Kyler Murray - Your Next Top 5 Fantasy QB
NFL Draft season is upon us! This is one of the most fun and exciting times of the football season. This time of year sees all 32 NFL franchises full of hope and excitement. Last years draft provided plenty of exciting play from the players drafted. We already discussed the prolific wide receiver class, so today I want to talk about one of the more impressive quarterbacks to bust on the scene in 2019.
The Arizona Cardinals selected Kyler Murray with the first overall pick in the 2019 draft. Murray was their second straight first round quarterback selection, after selecting Josh Rosen in 2018. The Cardinals new head coach Kliff Kingsbury was smitten with Murray, and decided to ship Rosen off to the Dolphins. The Cardinals pulled the trigger, and a new franchise qb was born.
So far, Murray has not disappointed. In fact he has exceeded expectations. He completed 64.4 percent of his passes for 3,722 yards, 20 touchdowns and 12 interceptions. He also added 544 yards and 4 touchdowns on the ground. That was good enough to finish as the QB8.
He set franchise rookie records. He set rookie records for wins, passing yards, touchdown passes, passing attempts, pass completions and completion percentage. He threw for 300 plus yards 5 fucking times! The only rookie to ever throw for more is Andrew Luck. (6) Luck turned out to be an All Pro caliber quarterback. Is Murray next?
Kyler set the Cardinals record for rushing yards by a quarterback and his interception percentage of 2.2 is the 6th lowest in team history (minimum 200 passing attempts). He recorded the 8th most passing yards in a single season with 3,722. Only 4 players in the history have thrown for more in a season.
Jake Plummer - once
Neil Lomax - once
Kurt Warner - twice (Hall of Fame)
Carson Palmer - Three times.
It is not far fetched to think Murray will sit alone at the top of this list in the coming years.
His 64.4% completion percentage is the 4th highest in team history for a season. Kurt Warner is the only Cardinal QB to beat that. And he holds the top 3 spots. Did I mention he's in the Hall of Fame?
I'm assuming Kyler "can" top that.
Still not convinced that Murray was a homerun pick?
He established the rookie record of 211 consecutive pass attempts without an interception. He was only the second rookie ever to pass for over 3,500 yards and rush for more than 500.
He is 3rd in NFL history in pass attempts by a rookie which tells me defensive coordinators were teeing off on his ass, constantly playing from ahead, yet he still managed to put up highly productive numbers.
Sure, he has room to improve, but the Cardinals also have a lot of room to grow.
Christian Kirk, Hakeem Butler, and Keesean Johnson should all continue to take steps forward. Kenyan Drake looked like a man possessed in the second half last year. The Cards should be focused on upgrading their defense in free agency and the draft. Kingsbury should continue to grow as a coach. The future looks bright in Arizona, and nobody looks like they will outshine Kyler.
I see a big leap in his sophomore campaign. His great season was over shadowed by L-Freaky's MVP campaign. Just keep in mind Kyler's rookie season was light years ahead of Lamar's.
I'm not looking for 1200 rushing yards out of Kyler in year 2, but I do expect an increase in passing yards and touchdowns, as most year 2 guys do.
Is it crazy to think he could put up a stat line of 4000 yards, 28 TDs, 10 int, 650 rushing yards, and add another 5 rushing scores? Eh, let's also assume he loses 8 fumbles…
That would have made him the QB3 in 2019. 6 points shy of Dak Prescott at number 2.
We obviously have a long off season ahead of us and we are on the cusp of seeing enormous turnover at the position. With several teams entertaining a new signal caller in 2020, it appears that Arizona is set. You may say its bold to expect a top 5 finish for Murray in 2020, but he was almost there last year. A slight step up should catapult him into the conversation. Sound off below and tell us what u think. As always, STAY TRUE!