The Arizona Cardinals are taking a chance on Jonathan Gannon to be their head coach of the future, but one position the franchise is not keen on changing anytime soon is who mans the quarterback position.
During his introductory press conference, Cardinals owner Michael Bidwell had the following to say about Gannon's plans with Kyler Murray.
"It's the view that he had of our elite quarterback and getting him back to being the playmaker that he is and making sure we build around him and put our players in positions, especially Kyler [Murray], as our quarterback to really get after it," Bidwell stated.
Gannon later explained that he views Murray as a "legit problem for defenses" owing to his ability to be a dual-threat quarterback and is looking forward to guiding Murray into that next level.
"These are the things that we're going to do with him that's gonna help him move all the way up and down the field and score a bunch of points, and be explosive and protect the football," Gannon said.
The Cardinals' hopeful start to the season sputtered out and had them entering the offseason with a 4-13 record featuring a seven-game losing streak to close out the 2022 NFL season.
A disastrous campaign would turn into a lost one in Week 14 against the New England Patriots when Murray suffered a non-contact injury in their opening drive of the game and was later diagnosed with a torn ACL.
Seeing Murray crumple down on the field after making a cut to avoid the Patriots defense had Arizona fans wondering what the future holds for them under center.
In Gannon's eyes, he is doubling down on Murray for whenever he comes back from his injury which has no timeline yet, but his recent workout video has fans buzzing about it.
"Just as an overall general philosophy of being adaptable, we're going to maximize Kyler's [Murray] skillset. We're going to be adaptable. We're going to generate explosives," Gannon remarked.
Outside of Murray, the former Philadelphia Eagles defensive coordinator noted that he will be preparing his new team to be "situationally smart" and follow every piece of advice he gives them, before confidently saying that "If you do those things, you'll be in the playoffs".
Gannon's two-year tenure in Philadelphia ended in disaster as he was outcoached by Kansas City chiefs offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy and head coach Andy Reid in Super Bowl LVII.
It came to a point that Eagles fans were ripping into what they and other observers perceived as Gannon's soft play-calling which allowed Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes to dissect their defense with ease.
Now in Arizona, Gannon has a clean slate to prove to everyone that he has a lot more to offer as a first-time head coach–especially in guiding their franchise quarterback.
