NFL
signing bonus as the ninth overall pick in June by Oakland, Murray led Oklahoma to the College Football Playoff in his only season as the starter while posting the second-best passer efficiency rating in Bowl Subdivision history.
Before throwing for 4,361 yards and 42 touchdowns and running for 1,001 yards and 12 scores, Murray's only extensive college experience was a rough freshman season at Texas A&M in 2015. After transferring to Oklahoma, he was the backup to 2017 Heisman winner Baker Mayfield, the top pick in last year's draft.
“Obviously my career as far as the early stages of my college career, it wasn't looking too hot,” said Murray, who like Mayfield lost in the CFP semifinals. “And then after this past season, it was to go in and kind of put myself in the best possible situation. I think I did pretty well.”
Murray said he hasn't decided the specifics of his participation in the NFL combine, but Oklahoma coach Lincoln Riley believes his time in the 40-yard dash could be an eye-opener. Murray said it's been “two, three years” since ran a 40, at 4.3 seconds.
Most of the attention will be on his height, however. Reminded before the O'brien ceremony that the 1938 Heisman winner from TCU was 5-7, Murray said he knew that and added, “So me and him have got something in common.”
Given the obvious chance to clarify, he still declined to offer anything more specific than the already-mentioned 5-10.
“I don't wake up in the morning and measure myself so I don't know that,” he said. “It's definitely not 5-7.”
In the same setting a year earlier, Mayfield shot back at a question about whether he could go in the top 10 of the draft by saying his goal was to be the No. 1 overall choice.
After the Browns made that happen , Mayfield won the job early in the season and led Cleveland to seven wins in 2018 after the Browns were coming off a twoyear record of 1-31. Now Murray will try to move up the draft board the same way Mayfield did, with a different set of issues to address.