Kyler Murray Believes Cardinals Are Different - Here's How

These aren't your grandfather's Arizona Cardinals, according to Kyler Murray.

Arizona Cardinals quarterback Kyler Murray (1) during organized team activities at the Dignity Health Arizona Cardinals Training Center in Tempe on June 3, 2024. / Rob Schumacher/The Republic / USA TODAY

ARIZONA -- It's easy to love what you have in the offseason - how often do we see paper champs continually crowned before the wins and losses start to count in the regular season?

The Arizona Cardinals have a long way to go before planning Super Bowl parades, but they took another massive step in the right direction this offseason by accumulating talent to help both now and in the future.

It hasn't been pretty - no actual rebuild is supposed to be, anyways. But the Cardinals are confident in where they're going, mostly thanks to Kyler Murray.

Murray, the team's No. 1 overall pick just a few years ago, enters season six in the league but just his first full offseason under the guidance of head coach Jonathan Gannon and offensive coordinator Drew Petzing after he was sidelined for the first half of 2023 with ACL surgery.

Now, Murray is healthy and attacking this offseason with some juice.

"Me being out there, everybody being in the system a whole 'nother year, you can tell the difference out there," Murray told reporters.

"Everybody's playing faster, more comfortable. The rookies that we had last year, a great group, it allowed them to play faster because they've been in it. Got a lot of reps, got a lot of meaningful reps last year, and then the rookies that we just added are a good group so far too, so I'm excited."

Murray has seen ups and downs during his tenure in the desert. He's experienced locker rooms both good and bad, and for so much "culture" talk around the facility now, Murray himself would surely know the difference.

And, sure enough, it's different.

“There’s definitely a juice around this team, a camaraderie about this team. Since I got here, I was used to playing with a lot of older guys. This is the first time I feel like I’m kind of the older guy," said Murray, who is just 26 years young.

"There’s no knock on playing with older guys, but when you’re playing with guys around your age, it’s easier to gel or do things like that. I think all that matters. I don’t think people take into account how much it does matter. We can kind of grow together."

The prior offseasons for Murray and the Cardinals had been filled with drama, whether it was underperformance, contract drama or potential trade discussions. Much of that noise quieted down when the prior regime of Kliff Kingsbury and Steve Keim departed.

Now, the most you'll find of Murray is him bonding with teammates, taking his offensive guys to events such as NBA playoff games or simply just hanging around his old college campus at Oklahoma.

Sure, James Conner's jumpshot didn't look all that great in clips posted to social media. Paris Johnson Jr. isn't the second coming of Barry Bonds, either.

But any previous narrative of Murray - or his Cardinals - has been shaken entering 2024.

“It’s kind of lost in this league. In college, you’re around those dudes every day and you’re hanging out. When you get to the league, you’ve got guys that have families and stuff like that, but I feel like that’s controllable. I think it’s something that if you put the effort into it, you can still kind of have that feeling," said Murray.

"We were tight last year. I feel like this team is even more [tight]. There’s been a lot of new guys, but the new guys have made an effort to really embrace the culture [and] embrace this team.”

Coach Gannon talked about how great teams will "patrol themselves" in the locker room - you can read more about that here.