Simms: Cardinals’ Kyler Murray in ‘clock’s ticking’ tier of NFL quarterbacks

All eyes will be focused on Arizona Cardinals quarterback Kyler Murray and his return from a torn ACL suffered late last season.

After going down with a season-ending knee injury, can he return to form and be one of the top quarterbacks in the NFL?

NBC’s Chris Simms has Murray ranked 19th in his top-40 quarterback countdown.

This is still an incredible talent in the NFL — an incredible talent who has serious questions about his leadership and his ceiling versus top NFL defenses… His talent is better than No. 19… He can rise, he still has top-10 quarterback physical abilities, but we know that there’s more to that in being a quarterback. When you talk about the talent, he’s still one of the best runners in the sport. He has an incredibly strong arm still, there’s no doubt about that… Accuracy on big-time throws has definitely declined and I think there’s some mechanical things there.

Murray is joined in the “clock’s ticking” tier by New Orlean’s Derek Carr, Detroit’s Jared Goff, Tennessee’s Ryan Tannehill, Seattle’s Geno Smith and Denver’s Russell Wilson.

Last season was one to forget for Murray, who struggled behind an injured offensive line before going down with the injury. Posting a 3-8 record across 11 games played, Murray completed 66.4% of his passes for 2,368 yards and 14 touchdowns to seven interceptions.

He was left without his top option in wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins for the first six games of the season due to the pass catcher’s PED suspension.

It was a frustrating season for the quarterback, who was just one year removed from a playoff berth.

But since undergoing surgery and meeting with the new regime, Murray has appeared to take a step forward from a maturity and teammate standpoint.

He appears much more engaged with not only the coaching staff and front office but also with his teammates. That was evident in the team’s organized team activities last week when Murray took time out of his rehab regimen to take in different position groups and chat with offensive coordinator Drew Petzing.

As for when we might see the quarterback fully return to action, that remains up in the air. And with no concrete timeline expected to be given until Murray is ready, we might not get an answer anytime soon.

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