Quarterback Kyler Murray will start Sunday against the Atlanta Falcons, Arizona Cardinals head coach Jonathan Gannon announced Friday.
His teammates welcomed the news, which comes with word that starting running back James Conner also could return from injury for Sunday’s game at State Farm Stadium.
Murray’s return had been expected throughout the week, especially after he was activated and added to the 53-man roster.
He will return to the field in a game for the first time in 11 months. He tore an ACL early in a game against the New England Patriots last December and had to be carted off the field, then had surgery a few weeks later. He had been rehabbing and then practicing with the Cardinals ever since.
‘I’m honestly excited for the guy. I’ve seen what he’s had to go through the last, you know, eight months or so, however long I’ve been here,’ Gannon said. ‘And you know, what he’s put into it and how bad he wants to be out there and the competitor that he is, he wants to be out there with the guys and help his team win. So that’s what I’m most excited to see.’
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Murray’s teammates are excited about his return. His competitive desire to win permeates the locker room.
‘Anytime you can have your number one quarterback play in this league, of course, that’s definitely something special,’ said Cardinals safety Budda Baker, like Murray a team captain. ‘He is a special talent and a special guy who can do anything a quarterback can do, run inside the pocket, outside the pocket, throw.’
Tight end Trey McBride said the return of Murray is a ‘huge asset’ for the Cardinals. McBride figures to be on the other end of some Murray passes right away, having played with Murray last season before the quarterback got hurt.
‘He’s exactly what I remember him. He’s a freak athlete, he’s a guy who makes plays happen and obviously it’s a little different with a different quarterback in there, the way he … rolls around and stuff, but it’s been good, I’m excited,’ McBride said. ‘The opportunity’s gonna be there. He’s gonna make some plays happen. Something about Kyler, you know, he makes plays happen when there’s not much going on. … As pass catchers we gotta be ready for scramble drill, for things to happen after the play (breaks down), things like that.’
Rookie wide receiver Michael Wilson is hoping to play this week after missing last week’s game with a shoulder injury. He said the receivers have to help Murray, and that he can relate to the first game back from a long-term injury.
Wilson said Murray has a zing on his throws that not all quarterbacks have.
‘Obviously, he’s the leader of our franchise and so I feel like there’s a different feel when he’s commanding the offense, a different type of leadership that is present,’ Wilson said of Murray. ‘Sort of like that star power when he’s commanding the offense.’
And then there is wide receiver Marquise ‘Hollywood’ Brown,’ Murray’s close friend and former college teammate at Oklahoma now in his second season with the Cardinals.
‘It’s like he never left, for me,’ Brown said. ‘And I know the competitor he is, you know, you hear a lot of the bad talk, this and that, but he’s a competitor and he’s hungry to go out there and play.’
Conner nears return
Conner was limited in practice all week after four games missed on injured reserve with a knee injury, but he has a chance to play Sunday.
Conner is ‘trending in the right direction,’ Gannon said.
‘He’s our workhorse in the run game. So it’d be good to get him back and it helps not only Kyler, it helps our team,’ Gannon added.
Conner is questionable to play Sunday, and there remains a chance that two injured starters on the offensive line, left tackle D.J. Humphries and right guard Will Hernandez, could play a week after getting hurt. They might be game-time decisions, Gannon said, though neither practiced Wednesday or Thursday and Humphries missed Friday as well.
Both are listed as questionable.
Tight end Geoff Swaim (back) and linebacker Zeke Turner (hamstring) are also questionable. Turner, a special teams core player, didn’t practice all week.