Kyler Murray has been trending in NFL circles today, and not for the best reasons.
NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport got his hands on a copy of Murray’s new contract, which includes an addendum mandating four hours of “independent study” every game week.
Many have brought up how troubling this seems, considering the Cardinals just gave Murray a massive deal. The fact they are putting it in writing that he has to prepare more isn’t a great sign.
It’s almost never a good thing for a QB when your name gets brought up in conjunction with JaMarcus Russell, which is happening to Murray right now.
The reason for the connection is the infamous story about the Raiders giving Russell blank DVDs to study game plans because they had a suspicion that he wasn’t watching the actual ones. When Russell said he liked what he saw on the dummy tapes, the Raiders knew he’d been lying about his film study.
Murray is not at Russell’s level, and he has already done way more as an NFL player than JaMarcus ever did. Still, whoever leaked this addendum did the former No. 1 overall pick no favors.
He and the Cardinals have even more weight on their shoulders now.