Kyler Murray on cusp of Cardinals return 11 months after ACL tear

Kyler Murray is seemingly on track to make his first start in nearly a year when the Arizona Cardinals host the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday. 

Head coach Jonathan Gannon told reporters on Monday that Murray will make his season debut as long as there are no setbacks.

Murray will go through first-team reps this week with the team planning to activate him on Wednesday. 

Gannon said, according to ESPN, that he was “pleased” with where Murray is and “we’ll see how the week goes.”

Murray hasn’t played since Week 14 of the 2022 season when he tore his ACL during a Monday Night game against the New England Patriots.

Gannon did warn that it might take some time for Murray to return to the form he once had prior to the injury. 

“We got to be willing to understand that it might not look like Kyler,” Gannon said. “And I think he’s got a good expectation of that. The coaches have a good expectation of that, but I know this: He’s going to come out there and play his game and help us win.”

Rookie Clayton Tune will get the start should Murray suffer a setback and not be able to go on Sunday. 

Murray had returned to practice on Oct. 18 and the Cardinals began reintegrating him into the offense while having him share first-team reps with Josh Dobbs, who was traded at the deadline to Minnesota, and then Tune. 

So far Gannon has liked what he’s seen out of Murray since his return to the practice field. 

“It’s fun to be around him at practice,” the Cardinals coach said. “He’s ultracompetitive and wants to play football, but everything that he’s been doing up until this point to get himself ready to go both on and off the field, rehab, with the health stuff, with the mental stuff about playing quarterback, he’s far exceeded my expectations right now.”

Arizona has just one win to its name this season and dropped six straight going into Week 10. 

The Cardinals’ only win came in Week 3 in a 28-16 upset over the Dallas Cowboys.