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Think about Kyler Murray’s best attributes, and there’s one skill that likely comes to mind. Murray, for all the peaks and valleys of his six-year career, has an incredible ability to make plays happen. At his best, he’s Houdini in the pocket, making pass rushers look like they’re running on ice.
It seemed strange, then, earlier this offseason, when Murray offered the following assessment of himself and the Arizona Cardinals offense.
“Playing within the pocket, playing with anticipation and timing, personally, I feel like I'm one of the best to do it in the league,” Murray told Arizona Sports 98.7 in April. “I think where we can be better as a unit and myself is extending plays and scramble drill.”
On the surface, that doesn’t quite track. Can Murray be better at extending plays? His highlight reel is filled with those moments.
And yet, the stats support Murray’s assessment.
Murray attempted the 10th most passes while scrambling. But the results of those plays were poor.
Per Fantasy Points Data, he averaged just 5.24 yards per attempt while scrambling, with three touchdowns and three interceptions. His quarterback rating was 49.9. By that metric, only six starting quarterbacks were worse.
So this offseason, Murray has talked with offensive coordinator Drew Petzing and quarterbacks coach Israel Woolfork about refining how the Cardinals approach broken plays. That responsibility doesn’t fall solely on the quarterback. It rests with all 11 players, especially the wide receivers, who need to find pockets of space downfield.
“Guys have to continue to move. Guys have to continue to stay active when plays break down,” Murray said. “Because that's gonna happen with a guy like myself being quarterback.”
That doesn’t mean Murray never used his legs well in 2024. His 572 rushing yards were the fourth among quarterbacks. And he dominated when rolling out of the pocket as part of designed plays. On those plays, he averaged 10.7 yards per attempt. Only Jayden Daniels was more efficient.
There’s a credit to Petzing here, too. In 2021, under Kliff Kingsbury, Murray attempted just 15 passes off designed roll-outs. Among starters, only Lamar Jackson and Tom Brady attempted fewer. In 2024, Murray attempted 43 of those passes, the fourth-most in the league.
If you’re confused about the difference between roll-outs and scrambles, allow Petzing to explain.
“There's two different versions of out of the pocket,” Petzing said. “There's designed out-of-the-pocket plays that are coming up in rhythm and on time and designed. And then there's off-schedule. … One is true decision making within the system, and one is almost like fastbreak basketball.”
The latter area, which Petzing described as “high variance and high-risk, high-reward,” is where the Cardinals have spent their focus this spring.
“Are you playing point guard the right way?” Petzing said. “Is the ball going where it should? I think those are game-changing plays. And he's one of the few people in this league that can do it physically at a high level and create some of those, so we want to make sure we're taking advantage of that.”
The list of players who can take advantage of those opportunities mirrors the list of the game’s most effective quarterbacks.
In 2024, the top three quarterbacks in passing yards off scrambles were Joe Burrow, Josh Allen and Lamar Jackson. Combined, they averaged 8.0 yards per attempt on those plays, with 18 touchdowns and two interceptions.
“You look at Josh, you look at Lamar, a lot of the things that they do, those sexy plays come from outside of the pocket and when things break down,” Murray said.
Murray is no stranger to being a part of that group.
In 2021, the year of his only playoff appearance, he produced the second-most passing yards in the league off scrambles. That year, he averaged 7.26 yards per attempt while scrambling, with five touchdowns and two interceptions. His quarterback rating was 83.7.
Even this past season, his creativity shone through in spurts. In the Cardinals’ Week 2 win over the Rams, he found Marvin Harrison Jr. and Elijah Higgins for highlight-reel, off-schedule touchdowns. Later in that game, he evaded a pass rusher, rolled left and hit Harrison on a play straight out of backyard football.
With that coming in Week 2, it seemed like the beginning of a new chapter, with Murray and Harrison using their creativity to dominate opposing defenses. Then those plays — the off-schedule, unplanned, explosive completions — disappeared from the Cardinals offense.
“After that game, I can't really think of many extended plays where we made the defense pay,” Murray said.
The plays were replaced by head-scratching turnovers. Think of the crucial interception in Seattle, when Murray rolled out and tried to loft a pass to a covered Michael Wilson, only for Coby Bryant to take it the other way for a touchdown. Or the late interception against Carolina, when Murray looked off an open Trey McBride, instead floating an easy pick deep downfield.
Those moments played an outsized role in keeping the Cardinals out of the playoffs. In 2025, the goal is to flip them back in Arizona’s favor.
