Kyler Murray: Should you believe the hype?

Now that Kyler Murray has fully committed to football, only one question remains… Is the Oklahoma product built for the NFL?

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you probably already have at least somewhat of an idea as to who Kyler Murray is. One of the most polarizing draft prospects in recent memory has recently announced that he is headed to the NFL come April. Now, what does this mean for teams that need a quarterback and how should we assess him before the combine? In this article, we will go over two key things that are critical to not only the evaluation of Murray as a prospect, but to his hopes of success in the NFL as a whole.

Size/Build

This may be the most important area of evaluation on Kyler Murray. When you look at him, he simply does not look like a quarterback. However, this does not stop Murray from putting up unbelievable stat-lines, and creating eye-popping highlight tapes. Now, this section in particular will be more clear and specific after the NFL Combine when we get the official numbers for Murray’s height and weight, but in the mean time we might as well speculate, as I cannot imagine the official measurements are too different than any educated guesses. Now, let’s play the ‘ballpark’ game and give a range for Murray’s projected height: Let’s say 5’9″ – 6’0″, but we’ll ere more on the side of 5’9″. Well, if Murray tips in at the Combine at 5’9″ that would make him by far the shortest quarterback in the NFL. This particular scenario would not be good for Murray’s draft-stock at all, but we still all know the pure skills he possesses as a passer. On the flip-side however, if Murray came in on the other side of the ‘ballpark’, a lot of the doubts from GMs and Scouts would alleviate and his stock would only go up.

Commitment to football

Kyler Murray was selected in the first-round of the 2019 MLB Draft this past June by the Oakland Athletics. Although he has denounced his past commitment to baseball, it is fair to assume that it may always be in the back of his mind. What if his NFL career doesn’t get off to the start he hopes it will? Will he then have second thoughts about his ultimate decision and try to pull a fast one towards the MLB? This is an interesting predicament that QB needy teams need to discuss. Although bizarre, this situation is not as complicated as it may seem. Any team that drafts Murray could consider putting a clause in his contract that would result in amnesty of the contract in the situation that he does revert back to baseball, or a clause that could ultimately prevent the multi-sport athlete from being able to switch sports all together, but that remains to be seen.

Conclusion

At first, I’m not going to lie I was not a big fan of Murray as prospect. I was a little uneasy about his commitment issues, and his size is still something that I am concerned about. However, after some more research and analyzing, I’m beginning to become more and more excited about this kid. He possesses everything that you could ask for out of a passer, and his unique baseball background will only benefit him (ie. Patrick Mahomes). That being said, Murray currently sits at QB2 on my big board, with only Dwayne Haskins sitting ahead of him. With a strong combine, Murray could skyrocket on draft boards, and may even be selected as early as… get ready for it… #1 overall. The sky is the limit for this kid, and you better remember the name for the future if he is put in the right situation.