At this point last year, Kyler Murray was rehabbing from an ACL tear as a new Arizona Cardinals regime was settling in.
Now it's Year 2 back from surgery and in the Cardinals' current offense, all the same.
Murray is enthused, healthy and has no cap on his expectations for what lies ahead for the 2024 Cardinals.
"Am I excited? Hell yeah, I'm excited," Murray said Wednesday. "I feel good. Just to be healthy is a blessing and to have the support of obviously your head coach and everybody around you, yes, yes for sure. I believe in what we can do."
Murray tore his ACL in December of 2022, ending his fourth NFL season and his time playing under head coach Kliff Kingsbury and general manager Steve Keim. While he worked to get back from subsequent surgery, Murray saw Arizona undergo wholesale change in the form of hiring head coach Jonathan Gannon and GM Monti Ossenfort.
In 2023, Murray made his season debut in Week 10. He showcased promise from the start in offensive coordinator Drew Petzing's system, but as his knee has fully healed and his grasp of the offense has grown, so too has his confidence.
"It's felt like one of the best offseasons I've had in a long time," Murray said. "Just being able to 1) be healthy and 2) be in touch with the guys and actually be a part of it.
"It just makes a difference; it makes a difference when I'm out there and we're all getting better together. Not only on the field, but off the field, it's been a good offseason."
If said good offseason translates to a successful 2024 season, what would that be?
"Win the Super Bowl," Murray answered when asked what his mission was for the campaign ahead.
Murray underscored that was his goal and expectation for the Cardinals, though that's the standard season to season in his mind.
"Every year is to win the Super Bowl, I don't play for any other reason," he said.
The Cardinals franchise has yet to win a Super Bowl and Murray's five years with the team have equated to just one postseason berth and no playoff wins.
Like just about every NFL player, spring optimism is abundant, but this one has a different feel for multiple reasons.
"Going into this season, I feel just really locked in, really locked in to what we're doing," Murray said. "It's really, for me, confidence in understanding where to go with the ball no matter what they're doing because I've been in the system a year. When you feel like that, the sky's the limit. I've played QB my whole life, but when you're at that point -- and I can't really explain it to y'all -- it's a good feeling. At that point, it's just going out there and executing."
A Heisman Trophy winner at Oklahoma who the Cardinals plucked with the No. 1 overall pick of the 2019 NFL Draft, Murray believes he's in the best position to succeed since his days as a Sooner. Asked if he'd ever been in a spot in which he was set up for so much success ahead of a season, Murray replied, "I kinda compare it to when I won the Heisman."
The one-time Pro Bowler is, by his account, meshing wonderfully with a new coaching staff and locker room. At 26, he's a veteran who's equally comfortable with a new scheme and his teammates.
"There's definitely a juice around this team, a camaraderie about this team," Murray said. "Since I got here, I was usually playing with a lot of older guys. This is the first time I feel like I'm kind of the older guy. There's no knock playing with older guys, but when you're playing with guys around your age, it's easier to gel or do things like that. I think all that matters."
The Cardinals were 4-13 last season -- and 3-5 with Murray as the starter. They fell short of the playoffs for the seventh time in eight years.
Even in the desert, though, there's a different temperature in the spring, and Murray is hitting this offseason with an easy grin and overflowing positiveness.
"I don't put any limitation on what we can do," he said.
