Cardinals Could 'Rip Band-Aid Off' With Kyler Murray

The Arizona Cardinals have quite the decision on their hands when it comes to Kyler Murray.

Murray was just placed on injured reserve as his foot injury will see him miss a minimum of seven games this season. On top of Jacoby Brissett's elevated play in Murray's absence, the door is very open for the former No. 1 overall pick to find a new home.

Murray's place in Arizona will dominate headlines and conversations until we reach a final resolution, which won't come later until the offseason - though one NFL insider says the organization could very well "rip the band-aid off" when it comes to Murray and the financial impact that could accompany the move.

Kyler Murray’s Injury Forces Cardinals Into Tough Decision

Peter Schrager, when appearing on The Pat McAfee Show, offered the following on Arizona's current quarterback conundrum:

"I'll tell you this. I was there Monday for that Monday Night Football game and I'm walking around the field before the game, and talking to everyone. Doing my thing, kissing babies, shaking hands, whatever," he said.

"And everybody in Arizona was talking about Jacoby Brissett and how good he had been the last five [actually two] weeks, and what a shame it was that he wasn't able to get the victory. They had [lost to] three walk-off field goals. And the elephant in the room is there's Kyler Murray standing there.

"He's dressed in a Dallas Stars jersey, looked great, and he's there on the sidelines. And he was 9-0 [actually 10-0] in his life going back to high school, college and the pros in that building [AT&T Stadium], and he was just a complete non-factor in this game because he was out with the injury.

"But the juice around Jacoby was so real that I came away from this one thinking, 'I don't know if they're just pumping him up or not, but there's maybe a future where Jacoby Brissett is the guy there.' The problem is Kyler's contract the next three years, it's over like $100 million in dead cap space. So what do you do with that? But in a post-Russell Wilson era where teams just say, rip the band-aid off, that might be the move.

"I'll say this: They are still paying Kliff Kingsbury his full salary. They are still paying Steve Keim his full salary. Those guys are from a different era. Those are the guys who brought Kyler in. These new guys, [Jonathan] Gannon and Monti Ossenfort and his crew, they didn't draft Kyler. They didn't sign him to that extension.

"And if you go to the owner and say, 'Hey, we tried it for two years, we're going to move on. We got to take a financial hit. We'll figure it out.' They [Arizona] might be more open to it than if they were the guys who actually drafted him."

What's Future Hold for Kyler Murray?

The Cardinals have to have their Murray dilemma solved entering the 2026 offseason, one way or another.

Arizona seems all but set to enter a new era at the quarterback position, financials be damned, after seven years of Murray with the Cardinals.

While Murray - specifically this season - hasn't been the biggest obstacle in Arizona's 3-5 start, he simply hasn't been the solution.

And with his hefty price tag, that's just not a viable approach for the Cardinals to turn themselves into a winning organization.

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