Seems like it’s all but certain the Cardinals want Murray.
Remember when we thought the San Francisco 49ers were out of the Nick Bosa pick? My how the times have changed. This marks the third mock draft we’ve posted where the 49ers pick up the elusive pass rusher. I said the 49ers had a legit shot at Nick Bosa, though the reasons for it are different than the circumstances faced now. But I’m going with it.
Today, Sports Illustrated’s Kalyn Kahler put together a mock draft with the same outcomes we’ve seen lately, but with some context. She has Kyler Murray going to the Cardinals and Nick bosa to the 49ers.
First, here’s what Kahler said about the Murray pick:
Alright, alright. I’ll give into the popular draft theory. There’s merit to the idea that an offensive-minded first-year head coach wants to remake a team with his own guy at quarterback, so I could see the Cardinals taking Murray here and the Patriots trading the 32nd pick to Arizona for Josh Rosen, who would benefit from a couple years behind Tom Brady. If Arizona isn’t serious about taking Murray first overall, they’re certainly making enough noise to generate interest from a team that might want to trade up for Murray (maybe Oakland?).
NFL Network analyst Charlie Casserly reported last week that Murray did poorly in his combine interviews. I spoke with a few sources who interacted with Murray at the combine, and I didn’t hear anything to that effect other than Murray is quiet, soft-spoken and doesn’t like the limelight. In that respect it’s not quite fair to compare him to Baker Mayfield, whose charisma and vocal leadership helped make him the top pick of last year’s draft. The only negatives on Murray I heard out of Indianapolis were regarding the infamous interview with Dan Patrick during Super Bowl week, before he had committed fully to the NFL. Murray refused to answer most of Patrick’s questions and his dad shouted out answers from behind the camera, which some evaluators thought was a bad look for the quarterback (but likely not enough to have a major impact on his draft stock).
Now that is something even I didn’t think about. Josh Rosen to the New England Patriots. That would be interesting. They sent Jimmy Garoppolo to the 49ers since they felt that Brady had a few more years in him, but Father Time is unbeaten. Is Josh Rosen better off in New England? It’s an interesting and plausible theory. It wouldn’t be surprising to see them do such a thing in the draft.
And here’s what she said about Bosa to the 49ers:
The Niners need edge rushers, and Bosa did all he needed to do at the combine.
I don’t think there’s much more to really say on Bosa to the 49ers that hasn’t already been said. Now that they have Dee Ford lining up on the edge, putting Bosa with that and DeForest Buckner (and Solomon Thomas if he figures it out) would be like apples and oranges for the defensive line between 2018 and 2019.
For the curious. Quinnen Williams goes to the New York Jets, but the Oakland Raiders take a quarterback, and it’s none other than Drew Lock. Josh Allen goes at No. 5 to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and all this madness allows Dwayne Haskins to go to the New York Giants.
Yesterday’s mock had D.K. Metcalf going to the Buccaneers at five, but today’s has him all the way to 15. It’d take a lot for the 49ers to get in there and take him if wanted, but it at least puts things into the realm of possibility. It may cost them the rest of their draft, but it’s possible.
I guess, is Nick Bosa pretty much a lock at this point? Or could the Cardinals still take him? Or could the 49ers decide to go in a different direction entirely?
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