Whether it was at home or on the road, Sean Murphy-Bunting was at every Cardinals game last season.
But not in the way the cornerback had envisioned.
Prior to the 2025 offseason program, one which would've featured Murphy-Bunting competing for a role, he sustained a knee injury in March. It turned out to be an ACL tear, ultimately ending his season before it even began.
"Obviously watching football from the sideline being on the field and being able to actually play is completely different," said Murphy-Bunting, who also had some MCL damage. "It's adversity. I dealt with what I dealt with, but to battle back, it's exciting to be out there."
While the procedure was on the ACL, he allowed the damage to his MCL to heal on its own.
After what had felt like "damn near almost two years (of training)," Murphy-Bunting has been back on the field at Cardinals OTAs. Although, like last year, it's not in the way he may have envisioned.
With Garrett Williams expected to miss time following a late-season Achilles tear, Murphy-Bunting has slid into the nickel corner spot. He had played outside corner since coming to Arizona.
"Nickel is a hybrid of everything," Murphy-Bunting said. "Being a playmaker and being a ball guy and always having forced fumbles and interceptions in my career, I'm closer to the action and it helps me be more of a complete ball player."
Playing on the inside is not foreign to Murphy-Bunting. From 2019-2022 as a member of the Buccaneers, he spent 1,104 snaps as the slot corner. According to TruMedia, when playing nickel, he recorded 87 tackles, seven interceptions, and a forced fumble. When the Bucs won Super Bowl LV, he was the starting slot corner.
Since then, which included one year with the Titans and the 2024 season with the Cardinals, Murphy-Bunting played a combined seven snaps in the slot. In Arizona, Murphy-Bunting played 674 snaps as the outside cornerback.
"We knew he had the ability to do it, we just had to get him back into that mode because for several years in a row he had been at corner only, but he's very natural inside," defensive coordinator Nick Rallis said. "We'll use our nickel unique in terms of pressures or playing in deep zones, so there's a lot of different techniques, and that's part of the reason that our nickels and safeties are together."
During practices, Murphy-Bunting is in position drills with safeties Budda Baker, Andrew Wingard, and Rabbit Taylor-Demerson. It's something Williams will do when he returns.
The outside corner room is capable of taking a step with Will Johnson and Denzel Burke entering their second seasons while Max Melton, Starling Thomas V, and Kei'Trel Clark competing as well. Because of that depth, there's additional trust from the staff to play Murphy-Bunting inside.
It also allows the 28-year-old veteran to refine and focus on the techniques he has strayed away from in recent years. Even with the injury, Murphy-Bunting said there isn't rust.
It's just a matter of managing the excitement as he returns to a game he once had to watch from the sidelines.
"It's been a long time coming," Murphy-Bunting said. "It's very exciting and it's very humbling to be back and being able to be back in the groove of it."
