TEMPE, Ariz. -- New Arizona Cardinals coach Kliff Kingsbury may have said he liked Kyler Murray in October, but Tuesday he said he's sticking with Josh Rosen.
"Our feelings toward Josh haven't waned or changed or anything," Kingsbury said. "I get we have the first pick (in the upcoming NFL draft) and so there's going to be a million scenarios over the next three months that are going to come up, but no, Josh is our guy."
Murray, the former Oklahoma quarterback, announced Monday that he will stick with football instead of playing for the Oakland Athletics, who selected him in the first round of the 2018 Major League Baseball draft. Speculation has ramped up that the Cardinals could possibly trade Rosen and draft Murray with the No. 1 overall pick.
There's a basis for the speculation, however.
In a video from October, when he was still the Texas Tech coach, Kingsbury heaped praise on Murray, whom he had followed since the quarterback's sophomore year of high school and recruited to Texas A&M. Kingsbury said then that he would select Murray if he had the first overall pick in the NFL draft.
Now Kingsbury does have the first pick, but he said Tuesday he was just building up an opponent.
"Kyler is a tremendous player," Kingsbury said. "And I said that as being very complimentary before we played an opponent. I understand the sound bite but, like I said, there'll be a ton of scenarios that will come up before we get to the draft."
The Cardinals also weighed in on the speculation via the team's official Twitter account:
Y'all are having fun with speculation, but... pic.twitter.com/dy4NbJ82iB
— Arizona Cardinals (@AZCardinals) February 12, 2019
The Cardinals drafted Rosen with the 10th overall pick in 2018. He threw for 2,278 yards, 11 touchdowns and 14 interceptions in 14 games.
