Yesterday, Kyler Murray made his decision to fully commit to playing quarterback in the NFL. Here’s the tweet:

Seems pretty damn serious, right? This is one of the more confusing scenarios in a while. The only reason it’s a tough and confusing situation is because Murray won the 2018 Heisman trophy last College Football season with the Oklahoma Sooners. During the summer of preparation for his Heisman award-winning season, Kyler was also taken 9th overall by the Oakland Athletics in the MLB 2018 draft. Murray agreed to a Minor League contract that had a decent $4.66 million signing bonus attached to it. Not bad for a college student.

With his decision now to fully commit his self to football, Murray will return $1.29 million of the $1.5 million the A’s gave him last year of his signing bonus and will have to forfeit the remaining $3.16 million to the A’s that is due March 1st. Although Murray is not going to be playing baseball at the moment, the A’s will put him on the restricted list and retain his right. In baseball, not really sure how other sports work, but if the teams first round pick does not sign, the team that drafted him then receives a compensatory pick in return. Unfortunately, the A’s will not be getting a pick back in return. On the bright side, they do get some money back from Murray.

This has been a wild ride. Obviously with the NFL combine and shit coming up, Murray had to make a decision. Kind of funny that most of the world forgot that he was drafted 9th overall last season in baseball and had to be reminded after he won his Heisman this year.

What would you do if you were Kyler? He had a season in football that saw him post the highest QBR (95.8), according to ESPN, since they became tracking the stat in 2004. Murray also became the first player in FBS history to average 300 passing yards and 60 rushing yards per game. We thought Johnny Manziel was good in college, Murray also passed Baker Mayfields FBS passing efficiency record that he set in 2017. So Murray has the talent on the football field. It’s obvious. If he wasn’t confident in himself to do what he can at the next level on the football field, he would have chosen the baseball route and started his minor league career right away. The writing was on the wall in my opinion. He loves football too much.

The biggest question mark on Murray is his size. Standing at a tall 5’10, Murray is not your prototypical Quarterback size. We have seen Russell Wilson and Baker Mayfield compete with the best of them at a smaller stature, but their talent translated well onto the football field. Will Kylers? Draft experts like Todd Mcshay and Mel Kiper predict him going in the first round as high as 8 on Kiper’s board. If that were to happen, Murray would be the first person in history to be drafted in the first round of football and baseball. Insane how athletic this man is. Makes me wonder what the hell happened to me? Where were my athletic genetics? Maybe they’re hiding somewhere in my body and I have to do something in my life to unlock my potential. Or I’m just mediocre.

With choosing football, Murray will be giving up a lot of money. guaranteed that is. He had $4.66 million sitting their staring at him in the face and he took a big shit on it and said ill bet on myself to get that non-guaranteed football money. Can’t blame him. Baseball is a grind. A lot of games, a lot of traveling on shitty buses, and a lot of shitty meals. Then again, Murray would have had a nice pile of cash in the bank, but obviously money is not an issue when you have the chance of becoming an NFL quarterback.

This is from the A’s General Manager David Forst on Murray:

“We took the best athlete on the board and what we thought was probably the best baseball player on the board too,” A’s general manager David Forst said Monday. “… The process was right and I think [A’s president of baseball operations] Billy [Beane] told you guys this morning we don’t regret the pick at all.”

Seems to be no hard feelings, but obviously they’re pissed. I would be pissed too committing time and money on your first round pick to have him walking away with his middle finger in the air as he rides into the sunset of his football career. It’s tragic, but that’s part of the sports world. Wherever the players heart is and where he sees himself in the future is where he will be. When it comes down to it, it’s a business and that’s how it works out sometimes. That’s why you can’t have personal feelings involved during the process. Maybe personal as in you might want to judge his character and he might be a nice kid, but unfortunately, in the end, you’re mostly thought of as a product out there. You can’t get attached too quickly.

Kyler will not look to get his football muscles and career on track. Who knows what Oklahoma’s baseball team will look like this year. Another thought; If Kyler finds out he can’t compete in the NFL, will he come back to baseball or find a spot in one of the 5 football leagues we have now? What are your guys’ thoughts on this situation? Feel free to discuss and thank you.