Cardinals coach Kliff Kingsbury once said he'd draft Kyler Murray at No. 1

Share

Kyler Murray is expected to put his name in the 2019 NFL Draft, according to a report by the San Francisco Chronicle.

If he does follow through with that intention, it appears he has a big admirer in the new head coach of the team that holds the No. 1 overall pick.

Back in October, Kliff Kingsbury, then coach at Texas Tech, had plenty of compliments for the eventual Heisman Trophy winner:

"I don't have enough good things to say about him," Kingsbury said of the Oklahoma quarterback. "He's phenomenal."

"I'd take him with the first pick of the draft if I could," he continued. "I know he's signed up to play baseball, but he is a dominant football player, and I would take him with the first pick."

Well, there's a lot to unpack there, and it could significantly affect multiple Bay Area teams.

First, the baseball element. Murray will not play both football and baseball in 2019, and one naturally would expect that the higher he goes in the NFL draft, the more likely he is to pursue a career in football over one with the A's, who picked him in the first round of the MLB draft last year.

Kingsbury, of course, recently was named the new head coach of the Arizona Cardinals, who just happen to hold the first pick in the NFL draft.

The 49ers and the Raiders hold the second and fourth overall picks, respectively, so if Murray were to go at the very top of the draft, that could make prospects available to both Bay Area teams that wouldn't have been otherwise.

For instance, Ohio State edge rusher Nick Bosa is widely regarded as the top prospect in the draft, and he would fill perhaps the biggest need for both the 49ers and Raiders.

[RELATED: Raiders' top 5 needs heading into free agency, NFL Draft]

That said, the Cardinals spent a first-round pick on quarterback Josh Rosen last season, and while he struggled throughout much of his rookie season, the odds are against Arizona selecting a quarterback in the first round in back-to-back drafts.

So, Murray definitely has an admirer in the current holder of the No. 1 overall pick in the 2019 NFL Draft. But realistically, it's unlikely Kingsbury would take Murray with the top pick, no matter how big of a freak he is.

Contact Us