Bold prediction has Kyler Murray playing final snaps for Arizona Cardinals in 2025

[ASFN Admin]

This part of the offseason is for lists, rankings and predictions, bold or otherwise. There isn't much in the way of actual news, so it is when we all create content to think about and discuss.

SI.com's Connor Orr has 100 bold predictions for the 2025 NFL season and one involves the Arizona Cardinals and quarterback Kyler Murray.

He believes that Murray will play his final snaps for the Cardinals this season.

Murray’s dead cap number almost halves after this season. The former No. 1 pick is not a bad quarterback, but the Cardinals will likely conclude that the club has maximized Murray in Arizona and that it’s best to recoup some kind of draft asset before pivoting. Murray had a six-game stretch at the tail end of last season in which he failed to top 100 in quarterback rating, and he has played just one fully healthy season since 2020. While a lot of this is not Murray’s fault and is often the reality of playing for a team bad enough to qualify for the No. 1 pick, Arizona will prepare for larger-scale changes after finishing in the NFC West basement.

It is a critical season for Murray and the Cardinals, but moving on from him won't be that easy. His contract has already triggered significant guarantees for next season and in March 2026, guarantees for 2027 will trigger.

It would take a trade for the Cardinals to unload him. Even a post-June 1 cut would save only $5.7 million in cap space, and they would still be on the hook for nearly $37 million he is guaranteed.

And here is the tricky part. If he isn't good enough this year, who is going to trade for that contract? If he is good, the Cardinals won't trade him.

For him to be tradeworthy, he has to be good enough that another team would want him. For the Cardinals to want to trade him, he would have to have been subpar.

This doesn't work very well because if he plays well, the Cardinals will be a postseason team. Why would they trade him? If the bottom falls out of the season, who will want him?

It is the same discussion every year. Sure, it's a bold prediction, but it is one that doesn't make much sense.

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This article originally appeared on Cards Wire: NFL bold predictions: Analyst says Kyler Murray in final season in AZ

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