The Arizona Cardinals have significantly improved their offense heading into the 2020 season, and Kyler Murray is going to reap the rewards.
Bleacher Report’s Mike Freeman wrote a short synapses on every NFL team’s offseason last week, and when he got to the Cardinals, he wrote that “Kyler Murray should quickly become an MVP candidate” due to the team’s moves to upgrade the offense.
“They got DeAndre Hopkins on the cheap, upgraded the offensive line, running back Kenyan Drake is talented and now the lead back,” Freeman wrote.
The “on the cheap” comment is on the nose. The trade with Houston for Hopkins was so lopsided even “Madden” wouldn’t allow it, after all. It also should do wonders for the development of Murray. We recently dove into that in some detail with a look at how the acquisition of DeAndre Hopkins turns the Cardinals’ offense into a veritable rocketship.
But can it be good enough to vault Murray into the MVP conversation in 2020? Is he really good enough to follow in the footsteps of Patrick Mahomes, who took the NFL by storm in his second year?
The one thing that would give me pause about going that far is that the NFC West is nightmare fuel for opposing quarterbacks. However, it’s worth noting that Murray gave the best defense in the NFL last year fits the two times he took the San Francisco 49ers on.
So, with that in mind, it’s not the craziest thing to envision Murray following Mahomes’ lead with an epic second season as a pro. At the least, we cannot wait to see him try.