Everyone Wants Kyler Murray on a Minimum Contract

Really quickly before we go, just because I think there's, there's been some tide shifts here um in free agency.

Kyler Murray, since the last time we talked, has effectively been granted his release.

He's gonna play in the league minimum this year, right?

I think the Kyler Murray and Aaron Rodgers went on Pat McAfee and did the thing where he's like, oh, I'm definitely gonna make up my mind soon, and then went on Pat McAfee and was like, well, I don't know, you know, and, and now we're gonna do this for a month.

Um, where do you see the quarterback dominoes falling now?

I mean, I think that Kyler Murray, the tide is turning on this, by the way, like, Kyler was, like, initially, like, I think someone who, Like, like, it's amazing how our perception changes overnight where it was like, no, hell no, like, like that's not what I want to now.

This is still a guy with something of a ceiling.

I, I, I don't know.

I mean, this is why Kyler wanted to be cut, um, he wanted to be cut because The landscape for people who don't understand it.

I mean, there's the optics of it, and there's been a time, I think there was a time when players would rather be traded than cut cause the optics are being cut or the optics are being cut.

But functionally, if you look at it, like he's due $36.

8 million from the Cardinals this year.

They functionally, you know, got out of almost $20 million for next year by cutting him when they cut him.

That 36.8 number is important because the only way the Cardinals don't pick up everything but the minimum is if somebody is willing to pay him more than that number, which isn't gonna happen.

So now, he knows what he's making this year, and he is attractive to teams because he's on the minimum, right?

And he can make this now as a result of that, a pure football decision.

The whatever the largest number of suitors that were gonna be out there for him, they're all gonna be out there for him because he's on the minimum, right?

And now he doesn't need to weigh, well, this is 5 million versus 10 million versus 15 million.

Where do I go?

What do I do now he knows what his number is, so he can go and make this a pure football decision.

And so, like I think the Vikings are the obvious one with him.

Um, I know the Vikings have investigated different reclamation projects.

It's something that they did obviously two years ago with Sam Darnold, something they think they can be successful at.

It's something that they've studied going back into the, actually the regular season.

They've, they've looked at these things, you know.

And so, Kyler, Tua, you know, Mac Jones, if they were able to trade for him, like those would be the names for the Vikings.

I, I also think like there are a couple of other ones where You know, like the Jets, I think that one, you know, is a path to start.

Do you want to be there?

I think they actually have some better offensive personnel than maybe people give them credit for.

Two first-round tackles, the number one receiver in Garrett Wilson, um, you know, Bruce Hall coming back on the franchise tag.

Frank Reich is a veteran play caller.

You know, and then I think you get into teams like Indianapolis and Atlanta where at the very least, you will probably get starter reps the entire offseason, and I think there's like value in that too, right?

Like, so does Daniel Jones make it back for the opener?

Does Michael Pennox make it back for the opener?

It's probably too early to tell on those two cases, but those injuries happen late enough in the season where you can at least say.

You know, for the spring and summer, I'm gonna be getting a lot of starter reps and you know whether or not like I, I am the starter for the games at the beginning of the year, like I'm gonna be able to make an impression on smart offensive coaches Kevin Stefansky in Atlanta, Shane Stein in Indianapolis, and that's going to help me and I'm going to continue to develop.

So I think those would be the teams that I would look at with Kyler.

I always pegged him to the Jets, but I think that the Vikings just, I mean, if that was attractive, I mean that you, you're gonna have to win the job, but like I think if you're confident you can do that, then I mean, like, look at what they've got, you know, wouldn't you, and, and, and, and I hate, I, I, I understand the Jets thing, uh, to so many degrees, but wouldn't you.

Wouldn't you be more confident in going into Minnesota and, and having to compete for a job and, and, and kind of estimating your success there versus going to the Jets and, and having it out, right?

I think so.

I mean, I think so.

I think like just, you know, the opportunity to play in big games on big stages is gonna be there.

Like, if the Jets are where they've been the last few years, like the, do you want to be part of a death march in November and December, you know, like that's what I would be concerned about.

Whereas like, in Minnesota, there'd be the opportunity to be playing in really relevant games down the stretch and, and that can do a lot to change your pers the perception that other people have of you, you know, so.

You know, whether it's Tua or Kyler or Mac, um, which Mack, of course, would take a draft pick, but whoever it is, like, I think with all of these guys, you're looking at, um, you know, like a real opportunity in Minnesota to flip your career the way Sam Darnold did a couple of years ago.

Um, Aaron Rodgers, I mean, is it Pittsburgh or nothing at this point?

I think so.

I mean, I will say to Aaron's credit , like I, I, I think like.

Like he had, I, I think a little bit of a, a turn a couple of years ago where, you know, he was obsessed for a long time with like showing everybody what he was outside of football, right?

Like I'm more than a football player.

And I think in the last few years, like he's been sort of seeking something else, which is like, I wanna like really enjoy what I have left, and I wanna, as long as I'm able to play this game at the highest level.

You know, I really wanna lean into being a football player, and that's why going to Pittsburgh in the first place appealed to him because he wasn't gonna have to be the guy who turns everything around there, you know, he could just go play football, and I, I think like his failure to find that like place with the Jets and then his success in finding it in Pittsburgh, I think does create like a at least a chance that he's gonna come back and play again this year, and I think that obviously.

The guys coming in who are familiar faces and it's not just Mike McCarthy, it's Camping, the, the, the line coach, it's a number of the support staff that Mike McCarthy is bringing with them, you know, creates a comfort level where he can say, I really enjoyed playing for Mike Tomlin last year, and now, even though Tomlin's not here anymore, there's something that's really comfortable for me, so I'm gonna get a chance to enjoy playing football again, so.

Um, I, I think if, if he has the desire to go through what it takes to play an entire NFL season, which shouldn't be underrated because it takes a lot, it's not just showing up in September, like the whole process of getting yourself in shape and keeping yourself in shape to play a full football season when you don't need to do that.

Like he's set for life financially, all of that.

I think that'll be the question.