Kyler Murray Got His Contract, But the Cardinals Got Favorable Terms

The contract drama is over with, and Arizona got a unique commitment without having to guarantee the whole deal.

The offseason drama between Kyler Murray and the Cardinals was resolved last week with a mega-contract extension that now binds Murray to the team for the next seven seasons (if they choose to have him there). It quiets the rumbles of discontent from Murray’s camp since last season ended, including a missive on social media from agent Erik Burkhardt that said, in so many words: Kyler’s been a starter there for three years playing for peanuts; show him the money! And the Cardinals did, albeit with some fine print about the money and guarantees, and some truly unique language not previously seen—at least by this writer—in this history of NFL contracts.

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The money

The good news for Murray is that by negotiating after the historic Deshaun Watson contract, he was able to exceed the gold standard annual average of $46 million, receiving—at least according to the splashy news about the deal—$230.1 million for five years, a record $46.1 million a year.

Looking closer into the contract, however, reveals a different picture. That average represented the number for the five “extension years,” not the seven contract years. The real deal is $219 million for six years with a team option for the seventh year. To be clear, this is still a strong contract, with a $36.5 million average for a player whom some do not see in the elite tier of quarterbacks, but it is not comparable to the Watson contract, especially on the level of guarantee.

In a blow to agents for superstar quarterbacks entering contract negotiations, the Cardinals were apparently able to explain away the rock-solid, five-year full guarantee to Watson as an outlier, even though it has been precedent since March. Derek Carr and now Murray have signed extensions with good money in the first three years—over $100 million—but nothing guaranteed beyond that. Thus, the Murray deal is just that: three years, $105 million and “we’ll see.” And again, to those saying the Cardinals would never cut Kyler Murray, the point is that they can, giving them contract control and allocating all of the risk to Murray.

Cardinals owner Michael Bidwell also likely hid behind the antiquated NFL funding rule by arguing that, unlike Browns owner and tycoon Jimmy Haslam, his family did not have the resources to put $170 million into escrow. And that will be the argument next year for the Bengals (with Joe Burrow) and Chargers (with Justin Herbert). Anyone could see this coming after the Watson contract. It was up to the agent for Murray and will be up to the agents for those players to press the issue.

With franchise values topping $3 billion and an annual NFL check to teams of $347 million, as illustrated with the Packers’ financials last week, all NFL teams can fund that level of guarantee.

I am often asked what needs to happen for NFL contracts to become guaranteed in the way that NBA and MLB contracts are. Well, this is what needs to happen: With the Watson contract having set the table, agents of other quarterbacks—and eventually other positions—need to push the envelope with owners to match it. So far that has not happened. Lamar Jackson will be the next test case, as I wrote in my last column.

The homework clause

Not only did the fine print of the contract show a very different average per year than advertised, it showed something truly unique in the history of NFL contracts.

An “independent study” clause requires Murray to complete at least four hours per week of self-study, with the consequences for not doing so being potential loss of future guaranteed portions of the contract. The language details that the study has to be different from team study, and Murray can’t be watching other things such as TV or video games on his device while “studying.”

In looking at NFL contracts from all sides–agent, team executive and media analyst–for the past 35 years, I have never seen a clause like this. And the fact that the Cardinals felt the need to insert this into the deal is, well, telling. In other words, the Cardinals committed (on paper) $230.1 million to the face of their franchise, yet felt the need to contractually ensure that he would spend four hours a week studying for the next game. Strange. Along with millions of dollars set aside for offseason workouts, it seems the message of this contract was: We’ll pay you, but you better work hard or there will be consequences!

As for enforcement, there is the weird vibe of Big Brother watching. Unless Murray is going to have a proctor to make sure he puts in the study hours, it would seem the way the team will check is through monitoring his device to ensure that he is putting in the requisite hours and is not doing other things on the device beyond studying for the next opponent.

My sense of what happened here is something like this:

Burkhardt and Murray made noise all offseason about getting paid. The Cardinals probably preferred to wait a year and further evaluate Murray’s work ethic and commitment. But the pressure from the player and agent and, perhaps, coach Kliff Kingsbury (also represented by Burkhardt) became too much.

Thus, the Cardinals did pay Murray, but inserted this unique clause and close to $9 million in total offseason workout bonuses to ensure year-round work ethic and weight room commitment.

As for the leaks, it seems pretty clear that the Murray camp put out the first information about the $46.1 million average besting Watson, as is usually the case. But it also seems clear that the Cardinals wanted the homework clause, reported by NFL Media, out there. And Murray and Burkhardt cannot be pleased that this information got out there.

In the end, Murray got his contract, an impressive one under any analysis. However, the Cardinals avoided the full guarantee and wrangled some unique concessions that are telling in what they think of their superstar franchise player. It is not the most celebratory tone that usually accompanies the news of the face of the franchise signing a long-term extension with the team.

The business of sports sometimes works in mysterious ways.