The Arizona Cardinals recently announced updated plans for a new training facility, set to open in 2028.
Kyler Murray is excited to see the finished product, albeit with a caveat -- he has to make it that long as the team's quarterback.
"It's beautiful," Murray said Wednesday when asked for his thoughts regarding the upcoming building. "I don't know when it's coming out, but hopefully I'm here to see it."
It's important to note that Murray didn't know the established timeline for completing the facility, but at 28 years old, he would presumably have plenty of time to admire the Cards' 250,000-plus square foot home coming to fruition from start to finish.
In fact, he's under contract through that 2028 season.
However, Murray doesn't have any guaranteed money starting in 2027, the year the dead money on his contract drops to just $7.2 million with $36.3 million in cap savings. In 2028, Arizona would save $46.4 million while accruing no dead money.
Murray's comments were clearly tongue in cheek, but it also makes sense he wouldn't speak with the same certainty toward the future as a peer like Patrick Mahomes, who has won three Super Bowls and is under contract with the Chiefs through 2031 (though his final five years come with no guarantees and the deal will certainly be reworked in the coming years).
The No. 1 overall pick of the 2019 NFL Draft, Murray has a 38-47-1 record as the Cardinals starter. He's reached the playoffs with them only once, a wild-card exit during the 2021 campaign.
His 2022 extension he's currently playing under was agreed to following a soap opera's worth of drama that included Murray scrubbing his Instagram account of Cardinals connections, the team doing the same, reports regarding Arizona's desire to see Murray mature more and the QB's camp releasing a lengthy statement about his desire for a new deal.
In the four seasons since, Murray has gone 16-24, with 8,760 passing yards, 51 touchdowns and 26 interceptions, notably missing the end of the '22 campaign and first half of '23 due to a torn ACL.
There hasn't been any strife to speak of relationship-wise between Murray and head coach Jonathan Gannon, hired in 2023, but the Cards' offense has at times underperformed to expectations. Murray, who individually tends to go through hot and cold stretches, acknowledged following Arizona's Thursday night loss the the Seahawks that the offense takes "too long" to load.
Arizona, 2-2, enters Week 5 sitting 28th in passing yards, 28th in overall yards and 22nd in points scored. Murray and his top wideout, Marvin Harrison Jr., still struggle to string together consistent success, plus the Cardinals' best two running backs -- James Conner and Trey Benson are on injured reserve.
There's a few more speed bumps in the way of a drought-ending return to the playoffs than there were a few weeks ago.
To increase the likelihood he's around to see the new facility in all its glory a few seasons from now, Murray must overcome the obstacles to get things rolling sooner rather than later.
