Arizona Cardinals quarterback Kyler Murray is seeking to get a contract extension this offseason. Now that he has completed three seasons in the NFL, he is eligible for it.
His agent released a statement through ESPN’s Adam Schefter, putting pressure on the Cardinals to get a deal done now and show commitment to Murray.
Five other young quarterbacks received large contract extensions following their third year in in the NFL in recent history.
However, the teams who inked their quarterback to huge extensions had something in common, something that Murray and the Cardinals are currently without.
What is that?
All those teams had multiple playoff appearances or multiple playoff wins in the quarterback’s first three seasons.
Quarterback Patrick Mahomes took the Kansas City Chiefs to the postseason twice and won the Super Bowl. He won four playoff games before the end of his third season.
Quarterback Josh Allen took the Buffalo Bills to the playoffs twice in his first three seasons and two postseason wins in his third season.
Deshaun Watson went to the playoffs with the Houston Texans twice and won one game in 2019.
Jared Goff took the Rams to the playoffs twice in three seasons and took the Rams to the Super Bowl.
Carson Wentz is the one asterisk. He himself never played in the postseason before getting his extension. However, the Eagles did make it once and won the Super Bowl with Nick Foles starting for him. Wentz looked like the MVP that season before tearing his ACL.
Murray has been to the playoffs only once and the Cardinals were embarrassed in that one game. The Cardinals have suffered second-half collapses.
So while the Cardinals are very high on Murray’s future, one can see why they might want to wait a year before giving him the extension, much like how Baker Mayfield of the Cleveland Browns or Lamar Jackson of the Baltimore Ravens have not yet gotten their bid deals.
Jackson made the playoffs three years in a row but only had one win. Mayfield took the Browns to the playoffs once.
The Cardinals probably will end up having to make a long-term deal with Murray, but that will be based on the trust that his improvement each season will lead to the team taking the next step and making deeper runs into the postseason.
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