Kyler Murray with former Cardinals GM Steve Keim. Cardinals general manager Steve Keim hugs first-round pick Kyler Murray during a news conference on April 26. Kyler Murray

Fair or not, Arizona Cardinals quarterback Kyler Murray has faced plenty of criticism throughout his career with the team. During a recent interview, Murray clearly responded to his critics, admitting that if things don’t work this year, he and his teammates will “all have to look in the mirror.”

“I’ve got to respect the person or understand the ins and outs or the rhymes and reasons for what we are doing,” Murray said according to Darren Urban of the team website. “I’m going to listen. I’m going to be coachable and I’m going to do it to the best of my ability, but if the [expletive] ain’t working, at some point, we all have to look in the mirror.”

If anyone understands what kind of pressure Murray is under, it’s the guy who drafted him. That being said, Steve Keim wasn’t exactly fond of Murray’s comments above. And the former Cardinals general manager seems to think that Murray’s comments don’t exactly shine a positive light on the quarterback. He said as much during a recent appearance on The Herd with Colin Cowherd.

“I think in terms of quarterbacks, what he said you don’t love it, just because of the standpoint when he added the word ‘but’ in, generally behind a positive the word ‘but’ does not end in a positive light,” Keim told Cowherd, via Pro Football Talk. “I certainly didn’t want to hear that. And nor do fans want to hear a guy who’s making $46.1 million a year blame anybody but himself. I’m not saying he’s a guy that blames people. Yet at the same time, when you get that bag of cash, everybody expects you to take it on your shoulders, and that’s what a franchise quarterback does. This is a big year. I would have actually had Kyler in my top five for guys under pressure, because what if they have a bad year?

“He’s coming off the injury. He’s got to prove himself. What happens, as what people forecast, that they have the No. 1 pick, they’re in a real predicament.”

We’ll have to see whether or not Murray can prove himself this season.

[The Herd via Pro Football Talk]

About Sam Neumann

Since the beginning of 2023, Sam has been a staff writer for Awful Announcing and The Comeback. A 2021 graduate of Temple University, Sam is a Charlotte native, who currently calls Greenville, South Carolina his home. He also has a love/hate relationship with the New York Mets and Jets.