Source: Oakland A's Offered Kyler Murray Additional $14 Million To Play Baseball
Oklahoma quarterback Kyler Murray is expected to be one of the top selections in next week's NFL draft and if he is picked No. 1 overall by the Arizona Cardinals, he could see guarantees of over $30 million on his first contract.
When the Oakland Athletics selected Murray ninth overall in the Major League Baseball first-year player draft last June, the A's gave him a $4.66 million signing bonus and allowed him to return to Oklahoma for his junior season to play football.
Murray not only won the job with the Sooners but went on to win the Heisman Trophy and lead his team to the College Football Playoffs.
That complicated matters with the A's, as no one was sure if Murray would choose football or baseball.
Murray cleared up that matter in February when he announced that he was committed to playing football.
According to a new SI profile written by Robert Klemko, the A's upped the ante when they visited Murray's family in January.
The Oakland contingent offered Murray an additional $14 million in guaranteed cash along with his original signing bonus.
“Ninety-six percent of kids who just signed a $4.6 million deal to play baseball wouldn’t have been on no football field the following fall,” says Murray's father Kevin told Klemko. “How can people question his love for the game?”
The A's would have had to add Murray to their 40-man roster to complete the deal, according to Klemko.
Oakland has already paid Murray $1.5 million of the bonus and he has to repay $1.29 million of that amount and forfeit the rest.
