The Arizona Cardinals have been told of the moment that ruined their season before it even started after a truly disappointing campaign - which has seen the team's head coach lose his job while their general manager stepped down to focus on his health.
After an 11-win season in 2021, much was expected heading into the new year after the team gave quarterback Kyler Murray a huge five-year, $230 million extension, whilst also giving head coach Kliff Kingsbury a fresh five-year deal.
But just days after the extensions were reported, a worrying and somewhat embarrassing clause was leaked in Murray's contract, with the quarterback being told that he must ‘complete at least four hours of independent study’ during game weeks, insisting he needed to study material provided to him by the Cardinals in order to appropriately prepare for each game throughout each season of the deal.
The contract added that the work would not count if he was ‘not personally studying or watching the material while it is being displayed or played’ - or if the player is involved in activities that could distract his attention, including television, video games or the internet.
Essentially, they asked their quarterback to play less Call of Duty (a video game that Murray has been known to stream online) and study the playbook more - an absolute bare minimum for an NFL quarterback.
And former Heisman Trophy winner and number two overall draft pick, Robert Griffin III, has stated that this could have been a pivotal moment in the direction of the Cardinals under that leadership. He tweeted: "The Cardinal’s Organization blew up as soon as they put that Homework Clause in Kyler’s Contract."
After the furore that followed from the clause being reported, it was removed just days later. From that point on, Murray has not looked the same quarterback that he had shown to be in his first three seasons, struggling this season whilst also publicly falling out with Kingsbury.
In week seven of the season, Murray was caught on camera telling his head coach to 'calm the f*** down', just days after multiple reports suggested that the two were not on great terms.
Since the contract emerged, Murray has not been on a live stream playing Call of Duty, as he would have been throughout 2020 and 2021, most notably playing with popular streams TimTheTatMan and NickMercs, after the NFL star signed with gaming organisation FaZe.
Murray is now set to have a say over who will be the next Cardinals coach, according to owner Michael Bidwill.
