The Oakland Athletics did their best to keep Kyler Murray in their system, even making an impressive offer to keep the two sport talent.
One certainly cannot blame the Oakland Athletics for attempting to keep Kyler Murray in the fold. They had spent the ninth overall selection on the two sport athlete, even allowing him to return to Oklahoma to play quarterback for his junior year. At the time, Murray was somewhat of an unknown at the position, getting his chance to start after two seasons on the bench.
What they could not have predicted was that Murray would explode as an NFL prospect. He won the Heisman Trophy to cap off a phenomenal season where he threw for 4361 yards and 42 touchdowns, while rushing another 1001 yards and 12 scores. That production vaulted Murray firmly into the first round of the NFL Draft, putting his baseball future in doubt.
While Murray eventually decided to pursue his football career, the A’s made one more last ditch effort to keep him on the roster. Oakland reportedly offered Murray $14 million guaranteed to forgo the NFL and come to Spring Training, an amount of guaranteed money equal to that of the 13th overall selection in the 2018 NFL Draft.
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In the end, Murray made the decision to focus on the NFL and leave the A’s behind, at least for now. Oakland still possesses his rights, so should Murray flame out in the NFL and want to return to baseball, he could still be a part of the A’s system. That door is still open should he want to take it.
Turning down that $14 million may prove to be a winning gamble by Murray. He has been considered a possibility for the first overall selection in the draft by the Arizona Cardinals, and unlikely to drop out of the top five selections. His 5’10” height, which would have been considered a drawback, has been overshadowed by his productivity on the gridiron.
It was, perhaps, inevitable that Murray would end up choosing the NFL. He had been groomed to be a quarterback for seemingly his entire life. And, Murray would have a chance to immediately start on the brightest stage in sports, instead of working his way through the minors, dealing with long bus rides, low pay, and mediocre hotels. And, if he will be getting a larger paycheck, Murray really did not have another option.
The Oakland Athletics did not let Kyler Murray get away easily. However, in the end, they just could not compete with what the NFL has to offer.