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Why Kyler Murray, Cardinals have surprising offseason focus
Continue reading...
It seemed strange, then, earlier this offseason, when Murray offered the following assessment of himself and the Arizona Cardinals offense.
“Playing within the pocket, playing with anticipation and timing, personally, I feel like I'm one of the best to do it in the league,” Murray told Arizona Sports 98.7 in April. “I think where we can be better as a unit and myself is extending plays and scramble drill.”
On the surface, that doesn’t quite track. Can Murray be better at extending plays? His highlight reel is filled with those moments.
And yet, the stats support Murray’s assessment.
Murray attempted the 10th most passes while scrambling. But the results of those plays were poor.
Per Fantasy Points Data, he averaged just 5.24 yards per attempt while scrambling, with three touchdowns and three interceptions. His quarterback rating was 49.9. By that metric, only six starting quarterbacks were worse.
So this offseason, Murray has talked with offensive coordinator Drew Petzing and quarterbacks coach Israel Woolfork about refining how the Cardinals approach broken plays. That responsibility doesn’t fall solely on the quarterback. It rests with all 11 players, especially the wide receivers, who need to find pockets of space downfield.
“Guys have to continue to move. Guys have to continue to stay active when plays break down,” Murray said. “Because that's gonna happen with a guy like myself being quarterback.”
That doesn’t mean Murray never used his legs well in 2024. His 572 rushing yards were the fourth among quarterbacks. And he dominated when rolling out of the pocket as part of designed plays. On those plays, he averaged 10.7 yards per attempt. Only Jayden Daniels was more efficient.
There’s a credit to Petzing here, too. In 2021, under Kliff Kingsbury, Murray attempted just 15 passes off designed roll-outs. Among starters, only Lamar Jackson and Tom Brady attempted fewer. In 2024, Murray attempted 43 of those passes, the fourth-most in the league.
If you’re confused about the difference between roll-outs and scrambles, allow Petzing to explain.
“There's two different versions of out of the pocket,” Petzing said. “There's designed out-of-the-pocket plays that are coming up in rhythm and on time and designed. And then there's off-schedule. … One is true decision making within the system, and one is almost like fastbreak basketball.”
The latter area, which Petzing described as “high variance and high-risk, high-reward,” is where the Cardinals have spent their focus this spring.
“Are you playing point guard the right way?” Petzing said. “Is the ball going where it should? I think those are game-changing plays. And he's one of the few people in this league that can do it physically at a high level and create some of those, so we want to make sure we're taking advantage of that.”
The list of players who can take advantage of those opportunities mirrors the list of the game’s most effective quarterbacks.
In 2024, the top three quarterbacks in passing yards off scrambles were Joe Burrow, Josh Allen and Lamar Jackson. Combined, they averaged 8.0 yards per attempt on those plays, with 18 touchdowns and two interceptions.
“You look at Josh, you look at Lamar, a lot of the things that they do, those sexy plays come from outside of the pocket and when things break down,” Murray said.
Murray is no stranger to being a part of that group.
In 2021, the year of his only playoff appearance, he produced the second-most passing yards in the league off scrambles. That year, he averaged 7.26 yards per attempt while scrambling, with five touchdowns and two interceptions. His quarterback rating was 83.7.
Even this past season, his creativity shone through in spurts. In the Cardinals’ Week 2 win over the Rams, he found Marvin Harrison Jr. and Elijah Higgins for highlight-reel, off-schedule touchdowns. Later in that game, he evaded a pass rusher, rolled left and hit Harrison on a play straight out of backyard football.
With that coming in Week 2, it seemed like the beginning of a new chapter, with Murray and Harrison using their creativity to dominate opposing defenses. Then those plays — the off-schedule, unplanned, explosive completions — disappeared from the Cardinals offense.
“After that game, I can't really think of many extended plays where we made the defense pay,” Murray said.
The plays were replaced by head-scratching turnovers. Think of the crucial interception in Seattle, when Murray rolled out and tried to loft a pass to a covered Michael Wilson, only for Coby Bryant to take it the other way for a touchdown. Or the late interception against Carolina, when Murray looked off an open Trey McBride, instead floating an easy pick deep downfield.
Those moments played an outsized role in keeping the Cardinals out of the playoffs. In 2025, the goal is to flip them back in Arizona’s favor.
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Why Kyler Murray, Cardinals have surprising offseason focus
Continue reading...
