Patrick Breen/The Republic / USA TODAY NETWORK
Like the Cleveland Browns under Kevin Stefanski?
It might be reasonable to assume that one of the primary conditions Cardinals’ owner Michael Bidwill insisted that Monti Ossenfort and Jonathan Gannon accept upon their hirings was that they be fully committed to getting the most out of QB Kyler Murray.
It may also be reasonable to assume that Michael Bidwill suggested to Ossenfort and Gannon that Colt McCoy, despite recurring elbow issues and a season-ending concussion in 2022, would be the right bridge starting QB while Kyler was rehabbing.
If those were indeed the cases, then just as Bidwill had forced Steve Wilks to use illegal burner phones in order to keep in contact with suspended GM Steve Keim, Bidwill was also forcing Monti Ossenfort and Jonathan Gannon to take on the compromising position of having to express their full commitment to a player who had deeply divided the team and had disturbed the morale of the locker room.
Some may argue, as they always have, that the Cardinals had no other choice than to give Kyler Murray his bag and then to stick with him no matter what.
But of course, there are always other choices. Just ask Sean Payton.
Whether you believe that Kyler Murray and Colt McCoy were forced on Monti and JG, or not, that manner in which Monti, JG, Drew Petzing and Israel Woolfork have handled the QB position for the 27 months since their arrival has been questionable.
When the Cardinals opened their training camp in 2023, they had 4 QBs on the 90-man roster:
- Colt McCoy
- Jeff Driskel
- David Blough
- Clayton Tune
Clearly, from the get-go, Colt McCoy was still limited by his chronic arm issues. Not only that, during the OTAs the organization allowed McCoy to begin a broadcasting career as a color commentator for USFL games. Bizarre.
Could Jeff Driskel or David Blough have served as the bridge QB instead? Of course, they could. Driskel had previously started 11 NFL games and David Blough had started and played fairly well for a couple of games at the end of 2022.
Could 5th round pick Clayton Tune, who was coached by Israel Woolfork at the Senior Bowl, have been the bridge? For a team that was clearly entering a rebuilding phase, why not build some equity with their own draft pick, rather than pay for a rental?
Instead, once Monti Ossenfort finally decided that Colt McCoy was not healthy enough to do the job, he gave a 5th round pick to the Browns for Joshua Dobbs, who then had less than 10 practices to get ready to start Week 1 versus the Commanders.
Thus, after spending a 5th round pick to select Clayton Tune, the Cardinals went and spent another 5th round pick on what turned out to be an 8-game rental during a 1-7 stretch.
The Dobbs trade could have made better sense had the Cardinals wanted to keep Josh Dobbs as a QB2 moving forward. At times, he played fairly well, given the circumstances. However, Josh Dobbs’ ending with the Cardinals was extremely abrupt.
After Dobbs’ 8th game, where he had his best passing half of football trying to mount a comeback versus the Ravens, the coaches decided to pull the plug on him right then and there. They assured him, however, that they were going to keep him. But then suddenly, Dobbs was jettisoned off for a 6th round pick to the Vikings, where he quickly became an instant 2-game hero, before coming back down to earth in the weeks that followed.
So, on top of Dobbs’ abrupt departure during Week 9, and with the possibility that Kyler Murray could step back in as the team’s starter, JG played it coy regarding that possibility with the Arizona media. But a day later, he announced that now would be the time to give rookie Clayton Tune his chance to start —- versus the Browns in Cleveland.
In essence, the Cardinals’ coaches, who had no intention of playing Clayton Tune from the get-go, threw the rookie QB, with all of 4 practices with the 1s, into a pack of rabid pit bulls, quite literally and figuratively.
Not only did Clayton Tune suffer a terrible physical and mental pounding during that lopsided game, but since that beatdown he has had to cope with a “he’s no NFL QB” stigma that some Cardinals’ fans have attached to him.
To Tune’s credit, he vowed to learn for the experience and managed to keep his chin up. His resolve was put to the ultimate test when during the 2024 off-season the Cardinals sent their 2021 2nd round pick WR Rondale Moore to the Falcons for QB Desmond Ridder, who came to Arizona with an 8-9 record as a starter.
During the 2024 pre-season Clayton Tune beat out Desmond Ridder to hold on to the QB2 job. In 6 pre-season games with 3 starts, Tune has passed for 69/111, 62.1%, 714 yards, 2 TDs, 2 ints. and had ran for 87 yards on 15 carries for a 5.8 ave. In 3 of the games Tune had commendable RTGs in the 90s.
Yet, this off-season the Cardinals have now signed Jacoby Brissett to a 2-year $12.5M contract with $8M guaranteed.
