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DeutschAthletics GM: We’re always open to Kyler Murray exploring a return to baseball
Kyler Murray was the ninth overall pick in the Major League Baseball draft in 2018, signed a contract with the Athletics that year, and planned to pursue a professional baseball career after one final season of college football. Then Murray won the Heisman Trophy in his final season, was the first overall pick in the 2019 NFL draft, and decided to pursue football instead.
Now Murray has been told the Cardinals plan to cut him, and the Athletics have let him know he'd be welcome to play baseball again.
"Kyler is an elite NFL quarterback and I’m sure there are plenty of opportunities for him to continue his football career,” Athletics General Manager David Forst told MLB.com. “That said, he and his baseball representatives know that we’re always open to him exploring a return to baseball with the A’s if that time ever comes.”
It's unlikely that Murray will change sports at age 28, but he's talented enough that if he wanted to do it, there's a real chance he could make the major leagues. And he's already got a team that would love to see him give it a try.
One-year QB wonders don't work in NFL. Why would Ty Simpson?
This isn’t quarterback rocket science, or a gut feeling. It couldn’t be more clear and concise.
The one-year wonders at the quarterback position don’t work in the NFL.
Yet there they are, the talking heads all over the sport, falling for it again with Ty Simpson. The former Alabama quarterback showed up last week at the league’s annual NFL Scouting Combine — with all of 15 career starts in his pocket — and had an impressive throwing session for the assembled scouts and team personnel.
Throwing session.
Suddenly, he’s a Top 15 pick. Even ESPN’s Dan Orlovsky — as smart and measured analyst as there is — declared Simpson’s tape “from his first eight games” of the 2025 season is better than projected No. 1 overall pick Fernando Mendoza.
Has the entire NFL scouting world gone mad? This isn’t that difficult to process, everyone.
Anthony Richardson started one season at Florida. Trey Lance started one season at North Dakota State.
Kyler Murray (Oklahoma), Dwayne Haskins (Ohio State) and Mac Jones (Alabama) started one season in college, too. All flamed out.
Meanwhile, I give you (since the 2018 draft) these multiple-season college starters who are all ascending in their careers: two MVPs (Lamar Jackson, Josh Allen), two Super Bowl champions (Jalen Hurts, Sam Darnold), and eight who have led teams to the playoffs (Joe Burrow, Baker Mayfield, Trevor Lawrence, Justin Herbert, Caleb Williams, CJ Stroud, Bryce Young, Bo Nix).
Obviously there are multiple-season college starters who don’t pan out, but the odds of success are much higher for a player with elite skills who has spent extended time leading a team, managing games and experiencing every possible win-lose scenario on the grass.
Not a throwing session.
The last time we saw Simpson on the field at Alabama, he and the Tide were getting clobbered by Indiana in the Rose Bowl — where Simpson completed 12 passes for 67 yards before getting knocked out of a 38-3 loss.
It’s almost as if these NFL guys, whose very livelihood depends on getting it right more than getting it wrong, never learn.
Simpson is a talented player. He has a live arm, and is sneaky athletic. He’s accurate, and he has played well at times in big games.
But it’s hard to fathom a position that demands as many game repetitions as possible to develop and reach potential, could have an obvious red flag so flippantly ignored by the best of the best in the sport.
It’s the quarterback obsession. The game — no matter the level — revolves around the play of the quarterback.
The better he is, the better you are.
But when we reach the elite of the game, where everyone runs fast and everyone is freakishly athletic, football IQ is heightened to an unreal level. Knowledge of the game, understanding the nuances, knowing the answers ― all before the ball snaps at the line of scrimmage.
Translation: The more reps, the more you know before making the pick.
I can’t imagine why any NFL owner, now spending more than $300 million annually in salary cap revenue, would trust his franchise to a quarterback who has played one college season. It’s blind faith on steroids.
This isn’t learning on the job, or sitting behind a cagey veteran. You’re drafted, and we’re paying you millions ― and you’re playing Week 1.
The enormity of the moment crushes some, overwhelms others. Typically, it impacts every quarterback.
It’s rare that a rookie quarterback steps into the breach and starts making plays all over the field. Rare that he’s so good, teams win because of him — not with him.
It takes two or three years (or more) for these guys to feel completely comfortable when they walk to the line of scrimmage. When they can look at grown men on the other side of the ball — whose coaches (the best in the sport, no less) spend an entire offseason scouting the player and the offense — and feel completely at ease.
When they can consistently win games at the highest level of football, and give their team — one that plays in a league designed for parity — an advantage more than the other guy.
Now we’re ready to bet all that on a guy with 15 career college starts, and a throwing session?
The entire NFL scouting world has gone mad.
Matt Hayes is the senior national college football writer for USA TODAY Sports Network. Follow him on X at @MattHayesCFB.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Ty Simpson is now a projected NFL first round pick, but why?
'Up for the Cup!' - your hopes for the rest of the season
We asked for your views on your hopes for the rest of the season after Sunderland reached the magic 40-point mark after Tuesday's win at Leeds.
Here are some of your comments:
Peter: Sunderland have a solid defence and good cover in the squad. They have a good midfield and again have cover there, but there is a distinct lack of punch up front. Burnley and West Ham have scored more goals so any thoughts of Europe are far fetched to say the least. A great season, but they really do need a couple of strikers who are going to get a dozen goals or more a season, it must be the number one priority for next season.
Simon: Up for the Cup, aye! Forget Europe - even if we qualified we couldn't compete and we've seen what's happened to others: fighting relegation as a result. Next season is about consolidating but we should have a real go at a trophy now we are safe
Colin: Good to hit 40 points but now we must concentrate on establishing ourselves in this league before we start doing anything else, as for Europe we are not even close maybe in a few more seasons.
Tom: Delighted to have hit the magic 40 point mark so early. I doubt we can get European football but we should try and take a run at the FA Cup. Beat Port Vale and we are into the last 8 and we are capable of getting a result against anyone.