Why Cardinals Free Agent Signing Wasn't Bust

The Arizona Cardinals made a significant investment in their secondary in the 2024 off-season, inking veteran cornerback Sean Murphy-Bunting to a three-year, $25.5 million deal to help anchor the cornerback group with a veteran presence.

Among the handful of developing young players, including rising star Garrett Williams and rookie stud Max Melton, Murphy-Bunting was brought in to provide some veteran stability, with an ability to play a variety of coverages.

Unfortunately, it didn't look good for the 27-year-old in the early goings of the season. From a purely eye-test perspective, Murphy-Bunting seemed to be a step behind, and was constantly drawing flags with his excessive physicality.

But when looking at the raw numbers, it's actually quite surprising at the relatively low volume that Murphy-Bunting allowed in coverage in 2024.

First, let's get the rightful criticisms out of the way. Murphy-Bunting posted a 56.5 overall Pro Football Focus grade. That's certainly not impressive, but PFF grades are notorious for not telling the whole story.

Where he struggled the most was with regard to drawing penalties. The veteran was flagged nine times over 15 games, including two instances of multi-flag performances.

Considering the position Murphy-Bunting plays, those flags were generally crucial, killer penalties, mostly in the realm of defensive pass interference, defensive holding, and other drive-lengthening fouls.

On top of that, Murphy-Bunting allowed a 70.7% completion rate, the second-highest number of his career.

But when you examine the results more closely, Murphy-Bunting quietly had an above-average season in most statistical categories, at least for his standards.

According to PFF, Murphy-Bunting allowed 390 yards in coverage, the third-best total of his career. He gave up an 84.1 passer rating to opposing QBs, second-best in his career.

He gave up two touchdowns, tied for his fewest in a season, and his 11.7 yards per completion (while not an outstanding number) was a solid improvement from 2023, and his third-best number in that category.

And over the last four games of the season, he picked off two passes, while allowing 32 yards or fewer in each contest. While he struggled on the whole to prevent completions without committing penalties, opposing QBs didn't look his way at an exceptional rate, especially down the stretch.

It's still fair to want more out of one of the Cardinals' bigger signings. Certainly, Murphy-Bunting was not a lock-down corner and suffered more than his fair share of issues.

But it wasn't anywhere close to some of the genuinely poor seasons we've seen out of Cardinals' defensive backs.

It's not unlikely that he struggled to find his way in defensive coordinator Nick Rallis and head coach Jonathan Gannon's defensive scheme, since he came in as an established veteran.

In fact, it was quite obvious, especially to the eye test. Over his final five games, he surrendered just 119 total yards, while being flagged just twice in that span. He looked more in control of his body, more comfortable in coverage, and panicked less.

While it's fair to be disappointed with his overall performance on the season, Murphy-Bunting did play an important role, and should be set up for a better 2025 season, especially with the growth from the others in his unit.