Cardinals 2021 NFL Draft primer: Can Kyler Murray get to playoffs?

Year-two of the Kliff Kingsbury and Kyler Murray era for the Arizona Cardinals was much better than year one but were still far from where they would like to be. After trading for star wide receiver in DeAndre Hopkins before the 2020 season expectations were high but the Cardinals managed to go just 8-8 on the season. Even with the expanded playoff format adding another team to the playoffs the Cardinals still fell short after losing the tiebreaker for the seventh seed to the Chicago Bears.

Kyler Murray was excellent in his second year as a professional and made some tremendous plays that were directly responsible for a handful of victories. Murray and company got off to a hot 6-3 start to the 2020 season but flipped that script in the latter half of the season in which they went on to only winning two of their final seven contests. Murray bypassed the sophomore slump many quarterbacks go through and instead improved his total yards, completion percentage, touchdowns throw, rushing yards, rushing touchdowns and stayed at just 12 interceptions.

Can Kyler Murray and Cardinals get to playoff competition?

While Murray was much improved that wasn’t always the case for his head coach Kliff Kingsbury who made a few questionable and almost amateur coaching moves through the course of the entire season. If Murray and Kingsbury continue to help one another get better this can be a great relationship long term.

The NFC West is arguably the toughest division in all of college football so constantly improving is necessary to just stay on par with the likes of the Seahawks, Rams, and 49ers alike. Can the Cardinals keep pace in the 2021 NFL Draft?