Kyler Murray

Kyler Murray Visiting Giants

The Giants have not exactly been pegged as Kyler Murray fans, but the franchise in need of a long-term quarterback option is nonetheless hosting the 2018 Heisman Trophy winner, Ian Rapoport of NFL.com tweets.

While Murray is now widely expected to be the Cardinals’ No. 1 overall pick, he has met with other teams. Not many, however. He did work out for the Raiders earlier this month.

The former top-10 MLB draft choice has rocketed into the 2019 quarterback equation, but the Giants have been known to prefer traditional passers. Murray’s 5-foot-10 frame may have given the Giants pause, and were he to somehow slip to No. 6, the team reportedly would prefer Dwayne Haskins over the more athletic passer. Of course, this is probably moot anyway, with Murray almost certainly set to be off the board by the time the Giants go on the clock.

Big Blue has met with Haskins, Drew Lock and Daniel Jones. Murray rounds out the quartet of quarterbacks expected to be taken in the first round. The Giants, however, are in need at several defensive spots and have been linked to preferring a pass rusher with their No. 6 overall pick. Jones at No. 17 surfaced as a possible scenario, however. The Giants, who have also discussed a Josh Rosen trade, remain one of this draft’s most interesting teams.

Cardinals Notes: Rosen, Murray, Draft

Amidst trade rumors, Cardinals quarterback Josh Rosen seems to have the support of his teammates, as ESPN.com’s Josh Weinfuss writes.

He handled himself like a quarterback, like any other quarterback would,” outside linebacker Chandler Jones said of Rosen after the start of the team’s offseason program. “He was a leader. I was impressed with how he spoke to the huddle. I wasn’t in the huddle all the time. Being in practice, you heard what he’s saying and he was good at grabbing everyone’s attention. He was a leader, for sure.”

For now, Chosen Rosen appears to be in a holding pattern. Rumors continue to swirl about the Cardinals’ interest in QB Kyler Murray at No. 1 overall, but Arizona seems content with holding on to the UCLA product for the time being.

Meanwhile, his trade market remains murky. The Redskins – once thought to be a leading suitor for Rosen – appear to have cooled on him.

  • Agents typically don’t accompany their clients on pre-draft visits, but Kyler Murray was joined by Erik Burkhardt on his trip to meet with the Cardinals, Mike Garafolo of NFL.com (on Twitter) hears. Murray did not take Burkhardt into the building with him on Wednesday, but Burkhardt was on hand to discuss other business with team brass while in town. Burkhardt, as you probably know by now, represents both Murray and Cardinals head coach Kliff Kingsbury.
  • Arizona State wide receiver N’Keal Harry will conduct his only private workout of the pre-draft period with the Cardinals.

Giants Rumors: Haskins, Draft, Manning

More steam is building for the Giants bypassing a quarterback at No. 6 overall to take a pass rusher. They have been rumored to be interested in this draft’s bevy of front-seven talents while simultaneously being less than enthralled by this crop of passers. One Giants source informed Ralph Vacchiano of SNY the team will have a tough time passing on a defender at 6.

There are a ton of great defensive players in this draft,” the source told Vacchiano. “As much as we need a young quarterback, I honestly don’t know how we can pass on one of the pass rushers at 6.”

This follows a Vacchiano report that indicates the Giants are “strongly” leaning in the direction of drafting a pass rusher at No. 6. The Giants’ visit list, so far, includes Nick Bosa and Josh Allen. Both players may be gone by the time New York’s first draft window opens, with Quinnen Williams possibly set to be a top-five selection as well. However, players like Montez Sweat, Ed Oliver and Rashan Gary may well still be on the board at that point. The Giants have gutted their pass rush in consecutive offseasons, trading Jason Pierre-Paul and Olivier Vernon. They finished with 30 sacks in 2018 — the second-lowest total in the league. New York added Markus Golden in free agency but still needs help on the edge.

