Kyler Murray is set to become an NFL free agent once the Arizona Cardinals release him next week. His options apparently won’t be limited to just football.
While Murray has spent the past seven years in the NFL, the Athletics still retain his rights in the world of baseball after selecting him ninth overall in the 2018 MLB Draft. Speaking Wednesday, A’s general manager David Forst said the door remains open for Murray to return to the sport, via MLB.com’s Martín Gallegos:
“Kyler is an elite NFL quarterback and I’m sure there are plenty of opportunities for him to continue his football career,” Forst told MLB.com on Wednesday. “That said, he and his baseball representatives know that we’re always open to him exploring a return to baseball with the A’s if that time ever comes.”
Once upon a time, the plan was for Murray to play one more season of college football at Oklahoma, then commit to baseball full-time with the A’s. It made sense at the time as Murray wasn’t considered an elite NFL prospect, primarily due to his size. The club had paid him a $4.66 million signing bonus and awaited his arrival.
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There was just one hitch in the plan: Murray’s final season of college football went better than anyone expected, winning the Heisman Trophy and playing himself into consideration for the first overall pick of the 2019 NFL Draft. Few were surprised when he announced he would forfeit his A’s signing bonus and enter the NFL, where the Cardinals gave him a $35.2 million rookie deal.
And now here we are.
Kyler Murray is probably sticking with football. (Photo by Stacy Revere/Getty Images)
(Stacy Revere via Getty Images)
We should probably state this plainly: the odds of Murray taking Forst up on that open door are vanishingly small, at least in this moment. Forst most likely knows this and is being diplomatic.
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Here are the two doors Murray is theoretically facing:
A) Stay in the NFL and hope there’s a team that will still sees you as a starter, with a premium back-up role as a secondary option. If we’re looking for comps here, consider Daniel Jones got $14 million from the Indianapolis Colts last offseason to (successfully) compete with Anthony Richardson for the starting job.
B) Jump back to MLB, where the A’s might give you back some of that old signing bonus. Begin in the minor leagues at age 28, which will pay you less than your average NFL practice squad player and hope you can make it to the majors in a few years, at which point you will be three years out from salary arbitration and at least six years out from free agency.
Unless Murray really, really wants to play baseball again, the choice is obvious.
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Still, moments like this are a fun reminder the A’s really did use a top 10 pick on a guy who then left them in a way that didn’t even give them pick compensation, in a draft where a total of 14 future All-Stars were selected. That includes Tarik Skubal, Cal Raleigh and Steven Kwan, though those players were all taken in the third round or later.