Kyler Murray's late 2022 injury is going to play a big role in his 2023 season. According to NFL Network's Ian Rapoport, the Arizona Cardinals quarterback is expected to miss the start of next season as he rehabs his torn left ACL and meniscus. Murray and the Cardinals are reportedly so dedicated to making sure he comes back at 100 percent that it's possible he might not return to the field until halfway through the 2023 season.

"My understanding is he is going to take his time and make sure this thing is 100 percent right," Rapoport said on NFL Network. "He is young. He's got a long career. He's not going to rush, so do not be surprised if we don't see him to start the season or maybe even by the midway point. This injury has to heal perfectly."

Murray's injury occurred in Week 14 against the New England Patriots, just three games before the end of a disastrous season that had gone off the rails months before he busted his knee. The Cardinals were 4-9 in games Murray started in 2022, and it's hard to argue their 0-4 finish to the season would have gone differently if Murray had been there.

It's also hard to argue that the Cardinals would have done anything differently at the end of the season had Murray not gotten injured. It was clear long before Week 14 that major changes were coming to the team once the final snap had been played. Kliff Kingsbury had been ineffective over his four seasons as head coach and was fired, and general manager Steve Keim stepped down.

Changes are coming — a new head coach, a new offensive system, and there's already a new GM installed — but they'll likely have to take root without Murray under center, at least for awhile. The Cardinals will have to start the season with someone else at quarterback while Murray rehabs, and then that guy will have to step back to make way for a healthy Murray. That won't be an easy transition to manage, especially for a first-year head coach.

But that transition is in the far-off future. Right now, Murray is rehabbing his surgically reconstructed knee, which we saw an image of in a recent Instagram Story.