OFFSEASON BREAKDOWN: QUARTERBACK

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Heading into the Final week of the season it’s time to break down the Arizona Cardinals’ needs position by position. I will release reports on a bi-weekly basis breaking down each position. The first position will touch in our “Offseason Breakdown” is Quarterback.

Quarterback

The Quarterback position was one of the biggest question marks heading into the 2023 NFL season for the Arizona Cardinals. The Cardinals’ star Quarterback Kyler Murray was coming off a season-ending injury suffered in week 14 against the Patriots in 2022. Kyler Murray had surgery in the off-season to repair his torn ACL, leaving the new regime with more questions than answers heading into the new season.

Joshua Dobbs After Victory over Dallas Cowboys

Kyler Murray missed the first half of the season, which led to the acquisition of Joshua Dobbs. Although Dobbs did his job filling in for Murray in exchange for a 5th-round pick in 2024, the cardinals would later ship Dobbs to Minnesota receiving a 6th-round pick in return.

Arizona went 1-7 over the 8-game stretch with Dobbs as the starter, with a big-time win against the Cowboys in week 3. Rookie Quarterback Clayton Tune started week 9 against the Cleveland Browns going 11/20 with only 58 yards through the air.

Head Coach Jonathan Gannon was asked on Tuesday if he had any doubt Kyler Murray would be the quarterback moving forward. Gannon replied “No, there’s not, I love this guy”. This put much speculation to rest about what the Cardinals would be looking to do heading into the 2024 NFL draft.

https://www.nfl.com/news/jonathan-gannon-no-doubt-kyler-murray-is-cardinals-franchise-qb

Position Needs:

Backup Quarterback

Watching the Cardinals play without their star Quarterback for the first 9 weeks of the season was hard. Murray’s absence left us with no doubt, finding a quality backup quarterback should be a high priority in the off-season. Head Coach Gannon shut down any thought of using a 1^st round pick on a Quarterback in the draft.

Current backup Clayton Tune was drafted in the 6^th Round out of Houston. Despite his inexperience head coach Gannon has mentioned Tune as an “ideal Backup” for the Cardinals. However, after his 58-yard outing against the Browns, I would be surprised if Arizona did not look for a more experienced backup for the 2024 NFL season.