The Draw Play

The Kyler era in Arizona is officially over. He has been kicked out of the server and had to join a different one. His era will go down as…I guess it was kinda fun sometimes. They’ll always have 2021, when they went 11-6 and for the first half of the season looked like the next big thing before they fell off the Kliff Cliff. Cardinals fans will always appreciate the Hail Murray in 2020 as well. Man, rewatching that Bills defense in the final seconds, I kinda get why Sean McDermott was fired.

Murray’s tenure was a mixed bag. He was dynamic and mobile but he never seemed to gather the brain needed for the position. He suffered from the same problem Russ had, where he couldn’t quite see the middle of the field over his linemen if they didn’t make a good passing lane so he was forced to run around and make things happen. If Murray was hurt or gimpy, the offense was useless through the air. It wasn’t all him though. Arizona is one of the worst-run teams in football. Teams figured out Kliff’s offense pretty fast and Gannon didn’t seem to know how to handle the offensive side of things at all. The roster degraded, injuries piled up, and the team farted.

Also, lest we forget, Murray earned himself a reputation as someone who didn’t care enough. The Cardinals reportedly tried to put a homework clause in his contract because he had a tendency to play games all the time instead. The team removed the clause due to public backlash and as shitty as Arizona is, I think it’s notable that they thought it was worth having it in there to begin with. Homework clauses are not standard contract fare. They clearly had a problem with his work ethic but addressed it poorly.

Jacoby Brissett came in for the second half of the season in 2025 and outplayed Kyler (not a high bar, but Kyler struggles to get over even lower bars). The team decided to cut their losses with the Denver Russ maneuver, AKA taking your medicine and slicing out the tumor even though you are on the hook for a lot of money. Kyler was free to sign wherever he wanted for the vet minimum. He chose Minnesota.

Now we’re all curious if Kevin O’Connell can fix him. Kevin made Kirk Cousins good, Kevin helped resurrect Sam Darnold, but Kevin couldn’t turn NINE into gold, which is why we are here. It’s hard to say if this will work. Kirk was actually a decent QB before he signed in Minnesota and suffered under Zimmer. Darnold seems to have been somewhat of a diamond in the rough that we all overlooked until circumstance put him front and center in 2024. What is Kyler? Is he the right fit for O’Connell? The Vikings also re-signed Carson Wentz, who was passable during NINE’s injury before Wentz himself got beaten to a pulp. I assume Murray is the obvious starter here with Wentz and NINE fighting for backup rights. We will learn a lot about how O’Connell really feels if Wentz wins spot #2 in camp.

My prediction: Kyler is good. Certainly better than his final seasons in Arizona. Great? No. Maybe he can get the Vikings into wild-card range if he stays healthy. He’s got some weapons but the O-line is still a question. I think there is a very good chance the Vikings end up exactly where they keep finding themselves at season’s end: trying to decide if they want to pay a decent but not great QB or risk letting him go elseware. Letting Kirk walk was probably the right move. Letting Darnold walk was a mistake. Kyler you are the tiebreaker. One thing is certain to me: they will make wrong choice. If they keep Kyler, he will turn pumpkin. If they let Kyler walk, he will go kick ass somewhere else. Such is the Vikings way.