Going into 2023, Kyler Murray’s future with the Arizona Cardinals appeared murky.

The young quarterback was recovering from a torn ACL he suffered during the second half of last season, and his relationship with the Cardinals’ organization appeared questionable.

There were even rumors that Arizona could trade Murray, although nothing materialized on that front.

Murray returned to the field in the middle of November, and in seven games, he has been impressive, throwing for 1,537 yards and nine touchdowns and five interceptions while completing 64.7 percent of his passes and posting a passer rating of 86.8. In addition, he has rushed for 211 yards and three scores.

Cardinals head coach Jonathan Gannon made an appearance on the Burns and Gambo Show on Arizona Sports this week and spoke about Murray this week, giving the signal-caller quite the vote of confidence moving forward.

“There is no doubt. ‘Number 1’ is our franchise quarterback,” Gannon said, via Darren Urban of the Cardinals’ official team website.

Arizona has gone 3-4 since Murray has returned, and while that may not seem great, it’s a massive upgrade from the 1-8 record the team had posted without him this season.

Murray, who played his collegiate football at the University of Oklahoma, was originally selected by the Cardinals with the No. 1 overall pick of the 2019 NFL Draft.

He enjoyed an impressive rookie campaign and then made back-to-back Pro Bowl appearances in 2020 and 2021, leading Arizona to the playoffs in the latter season.

However, Murray took a considerable step backward last year and before ultimately going down for the year in the Cardinals’ 11th game of the season.

Kyler Murray signed a $230.5 million contract extension with Arizona just ahead of the 2022 campaign.

The Cardinals are 4-12 and are coming off of an impressive road win over the Philadelphia Eagles. They will wrap up the regular season when they take on the Seattle Seahawks this Sunday.