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Reports are swirling that Kyler Murray, the Oklahoma Sooners quarterback, reigning Heisman Trophy winner, and Oakland Athletics prospect, could be set to declare for the 2019 NFL Draft. The belief is that Murray rates as a late first-round pick, but now there seems to be buzz that the star signal-caller could be in the mix with the No. 1 pick.
There is one man responsible for that speculation, too: Kliff Kingsbury.
Kingsbury, the former Texas Tech head coach that was briefly the offensive coordinator for the USC Trojans, was recently hired by the Arizona Cardinals to be the team’s new head coach. Kingsbury has also had very high praise for Murray in the past.
In a 2018 interview, Kingsbury said that if he were running an NFL franchise that he would select Murray with the No. 1 overall pick.
In October 2018, Kliff Kingsbury said he would take Kyler Murray as the first pick of the NFL draft if he could.
There's a San Francisco Chronicle report that he's expected to declare and Kingsbury's @AZCardinals are first on the clock 👀 pic.twitter.com/ERF1lFz5qg
— ESPN (@espn) January 10, 2019
And, well, Kingsbury now is an NFL head coach, and his team holds the No. 1 pick.
There seems to be one problem, though. The Cardinals spent the No. 10 overall pick in last year’s draft on former UCLA Bruins star Josh Rosen. So would they really go back-to-back years with a quarterback as the top pick?
ESPN’s Adam Schefter seems to think it may not be as crazy as it sounds.
During an appearance on ESPN Thursday morning, Schefter said that the Cardinals may be open to drafting Murray and trading away Rosen.
#Cardinals might be open to Draft Kyler Murray 1st overall and trade away 2018, 10th overall pick QB Josh Rosen, per @AdamSchefter pic.twitter.com/N0JO8XUvYv
— Dov Kleiman (@NFL_DovKleiman) January 10, 2019
And to think all of this is happening while we still have months until the 2019 NFL Draft. Hold on to your hats, everyone.
Josh Rosen right now to Kliff Kingsbury pic.twitter.com/baeV8BMv1F
— Damien Woody (@damienwoody) January 10, 2019
The 2019 NFL Draft will take place between April 25 and April 27 in Nashville, Tennessee. Nashville earned the honor of hosting the 84th annual player selection over cities Denver, Kansas City, Las Vegas, and Cleveland/Canton.