His predecessor as the Oklahoma quarterback and Heisman Trophy winner may be succeeding in the NFL, but Kyler Murray won’t follow Baker Mayfield into the NFL, according to his agent.
“Kyler has agreed and the (Oakland) A’s agreed to a baseball contract that gave him permission to play college football through the end of the collegiate season,” Scott Boras told the NFL Network. “After that, he is under contract to play baseball. That is not a determination to make. It’s already done.”
It’s certainly best in terms of money, longevity and certainty, with Murray’s status as a first-round NFL draft pick up for debate. The ninth overall selection by the Oakland A’s in the MLB Draft, Murray, who is generously listed as 5-foot-10, signed a $4.66 million baseball contract, but couched his options leading up to Saturday night’s Heisman ceremony.
“I’d like to do both, if possible,” Murray said, “but I don’t know how possible that is.”
However, Boras told the NFL Network that, “from a contractual perspective, it is set.” He echoed that in an interview with ESPN, saying: “In good faith, that organization did something very unique. Never done before. So (Murray) is going to reward the Oakland A’s and their owners, fans, by executing the agreement to its truest intent and now continue his baseball career.”
In 51 games at Oklahoma, the outfielder hit .296 with 10 home runs, driving in 47 runs and stealing 10 bases. First, though, are the college football playoffs, with Oklahoma facing Alabama in a Dec. 29 game. After that, Murray will head to spring training and see what the NFL draft possibilities are. Boras’ statement aside, never say never when it comes to football, especially after a season in which Murray became the first player in FBS history to average 300 yards passing and 60 yards rushing.
“I feel like I could play in the NFL, but as far as giving it up, as of now, yeah, that’s the plan,” Murray told ESPN last week. Later, however, he told ESPN’s Tim Tebow that he and his family would “weigh out the options of what the NFL thinks of me. Right now, my future is already kind of planned out.”
HOURS AFTER winning the Heisman Trophy, Murray apologized for anti-gay tweets he made as a teenager, saying they don’t “reflect who I am or what I believe.”
“I apologize for the tweets that have come to light tonight from when I was 14 and 15,” he tweeted Sunday morning. “I used a poor choice of word that doesn’t reflect who I am or what I believe. I did not intend to single out any individual or group.”
The offensive tweets were deleted from his account late Saturday night, but screenshots show Murray repeatedly using the word “queer” in conversations.
Murray, who passed for over 4,000 yards and 40 touchdowns, followed in the footsteps of Baker Mayfield, the Oklahoma quarterback who won the Heisman last December and now plays for the Cleveland Browns. Murray, a junior, is the Sooners’ seventh Heisman winner, which ties Notre Dame and Ohio State for the most all-time. Oklahoma is the first team to officially win consecutive Heismans with different players since Doc Blanchard and Glenn Davis of Army in 1945 and 1946. Southern California’s Matt Leinart and Reggie Bush won the award in 2004 and 2005, but Bush later had to forfeit the award due to NCAA violations.
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