A chaotic Arizona Cardinals season just got worse.
Less than 90 seconds into Monday night’s contest between the Cardinals and Patriots, quarterback Kyler Murray went down with a non-contact injury and needed to be carted off the field.
While Arizona’s franchise QB will undergo further testing throughout the week, sources indicate that there’s “little doubt” that Murray’s ACL is torn.
Head coach Kliff Kingsbury intimated as much in his post game media availability stating “Obviously it didn’t look good…I’ve never seen him in that type of shape so I assumed it wasn’t good.”
Murray, who had previously missed weeks 10 & 11 with a hamstring injury, signed a $230.5M contract in the offseason which will tie him to the organization through 2028. The 25 year old had thrown for 2,359yds with 14TDs & 7INTs on the season heading into Monday night’s game.
After being carted off, Murray was replaced by veteran QB Colt McCoy as the Cardinals ultimately fell to New England 27-13.
Arizona now sits at 4-9 on the season and are likely to miss the postseason barring a miracle.
The Cardinals have been decimated by injuries throughout the year, as Murray missed 2 games due to hamstring issues, 4 of their starting offensive linemen are out, and TE Zach Ertz was also lost for the season with a knee injury as well.
All-Pro WR DeAndre Hopkins also missed the first 6 weeks of the season due to a suspension, which only put Arizona further behind the 8 ball to kick off the 2022 campaign.
Now riding a 3 game losing streak, and without their starting QB, it’s probable that the Cardinals begin shifting their focus to the offseason and the upcoming 2023 NFL draft. If the season were to end today, Arizona would be selecting 6th overall.
-Kyle Skinner
Twitter: @JKyleSkinner
Photo: All-Pro Reels. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license.