Kyler Murray, Budda Baker Return to Cardinals

The Arizona Cardinals will welcome back Kyler Murray and Budda Baker to the practice field today.

ARIZONA -- The Arizona Cardinals are set to welcome back their two best players on the practice field today:

"The Arizona Cardinals Football Club today announced that the team has designated safety Budda Baker to return from the injured reserve list and quarterback Kyler Murray to return from the Reserve/Physically Unable to Perform list (PUP).

"Baker and Murray can begin practicing and the team can activate each player to the 53-man roster at any time during the next 21 days or at the conclusion of the three-week period.

"In addition, the team has released running back Tony Jones Jr."

Prior to Wednesday's practice, head coach Jonathan Gannon said both Murray and Baker will hit the field today. 

Murray has been missing in action since tearing his ACL/meniscus in Week 14 of last season, though a handful of reports from prominent Arizona media members such as Arizona Sports' John Gambadoro and AZ Central's Bob McManaman previously suggested that Murray could be practicing as early as this week. (More info on that here)

Kyler seems pretty excited.

Practicing today

— Kyler Murray (@K1) October 18, 2023

Gambadoro appeared on 98.7's Burns and Gambo yesterday to give listeners more news on Murray:

"I expect that Kyler Murray will come off the PUP list either this week or next week. He's very, very close. So some final determinations will happen but could be as early as tomorrow or if not, next week. I don't expect it to go any further than that. Kyler Murray is very, very close to being taken off the PUP list. I can't give you a timeframe on how many weeks they want, but obviously that would start the clock on him being able to play within like three weeks."

Murray will have a 21-day practice window before the Cardinals must elevate him to the active roster. 

The Cardinals would likely want to see Murray in practice for at least 1-2 weeks before rolling him out in regular season play. Potential dates to watch would be Nov. 5 at Cleveland and Nov. 12 vs. Atlanta. 

Two of Arizona's best players seem to be close to returning to action, and that's exciting for Cardinals fans after they've played well despite a 1-5 start to the season.