Decoding the message the Cardinals may be sending about Kyler Murray

In many situations, an NFL team proclaiming who its franchise QB is in February could carry weight and be noteworthy, but this isn't one of them.

Less than 600 days since giving Murray a five-year, $230 million extension with $160 million in guarantees, a deal that doesn't even begin until the 2024 season, the Cardinals affirming their commitment to the QB doesn't seem meaningful. There must be more to the story.

Murray, the first overall choice in the 2019 draft, was picked, developed and extended by deposed GM Steve Keim and former head coach Kliff Kingsbury. Could this be the case of the Cardinals wanting to give a public vote of confidence to their sometimes-sensitive QB?

Let's check their track record on social media expressions of quarterback fidelity in February.

As Pete Campbell said, "Not good, Bob!"

So, what's going on? Why is Arizona's owner, Michael Bidwill, a man not known for frequent media interactions, going on local radio to sing Kyler's praises? Why are the Cardinals posting public affirmations to their QB who, if cut this offseason, would drop the blade on an $81.5 million dead-cap guillotine to their salary cap?

The public fawning is their way to better chum the trade waters

In a situation reminiscent of a middle school romance, the Cardinals can't express their desire to trade Murray without cratering any potential trade value he might have. The more available he is, the less desirable he becomes.  

How do you turn that situation on its head? Profess your undying love. Publicly, no less. Project the vibes that you'd have to be blown away by an offer to even consider trading him.

Trading Murray lowers the dead-cap charge to $46 million, which is still substantial and would be the largest dead-cap charge ever taken. But it's almost half the $81.5 million charge for cutting him. And it's a number Arizona can absorb without as much collateral roster damage as it fits under the $51.3 million in cap room that Over the Cap currently projects the Cardinals to have.  

The Cardinals have identified a QB they really like in this upcoming draft

Want to pick a QB in the draft but don't want anyone to know you are planning to do that? What better way to throw the whole league off your scent than by going over the top and telling the world how happy you are with your current QB?

In what is looking to be a generationally loaded QB class with a clear top three, a team picking fourth would do well to obscure its intentions.

Drafting a QB would allow the Cardinals to let Murray play for a year while their rookie QB redshirts and give the veteran an opportunity to build up his trade value. If all else fails, Arizona could cut him next offseason for a more palatable $33.2 million dead-cap charge.

Or are we simply in unknown territory?

There are too many known unknowns to fully decipher this issue today. We don't know how Arizona feels about Murray. We don't know what Bidwill's appetite for dead-cap consumption is. We don't know what the Cardinals plan to do in the draft, and they probably don't know yet, either.

In 2019, it took a little over 2.5 months to discover that QB Josh Rosen wasn't, in fact, the QB for Kingsbury and the Cardinals.  

This time around, look to April 27. By the time Mr. Irrelevant's card gets handed in, we should know what, if anything, this sporadic outburst of Murray praise was all about.