By Jeff Demers
With the first overall pick in the 2019 NFL Draft, the Arizona Cardinals selected Kyler Murray, Quarterback, Oklahoma. I don't believe that this was a huge surprise to anyone even though the Cardinals played their cards close to their vest all the way up to the time they made the selection.
But it's what happened after their first selection that will determine their success in Cliff Kinsbury's new "Air-Raid" offense. To keep the pressure off of the highly hyped (Heisman-winning) Murray in his first year, Steve Keim (Cardinals GM) finally moved Josh Rosen to the Dolphins in exchange for a late 2nd-round pick (Andy Isabella, WR, UMASS). To go with that, Keim has already come out and said Murray is going to be the starting quarterback, so Murray doesn't need to worry about any competition whatsoever heading into camp.
Now, let's talk about what this offense, a HEALTHY offense, should look like in 2019.....
To take a quote from the movie The Matrix, if you were to ask Coach Kingsbury what he needed this season in his first year as head coach, he would have said "guns, lots of guns." And "guns" he has.
In Kyler Murray, you have a quarterback who can make any throw on the field. He's got really good arm strength and is as accurate as needed to be up to the task of running this new offense. He's also got good "escapablilty." Yes, it's a made-up word, but it is as it says......he's got good ability to escape a collapsing pocket. Hopefully the Cardinals did a good enough job bringing in a solid line to build a wall and keep Murray healthy. But if needed, he can make plays with his legs, and he probably will even if not needed. It wouldn't be a surprise to see this rookie approach 1,000 yards rushing this season to go with about 3,500-4,000 yards in passing. Those are big numbers for someone who has not taken a snap in the NFL yet, but I'm predicting a Patrick Mahomes type of launch into the NFL as a starter. Even given the lack of success that short quarterbacks have had in the NFL, there are exceptions to that rule; Drew Brees, Russell Wilson come to mind. And now, it's not all on him as he's got other "guns" around him.
Let's just remind those that don't believe that this young quarterback will start his career throwing to one of the best wide-receivers of all-time in Larry Fitzgerald. Sure, he's 35 years old, but this is a 35 year old who played most of last season as the #1 receiver due to injury to Christian Kirk. And as the #1 receiver catching passes from a rookie quarterback, he still managed almost 70 receptions and 750 yards receiving. And even though he's not the fastest gun available, and he's not the youngest gun available, he's still the most important weapon that Murray will have.
Fitzgerald's leadership is unmatched by anyone inside this Arizona Cardinals organization from top to bottom. I see Murray as a highly-intelligent young quarterback who will latch his self to Fitzgerald and pick his brain about every single play, and every single option. And Fitzgerald is the type of leader who will welcome this and it will benefit the young quarterback tremendously in his first year as starter.
As for Christian Kirk, he's coming back from a broken foot in Week 13 of last year's NFL season. If healthy, Kirk will build off of a rookie year where he caught 43 receptions for almost 600 yards in 12 starts. Again, he did it with a bad offensive line giving no time to a rookie quarterback who's throwing him the ball. Without going in-depth with the moves, the Cardinals have made moves to make sure they won't have the worst offensive line in the NFL this coming season. So a healthy Christian Kirk should improve on his rookie numbers.
Let's make no mistake about it, this offense will be high-flying, but will heavily rely on the feet and hands of stud running back David Johnson. Johnson ran for almost 1,000 yards last season, but most importantly, he caught 50 passes for almost 500 yards receiving. This could be his best year of his young career and it wouldn't surprise me to see Johnson lead the NFL in all-purpose yards in this new offense.
So, with a new quarterback, this offense can look really good just with what they had last season. But now, there are two (potentially three) new weapons to add to this new "air-raid" offense in the desert.
Let's start with Andy Isabella. How the #1 wide-receiver in all of college football almost fell into the third round (late second round) is beyond me. Isabella didn't just lead the nation in yards, he led the nation in yards by over 200 yards. Sure, he's only 5'9" but last time I checked, the Super Bowl MVP (Julian Edelman) was only 5'10". But then you add a blazing 4.31-40 yard at the combine to probably the best hands in all of college football, Isabella is pretty much a faster Julian Edelman. So you have Fitz and Kirk on the outside, and then you add that shifty slot receiver type that has been such a pivotal part to the greatest dynasty in NFL history (Patriots), and this offense all of a sudden opens up.
THEN, you add a huge deep-threat in rookie WR in Hakeem Butler from Iowa State. This guy is as big of a target as it gets at 6'6, 225 pounds. If he can be more consistent with his hands, you could be looking at a deep threat that will not only tear the roof off this offense, but it will keep the safeties honest on opposing defenses and open up the middle of the field.
And now we move on to Mr. Irrelevant. The Arizona Cardinals drafted Caleb Wilson with the final pick (254th) in the 2019 NFL Draft. But don't be fooled by the "Mr. Irrelevant" tag. Wilson had 60 receptions for almost 1,000 yards at UCLA despite not playing in all games. He ran a 4.50 40-yard at the combine. He's tall at 6'5, and he's 240 pounds. He'll probably add some weight, but he can run with this offense and he could be a big target if given the opportunity to play in this new air-raid offense. Don't sleep on Caleb Wilson or his chances to be a starter in the NFL.
This new "air-raid" offense is loaded with high-powered weapons and they should, if anything, be very exciting to watch in the 2019-2020 season for the Arizona Cardinals.
No comments:
Post a Comment