Somers: It's not controversial. If Kyler Murray is healthy he should start

Backup quarterbacks tend to have high Q ratings, but those can be difficult to maintain once QB2 becomes QB1.

That’s not the case in Arizona. Over the last two years, Colt McCoy has made a habit of coming off the bench and helping the Cardinals offense look like a functional, productive unit.

It happened last year in two of the three games McCoy started in place of an injured Kyler Murray. And it happened again Sunday against the Rams when Murray sat out with a hamstring injury.

McCoy is 3-1 as a starter with the Cardinals, and folks are asking if there is a quarterback controversy in Arizona.

MOORE: No quarterback controversy in Arizona, it's Colt McCoy's job

No, there’s not. There is not a competition, either.

The starting job is Murray’s whenever his hamstring is healed, and that’s the way it should be. Murray is 25 and supremely talented.  The Cardinals are paying him star money, $230 million over five years, and he’s not going to become one watching someone else play quarterback for the Cardinals.

McCoy is 36. He’s been in the league 12 years. He’s now won 11 games as a starting quarterback. He’s neither the Cardinals future nor their present, but he is perfect in his current role as part-time starter and full-time mentor, not just to Murray, but to pretty much anyone on the roster.

Players on both sides of the ball rave about him and provide anecdotes of all the little things he does for teammates.

“He just makes everybody better,” cornerback Antonio Hamilton said.

How does McCoy make a cornerback better? Like this. In three consecutive games, Hamilton was beaten by a “7 cut,” which is a deep post route. He talked to McCoy about why it was happening.

McCoy told Hamilton he was using proper leverage but should give himself a little more space from the receiver at a certain point in the route. If you're right here, McCoy pointed out, the quarterback can't put the ball where he wants. Problem solved.

“I love talking to him,” Hamilton said.

“He can relate to anybody,” coach Kliff Kingsbury said. “He carries himself in a very humble manner. He loves the game as much as much as anybody I’ve been around. He want to talk to DBs about techniques that give him trouble and linebackers about how he’s going to use his eyes in a certain coverage.

“He’d be a phenomenal coach if he wanted to. Or he could run for governor of Texas (his home state) and be just as good. He’s kind of got the gamut covered there.”

The Cardinals signed McCoy a year ago because they wanted a better mentor for Murray. It proved to be a perfect fit, and McCoy signed a two-year deal last off-season that pays him $1.25 million this year and $3.75 million in 2023, most of it guaranteed.

There are lessons both Kingsbury and Murray could learn from McCoy’s four starts. For McCoy, Kingsbury has devised game plans to take advantage of McCoy’s ability to make pre-snap reads of coverage and to get rid of the ball quickly.

McCoy completed 26 of 37 passes for 238 yards, a touchdown and no turnovers in the 27-17 victory. The 27 points were one shy of tying a season high for the offense,

Against the Rams, said right tackle Kelvin Beachum, the Cardinals went back to some basic plays, which helped them trim the number of pre-snap penalties they had been making.

Those are things that could help Murray, too.

So who starts against the 49ers Monday night in Mexico City? It could be the healthiest of the two. Kingsbury said he wants Murray to be fully recovered from the hamstring injury before playing again. And last Sunday McCoy played through a knee injury that is likely to limit his practice time this week.

And what if both are healthy enough to play?

Murray. It’s an answer shouldn’t be controversial.

Reach Kent Somers at Kent.Somers@gannett.com. Follow him on twitter @kentsomers. Hear Somers every Monday and Friday at 7:30 a.m. on The Drive with Jody Oehler on Fox Sports 910 AM.

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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Cardinals don't have a QB controversy. They do have a good backup.