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Kyler Murray Makes N.F.L. Draft History at No. 1

Kyler Murray taking the stage at the N.F.L. draft Thursday night.Credit Credit Christopher Hanewinckel/USA Today Sports, via Reuters

By Marc Tracy

April 26, 2019
NASHVILLE — Kyler Murray completed his unlikely transformation on Thursday night, evolving in less than a year from a college backup planning a career in baseball to a Heisman Trophy-winning No. 1 overall pick in the N.F.L. draft and a prospective franchise quarterback for the Arizona Cardinals.

Murray was supposed to play baseball for the Oakland Athletics, who chose him with the ninth pick in last year’s Major League Baseball draft and promised him a signing bonus of more than $4 million. But after his success in his final year at Oklahoma, Murray fulfilled his childhood dream to become the top pick in the N.F.L. draft, virtually assuring himself a four-year rookie contract that will be worth about eight times the A’s money.

“It’s surreal,” Murray said on Thursday, wearing a pink three-piece suit — inspired, he said, by “The Great Gatsby” movie of 2013.

[Read our pick-by-pick analysis of the first round of the N.F.L. draft.]

Murray became the second consecutive Heisman-winning Sooners quarterback to be selected first over all. The Cleveland Browns took Baker Mayfield at the top of last year’s draft.