Kyler Murray wants to play in the MLB and NFL, though, by his own admission, that's probably not possible. If the 2018 Heisman Trophy winner never plays a snap in the NFL, he wouldn't be the first Heisman winner to do so. In fact, it's a large group.
"Kyler has agreed and the A's agreed to a baseball contract that gave him permission to play college football through the end of the collegiate season," Murray's agent Scott Boras said last week, referencing the $4.66-million contract Murray signed after the Athletics selected him with the ninth pick in the 2018 MLB Draft. "After that, he is under contract to play baseball. That is not a determination to make. It's already done."
Assuming Murray doesn't breach the contract and/or play in the NFL at a later date, he'd be the eighth Heisman winner that didn't play in the NFL, or nearly 10 percent of all Heisman winners.
University of Chicago running back Jay Berwanger was the first Heisman winner, capturing what would later become the most prestigious individual award in American sports in 1935. He was selected by Philadelphia Eagles with the first pick in the 1936 NFL Draft but didn't sign and was traded to the Chicago Bears. And when Berwanger couldn't sign him, he opted for a non-football career and never played a snap in the NFL.
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Six of the first 27 winners didn't play in the NFL, including 1939 winner Nile Kinnick, a three-sport athlete at Iowa whom the Brooklyn Dodgers drafted in 1940 but opted for law school instead. He joined the Naval Air Reserve a year later, reported for induction on Dec. 4, 1941, three days before Pearl Harbor was attacked, and died on a training flight in 1943.
Army running back Felix Blanchard (1945) picked the Air Force over the NFL, and Princeton running back Dick Kazmaier (1951) went to graduate school at Harvard before joining the Navy. Another Army running back, Pete Dawkins, won the Heisman in 1958 but wasn't drafted and served 24 years in the Army.
In 1961, Ernie Davis was the first African-American Heisman winner and the No. 1 pick in the 1962 draft. Weeks later, he was diagnosed with leukemia, didn't play in 1962 and died the following spring.
It wasn't until 1993 that another Heisman winner didn't play in the NFL. Florida State receiver Charlie Ward was projected as a mid-round pick in the 1994 draft but said he wouldn't play football unless he was selected in the first round. Ward wasn't drafted at all and, instead, played in the NBA after the New York Knicks picked him in the first round. He remains the only Heisman winner to play in the NBA.
While Kyler Murray would become the first Heisman winner in 25 years who didn't play in the NFL, he'd join a group that larger than you might've guessed.
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