Kyler Murray Injury: What We Know About the Arizona QB's Status

In the world of sports, injuries are a great equalizer. Whether you're a star player or a benchwarmer, a bit of bad luck can affect you just the same. The Arizona Cardinals are unfortunately staring down that reality due to a Kyler Murray injury.

And while most football fans know that the quarterback is sidelined, there is some ambiguity around his fitness. What's actually the problem? Is he going to play again this season?

With that in mind, let's take a closer look at Murray and his bill of health.

What is Kyler Murray's injury?

To understand Murray's current situation, we need to take a brief trip back in time. On December 12, 2022, the star signal-caller suffered a knee injury against the New England Patriots. He was diagnosed with a torn ACL and underwent surgery.

As of the start of the 2023 NFL regular season, he was still recovering from that procedure. He spent the summer rehabbing his knee but still landed on the physically unable to perform (PUP) list.

"He's attacking his rehab," Cardinals general manager Monti Ossenfort told The Athletic in early August. "He's doing everything. He's doing the stuff he can do on the field with the trainers. He's progressing. He's jumped. He's been all in on rehab. The day I got hired, he was in the building doing rehab. He's been attacking it. It's been fun to see. He's progressing. We'll see what that means here. He's on an upward trajectory. We're real happy with his progress."

When will Murray return to the action?

At this point, no one knows the true answer. Neither the Cardinals nor Murray himself have placed a timeline on his recovery. There is one clue that can point us in the right direction, though.

Since the QB is starting the season on the PUP list, he will have to miss at least the first four games. So he'll be eligible to return to action for Week 5, but that doesn't mean he'll be physically ready.

How long does it take to return from a torn ACL?

With the caveat that every injury is different, ACLs usually keep players sidelined for a significant amount of time. According to a WWL 4 write-up discussing Jameis Winston's torn ACL in 2021, Dr. Wendell Heard, Associate Professor of Orthopedic Surgery and Sports Medicine at Tulane, pegged the rough recovery time between nine and 12 months.

For a somewhat similar comparison, let's consider Winston and his timeline. On October 31, 2021, he suffered a torn ACL, plus some additional MCL damage. He was ready for the 2022 preseason and started the Saints' Week 1 game on September 11, 2022.

While there's obviously an offseason in there, and again, Winston and Murray are different people with different bodies, the timeline was approximately what a doctor predicted.

Murray's status also requires a bit of extra caution

Beyond the fact that ACL injuries take time to heal, the Cardinals' caution makes sense. Murray isn't just any player, after all.

The quarterback is the franchise cornerstone, and he signed a major contract extension during the 2022 offseason. Given that Arizona isn't exactly competing for the Lombardi Trophy, it's better to play it safe and allow Murray to get back to 100%, even if it means losing a few extra games.

It's also worth remembering that the signal-caller is an all-around athlete who's more than comfortable making things happen with his legs. Given that key component of his game, the former first-overall pick will need to have full confidence in his ability to run, cut, and absorb contact.

Will Kyler Murray play in 2023?

That's the million-dollar question, isn't it?

In terms of the first hurdle – Murray's physical ability to play – things should be OK. Again, every recovery process is different, but the regular season will end more than 12 months since that fateful day in New England. Barring a setback, the quarterback should be fine to return.

But just because he can play, that doesn't mean he should.

If Murray ends up missing most of the season, the Cardinals could decide there's no reason to risk him reaggravating his knee in a meaningless December contest. There could also be a financial component to that decision; as Mike Lombardi noted on The Pat McAfee Show, there's an injury guarantee clause in the quarterback's contract. Should he reinjure himself, the Cards would be on the hook for a sizable chunk of change.

And while tanking is something of a taboo topic, that will also have to enter the conversation. Let's say that Arizona is sitting at the bottom of the standings in November. Would getting Murray back on the field be worth a worse draft pick? Or does the quarterback stay on the sidelines for the good of the organization?

Murray is still a team captain, despite his injury

As we've established, the Cardinals quarterback is going to miss at least some time this year. That reality, though, didn't stop him from being named one of Arizona's captains.

"He's our franchise quarterback," head coach Jonathan Gannon said, according to an ESPN write-up. "And everything that I want our captains to be, he demonstrates it."

And while you could read that as a sign that Murray will be back on the field as soon as he's ready – the ESPN piece suggests that's the case – it is worth considering the scale of the honor. Being a captain is a vote of confidence and a sign of one's standing within the locker room. But there are multiple captains per team; the Cardinals, for example, have five other players wearing the "C" beyond Murray.

Could the captaincy be a clue as to what the future holds? Or would it simply be too conspicuous to exclude the starting quarterback from the list?

At this point, we'll just have to wait and see how the entire Kyler Murray injury situation plays out.