A few weeks back, the Arizona Cardinals earmarked Week 10 as the target return date for Kyler Murray from his knee injury. With Murray now having been practicing for three weeks, the QB is set to return to the field for the Cardinals’ game against the Atlanta Falcons at home on Sunday afternoon.
Let’s take a look at the latest injury update for Murray and what we might expect to see this week.
Latest Injury Update for Kyler Murray
It has looked positive now for a couple of weeks in terms of Murray’s return from injury. He has not been listed on the Cardinals’ injury report since Thursday of Week 9 and has been a full participant since the start of practice in Week 8. On Thursday, head coach Jonathan Gannon confirmed that Murray will make his first start of the 2023 season.
For anyone who has been following closely this week, that will come as no surprise. When Murray spoke to the media on Friday, the focus was on how he would feel this week as opposed to whether he would play.
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“Kind of emotionless in a sense. I’m not trying to be too high or too low. At the end of the day, we’re playing football. It’s a blessing to be able to be out there with my teammates, move around, run and walk. It was a long 10 months. I’ve never dealt with that before, so doing the same thing every day, waking up and trying to get better every day. Sometimes not feel good, and some days I feel better, but to now be here it’s a good feeling.”
Murray went on to tell reporters that he has been feeling ready to return for the last few weeks. “People told me once you hit the nine-month mark, the chances of re-injury are decreased tremendously. For me, it was crazy because right at nine months, l woke up, and it felt different. I just kind of knew. I felt different, and from there, (I was) telling the coaches I feel like I can go practice, the window starts, and then you just continue to rep and rep and rep, and then I’ve felt good for quite some time now.”
What Can We Expect From Murray in His Return?
One of the big concerns for fans and fantasy football managers when discussing Murray’s return has been around whether the knee injury will impact his style of play. While Murray can make plays with his arm, his game has been built around the ability to keep defenses on their toes as a duel-threat QB.
Naturally, with any major knee injury, there will always be concerns over whether Murray may have hesitation cutting or making some of the moves he used to make on the field. Gannon even told the media during the recovery process that it would be unfair on people to expect Murray to be the same player right away.
However, Murray did not completely agree with his coach. “No. He told me that to my face, and I kind of laughed at him. I understand the thought process, but every time I touch the field, I’m trying to do my thing, and that’s obviously to win but do it at a high level.”
Murray continued, “I understand the thought process behind, ‘Hey, take it slow, and don’t be too hard on yourself.’ Because I missed all the reps, I missed all the camp reps, I missed all preseason, and this is Week 10. I’ve missed all this time, so to go into it thinking that — I hear what he’s saying, but that’s not in my head.”
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When asked, Murray did admit that there is some uncertainty about how his knee will feel when asked about how they have replicated that in-game feel during rehab.
“We’ve done a lot of things to kind of replicate it, but once I finally take off or move and just kind of take a deep breath, it’ll be like, ‘OK, we’re back. I feel good.’ And at that point, it’s gone time. I think to answer your question, we’ll know on Sunday.”
Murray was also asked about whether he has any concerns about trusting his knee going into the first game. “If I was thinking about it right now, I wouldn’t even be out here. That’s kind of it. People ask that type of question, but I can’t get better if I don’t trust it.”
“Even with running for the first time. I go out there and run for the first time, I’m limping, and I look scared, and then I see a video of myself or whatever it may be, and I’m like, ‘OK, that doesn’t look right.’ Immediately, the scariness goes away, and then cutting, the same thing. For me to get better, I have to trust it.
“If the doctor tells me I’m good, if Buddy says I’m good, then we’re good. As far as being scared, you get one day of those reps to be kind of hesitant, but after that, we’ve got to go, so that was kind of the mindset.”
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