Much speculation has occurred regarding the motivations for Charley Casserly’s recent report regarding Kyler Murray’s interviews at the Scouting Combine. As to one potential motivation, no further speculation is needed.
Casserly has a conflict of interest.
He has leveraged his experience as a General Manager and/or his platform on NFL Network into a side business. The side business consists of preparing prospects for Scouting Combine interviews.
During a Wednesday appearance on ESPN New York’s Michael Kay Show, Casserly said of Murray, “Clearly this guy was not trained for the interview. Just listening to it. I train players. I train over 100 players a year for Combine interviews. This guy wasn’t trained.”
Casserly wasn’t asked to clarify whether he actually saw or heard a recording of one specific Combine interview involving Kyler Murray, but the words “just listening to it” suggest that at least one of the teams gave Casserly access to the tape.
The bigger issue comes from Casserly training players for Combine interviews. He apparently has been doing it for several years with prospects who train at the EXOS facility.
Wednesday wasn’t the first time Casserly publicly questioned Murray’s preparation for the Combine interviews. Discussing the Murray Combine interviews during a Tuesday appearance on NFL Network, Casserly said, “One thing that stuck out to me: this guy was never trained for the interview. Whoever trained him did a poor job; guys do get trained for interviews now.”
By trashing Murray’s lack of preparation for Scouting Combine interviews while getting paid to prepare other prospects for Scouting Combine interviews, Casserly has a clear and obvious conflict of interest. Which means that he should not be commenting on anyone’s Combine interviews on NFL Network or elsewhere, without at a minimum disclosing his conflict of interest. Moreover, he definitely shouldn’t be commenting on whether someone who wasn’t one of his clients was prepared for their Combine interviews.
We’ve asked NFL Network for a list of Casserly’s 2019 clients. Chances are that this list includes one of more of the quarterback prospects who currently are competing with Murray for draft position.
Meanwhile, Murray indeed received training for the Combine interviews. Per a source with knowledge of the situation, Oklahoma coach Lincoln Riley (who likely would have gotten an NFL head-coaching job this year if he wanted one) and former Washington coach and former NFL quarterback Jim Zorn prepared Murray for his Combine sessions.