Remember when Kyler Murray walked away from his $5 million signing bonus after the Oakland A's made him the ninth pick in the MLB draft?
They remember Pepperidge farms.
The Oakland A's payroll is lower than his average annual salary. Murray and the Cards agreed to a five-year, $230.5 million contract that will guarantee him $160 million. The average annual value of Murray's contract is $46.1 million, making him the second- highest paid player in the league. Murray has an extra half million dollars on top of his guaranteed contract, which has an average annual value of $47 million.
In the three years since he was drafted, Murray has gone through his share of ups and downs, but he has also been electric enough to reestablish himself as a franchise quarterback. During the pre-draft process, Murray's decision to leave baseball and pursue a career in football caused a lot of controversy.
He was small, but he looked like a hobbit compared to some of the others. Murray was projected to be a second or third-round pick. The world was divided over which sport would give him the most financial support. Murray was advised to follow the baseball route by a number of people.
Murray wasn't just any college football player. In his first season as a starter, he became the first quarterback in Texas history to win 42 straight games and the first to win the Heisman trophy. It was not going to be possible for a guy like that to leave football toil in the minor leagues in order to become the next Andrew McCutchen. He wanted to be a household name in football and a star in baseball.
Max Scherzer's $43.33 million deal with the New York Mets is the highest yearly salary for a player in the sport Murray left behind. One difference between Murray's contract and baseball's most lucrative long-term deals is that he doesn't have a 100 percent guaranteed contract.
Assuming Kyler Murray plays out his contract, the average annual value of his deal would make him the second- highest paid quarterback in the history of the league. Murray has a $110 million contract that is guaranteed for three years. Murray's guaranteed money is only the 13th highest in baseball.
Murray is making the kind of money the top players will have to wait years to make in free agency.
Some of the players earning more guaranteed money than Murray are. Lindor, who signed a 10-year, $341 million deal last spring, is the youngest of that group.
Pete Alonso was drafted by the Mets two years before Murray, who went on to win NL rookies of the year and set a new MLB record for home runs in a single season. He will get a one-year $7.4 million contract with two more years of service left before he can look for a new job.
Everyone gave their opinion on the economics of Murray playing football, but at the end of the day, he proved that he was worth more than they thought.
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