Kyler Murray refuses to close the door on his lucrative athletic options.
On Monday, the reigning Heisman Trophy winner (Oklahoma) and recent first-round pick for MLB's Oakland Athletics (No. 9 overall last June) filled out the necessary paperwork for entering the NFL draft (April 25-27).
What's the impact of today's major announcement?
In the short term, not much has changed.
The only certainty here: Murray's football career at Oklahoma has officially ended, meaning he won't get a chance to secure back-to-back Heisman awards (similar to Ohio State's Archie Griffin in the mid-1970s) or lead the Sooners to consecutive berths in the four-team College Football Playoff.
BURNING QUESTIONS: A breakdown of Murray's rationale for NFL/MLB
Outside of leaving Oklahoma for good, though, all options remain on the table; and of course, money stands to be a major determining factor:
OPTION #1
Murray, who received a large signing bonus (in the $4.8M range) after getting drafted by the Athletics, can devote himself to baseball full-time, with the plausible hope of being the club's every-day center fielder by 2022.
As a possible leverage move, Murray (5-foot-10, 195 pounds) was reportedly seeking a major-league contract from the Athletics, in upwards of $15 million, in advance of Monday's deadline for entering the NFL draft.
OPTION #2
After a brilliant final campaign with Oklahoma football (4,361 yards passing, 1,001 rushing yards and 54 total touchdowns), Murray could possibly skip Spring Training with the Athletics (Mesa, Arizona) and go through the necessary workouts, in advance of the NFL draft.
Murray would obviously be a popular interview subject at the NFL combine, with teams (and media) questioning the Heisman recipient's desire to play football full time ... if he's not drafted in Round 1.
Is Murray a first-round football talent? Per usual, the beauty of smallish quarterbacks are typically in the eye of the beholder ... or in this case, NFL general managers.
(Note: All first-round NFL draftees are awarded guaranteed contracts of four seasons, with a team option for Year No. 5. After that ... the franchises aren't obligated to dole out fully guaranteed deals to players selected in Rounds 2 through 7.)
OPTION #3
Murray could go the route of Bo Jackson and Deion Sanders and attempt to reach the MLB and NFL levels at essentially the same time.
However, it's markedly easier for two-sport tailbacks (like Jackson) or cornerbacks (like Sanders) to moonlight away from the NFL.
The cold reality: For quarterbacks, the vast time commitment with game preparations doesn't leave much room for anything outside of sleep, family ... and the occasional TV commercial for Isotoner gloves.
