Cardinals sign top pick Kyler Murray to reported $35.2M deal
The Arizona Cardinals announced on Thursday that they have signed No. 1 overall draft pick Kyler Murray.
NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport reports that the deal is for four years and $35.2 million fully guaranteed with a fifth-year option.
With rookie contracts in the NFL falling on a scale, there is little room for negotiation, making holdouts rare.
But it surely feels good for both sides to have a deal done so soon after the draft.
Murray makes $2.5M more than Mayfield
Murray’s deal eclipses that of last year’s No. 1 overall pick Baker Mayfield, who signed with the Cleveland Browns for four years and $32.7 million in guaranteed money.
Murray became the second first-round quarterback to sign Thursday after the Washington Redskins signed No. 15 pick Dwayne Haskins to a four-year deal. Terms weren’t reported, but he was slotted to make around $14.3 million over the life of the deal per the rookie wage scale.
A lot more money than A’s would have paid
Murray’s contract already justifies his decision to eschew baseball for the NFL — at least in the short term.
Murray returned most of the nearly $5 million he received as a first-round pick of the Oakland A’s and reportedly turned down an offer of an additional $14 million from the team to stick with baseball.
The math’s not hard here. While $19 million is a lot of money, $32.7 million is a lot more money. Murray’s probably feeling just fine about his decision.
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