Could curious moves by Cards and Raiders indicate top pick in play … There’s not a whole lot of buzz surrounding the 2019 draft with just three weeks to go until the first picks start coming off the board. However, there are some conflicting signals that something might be brewing between Arizona and Oakland regarding the 1st and 4th picks. On the one hand, the Cardinals who were believed to have been locked in on Oklahoma QB Kyler Murray for the #1 pick overall for some weeks now, had both Ohio State DE Nick Bosa and Alabama DT Quinnen Williams, the top two non-QB prospects in this year’s draft, in for on-site, pre-draft visits earlier today. That’s after a contingent of senior Arizona people met with Bosa in Miami earlier in the week. Meanwhile, Oakland held private workouts with Murray, as well as Ohio State’s Dwayne Haskins, this year’s top two QBs, earlier this week. At the same time, though, it appears that Arizona is still actively shopping – without much success to date – incumbent starting QB Josh Rosen, which would tend to suggest that Murray is still the Cardinals’ target. Of course, it could all be a lot of smoke and mirrors, but the fact is that neither team really gains very much if the strategy is to try and create some smoke for other purposes. It’s also certainly possible that Oakland head coach Jon Gruden, who it seems has never seen a QB he didn’t like, could have a crush on the athletic Murray even though the Raiders have stated emphatically that Derek Carr is still their guy. It’s also certainly possible that the Cardinals, who have one of the NFL’s thinnest rosters, would at least listen to offers for the top pick, especially from a team like the Raiders that has two extra #1 picks this year; however, it isn’t clear how or why Arizona would come off Murray at the same time as shopping Rosen would work. Stay tuned!
