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Kyler Murray's resurgence, Cooper DeJean's impact, more Week 8 thoughts: Quick Outs

30 October 2024Last Update :
Kyler Murray's resurgence, Cooper DeJean's impact, more Week 8 thoughts: Quick Outs

Week 8 was a whirlwind of an NFL slate. It was hard to know what deserved the spotlight and what didn’t, and even now, I feel bad about some of the stuff that got left on the cutting room floor. The football was just that good over the weekend.

So what did make the cut? This week’s Quick Outs features two stellar quarterbacks on rebuilding teams, an emerging star at tight end and the skeleton key that might unlock the Philadelphia Eagles’ defense.

Let’s jump into it.

QB charting: Kyler Murray

Between his multiple injuries and a whimpering end to the Kliff Kingsbury era a couple years ago, it’s been easy to forget how good Murray could be at his best. The pint-sized passer had fallen out of the spotlight in a “what have you done for me lately” league, and there was no guarantee he would ever reach MVP candidate heights again.

If Sunday’s game against the Miami Dolphins was any indication, though, Murray still has that kind of play in him.

Murray’s 26-for-36 (72.2 percent) accuracy profile is respectable on its own, but it gets better when you look at where some of his “misses” happened. Murray’s first two passes were batted at the line of scrimmage on the Cardinals’ first drive — one on a screen, the other on a quick throw over the middle. He’s short. That’s going to happen.

Murray also had three throwaways in this game, two of which came on a drive that started with 18 seconds left before the half, so those plays probably weren’t going to amount to anything anyway. I’m not going to really hold those against him as misses, though, technically, they are.

Outside of those plays, Murray was on fire. In particular, his work in the intermediate and deep areas was outstanding.

Kyler Murray’s Week 8 numbers
Comp Att TDs WR Adj Pass Def
Total
26
36 (3 throwaways)
2
3
5
Under pressure
4
9 (3 throwaways)
1
1
1
Out of pocket
4
8 (3 throwaways)
1
0
1
5-plus pass rushers
6
11 (1 throwaway)
0
0
4
Man coverage
5
7
0
1
1
Zone coverage
19
26 (3 throwaways)
2
2
3
Tight-window throws
6
10
1
0
3
Open-window throws
18
20
1
3
1

The offense really got rolling on the second drive of the game with a deep over route to Marvin Harrison Jr., over the head of Miami’s second-level defenders. Murray capped off that same drive by escaping a free rusher in the red zone and finding Michael Wilson from outside the pocket.

He was hitting intermediate throws with timing, too. Murray found Wilson again on a stop route in tight coverage in the second quarter, and he hit Harrison on a deep dig route in traffic to convert second-and-15 on the final drive of the game.

But Murray’s rocket to Harrison late in the third quarter was the real standout moment. To get that ball to the sideline with velocity while giving it just enough lift to stay over the head of the trailing cornerback was an outrageous feat of arm talent. Murray can give you three or four of those superstar throws a game, and the Cardinals absolutely needed them Sunday.

None of that even touches on Murray’s ability as a runner. Not only did Murray outrun free rushers time and again, he also iced the game on a third-and-4 designed run after a Dolphins defender crashed the backfield straight away. Murray’s ability to accelerate to full speed in the blink of an eye so often serves as a “get out of jail free” card for this offense.

Murray’s resurgence is good for the sport. There will always be some frustrations with his game, namely the batted passes and roller-coaster accuracy in quick-game operation. He isn’t as consistent as the league’s best on a game-to-game basis. Still, even with that in mind, Murray’s best ball is exhilarating and makes this Cardinals squad a tough out every single week.

Needle-mover: Eagles DB Cooper DeJean

The simplest explanation for the Philadelphia Eagles’ turnaround over the past three weeks is their schedule — a game each against Deshaun Watson and Daniel Jones, another against a Tee Higgins-less Cincinnati Bengals squad.

Part of it still feels real, though. The communication and quality of play in the Philadelphia back end have taken a step in the right direction. There are probably a few reasons for that, but none are as obvious as DeJean now being in the lineup.

The rookie, billed as a do-it-all defensive back out of college, has taken over the Eagles’ nickel spot. And the Bengals game alone made clear the type of impact he can have on this unit moving forward.

DeJean’s awareness was the first thing that stood out. Despite Joe Burrow playing an outstanding first half, DeJean nearly picked him in the second quarter after passing off a vertical route in zone coverage and melting back to the middle of the field to defend a dig — a half-step faster and that was DeJean’s ball all the way.

Better still, there was a play in the third quarter on which DeJean pointed out Cincinnati’s motion of wide receiver Trenton Irwin before Irwin even moved.

By doing so, DeJean got his linebackers to bump across the moment Burrow turned his head to look at Irwin before the snap. It’s not often a rookie is that locked in.

