Kyler Murray's aggressive rehab might be changing perceptions about the Cardinals' QB
Warranted or not, Kyler Murray has battled a perception problem that has dogged him throughout much of his first four NFL seasons as the Arizona Cardinals’ starting quarterback.
Whether it was his body language after a fouled-up play on the field, sideline exchanges caught on camera between players and coaches, or the way he responded to certain questions from the media, observers were always ready to pounce, judge and criticize.
Part of the reason for that is Murray is an extremely private soul who rarely, if ever, reveals his full personality. Another reason, until recently, is that he always chose to spend the early parts of the offseason working out and training on his own near his hometown in the Dallas area.
That last part changed this year after he suffered a torn ACL and meniscus damage in his right knee during a non-contact injury in a Week 14 loss to the New England Patriots at State Farm Stadium. Upon undergoing surgery on Jan. 3 and resting for a handful of weeks, Murray returned to the team’s Tempe training facility to begin an exhaustive rehab program — and he’s never left.
According to coach Jonathan Gannon and several players, Murray is usually the first person to show up at team headquarters and he’s among the very last to leave. To say he’s been “attacking” his rehab might be putting it mildly.
He’s not only regularly pounding iron in the weight room alongside his teammates, but he’s present in all the meetings, taking notes, offering tips, and explaining things to others. He’s also been getting a steady diet of mental reps by being on the field during practices, standing behind the offense and studying every nuance about Arizona’s new offense.
Put it all together and it’s becoming clearer and clearer that the past perceptions about Murray appear to be changing. That can only help alter the narrative surrounding his place within the franchise as the Cardinals enter what figures to be one of their most challenging seasons to date.
“I was a Kyler Murray fan before, but I’m a big Kyler Murray fan now, for sure,” veteran left tackle D.J. Humphries said.
That’s because Humphries, returning from an injury of his own after missing the final nine games last season with a back injury, has finally spent some real quality time around Murray this offseason. What he’s seen from the fifth-year quarterback, he said, has opened his eyes.
“I feel like I’ve learned a lot about Kyler because we’ve been in the training room a lot,” Humphries said. “He trains away every offseason, so you don’t ever really get to really see. Offseason training is the real work. Football is organized. You need to do this, this and this and then you can leave.
“Offseason training is really like how much do you care about football? How often are you going to come in here? This is when you build that callous for real. I feel like I’ve gotten to know him more this offseason just being around him and seeing him attack his rehab like this. It’s been impressive.”
Wide receiver Zach Pascal, a sixth-year pro who joined the team this season as a free agent, had never met Murray before. But in a few short months, he’s learned a lot about the former Heisman Trophy winner, NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year and two-time Pro Bowl selection.
“It just shows that he cares — cares about us getting better as a team, learning the offense, and those mental reps he gets as well even though he can’t physically be a part of it,” said Pascal, who spent last season with Gannon and the NFC champion Philadelphia Eagles. “He can get those mental reps and it just trickles down to the whole team.”
'Fully engaged with everything'
If there were any concerns about Murray’s leadership skills, his constant appearance on the practice field when he’s not working on the side or hitting the weight room are helping to dissolve that perception as well. The mental reps he’s been getting should only help get him that much more immersed in the offense for when he’s ready to be a full participant again.
No one knows for sure exactly when that will be but given how hard he’s been aggressively pursuing his rehab and with no obvious signs of any setback, he could return sooner than expected.
“Obviously, he’s going through the rehab process, but he wants to be out there, I know that,” Gannon said earlier this offseason. “He’s fully engaged with everything we’re doing. I saw him making the reads back there behind the offense.
“When you see your trigger guy out there, it matters. He’s done everything and more that we wanted him to do and I’m excited for him with where he’s at.”
So are two of his top pass-catching targets, Marquise “Hollywood” Brown and Rondale Moore.
“He’s been attacking it, been going hard every day with a smile on his face, getting other guys going when he’s not out there, so I’m excited,” Brown said. “He wants to get back out there, so I know he’s going to attack it as best as he can to try and make it back out there whenever he can.”
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Wherever Murray is on any given day around the facility, he’s fully engaged, according to Moore. That’s always been the Murray that Moore knows, however.
“He’s always been the same guy,” he said. “Hard worker who goes out there and does what he has to do in order to get better. I think it’s as simple as that. Comes in early, gets his work done, comes outside and watches practice. Watches tape. He’ll text you if he sees something on tape he doesn’t like or he does like. He asks questions and it just goes from there.
“He’s been great.”
The more time Murray puts in at the Cardinals’ facility, the more some of his other teammates are getting to know the real him. Humphries, entering his ninth season with the team, might be the perfect example.
“You see quarterbacks, you don’t get to see the work,” he said. “They’re not going to be in the weight room deadlifting all this weight, so you don’t get to see it. But being in the building and watching him grind … it’s been fun to see because you get to see something different from your guy.
“It’s like, ‘Dang, I didn’t even know that was your makeup because I’ve never seen you do it and now it’s like, ‘OK, I see who you are. I get a little bit more understanding of who you are and why you are the way that you are. It’s been cool for me — I’ve been loving it — to be around him a bunch.”
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The extra time, Humphries said, has also allowed himself and others to get a much closer peek into Murray’s true self. And it’s been pretty revealing.
“He’s a lot funnier than he puts out, a lot funnier,” Humphries said. “He’s got a lot of cool-guy, like calm to him that he puts out into the world. But you get him by himself, he’s pretty funny. He’s really hilarious actually when you get him all by himself.
“But you’ve got to be like one of the guys. He’s not going to be funny like if you (reporters) are around. Like, any of you guys, really. … He doesn’t know you. Like, we’ll be right here, and we’ll be having a great time and you’ll walk in and it’s like, ‘I don’t know. I’ll talk to you guys later.’ But it’s cool to be around him and see how he is. He’s funny.”
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Kyler Murray's rehab effort is changing his perceptions with Cardinals
