David Johnson on Kyler Murray: “He’s Going to be Scary for Defenses”

The arrival of Kyler Murray to the NFL caused a lot of attention. As soon as the NCAA season ended, the hype surrounding this guy appeared, and that was something rarely seen.

Back then, we could see, hear, and read all sorts of opinions about him, his skills, size, playing IQ. At the moment, the situation is a bit calmer, but Murray’s name is still very frequent in all the media.

The latest interview in which Murray’s abilities appeared as one of the topics, took place yesterday. Only this time, the person who was speaking was none other than No.1 pick’s teammate David Johnson.

One of the best running backs in the league had only kind words about Cardinals’ future leader, expressing his belief in rookie’s huge impact on the league.

“He’s going to be great,” Johnson said of Murray.

ICYMI: @AZCardinals star RB @DavidJohnson31 tells @AdamSchein that Kyler Murray is going to be dominant right away in Kliff Kingsbury's offense & he reminds him of Russell Wilson pic.twitter.com/GxBVZrylRX

— Mad Dog Sports Radio (@MadDogRadio) June 12, 2019

After seeing the 21-year old at the minicamp, and the way he played, Johnson does not doubt that Cardinals did the right thing by picking him first. For him, Murray has everything that takes for one to be an elite quarterback.

Many spoke about the fact that Murray’s scrambling might be something which will create more problems for him than be an advantage. Still, Johnson doesn’t see it that way.

“It’s going to be scary for D-linemen. I remember I was just talking to Chandler [Jones], he has to kind of hesitate when he chases [Murray] down.”

Johnson also mentioned that most of the people focus only on Murray’s running game and that in fact, he has excellent throwing skills, which are unfairly underrated.

“People are really underestimating his ability to throw,” the 28-year old RB said, explaining that the rookie has shown his quality in the recent practices. “He can throw dimes, and he can throw the ball down the field, he’s been throwing it deep to Christian [Kirk] and those guys in the OTAs.”

During the previous season, former Oklahoma Sooner had 260 completions from 377 attempts, recording 4,361 yards and 42 TDs along with only 7 interceptions. He became only the second player in college history with more than 4,000 passing and 1,000 rushing yards. The first one was DeShaun Watson in 2015.

There is no doubt that coach Kliff Kingsbury knows how to use this. In today’s football, where the mobility of the quarterback slowly becomes something normal, and is valued as much as throwing, Murray might be the guy who has the best from both.

And when you have a guy like Johnson who can tear apart any defensive line in the league, the versatility of the rookie will only become more useful. Just for a minute imagine having two guys who can run the ball at any time, and not just run, but to bring yards.

The defenses will have a lot of problems against the Cardinals, once their offense clicks.

Among other things, Johnson mentioned Josh Rosen, the No.10 pick from the last year’s draft. The 22-year old QB who came from UCLA had to go away because of Murray’s arrival. According to the Cardinals’ RB, Rosen will become one of the best quarterbacks in the league.

“I’ve been telling everyone; I believe he is going to become one of the most dominant quarterbacks in this league.”

In the beginning, there were some rumors that Arizona might keep both of the youngsters on the roster, but eventually, they sent Rosen to Miami Dolphins in return for 2019 second-round pick, and 2020 fifth-round pick.

Both of these guys are expected to be leaders and to showcase their talent in the upcoming season. Arizona could be one of the nicest surprises according to many pundits, and the reason for that is the No.1 pick.

Murray’s abilities will be seen for the first time on August 24th, when Cardinals face the Chargers in the first preseason game.

The regular part of the season starts on September 8th against the Detroit Lions at home.