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USA Today Sports Media Group
USA Today Sports Media Group
Sport
Jess Root

Kyler Murray, despite second-half performance, ranked 8th among NFL QBs

Arizona Cardinals quarterback Kyler Murray is a trending topic recently in the NFL offseason. However, it isn’t for good things, as there is apparently some contention between him and the team right now.

And while that stems from a second-half collapse and embarrassing playoff loss, Murray is still considered one of the best quarterbacks in the league.

In fact, despite a decline in production in the second half, Murray rose in NFL.com quarterback rankings.

He rose to No. 8, just behind the Chiefs’ Patrick Mahomes.

Murray is essentially the best of the very top-tier players.

Kyler would have fallen in the rankings more for his playoff performance, but there weren’t logical candidates to jump him. Still, there is a big dropoff from the top seven at the position this year. Murray was as good as any quarterback through seven weeks, but his play was sporadic after he missed three games with an ankle injury. It often felt as if the Cardinals relied on Murray to create incandescent plays on his own; otherwise, the offense got stuck in quicksand. It’s clear the team is not thrilled with Murray’s maturity, and the feeling is probably mutual.

He was 13th after his rookie season and moved up to No. 10 last season.

He has steadily improved each season. If this trend continues, he should have a top-tier season in 2022, which is what we all hope and expect.

He looked like an MVP candidate for a stretch in 2020. He did again for the first half of 2021. If he stretches that over an entire season, he can firmly place himself into the elite quarterback talk of the league.

Listen to the latest from Cards Wire’s Jess Root on his podcast, Rise Up, See Red. Subscribe on Apple podcasts or Spotify.

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