Cardinals hunting for big WR plays off Kyler Murray scrambles

TEMPE, Ariz. — A lot goes in to developing a deep passing offense.

It feeds off the running game’s success, requires a quarterback looking downfield with the help of his offensive line’s protection. Scheme obviously matters a ton.

For the Arizona Cardinals, the most obvious place to look when analyzing how to get more explosive plays out of the offense is at rookie quarterback Kyler Murray.

His arm talent has shown the ability to hit on deep passes with accuracy, and the numbers back it up.

Deep pass completion rate:

1 Jimmy Garoppolo (56%)
2 Dak Prescott (46%)
T3 Kirk Cousins, Kyler Murray, Russell Wilson (44%)
T6 Patrick Mahomes, Matt Ryan, Gardner Minshew (41%)
—
26 Jared Goff (27%)
27 Sam Darnold (24%)
T28 Josh Allen, Daniel Jones (21%)
30 Kyle Allen (20%)

— Graham Barfield (@GrahamBarfield) December 10, 2019

While his offensive line holding strong matters — as does his patience and navigation of the pocket — what his receivers do down the field does, too.

That’s where Arizona is looking to improve.

“Collectively as an offense, when I’ve watched the film on those plays, we have to all do a better job of uncovering,” Cardinals coach Kliff Kingsbury said as Arizona prepared to face the Cleveland Browns on Sunday. “We practice the scramble drill, but we have to make it work during the games. I don’t think we’ve really mastered that.

“You really have to take pride in uncovering and that being the second phase of all pass plays. I don’t think we’re there yet as a group, and that’s something we have to work on.”

Larry Fitzgerald and Christian Kirk have each exceeded the 600-yard mark through 13 games, but their less-experienced teammates are a work-in-progress once Murray breaks out of the pocket to extend plays.

Arizona practices a special scramble drill every Friday knowing that is one of the main reasons they drafted Murray. Remember, it was the day the Cardinals made his selection official that general manager Steve Keim remembered back to all the times Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson burned Arizona on scrambles.

The film shows Murray can throw on the run.

Receivers have to help him out.

“We emphasize it, we work on it and they just have to keep on — when they recognize what’s happening, they have to work to get into his vision,” said pass game coordinator Tom Clements. “We have certain scramble rules we talk about. They have to do them, they have to be diligent.

“It’s been a process since the spring. If he’s moving around, you have to get into his vision. Call it getting friendly, work away from the defense, work back to Kyler.  Those types of plays, you can have big plays.”

Fitzgerald tends to show up on such plays more than any other receiver, and experience is the obvious factor there.

Kyler Murray would be great at escape rooms 🤜🤛 @K1 pic.twitter.com/U2nmSmS1NE

— The Checkdown (@thecheckdown) October 13, 2019

And simply put, with the Browns on deck Sunday at State Farm Stadium and just three games left, the receivers after Fitzgerald and Kirk have struggled to get open. While Pharoh Cooper has made a case for being a reliable third receiver, Damiere Byrd and Trent Sherfield have been quiet after earning plenty of snaps early this year.

As for the rookies, fourth-round pick Hakeem Butler has been on the IR all season long.

Second-round pick Andy Isabella has flashed his outright speed and solid hands but hasn’t seen much action. He’s gotten loose for two huge gains and drawn attention as a decoy on others, but his snap counts earned have yet to increase significantly.

KeeSean Johnson, the sixth-round selection who appeared ahead of his rookie counterparts in training camp, has been a healthy scratch the last two games. Johnson and Isabella, in that order, are 15th and 16th in receiving yards among their rookie class of receivers alone.

“It’s probably the longest year of their athletic careers when you talk about the college season ending and going right into combine prep and they never really get a break,” Kingsbury said of the rookie WRs hitting a wall.

“That happens for everybody in the league. They understand that, and we have to find ways to push through it.”

Arizona is tied for 23rd in the NFL with 39 receptions of 20 or more yards so far this season.

That breaks down by individual like so: Fitzgerald (8), running back David Johnson (7), Kirk (6), tight end Charles Clay (4), Cooper (4) and tight end Maxx Williams (3).

Add it together, and they account for 32 of those explosive plays.

With three games left, how the young receivers develop and how the playing time is split up will be the thing to watch as the Cardinals eye a 2020 NFL Draft class that’s deep at the wideout position.

Below is a look at the top rookie receivers categorized most receiving yards so far in 2019.

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