3 dark horse quarterback options for Commanders this offseason

1. Kyler Murray

The term “dark horse” is in the title for a reason, folks. No, it’s not likely that the Commanders trade for Kyler Murray. What we do know, though, is that there’s serious friction between Murray and the Arizona Cardinals, and that alone should give Ron Rivera and the front office incentive to do some digging.

Last week, Murray sent shockwaves through NFL Twitter when he wiped all mention of the Cardinals from his social media, including Instagram. That was followed up with a report from ESPN’s Christ Mortensen, whose Cardinals source described Murray as self-centered, immature and a finger pointer.

Putting the irony of that aside (Arizona is clearly doing some finger-pointing, too), Murray is reportedly frustrated with the franchise and was “embarrassed” by the playoff loss to the Rams and thinks he’s being framed as the scapegoat.

Murray has since released a statement to clear the air, but it’s clear the Cardinals have a lot of work to do do repair this relationship. If they don’t, they’d be letting a top-10 quarterback presumably request a trade. And over what?

Not giving him the contract he’s earned? That’d be a miscalculation of epic proportions on Arizona’s part given Murray’s talent. In 2021, the former first overall pick set career-highs in passing yards per game (270.5) and passer rating (100.6), while throwing for a career-low 10 interceptions.

His 69.2% completion rate was second only to Joe Burrow and he looked like a legit MVP candidate early on before an ankle injury and injuries across the Cardinals’ roster, including to all-world wideout DeAndre Hopkins, sent Murray and Arizona tailspinning in the second half after an 8-1 start.

If the contention between Murray and the Cards reaches a boiling point, we seriously hope Washington has an offer ready because opportunities like this only come around once every several years.