Kliff Kingsbury Wants to Draft Kyler Murray. And I've Got Just the Place for Josh Rosen.
Kliff Kingsbury last October, on Kyler Murray – “Kyler, I mean, he’s a freak, man. Kyler is a freak. I’ve followed him since he was a sophomore in high school. Just think the world of him and what he can do on a football field. I’ve never seen one better in high school and he’s starting to show it now at the college level. I don’t have enough good things to say about him. He’s phenomenal. I’ve never seen him have a poor outing. Not one, which at quarterback is impossible to do but he’s done it. I’d take him with the first pick of the draft if I could.”
OK, so now Kliff Kingsbury has the first pick. He also has last year’s Cardinals 1st rounder, Josh Rosen. Which begs the obvious question, can a team use top 10 picks on two franchise quarterbacks in back to back drafts? Let’s turn to the World’s Foremost Authority.
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“The one thing about the NFL is that quarterbacks are currency,” Adam Schefter said on Get Up this morning. “And I can tell you this: Last year, when the Cleveland Browns had the first and fourth overall picks, at one point in time — and I know people will be skeptical of this — they considered taking quarterbacks at one and four, and then auctioning off one of the quarterbacks that they liked less.
“So if you’re the Arizona Cardinals and you like Kyler Murray that much — also, imagine him going No. 1 overall — but maybe there’s a scenario where you get him and you auction off Josh Rosen. If that’s what the new quarterback [Note: Schefty must’ve meant “coach”] likes, if that’s what he wants, why would you not acquiesce to that when you could get a king’s ransom for Josh Rosen, who some teams really like. Again, we’re getting things started here really early, and really putting things out there, but it’s not implausible that that scenario could unfold.”
Interesting. It’s almost like adding Josh Rosen to this year’s quarterback draft class, in a way. And begs the question, who might be interested in him? Is there a team out there that might be in the market for a highly regarded prospect coming off a tough rookie season in which his line gave up the sixth most Sacks, the sixth highest Sacks Percentage, and the Expected Points Scored of by his passing offense was a league worst 106.25 (Another note: I don’t really know what that means, either. But it is bad.) What kind of a team might be in the market for a young, physically gifted quarterback with the physical tools and make up to have been worth the 10th overall pick a year ago? And who could still stand a little time as a backup in order to develop under great coaching?
Let’s think about it …
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Huh.
I mean, it’s connecting a few dots. But I don’t think there’s so many dots or that they’re so messed up that it’s not at least plausible. The Patriots were rumored to be looking to move up in the 1st round last year, mainly for Baker Mayfield, but there was some discussion about Rosen. Belichick has a history of making deals with executives and coaches he’s familiar with, and he gave Kingsbury his start in pro football. It’s reasonable to assume Arizona would prefer to trade their starting quarterback to the other conference. The biggest question mark about him was whether he had the toughness and desire to stand up to a beating, especially given he had concussions at UCLA. And given how he stood up behind the Cardinals terrible O-line, I’d say that’s asked and answered. Plus you’ve got the likelihood of two very willing partners, which ultimately is everything you need to make this a reality. And just to say what doesn’t need to be said, Tom Brady is the same age as the Star Wars franchise.
The compensation wouldn’t be easy, since the Patriots (God willing) won’t be drafting until No. 32. But no GM in history has ever moved around a draft board like theirs does. And he’s always got a stack of 2nds and 3rds like a 90s kid collecting Pogs. This is less a prediction the Pats will actually wind up with The Rosen One than it is just alerting everyone to keep an eye on this situation. Stranger things have happened. But few have ever been this wild.