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Kyler Murray's long recovery from tearing his ACL last season is in its final days. The quarterback is back at practice. However, it's not quite set in stone as to when he will officially take his first snaps in a live-fire situation. Here's a look at the latest information regarding the quarterback.
Kyler Murray Injury Update
The quarterback is back at practice and the hype train has left the station. Cardinals fans are getting giddy with excitement to see the Jonathan Gannon-Kyler Murray duo take their first steps on the field. Hollywood Brown helped hype up Cardinals fans even more. Here's how he put it, per Tyler Drake on Twitter/X:
“He’s not coming back to be average. He’s coming back to prove a point.”
Kyler Murray has been at practice for about a week now. Here's a look at the quarterback in action from Week 6 practice:
What happened to Kyler Murray?
The Cardinals quarterback suffered a torn ACL on a non-contact situation on Dec. 12, 2022. It was diagnosed as a Grade 3 Knee ACL injury. It was Week 14 and the season was already over in the minds of most NFL fans. Per John Hopkins University, a grade 3 ACL tear means that it was torn "completely in half."
According to the Idaho Sports Medicine Institute, such a tear takes at least nine months to fully heal. It has been about 11 months since the quarterback suffered the injury. Meaning, it took close to an additional 30% longer to heal properly until this point.
Of course, on top of that, Kyler Murray has been tasked with learning a new offense, and the past week was his first chance to get his reps under the new offense. To put it in perspective, most players had the same number of reps in late July or early August.
When will Kyler Murray return?
The Arizona Cardinals quarterback appears to be slated for either a Week 9 or Week 10 return. At least, that is what Deepak Chona, a sports medicine data analyst, said on Twitter/X. Chona also anticipates a less mobile version of Murray initially.
By playing Murray, the franchise could risk almost $30 million in 2025, per ESPN. If he can't pass a physical in March, the Cardinals would owe him $29.9 million. Despite the risk, the team still wants to see him play.
However, by Week 9 or 10, the Cardinals could be out of the playoff hunt mathematically or be on their last gasp. As such, playing him for the entire remaining section of the season doesn't make much sense. The situation calls for perhaps a month of action to get him back to 100% speed and then shutting him down to let Joshua Dobbs finish out the season.
It would allow them to get the best of both worlds, saving Murray's health, while also getting a long look at him. Plus, by taking him out, the Cardinals could maximize their draft stock in 2024 with the perfect excuse.
