Cardinals Officially Designate Kyler Murray & Budda Baker To Return

The Arizona Cardinals officially designated QB Kyler Murray and S Budda Baker to return from injured reserve.

This opens both players’ 21-day windows to practice before being activated. 

Yesterday, Bob McManaman of the Arizona Republic wrote that Murray is nearing a return and the team could designate him to start practicing as soon as today, so things are moving along as expected for the quarterback thus far. 

McManaman cited comments from Cardinals HC Jonathan Gannon that indicated 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.”

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.

Murray, 26, was the No. 1 overall pick in the 2019 NFL Draft by the Cardinals after making the decision to pursue an NFL career, despite being drafted in the first round by the Oakland A’s in 2018. 

Murray signed a four-year, $35,158,644 deal that included a $23,589,924 signing bonus. The Cardinals officially exercised his fifth-year option which is projected to be worth $29.7 million for the 2023 season. 

Murray signed a five-year, $230.5 million extension that includes $160 million guaranteed with Arizona last summer. 

In 2022, Murray appeared in 11 games for the Cardinals and completed 66.4 percent of his passes for 2,368 yards, 14 touchdowns and seven interceptions to go along with 418 yards receiving and three touchdowns.