Kyler Murray is going to be drafted tonight, likely very early in the 2019 Draft. At 5’10, he is really short for a first round quarterback: like really short.
Davey O’Brien (yes, that Davey O’Brien), standing 5’7, is the shortest quarterback ever selected in the first round. He was the 4th overall pick in the 1939 Draft. There have been no quarterbacks taken in the first round who were 5’8 or 5’9, and only five were standing exactly 5-foot-10: Ted Marchibroda (yes, that Ted Marchibroda), Travis Tidwell, Ernie Case, Boley Dancewicz, and Frankie Albert. All of these players were drafted in 1950 or earlier.
The modern draft era begins in 1967, when the AFL and NFL joined forces for the common draft. Since then, the shortest quarterbacks drafted are 6’0 Michael Vick and Johnny Manziel. And only 6 quarterbacks who were 6’1 went in the first round: Baker Mayfield, Jim McMahon, Clint Longley, Bob Griese, Rex Grossman, and Cade McNown. There have been no quarterbacks who were 5’11 and drafted in the first round, and tonight, Murray will become the first 5’10 quarterback drafted in the first round since 1950.
The graph below shows the distribution, by height, of quarterbacks selected in the first round since 1967.
Murray is also African American, and that will make him a bit of a moldbreaker, too. Four years ago, when Jameis Winston went first overall, I wrote about how rare it still was for black quarterbacks to go in the first round, especially in the first round. Since then, Deshaun Watson, Patrick Mahomes, and Lamar Jackson – none taken earlier than 10th overall – have been selected in the first round.
If Murray hears his name called with the first pick, he will join Michael Vick, JaMarcus Russell, Cam Newton, and Winston as the only black quarterbacks to be drafted first overall. Russell, Newton, and Winston were big, tall quarterbacks in the traditional mold from a size perspective. For Murray, the questions he has had to overcome have much more to do with size than race.
One other question Murray hasn’t had to deal with, that quarterbacks of yesterday did, concerns his college awards. Namely, he won the Heisman Trophy in 2018, which was not always a good thing for a quarterback’s prospects. Carson Palmer (2002 Heisman Trophy winner) ushered in this modern era of Heisman-winning QBs being highly valued draft prospects, although it wasn’t until 2008 winner Sam Bradford that this trend began to really take off. Bradford went first overall, 2010 winner Cam Newton went 1st overall, 2011 winner Robert Griffin III went 2nd, and 2012 winner Johnny Manziel went 22nd. After him, 2013 winner Jameis Winston and 2014 winner Marcus Mariota went 1st and 2nd in the 2015 Draft, 2016 winner Lamar Jackson went 32nd in 2018, 2017 winner Baker Mayfield went 1st in 2018, and 2018 winner Kyler Murray may go 1st tonight.
This may feel normal to younger fans, but it is not.
The graph below shows where each Heisman Trophy winning QB (based on the year they won the Heisman) was drafted in the NFL. Undrafted QBs are coded as being drafted with the 300th pick. As you can see, generations ago, Heisman Trophy quarterbacks were often early NFL picks, but for about three decades, that trend stopped: fewer quarterbacks won the Heisman, and Vinny Testaverde and Andre Ware were the only Heisman Trophy winning QBs from 1971 to 2001 to get drafted in the first round. But now, it’s pretty common for both a college QB to win that Heisman and for that QB to become an early draft pick.
As always, please leave your thoughts in the comments.