Jonathan Gannon: 'If Kyler Isn't Here, I Don't Take This Job'

The Arizona Cardinals' newest head coach Jonathan Gannon says Kyler Murray factored largely into his acceptance of the position.

Arizona Cardinals quarterback Kyler Murray has received a lot of flack this offseason.

Not that the former Heisman winner didn't before, yet after a 4-13 season with a torn ACL capped off a year that started with Instagram posts and study clauses, Murray was the target of plenty of hate after Kliff Kingsbury was fired. 

There were even reports that suggested that coaches passed up on the Cardinals job specifically because of Murray. 

So it was a nice change of pace to not only see new head coach Jonathan Gannon praise Murray in multiple instances, but also stick up for his new quarterback. 

“If Kyler Murray isn’t here, I don’t take this job," Gannon told Peter King. 

"I think this offense will look much different. This guy does things that it completely handcuffs you how you play defense – at times. I think we can take him to another level and unleash his full skill set. We’re not gonna put him in gun all the time, I’ll tell you that. We’ll have two significant offenses with his skill set: one being under center and one being in the gun. Then obviously we’re gonna do what’s comfortable with him. 

"The way to take pressure off the quarterback and the O-line is to put him under center at times. That’s the missing piece I thought they had with Kyler. They were in gun all the time. When you’re in gun all the time, you don’t make the defense defend certain play types. Now, when you get him under center, the defense has to defend a lot more type of play types. So there’s really two offenses I see us using.”

Gannon also sang the praises of Murray at his introductory press conference on Thursday.

"I have a very specific vision of how I want to play on offense, and the person that comes in here to run the offense is going to understand that everything that we do will be structured around the quarterback position to maximize his skillset—and we have an elite one," said Gannon.

"We also have some elite players at different positions already on the roster that I’m very excited to work with, and that’s what we’re going to do. Just an overall general philosophy of being adaptable, we’re going to maximize Kyler’s skillset."

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