What Murray's NFL draft decision means for A's
Kyler Murray has officially decided for the NFL draft, but this baseball vs. football saga is only just beginning.
Monday's deadline for underclassmen to declare for the draft really only cleared up the football side of things for Murray with a result that became an expectation for the A's over the past week. The true deadline for Murray appears to be Feb. 14, the day A's position players are scheduled to report to Arizona for spring training.
The NFL scouting combine begins Feb. 26 in Indianapolis. If Murray decides to bail on spring training for the 'Underwear Olympics' and join the group of over 300 draft prospects, the quarterback/outfielder would then have to give back the $4.66 million signing bonus given to him by the A's last June. According to The Chronicle, the A's have had discussions about possibly allowing Murray to participate in the combine, though changes to his current contract would have to be made. Those were likely part of the conversations that went down when an A's contingent and MLB flew to Dallas on Sunday afternoon to meet with the two-sport star.
So while Murray appears NFLbound for now, nothing is truly resolved and likely won't be for about another four weeks.
Given Murray's passion for football, it's hard to imagine a scenario in which he just skips the combine completely. The best case scenario for the A's would be that his true measured stature is evaluated at the combine, which is likely smaller than the generously listed 5-foot-11, 195 pounds on his player bio, gets held against him and lowers his draft stock. But the way the NFL draft works, that's not likely.
A handful of NFL teams are usually starving for a franchise-changing quarterback every draft, with secondround projected quarterbacks generally getting picked higher than expected. Ohio State quarterback Dwayne Haskins is considered to be the No. 1 quarterback in this year's draft by ESPN's Mel Kiper Jr and other draft prospects, but Murray isn't far behind, considered a first-round talent who at worst would go in the second round.