Arizona Cardinals franchise quarterback Kyler Murray turned in a bounce-back effort in his first full season under the current regime in 2024.
At least from a fantasy football standpoint, ESPN’s Mike Clay envisions a similar showing from the signal caller this year.
In his quarterback rankings released Tuesday, Clay expects the franchise signal caller in the QB1 conversation after one of his best years as a pro.
Murray appeared in every regular-season game for the first time since 2020 and delivered as both a passer (top 13 in attempts, completions, yards and TDs) and rusher (top eight in carries, yards and TDs). Murray finished 12th among QBs in fantasy PPG, which is actually the worst finish of his career. He completed 69% of his passes despite a bit of an underwhelming showing from Marvin Harrison Jr. … Murray has the tools he needs for another mid-to-back-end QB1 fantasy campaign.
In his first full season under the current regime led by general manager Monti Ossenfort and head coach Jonathan Gannon, Murray completed 68.8% of his passes for 3,851 yards and 21 touchdowns to 11 interceptions.
His yardage and completion percentage were the second-best marks of his career, while the scores ranked third.
Murray also added another 572 yards and five touchdowns on 78 carries. The last time he ran the rock that many times was in 2021 (88 carries).
Had it not been for a massive downturn in production across the final seven games of the season — 68.5% completion rate, 1,793 yards and nine touchdowns to eight interceptions — Murray could have found himself in the MVP discussion.
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The Cardinals likely would have found their way into the playoffs with a more consistent Murray, too. Instead, Arizona floundered behind a 2-5 finish after winning six of its first 10 games.
How can Kyler Murray move up Mike Clay’s fantasy football rankings?
Obviously, consistency across a full regular season could do wonders for Murray’s place in fantasy football rankings.
And from the outside looking in, there are three avenues that could help achieve that, starting with Murray and Harrison building their relationship that much more.
While Harrison’s team-leading eight touchdowns were nothing to scoff at last year, there was clearly a lot left out on the football field behind 62 catches on 116 targets and 885 yards.
You know who else left a lot out there from a touchdowns standpoint?
Tight end Trey McBride.
McBride went on a pass-catching tear in Year 3 with 111 catches (147 targets) for 1,146 yards. He paced Arizona in just about every receiving category except for touchdowns.
While the tight end was a problem for opposing defenses, his receiving scores lagged behind with just two.
That shouldn’t be the case in 2025, as McBride has cemented himself as one Arizona’s premier talents. It was more bad luck than anything last year, with Clay expecting some major improvement in that department.
Since stepping into a starting role in Week 8 of the 2023 season, Trey McBride has an enormous 28.4% target share (9.0 per game). He’s averaging 6.8 receptions, 69.3 yards and 15.4 fantasy points per game during the span. He was the poster boy for bad TD luck in 2024, totaling three scores (two receiving) despite finishing second at the position in targets, catches, yards, end zone targets (10) and fantasy points. McBride’s TE-high 7.9 expected TD total speaks to his bad luck.
Then there’s the run game for Murray.
Seeing Murray’s attempts reach the 90 mark wouldn’t be the worst idea in a run-heavy offense, especially after averaging 7.3 yards per carry last year.
He doesn’t need to get back to his 2020 marks of 133 carries for 819 yards and 11 touchdowns but getting his hands on the ball that much more would be advantageous offensively.
Which NFL quarterbacks cracked Mike Clay’s top 10 ranking for fantasy football?
A look at the top 10 signal callers in Clay’s fantasy football ranking of quarterbacks:
1. Josh Allen, Buffalo Bills 2. Lamar Jackson, Baltimore Ravens 3. Jayden Daniels, Washington Commanders 4. Jalen Hurts, Philadelphia Eagles 5. Joe Burrow, Cincinnati Bengals 6. Patrick Mahomes, Kansas City Chiefs 7. Baker Mayfield, Tampa Bay Buccaneers 8. Brock Purdy, San Francisco 49ers 9. Kyler Murray, Arizona Cardinals 10. Bo Nix, Denver Broncos
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