Cardinals QB Kyler Murray not opposed to lighter preseason workload

GLENDALE — The Arizona Cardinals and the rest of the NFL watched as their slate of preseason games was wiped clean due to the coronavirus pandemic last season.

Teams were left to jump right into the regular season without a traditional offseason.

While some need those exhibitions to make a case for a roster spot or work their way back into football shape, others like quarterback Kyler Murray preferred to get right down to business.

“I loved last year, you practice every day hard against your team and then you come out the gates running,” Murray said Tuesday. “That’s how it is in college. Obviously this is the NFL but I just kinda liked the way it was set up.

“I don’t like taking days off and in the preseason games you’re playing a little bit, you’re not playing at all. It’s just a weird flow of things and I kinda liked the fact that we practiced hard every day up until the season started.”

Murray still awaits his first preseason action since 2019 after sitting out of the team’s 19-16 win over the Dallas Cowboys on Friday despite head coach Kliff Kingsbury saying he would get some run earlier in the week leading up to the matchup.

The head coach explained after the victory that the decision came after a solid showing throughout the week of practice.

Although the signal caller was more than okay to miss the Cowboys’ game, Murray’s preseason layoff could be coming to an end this Friday against the Kansas City Chiefs.

Murray doesn’t know how much he’ll play, but he’s sure he’ll “play a little bit.”

“I’m sure there’s a lot of players that feel the way I feel, but at the same time, you got to give guys opportunities to make the team that we didn’t have last year. So on that side it’s good,” Murray said. “I just feel you got dudes that worry about getting hurt. All that stuff plays into preseason and for me, you want to make it to Week 1 with everybody full speed, 100% healthy, ready to go.

“Anything can happen, it’s the game of football, anything can happen at any given day, during practice, at home, anything. But that’s just how I see it.”

EXTRA POINT

– Murray regarding projected backup Colt McCoy’s veteran presence in the quarterbacks room:

“I love having Colt here, Colt’s a great dude. As far as his knowledge, he’s been in the league for I think 10-plus years. I grew up watching him. He knows the game, loves the game so for me and him, we see eye to eye on a lot of this stuff. And if we don’t he always tells me what he sees, what I see. We just kinda piggyback off of each other. It’s definitely been great to have him here.”

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