DJ Siddiqi is a sports reporter who focuses on football, basketball, baseball and pro wrestling. He has covered some of the biggest sporting events, including the NBA Finals and Wrestlemania and often interviews high-profile athletes....
Read Full BioIt feels like the Arizona Cardinals and Kyler Murray are heading for an inevitable divorce, and everyone knows it — even Tyrann Mathieu.
The Cardinals are currently playing out their 2025 season without Murray, who recently landed on injured reserve due to a foot injury he sustained in October. The injury means that the earliest Murray can return to the lineup is Week 14, with the Cardinals likely having little to play for after they dropped to 3-8 following their loss against the Jacksonville Jaguars.
Veteran journeyman quarterback Jacoby Brissett has started in place of Murray. Brissett has thrown 11 touchdowns and three interceptions with a 66.8% completion rate and 97.0 passer rating. By comparison, Murray has six touchdowns against three interceptions with a 68.3% completion rate and 88.6 passer rating.
Murray is on a five-year, $230.5 million contract, while Brissett was signed to a two-year, $12.5 million backup deal.
Mathieu — who started out his career with the Cardinals in 2013 and played five seasons for the franchise — says it wouldn’t hurt for Murray and Arizona to both get a fresh start in the offseason.
“It’s a lot of money that’s being thrown around to these quarterbacks, and I think at the end of the day, it’s all about wins and losses,” Mathieu told CasinoBeats in an exclusive interview. “I think, a lot of times it’s not a bad thing to start over or restart, go somewhere else to get a fresh breath. I think Kyler may need that, I think the Cardinals may need that. It’s a lot of money they’re paying him.”
Murray is certainly a talented quarterback and he put that on display when he clinched back-to-back Pro Bowl bids during the 2020 and 2021 seasons. The former top overall pick in the draft also led the Cardinals to a playoff berth during the 2021 season while posting 24 touchdowns with a 100.6 passer rating.
However, he has struggled to regain that form in recent years and has failed to maintain his health. Murray has appeared in just 41 of a possible 62 games since the 2022 season, with last season being his lone healthy year during that time frame.
Murray is paid an average annual value of slightly more than $46 million, which makes him one of the 12 highest-paid quarterbacks in the NFL.
“I think Kyler is still very much talented,” Mathieu said. “I think he’s still a really good quarterback, but I think both (sides) are looking for different situations. I think Kyler is probably wanting to go to a team that has a little bit more help, structured a little better. I think with the Cardinals, they want to find guys that want to be there. It’s a long road ahead, but I think at some point these two will probably go their separate ways.”
Mathieu: Murray Would Be Good Fit With Dolphins
When asked of a possible destination where he could see it working from a schematic standpoint, Mathieu mentions the Miami Dolphins.
The Dolphins certainly have a talented cast of playmakers in Tyreek Hill, Jaylen Waddle, De’Von Achane, and Darren Waller. They also have one of the best offensive minds in Mike McDaniel, assuming he retains his head coaching position past this season.
However, they’re also locked in by a contract conundrum with their own franchise quarterback, Tua Tagovailoa, who has also faced his own struggles this season. The Dolphins signed Tagovailoa to a four-year, $212.4 million contract before the start of the 2024 season.
It’ll be hard for the Dolphins to move off of that, but Mathieu believes Murray would be a good fit for Miami.
“He’s so dynamic,” says Mathieu of Murray. “I think at the quarterback position, it’s hard to find those guys that can kind of do it all. For him, a great team, I can see him with Miami, one of those types of teams. Those relationships are kind of hard to judge sometimes because I don’t know what Kyler particularly needs, but I think a change of scenery is for sure needed.”
It wouldn’t be unheard of for Murray to revive his career elsewhere. Daniel Jones has done that this season with the Indianapolis Colts after hitting rock bottom with the New York Giants. Sam Darnold has experienced a similar career renaissance over the past two seasons with the Seattle Seahawks and Minnesota Vikings.
“Yeah, absolutely,” says Mathieu about whether he can see Murray having a revival elsewhere. “It’s all about the coach, too. I think in this league, the team that they have, the head coach and the quarterback have a great relationship. Those teams are usually the most successful, and you really want to see him go to a team that really believes in him, that understands him.”
