Cardinals Locker Room 'Ready to Fight' for Kyler Murray

Arizona Cardinals quarterback Kyler Murray is looking to flip the script in 2024.

Murray's approaching this season fully healthy (for the first time under HC Jonathan Gannon) with an improved offense and better understanding of OC Drew Petzing's playbook.

The arrow's pointing up - and quite honestly has been since Murray returned from ACL recovery halfway through last season - though the time for talk is nearly over in the desert.

Soon games will start to count. Wins and losses will pile up. We'll have actual film and numbers to stack against Murray and the rest of the Cardinals.

By all accounts, expectations are high for Murray in the desert. According to NFL Media's Omar Ruiz, Murray's gained the full trust of the locker room:

"Kyler Murray is expected to have his best season yet in 2024. And of course Kyler Murray is already a two-time Pro Bowler and [there's] different reasons for that. Number one is the leadership and number two is his play on the field," said Ruiz.

"Obviously the second year in Drew Petzing's offense and really last year they were just working week to week on the different game plans trying to beat that particular defense that week. With the offseason now, getting to learn at a Ph. D type of level - is how it was described to me how Kyler Murray knows this offense now - he is confident enough that if Drew Petzing happens to call a play that doesn't match up well with the defense, Kyler is good enough now to change out of that play and get them in a winning play.

"Now as for the confidence of being a leader, we saw him all offseason long practicing at local high schools when they weren't at that facility, practicing during the break between mini camp and training camp with his weapons. The confidence - you see him talking to his quarterbacks coach Israel Woolfork there on the screen - Woolfork telling me that him and Jonathan Gannon are so close, and Jonathan Gannon, Monti Ossenfort, Michael Bidwill, the front office brain trust, they have a unilateral message to Kyler Murray that he is now able to distribute to the locker room.

"Kyler Murray, I'm told, has been more vulnerable with his teammates. As competitive as he is, he's realized that not everybody is as relentlessly competitive as he is. So he's able to relate a little more to the locker room and that has gotten trust. Woolfork [has been] telling me that maybe for the first time in his career, the whole locker room is ready to fight for Kyler Murray, they have his back.

"You factor in his knowledge of the playbook, the offense, the added leadership, the confidence to lead - they're expecting Kyler Murray to have his best season yet here in the '24 season."