Murray 'fully committing' to being an NFL QB
- by Cecil Buchanan
- in Sports
- — Feb 11, 2019
Outfielder/quarterback Kyler Murray, this year's Heisman Trophy victor but also the No. 9 overall pick by the Athletics in the 2018 MLB draft, announced today that he will pursue a career in football rather than baseball (Twitter link).
After transferring to Oklahoma from Texas A&M, Murray was the Sooners' backup quarterback behind Heisman victor and future No. 1 NFL pick Baker Mayfield for the 2017 football season.
"Kyler Murray would make a lot of sense in that situation given that Miami loved Baker Mayfield a year ago".
More news: Man Utd Boss Reserve Special Praise For PogbaESPN's draft experts, Mel Kiper and Todd McShay, both project Murray as a first-round pick. As an outfielder, Murray had a great year for the Sooners in 2018, batting.296 with 10 home runs and 47 runs batted in.
Earlier on Monday, A's president Billy Beane said the situation around Murray was still uncertain. If he's selected anywhere in the first round of the 2019 NFL Draft, he can expect to earn more than twice what he'd have earned with the Athletics' signing bonus; last year's No. 32 overall pick, Lamar Jackson, signed for almost $9.5MM and will earn the entirety of that sum.
But things did not shake out the way the A's anticipated. He led the Sooners to a 12-1 record and a College Football Playoff berth after throwing for 4,053 yards and 40 touchdowns, in addition to 892 rushing yards and 11 scores.
More news: Mattel shares surge on 4Q profit, strong Barbie salesHeisman Trophy victor Kyler Murray has committed his future to football. Alabama plays Oklahoma in the Orange Bowl on December 29.
Although nothing more than a rumor at this point, such a connection makes some sense with Murray seemingly set on making his way to the NFL over Major League Baseball. That put his agreement with the A's in jeopardy and ultimately swayed him toward football. More specifically, ESPN's Jeff Passan tweets that Murray will return $1.29MM of the $1.5MM of his signing bonus that has been paid out to him so far. Position players are due to report to spring training on Friday.
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