Preview of the Arizona Cardinals’ 2024 NFL Season: Kyler Murray is headed in the right direction
Are they close to being Super Bowl contenders? No. Could they quietly be a surprise team that ekes out enough wins by the end of the season to flirt with a possible playoff appearance? Perhaps. Whatever happens in 2024, the Cardinals are perfectly content with operating under the radar and sticking to their main agenda — keep working, improve week to week, and don’t start looking too far ahead
“We got something special brewing here, I feel like,” new inside linebacker Mack Wilson Sr. says. “We’re just going to keep working, keep putting it together one day at a time and we’ll see where we end up come February.”
The Cardinals were a very competitive team in 2023 despite only winning four games and they seem ready to take a big step this year upon retooling their offensive and defensive lines, adding a new No.1 wide receiver in first-round pick Marvin Harrison Jr., and getting stronger and deeper at multiple other spots.
Naturally, the performance of quarterback Kyler Murray, who is about to begin his sixth NFL season, will be a major factor in their success. The good news is that he is fully recovered from the ACL tear that sidelined him towards the end of 2022. Given that he will have a complete offseason, training camp, and preseason to gain a deeper understanding of the offence, there are great expectations for him.
Murray’s incredible speed was unaffected by his knee injury, as seen by the eight games he started after returning to action in the middle of the 2023 season. It’s noteworthy to note that during that time, he lined up under centre more than at any previous point in his career. With offensive coordinator Drew Petzing and head coach Jonathan Gannon, that trend is like to continue. Murray, a two-time Pro Bowl selection, is still not in their opinion, according to both guys. Murray has spent the last year and a half essentially living at the team’s training facility, fully embracing all the new kinks in the system and approach, including altering his footwork a year ago.