Arizona Cardinals select Kyler Murray No. 1 overall in the 2019 NFL draft

Kliff Kingsbury got his wish.

Six months after saying he’d take Kyler Murray with the first pick in the draft, the Cardinals turned their new head coach’s proclamation into prophecy by selecting the former Oklahoma quarterback with the No.1 overall pick on Thursday to open the 2019 NFL draft.

In Murray, the 2018 Heisman Trophy winner who accounted for more than 5,000 yards of offense and 54 touchdowns, Kingsbury finally gets the player he began recruiting as a college coach some eight years ago. Kingsbury started reaching out to Murray when the quarterback was a sophomore at Allen (Texas) High School, where he would go a perfect 42-0 as a starter.

When he was still the head coach at Texas Tech last October, Kingsbury said of Murray before facing him in a game, “Kyler, he’s a freak, man. … I’d take him with the first pick in the draft if I could.”

And now, after months of speculation and millions of rumors, they’re finally and formally both united and tied at the hip.

“Cannot wait,” Murray said via a conference call from Nashville, site of this week’s draft. “Me and him have had a relationship since I was like 15 years old, so to finally be able to … this is something we’ve talked about for a long time. It’s been a long time coming, but God works in mysterious ways. For me to be playing for him now, it’s a surreal feeling.”

Kingsbury can’t wait to start working with Murray.

“He’a a dynamic talent, a unique talent that I don’t know anybody has seen when you talk about that combination of runner and passer and being able to start as a polished pocket passer who can throw from different arm angles and be accurate and throw for a touch and then be able to take off and take it 80 (yards) on any snap,” the coach said.

“… He’s been around it, he knows what it looks like. He’s had success at every level, he doesn’t know anything but winning and all those things combined, that’s why we’re excited about the pick.”

By selecting Murray, the natural question now is what do the Cardinals plan to do with Josh Rosen, whom they drafted with the 10th overall pick out of UCLA just a year ago? The Cardinals became the first NFL team since the Baltimore Colts (1982-83) to draft a quarterback in the first round in consecutive years and it seems likely they will be parting ways with Rosen at some point.

General Manger Steve Keim said he fielded trade offers from some teams about Rosen, but it sounded clear he and the Cardinals are holding out for nothing short of a first-round pick and are willing to keep Rosen on the roster until someone antes up, perhaps even waiting as long as the start of the regular season.

“The bottom line is Josh is a really good football player and we’re not going to get int the business of just letting good football players walk out of here,” Keim said.

Murray becomes the second straight quarterback from Oklahoma to be drafted No.1 overall, following Baker Mayfield going to the Browns just a year ago. Three other players from Oklahoma previously were drafted first overall – Lee Roy Selmon (1976), Billy Simms (1980) and Sam Bradford (2010).

“I knew they were very fond me me, but at the same time, I wasn’t going to believe anything until I got that call,” Murray said. “Once I got it, I was ecstatic. … I want to be the best to ever play this game, but I know it’s going to take a lot of hard work, a lot of dedication. But I’m ready to do that.”

Asked if he fears there could be any uneasiness sharing the quarterback room and the locker room with Rosen, Murray said no.

“For me, my job is to come in every day and work hard and get better each and every day, just do what I can to make this team better,” he said. “I’ve known Josh since high school, so me and him are cool. We got along really well. I’ve always been fond of him, but us being teammates now, I can’t control anything but going in there and working hard.

“All I can do is come in and work hard, be myself, do the right things on and off the field, and be the leader of this team.”

About the only thing Murray is missing is a lack of ideal height. At 5 feet, 10 1/8 inches, Murray is the shortest quarterback selected in the first round of the draft in more than 50 years. That didn’t stop him from dominating at the college level, however, as Murray passed for 4,300 yards and 42 touchdowns in addition to rushing for 1,000 yards and 12 more TDs.

He was only intercepted seven times and, despite his smallish stature, only had five passed batted down at the line of scrimmage all year.

“A lot of undersized quarterbacks don’t have the arm strength. He does,” said Doug Flutie, who despite being 5-10 himself, spent 13 of his 22 professional seasons in the NFL.

Kurt Warner, the former Cardinals’ quarterback and a two-time NFL Most Valuable Player as a member of the Rams, believes Murray is the real deal.

“What makes him a franchise quarterback is that he can do everything,” Warner said. “He’s got all the pieces you want.”

The expectations with the dual-threat Murray is that he can become the Cardinals’ version of Russell Wilson, the star quarterback of the NFC West Division rival Seattle Seahawks. Murray has said he patterns a large portion of his game after Wilson, who has provided him some mentorship.

“I’ve got to talk to him a couple times and it’s good to have him in my corner as a resource,” Murray said of Wilson at the NFL combine in Indianapolis in March. “Obviously, I look up to him and watching him do it at 5-10 and kind of putting doubters to rest, it’s a good deal.”

Wilson was a third-round pick in 2012 and to this day, Keim still laments passing him over because he couldn’t find the right player comparison to Wilson.

“And I was wrong,” Keim told NFL writer Peter King in 2016. “When I think back now, it was a chickens--- call by me. I didn’t have the balls to take Russell Wilson.”

He did this time in Murray, but how difficult must it have been to pass on former Ohio State edge rusher Nick Bosa and former Alabama defensive tackle Quinnen Williams for Keim and the Cardinals? Either player would have been a massive upgrade to Arizona’s defense, particularly in pass-rushing situations and stopping the run, where the Cardinals struggled mightily during last seasons’ 3-13 campaign. Kingsbury had previously referred to both players as “can’t-miss prospects” who are sure to become stars at the next level.

“Those were certainly two of the guys I talked about last week when I said I wish we had five of those first-round picks because they were a lot of fun to watch as well and certainly I think are going to be great players in the National Football League,” Keim said. “But to have a guy that touches the ball every snap and has the skill set that he possesses … it’s just too hard to pass up.”

Arizona hopes to turn more heads during the second and third rounds on Friday when they pick first in each round – 33rd and 65th overall. Possible positions they could target there include wide receiver, offensive line, cornerback and possibly an edge rusher or defensive tackle and many top-rated prospects are available.

They include receivers D.K. Metcalf and A.J. Brown (from Mississippi) along with N’Keal Harry (Arizona State), cornerbacks Greedy Williams (LSU) and local product Byron Murphy (Scottsdale Saguaro High/Washington), offensive linemen Jawaan Taylor (Florida) and Cody Ford (Oklahoma), tight end Irv Smith Jr. (Alabama) and safety Deionte Thompson (Alabama).

Reach the reporter at bob.mcmanaman@arizonarepublic.com. Follow him on Twitter@azbobbymac. 

Support local journalism. Subscribe to azcentral.com today.