Kyler Murray to make 2023 season debut Sunday vs. Falcons, Cardinals coach says

Quarterback Kyler Murray will make his 2023 season debut for the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday at home against the Atlanta Falcons, head coach Jonathan Gannon told reporters Monday.

Murray is nearly 11 months removed from tearing his ACL in a game against the Patriots last December. He missed the final three weeks of the 2022 season. The Cardinals traded for Josh Dobbs just before the start of the 2023 regular season, and Dobbs started all eight of the Cardinals’ games at quarterback before being traded to the Vikings last week.

Murray, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2019 NFL Draft, won Offensive Rookie of the Year that season and led the Cardinals to a playoff berth in 2021. But he struggled in 2022 in the first season of a five-year, $230.5 million contract extension marred by a bizarre standoff between Murray and the team over a mandatory weekly film study requirement that was initially included in his contract but was later removed.

It remains to be seen what Murray’s future is in Arizona. The head coach and general manager who drafted him, Kliff Kingsbury and Steve Keim, are gone. The Cardinals currently hold the NFL’s worst record at 1-8 and figure to “contend” for the No. 1 overall pick in a draft expected to have an extremely talented quarterback class led by USC star and defending Heisman Trophy winner Caleb Williams.

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