QB Murray chooses NFL over baseball

Heisman Trophy-winning QB Kyler Murray said Monday he will pursue a career in the NFL over playing base- ball for the Oakland A’s. Murray was the ninth overall pick in last June’s baseball amateur draft, and the outfielder agreed to a minor league contract for a $4.66 million signing bonus. He is eligi- ble for this year’s NFL draft, which starts April 25.

“We took the best athlete on the board and who we thought was probably the best baseball player on the board, too,” Athletics general manager David Forst said Monday on the day the A’s started spring training workouts. “We’ve known all along this was a possibility.”

“I am firmly and fully committing my life and time to becoming an NFL quarterback,” Murray tweeted. “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 percent of myself to being the best QB possible.”

Murray passed for 4,361 yards and 42 touchdowns last season. He ran for 1,001 yards and another 12 scores, posting the second-best passer efficiency rating in FBS history.

Browns: Signed RB Kareem Hunt, who was released 2½ months ago by Kansas City after a video surfaced showing him pushing and kicking a woman. He was in his second season with the Chiefs and led the NFL in rushing as a rookie in 2017. The Browns are giving the 23-year-old from Cleveland a chance, though he still could be suspended under the NFL personal conduct policy for the incident and two others that surfaced after he was released. Hunt has not been charged with a crime. An NFL investigation is ongoing.

Panthers: Eric Reid signed a three-year contract worth more than $22 million, a deal the safety believes is additional proof that NFL owners conspired to keep him out of the league last season. He said Monday he believes he got “fair market value” with the new deal after making just $1.69 million last season. Reid has a collusion case pending against NFL owners, alleging he wasn’t signed last offseason as a direct result of his decision to kneel for the national anthem in protest of social and racial injustice.