Since arriving in Arizona, Kyler Murray has struggled to live up to the first-overall pick aura. He’s had great statistical seasons and collected fun personal accolades like Rookie of the Year and two Pro Bowl selections, but he’s only led the team to one winning season in six years. People are beginning to question if he has that killer instinct. His mentality, especially when it comes to getting the ball out to his playmakers, has only hurt his image further — something that hasn’t gone unnoticed by Shannon Sharpe.
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After the 2024 season opener loss to the Bengals, Murray claimed it wasn’t his job to get the ball to rookie sensation Marvin Harrison Jr. That comment set Sharpe off, as it left him—and many others—wondering: if it’s not the guy holding the football’s responsibility to decide where to throw it, then whose is it? Sharpe went on a three-minute tirade, breaking down Murray’s attitude.
“All (we should) care about is winning, how do we get better?” Sharpe said on his podcast Nightcap in an end-of-season recap episode. “(However), you don’t get better with players like Kyler Murray. His mentality is not what it needs to be.”
A scathing review from Shannon. But he supported his claims by asking people to go listen to other great quarterbacks who were asked the same question. Players like Peyton Manning, Troy Aikman, and Tom Brady would never say it’s not their job to get a receiver the ball.
“What did Tom Brady say? Tom Brady said ‘It’s my job to get my playmakers the ball early. Who wants to go through the second and third quarter before they get a target?’ That’s what Tom said.”
It may be a bit unfair to compare Murray’s mentality to that of the greatest quarterback of all time, but the comparison highlights flaws in Kyler’s game. He rarely takes responsibility for his team’s failures and has been rewarded financially based on his statistics and potential, not anything he’s accomplished from a team standpoint.
In the 2021 season, the Cardinals looked like serious contenders. But they flopped in the second half and became a one-and-done team in the playoffs. They went from 9-2 before the bye to 11-6 by season’s end. It’s one of the worst in-season collapses in NFL history. One day they looked like Super Bowl contenders; the next, they were pretenders.
The collapse was an indicator of many things for the Cards. One was that their GM wasn’t the right man for the job. Another was that former coach Kliff Kingsbury was plotting the beginning of his demise. But the biggest takeaway was that Murray didn’t have a strong enough mentality to work himself and his team out of the struggles amid chaos. The mentality bothers Shannon, to say the least.
“It bothers me, some of these guys’ mentality. It bothers me that winning is not of the utmost. Why the F*** am I here? Why am I putting my body through this? I questioned myself every day I went to train, ‘Why am I doing this? When is this over? What am I doing it for? How long is it going to last?’ And then I got to come in here and somebody’s talking about it’s not his job. Whoo, Lord have mercy. It bothers me, man, it really does,” Sharpe expressed.
Shannon completely lost his cool during the remarks. It aggravates him how unserious some players seem to take the game nowadays. With all the personal branding, marketing, and lucrative contracts, some players develop a big head. While Murray is a likable player who does almost everything right off the field, it seems as though he’s becoming a bit complacent.
It’s time for Kyler to look in the mirror and ask himself the same questions Shannon asked himself during his playing days. Why is he doing this? What is he doing it for? As of now, it seems like money and fame are all he’s after. At least, that’s all he’s led us to believe.
