After the college football season ended for Kyler Murray on Dec. 29, the former Oklahoma quarterback kept everyone on pins and needles for nearly six weeks before he made the decision to pursue an NFL career over an MLB career.
Although Murray made it sound like he was on the fence with his decision, it turns out that he was planning to play football all along. During an interview with ESPN.com on Saturday, Murray revealed that football had always been in his plans.
"For me, it was something I've known for a while," Murray said of picking football over baseball.
Even though Murray clearly knew what sport he was going to play, he didn't let the rest of the world know until he publicly announced his decision on Feb. 11. Murray was grateful to be selected by the Oakland A's with the ninth overall pick in the 2018 MLB Draft, but not even going in the top 10 was going to be enough to sway him to play baseball.
"The night I got drafted to the A's -- obviously it was a great day of my life -- but I've been a football player my whole life," Murray said.
The only reason Murray hesitated at all about announcing his decision is because he wasn't sure how high his NFL draft stock would be since he only started one full year in college.
"I didn't know how the NFL felt about me before this season because I hadn't played," Murray said. "Going into this [football] season, [the goal] was to put myself in the best position possible. Obviously, when you win, good things happen. A lot of good stuff happened this year."
In his first and only year as the full-time starter at Oklahoma, Murray won the Heisman Trophy and led the Sooners to the College Football Playoff, where they lost to Alabama 45-34. Despite the fact that Murray will be playing football, the 5-foot-10 quarterback is still appreciative of how the A's treated him over the past seven months.
"That organization, being with the A's, was the best possible situation for me just because they were so great throughout the football season," Murray said. "Kind of leaving me alone and letting me do my own thing, and at the same time letting me know how much I meant to them and that type of stuff. Telling them was tough."
One thing that Murray definitely isn't doing is second-guessing his decision to play football.
"I mean, [the A's] can hold out all the hope they want to," Murray said. "I'm going to play football."
Murray will now enter the NFL Draft, with most gurus tabbing him as one of the three best quarterbacks, along with Ohio State's Dwayne Haskins and Missouri's Drew Lock. In our five mock drafts here at CBSSports.com, all five writers have Murray being taken with a top-15 pick, headlined by Will Brinson, who has Murray going with the No. 1 overall pick to the Cardinals. You can check out Brinson's entire mock draft by clicking here.
As for Murray, it sounds like he would actually enjoy Arizona. The quarterback has said it would be "nice" if Kliff Kingsbury and the Cardinals selected him with the top pick.
