Well it is official ladies and gentleman, Kyler Murray just became the first player ever to be selected in the top 10 of two professional sports drafts. The Oakland Athletics picked Murray #9 overall in the 2018 MLB First-Year Player Draft and now the Arizona Cardinals have selected him with the number one overall pick in the 2019 NFL Draft.
Many several reports surfaced over the months leading up to the draft about the Cardinals intentions at the number one pick. "The Cardinals are definitely picking Murray #1, it is a done deal." Few weeks later, "Cardinals are leaning towards not selecting Murray at #1."
It is hard to take any of these reports seriously as so many opinions and hot takes come forth leading up to draft day. Including this laughable opinion from CBS Sports's Aaron Taylor.
Anyway, the Cardinals have officially decided to select Murray with the number one pick and in consecutive years, an Oklahoma Sooner and Heisman Trophy winner, has been picked first in the NFL Draft (Baker Mayfield last year). That is a pretty remarkable feat for one school to produce the last two number one overall picks.
How did this elite athlete end up being the number one pick in the NFL Draft on top of everything else he has accomplished in his sporting career? Well it starts with his roots.
Kyler Murray has had sports in his family long before he was born in 1997. His father, Kevin Murray, was a college star in his own right as he holds multiple school records at Texas A&M. Kevin also played baseball, as Kyler did at the University of Oklahoma.
His father was a college star, but his uncle, Calvin, played six seasons in the MLB and was hitting during this at-bat, when Randy Johnson hit a bird with a fastball.
Some consider Kyler, including himself, to be the greatest high school player ever in the state of Texas. Heck, he may be the greatest high school football player ever in any state. He has a convincing case because for Allen High School, he compiled a 42-0 record with three straight state titles. Look at these senior year numbers.
Kyler threw for 4,715 yards with 57 TDs and 7 INTs. Murray also ran for 1,495 yards on the ground as well. Allen High is also a 6A school, so that involves some high-level competition. Texas is extremely proud of their high school football so Texans would say that was the best, possible competition for Kyler.
Because of this extremely storied high school career, Murray was consensus five-star recruit by all recruiting sites. Former Aggie head coach Kevin Sumlin and Texas A&M had the inside track on Murray since his father Kevin set records for the maroon and white.
A few weeks before national signing day, Kyler tweeted out a photo of his name on a Texas Longhorns' jersey and that started a wave of rumors, would Kyler go to Texas? As it turns out, that was just a joke and it was blown completely out of proportion. Murray signed with Texas A&M anyway.
In high school, Kyler also played baseball and was the first player ever to play in the Under Armour All-America Baseball and Football game. Murray did not play baseball and football in his one year at College Station.
Coming into the 2015 season, true freshman Kyler competed with 2013 five-star recruit at QB in Kyle Allen. Allen won the job and played until the third week in October when Murray took over. Kyler started his first collegiate game against South Carolina. In that start, he threw for 223 yards and ran for 156, with 2 total TDs as the Aggies defeated the Gamecocks.
Kyler started in four games as the Aggies finished with an 8-5 record and then that was when the real drama got started. Reports suggested that Murray's relationship with Sumlin was deteriorating and Kyler's father, Kevin, may have contributed to that.
Right after the season, Kyler announced that he would be leaving the Aggie program and transferring to the Oklahoma Sooners. Oh, and Kyle Allen left as well to go play for the University of Houston. Sumlin was fired two years later and now is at Arizona.
Murray already had a relationship with then Oklahoma offensive coordinator Lincoln Riley, because Riley tried late to get Kyler to come to Oklahoma after he got hired from East Carolina. Just a year later, former head coach Bob Stoops and Lincoln Riley got their guy in Murray.
Kyler also joined the Oklahoma baseball team that season.
The original plan was for Kyler to redshirt one year because he transferred and then take over for Baker Mayfield, who we thought was in his last year of college.
After the 2016 season, the Big 12 ruled that Mayfield will be getting his extra year of eligibility that originally was not going to be there after his much publicized transfer from Texas Tech. So the plan was for Kyler to sit one year, then play two or even three years, however, that did not come to fruition the way he had hoped.
To Kyler's credit, he did not transfer again and stayed as Mayfield's backup during the 2017 season. Murray played sparingly until he started on November 25th against West Virginia.
The week prior, Mayfield had his whole Kansas debacle, where he, well, it is a long story, here is a recap of everything that happened. Baker was suspended and did not start on senior day. Here stepped in Kyler and this was his first play from scrimmage. Murray exploded and took a read option 70 yards to show off his wheels.
That season concluded with a Sooner loss in the Rose Bowl to Georgia. Mayfield was now out of eligibility and it is finally Kyler's turn.
