Hawaii quarterback Cole McDonald (13) seeks a receiver during the second quarter of the NCAA team’s college football game against Arizona on Saturday, August 24, 2019 in Honolulu. (AP Photo / Marco Garcia)
The Arizona Cardinals reportedly discovered quarterback Cole McDonald in late December, when holder Kyler Murray’s state of health at the end of the season looked hazy.
It turns out that it wasn’t just an emergency look.
Arizona on Thursday signed with McDonald after he visited the cardinals again earlier this week.
McDonald signed a future contract with a chance to impress the Cardinals in the next off-season. And there are several questions from the quarterback at stake behind Murray.
The Cardinals’ third stringer in 2020, Brett Hundley, will be a free agent when the league’s new year begins. Reserve, Chris Streveler, had a tough game in his only significant action, a week 17 loss to the Los Angeles Rams.
Streveler, a rookie who started his professional career in the Canadian Football League, replaced injured Murray at the end of the season and made 11 of 16 for 105 yards, a touchdown and an interception before Murray returned.
McDonald was selected in the seventh round of the 2020 draft by the Tennessee Titans, but was released on August 19.
As a junior in Hawaii in 2019, the 6-foot-3, 215-pound quarterback recorded 4,135 passing yards (the third in the country), 33 touchdowns and ran for 383 yards and seven hits in 101 attempts.
In three seasons in Hawaii, McDonald accumulated 8,032 yards, 70 touchdowns and 24 interceptions in 61.4% of passes (326 out of 511).
He accumulated an additional 880 yards and 12 touchdowns in 251 races.
