Kyler Murray done as Cardinals QB? Steelers, Jets among possible landing spots along with Kingsbury reunion
Murray's tenure in Arizona may be at its end
•
4 min read
Kyler Murray's days as a member of the Arizona Cardinals may be numbered. This week, the club placed the former No. 1 overall pick on injured reserve due to a lingering mid-foot injury. That decision came, however, just a day after head coach Jonathan Gannon not only announced that Jacoby Brissett would be their starter once again in Week 10, but doubled down with the veteran saying that he would've stuck with him at quarterback even if Murray was healthy.
In the wake of all that, CBS Sports NFL insider Jonathan Jones reports that multiple executives have wondered if Murray has played his last down with the organization.
"Multiple executives I spoke with around the league expressed doubt Murray will play again for the Cardinals this season should they be unable to turn things around," Jones reports. "Arizona is 3-5 and Murray can't return until Week 14 at the earliest. Brissett has been the better quarterback according to most statistics, and if Arizona is ready to move on, the franchise would not want to risk injury to Murray and hurt his trade status."
So, if the Cardinals are looking to move on from Murray this offseason, where could he end up? Let's corral a handful of landing spots for the 28-year-old.
New York Jets
New York made waves this week at the NFL trade deadline by moving on from stars Sauce Gardner and Quinnen Williams. While shocking upon first hearing of those blockbusters, it does set up the Jets with tremendous flexibility in their continued hunt for a franchise quarterback. In all, they have five first-round picks over the next two years. While they could simply use one or multiple of those selections to pluck a prospect out of the collegiate level, they could also bundle a few to land a veteran like Murray. With two bookend offensive tackles in Olu Fashanu and Armand Membou, along with skill position players like wideout Garrett Wilson and rookie tight end Mason Taylor, there are pieces in-house that could make this offense a respectable group with a capable quarterback.
Pittsburgh Steelers
Pittsburgh finds itself atop the AFC North at the midway point of the 2025 regular season with Aaron Rodgers at the helm. While the Rodgers experiment has largely proven to be a success a this point, it's not a long-term option for the organization. Rodgers himself alluded to this season possibly being his last in the NFL, which would put the Steelers back into the quarterback market this offseason. If they make the playoffs like they are currently projected to do, they won't have a first-round draft pick high enough in 2026 to put them in the range of a Day 1 starter. So, they'll likely be dipping their toe back into the veteran market, and they could do a lot worse than Murray.
Las Vegas Raiders
The Geno Smith trade hasn't exactly worked out well for the Raiders. Through the first half of the season, Smith has a league-high 12 interceptions, while Las Vegas is 2-7 on the year, which has them dead last in the AFC West. With a 74-year-old head coach in Pete Carroll, who was hired last offseason, time is of the essence for the Raiders to compete during his tenure. At this stage, Carroll likely doesn't want Las Vegas to draft and develop a young quarterback that could take multiple seasons to ultimately bear fruit. To compete in relatively short order, they'll again need to look for a veteran quarterback if they were to move on from Smith (could save $8 million in cap space if they released him this offseason). Carroll also has some familiarity with Murray, competing against him in the NFC East when he was head coach of the Seattle Seahawks.
Cleveland Browns
From a financial standpoint, it's hard to make the Browns work. Murray has a $53.26 million cap charge next season and a total of $56.3 million in guarantees (including $19.5 million that will vest the third week of March). At the moment, Cleveland is projected to be $12.7 million over the salary cap, so there would have to be Olympic-level gymnastics done by GM Andrew Berry to fit him in. That said, the need is obvious for the Browns. They doubled-dipped at quarterback at the 2025 NFL Draft with Dillon Gabriel and Shedeur Sanders, but both were outside the first round. Gabriel is averaging just 4.9 yards per attempt through his four career starts, and the team is 1-3. Meanwhile, Sanders has yet to see the field. With a top-five defense and intriguing skill position players like running back Quinshon Judkins and Dylan Sampson, along with tight ends David Njoku and Harold Fannin Jr., the Browns are begging for competent QB play. Murray would be better than whatever they have in-house at the moment.
Wherever Kliff Kingsbury is hired
This is a bit of a wild-card scenario, but one that popped up in Jones' reporting.
One NFC executive predicted a landing spot for Murray, even if the team is unknown just yet: "Eat some money and trade him to where Kliff (Kingsbury) goes as a head coach, if he gets one."
Kingsbury, the current offensive coordinator for the Washington Commanders, is very familiar with Murray, whom he already coached when he was the head coach of the Arizona Cardinals from 2019 to 2022. The two go even further back than that, as Kingsbury recruited Murray when he was in high school, and he was coaching as the OC at Texas A&M. Kingsbury is set to be one of the popular head coaching candidates this cycle and if he ends up hired by an organization with a hole at quarterback, a reunion could make all the sense in the world.
