In 2006, Michael Vick became the first quarterback in NFL history to rush for 1,000 yards in a season. Defensive coordinators spent entire game weeks trying to solve one problem: what happens when the quarterback decides to leave the pocket? Nearly two decades later, former NFL general manager Steve Keim says the Arizona Cardinals faced the opposite problem with Kyler Murray.
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“One thing I have not told anybody is that when I drafted him with the first pick overall, the one thing that obviously was a huge benefit was his feet and his legs and his ability to run and make plays out of the pocket,” Keim said on the Inside Football show. “The one problem we had was he refused at times to run the ball. We had designed runs for him, and he told our coaches he didn’t feel comfortable running the football and didn’t want to put himself in harm’s way.
“So obviously he is adapting to KOC’s [Kevin O’Connell] offense. He’s getting more familiar with it, and hopefully he’s built some confidence within that system, and he’s going to be able to use his legs, continuing to use his legs because that’s a benefit for that team.”
Steve Keim was the general manager of the Arizona Cardinals from 2013 to 2022. Just one year after trading up to draft quarterback Josh Rosen in the first round of the 2018 draft, Keim faced pressure. At the same time, when Kliff Kingsbury was hired as head coach in 2019, Keim admitted he was initially highly reluctant to even watch Kyler Murray’s college tape.
However, once he did, he fell in love with Murray’s rare playmaking ability. Under his leadership, the franchise drafted the quarterback in 2019. In 2018, in his final college year with Oklahoma, Murray threw for 4,361 yards and 42 touchdowns alongside 1,001 rushing yards and 12 rushing touchdowns.
But after entering the NFL, his rushing numbers dropped.
The 2020 season was his breakout year in terms of running the ball, where he racked up 819 yards and 11 touchdowns.
Per Steve Keim, Kyler Murray was initially reluctant about pursuing his rushing game in the NFL. In 2019, Murray suffered a minor hamstring tweak in his rookie season. Then in 2021, he missed three games due to an ankle sprain, followed by a torn ACL in late 2022.
In the 2025 season, Murray missed 12 games due to a midfoot sprain. The string of lower-body injuries may have naturally sapped some of his dynamic, track-star speed.
Murray himself has been vocal about the physical toll of his running style, especially following his return from a concussion suffered on a Week 1 scramble against the Green Bay Packers, where he revealed the reality of trying to play safely.
“I’ve really never had an issue protecting myself,” Murray said. “I’d like to think I’m one of the least-hit quarterbacks in the league as far as just protecting myself, getting the ball out and stuff like that.”
So far, in the 2026 season, Kyler Murray has racked up just 93 yards in four games. It will be interesting to see if he switches back to the rushing game he had in his college years.