Christopher Hanewinckel/USA Today Sports, via Reuters
NASHVILLE — Kyler Murray completed his unlikely transformation on Thursday night, evolving in less than a year from a college backup planning a career in baseball to a Heisman Trophy-winning No. 1 overall pick in the N.F.L. draft and a prospective franchise quarterback for the Arizona Cardinals.
Murray was supposed to play baseball for the Oakland Athletics, who chose him with the ninth pick in last year’s Major League Baseball draft and promised him a signing bonus of more than $4 million. But after his success in his final year at Oklahoma, Murray fulfilled his childhood dream to become the top pick in the N.