Actually for Kyler, he transitioned to the Oklahoma baseball team, where he was a star there too. He finished with a .296 batting average, 10 HRs, and 47 RBIs. OU football fans then grew somewhat worried when the Oakland Athletics took Kyler at the number nine pick in the MLB Draft. Would he still play football?
Kyler signed a contract with the A's with a $4.4 million signing bonus and the team let Murray go back to OU and play ONE season of football. OU fans breathed a sigh of relief.
Now heading into the 2018 season, now Oklahoma head coach Lincoln Riley, repeatedly kept saying that Murray was in a heated battle with sophomore QB Austin Kendall. That was in a word, shocking, and Kyler was eventually named the Sooners' starter after fall camp.
Murray immediately wowed the Sooner fans and the rest of the country with his stellar play. Kyler was just about as close to unstoppable as you can get. OU won their first five games until the Red River Showdown game against Texas. The Longhorns subdued Murray and the offense early on to some extent but Texas scored at will against a porous OU defense all afternoon.
With 56 seconds left in the 3rd quarter, Texas led the Sooners 45-24. Half of the Cotton Bowl, including me, was in shock after the first three periods. Then Oklahoma came roaring back. Kyler found his former Allen High teammate Lee Morris for a TD with 8:28 left in the game to make it a 45-31 game. OU got a stop on defense and I remember I instantly turned to my brother and said, we need to score and we need to score fast.
Well, Kyler must have heard me, because then this happened. "LOOK AT THE SPEED", said FOX play-by-play guy Gus Johnson. Murray took a QB draw, 67 yards and the Sooners moved within one score. Another OU stop, and a seven yard TD run by Trey Sermon, tied the game at 45.
Yes! OU tied the game! Then... oh no, the defense has to go back out there. Texas got some help with on a third down with a questionable defensive pass interference call and then freshman kicker Cameron Dicker made the game-winning field goal to win 48-45.
Oklahoma may had lost, but the rest of the country now knew what Kyler was capable of. After two Sooner wins, Oklahoma headed to Lubbock, Texas to play Kliff Kingsbury and the Texas Tech Red Raiders. Then Kliff delivered this soundbite, saying that he would take Kyler with the number one pick in the NFL Draft if he could.
Oklahoma and Kyler finished out the 2018 regular season with a win over Texas in the rematch in the Big 12 title game, 39-27. That coincided with then Alabama QB Jalen Hurts, replacing Tua Tagovailoa and defeated Georgia in the SEC Championship Game. The betting odds for the Heisman had shifted in the prior couple weeks to Kyler's favor.
As it turns out, those odds were correct and Murray was named the 2018 Heisman Trophy winner. OU now had back-to-back Heisman Trophy winners. Tagovailoa got the last laugh however, as the Tide beat the Sooners in the Orange Bowl 45-34.
So with that, contractually, Kyler's football career was over. Thus began the speculation, will he play baseball? Or would he declare for the NFL Draft?
At the Super Bowl, Murray did this awkward interview with the Dan Patrick Show, where Patrick tried to get Kyler to say what sport he was going to play. Murray did not know how to answer and deflected to his father off camera. He knew in his mind what his decision was, but I can understand why he was cagey about announcing it at that moment.
On February 14th, Kyler finally declared for the draft and committed his sole focus to playing football. Thus, even more speculation began. The Cardinals hired Kliff Kingsbury back in January after he was fired from Texas Tech. Kliff was also the USC OC for two weeks before taking the Cardinals' job. Kingsbury said back in October that he would take Kyler number one. Now, funny enough, he was in that exact situation.
Only one problem, the Cardinals picked former UCLA QB Josh Rosen in the 2018 draft. Would they still take Kyler? This turned out to be the worst kept secret in football as the Cardinals tried for two months to disguise who they were taking. No executives probably believed them and they were proven right.
As you now know, Murray is now an Arizona Cardinal. Unbelievable, Oklahoma now officially has the last two number one draft picks. So this goes back to the main issue, what to do with Josh Rosen? In my opinion, you have trade him. Keeping both on the roster, would be extremely awkward. We will see how long the Cardinals hold onto Rosen.
UPDATE: Cardinals have traded QB Josh Rosen to the Miami Dolphins for a 2nd round pick and a 2020 5th round pick. The Cardinals drafted speedy WR Andy Isabella from UMASS with that pick number 62, received for dealing Rosen.
Kliff Kingsbury has his perfect fit in Kyler to run his college offense in the NFL. It will be fun to watch how well this transition goes. The Cardinals open the 2019 season at home against the Detroit Lions.
The more interesting game will be in week 15 as the Cardinals will play....Baker Mayfield and the Cleveland Browns at home. Baker congratulated Kyler on Twitter and told him to be ready in December.
The story is far from over for Kyler Murray, it is just time for a new chapter and life in the National Football League. Good luck Kyler, we will all be watching. Boomer Sooner, K1.
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The Athlete Staff
Sources:
FOX Sports
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