Texas’ best high school player ever has officially crashed out in Arizona

ARLINGTON

There is a reason why the Arizona Cardinals put a study clause in Kyler Murray’s big contract, which social media shamed them into subtracting.

Three years after the Cardinals handed the former star quarterback at Allen High School a $230 million contract, his time with the franchise has hit not a snag but a boulder the size of Camelback Mountain.

Entering play on Monday, in the Cardinals’ last 18 games without Murray starting and finishing the game, the team is 1-17. And yet when he starts, the team doesn’t win much, either.

Murray was inactive for the Cardinals’ game Monday night against the Cowboys, as he recovers from a foot sprain, which he sustained in Week 5. The Cardinals started veteran backup Jacoby Brissett for the third consecutive game.

The Cardinals entered the game against the Cowboys with a 2-5 record, on pace to post their ninth non-winning record in the past 10 seasons.

Murray is the best high school football player in the history of Texas football — undefeated as a starter with three straight state championships — but in the NFL he’s just another top pick that didn’t work out. He found his ceiling, and was perfectly comfortable with the fit.

Former Allen High School star and Arizona Cardinals quarterback Kyler Murray was inactive for his team’s game on Monday night against the Cowboys in Arlington because of a sprained foot. Norm Hall Getty Images

Only one winning season

The Cardinals took a risk when they used the No. 1 pick in the 2019 NFL draft on a quarterback who stands 5-foot-9 in high heels. Murray’s height has not been the problem.

The problem remains the Cardinals, and Murray himself. Since the Cardinals selected him, the team is 42-64-1 with one playoff appearance, a blowout loss to the Rams in the 2021 wild-card round.

The Cardinals’ only winning season with Murray came in 2021 when they finished 11-6; months after the season ended, they gave Murray the big extension that included language that should have been a red flag but instead became about black and white.

In July of ‘22, the Cardinals gave Murray a $230 million extension, which included a clause that Murray had to complete four hours of weekly independent film study. That a team would put a clause like that in a contract to a franchise player said a lot.

“The study clause” was one of those lines that was also translated as a racist shot. To some, it was taken that Murray is dumb, or lazy, just another superior athlete who relied on God-given talents rather than putting in the work.

This was a similar issue the Cleveland Browns had with former Texas A&M quarterback Johnny Manziel, when he was a rookie in 2014. Manziel never looked at his team-issued tablet, and weekly playbook, which the team could monitor.

(FYI: Murray’s college career also started at A&M.)

Cardinals quarterback Kyler Murray gets sacked by Seahawks linebacker Uchenna Nwosu on Sept. 25 at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Ariz. Christian Petersen Getty Images

After news leaked that the Cardinals put the study clause in the contract, social media did its thing, and the team removed the stipulation.

A study clause was probably not going to change Murray’s performance that much, but there was a reason why the Cardinals wanted it. His coach at the time was Kliff Kingsbury, who shared the same agent with his quarterback. The general manager was Steve Keim, who made Murray the No. 1 overall pick in 2019.

As much of a mess and as dysfunctional as the Cardinals have been since they were located in St. Louis, those aforementioned people knew enough to know they had to do something to motivate Murray to make other parts of the game a priority.

Only the people inside the building, which includes the Cardinals’ IT staffers, know Murray’s specific habits and preparations.

Playing style has expiration date

What people inside and outside the building know is that Murray’s time as the starting quarterback with the Cardinals has crashed out. For a quarterback as talented as he is, he has not improved that much in his seven seasons.

Murray is not dumb, and he is smart enough to know that he can make plays out of nothing that most other quarterbacks can’t. What he did at Allen, and at Oklahoma, was something a video game designer could not create.

That he has been able to make those types of plays against NFL defenses and NFL athletes is not right. It also has a limit, and an expiration date.

Watching Murray “run around and wing it” — Allen style — is fun to watch, when it works. When that play doesn’t work, it gets coaches fired.

Murray’s contract runs through the 2028 season, and even though the Cardinals have demonstrated they can’t win without him, they don’t win with him, either.

This story was originally published November 3, 2025 at 8:28 PM.

Mac Engel

Fort Worth Star-Telegram

Mac Engel is an award-winning columnist who has covered sports since the dawn of man; Cowboys, TCU, Stars, Rangers, Mavericks, etc. Olympics. Movies. Concerts. Books. He combines dry wit with 1st-person reporting to complement an annoying personality.
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