The Arizona Cardinals obviously drafted Kyler Murray first overall with the intention of making him their starting quarterback, but head coach Kliff Kingsbury is not ready to just hand him the job before his first NFL training camp. The same cannot be said for Cardinals general manager Steve Keim.
During an appearance on “The Rich Eisen Show” earlier this week, Keim was asked if he expects Murray to be Arizona’s starter in Week 1 against the Detroit Lions next season. He said “yes” without hesitation.
Will we see @TheKylerMurray starting Week 1 in Arizona?@AZCardinals GM Steve Keim didn't mix words: pic.twitter.com/W7W21X1czS
— Rich Eisen Show (@RichEisenShow) April 30, 2019
“We didn’t draft him No. 1 overall for him to ride the pine,” Keim said. “I know it’s a lot to put on his back, but that’s why we drafted him. He’s a fierce competitor and that’s what he did at Oklahoma this year.”
Kingsbury, on the other hand, wants to create the perception that Murray is going to have to earn the starting job. After Keim made his comments, Kingsbury appeared on “The Jim Rome Show” and pretended Brett Hundley has a chance to beat out Murray.
“We’ll see. We’re still working through all those things,” Kingsbury said. ‘We have Brett Hundley here, who we’re very excited about, but we’ll see where that kind of goes.”
Unless he suffers an injury leading up to the season, Murray is going to start Week 1. The Cardinals didn’t name Josh Rosen their Week 1 starter last year after trading up to get him at No. 10, but they had a much more established veteran on the depth chart in Sam Bradford. The situation with Murray is totally different, and there’s virtually no chance he ends up second on the depth chart heading into the season if he’s healthy.