Here is the latest on the Giants, shifting to the other side of this debate:

  • Despite this buzz surrounding Big Blue and pass rushers, the Giants still have a glaring long-term need at quarterback. And this is peak smokescreen time. As the Giants continue to research Dwayne Haskins, they remain pleased with the results, per Vacchiano. Should the Cardinals be running a historic Kyler Murray smokescreen operation and the Heisman Trophy winner drops to the Giants, Vacchiano adds they would still take Haskins over the 5-foot-10 passer. The Ohio State breakout star is the likely choice, if, in fact, the Giants go quarterback at 6. Haskins is set to visit the Giants.
  • The Giants also sound interested in filling their post-Manning quarterback need via trade for Josh Rosen, if he becomes available. They have discussed this internally and are expected to be a suitor, and many around the league believe New York’s No. 37 overall pick would be enough to get this done. The Giants do not have their own third-round pick, which would have been near the top of the round, but do hold a No. 95 choice as a result of the Odell Beckham Jr. trade. That by itself might not be sufficient for the Cardinals’ 2018 first-round QB.
  • The Eli Manning-in-2020 rumors may be quite legitimate. Giants brass do not believe the 38-year-old quarterback has declined to the degree most of the NFL media does, Vacchiano notes. The hope remains the Giants will have Manning’s heir apparent lined up this year, and Daniel Jones has now surged into the conversation, but Vacchiano adds the Giants “will not hesitate” to extend Manning into 2020 if not. They would like him to mentor his successor, whether said passer arrives this year or next.
  • Dave Gettleman is taking plenty of heat for his offseason decisions, most notably the ones that sent away Beckham and Landon Collins. But Giants ownership is fully on board with the second-year GM’s plan, Vacchiano writes, adding that ownership likes that Gettleman has attempted to create a better culture in the locker room.
  • Pass rushers and quarterbacks aside, the Giants are on linebacker Devin White’s visit list.

Raiders To Work Out Kyler Murray

Jon Gruden reiterated Monday that Derek Carr will be the Raiders’ starting quarterback this season, after saying as much at the Combine. But the Raiders will still explore this year’s top passing prospects.

Raiders representatives will conduct a workout with Kyler Murray next week, according to Albert Breer of SI.com, who adds the team’s previously reported workout with Dwayne Haskins will take place next week as well.

Gruden has praised Murray throughout the offseason, but the noise at the Combine has not cooled down. The Cardinals are heavily linked to the 5-foot-10 quarterback. This may make the Haskins meetings more important. The Ohio State-developed prospect also has a Dolphins workout scheduled, along with meetings with the Giants, Broncos and Redskins. He is expected to be a top-10 pick. The past four drafts’ second quarterback selected has been no later than No. 10 overall.

Should the Raiders select Murray or Haskins, Carr’s run as the team’s starter will likely come to an end soon. He has four years and a non-guaranteed $78MM remaining on his contract.

Yeah, he’s going to be our quarterback,” Gruden told Jim Trotter of NFL.com. “I’m not going to address all the rumors. I could care less about the rumors, you know? He threw for 4,100 yards. Threw for almost 70 percent in a very dire, tough circumstance. So I’ve got a lot of confidence in Carr, what he can do with Antonio Brown, with Tyrell Williams, with Trent Brown coming in here to help our offensive line, with a better defense. I’m excited about Carr.”

West Notes: 49ers, Draft, Bosa, Broncos

The 49ers are in the midst of a pivotal offseason. They dealt with a mountain of injuries last year which excused their poor record, but with Jimmy Garoppolo back healthy next season expectations will be very high. Fortunately for San Francisco, they have the second overall pick at their disposal. For a long time, Ohio State pass-rusher Nick Bosa was the favorite to go first overall to the Cardinals. But with many now expecting Arizona to take Kyler Murray, Bosa could fall into San Francisco’s lap.

To that end, the “consensus opinion at this stage appears to be that Bosa will end up with the 49ers,” writes Matt Maioccio of NBC Sports. One NFL front office member told Maioccio at a recent pro day that the 49ers were going to take Bosa. The 49ers are in desperate need of outside pass-rush, so Bosa makes a lot of sense if he’s available. He would provide a massive boost to Kyle Shanahan’s defense.

Here’s more from the league’s western divisions:

