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In an alternative universe, Kyler Murray just wrapped up the baseball season and is preparing for the winter ahead.
It's not a far-fetched concept. The Arizona Cardinals QB was once a super promising MLB prospect and draft pick, too.
And it's something that has come up this week following Murray's injury and benching by the Cardinals, who are riding with Jacoby Brissett for the foreseeable future at quarterback.
But there's a difference between wondering if Murray is going to go back to baseball at some point and him actually going back to baseball at some point.
So what's the scoop?
Is Kyler Murray going to play baseball?
There are no real reports that suggest Kyler Murray is leaving the NFL to pursue a baseball career.
Searching social media for such rumors leads to a number of fans simply suggesting that maybe it's time Murray go try out his other path.
But for the time being, Murray is under a hefty contract with the Cardinals and isn't going anywhere.
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Who would Kyler Murray play for in MLB?
If Kyler Murray left the NFL for baseball, one MLB team already owns his rights.
That's the Athletics, who drafted Murray while they still played in Oakland.
When was Kyler Murray drafted in MLB?
The Oakland Athletics chose Murray with the No. 9 overall pick in the 2018 MLB Draft.
That was before the Arizona Cardinals eventually made him the No. 1 overall pick in the 2019 NFL Draft.
The A's knew it wouldn't be easy to sign Murray, so they let him play out his football career at Oklahoma, and in his final fall, he won the Heisman Trophy.
Oakland originally signed Murray to a contract with a $4.9-million signing bonus, but as it looked more and more like Murray would choose football, the reported offering to keep Murray in baseball reached $14 million. It wasn't enough, though.
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How good was Kyler Murray at baseball?
Murray, an outfielder, was a star in high school at Allen HS north of Dallas.
Murray has two seasons of high school baseball statistics listed on MaxPreps. As a sophomore at Allen (TX) High School, he hit .302 with five doubles, two triples, two home runs and 20 stolen bases. Then as a senior, Murray hit .286 with a double, two triples and a home run. Although MaxPreps doesn't list Murray's junior year stats, a story in The Undefeated said that was his best season, as he hit nine home runs as a junior.
He was ranked the No. 68 prospect nationally in his high school class.
Murray was also the first player ever named an Under Armour All-American in both baseball and football.
He played two seasons of college baseball at Oklahoma.
In the first, he batted just .122.
“My first year playing baseball at OU, you would have thought I was garbage,” Murray said to The Undefeated.
Oklahoma baseball coach Skip Johnson told The Undefeated that Murray practiced with the baseball team less than 10 times. He'd just show up and, in that second season, he played much better.
In Murray's final baseball season, he batted .296 with 10 homers and 10 steals.
Including this one:
Why did Kyler Murray choose football over baseball?
In the end, as a quarterback, Murray felt he couldn't do both.
His rookie contract with the Cardinals was for about $35 million, which was about 2.5-times even the largest offer from Oakland.
And his second contract with the Cardinals was for $230 million, so that worked out just fine.
From a journey to travel standpoint, the baseball grind can be tough at first. Players have to work hard to ascend the minor leagues before getting to MLB.
In the NFL, Murray was an immediate star as a rookie for the Cardinals. His career hasn't been totally smooth, but he's still highly thought of.
A return to baseball would be tough now for the strongest reason that it'd just be a tough game to pick up after so much time away. Maybe Murray could do it if he set his mind to it, though.
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