Cardinals quarterback Kyler Murray saw his 2021 season come to an unfortunate end last week when he suffered a torn ACL in Monday’s 27–13 loss to the Patriots. Though there’s not much of a silver lining to such a severe knee injury, the 25-year-old did receive a small piece of positive news about his impending recovery.
According to NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport, Murray suffered a “clean” ACL tear, which resulted in no further damage to other ligaments in the knee. The non-contact injury, which occurred early in the game, did come with an associated meniscus tear, but the clean nature of the ACL tear is considered good news for the former No. 1 pick.
Given the new information, Murray could face a recovery as short as 8 1/2 months, according to Rapoport. However, the timeline could be a bit longer, so the Cardinals are likely to place him on the physically unable to perform list to begin training camp. At that point, Arizona can wait to make a decision about whether to keep Murray on the PUP list to begin the 2023 season–which would rule him out for the first four games–or activate him.
With Week 1 of the 2023 season still well off in the future, the Cardinals will make such a decision at a later date.
Murray’s injury added to a difficult season for Arizona. The Cardinals, who went 11–6 last season, are 4–9 and well out of the playoff picture with four games remaining. Murray registered 2,368 passing yards, 14 touchdown passes and seven interceptions in 11 games this season. He added 418 rushing yards and three scores on the ground.
Backup Colt McCoy will serve as the Cardinals top quarterback in Murray’s absence, beginning with Sunday’s game against the Broncos in Denver at 4:05 p.m. ET.
