Kyler Murray weighs in, helps stock at the NFL Draft Combine

Everything seems to be going in the Arizona Cardinals’ favor as they hope to build a market around the first overall pick in the 2019 NFL Draft.

At the draft combine on Wednesday, both coach Kliff Kingsbury and general manager Steve Keim left the door wide open for them to draft a quarterback, be it Oklahoma’s Kyler Murray or even, as Keim made sure to mention while joining Bickley & Marotta in Indianapolis, Ohio State’s Dwayne Haskins.

Then on Thursday morning, something else edged less doubt on Murray’s growing stock.

Murray’s running style and small size had led to questions about potential durability issues in the NFL, but he measured in at 5-foot-10 and 1/8 inches and 207 pounds.

Those two numbers were enough to dispel worries that his build wasn’t suitable for taking hits in the NFL.

A similar comparison was Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson, who measured 5-foot-11 and 204 pounds back in 2012.

“As you grow in this process and you open your eyes, you really have a better understanding that, number one, 10 years ago, there weren’t any comps that a 5-foot-10 or 5-foot-9ish quarterback could not only play at this level and have success,” Keim told Bickley & Marotta on Wednesday.

“Now that’s changed.  We’re a business that really looks at comps and we try to sort of pattern things after what others have done.”

Maybe where Wilson bests Murray is in hand size. The Seahawks veteran measured at 10 1/4 inches, while Murray’s hands are 9 1/2. Still, that’s better than expected.

“There’s not a quarterback in the NFL that has a smaller hand than like a 9 — a 9-inch hand, the span from the thumb to the pinkie,” an NFC executive told NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero before the measurement. “They say [Murray’s] could be really small, like 8 5/8 or 8 7/8. The difference (from other short QBs) would be like Russell Wilson’s is. Drew Brees is like a 10 1/4.”

Current NFL quarterbacks such as Matt Ryan, Andy Dalton and Lamar Jackson have hands the same size as Murray’s.

Murray will reportedly not throw at the combine, according to NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport. Additionally, Murray will not participate in any drills at the combine, reported Pelissero on Thursday.

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