Arizona Cardinals QB Kyler Murray Named MVP Candidate

Arizona Cardinals fans expect big things in the 2025 season. Perhaps the most expectation is laid on the shoulder of QB Kyler Murray.

Arizona added to their defense at an immense rate in the offseason, but left their offense generally the same.

That leaves some pressure on the returning players to put together a more consistent and productive performance in 2025.

But according to NFL.com's Eric Edholm, Murray may be in a position to do significantly more than deliver consistency.

Arizona Cardinals' Kyler Murray Named MVP Candidate

Edholm recently put together a list, compiling one potential MVP candidate from every NFL team. His entry on the Cardinals was definitive: Murray has what it takes to get that hardware.

"I think Murray quietly had one of his best seasons last year, and he's reaching the peak of his career just as the Cardinals appear to be rounding into form," he wrote.

"The key to building on that might be avoiding those handful of dud games Arizona seems to have offensively with Murray at the helm. Shed those, and he and the team should be in decent shape.

"Murray has yet to receive an MVP vote, but he has two enticing targets in TE Trey McBride and WR Marvin Harrison Jr., which could vault him to a career-best season.

"The Cardinals have their work cut out for them in the thorny NFC West, but there's at least an MVP path for Murray if he can lead them back to prominence," Edholm wrote.

Murray didn't exactly have a poor season statistically in 2024. but the volume production wasn't quite there despite having Harrison and McBride to throw the ball to.

Perhaps some of that was a schematic issue, as Arizona relied mostly on short passes and running the football. Harrison also struggled to find his footing.

But Murray also played relatively poorly down the stretch, making some critical mistakes in the wrong moments.

It's part of the game, and no QB can be perfect, but the truth is Murray doesn't have to be an MVP candidate for the Cardinals to succeed offensively. He only needs to limit some of those mistakes and raise his baseline of production slightly.

Still, with a full year of non-injured experience in Drew Petzing's scheme and year two of Harrison, there is an expectation for Arizona's signal-caller to produce. The QB is the most important position in football, after all.

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