The Arizona Cardinals have so many Petri dishes going that the organization might want to consider moving into Ed Bass’ former desert empire, the Biosphere 2.
This grand experiment that started with the hiring of Kliff Kingsbury continued with the selection of Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback Kyler Murray with the No. 1 overall pick in Thursday’s first round of the NFL Draft.
Murray, in town not long ago to collect the Davey O’Brien Award, became the first player to be selected in the first round of the NFL and MLB drafts. He was also the third straight Texan to be chosen first overall in the NFL Draft, following Baker Mayfield and Myles Garrett of Arlington Martin High School.
So, this weekend, make sure you accentuate your outer Texan.
The first order of business for the Cardinals wasn’t getting Murray’s signature on the dotted line of a contract but rather getting him out of that pink pinstripe suit that had most everybody not color blind dry-heaving.
Arizona believes (desperately hopes?) he will look better in Cardinals red.
They should know. Or do they? It’s hard to tell.
No one has failed more spectacularly at the position recently than the Cardinals, who have tried just about everybody except bringing back Jim Hart.
But that was before they hired the quarterback whisperer, Kingsbury, who it is believed will be able to turn this undersized dynamo into, perhaps not Patrick Mahomes, but a frontline NFL starter. (Yet to be seen is how Kingsbury translates in the NFL, but that’s for another day.)
If Murray hadn’t gone No. 1, it was difficult to see where he would have landed. The Cardinals appeared to be the only team that high on him.
There are lots of questions with how Murray’s tangible abilities will translate in the NFL, but Kingsbury put his money where his mouth was, successfully lobbying for the quarterback he has so coveted since Murray’s days dominating Texas high school football in Allen.
It’s unclear if anybody has informed Murray that he can’t transfer in the NFL.
That was his path to NFL millions in college.
A five-star recruit out of Allen, which he led to three consecutive Class 5A state titles, Murray initially committed to Texas A&M, his dad’s alma mater. He transferred to OU after one season, a decision that worked out very well for him. Two seasons were time well spent as Mayfield’s understudy.
Murray is a great example of how quickly things can change.
A year ago, Murray was shuttling between baseball and football like a busy Little Leaguer. He was tearing up OU’s Big 12 baseball schedule, and then it was off to spring football practice.
Little did we know exactly what the Sooners had at QB.
He was supposedly competing with, uh — well, we’ve all forgotten his name – someone to succeed Mayfield, then the reigning Heisman winner. It was assumed he would play one season of football and then leave for a baseball diamond in the Oakland A’s organization, which had selected him ninth overall.
In the end, Murray left the A’s feeling like Josh Rosen. The A’s, being the A’s, probably found a suitable replacement in the 35th round.
As the Cardinals’ top pick a year ago, Rosen was the QB of the future.
Today, he’s nursing a bruised ego, officially going from “in a relationship” to “single” on Facebook.
No, seriously, according to a report, he has unfollowed the Cardinals on Instagram. Perhaps Rosen too was tired of seeing The Suit.
There’s likely a better explanation. That’s why “Millennial” is often preceded with “effin’.”
He probably shouldn’t take it too personally given the Cardinals’ recent history with quarterbacks.
Arizona and Plaxico Burress have something in common as far as inadvertent gunshot wounds. In the Cardinals’ case, it has been trying to find a quarterback. Like the Biosphere 2, the Cards have blown millions in free agency starting with Sam Bradford and following with Mike Glennon. For the right to select Rosen, Arizona traded a third and fifth-round pick to move up to get “their guy.”
They will likely move him for something far less and probably should have moved him weeks ago to get better value in return.
Personally, if I had it to do all over again, I’d have majored in quarterbacking in college.
Glennon has made — “earned” really doesn’t apply here — somewhere between $25 million and $27 million in career earnings.
In return, he has thrown for 5,100 career yards, including a career-high 2,608 in 13 games as a rookie with Tampa Bay.
That’s what I call dead money.
Glennon, who again has landed on his feet with Oakland, turned out to be not so great when the lights came on at 2 a.m.
Still, he isn’t the only one to earn that kind of scratch and give little in return.
Quarterback is both the most important position in football and the toughest to play. Those guys don’t grow on trees.
NFL teams pay well for quarterbacks it merely hopes can play.
The moral of the story on Murray: It doesn’t matter how long it takes or how many picks or quarterbacks you go through, you got to get it right at that position.
We’ll see if Arizona finally has. Considering what they’ve paid in the past, if Murray isn’t the guy, the Cardinals are in trouble.
First, get him out of that suit.