New Jacksonville Jaguars wide receiver Christian Kirk spent the last four seasons with the Arizona Cardinals before landing a huge deal in free agency. He spent the last three with Kyler Murray as his quarterback.
There has been some drama this offseason with the Cardinals and Murray, and Murray’s leadership skills have come under fire.
Kirk, who has previously defended Murray, did it again when he appeared as a guest on the Rich Eisen podcast. He thinks all the talk of Murray’s leadership is ridiculous.
“I would say it’s nonsense,” he said. “People can speculate and read into it however they want.”
Kirk called Murray “passionate” and someone who just wants to win.
“He’s everything you want in a quarterback,” Kirk said. “I would think, number one, he’s an ultimate competitor. You can just see it in his approach and in his demeanor every time we take the field on Sunday, that’s he’s there to win. He wants to be able to compete at the highest level and be able to take his game and his team to that point.”
And as for how he gets along with his teammates, Kirk said everything is great there, too.
“He has a relationship with all the guys on the offensive front and he never backs down from competition,” Kirk added. “I think that is the most important part when you talk about having a franchise quarterback.”
Murray works extremely hard on the field. He is passionate about winning. He has a relationship with his teammates.
No, he isn’t a rah-rah leader, as right tackle Kelvin Beachum said in an interview recently.
Certainly, Murray can improve. As a player in the NFL, it is required or players wash out. But, based on what current and former teammates say, it isn’t that Murray is bad at leading. That is the narrative.
That is not the case. He is a leader. He just can improve.
There is a difference between needing to improve at something because of being bad at it and needing to improve to be great.
Murray isn’t a bad leader. Listen to his teammates. They have no issue with it. He just can take it another step forward, which is what he is trying to do anyway.
Listen to the latest from Cards Wire’s Jess Root on his podcast, Rise Up, See Red. Subscribe on Apple podcasts or Spotify.
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