection, was in line with the QB Market and lowered the QB’s 2022-23 salary cap number to allow the Cardinals to re-sign players and additional free agents.
The news comes after Las Vegas Raiders quarterback Derek Carr signed his three-year, $121.5 million contract extension on Wednesday.
Carr is the latest signal caller this offseason to receive an extension, with Green Bay’s Aaron Rodgers, Cleveland’s Deshaun Watson, Minnesota’s Kirk Cousins and Los Angeles’ Matthew Stafford also receiving new deals worth $40 million or more annually. They join Dallas’ Dak Prescott, Buffalo’s Josh Allen and Kansas City’s Patrick Mahomes in that regard.
Murray enters his fourth season due around $5.5 million for next season. Arizona also has the option to pick up his fifth-year option by May 2.
With Murray at the helm, Arizona has seen improvement year over year the past three seasons, going from five wins in 2019, eight in 2020 and 11 this past year. In 2021, Murray completed a career high 69.2% of his passes for 3,787 yards and 24 touchdowns to 10 interceptions. He chipped in 88 carries for 423 rushing yards and five touchdowns. For his efforts, he was named to his second consecutive Pro Bowl.
Then came a tumultuous offseason.
Shortly after the team’s dismal NFC Wild Card loss to the Rams, it was discovered that Murray had scrubbed his Instagram page of nearly everything, including all things Cardinals, outside of two posts from the 2022 Pro Bowl and when he won the Heisman Trophy in 2018. Murray later said it was not team related.
Nearly a week after the social media scrub and plenty of speculation on what was the reasoning behind it, reports on Super Bowl Sunday painted a picture of discontent between the signal-caller and team.
The two sides proceeded to trade statements before Cardinals owner Michael Bidwill doubled down on the team’s feelings on the QB a little over a week later while on with Arizona Sports’ Bickley & Marotta, adding he is in the category of those who love Murray and expressing his confidence that the QB will continue to progress. Bidwill also spoke on the complexity of getting an extension done.
Three days later, Murray’s agent issued a statement of his own putting onus on the Cardinals to make the signal caller’s extension a top priority this offseason, saying “actions speak louder than words.”
The statement came the week of the NFL Combine, where head coach Kliff Kingsbury and general manager Steve Keim were scheduled to speak. Keim and Kingsbury both said similar remarks about it being a “business” and that Murray’s agent was just doing his job.
Two days after the statement, the Cardinals announced extensions for Keim and Kingsbury through the 2027 season. Keim’s original contract ran through 2022 while Kingsbury’s had a fifth-year team option for 2023. Kingsbury is also represented by Burkhardt.
On March 8, less than a week later, Murray undid the scrubbing of his Instagram account and had all his pictures back.
During a charity event on March 25, Murray told reporters that he wasn’t too worried about his future as a Cardinal.
“I keep football, football,” he said. “I let … whoever takes care of that stuff take care of that stuff. All I’m worried about is playing good on the field.”
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