Cards to hold healthy Murray out of preseason

GLENDALE, Ariz. — Last season, Arizona Cardinals quarterback Kyler Murray couldn’t play in the preseason because of a knee injury.

This year, Murray is healthy but still won’t play in the preseason.

Coach Jonathan Gannon said Tuesday that Murray will sit out all three of the Cardinals’ preseason games, starting with Saturday’s home game against the New Orleans Saints, because the sixth-year quarterback is in a good place getting ready for the regular season.

“I like where he is at right now,” Gannon said. “I like how the offense is operating, and I think he will get done everything that he needs to get done to be the best version of himself on opening day.”

Gannon said Murray, who said last week that he just does his job and listens to what the coaches say regarding his preseason playing time, “understood” when informed that he wasn’t playing this preseason.

The Cardinals’ upcoming joint practices with the Indianapolis Colts next week factored into the decision to keep Murray on the sidelines, Gannon said.

With Murray officially out of the preseason, Arizona’s other quarterbacks, Clayton Tune and Desmond Ridder, will split the reps, although Gannon declined to reveal how Arizona will split their time. Thus far, Gannon described their competition for the backup quarterback job as “very healthy.” Both Tune and Ridder have leapfrogged the other on the practice depth chart, getting reps with the second and third teams during training camp.

“You got three preseason games and you got two joint practices and then you got another, I think, 15 or 16 practices together,” Gannon said. “So, there’s a lot of work to be done and a lot of valuation that still needs to happen.”

Gannon said he wouldn’t put much stock into the preseason depth charts because of the staff’s decisions on who won’t play and who they want to get a better look at.

“I wouldn’t be too worried about that depth chart until Buffalo [Arizona’s Week 1 opponent], truthfully,” Gannon said. “I mean, truthfully. I’m being honest with you guys. People got to line up and play, but, you know, because somebody’s out there, somebody’s not, it really is case-by-case by all these different factors that myself, [GM Monti Ossenfort], the coaching staff, we have to weigh and we’re always gonna do what we think is best for the team come Buffalo.”

Beyond Murray, Gannon said the decision to play starters in the preseason will be made on a case-by-case basis.

“Whether it be, you know, how old they are, health, if I want to see them play, if they’re competing for roles, they’re all competing for roles right now, how it relates to fourth down, there’s a lot that goes into it,” Gannon said.

However, Gannon said there’s a little concern about how the players who don’t play in the preseason will ramp up for the regular season starting in Week 1.

“We got to be ready to go and we got to have all our energy systems right in Buffalo,” Gannon said. “Not going to get into all the science of that, but we can’t be winded out there. So, we got to be in shape. We got to be able to play however many plays what we think is during a game but I think that we have a good plan of to do that some of the guys that probably aren’t going to play.”