The 2019 NFL Draft is still two and a half months away, but we got an injection of some adrenaline on Monday. Oklahoma quarterback Kyler Murray announced he is fully focused on football moving forward, but the more interesting part of this was who he is reportedly hiring to be his agent. Jason La Canfora was first to report that Murray has signed with Erik Burkhardt, who also represents Arizona Cardinals head coach Kliff Kingsbury.
Big time agents represent a lot of people, so we won’t go entirely overboard with this, but let’s not forget the October video of Kingsbury saying he would draft Murray with the No. 1 pick if he could. Kingsbury is not the Cardinals general manager, but given that he was hired in large part because of his offensive mind, it certainly has to remain on our radar.
Opinions are mixed, in large part because of his size, but some respected talent evaluators are at least intrigued by the explosive play potential he brings to the table. There is a host of speculation about where he might end up in the draft, with ESPN’s Josina Anderson suggesting he’s going No. 1.
This would mean the team has to trade Josh Rosen. There is still value to be had, but the Cardinals would lose some amount of leverage in attempting to deal him. If another team thinks Rosen can be their franchise quarterback, they’ll still give up a sizable return. It would be a bold admission for a team to make that kind of change. You’d think they would hire a coach who can work with the talent in which they’ve made a significant investment, but at the same time, if you think a different coach/QB pairing is what will get the job done, so be it.
We are a long way from any of this going down. If the Cardinals deal Rosen before the draft, that will ultimately tip their hand. But my guess is if this happens, it will come down to the wire. And so, we wait.