Getty This Rams' Hall-of-Famer thinks he knows what will happen with Kyler Murray.
Kyler Murray and the Arizona Cardinals need to move on from the recent furor over his activity on social media and relationship with the team. That’s the view of Hall of Fame running back Marshall Faulk.
Faulk, who played for the Cards’ division rival the Rams when they were in St. Louis, sat down to discuss Murray’s situation recently. He was critical of the apparent over-sensitivity of today’s athletes, including Murray, in the social-media age.
There was also time for Faulk to predict how things will play out between Murray and the Cardinals this offseason.
ALL the latest Cardinals news straight to your inbox! Join the Heavy on Cardinals newsletter here!
Faulk Thinks Any Acrimony Will Pass
Faulk was asked about the Murray situation on an episode of the “Rich Eisen Show,” hosted by Eisen’s wife, Suzy Shuster. She put the question to Faulk about what will ultimately happen between the Cardinals and their franchise quarterback.
Faulk’s response should reassure Cards fans:
Two things stand out from Faulk’s answer. First is the idea Murray still has a lot to prove “because everybody in the organization isn’t a Kyler Murray fan.”
This speaks to the idea of simmering tension on both sides, between quarterback and franchise, that’s been threatening to boil over during the offseason. Murray removing any mention of the team from his social media accounts got the ball rolling, but the Cardinals responding in a similar vein, per PFF’s Ari Meirov, only served to keep the story alive:
Last week: Kyler Murray wipes his Instagram… only leaves 2 pictures up.
Today: Cardinals wipe their Instagram… only leave 2 pictures up (both of Kyler).
As Faulk put it, “some people had questions” when the Cards were preparing to use the first-overall pick to select Murray in the 2019 NFL draft. Those questions have only grown louder after a 2021 campaign in which the Cardinals started 10-0, slumped to finish 11-6, then were bounced out of the playoffs at the first hurdle by the eventual Super Bowl champion Los Angeles Rams.
Proving his remaining doubters wrong requires Murray to step up his play and develop true consistency. Faulk believes the process should start with Murray becoming a little less sensitive.
Murray’s Sensitivity Questioned
The full segment of Faulk’s interview began with him railing against today’s athletes being “too sensitive.” Using Murray as the example, Faulk went on to say, “when they were writing good stuff about him, he was following them and he was fine.”
From there, the conversation became a broader tirade about social media, including Faulk and Shuster’s views on the apparent attention-seeking behavior of some of its users. The meat on the bone for Cardinals fans, though, came in Faulk’s answer near the end, when he said “This thing will blow over, and he will develop a little thicker skin.”
Faulk thinks questioning a star player is sometimes necessary for a franchise to move forward, but it needn’t be cause for a split. The question remains, however, does Murray see things the same way?
There have been multiple reports of Murray’s temperament potentially alienating teammates. One of those reports came from ESPN’s Chris Mortensen, while USA Today‘s Cards Wire staff writer Chuck Harris commented along similar lines:
Just heard this on 98.7. During halftimes, Kyler Murray is known to sit at his locker and call his girlfriend or put his earbuds in and isolate himself from the team.
If this is true then it further magnifies a complete failure of the entire organization from top down.
It seems clear the Cardinals have some work to do to convince Murray he’s still valued. That’s going to be crucial work with the player’s contract status looming on the horizon.
Murray will play the last year of his rookie deal in 2022. The Cardinals can exercise a fifth-year option, but that decision may hinge on the work Murray does to convince management he’s still committed to developing and winning in Arizona.