ESPN: Kyler Murray Needs to Reassert Himself

When debating who has the most pressure on them entering 2025, none may have a brighter spotlight than Arizona Cardinals quarterback Kyler Murray.

Murray, with six years of NFL experience under his belt, has failed to deliver a postseason win during his stint with the Cardinals - though after the Cardinals loaded up on the defensive side of the ball, Arizona's highly expected to make another postseason push.

Is it make-or-break for Murray, who will be in his third season under head coach Jonathan Gannon and Drew Petzing?

ESPN debated this topic on "Get Up" recently and offered the following analysis:

ESPN: Kyler Murray Needs to Step Up for Arizona Cardinals

"I'm a huge Kyler Murray guy. This comes from a place of love. The Cardinals are getting better. I think their roster has leveled up this season. I think they are going to be pretty good," Kevin Clark said.

"I think Jonathan Gannon schemes with a guy like Budda Baker is one of those interesting things we've seen in football. But when you start to get a good roster, the spotlight gets on the quarterback. Kyler Murray, statistically, has not gotten any better since his rookie season. He needs to reassert himself as a franchise quarterback. The price is steep if they ever wanted to move on from him next year, it'd be over $50 million in dead cap. It'd probably be a trade instead of a cut.

"But unless Kyler Murray establishes himself as the guy in the next two years, the Cardinals are going to start looking at him and saying, 'maybe you're the problem.' I don't think that's the case. I think he's going to have a big year but the spotlight is going to be on him. He has to prove himself this year."

Domonique Foxworth also added:

"I think Kyler is incredibly talented, and I think that's why it's not really make or break for him. They are committed to him financially. I know it's not like a eight-year deal, but that's the case. And he's also someone who I think the talent level is high enough that - we've already talked about how Justin Fields has been a bunch of different places.

"If the worst case scenario happens for Kyler Murray, he's shown enough talent that he'll get another shot. Like it doesn't feel like make or break in the same way that it does for some other quarterbacks who haven't had as many good runs as Kyler, or many good stretches of quality plays as Kyler Murray."