ARIZONA — The Arizona Cardinals are just days away from their 2024 regular season beginning, and though the team went 4-13 last season, expectations are much higher around the desert as the new year arrives.

Most of those high opinions come with the expectation of quarterback Kyler Murray – who is now fully healthy after making a recovery from ACL surgery – taking the next step in 2024.

The Athletic certainly thinks he will.

In his list of ten predictions for the 2024 NFL season, Mike Jones highlighted Murray as a player who will “get his groove back” this year:

“Murray, the 2018 Heisman Trophy winner, entered the NFL with such promise but has endured all kinds of calamity in the last five years. He did garner Offensive Rookie of the Year honors and two Pro Bowl selections, but a subpar supporting cast, an ACL tear in 2022 and the firing of coach Kliff Kingsbury in January 2023 have prevented him from reaching his full potential,” wrote Jones.

“Murray worked his way back to play in the final eight games of last season and showed promise in new offensive coordinator Drew Petzing’s system. Now another year removed from his ACL surgery, a second season in Petzing’s offense and with rookie wide receiver Marvin Harrison Jr. by his side, look for Murray to reclaim his status as one of the NFL’s most electrifying playmakers. The Cardinals, who also boast a talented running back in James Conner and tight end in Trey McBride, just might give opposing defenses headaches this season as they try to return to relevance in the NFC West.”

Cardinals head coach Jonathan Gannon would agree with Jones, previously telling Spors Illustrated’s Albert Breer:

“When I got the job, clean slate, I said, What do you want to do?. I want to win Super Bowls. I want to be in the conversation of the elite. I said, O.K., you have to be on a good team to do that. You’re not going to be on a bad team and get talked about. You’re not going to win Super Bowls, and you’re not going to get talked about. As good as you could be, you’re not going to get in that conversation unless we’re good,” he said.

“I believe in you as a player. We’re going to improve you as a player. We’re going to push you. I just need you to impress your competitiveness and your will to win on the team. He’s done everything.”

Murray and the Cardinals begin their season on Sunday in a tough road test against the Buffalo Bills.