The deal for Kyler Murray has been agreed upon.
After an offseason of drama and speculation, the Cardinals and their quarterback came to terms on a new contract on Thursday, locking him up through 2028.
Financial parameters were not announced, but Sports Illustrated reported the deal would have $105 million fully guaranteed and $265 million total over the next seven seasons. Murray had been scheduled to make $5.3 million this season (with a salary cap number of $11.4M), and the Cardinals had already picked up his fifth-year option in 2023 that guaranteed a salary of $29.7M.
With those existing numbers, the new deal would provide Murray with an average of a little more than $46M per season of new money on the extra five seasons, and boost his pay this season to $30 million. Cleveland's Deshaun Watson is at $46M per year, with Green Bay's Aaron Rodgers above $50M per season.
"(Kyler) is going to continue to get better," coach Kliff Kingsbury said in an episode of "The Dave Pasch Podcast. "The contract deal I feel really good about. We know he's our future here. The talent, I've said it since I got here, is generational with what he can do running throwing the football.
"I think last year was kind of the perfect storm for him, you get injured, and when you come back, you don't have your number one receiver, either. So that's a lot of trying to get back up to speed. ... But each year you look at the stats, you look at any wins, anything, it's gotten dramatically better."
Murray had not been eligible for an extension until the day after the regular season ended in 2021, and soon after Murray's agent made it public the QB needed to get a new deal. Speculation had been that Murray might not attend training camp without a new deal, and coach Kliff Kingsbury had said he was “praying” a deal would be done before camp.
Cleveland's Deshaun Watson had the entirety of his $230M deal guaranteed, a precedent other teams had little interest in. Murray's deal is short of that, but given that he will turn 25 Aug. 7, he has a good chance of playing out the deal and collecting all the money anyway.
Murray has not spoken to the media since March when he appeared at a personal charity event.
"I'm an Arizona Cardinal," Murray said then. "I've done nothing but give my all to the Cardinals and will continue to do that. I'm not really too worried about my future as a Cardinal."
After the Cardinals selected Murray with the first overall pick in the 2019 draft, he was named NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year and then made the Pro Bowl in each of his next two seasons. The Cardinals win total has improved from 5 to 8 to 11 and the franchise made the playoffs this past year for the first time since the 2015 season.
