The further Kyler Murray gets past his 2023 season-ending knee injury, the more confident he becomes that the lingering effects will be left in the dust.
Murray told PHNX Sports that he feels better about his knee injury allowing him to play more freely in 2025.
"Honestly, they say, Year 2 (post-knee injury) is the best year, and honestly how I feel right now is as if it never happened," Murray said in a sit-down interview that posted Tuesday. "Talking to (offensive coordinator) Drew (Petzing) and Izzy (QBs coach Israel Woolfork), feeling like going into this year I'll be able to do whatever I want to do."
Murray noted that, at times, the knee still bothered him in 2024. He specifically mentioned tweaking it during the Week 1 loss to the Bills and that it affected him the rest of the opening-game collapse. The two-time Pro Bowler believes that after dealing with those sorts of aftereffects last year, he won't have the same issue during the coming season.
It's certainly true that the further players get away from devastating knee injuries, the closer to normal they become -- Saquon Barkley's 2020 injury is one of the best examples, as he didn't look like himself again until 2022. The expectations are generally slightly different for quarterbacks, as those who play from the pocket might return to form sooner. However, for mobile mavens like Murray, the issues can linger.
Feeling fully healthy means Murray expects to use his legs more in 2025 after attempting a career-low 4.6 rushes per contest last season.
"I do feel like I have to run more next year," Murray said. "I'm open to running more next year, just because it's such a weapon, you know, it's such a weapon. Like when I hand the ball off obviously I hand the ball off to James (Conner), I hand off to Trey (Benson), we're a very good rushing team, which is a great thing. But when Lamar (Jackson) hands the ball off everybody is like 'Ahh', like you can relax, Josh (Allen) hands the ball off, 'Ahh', you know what I mean? So I think for us, part of the emphasis going into next season is conceptually on time, I feel I'm one of the best in the league."
Murray's legs can undoubtedly be an added dimension Petzing didn't fully have at his disposal last year. If the 27-year-old quarterback can stay healthy and return to his dual-threat ways, it could help freshen up a Cardinals offense that has been stuffy the past few seasons.
