The Los Angeles Rams under Sean McVay have become somewhat of a “rehabilitation” team for players in the NFL. Several players have revived their careers under McVay and within the Rams’ organization, most notably being former Oklahoma Sooners quarterback Baker Mayfield.

Could another former Sooners quarterback make sense to join that pipeline to revive his career? NFL.com’s Kevin Patra named the Rams as a potential landing spot for former Arizona Cardinals quarterback Kyler Murray, and it’s worth considering.

Kyler Murray to the Rams?

Patra’s rationale is interesting.

“If Murray sees no path to a starting gig, he could do worse than spending a year in the QB rehab facility in L.A. We saw what five games under Sean McVay did for Baker Mayfield’s career. That could be appealing for Murray. Los Angeles is in need of a backup behind league MVP Matthew Stafford, with Jimmy Garoppolo hitting free agency. Stafford is returning, but for a 38-year-old player entering Year 18, there are no guarantees — especially considering the serious questions about his back last summer. The presence of Murray’s former coach, Kliff Kingsbury, on McVay’s staff would also add a familiar face and someone with institutional knowledge of the QB. Again, I think this is only a landing spot if Murray doesn’t get a shot at a starting gig.”

Let’s break it down further.

Why Kyler in LA would make sense

Kyler Murray would give the Rams a different skill set offensively in the event of Stafford going down or missing time. Again, Stafford is aging, and aging quarterbacks tend to begin falling off about the 300-350 attempt mark. Stafford was affected by that drop off even despite missing all of the offseason workouts. There’s no guarantee he won’t miss time next season, and the Rams should do whatever it takes to ensure the offense still has life in case he does get hurt. Murray could also have more time to recover from his foot injury in LA on the bench.

While Murray isn’t necessarily the best scheme fit, there are a few things going his way. Obviously, the hire of Kliff Kingsbury would help in establishing some plays in the playbook Murray would be intimately familiar with. Additionally, another new hire in Brian Johnson has plenty of experience of his own with dual-threat quarterbacks at Utah, Florida, Mississippi State, the Philadelphia Eagles, and the Washington Commanders. Those two, along with Sean McVay, can create enough new plays in the playbook to help keep Murray flowing in the offense.

I’ve touched on this in the past, and it’s worth discussing here as well: McVay has long wanted another shot at a dual-threat quarterback. Hiring Kingsbury and Johnson could be a sign of evolving his playbook to accommodate that in their post-Stafford world. Why not take a swing with a player like Murray as a trial run while Stafford is still around? There’s no risk.

Issues with Murray and the Rams

Like I touched on prior, Murray isn’t a scheme fit with the Rams. He’s a mostly out-of-structure passer who doesn’t throw in the middle of the field and struggles taking advantage of the intermediate levels. If Stafford does go down, McVay has tended to lean on a backup who can keep the offense afloat (hence Jimmy Garoppolo) and won’t generally put them in a bad position. Murray…isn’t quite that mold.

Additionally, both he and Kliff Kingsbury bickered in the past, with a very infamous blow-up between the two on the sidelines in Kingsbury’s final season with the Cardinals. While both sides later brushed it off, we don’t know if Murray would want to be around Kingsbury or vice versa again.

The largest obstacle, however, is the fact that he won’t be a starter for Los Angeles. Teams like the Minnesota Vikings, New York Jets, Miami Dolphins, etc, are desperate enough to offer him a starting job, something the Rams obviously will not do.

There’s a lot of pros and cons to this, but I personally wouldn’t object to adding Murray on the vet minimum to replace Jimmy Garoppolo if he leaves.

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