Kyler Murray Rumours Persist

Edition #1031: Is this a case of a lot of smoke without any fire, or are the Jets seriously considering Kyler Murray?

Good morning ☕

I spend around an hour or so each day scouring the internet reading anything and everything to do with the Jets. I then condense it into the News and Notes section before moving on.

Over the last month the name Kyler Murray consistently comes up in relation to the Jets. Most of the time I ignore it, but is there some fire to this smoke?

Part of me believes that this is solely media buzz with bored writers putting 2 and 2 together to get 5. The Jets need a QB, Arizona is rumoured to be open to trading the former #1 overall pick, so why not link the two together.

It makes a nice story to fill some column inches for your editor.

Instead of it being a one-off idea, it’s become a consistent theme. To a point where the odds on the Jets acquiring Kyler reduced dramatically recently. That’s probably just the markets reacting to the media, but let’s just look at it.

Yesterday ESPN released an article with the perfect trade proposals that fit both teams and surprise surprise, the Jets and Arizona headlined that article.

First the proposed terms:

Jets get: QB Kyler Murray, 2026 sixth-round pick
Cardinals get: 2026 fourth-round pick

Now the reasoning:

“Swapping a Day 3 selection for a quarterback who ranked 14th in Total QBR over the past two years won’t hurt an organization that has a ton of draft capital after the Quinnen Williams and Sauce Gardner trades. Jets fans would love to add their quarterback of the future after seeing Sam Darnold thrive in Seattle, but they also haven’t had even league-average QB play in a season since Josh McCown put together a solid year for the Jets in 2017. With nearly $79 million in cap space, the Jets also have plenty of money to spend.

The Cardinals would save $34 million on their 2026 cap and that $78 million or so in cash over the next two years if they trade Murray before June 1. It’s never fun to see the face of the franchise dealt for a Day 3 pick, but I would suspect that the new staff was interviewed and hired with the understanding that Murray wouldn’t be staying in Arizona for much longer. So a Murray trade might be about landing the best available deal instead of waiting for the right one.”

So let’s just play a little devil’s advocate.

What would a healthy and motivated Kyler Murray look like?

Sometimes when you don’t want a move to happen, it’s easy to downplay the players talent. There is no doubt that Kyler Murray is an extremely talented football player.

Over 7 years in the league he’s playing to a 17-game average stat line of 67.1% completion for 3,998 yards, 24 touchdowns, 12 interceptions, 235.2 yards per game, a 92.2 passer rating, 624 rushing yards and 6 touchdowns.

By any measure if you deliver that over a 17-game season, most fans would be happy. Considering what we’ve witnessed over the last few years.

But those numbers would put him around the Bo Nix standard, or outside the top 10 but inside the top 15. There is an argument that for the sake of eating some salary and trading a 4th round pick, the Jets should be interested.

But now let’s flip the coin and look at the other side of the equation.

The first big issue…he’s not a Frank Reich QB.

He does have the accuracy that Reich wants in a QB, but that’s about it.

Reich tends to like a bigger pocket passer, Murray is 5’10 and inconsistent within the pocket. Reich also likes QBs who limit their turnovers, Murray has thrown double-digit interceptions in 4 of his 7 seasons and in the other three he didn’t play a full slate of games. He’s also had 51 fumbles over 7 years including 8 in 2024 when he played a full 17-game schedule

Which also brings us to the next issue, he’s coming off a serious foot injury and has shown an inability to stay on the field. Over his last 5 seasons he’s only played a full year once. 2021 he missed 3 games, 2022 he missed 6 games, 2023 he missed 9 games, 2024 he was healthy and 2025 he missed 12 games.

Reich also prefers his QB to play under centre and run a lot of play-action out of that formation, that’s not something that Murray has ever been comfortable with, he largely plays from shotgun to utilise his duel-action nature. 19 of his career interceptions have come off play-action and you don’t trust Murray to turn his back, so Reich would have to change his preferences.

Then you get to questions on motivation.

When he signed his contract extension with Arizona in 2022, they inserted a clause which would void guarantees if he didn’t complete a certain amount of “independent study” hours. The rumour being that they were concerned by how much time he spent playing computer games rather than studying film.

Then you have to consider the finances.

Right now, Murray would carry a cap charge of $53 million in 2026, which is top 10 for the position. Because of the language in his contract, the Jets would be looking at $42.5 million in salary and $62 million practically guaranteed, which is a ridiculous amount for what he brings.

As things stand, no team would be stupid enough to trade for Kyler Murray straight up. Darren Mougey isn’t doing that and if he does, he should be fired immediately for negligence. The only way that Arizona can trade that contract is if they eat a significant portion of it to bring the cost down for the acquiring team.

But here are 5 reasons why I’m a hard no on Murray.

1. I just don’t think he’s a very good QB in the league in 2026, pay for the future not the past.

2. He doesn’t fit the Frank Reich mold of what he wants in a QB.

3. I don’t want to spend any draft capital on someone who will cost so much and probably be largely ineffective as a starter.

4. If he truly has issues with film study, then he’s neither a leader or someone that Aaron Glenn would want in the locker room.

5. He can’t stay healthy, what’s the point in having a QB who can’t play. It just adds extra pressure to spend more on a good backup.

So while the media will continue to bang the drum for Kyler Murray to the Jets, I’m hoping this is all smoke and no fire.

---

NEWS & NOTES

• Former Jets linebackers coach Mike Rutenberg has been named the Cleveland Browns defensive coordinator. I’m sure you’ll start seeing some trade scenarios pop up for some Jets players.

• Zack Rosenblatt listed Justin Fields as the most likely cap casualty for the Jets: “The Jets are going to land somewhere in the range of $70 million to 80 million in cap space without even cutting anyone — and they don’t have a whole lot of options for cap savings anyway outside of defensive tackle Harrison Phillips, who won’t be waived. Fields was a disaster last year, his first of a two-year, $40 million contract — $30 million of it guaranteed,”

• PFF released their latest three-round mock draft, here’s how it falls:

  • #2 - Caleb Downs - Downs notched an 85.0-plus PFF overall grade in each of the past three seasons and is firmly in the conversation as the best overall player in this draft. Positional value will determine when he ultimately comes off the board, but look back at the 2022 NFL Draft and consider how much earlier Baltimore Ravens safety Kyle Hamilton would go in a redo.

  • #16 - Peter Woods - The Jets continue to upgrade their defense with the second of their first-round draft picks, adding some talent to the interior defensive line. Woods is coming off his lowest-graded season in three years, but with PFF overall grades above 83.0 in both 2023 and 2024, the talent is clearly there.

  • #32 - CJ Allen - Linebacker

  • #44 - Akheem Mesidor - EDGE