  • The 49ers were expected to be players for Earl Thomas, but ultimately didn’t end up signing any of the big name safeties available. Safety was seemingly a position of need, but the 49ers opted not to make any splashes there. In a recent interview, 49ers GM John Lynch elaborated on the decision to more or less stay pat. “We feel good about our free safety depth. We feel we’re pretty well stocked there,” Lynch said, per Jennifer Lee Chan of NBC Sports. Lynch did leave the door open for a future acquisition, saying “it’s not to say, if an opportunity presents itself, that we won’t go there, but we feel pretty good at our free safety spot.”
  • The Broncos may have traded for Joe Flacco, but that isn’t going to preclude them from looking for a quarterback of the future in the draft. Denver will host Kyler Murray, Drew Lock, Dwayne Haskins, and Daniel Jones on visits before next month’s draft, according to Nicki Jhabvala of The Athletic (Twitter link). The Broncos have the tenth pick in the draft and seem to be seriously considering taking a signal-caller then, although Murray and Haskins are likely to be off the board by the time they’re scheduled to pick.
  • The Broncos didn’t pick up their option on linebacker Brandon Marshall, and as such might need to add an inside linebacker to replace him. New head coach Vic Fangio said earlier today that “we like the guys we have but we’re always looking to add guys to all the personnel positions. … I do like Josey and Todd, but we’re always looking to get better” referring to second-year UDFA Josey Jewell and veteran Todd Davis, per Mike Klis of Denver 9News (Twitter link). The Broncos’ run defense has been very inconsistent the past couple of years, so it wouldn’t be surprising at all to see them add a run-stuffing linebacker either in free agency or through the draft.

Cardinals’ HC On No. 1 Overall Pick: “Everything’s On The Table”

The Cardinals have been relatively busy since free agency opened, making a number of moves to bolster their offensive line, the front seven of their defense, and taking a flier on former first-round wideout Kevin White.

It does not appear that they will be contenders in 2019, however, and the moves they made were done with an eye on protecting a young quarterback and keeping the club competitive enough so that said young quarterback does not have to throw the ball 30+ times a game.

But who that quarterback will be remains an open question. There has been plenty of speculation that the club will use its No. 1 overall pick on Heisman Trophy winner Kyler Murray — just one year after trading up to the No. 10 pick to select Josh Rosen  and reports earlier this month indicated that Murray-to-Arizona was a done deal.

New head coach Kliff Kingsbury is a major reason for the speculation, as Kingsbury has no personal connection to Rosen, and the prevailing belief is that Murray would thrive in Kingsbury’s system. And as Grant Gordon of NFL.com writes, Kingsbury has done nothing to quiet the rumor mill.

Kingsbury told the NFL Network’s Steve Wyche yesterday, in response to a question about whether he would consider a QB with the No. 1 pick, “everything’s on the table. When you have that first pick, you’ve gotta turn over every stone and look at every scenario that’s out there, and so we’re definitely doing that.”

Of course, Kingsbury is not going to tip his hand, and he has said all the right things about Rosen. But he also sounds like a man who is not truly committed to the second-year signal-caller, no matter what he says publicly. Kingsbury said, “Yeah, I do [think Rosen could remain with the team]. I do. I mean, when you have the first pick, anything can happen, as you know, but you know, he’s a talented player, and we’re very high on him and that hasn’t changed. I’ve talked to Josh and he understands it’s a business and what all goes with the first pick and what’s going on.”

The Cardinals have reportedly received trade inquiries on Rosen, though one potentially interested team, the Redskins, are likely out of the picture at this point after trading for Case Keenum. But after a difficult rookie campaign, Rosen probably would not fetch much of a return, with perhaps a third-round draft choice being the best-case scenario for Arizona.

The club does have plenty of needs beyond QB, though, and if Kingsbury is not ruling anything out, one of this year’s top pass rushing prospects, like Nick Bosa, could also be in play. The Cardinals could also trade the pick and try to land more draft capital to accelerate their rebuild, especially if Kingsbury believes he can mold Rosen into a quality signal-caller. But given the general dearth of top-end talent at the skill positions this year, and considering the depth of talent at pass rusher, such a trade may not yield as much in 2019 as it might in a different year.

That could change if another team falls in love with Murray, but one way or another, there figures to be plenty of intrigue over the course of the next month. Unless they trade their No. 1 pick, the Cardinals will be on the clock at 9pm EST on April 25.

NFL Draft Rumors: Murray, Haskins, Giants

Although Kyler Murray threw at Oklahoma’s pro day Wednesday, and fared well during that portion of his workout, he did not go through the full process. The 2018 Heisman Trophy winner did not add any more fuel to the fire regarding his height, not taking part in another measurement. Murray only weighed in, stepping on the scale at 205 pounds, according to NFL.com’s Andrew Groover, on Twitter). This is two pounds down from Murray’s Combine weight. Murray measured at 5-foot-10 in Indianapolis. Additionally, the tantalizing prospect did not run the 40-yard dash at today’s event, per NFL.com’s James Palmer, despite the school planning on him doing so (Twitter links via James Palmer and Ian Rapoport of NFL.com). So, teams will not have that figure going into the draft. Murray remains expected to be a top-10 pick, with a No. 1 overall ceiling.

