Cardinals' Kyler Murray sets bold goal for return from injury

Arizona Cardinals quarterback Kyler Murray expects to return ahead of schedule from the knee injury that prematurely ended his 2022 season. 

"When you look further down the line, it seems like we got a long way to go," Murray explained during the season premiere of the Cardinals' "Flight Plan" program shared on the team's YouTube channel, per Tyler Drake of Arizona Sports. "Ideally, I want to be back by Week 1. That’s the goal. At the end of the day, that’s the goal, but I can’t really look that far ahead. Got to take it one day at a time." 

Murray underwent successful ACL surgery that included some meniscus repair in early January to address the injury he suffered on Dec. 12, and former Cardinals head coach Kliff Kingsbury initially acknowledged the 25-year-old will "probably" miss at least the start of the upcoming campaign. Based on typical recovery timelines regarding such issues, many have assumed Murray will remain unavailable through November, if not later. 

Since Murray's setback, though, the Cardinals have hit a figurative reset button and hired new general manager Monti Ossenfort and new head coach Jonathan Gannon. It's possible Murray wants to impress a regime that didn't draft him in 2019 and that could replace him with a rookie as soon as next spring. 

"It’s got to be a positive," Murray added about the injury. "There’s really no option for it to be a negative. I feel like you get your little grace period as soon as it happens. Let the feelings take over but after that, we got to go. Life doesn’t stop, the job doesn’t stop. My ultimate goal is to get better and obviously win Super Bowls. That’s my goal."

Veteran Colt McCoy will enter training camp atop the Cardinals' depth chart at quarterback and is on track to start the regular-season opener at the Washington Commanders on Sept. 10. As recently as July 3, Amelia Probst and Arjun Menon of Pro Football Focus listed the Cardinals dead last in summer NFL power rankings. Thus, Ossenfort and Gannon may have little reason to rush Murray back into action this fall if Arizona is as bad as many expect by Halloween.