DeJean’s pure coverage skills are no joke, either. The Bengals have gotten better about finding ways to put Ja’Marr Chase in the slot, but that didn’t prove to be an issue for DeJean. Chase got him once on a slant route in the end zone, but DeJean was otherwise up to the task — both against Chase and everyone else. For instance, DeJean bullied Andrei Iosivas on a slant route to force a tight-window incompletion late in the second quarter.

Then there’s the tackling. It’s no mystery why some scouts and draft experts thought DeJean could play safety.

On this play, the Bengals tried to rattle DeJean with the back-and-forth motion behind the line of scrimmage on a pivotal fourth-and-1. DeJean didn’t falter. Instead, he fired out to the flat the instant the ball was snapped and hawked down Chase behind the line of scrimmage. That’s teach-tape stuff when it comes to pursuit angles and confident tackling.

Being that DeJean plays in the middle of the Philadelphia defense, his all-around skill set goes a long way in providing stability and flexibility to a unit that needed a shot of both.

Stat check: Packers TE Tucker Kraft’ yards after catch over expected

The Packers’ entire pass-catching corps is made up of rookie-contract players, many of whom took their first snaps just last year, so there had to be at least one breakout guy in that mix. It was just a matter of which one it would be.

Eight weeks in, it’s become clear the answer is Kraft.

He doesn’t pop off the page from an opportunity perspective (11th in routes run and tied for 16th in targets among tight ends, according to TruMedia). Some of that has to do with Malik Willis playing 10 quarters of QB for this Packers team, but still.

Kraft makes the most of every touch, though, because of what he can do with the ball in his hands. A 6-foot-5, 254-pound tank, Kraft runs heavy through contact and light when he has a chance to weave through traffic.

Per NFL Pro, Kraft ranks fourth in the entire league — yes, including receivers — in yards after the catch over expected (YACOE). The only players ahead of him are obvious YAC stars Chase and CeeDee Lamb, as well as Chris Godwin.

Kraft’s 67-yarder against the Jaguars put his entire skill set on display. He started the play running a seam bender but saw quarterback Jordan Love breaking the pocket after a couple seconds. As any sharp player would, Kraft came off his initial route and drifted into open grass down the field for his aggressive quarterback.

Love put it on him, and it was the Kraft show after that. Kraft made the first defender miss, only to one-up that feat by hand fighting with safety Andre Cisco for another 20 yards. Awareness, natural ball-carrier instincts, toughness — all of the top-tier tight end skills are clear to see in Kraft’s game.

The cherry on top? Kraft is a hell of a blocker, and he deserves a healthy portion of the credit for Green Bay’s success on the ground and with play action. He’s a true dirty-work Y tight end who also happens to move like a polar bear with the ball in his hands.

Kraft is fast approaching the first tier of NFL tight ends, and it feels as though he is only beginning to scratch the surface of his potential.

Scramble Drill: The Chargers are boring … but Justin Herbert is balling again

I’m not going to sell you stock in the Los Angeles Chargers. Their run game is non-functional, their receiving corps is led by a 185-pound rookie, and it’s hard to gauge how real their defense is given the cupcake schedule they’ve seen for a majority of the season.

The quarterback, though? He’s on a heater. Herbert has been as good as any quarterback in the league this season, especially as of late.

It’s hard to make that case statistically — Herbert ranks 12th in completion percentage over expected and 15th in EPA per dropback, according to NFL Pro. Not bad, but hardly among the league’s elite.

The eye test is much more favorable. Sunday’s game against the New Orleans Saints was as good of proof as any. Herbert delivered at least five throws that made me jump out of my seat. We don’t have time to go through them all, but two stand out above the rest.

Go ahead and count how many quarterbacks can heave a 40-yard javelin while a linebacker takes away their space to step into the throw. It won’t take long. And for Herbert, it’s not just that he can do it, it’s that it looked relatively easy for him. He was not straining at all.

It’s not only those crowded moments in the pocket where Herbert shines, either. Get him rolling outside of the pocket, and you see his outrageous arm talent just the same.

Herbert’s core strength is silly. It looked like his legs and arms are corkscrewed around the rest of his body on this throw. Uncomfortable as it appeared, though, Herbert maintained a stable throwing posture and rifled this ball into the only spot it could go: the top shelf.

That kind of velocity and control while rolling left is not something you should expect from most quarterbacks. Only a handful of guys in the league are blessed with that physical ability.

I understand that some people are tired of Herbert being consistently put in the spotlight despite years of underwhelming team success — it does not compute with our general understanding of the sport. Regardless, Herbert has been (and continues to be) one of the league’s best. There’s no doubt in my mind about that.

(Illustration: Eamonn Dalton / The Athletic; top photo of Kyler Murray: Carmen Mandato / Getty Images)

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