Robert Griffin III shared some information on Monday night concerning the big homework issue with Kyler Murray.
The Arizona Cardinals gave Murray a 5-year, $230.5 million contract over the offseason. However, the contract contained a clause that ensured Murray would do at least four hours of independent film study per week during the season. The implication was that the Cardinals didn’t think Murray was doing enough preparation during the season.
The public revelation of the clause’s existence caused a lot of backlash, and the team ended up removing it.
Prior to Monday night’s Week 14 game between Murray’s Arizona Cardinals and the New England Patriots, RG3 shared some information about Murray’s work ethic.
“I took it upon myself to reach out to Kyler and talk to him about all this backlash that’s come from the homework clause in his contract,” Griffin said on ESPN’s ‘Monday Night Countdown’ show. “People saying he doesn’t put in the work. And I can unequivocally tell you that Kyler Murray watches at least 40 hours of film every single week. That’s seven hours of film a day from Monday though Saturday, with the bulk of it being at the beginning of the week.”
Griffin said his takeaway from talking with Murray is that “you can do it different ways with your film study.”
According to Griffin, Murray does over 40 hours per week of film study. The Cardinals quarterback also told Griffin he understands he needs to play better.
Griffin may be defending Murray, but the ESPN analyst’s anger over the issue is misdirected. It was Murray himself who said in a 2021 interview with the New York Times that he doesn’t kill himself watching film.
“I think I was blessed with the cognitive skills to just go out there and just see it before it happens. I’m not one of those guys that’s going to sit there and kill myself watching film. I don’t sit there for 24 hours and break down this team and that team and watch every game because, in my head, I see so much,” Murray said.
He brought this on himself by saying that. On top of that, he gave the Cardinals reasons to question how much time he is putting in, otherwise they wouldn’t have added that clause.
Maybe the big problem is the Cardinals never should have given Murray the contract if they had reservations about his work ethic. But many people associated with the franchise have had questions about the former No. 1 pick.