Assuming they move on from Murray, the Cardinals may be in the hunt for a quarterback in next year’s draft. However, Mathieu isn’t sure who the Cardinals or other teams should target at the top of the draft, considering the previously highly regarded prospects, such as Texas Longhorns QB Arch Manning, have fizzled.
“I say the guys that I had — you talk about the kid from Penn State (Drew Allar) and Arch Manning — I still feel like those guys need another year or so,” says Mathieu of the 2026 quarterback class. “That’s kind of tough to tell, because a lot of the guys I had in mind, they didn’t really start that season the way we wanted. I think everybody’s kind of rearranging their top-10 quarterbacking class.”
Mathieu: Lane Kiffin, Kenny Dillingham Great Fits for LSU
Meanwhile, Mathieu’s alma mater, LSU, is searching for its next head coach after firing Brian Kelly a few weeks prior. The betting favorite to land the job is Lane Kiffin, who has a history of coaching at big-time schools.
The Ole Miss coach has previously had stops at Tennessee and USC, and the Florida Gators are also currently courting Kiffin.
LSU is currently finalizing an offer for seven years and up to $98 million, which would equate to $14 million annually and make Kiffin the highest-paid coach in college football.
Mathieu believes Kiffin would be a great fit for the Tigers. He also mentions Arizona State head coach Kenny Dillingham, who led the team to a surprise College Football Playoff run after they were projected to finish last in the Big 12 entering last season.
“Lane would be a perfect fit,” says Mathieu. “I think that’ll be cinematic of him being in Baton Rouge. Obviously, he’s probably the safest pick. I think Frank Wilson being an interim coach right now, that’s offering them some type of stability, especially with being on the recruiting trail because Frank is such a great recruiter.
“I think about the coach in Arizona, Kenny Dillingham — he’s young, he’s full of energy, he’s able to get ASU to a bowl game and the playoffs. That’s special. To see a guy like that in an LSU environment, where he has all the bells and whistles, I can only imagine how far he could possibly take the Tigers.
“Any one of those three guys, in my opinion, would do us just right,” Mathieu continues to say. “Obviously, Lane’s at the top of the list. But I think a guy like Frank and Kenny, I think you’re not settling for those guys, because both of those guys are really good coaches as well.”
When asked if he has any sort of relationship with Kiffin, Mathieu says he does not. The former Heisman Trophy finalist says his only real contact with Kiffin came as a senior in high school. He attended the coach’s camp in Tennessee while deciding which school to attend.
Mathieu says he was not offered a scholarship by Kiffin, but says he doesn’t hold it against the head coach, considering he was just a “5-foot-8, 150-pound kid” at the time. Mathieu would go on to become one of the greatest college defensive backs of all time and would emerge as one of the best in the NFL, notching four All-Pro selections and three Pro Bowl berths.
“The only relationship I have with Lane was way back in 2009-2010, I went to his camp in Tennessee,” Mathieu details. “I had a great camp. I felt like I dominated the seven-on-seven and one-on-one portions, and Lane did not give me a scholarship. Every time I played against him, I always reminded him about that. But to his credit, he didn’t know I was gonna be who I was. I always poke fun at him about that, because I really didn’t want to go to Tennessee — I wanted to go to LSU.”
The recently retired Mathieu is keeping busy in his post-football career, with the former playmaking safety serving as an analyst for Peacock’s MaddenCast broadcast of the Baltimore Ravens’ game against the Cincinnati Bengals on Thanksgiving.
He’s also keeping busy with his “In The Bayou” podcast, which is presented by the 33rd Team and FanDuel. It recently released its first episode.
“This past week, we dropped our first ‘In The Bayou’ podcast,” says Mathieu. “(With) one of my best friends growing up, we’re just talking about ball, talking about life, we’re talking about culture. I’m talking about Louisiana and the water. That’s been fun. Obviously, next week, everybody can catch me on the MaddenCast for the Bengals and Ravens. I’m looking forward to that.”
