FanPost

Fumble or Touchdown?

Christopher Hanewinckel-USA TODAY Sports

Let me just get this out of the way, I am not in favor of the Kyler Murray pick. Before you Murray lovers hit me with your venom and bombard me about all his glowing statistics and natural ability, let me also be clear that I get it. I was an early adopter of the Murray in AZ idea. This has nothing to do with whether I think he can play or not. I actually think he’ll be a one man force of nature and likely be considered for ROY. So what’s the problem? Bottom line, I don’t have faith his style and level of play will be sustainable long term.

As I’ve stated numerous times before, the NFL has a way of catching up to guys like Murray and bringing them down to earth. There’s been a lot of talk about his height, but I'm far more concerned about his slight frame and willingness to continuously put himself in harm’s way. I don’t care how skilled he is at avoiding contact, at some point he’s going to get hit, hard! Even if he learns to be more cautious, he won’t be able to avoid the weekly rigors of the NFL. I know he showed up at the combine bulked up to 207 lb, but he also never ran with the added weight. I believe it’s far more likely his actual playing weight will be somewhere in the 190-200 lb. range (FYI, he played at 185 lb. last year). His body is simply not ideal to absorb the kind of punishment it will have to take.

Right now we have a 14 game sample from a 21yo college kid. To justify this pick, we should reasonably expect him to be the cornerstone of the franchise for at least the next 10-15 years, especially after just drafting a QB #10 last year. As we all know, an NFL season is 16 games, call it 18 (for a starting QB) if you figure pre-season, and as much as 22 if you factor in playoffs and the SB. Let’s just average it to 18-20 for this example. Can we really expect him to survive 10+ years at 18+ games without a career altering injury, or just flat out succumbing to the weekly grind and punishment of the league? Keep in mind, injuries to Murray have the potential to be far more consequential given his game is so reliant on his extraordinary physical talent, a la RG3. As he gets older, it will only be more of a challenge.

So regardless of what type of rookie year he has, that will not prove or disprove my point. Sadly, we won’t know whether it was a wise choice for at least a few years. For me personally, it will take him maintaining his effectiveness for at least five years to finally feel at ease. Trust me, I’ve never wanted to be more wrong about a sports related subject, in my life. Because there is no doubt he has the ability to forever alter the record books if he can live up to and maintain his potential.

The other issue that needs to be discussed is how ineptly and incompetently they have handled Josh Rosen as a human being, a member of their franchise and as an asset of the franchise. First off, their treatment of Rosen is absolute abhorrent. Frankly, as a fan, I’m ashamed and embarrassed. I get that it’s a business, but they have surpassed even the most callous stereotype of players regarded as disposable property. They owe him an apology and they have some explaining to do with the fan base.

After all, it was their incompetence that surrounded him with an abysmal coaching staff.

It was their incompetence that thought it was a good idea to bring in Bradford to bridge the gap.

It was their incompetence that entered the 2018 season with the worst O-line in the league.

It was their incompetence that didn't provide enough weapons to take some of the burden off his shoulders.

And it was their incompetence that forced him into the perfect storm of doom - they created.

Now they draft another QB, with the first pick, a year after trading up to draft a 1st round QB last year? There is no other way to rationalize it, that's just gross incompetence.

There was plenty to be critical of in Rosen’s game. But this franchise did absolutely nothing to help him succeed. In fact, it almost feels like they did everything they could to sabotage him. The last few months have been a completely avoidable exercise in cruelty and incompetence. Rosen has had to sit quietly in a fish bowl as the world contemplated his future. I still think he’s going to be a good QB in this league. And I’m going to dread watching him shine on another team. But before that can happen, to compound the ineptitude, it looks like they have to take a bath on Rosen's value and beg teams to take a top ten QB off their hands for pennies on the dollar. No one can convince me they didn't botch this transition and the compensation for Rosen. This entire episode has been a joke and a charade by the gang who can't shoot straight.

At some point Mr. Keim and Mr. Bidwill will have to explain the rational for the way they handled this fiasco. In the meantime, I sincerely wish nothing but the best for both Murray and Rosen. Neither one deserves the avoidable negativity surrounding what should have been a celebratory occasion.

Between last off-season and what we just currently witnessed, Keim has officially worn out his welcome, at least as far as I’m concerned. He should already be gone, but anything less than total success in the rest of this draft, should mean the end of his time here.

Sorry, I have no resolution for any of this. The genie is out of the bottle and all we can do now is hope they didn't totally screw this up. It will be a very interesting year and I look forward to seeing what the young man can do...

<em>This is a FanPost and does not necessarily reflect the views of Revenge of the Birds' (ROTB) editors. It does reflect the views of this particular fan though, which is as important as the views of ROTB's editors.</em>