The ridiculousness of the Kyler Murray saga has been dramatically understated…
In December, while Murray was winning the Heisman and preparing for his playoff game against Alabama, NFL draft analysts across America were having doubts about Murray’s NFL future. Many of whom, including draft guru Mel Kiper, had Murray as a second round pick at best. This wasn’t a universal sentiment, there indeed were others that projected Murray as a first-rounder, but never at any point during the college season did Murray have an iota of the hype he’s experiencing today.
Then came a great (obnoxious) debate among sports fans: should Kyler play football or baseball?
Should he take the $4.6 million dollar check on the table from the Oakland Athletics, and the potential for a career free of being hit by 300-pound men? Or should he chase his childhood dream of the NFL? After all, he was just named the best player in the NCAA.
Hot-takes aplenty ensued.
“Of course he should play baseball! He’s tiny bro! He’ll get rocked out there! Remember what happened to RG3?”
“Man, baseball’s finicky. He’s a ridiculous athlete, and it sounds like he wants to play football. Besides, if it doesn’t work out, he can always go back to baseball.”
In early February, Kyler Murray committed to football.
Next, Murray passed what apparently was the most important test to determine his draft status. Not his arm strength, his speed, his vision, his leadership, his brain. No, no. For some sick reason all the football community seemed to care about was how tall this kid is. And I have to say, that whole thing was pretty embarrassing, and I felt rather ill watching the football world explode in the aftermath…
But lets move on.
Now, here we are in early March, and reports are saying that Kyler Murray is almost universally believed to be the #1 pick in April’s draft…
W…T…F…
So, to recap. Murray went from wavering between two sports, and possibly turning away from football, his true sports love, for life… to the consensus #1 pick in the draft… in less than a month. Suddenly, all those people saying he should play baseball got awfully quiet.
The craziest thing about all of this is that its been brushed past like nothing happened. Like this is business as usual. What the hell happened between December and now other than him measuring an inch taller than we expected, gaining ten pounds, and getting his ass kicked by Tua Tagovailoa and the Crimson Tide? From a second rounder at best to the consensus #1 pick? To Arizona? A team that took a quarterback with the 10th overall pick less than a year ago?
That’s what I’m here for. I know what happened. And I’m here to share it with you.
Sean McVay happened.
If the Los Angeles Rams hadn’t hired the then 30-year old Sean McVay as their head coach, Kyler Murray would not be the overwhelming favourite to be drafted first overall.
Preposterous? Maybe. But hear me out.
I’ll just say first that the Cardinals have in no way, shape, or form stated that Kyler Murray is the pick, nor that they have made up their mind as to whom they are selecting. They could easily trade down and bulk up on picks, or they could use the pick on one of the potential franchise players on defense in this year’s draft. Kyler Murray going to the Cardinals is just speculation right now, but it’s heavy speculation. And I dare anyone to say to me with a straight face it was his height revelation that put him there, or that they just didn’t realize how phenomenal an athlete he is until now.
Instead, the reason for this massive shift in draft conversations can be traced back years ago, all beginning with the hiring of Sean McVay.
Football fans probably already see where I’m going with this, but indulge me.
After the Rams stunned the football world by hiring the league’s youngest head coach in history, in two seasons at the helm all McVay has done is win the NFC West twice, and lead the franchise to its first Super Bowl appearance since “The Greatest Show on Turf.” He has heavily aided in the speedy development of Jared Goff. Goff, the first overall selection in the 2016 draft, who according to many was in possession of a one-way ticket to bust status after his abysmal debut season under the antiquated Jeff Fisher, has since emerged as an MVP candidate. Simply put, at the risk of sounding hyperbolic, McVay is an offensive genius.
Despite the star power the Rams possessed on defense this past season, they played relatively poorly throughout the year, save for the Super Bowl. They were in the bottom half of the league in both yards and points allowed, but they scored so damn much it didn’t really matter. Given what McVay has done in his first two years as a head coach, the enormous amount of hype he has received is justifiable…
However, the reactions to the hype that we’ve witnessed from several teams recently, is not. Suddenly, teams have stopped looking for the next Belichick, which was already a fool’s errand, and started looking for the next McVay.
Here’s a list of coaches who have worked under Belichick that became NFL head coaches: Bill O’Brien, Eric Mangini, Josh McDaniels, Romeo Crennel, Matt Patricia, Jim Schwartz, Al Groh, Brian Flores, and Nick Saban...
A pretty pathetic list when you look at their head coaching records. Now, of course, Nick Saban is arguably the greatest college coach of all time, but this article is about the NFL, where he didn’t fair so well, so back off.
The point is, teams are tired of getting beat by Belichick, so they try to do what they can to join him… and thus far they have failed miserably, each and every time. So then, what makes teams think they can just hire another young gun offensive guru and get to the Super Bowl just like the Rams did?
I don’t have an answer to this one… I’m legitimately asking.
Nevertheless, here we sit, just two years into McVay’s NFL head coaching tenure, and the now 33-year old has started himself a bit of an epidemic. His offensive coordinator from two years ago, 39-year old Matt LaFleur, is off to Green Bay to try and squeeze another title out of the great Aaron Rodgers. His quarterbacks coach from this past season, 35-year old Zac Taylor, has been pegged as the man to (finally) take over for Marvin Lewis in Cincinnati. And lastly, and most nonsensically, McVay’s good buddy Kliff Kingsbury (also 39), a man that has coached a total of zero days in the NFL in any role, is the new head coach of the Arizona Cardinals.
