Kyler Murray continued his incredible year at Oklahoma by being named the 2018 Heisman Trophy winner on Saturday night, which makes it even more bittersweet that he may only have one competitive football game left to play. But if the star quarterback changes his mind, it sounds like plenty of NFL teams would be excited.
After Murray won the Heisman, one NFL general manager told ESPN’s Adam Schefter that he is convinced Murray would be a first-round pick if he decided to play football.
An NFL general manager speaking Saturday about Heisman-Trophy winner Kyler Murray: “I really believe he’s a first-round pick, a late first, I really do. And the fact that Baker (Mayfield) is having a great year will help Murray, too….He’s going to be a first-round pick.”
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) December 9, 2018
Like Baker Mayfield, who was selected with the No. 1 overall pick in last year’s NFL Draft, Murray put on an offensive clinic at Oklahoma. He completed 70.9 percent of his passes for 4,053 yards, 40 touchdowns and 7 interceptions this season. He also rushed for 892 yards and 11 touchdowns. The biggest knock on him is his height, but he’s only two inches shorter than Mayfield at 5-foot-11.
Despite all that, Murray’s agent Scott Boras reiterated again over the weekend that his client is fully committed to playing baseball for the Oakland A’s organization.
“Kyler has agreed and the A’s agreed to a baseball contract that gave him permission to play college football through the end of the collegiate season,” Boras told Ian Rapoport of NFL Network. “After that, he is under contract to play baseball. That is not a determination to make. It’s already done.”
Murray’s contract with the A’s guarantees him $4.6 million. Many people have said he should follow the money by playing baseball, but Michael David Smith of Pro Football Talk made a good argument this week that Murray could actually make more playing in the NFL. He’d make about $10 million if taken late in the first round, and contract and endorsement money would continue to flow if he emerged as one of the better quarterbacks in the NFL.
While Boras insists Murray is committed to playing baseball, the 21-year-old has made some interesting comments about that subject recently.
