It flew under the radar last week during the frenzy of action at the NFL trade deadline, and frankly because Arizona might be one of the sleepier markets in football right now. But the Cardinals and QB Kyler Murray took a major step toward a split this past week. Whether the team calls it a benching or not, Murray won’t be starting for the foreseeable future — and he might not regain his job ever.

How did the Cardinals get here with their former No. 1 pick? What’s next for the team? What’s next for Murray? We try to sort it all out here.

How Did Murray & The Cards Get Here?

The Cardinals drafted Murray with the No. 1 pick in the 2019 draft, with first-year HC Kliff Kingsbury championing Murray as the guy he wanted to build around. Kingsbury knew Murray from his time coaching college football in Texas, and while he didn’t land Murray at Texas Tech, he built a strong relationship with him. Murray was viewed as the optimal fit for the Air Raid scheme Kingsbury was bringing to the NFL.

The early returns were good. Murray won Offensive Rookie of the Year in 2019 and Arizona was 5-10-1 in the first year of the rebuild under Kingsbury. In Year 2, Murray had 37 total touchdowns, including 11 on the ground, and made the first of two straight Pro Bowls. The following season, the Cardinals looked like one of the league’s top teams for the first half of the year with a 7-1 start and went on to make the playoffs thanks to 29 total touchdowns from Murray.

That was the peak for both Murray and Kingsbury. Murray got banged up in Arizona’s first loss in 2021, missed a few games and then was at less than 100 percent when he came back. The Cardinals fizzled a bit down the stretch — a recurring theme for both Kingsbury and Murray — and got trounced by the Rams in the wildcard round. Kingsbury got a brand-new contract in the offseason, as did Murray, but the following year was rough for both.

Frustrations between the two men bubbled to the surface during the 2022 season as the losses piled up. The Cardinals were 3-8 when Murray tore his ACL, ending a season that was already on the rocks. Kingsbury was fired, as was longtime GM Steve Keim, as Arizona wiped the slate completely clean and hired a brand-new regime.

At that point, Murray had already been a polarizing player for some time, with the hype of his first three years cooling and the criticisms intensifying as he and the Cardinals failed to find sustained success. Not many current quarterbacks have taken more arrows about their leadership skills, and not just from the talking heads but from current and former teammates. Some of that could be chalked up to growing pains for a young quarterback, particularly one who already has a more laid-back and reserved personality (some would...