Murray declares for NFL Draft
Kyler Murray, the first-round baseball draft pick and Heisman Trophy-winning Oklahoma quarterback, declared himself eligible for the NFL Draft in a tweet Monday.
The Athletics made the speedy outfielder the No. 9 overall pick last June and agreed to a $4.66 million signing bonus while allowing him to keep playing football. He then won the Heisman in his only season as a starter, passing for 4,361 yards and 42 touchdowns and running for 1,001 yards and another 12 scores. He had the second-best passer efficiency rating in FBS history.
The A’s hadn’t anticipated Murray as a potential first-round NFL pick because of his size — 5-10 and 195 pounds. Representatives of the A’s and MLB met Sunday with him, and the possibility existed that the A’s could offer more money by putting him on the 40-man major-league roster. But Murray still would have a shot at a bigger payday sooner in football.
♦ The Vikings hired Gary Kubiak as an assistant head coach and offensive adviser. He’d spent the last two seasons as a Broncos senior personnel adviser after stepping down as head coach for health reasons.
♦ New Packers coach Matt LaFleur hired former Jaguars offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett to be his offensive coordinator.
♦ The Steelers promoted Shaun Sarrett to be their offensive line coach, replacing Mike Munchak, who left to take the same job with the Broncos.