  • Tyree Jackson is holding his pro day at the Bills‘ facility, according to Adam Schefter of ESPN.com (on Twitter). The Buffalo University product is viewed as a rising prospect, with Schefter adding that many believe the 6-foot-7 passer will be a higher-than-expected draft choice.
  • The Giants now have two of the 2019 draft’s first 17 selections, which could point to them taking a quarterback with one of them. They have been most closely tied to Dwayne Haskins, but the Ohio State product may not enamor the team to the point of being worth the No. 6 overall pick, Ralph Vacchiano of SNY notes. It’s widely anticipated either Haskins or Murray will be the first quarterback selected, and both are viewed as likely top-10 picks. The Giants have been doing extensive research on Haskins, who burst onto teams’ radars with a dominant 2018.

Latest On Kyler Murray, Cardinals

Over the weekend, Cardinals head coach Kliff Kingsbury told people that the selection of Kyler Murray at No. 1 overall is a “done deal,” according to Tony Pauline of DraftAnalyst.com. Kingsbury doesn’t necessarily have final say on the matter, but it’s yet another sign that the Cardinals are serious about drafting the undersized, yet immensely talented, Oklahoma quarterback. 

[RELATED: Execs Believe Cardinals Targeting Kyler Murray]

The Murray-to-Arizona talk seemed far fetch just a few weeks ago because drafting Murray with the first pick would mean walking away from Josh Rosen, just one year after the Cardinals traded up to the No. 10 pick to select him. If they trade the UCLA product, the Cardinals might not get much in return.

Probably a three,” an NFL GM told Peter King of NBC Sports when asked to approximate Rosen’s trade value. “Not what the Cardinals would think his value is.”

If the Cardinals settle on Murray at No. 1 and put Rosen on the block, they could find a suitor in the Redskins. Or, they could stand pat with Rosen – who just celebrated his 22nd birthday – and dangle the top pick to a team intensely interested in Murray, such as the Raiders.

Execs Believe Cardinals Targeting Kyler Murray

It started off as mere speculation, but now executives around the league believe the Cardinals are looking to target Oklahoma quarterback Kyler Murray with the No. 1 pick in the 2019 NFL Draft, SNY’s Ralph Vacchiano writes

That idea started with an old quote from new head coach Kliff Kingsbury, who said he would take Murray with the top pick when he was the coach at Texas Tech. Though Kingsbury has professed Josh Rosen as his guy, Cardinals GM Steve Keim made waves when he said Rosen was there quarterback “for now” earlier this week. Rosen later added fuel to the fire when he deleted all of his Instagram posts relating to the organization. Now Vacchiano says that many around the league see all the speculation coming to fruition.

“I really think he’s going No. 1,” one league source said. “He fits exactly what Kingsbury wants to do out there.”

Murray would seem to be a nice fit for Kingsbury’s high-flying offense. He possesses game-breaking mobility to go along with an accurate touch and an impressive deep ball. It is all just speculation at this point, but the possibility of Kingsbury getting Murray and flipping Rosen, the team’s top pick in 2018, for picks is becoming more of a reality the closer we inch to the draft.

Most current mock drafts tie the Cardinals to Ohio State star pass rusher Nick Bosa at No. 1, but Murray is being tabbed anywhere from No. 5-10. It wouldn’t be a shock to hear his name called with the top selection come draft day.

 

Latest On Kyler Murray

After his Heisman Trophy season came with the disclaimer that football would be in his past once Oakland A’s spring training began, Kyler Murray has become this draft’s most interesting player. However, he will delay his next football acts until March.

The former Oklahoma quarterback was measured at 5-foot-10 and 207 pounds on Thursday morning. He will also participate in interviews and the medical portion of the Combine, but Ian Rapoport and Tom Pelissero of NFL.com report the passer will wait until his pro day to go through timed drills or throw in front of teams (Twitter links).

Quarterbacks are scheduled to do drills on Saturday, and that portion of the Combine will be broadcast on ABC. It will be an interesting new microscope for prospects, with wide receivers and tight ends also set to do their field drills Saturday. Murray will save his work for the Sooners’ pro day, which is scheduled for March 12.

This decision is not especially unusual for a player expected to be picked early. Murray also informed scouts and personnel executives he would wait until his pro day. That was already likely going to be the most anticipated event of this year’s pro day circuit. That will be a certainty now.