Really? Kliff Kingsbury?
I’m not going to bash Kingsbury here, as he hasn’t done anything worthy of bashing. He’s proven to be a true offensive wizard at the college level, and I’m a fan of his work. It’s not his fault that the Sean McVay effect is occurring, it’s not his fault the Cardinals are lost in it, and it’s not his fault that they are hiring him despite his staggering lack of credentials for the position.
But that is the reality. Kliff Kingsbury as an NFL head coach is, as of today, a mistake. Not saying he’ll never be suitable, I’m saying that he isn’t right now.
What has Kingsbury done?
He’s spent the last six years as head coach of the Texas Tech Red Raiders, his only six years as a head coach anywhere, combining for a record of 35-40.
Already doesn’t sound like a guy who should be a head coach in the NFL, am I right?
Now, to bring both sides of the argument in, Kingsbury has been a fast bloomer. He stopped playing football in 2007 and joined the staff of the Houston Cougars the following year. In 2011, Kingsbury was named Offensive Coordinator of the Year in the NCAA. Houston, led by Case Keenum and his insane numbers from that year, averaged about 600 yards and 50 points a game that year to lead the nation at both.
He then followed Kevin Sumlin from Houston to Texas A&M for just a single season as offensive coordinator, and it just happened to be the Heisman winning freshman year of one Johnny Manziel. Ever heard of him?
So then so far, it’s evident that Kingsbury is very good as a college football offensive coordinator, certainly doesn’t hurt that he had two of the best college quarterbacks in recent history in those stints, but an impressively fast rise to stardom nevertheless.
The following year Kingsbury the gig at Texas Tech, where his teams were known for being pass happy and explosive on offense, and just so bad on defense that it makes me want to puke a bit. He coached one Baker Mayfield in his freshman year, and Tech’s two best offensive seasons during his tenure (2015 and 2016) were led by another guy you might know, Patrick Mahomes.
Suffice it to say, Kingsbury’s had some pretty good quarterbacks to work with. But again, to be fair, Kingsbury has certainly played a role in the development of all of them. However, despite the great talent at football’s most important position he had to work with, Kingsbury only had one season at Texas Tech where he hit eight wins, he only made three bowl game appearances (meaning only three seasons at .500 or better), and he won only one of those bowl games.
He’s a great offensive college coach. But a great offensive college coach does not an NFL head coach make, especially considering the conference he’s been coaching in…
If there were ever a “Power 5” conference in college football that I would just never even begin to consider hiring a coach from for an NFL team, it’s the Big 12. Anyone that follows the sport even the slightest bit knows that defense is not played in that conference.
Therefore, my reasoning for Kingsbury not being ready is that there is no bigger adjustment that Kingsbury could have to make this year with the Cardinals. Even if he doesn’t touch the defense (and if he’s smart, he won’t), six years in the wide-open track meet known as Big 12 football games cannot possibly prepare him to coach on Sundays against NFL defenses. More importantly, the Cardinals should never be looking at film from Texas Tech games to decipher if they have found the right man.
But hey, that’s the Sean McVay effect. Now, back to Kyler Murray.
Kingsbury loves Murray. Back in October, when we are all pretty sure Murray would be a professional baseball player, and Kingsbury was in the midst of another mediocre (at best) season at Tech, Kingsbury told the media that he thought Murray was a “freak,” and that “he would take him with the first pick” given the opportunity.
Fate’s a funny thing, isn’t she?
Do I think that Kyler Murray should be the first overall pick? No, I don’t.
Will I be surprised if he is? No, I won’t.
I just wanted to take this opportunity to point out that in a sport where things are frequently blown way out of proportion, this particular situation I have discussed throughout this article has for some reason been swept under the rug. Dwayne Haskins, Daniel Jones, Drew Lock. These are the names at the top of what has long been considered a weaker class of quarterbacks. Suddenly, this phenomenal two-sport athlete named Kyler Murray, the latest of a long time of quarterbacks to destroy the Big 12, commits to football, and not only does he leapfrog all three of those quarterbacks in draft prognostications, he becomes the overwhelming favourite to be the first overall pick?
If you really think that fateful extra inch of height, the bit of added bulk, or that everyone just suddenly realized and agreed that Kyler Murray was not only the obvious best quarterback in the draft, but possibly the best prospect period… I’d respond with “Okay, that’s stupid.” Sure, we’ve seen players’ draft stocks skyrocket between the college season and the draft, but typically not from guys that haven’t done anything but give a couple of lousy interviews and hit the gym a little more. I watched Murray on Dan Patrick’s show… the kid was borderline contemptuous and I’m pretty sure half asleep.
It’s the Sean McVay effect. It’s the belief that the only way to beat high-flying offenses in the NFL are to create offences that fly even higher. Arizona hires Kingsbury, Kingsbury loves Murray, Murray’s the presumptive pick.
If Kliff Kingsbury isn’t the head coach of the Cardinals, Kyler Murray isn’t getting the buzz that he is. And Kliff Kingsbury is not the head coach of the Arizona Cardinals today if not for the hiring and subsequent success of Sean McVay.