Kyler Murray's contract terms are more fluid than the Magna Carta | Michael Arace
One of the best pure shooters anyone ever saw was Ray Allen, a 10-time NBA All-Star who won rings with the Boston Celtics and the Miami Heat. Enshrined in Springfield after a sterling 18 seasons in the NBA, Allen was the NBA’s all-time leader in converted 3s until Steph Curry came along. He shot .452 from the field, .400 from beyond the arc and .894 from the free-throw line. He was smoother than a Bentley Continental GT.
Allen popped into my mind after Arizona Cardinals quarterback Kyler Murray called a news conference Thursday to issue a public grievance over a clause in his contract.
This clause, now commonly referred to as the “homework clause,” required Murray to spend four hours a day in “independent study” during game weeks. The “independent study” had to involve reviewing game film at home. Playing video games, watching television and/or surfing the internet did not count.
“To think that I could accomplish everything that I’ve accomplished in my career and not be a student of the game … it’s disrespectful and it’s almost a joke,” Murray said.
Kyler Murray has 90 touchdowns in his first three seasons
Murray is a young (24), undersized (5 feet 10 and 207 pounds) and talented quarterback. He is slipperier than a Lotus Elise. Through three seasons, he has passed for 11,480 yards and 70 touchdowns and rushed for 1,786 yards and 20 touchdowns. He was the league’s Offensive Rookie of the Year in 2019 and a Pro Bowl pick in 2020 and 2021.
On July 21, Murray signed a contract worth $160 million guaranteed – and up to $230-million if all of his bonuses kick in. The contract had the “homework clause” in it. A week later, on Wednesday, the clause was reportedly removed. Then, on Thursday, Murray had his news conference.
Put another way: Murray summoned the media to rail against a clause that was already removed from his contract.
“I’m honestly flattered that you all think that, at my size, I can go out there and not prepare for the game and not take it seriously,” he said. “It’s disrespectful to my peers, to all the great athletes and all the great players that are in this league. This game is hard.”
All of this has caused a media firestorm. Welcome to training camp!
What are the issues regarding Kyler Murray?
There are those who are of an opinion that race is an issue here. It often is. Those who deny it ought to give Colin Kaepernick a job.
There are those who point out that somebody in the Cardinals front office – maybe it goes as high up as the owner, who knows? – must have had a reason to put the “homework clause” in Murray’s contract. Then, they took it out. Then, they made a public statement which said, essentially, they love Murray and did not foresee the PR problem.
Me, I was thinking of Allen. Specifically, I was thinking of his second NBA contract. He negotiated it himself, rather directly with the U.S. Sen. Herb Kohl, then the owner of the Bucks. Given the NBA’s salary-cap slot structure at the time, Allen knew exactly what he was worth (which turned out to be $70.9 million over six years).
Instead of paying an agent 4%, or $2.836 million, Allen hired a team of lawyers, a business manager and an accountant and paid them up to $500 an hour for their advice. The lawyers were led by the late Johnnie Cochran, a famed criminal defense attorney.
If Cochran, who was on O.J. Simpson’s defense team, saw a clause he didn’t like in Jesus Shuttlesworth’s contract, well, his client would have known about it. (Youngsters, listen up: Allen played Jesus Shuttlesworth, and Denzel Washington played his father, in Spike Lee's 1998 film "He Got Game.")
Where was the agent for Kyler Murray?
What I’m wondering about Murray is, where was his agent? I talked about this with my own lawyer, and he said, “I was wondering the same thing.”
The going rate for an agent is anywhere from 4% to 10%. Four percent of $230 million is $9.2 million and 10% is $23 million. For that kind of jack, Cochran would’ve produced the Magna Carta.
Murray’s agent and the Cardinals agreed to a contract, and then they changed the terms?
If homework is an issue with Murray, isn't it something Murray should have known about?
If homework is an issue for the Cardinals, and clearly it is, because they’re the ones who spelled it out in the original contract, why is it no longer an issue for them?
What was Murray’s agent doing other than calculating his cut of one of the richest contracts in NFL history?
What we have here is what John Kennedy Toole might’ve described as a confederacy of dunces, with Murray caught in the middle of it.
As my lawyer said, “If you want to run your franchise quarterback out of town, the best way to do it is to lie to him.”
Ultimately, that is the most likely scenario: Murray, insulted and hurt, will find a way to a new team, probably with a new agent.
By the way, what's in DeShaun Watson's contract?
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Kyler Murray agent, Arizona Cardinals make a circus out of a clause
