When Kliff Kingsbury was the head coach at Texas Tech, he didn’t hesitate to say that quarterback Kyler Murray should be drafted first overall.
But now that Kingsbury is with the Arizona Cardinals — the team who has the first pick in this year’s draft — he’s not going that far.
Kingsbury told reporters Tuesday that quarterback Josh Rosen is “our guy,” despite his previous remarks. The Cardinals drafted Rosen 10th overall last year and Kingsbury was hired as the team’s coach in January in part to help the UCLA product.
“Kyler is a tremendous player,” Kingsbury said. “And I said that as being very complimentary before we played an opponent. I understand the sound bite but, like I said, there’ll be a ton of scenarios that will come up before we get to the draft.”
In October, in lead up to Texas Tech’s game against Oklahoma, Kingsbury said he would draft Murray first “if I could.”
After Murray declared he’d pursue professional football full-time moving forward earlier this week, some wondered if the Cardinals would be willing to trade Rosen and take the Heisman winner first.
But Arizona appears to be committed to Rosen.
“Our feelings toward Josh haven’t waned or changed or anything,” Kingsbury said. “I get we have the first pick and so there’s going to be a million scenarios over the next three months that are going to come up, but no, Josh is our guy.”
Rosen threw for 2,278 yards, 11 touchdowns and 14 interceptions in 14 games last season.
• Matthew Paras can be reached at mparas@washingtontimes.com.
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