Cardinals keep playoff hopes alive; QB controversy at forefront
Jacoby Brissett stunned the Cowboys on Monday Night Football, but coach Jonathon Gannon remains insistent that Kyler Murray is the starting QB.
- Former NFL quarterback Kurt Warner offers his perspective on the Arizona Cardinals’ quarterback situation.
- Warner notes that Jacoby Brissett is a good player who makes the offense look better within its structure.
- Warner believes Kyler Murray still has trade value due to his talent, but a team would need to believe they can develop him further.
Kurt Warner knows a thing or two about backup quarterbacks taking over from entrenched starters.
In 1999, he replaced Rams starter Trent Green when Green tore his ACL. Three years and a Super Bowl title later, he was replaced by Marc Bulger amid a string of his own injuries. From 2005-07, he was again in and out of the starting role — this time with the Cardinals — before leading Arizona to its lone Super Bowl appearance.
So when Warner watches the Cardinals’ current quarterback situation unfold — with Jacoby Brissett being named the starter this week over Kyler Murray due to both performance and health — he can offer a unique perspective.
And this week, Warner was in the radio booth for Westwood One, watching as Brissett led the Cardinals past the Cowboys, 27-17, to lay claim to the starting job.
“The first thing we have to do is recognize that Jacoby’s good,” Warner told The Arizona Republic. “Jacoby’s a good player, he’s always been a good player. And it hasn’t been any different since he’s taken over.”
Over a half-hour conversation this week, Warner shared his thoughts on Brissett, Murray and where the Cardinals go from here.
How Brissett has improved the offense
Before diving into comparisons, Warner wants to point out two key elements at play here.
One, Brissett has long been among the league’s better backups. This has not been a case of an unproven rookie stepping in and outperforming Murray.
Two, the comparison between the two is not apples-to-apples. Brissett is a different style of quarterback than Murray. He wants to play more within the offense, rather than creating on his own.
“It makes sense with Jacoby (who) can do that at a high level, that the offense in-structure looks better than it does with Kyler (who) is more of a first-read type guy,” Warner said. “First-read, checkdown. First read, take off and create. More so than working to two, three and four and working deep into his progressions. So the nature of the offense is going to look different.”
Although Warner says that he doesn’t know offensive coordinator Drew Petzing well enough to know his preferred philosophies, he adds that it’s “quite possible” that Brissett is a better fit for Petzing’s preferred style of offense.
Brissett has worked under center four times as often as Murray, enabling the Cardinals’ play-action rate to jump from 25.1% to 39.7%, per Pro Football Focus.
His ability to work through progressions has also allowed the Cardinals to involve Michael Wilson and Zay Jones in their offense far more often.
“Let’s say at most it’s 50% that you can throw it to your first read,” Warner said. “So that leaves 50% of the game where you’ve got to work through your progressions. Just because they cover up number one doesn’t mean there’s not a good option and an open option and something that’s easier than running around and creating a play. And so what I see is when you allow the offense to work for you, you make the game easier.”
Still, there’s a reason that Brissett has not been able to establish himself as a franchise quarterback at any of his six previous stops. To Warner, that starts with his accuracy — an issue that popped up against the Cowboys, when Brissett missed a handful of open throws.
“When you’re in the starting role over and over again and you miss some of those throws, those are kind of the throws that makes a high-end starter and makes everybody else,” Warner said. “And if there’s one thing about Jacoby, that’s what I would say is just that there’s always been something a little bit off in terms of that consistent accuracy.”
Murray’s struggles with consistency
It was only four years ago that Murray was an MVP candidate for much of the year, leading the Cardinals to his lone playoff appearance. But since then, he has struggled to recreate that rhythm.
“With Kyler, it’s more about consistency of going through his progressions and seeing things on schedule, letting the offense work for him,” Warner said.
That, to Warner, makes it difficult to continue centering a long-term vision around Murray.
“If we play more to Kyler’s strengths, has he shown enough consistent high-level play to take us to the place that we want to go and take us to that next step?” Warner said. “Being that they haven’t ever really gone there in the first seven years.”
While Murray still has the ability to create magic with his legs, Warner has seen Murray flirt with the limits of that style.
“If you’re gonna try to make 13 or 14 plays a game by being creative and running around, you’re just not gonna be very successful in that world,” Warner said. “You’ll make a couple, but it’ll be lead to sacks, it’ll lead to negative plays, it’ll lead to missed opportunities. And so I think so much of it is you’ve gotta let the offense work for you. You’ve gotta let the scheme and the players around you work for you. And then you’ve gotta be special that four, five times a game.”
To that point, Murray has taken a sack on 27.6% of his pressures this year. Brissett has done so on just 20.6% of his pressures.
“The athletes are too good to think you can just be the best athlete on the field and find a way to create plays over and over again,” Warner said. “And so that, to me, is where playing within structure and allowing the offense to work for you makes the game easier on you as a quarterback, makes the game easier on you as an offense. Because it’s not always trying to find a play. It’s taking the play that’s already there.”
Does Murray have trade value?
If the Cardinals do decide to move on from Murray this offseason — as currently seems likely — the question will be whether they can find a trade partner.
By cutting Murray, the Cardinals would incur a $54.7 million dead cap hit, per Over The Cap. If they can find a team willing to take Murray, though, the Cardinals would only have to pay a fraction of his 2026 salary, with Murray’s new team paying the vast majority.
Warner does think that there will be coaches who believe they can unlock Murray.
“I just think overall there’s gonna be some interest cause he’s just extremely talented,” Warner said. “… He’s a gifted, gifted thrower. He’s a gifted player. We’ve seen him play at a high, high level. Even being in the MVP consideration at times in his career. And so there is a lot there to build off of.”
But in gauging that interest, Warner believes teams will have to feel comfortable with three key questions, even beyond the salary aspect.
One: “How many more years can he play that way?”
Two: “Was it something in Arizona that stopped him from being able to push that next limit?”
Three: “Do we think that we can take him and grow him in those areas so we can bring all that unique talent out?”
But as recent reclamation projects in Tampa Bay, Seattle, Indianapolis and more have shown, the first chapter of a quarterback’s career does not always tell the full story.
“You could definitely say that Kyler has shown more than a Sam Darnold and possibly a Baker Mayfield,” Warner said. “Although I thought Baker was good in Cleveland. But has shown himself better than Sam Darnold did in the first four or five years of his career. There’s more to build off there.”
Warner, though, does acknowledge that there will be limits to Murray’s market.
“It would have to be the right spot,” Warner said. “I’m not sure how many destinations there are just in general for a guy that’s been in the league seven years and is still in that question phase like Kyler is. … But the beautiful thing is, as I know really well, all it takes is one. All you’re looking is one that believes in you and wants to give you a shot and believes you can play to give you a chance.”
