Kyler Murray Has Removed All Cardinals-Related Content from His Instagram and Unfollowed Them

The last time the general public has heard from Kyler Murray, he was Retweeting this Quote Tweet from Mike Evans after seemingly appearing to have a good time at the Pro Bowl. 

But this being the 2020s, things never what they seem and the internet is reality. And the way you express your displeasure is via your social media. The days of calling your GM and telling him exactly what you think went out with Denis Lemieux:

And with that, we get this report about Murray:

Now to be fair, lately Murray has had a few falling outs with people he ought not have a grudge with:

… but burning all your cyber bridges with the team that selected you No. 1 overall just three drafts ago, with two years left on your rookie deal is a bold move, to say the least. I mean, not only did the Cardinals use the first pick on him, they did so just one draft after using the 10th pick on Josh Rosen. In fact, they brought in Kliff Kingsbury that offseason, opened the gate of the Chocolate Factory and told him he could pick out any candy he wanted. And he chose Murray. It paid off this year with a playoff berth, the franchise's first since 2015. And even though the game was objectively awful for the Cardinals in general and Murray in particular:

… I don't see how anyone would've seen this coming. 

All of which begs the question what Murray wants. While very much seeming to answer the question of what he doesn't want, which is any association with his current employer. 

Assuming this is one of those NBA-style forcing-a-trade move that are starting to make their way incrementally into the NFL, it's a bold move, indeed. It's one thing if it's Deshaun Watson, Aaron Rodgers or JJ Watt who are disgruntled to the point they demand to be moved. They've got NBA-caliber leverage. Which a Murray has yet to achieve. He's got roughly a 2-to-1 TDs-to-INTs ratio and a 93.9 career passer rating, which is fine and promising. But neither "fine" nor "promising" has ever equaled enough juice to force a team to abandon its franchise QB 60% of the way through his rookie contract. So this is nothing short of astonishing. 

As far as what he does want, it's hard not to notice the last thing he's posted involves Mike Evans, who is on another NFC team that's loaded with talent but has a sudden opening at quarterback. That post also mentioned Texas, which has one franchise that also might be shopping for a QB. Green Bay might have a job opening as well. Pittsburgh too. In the roster uncertainty that this time of year brings, all bets are off. Quarterback dominoes are about to fall, and they'll likely fall into five or six of the eight divisions.

But the theory I like best is Murray is not interested in any of those landing spots. And that he gave the Cardinals all the non-verbal clues as to what his intentions were back at Christmas time.

Kyler Murray, leaving football altogether to go back to the Oakland A's. Book it.