Matt York/Associated Press

Kliff Kingsbury Denies Demanding Kyler Murray: 'I Don't Have That Type of Juice'

Tyler Conway

Kliff Kingsbury got the quarterback he wanted in Kyler Murray. 

The Arizona Cardinals head coach just didn't demand it the way some people think.

"That I rolled [in] here and was just like, 'We're taking Kyler Murray,'" Kingsbury told Peter King of NBC Sports about the "biggest misconception" about him. "First off...I don't have that type of juice coming in the door. That wasn't how it went down at all."

Murray was pegged for the Cardinals almost from the second he announced he'd be forgoing a baseball career for the NFL, in large part because of Kingsbury's admiration for the Oklahoma Sooners product. When he was still Texas Tech's head coach, Kingsbury said he would select Murray with the No. 1 pick if he had the chance.    

Cardinals general manager Steve Keim said he did not begin a deep-dive study on Murray's tape until March and clarified that the organization wouldn't have made a decision on the 2018 Heisman Trophy winner before then. Keim told King he was "reluctant" to watch Murray's film but was instantly won over: 

"I was reluctant to study him because I knew what we had in Josh Rosen. As I watched the first game, I watched the second game, I couldn't put down the controller. All I wanted to do was keep watching this kid on tape. I don't know if I wrote down 'wow' 100 times, or 500 times, but my hand got tired of writing it. In the time I've been doing this, I haven't seen a guy who could throw like him and run like him. I've seen guys who could do one of each, but I've never evaluated a guy who possesses the skill set to do both things at such a high level. I was also studying guys that I was falling in love with, like Nick Bosa, Quinnen Williams, really having to really weigh which player makes the biggest impact for us. It became crystal clear in the end it was Kyler Murray."

The Cardinals traded Rosen, their first-round pick from a year ago, to the Miami Dolphins in exchange for a second-round pick and a 2020 fifth-round pick Friday.

Rosen threw for 2,278 yards and 11 touchdowns against 14 interceptions in a largely disappointing rookie season. He was one of the worst quarterbacks in football under any statistical measure but was stuck behind one of the worst offensive lines (52 sacks allowed on Arizona quarterbacks) and in a scheme that did him no favors. 

That won't be the case for Murray, whose skill set fits perfectly within Kingsbury's wide-open Air Raid offense. The Cardinals have also addressed their offensive concerns, selecting wideouts Andy Isabella and Hakeem Butler in this year's draft. They also signed guard J.R. Sweezy and traded for tackle Marcus Gilbert to fortify the offensive line. 

Kingsbury said he would have been fine going forward with Rosen, and Keim indicated the coach did not interrupt the team's evaluation process. That said, this is a result that probably works out best for all parties involved—Rosen included. 

   

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