Poe the Raven
Well-known member
- Mar 16, 2019
- 2,040
- 0
Getty Images
Cardinals quarterback Kyler Murray‘s stellar rookie season featured less running than anyone expected. His even-more-stellar second season has, so far, featured more.
While it’s still very early, Murray’s willingness to take off and to do so in a way that avoids hits and potential injuries puts him on pace to do much more on the ground than he did last year — and possibly to do more running with the football than any quarterback ever has.
Through 16 games in 2019, Murray ran the ball 93 times for 522 yards and four touchdowns. That works out to 5.81 rushing attempts per game, 5.61 yards per attempt, 32.6 yards per game, and one touchdown every four games.
Through two games in 2020, Murray has 21 runs for 158 yards and three touchdowns. That’s 10.5 per game, 7.5 yards per attempt, 79 yards per game, and 1.5 touchdowns per game.
Extrapolating these numbers over the course of a full season, that’s 1,264 rushing yards and 24 rushing touchdowns. Although the touchdown rate will be difficult to maintain, Murray’s raw abilities relative to those of the opposing defenses will make it easier for him to keep running circles around would-be tacklers. And if he gets to 1,264 yards, he’d break the single-season rushing record for quarterbacks, set just last year by Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson, with 1,206.