Cardinals HC Jonathan Gannon expands on Kyler Murray endorsement

Arizona Cardinals head coach Jonathan Gannon raised eyebrows when he said during a Tuesday radio appearance he has "no doubt" Kyler Murray will be his starting quarterback for Week 1 of the 2024 season. 

Gannon expanded on that endorsement while speaking with reporters on Wednesday. 

"I've been convicted since I got here," Gannon said about Murray, per Josh Weinfuss of ESPN. "What the guy's done for us, the player that he is, the person that he is, the competitor that he is, I kind of chuckled. That's been my view for, since I got here."

Neither Gannon nor general manager Monti Ossenfort was working for the Cardinals when the organization signed Murray to a five-year contract extension in the summer of 2022 worth $230.5M with $160M guaranteed. 

The first pick of the 2019 NFL Draft suffered a serious knee injury in December 2022 and has gone 3-4 since returning to the lineup this past November. 

"It means a lot, but he's told me that since Day 1, so it was nothing that was in the back of my mind," Murray said Wednesday about Gannon's support. "I wasn't worried about it. I was just focused on going out there and playing well, proving them right."

Across his first seven games under Gannon, Murray completed 154-of-238 total passes (64.7%) for 1,537 yards with nine touchdowns and five interceptions. He also rushed for 211 yards and three scores on 39 carries. 

According to ESPN stats, Murray's 47.6 adjusted QBR for the season would be good for 22nd in the league if he was among eligible players ahead of Week 18. 

Depending on what happens when 4-12 Arizona hosts the 8-8 Seattle Seahawks this Sunday, the Cardinals could end up with a high enough draft pick to select a top-tier signal-caller such as Caleb Williams of the USC Trojans, Drake Maye of the North Carolina Tar Heels or Jayden Daniels of the LSU Tigers. 

It instead seems Gannon and company with either sell the first-round choice for additional assets or use the pick to build around Murray.