Kyler Murray is All in on the NFL
Former Oklahoma Sooner and Heisman winning quarterback Kyler Murray officially announced that he is fully committed to football yesterday. As the NFL scouting combine rapidly approaches at the end of the month and potential prospects prepare to showcase their abilities and football acumen for front office executives ahead of the NFL draft, the biggest story swirling around in the pre-draft process is the commitment level of Murray towards football.
After starring as a two-sport athlete at the University of Oklahoma at both football and basketball, there have been some front office executives and decision makers that were a bit hesitant and even skeptical about the thought of taking the ultra-talented Murray with a first round pick in April’s draft because he was drafted ninth overall by the Oakland Athletics in last year’s MLB.
While his physical stature and physique have been viewed as a knock on him, Murray’s ability to change and break a game wide open for the offense he’s in charge of has never been called into question. The only thing that has made draft experts and general managers flinch in terms of where he should be ranked on their draft boards and where he should realistically be selected is whether he was ever going to be truly committed and invested in football.
As a quarterback, one is required to not only lead the offense to success on the field of play, but they are also tasked with being the face of a franchise for years and a pillar in the community. Never before has a quarterback at the NFL level had one hand on the steering wheel of both a professional football and baseball franchise.
"Moving forward, I am firmly and fully committing my life and time to becoming an NFL quarterback," Murray wrote. "Football has been my love and passion my entire life. I was raised to play QB, and I very much look forward to dedicating 100% of myself to being the best QB possible and winning NFL championships. I have started an extensive training program to further prepare myself for upcoming NFL workouts and interviews. I eagerly await the opportunity to continue to prove to NFL decision makers that I am the franchise QB in this draft."
His announcement that he is fully committed to giving his all to one sport and not trying to exert his leverage over the A’s would have been a hot topic of conversation between him and general managers, coaches as well as scouts at the combine in Indianapolis, on his official team visits and at his pro day.
This new development will shake up the mock drafts, predictions and will assuredly raise his draft stock as well as incite a new debate on who is the top quarterback prospect between him and Ohio State’s Dwayne Haskins. Despite his obvious talent as a dual threat, Murray had not been projected to go in the top 10 by any of the top draft pundits because of the uncertainty surrounding his commitment level. The highest he had been projected to go prior to his announcement was to the Miami Dolphins at the 13th overall pick, but that will defiantly change in the coming months.
