In the move known for more than a week, the Cardinals officially released quarterback Kyler Murray on Wednesday as the new league year began in the NFL.
Murray tweeted about his departure back on March 3, and then spoke again on another social media platform on March 5.
"7 years .. damn," Murray wrote in part on an Instagram post a couple of days after the news originally broke. "I never wanted things to end like this."
"To my teammates ... it breaks me the most that we never got it done," Murray wrote.
Murray last played for the Cardinals in Week 5, before his year ended with a foot injury.
"With today's start of the new league year and transactions now official, we want to thank Kyler for everything he has done for this organization over the last seven years," general manager Monti Ossenfort said. "We are extremely grateful for his contributions both on the field and off and we wish him nothing but the absolute best moving forward."
Murray is expected to quickly find a new team, with the Vikings the speculative favorite. It won't be Atlanta, who already signed Tua Tagovailoa with Michael Penix Jr. coming back from a knee injury, or the Jets, who traded for Geno Smith. Murray is already owed $36 million from the Cardinals this season, which will allow him to sign where he wants for the minimum $1.3M if he chooses.
The NFL's QB carousel has been spinning since Monday. The Falcons signed Tagovailoa, the Dolphins are signing Malik Willis, and the Cardinals, with Murray' departure coming, are bringing in Gardner Minshew as a backup for Jacoby Brissett.
Murray played 87 games in Arizona, and is third in franchise history with 20,460 passing yards, behind Jim Hart and Neil Lomax. He's second in completions (1,974), and third in TD passes (121). His 3,193 rushing yards puts him 11th all-time for the franchise, the only non-running back on the leaderboard.
BAM RETURNING
The agent of running back Bam Knight tweeted that Knight would be coming back to Arizona this season. Knight joins a backfield of James Conner, Tyler Allgeier, and Trey Benson at the moment.
