Quarterback Kyler Murray broke his silence on social media on Monday after recent reports indicated that there was a rift growing between him and the Cardinals.
The former No. 1 overall pick, didn’t flat-out dismiss the Sunday report from ESPN‘s Chris Mortensen that suggested he is frustrated with the franchise, but he did call the the recent chatter about him “nonsense.”
“I play this game for the love of it, my teammates, everyone who has helped me get to this position that believed in me and to win championships. All of this nonsense is not what I‘m about, never has been, never will be,” Murray wrote in a note posted on Twitter. “Anyone who has ever stepped between those lines with me knows how hard I go.
“Love me or hate me but I'm going to continue to grow and get better.”
Murray and the Cardinals’ seemingly strained relationship began to grow rockier when Mortensen reported on the morning of the Super Bowl that the 24-year-old quarterback felt frustrated with the organization and embarrassed by its blowout playoff loss to the Rams. Furthermore, the team was reportedly disappointed with Murray, with a source describing the quarterback to Mortensen as “self-centered, immature and (a) finger pointer.”
An additional report from NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo came out later on Sunday and suggested that Murray had asked out of the Cardinals’ playoff loss to the Rams when it became clear that Arizona‘s deficit in the game was insurmountable.
Murray had previously deleted all Cardinals-related content from his Instagram, stirring up plenty of speculation about what his intentions were. He finally added a picture of him playing for Arizona on Monday, with the same message he posted on Twitter.
The Cardinals did their best to quell public concerns about Murray as the reports rolled in on Sunday. Arizona put out a statement, trying to downplay any further whispers of tension with its quarterback.
“Nothing has changed regarding our opinion and high regard for Kyler Murray,” the Cardinals statement said, per Pro Football Talk. “We as a team and Kyler individually have improved each year he’s been in the league. We are excited to continue that improvement in 2022 and are excited that Kyler Murray is the quarterback leading us.”
Murray threw for 3,787 yards and rushed for 423 yards in 14 games this past season, scoring 29 total touchdowns. He is under contract through at least next year with the Cardinals also holding a player-option they could use to keep him for the 2023 campaign.
