The Cardinals picked a quarterback in the first round.
Again.
Oklahoma quarterback Kyler Murray was selected with the first overall pick in Thursday’s NFL Draft in Nashville, Tenn. A year earlier, the Cardinals traded up to take UCLA’s Josh Rosen — who now becomes redundant, and a likely trade target.
As a junior last year, Murray replaced Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback Baker Mayfield — and won the award himself. He was the second quarterback in major-college history, beside Clemson’s Deshaun Watson, ever to throw for 4,000 yards and run for 1,000 more.
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At 5-foot-10, Murray becomes the smallest featured quarterback in the NFL. The Cardinals’ spread offense — former Texas Tech head coach Kliff Kingsbury will run the “Air Raid” scheme — should make his size less of an issue.
Murray famously chose the NFL over Major League Baseball after being drafted in the first round by the Oakland A’s last year. He was given a bonus of almost $5 million.
Only one team since the NFL-AFL merger have taken quarterbacks in back-to-back years — and even that came with unusual circumstances. One year after taking Art Schlichter in the first round of the 1982 draft, the Colts drafted John Elway knowing he’d refused to play for them. They eventually dealt him to the Broncos.
