When the Arizona Cardinals signed quarterback Kyler Murray to a contract extension worth more than $230 million that locks him up through 2028, they included an addendum requiring him to do at least four hours of independent study of game preparation material at home. It delineated specifically that the studying had to be when he wasn’t playing videogames, watching television or browsing the Internet.
That led to widespread criticism of Murray and the team across all platforms of news and opinion.
According to NFL Media’s Ian Rapoport, that addendum has been pulled from the deal and scrapped. That happened on Wednesday, a day before Murray address the media Thursday in an impromptu press conference to address what has been said about his work ethic.
Via ESPN, the Cardinals released a statement about the addendum.
“After seeing the distraction it created, we removed the addendum from the contract,” said the statement. “It was clearly perceived in ways that were never intended. Our confidence in Kyler Murray is as high as it’s ever been and nothing demonstrates our belief in his ability to lead this team more than the commitment reflected in this contract.”
The move to remove it seems strange.
How could they not have foreseen the way it would have been perceived? Of course people would believe that the team doesn’t trust Murray and that the clause implies Murray isn’t already doing enough to prepare for games.
Between the addition and now the subtraction of the clause, it is just a bad look all the way around.
At least Murray’s guarantees are now protected, although they were probably never in danger, but the damage has been done and now the organization just looks bad.
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