Cardinals Could Open Practice Window For Kyler Murray Wednesday

Bob McManaman of the Arizona Republic writes that Cardinals QB Kyler Murray is nearing a return and the team could designate him to start practicing as soon as Wednesday. 

McManaman cites comments from Cardinals HC Jonathan Gannon that seem to indicate some positivity that Murray will be back soon. 

“Yeah, he’s doing a good job. I like the week that he had,” Gannon said Monday in his weekly radio interview. “We’ve got to kind of see here the next couple days, see how tonight goes and tomorrow goes, and again, though, we’re not rushing that. We’re making sure that he feels good about going out there, but he’s trending in the right direction.”

Once the Cardinals designate Murray to return, he has a three-week window to practice with the team before he has to be added to the active roster. 

McManaman says Arizona will want to take a couple of weeks to ramp Murray up and make sure he’s ready to take over the starting job physically and mentally. In addition to rehabbing his ACL, Murray has had to learn a new system without the benefit of practice reps so far. 

Gannon is confident in what Murray’s done to keep up with the mental side but acknowledged the learning curve. 

“Yeah, I do,” he said. “But you’ve got to play football, too. We understand there’s going to be a little of a learning curve, a new system for him. He hasn’t taken a snap in this offense. I like the plan with kind of how we have it structured and the work that he’s been putting in during practice, in meetings, the extra time spent in the morning and at night.