FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Monday, August 19th, 2019
KYLER MURRAY SPEAKS WITH PETER KING EXCLUSIVELY FOR “FOOTBALL MORNING IN AMERICA” ON NBCSPORTS.COM
“Of all the practices I saw on my camp tour, this one was the most interesting.” – King on Arizona Cardinals training camp
FMIA Includes King’s Thoughts on Antonio Brown, His Training Camp All-Interview Team, and Conversation with Richard Sherman
“I do think it’ll get done sooner than later. I don’t think that it’ll reach the deadline.” – Richard Sherman on CBA negotiations
STAMFORD, Conn. – August 19, 2019 – Peter King travels to Arizona and speaks with Cardinals quarterback Kyler Murray, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2019 NFL Draft, and first-year head coach Kliff Kingsbury in this week’s edition of Football Morning in America, available now exclusively on NBCSports.com.
King also shares his thoughts about the Antonio Brown helmet situation and reveals his Training Camp Tour all-interview team.
In addition, King continues his training camp tour with a stop in San Francisco, where he speaks with 49ers cornerback Richard Sherman about the ongoing collective bargaining negotiations.
The following are highlights from this week’s edition of Football Morning in America:
NEW-LOOK CARDINALS
Murray on Kingsbury: “[Kingsbury] is the kind of coach guys like to play for. I think everybody has the perception of his swag, his confidence, his offense. But for me that was from the outside looking in. I didn’t get to play for him at the time.”
Murray on Kingsbury’s offense: “It’s really quarterback-friendly, I’ll say. It’s a versatile offense. As soon as we get this thing rolling, we’ll all be on the same page. It’s really quick. It’s really fast…So, it’s putting people in space, putting our guys in space, our athletes in space. It’s going to be fun to watch.”
King: “Of all the practices I saw on my camp tour, this one was the most interesting.”
King: “It’s a fascinating combo platter. A big chunk of people think Kliff Kingsbury didn’t deserve the job, but they’re fascinated to see if his offense will shred the competition or fall flat. A big chunk of people think a 5-10 quarterback should not go number one in the draft, but they’re fascinated to see how Kyler Murray will play.”
Kingsbury on Murray is the preseason: “It’s a challenge for Kyler. He wants to play. He wants to have success right away. He wants to light up every field he gets on. He’s been trying to get more put in to these game plans. ‘Are we game-planning this week? Are we game-planning? Can we do what we do?’ That’s been fun to see.”
ANTONIO BROWN’S HELMET
King: “The Raiders should put Antonio Brown on notice today by sending him the dreaded ‘five-day letter’…This letter would mean that Brown would have to return to the team by Friday and play with a league-approved helmet, or he would be put on the reserve/left squad list, meaning he couldn’t play for the Raiders or any team in 2019.”
Raiders GM Mike Mayock to reporters on Brown: “At this point we’ve pretty much exhausted all avenues of relief. So from our perspective it’s time for him to be all in or all out. We’re hoping he’s back soon.”
King: “Mayock is pissed off. [Jon] Gruden is pissed off. Maybe they can scotch-tape this together and Brown will pout a little and find a helmet that he’d tolerate; I suppose if he does and reports in the next couple of days, they’ve got to try to make it work. But when is the next time Mount Antonio’s going to blow? Make no mistake – it’ll happen.”
King on his visit to helmet-manufacturer Vicis: “I just know it’s hard to do the sort of R&D that the league and the union have done, with real NFL dollars finally behind the effort, and think it’s smart to wear a vintage helmet. The owners injected $60 million into developing better helmet technology in a five-year plan beginning is 2016.”
RICHARD SHERMAN
King: “Regardless of your leanings on Richard Sherman, he’s a player leader and member of the NFL Players Association executive board, and he matters these days. He matters for the 49ers, and he matters at the bargaining table with the owners as the two sides try to get a deal done in advance of the end of the current 10-year CBA that expires after the 2021 season.”
Richard Sherman on CBA negotiations: “I think these discussions have been much more amicable than the discussions in 2010, 2011, 2009 about the Collective Bargaining Agreement.”
Sherman: “The owners, even when we have intense disagreements on topics…Even when there’s an intense disagreement or guys not reaching the same conclusion on certain things, there’s more discussion.”
Sherman: “But I do think it’ll get done sooner than later. I don’t think that it’ll reach the deadline. And if it does, it’d be because something astronomically went wrong and things fell apart. At that point, there’s a lot of worry on both sides.”
ALL-INTERVIEW TEAM
King: “I talked to 116 people on the record and a few more off in the past month on my training camp tour, and here’s the fun part: picking the most loquacious and informative.”
Following are selections from King’s all-interview team:
RB: Phillip Lindsay, Broncos; Austin Ekeler, Chargers: “I love surprise stories and guys who made it against the odds. Two undrafted guys from Colorado – Lindsay from Colorado and Ekeler from Division II Western State – who did everything to just make the team. Ekeler told me he’d be working for a mining company if he wasn’t a Charger.”
TE: Zach Ertz, Eagles; George Kittle, 49ers: “This says volumes about Ertz: When we talked, he sounded prouder of being Mr. Julie Ertz cheering on his wife and her U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team in France than of setting the NFL record for catches in a season by an NFL tight end. Kittle’s so effervescent.”
DL: Grady Jarrett, Falcons; Cam Hayward, Saints; Brandon Graham, Eagles; Calais Campbell, Jaguars: “Factoid of the Trip: Graham told me he has a video of him strip-sacking Tom Brady in the biggest moment of Super Bowl LI on his phone, and when he’s having a bad day, he’ll watch it.”
Coach: Sean Payton, Saints; Dan Quinn, Falcons: “Payton was a cross between proud dad/facilitating coach/realtor showing off the improvements in the Saints facility for more than an hour… Quinn’s a born teacher. He showed us how much better the defense will be, on his big screen with the all-22 coaches tape, with Deion Jones back anchoring the linebackers.”
Read the rest of the column here and catch the weekly Peter King Podcast here.
A new “Football Morning in America” posts every Monday morning exclusively on NBCSports.com through the NFL season. It was announced in May that King signed an exclusive agreement with NBC Sports Group that included writing a weekly Monday morning NFL column for NBCSports.com; making regular appearances on NBCSN’s and NBC Sports Radio’s PFT Live with Mike Florio; and continuing to contribute to Football Night in America, the most-watched studio show in sports.
—FOOTBALL MORNING IN AMERICA—
