Cardinals QB Kyler Murray on Pace for Great Rushing Season

Kyler Murray has returned as one of the elite running quarterbacks in the NFL this season and needs to be properly utilized to give the Arizona Cardinals the best chance of success.

Oct 6, 2024; Santa Clara, California, USA; Arizona Cardinals quarterback Kyler Murray (1) scores a touchdown against the San Francisco 49ers during the first quarter at Levi's Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kelley L Cox-Imagn Images / Kelley L Cox-Imagn Images

One of best, and arguably underrated, rushing quarterbacks in the league since being drafted by the Arizona Cardinals in 2019, Kyler Murray is on pace for the second best rushing season of his career.

His best came in his sophomore season in 2020 when Murray ran 133 times for 819 yards on the ground to go along with 11 rushing touchdowns.

This was good enough to get the young quarterback in the record books with the 5th most rushing touchdowns in franchise history and 1st among quarterbacks. He set a new NFL record in Week 15 of that season, becoming the first player to record a passing and rushing touchdown in the same game nine times in a season.

After such prolific output in 2020, the subsequent seasons were disappointing owing in some part to injury, Murray missed chunks of both the 2022 and 2023 season to an ACL tear, but fans and pundits have both in some sense forgotten the ground abilities of the 27-year old quarterback.

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Arizona Cardinals quarterback Kyler Murray (1) scrambles out of the backfield against the Los Angeles Chargers at State Farm Stadium in Glendale on Oct. 21, 2024. / Joe Rondone/The Republic / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Through 7 games of the 2024 season, and fully healed from that knee injury, Murray seems to be returning to his elite ground game of the past.

So far, he has made some sort of positive gain on 54 plays with his feet. He has taken 36 designed quarterback runs for 113 yards, but he truly shines when improvising with 18 scrambles accounting for 212 yards on the ground. That is the second best success on scrambling in the NFL behind the one and only Lamar Jackson.

His efforts so far have only resulted in two touchdowns, impressive ones though they were, but more importantly Murray's running ability consistently grants the Cardinals opportunities to stay on the field. He has accounted for 12 first downs alone, compared to 34 for the bell-cow power running back James Conner.

Not bad for a quarterback.

Kyler Murray just threw the up the ✌🏾sign from 43 yards out, then scored!!

This is the most disrespectful thing I’ve ever seen done to the Niners defense. pic.twitter.com/lJM6wCCr5I

— Emmanuel Acho (@EmmanuelAcho) October 6, 2024

At his current pace, Murray is on track for 789 rushing yards given a fully healthy season. As great a stat line as that would be for a quarterback, in the new NFL era of rushing quarterback, Murray has the third most ground yards this season behind Jackson and phenom rookie Jayden Daniels.

An oft-repeated broadcast stat, the Cardinals are 26-15 when Murray runs more than five times in a game and on the rare occasions he really takes over the run game his team is 6-1 when Murray runs more than ten times.

When your quarterback possesses a natural ability like speed, Murray is still the second fastest ball carrier of 2024 after his 50-yard house call in Santa Clara, it must be used to the utmost.

Injury concerns surrounding his knee might still be playing a role in the play calling decision making, but if the Cardinals want to find sustained success with Murray it is imperative they utilize his gift for running on a consistent basis.

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