After months of hearing nothing but positives about Kyler Murray, smokescreen season commenced at the 2019 NFL Combine. Murray was regarded one of the big winners of the combine after being measured, despite not throwing or participating in drills.
It appears that someone with a vested interested in seeing Murray’s stock fall may be trying to sabotage him. Former NFL executive Charley Casserly appeared on NFL Network Tuesday and ripped into Murray for his failure in interviews. Casserly, citing anonymous sources, suggested that Murray’s board work — or his work with X’s and O’s — was “below not good.” Despite zero rumblings at the combine about Murray’s supposed struggles, Casserly came in hot with the most negative assessment of Murray we’ve seen so far in this draft process.
Then something relatively predictable happened. Murray was still getting interest from the top quarterback-needy teams. The Oakland Raiders love him, according to The Star-Telegram’s Clarence Hill. The Washington Redskins also like Murray. And the Cardinals, sitting at No. 1 overall, are interested, too. Murray’s college coach, Lincoln Riley, also defended him.
But this smoke screener — or a group of smoke-screen conspirators — did not rest. Just 24 hours later, they were back at it with a new rumor. This one was tremendous in its absurdity. An anonymous scout thinks Murray’s height measurement at the combine was inflated, according to NBC Sports’ Dan Patrick. To Patrick’s credit, he admits he doesn’t trust the information he and others are getting. But that begs the question: Why is he sharing this nugget?
The idea that a player’s height could be inflated is silly. The idea that someone is spreading misinformation about Murray is far more likely. Whether it’s Jon Gruden or even Bill Belichick, there are plenty of coaches who wouldn’t mind seeing Murray fall in the draft. These rumors are likely a product of those desires.