It appears the Cardinals have now given up on Clayton Tune as a 53-man roster-worthy player, after just two years.
Some fans will claim the coaches know best —- but, regardless, the coaches’ moving on from Clayton Tune after two years is a failure on their parts to develop one of their own hand-picked (Senior Bowl) 5th round draft picks.
After the Brissett signing, it may be safe to assume that the Cardinals will not be selecting a QB in this year’s draft. They do not intend to keep 3 QBs on the 53.
As for Jacoby Brissett, having seen every one of his 5 starts with the Patriots this past season, it was painful to watch how much he struggled, often just to avoid another frustrating 3-and-out. He made critical mistakes with 4th quarter leads at home versus the Seahawks and the Dolphins that led to close losses.
His passing stats for those 5 games: 79 completions on 135 attempts (58.5%) for 696 yards, 2 TDs, 1 int. 74.2 RTG, 44.8 QBR. His average yards passing per game was 139.
One of Brissett’s best seasons was 3 years ago playing for the Browns as their bridge QB with Drew Petzing as his QB coach —- yet even with having the Browns’ vaunted defense to rely on, Jacoby Brissett finished 4-7 as the starter. His career won and loss record now stands at 19-34. He has never had a winning record as a starter. However, the most impressive numbers for Jacoby Brisset is his 53/24 TD/int ration.
One can argue Jacoby Brissett’s struggles were because of the Patriots’ lack of talent on offense last year, but when Drake Maye took over the Patriots’ offense improved dramatically. Maye finished with a 66.7% completion rate, for 2,276 yards, 15 TDs, 10 ints., and an RTG of 88.0.
What about Kyler Murray?
The job that the coaches have done with Kyler is a mixed bag. On the one hand, it appeared this past season for the first 10 games that Kyler was recapturing some of the brilliance and swag he was displaying during the first half of the 2021 season. Yet, following the team’s bye week, Kyler’s late season struggles were once again on display. Kyler’s winless streak during meaningful games with potential playoff berths or division titles on the line remains intact. His post-October career record is now 14-28 and with the Week 18 win over the 49ers, Kyler improved his career post-October record in the NFC West to 2-16.
Good news: Kyler’s numbers in Drew Petzing’s offense have improved in 2 seasons:
2023: 8 starts (3-5): 65.7%, 1,799 yds (224.8 ypg), 10-5 TD/int, 89.4 RTG, 48.0 QBR.
2024: 17 starts (8-9): 68.8%, 3,851 yds (226.5 ypg), 21-11 TD/int, 93.5 RTG, 66.5 QBR
But Kyler’s best season as a pro remains:
2021: 14 starts (9-5): 69.2%, 3,787 yds (270.5 ypg), 24-10 TD/int, 100.6 RTG, 63.2 QBR
Are Drew Petzing’s offense and Kyler Murray a good match?
There is an on-going debate as to whether Drew Petzing’s offense is the best system type of fit for Kyler’s talents. The season numbers comparison would suggest that Kyler is better suited to play in more spread formations at a higher tempo. Just as he did at Oklahoma and throughout his first three years with the Cardinals.
While a heavy running game is supposed to take some pressure off of the QB, the irony is that it actually can put more pressure on the QB to try to get in the kind of passing rhythms that can consistently move the sticks with fewer throws.
The truth is —- Drew Petzing’s offense over the last two seasons tends to generate far more explosive running plays of 20-40+ yards than passing plays. What’s difficult to discern about the rushing to passing discrepancy is how much of an issue of the offense not generating enough explosive passing plays is on Kyler? or Petzing? —- or a combination of both?
With Kyler for the past several years he’s been so quick to check down on plays, that the offense has been essentially run in a 20 x 120-yard rectangle. For some viewers this kind of rectangular offense for the Cardinals, played frequently in box heavy 12 and 13 personnel packages can feel awfully claustrophobic.
Imagine then how more eager to run the football himself Kyler would feel —- if the formations are more spread out. To Kyler's credit, despite all of the crowded boxes, in 2024, he ran 78 times for 572 yards, at a 7.3 average and 5 TDs.
Passing YPG in 2024, ave. yds per attempt, TD% rate and record as starters the last 3 seasons:
- Kyler Murray —- 226.5 yards per game, 7.1 Y/A, 3.9 TD% rate, 14-22 (.389) record.
- Jacoby Brissett —- 139.2 yards per game, 5.1 Y/A 1.2 TD% rate 5-11 (.313) record.
Are Stefanski-style offenses, in general, QB-friendly?
I asked my good friend
Barry Shuck of SB Nation’s “Dawgs by Nature” the question as to whether Kevin Stefanski and his staff have consistent difficulty evaluating, coaching, and developing QBs.
