Drafting a quarterback isn’t the crapshoot it used to be for an NFL team. First off, the passers coming out of NCAA football are significantly better than their counterparts just a decade ago. Second, with the new rookie salary cap, drafting a signal-caller doesn’t cripple your team’s salary cap while he’s in his development phase. If anything, drafting a guy that pans out and turns into a franchise passer is what kills your cap down the road. Is Oklahoma quarterback Kyler Murray one of those guys?
Will he go in the first round? Which team will end up taking him? BetDSI has a nice little set of odds for your betting and entertainment purposes. Take a look.
Kyler Murray team in Week 1 of 2019 regular season (must be on Week 1 active roster):
Oakland Raiders +250
Jacksonville Jaguars +300
New York Giants +350
Washington Redskins +450
Arizona Cardinals +500
Denver Broncos +700
Miami Dolphins +700
Tampa Bay Buccaneers +2000
Murray disrupted plenty of draft boards a week or so ago when he made it clear he would enter the NFL Draft. It wasn’t a surprise to anyone that Murray was a draftable talent. The kid won the Heisman Trophy after all. It’s more about his high MLB draft position with the Oakland A’s and, before a couple of weeks ago, it was a foregone conclusion that Murray would choose baseball and never play a down of NFL football. Murray, looking at the convoluted salary structure the MLB was offering, and how long it would take him to earn any real scratch, decided he’d like to go ahead and cash in with some guaranteed NFL money.
ESPN says there were 21 NFL QBs, and 9 MLB outfielders, who made $15M or more last year. I think Kyler Murray has a good chance to become one of the Top 21 NFL QBs. People who know more about baseball than I do tell me he's a long shot to become one of the Top 9 outfielders.
— Michael David Smith (@MichaelDavSmith) January 15, 2019
Murray immediately flew to the top of most quarterback draft boards. At worst, he’s No. 2 behind Ohio State’s Dwayne Haskins. Of course, there are some pundits out there who talk about him going in the second round, but you can ignore that. This kid is a first round talent and teams are going to want to take him there so they can lock in that fifth-year option. It’s the reason the Baltimore Ravens traded back into the first round last year to take Lamar Jackson.
Let’s knock one team out of the mix of drafting Murray right away, the Arizona Cardinals. Yes, new head coach Kliff Kingsbury has made his fandom of Murray clear in the past and it’s made for some nice little tweets and thought pieces, but it’s not happening. The Cardinals drafted Josh Rosen last season and specifically hired Kingsbury to pull a Sean McVay and make sure that wasn’t a wasted pick.
Kyler Murray Enters The NFL Draft With Highest QBR In College Football History https://t.co/SJd0dfyTEN pic.twitter.com/ds9ykOoYb3
— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) January 16, 2019
Here are the two teams you really need to look at — the New York Giants and Jacksonville Jaguars. The draft has fallen in such a way that picks 1-5 probably aren’t taking a quarterback. I say “probably” because Jon Gruden of the Oakland Raiders is unpredictable at No. 4 and could end up trading Derek Carr for a stack of expired Hardee’s coupons by the time I’m done writing this. Also, while the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at No. 5 have said they’re sticking with Jameis Winston for his fifth year option, they could switch that up in a hurry if they fall in love with Murray or Haskins at the NFL Combine.
The Denver Broncos aren’t so far down the ladder that they couldn’t put forth the draft capital to jump ahead of the Giants and Jags, but with so many free agent options available (Joe Flacco and Ryan Tannehill specifically), plus money still invested in Case Keenum, I don’t think they move. They might still take a quarterback, a guy like Drew Lock, but just be content to let him fall into their laps.
If Kyler Murray stays in the #NFLDraft does he move to the No. 1 QB taken ahead of Dwayne Haskins? #BoomerSooner #GoBucks https://t.co/06voiFSVPm pic.twitter.com/uJZ0BFPCRZ
— Adam Gorney (@adamgorney) January 15, 2019
If I’m laying my money down, I say the Giants grab Murray at No. 6, then the Jags take Haskins at No. 7. That’s your bet.
