The Cardinals might be going to Philly without their starting quarterback.
Kyler Murray, who didn’t practice on Wednesday due to an illness, missed practice again on Thursday. However, he was present at practice, in street clothes.
Given the Wednesday benching of Broncos quarterback Russell Wilson, some are already kicking around the idea that Murray is being benched without actually being benched. That his “illness” will keep him from playing against this season, while the Cardinals evaluate their options for 2024.
Murray has many millions in future payments (2025 and 2026) guaranteed for injury. Nearly $30 million in 2025 injury guarantees become fully guaranteed in March.
But this isn’t about cutting Murray. It’s about preserving the ability to trade him. If he’s not healthy, it will be harder to trade him, if that’s what they decide to do.
Regardless, Murray is officially ill. We’ll see if he plays on Sunday against the Eagles, or the following weekend against the Seahawks. The question then will become whether he’ll be available to another team in trade, or whether the Cardinals will keep him and use their top-five draft pick on a player other than a quarterback.
Arguably, it makes sense to keep him healthy so that all options will be available to the Cardinals when the offseason rolls around.