Kyler Murray didn’t start as a freshman in high school. He didn’t start his first game as a freshman at Texas A&M, and he sat behind Baker Mayfield at Oklahoma for most of 2017 after losing another year (2016) to transfer rules.
But the No. 1 overall choice will start his first NFL game.
He will become the first rookie to start for the Cardinals in a season opener since Lamar McHan in 1954, according to Scott Bordow of TheAthletic.com.
Murray said he hasn’t gotten nervous before a game since his first high school start as a sophomore at Allen High School in Allen, Texas. Cardinals coach Kliff Kingsbury doesn’t expect Murray to have nerves against the Lions on Sunday either.
“He thought he was going to be here for his entire life,” Kingsbury said, “so it’s the next step for him.”
Murray got a head start on the offense, having played in a similar system in college.
“It’s not like he’s coming in here trying to learn Chinese as a lot of those first-year quarterbacks are,” Kingsbury said. “Therein lies a little bit of comfort level that maybe some of those other guys didn’t have going into Week One having to be starters.”
Everyone will get to see what Kingsbury’s offense is all about Sunday, with the coach having a comfort level in Murray’s ability to run his system.