Cardinals skipping Kyler Murray’s Pro Day means absolutely nothing

The Arizona Cardinals may take Kyler Murray first overall next month, so their contingent skipping the reigning Heisman winner’s Pro Day qualifies as news.

As the NFL free agency frenzy enters a less prominent wave, some focus can shift to the draft next month. Scouts are descending on Norman, Oklahoma Wednesday, for Oklahoma’s Pro Day highlighted by Kyler Murray.

The Arizona Cardinals are being tied to Murray with the No. 1 overall pick. But Ian Rapoport of NFL Network reported the team’s contingent (head coach Kliff Kingsbury, general manager Steve Keim and team president Michael Bidwill) is not in attendance for Murray’s pro day workout.

By not going to see Murray’s on-campus workout, the Cardinals could be trying to send out a flimsy smokescreen. A tepid endorsement of incumbent starter Josh Rosen has done plenty to fuel speculation they’ll trade him and draft Murray, but not attending a pro day is more valuable as a news item than it is as a missed opportunity to further evaluate Murray as a prospect.

During a pro day, players are set up to succeed in a familiar environment. As it pertains to quarterbacks, working with their college coaches in a workout designed to highlight what they do best, and throwing to receivers they’re familiar with, makes a bad showing a notable, if overrated, thing.

There’s nothing Murray will show in Wednesday’s controlled environment that means anything to the Cardinals, or any other team with a high pick that may be looking at him. His game tape will not lie, good, bad and/or ugly, and it’s safe to assume the Cardinals will bring him in for a private workout.

There is one notable thing to come out of Norman on Wednesday morning. Murray was weighed, coming in at 205 pounds, but he did not have his height measured. That’s a shining example, before he even threw a football, of being protected from scrutiny in a favorable environment.

The Cardinals have stumbled through questions regarding Murray, as rumors have kept attaching them to him. Not going to his pro day simply avoided interviews with media members, and naturally fueled questions about their plan. Which was probably the point.