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The team with the number one overall pick in the NFL draft is almost expected to take a quarterback, or at least field trade offers for a team in need of a franchise signal-caller. It was unclear which description would best apply to the Arizona Cardinals when they hired wunderkind quarterback guru Kliff Kingsbury as the team's new head coach. Not only did Arizona select Josh Rosen with the 10th overall pick in last year's draft, but Kingsbury said last fall as coach of the Texas Tech Red Raiders that he would take Oklahoma Sooners quarterback and eventual Heisman Trophy winner, Kyler Murray, with the number one pick in the draft if he ever had the chance.
“Kyler is a freak,” he said. “I've followed him since he was a sophomore in high school and just think the world of him and what he can do on a football field. I've never seen anyone better in high school and he's starting to show it now at the college level.
“I'd take him with the first pick in the draft if I could,” Kingsbury continued.
Murray, of course, made headlines earlier this week after announcing he would focus solely on football despite being taken with the ninth overall pick of the MLB draft last year by the Oakland Athletics. Might that mean Murray is a shoo-in to be the Cardinals quarterback of the future? Not so fast.
“Josh is our guy.” – Cardinals coach Kliff Kingsbury on Josh Rosen’s future with the team.
— Josh Weinfuss (@joshweinfuss) February 12, 2019
To be clear, Kingsbury has every incentive to downplay the Cardinals' interest in Murray, letting it be known that his team would field trade offers for the draft's first selection. It's also not like Rosen lit the world on fire as a rookie, throwing for 11 touchdowns, 14 interceptions, and completing just 55.2 percent of his passes behind one of the league's worst offensive lines.
Will he get better going forward? Absolutely. Whether or not Rosen possesses the ceiling of a dynamic player like Murray, though, seems unlikely, and could be what forces Kingsbury to ultimately go back on his most recent word.
