Kyler Murray Trade to Falcons? 'Obvious Candidate,' Insists NFL Insider
The drama surrounding the Arizona Cardinals and star quarterback Kyler Murray continues on this offseason, with the club - despite insisting that it is completely committed to the former No. 1 overall player taken in his draft - not yet actually making any move that demonstrates that commitment.
That is, no new contract offer yet.
That piece of actual news (from NFL Network insider Tom Pelissero) has spawned the expected "inside info'' ... or, maybe, just gossip.
And that is where your Atlanta Falcons come in. The Falcons are going to trade for Murray?!
From Mike Florio at Pro Football Talk: "The most obvious candidates would be the three finalists for Deshaun Watson who didn’t get the new Browns quarterback: Panthers, Falcons, and Saints. This assumes that each of those teams would be OK with a quarterback who is on the very short side, by NFL starting quarterback standards.''
Some facts:
1) The Cardinals' inaction has other teams “monitoring” the situation.
2) The Cardinals will almost certainly work to re-sign their star.
3) The Falcons did indeed chase Watson and do indeed desire to employ, somehow, some way, a franchise QB in the post-Matt Ryan era. (Picking one at No. 8 in the upcoming NFL Draft is a top option.)
4) The Falcons would have some cap challenges in trying to sign Murray and then building around him.
5) There is no actual evidence - Florio floating his perception of potential landing spots for Murray aside - that the Falcons have any involvement here. "Obvious candidate'' is an awfully strong way to phrase what in essence is just a non-sourced prediction. (Florio also mentions the Eagles and Texans but for some reason does not label them as "obvious.'')
6) We have no idea why Florio opted to make a short-guy joke (it was meant to be funny, right?) in his report.
Inarguably, "due diligence'' is merited here by the Falcons. But beyond that? There is no "inside info.'' There's just fun guessing.