Arizona Cardinals QB Kyler Murray will start Thursday in NFL debut against L.A. Chargers

Arguably the highlight of the first full night of NFL preseason games this Thursday is the Los Angeles Chargers visiting the Arizona Cardinals. It's a 10 p.m. ET kickoff from State Farm Stadium and nationally televised by the NFL Network.

Last year, you probably would have had to pay people to tune into a Cardinals game because they were absolutely wretched, including historically bad on offense. One big reason this one is nationally televised is because it will be the NFL debut of 2019 No. 1 overall pick Kyler Murray, the Heisman-winning quarterback from Oklahoma.

Murray is the unquestioned starter on the Cardinals – he might be the only rookie quarterback to start Week 1 of the regular season – and will indeed start on Thursday. It's also the NFL head coaching debut of Kliff Kingsbury, who got hired despite an unimpressive 35-40 mark in six seasons as Texas Tech. The Cardinals pounced on Kingsbury because he's charismatic and has a terrific offensive mind. The Cardinals will run just about the same offense that Murray was so spectacular in with the Sooners in becoming the school's seventh Heisman winner and second in a row following Baker Mayfield.

Kingsbury seems to be hinting that Murray may only play one series on Thursday: "I think the goal is for us to get him out of the game with him feeling good about what went on out there. So whatever that takes, if it's three plays, it will be three plays. If it's 10-12 plays, it will be 12."

While it's typical to only hear raves about players in training camp, Murray has drawn praise from none other than future Hall of Fame receiver Larry Fitzgerald: "I've never seen a quarterback come in so quickly and be able to command an offense."

Even though the Cardinals were awful last year and the Chargers were 12-4, Arizona is a slight favorite on the NFL odds because the Bolts aren't likely to play many starters if any.