Murray’s contract may be in doubt, but NFL teams are facing even tougher situations.
Arizona Cardinals bettors experienced a devastating turn of events on Monday night when quarterback Kyler Murray sustained a knee injury during a loss to New England, turning their disappointment into a full-blown nightmare.
The quarterback, who is entering his fourth year with the team, is anticipated to be out of action until at least the 2023 training camp for the 4-9 Cardinals. This setback comes shortly after the former Heisman Trophy winner inked a lucrative five-year, $230 million contract extension less than a year ago.
Arizona sportsbooks have witnessed the Cardinals endure significant setbacks, as the team’s odds of winning the Super Bowl are now at the lowest in the NFL at +100000.
Even though he is only 25 years old, Murray’s salary for the next two seasons is just $2.965 million due to a backloaded contract. However, when taking into account his signing bonus and other incentives, Murray’s new contract has an average annual salary of $46.1 million per season.
The goal of yengols.com was to offer insight into Murray’s performance in his inaugural year under his recently signed contract in Arizona NFL betting, juxtaposed with other star quarterbacks who also inked new deals that offseason.
The 2022 season of Kyler Murray measured in dollars per stat.
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Comparing Murray to NFL Quarterbacks
Before the regular season, five NFL quarterbacks, including Murray, signed contract extensions. The others were Aaron Rodgers, Kirk Cousins, Matt Stafford, and Derek Carr. Additionally, first-year Cleveland quarterback Deshaun Watson also signed an extension.
Murray had solid statistics prior to his injury, throwing for 2,368 yards which placed him fourth out of five, ahead of Stafford’s 2,087 yards. Stafford, who helped the Rams win the Super Bowl last season, is also out for the year due to injury.
Watson has only appeared in two games this season after missing Cleveland’s first 11 games due to a suspension for sexual misconduct. In those two games, he has accumulated 407 passing yards.
Among the four other QBs, Murray ranks below Rogers with 2,864 yards, Carr with 3,117 yards, and Cousins with 3,358 yards in passing yards. He has also thrown fewer touchdowns (14) than all of them except for Watson.
Murray has thrown seven interceptions, less than Stafford (eight), Rodgers and Cousins (nine), and Carr (10). Only Cousins has led his team to more than five wins this season, with the Vikings leading the NFC North at 10-3.
Dollar For Dollar Comparison
The Cardinals’ investment in Murray has not yielded the expected results, as their odds have dropped on Arizona betting apps and they are on track for their first double-digit loss season since 2019.
Yet, Murray has outperformed Stafford and Watson in terms of yards, completions, and total touchdowns in the 2022-23 campaign. However, the gap is likely to increase as the other quarterbacks on the list still have four games left in the season.
The man known as “K1” had an average of around $177,000 per completion, $2.7 million per total touchdown, and $19,000 per passing yard during this season. Cousins is currently leading in two of these categories, with an average of $109,034 per completion and $10,422 per passing yard. He is tied with Rodgers for total touchdowns with 22.
However, Cousins emerges as the most cost-effective choice among the others based on this measure, averaging just over $1.59M per total touchdown. This surpasses Carr ($2.0M), Rodgers ($2.285M), and Murray ($2.71M).
Murray was ahead of the other five players in rushing yardage, ending the 2022 season with 418 yards, which translates to a value of $110,287 per yard.
Out of the players left, Carr has the second highest rushing yards, totaling 88 (valued at $460,227 per rushing yard).
How should we interpret Murray’s year?
Despite the disappointing 2022 season for the Cardinals, there is hope that Murray has yet to showcase his best performances.
Arizona will have all their players back next year, including All-Pro wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins and defensive lineman JJ Watt, despite their 4-9 record this season.
There is hope that the Cardinals can boost their record by winning games lost by a margin of 10 points or fewer.
It is unclear what the future holds for the Cardinals and the decision to extend Murray’s contract until he is back on the field.
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Author
Peterson Christopher has spent seven years reporting on sports and sports betting in Arizona, with experience at ArizonaSports.com, the Tucson Weekly, and the Green Valley News. He currently holds the position of lead writer at yengols.com.
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