Here is Barry’s response:
The issue with Browns head coach Stefanski is that he is an offensive coach, but that does not mean he understands quarterbacks. Stefanski played defensive back while at Penn and was twice an All-Ivy League selection. So, his forte would seem to be defense, but he is an offensive-minded coach.
The Browns had their choice of either Baker Mayfield, Josh Allen, or Lamar Jackson and chose Mayfield. This alone tells you that he and GM Andrew Berry are not good talent evaluators as far as the QB position goes. And even when they chose Mayfield, he injured his shoulder, and they continued to allow him to play. The end result was a horrible season and then being traded for a bag of footballs. Now that Mayfield is completely healthy and in a good system that has a great offensive line, he has finally shined. Yet, Mayfield has played seven seasons and has yet to be named to a single Pro Bowl while Jackson and Allen are some of the most revered signal callers in the league and owners of three league MVPs.
Then the trio of Berry, Stefanski, and Browns owner Jimmy Haslam pulled the trigger on arguably one of the worst trades in NFL history (Deshaun Watson). Not only did it cost a ton of capital for just 19 games played, but the amount of first and second-round talent it took enabled the Houston Texans to go from a four-win club to division champs two years in a row while Cleveland fell to a 14-loss ballclub without adding all those new blue-chip players.
Even the seasoned veterans that the Browns have signed to become experienced backups had issues. Jacoby Brissett could not run, Joe Flacco was rusty, and Jameis Winston had a history of tossing interceptions and then threw eight in three games. The lone QB the team drafted during Berry and Stefanski’s tenure, Dorian Thompson-Robinson, could not read a defense, and if his first receiver was covered, off he would go and leave the pocket.
When free agency began this year, Cleveland did not have a starting quarterback or a backup, and their QB3 was dealt away. Do the Browns have a problem evaluating quarterbacks?
What quarterbacks?
Conclusion:
When there were rumors about the Cardinals being interested in Daniel Jones, in one way their interest in Jones made sense for the team’s running of a smashmouth, heavy-rushing style of offense.
One would think that given his druthers, Drew Petzing would want a strong, pocket sturdy passer whose forte is hitting on home run balls —- when you spend most of your time trying to draw the defense closer and closer to the box, you want a QB who can hit home runs over the top.
In Kyler’s case, one would think he would want to get back to running a wide-open passing attack with a quintet of make-you-miss playmakers.
The thought of Drew Petzing running a smashmouth style of offense with a finesse-type QB like Kyler Murray could be an indication that that the OC/QB pairing may not be an ideal match.
What’s of equal concern is how Petzing has treated his QBs in Arizona the past two years. He’s abruptly lost interest in all of them, ironically except for Kyler who quite possibly is not Petzing’s own top preference at QB.
And now the addition of Jacoby Brissett as QB2, aside from Drew Petzing having coached him 3 years ago and he’s a great venerable veteran to have in the QB room, from a more practical standpoint makes little to no sense. At this point in Brissett’s career, he no longer is a legitimate running threat, he’s not as mobile as he one was on play-action passes and to a degree, he’s always struggled passing under pressure from the pocket. His career completion percentage is 61.1%.
The QB-fickle Browns moved on from Brissett —- three years ago.
Moreover, the Cardinals making Jacoby Brissett their fourth highest paid 2025 free agent (at $6.25M a year) of their 14 UFA signees (behind Tomlinson, Sweat and Browning) is absolutely mind-boggling.
One would think that each draft the Cardinals would want to target a QB who could fit Petzing’s prototype. Yet, with only keeping 2 QBs on the roster and now having made it more financially expensive to move on from Kyler after this season, it looks on paper that the Cardinals are locked into Kyler Murray and Jacoby Brissett for the next two years.
Questions for 2025 and beyond:
- Does Drew Petzing have the system versatility and flexibility to cater his offense more specifically toward maximizing Kyler Murray’s talents?
- Can Drew Petzing and Israel Woolfork help Kyler to rediscover his deep passing ability?
- Will Petzing and Kyler expand the offense beyond the current 20 x 120-yard QB sand box they seem to be stuck in?
- Can Petzing and Woolfork coach Kyler out of his post-bye week struggles?
- Is Kyler all that coachable?
Passing YPG in 2024, ave. yds per attempt, TD% rate and record as starters the last 3 seasons:
- Kyler Murray —- 226.5 yards per game, 7.1 Y/A, 3.9 TD% rate, 14-22 (.389) record.
- Jacoby Brissett —- 139.2 yards per game, 5.1 Y/A 1.2 TD% rate 5-11 (.313) record.
among all 320+ pound players and pressure rate (11.9%) in 2024
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