Cards' Gannon pumped to work with Kyler: We'll have 'a great relationship'

New Arizona Cardinals head coach Jonathan Gannon can't wait to work with quarterback Kyler Murray.

"We're going to have a great relationship," Gannon said Thursday during his introductory press conference, according to Darren Urban of azcardinals.com. "He's a direct reflection of me. That position is the player that's most like a coach on that field."

The Cardinals hired Gannon after he served as the Philadelphia Eagles' defensive coordinator over the last two seasons. He'll replace Kliff Kingsbury, whom Arizona fired after going 4-13 in 2022.

Kingsbury and Murray both helped Arizona improve its offense upon joining the team in 2019, although the coach was often questioned over his inconsistent play-calling. The two also publicly clashed on occasion and reportedly had to work on communication issues midway through the 2022 campaign.

Murray - the 2019 Offensive Rookie of the Year - suffered a torn ACL in Week 14. He reportedly isn't expected to be ready for the start of the 2023 season, but Gannon knows what the signal-caller will bring to the table once he's healthy.

"I used the term he's a problem to defend because of what he can do," Gannon said.

The 40-year-old added: "When you have to defend a player like that, it puts a defense in conflict. You can't do everything you want to do as a defense."

Gannon also said he won't decide who'll call plays on defense until his coaching staff is finalized. The Cardinals have yet to hire a new offensive coordinator.

"That's Step 1, we're starting to look at some different candidates (for OC)," Gannon added, according to Pro Football Talk's Myles Simmons. "But I have a very specific vision of how I want to play on offense. And the person that comes in here to run the offense is going to understand that everything we do will be structured around the quarterback position to maximize his skill set - and we have an elite one."

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