The wild Kyler Murray statement shows the perils of negotiating through the media

Kyler Murray is currently embroiled in a dispute with the Arizona Cardinals over, well, a lot of things. Most specifically, though, his next contract, on which the two sides are clearly miles apart.

It’s already gotten ugly, with stories leaked that paint Murray as a bad leader and Murray unfollowing the team on social media. The ongoing saga reached a new height of ugliness today, though, with Murray’s team releasing a statement that looks like it was drawn up on WordPerfect in 1999.

A statement from Cardinals’ QB Kyler Murray’s agent, @ErikBurkhardt: pic.twitter.com/qsWGZIZ0jB

— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) February 28, 2022

With a font choice like that you really have to wonder whether Murray is getting the best advice here. Aesthetics aside, though, the whole thing gets pretty wild, especially written in the third-person about Murray. A choice quote, relayed with a blanket “sic”:

“It is now simply up to the Cardinals to decide if they prioritize their rapidly improving, 24-year old, already 2x Pro Bowl QB, who led the organization from 3 wins before his arrival to 11-wins and their first playoff appearance in 5 years. Or rather, if they choose to financially prioritize committing to other areas and continuing to merely talk about addressing Kyler’s long term future as their QB. Unfortunately, every player, coach, and executive in the NFL knows (or should know) that words and hypothetical contractual promises are regularly dismissed and fleeting in this business.”

The gist, though, is that Murray clearly wants a long-term contract extension. The Cardinals, perhaps wary of committing their franchise to a player with a disrespect for proper hyphenation, don’t seem ready to do that yet. Adam Schefter had a few more tweets on the topic, doing the thing he does sometimes where you can’t tell if he’s just recycling quotes from a statement or if he’s trying to report something or if he’s merely hinting at reporting something:

“Actions speak much louder than words in this volatile business… unfortunately every player, coach, and executive in the NFL knows (or should know) that words and hypothetical contractual promises are regularly dismissed and fleeting in this business.” https://t.co/Xk8grrPRCr

— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) February 28, 2022

Negotiating through the media is not a new thing, and it’s not even necessarily a bad thing. Leverage can come from all angles, and players need every angle they can find considering how stacked against them the system almost always is. But there are risks to taking that approach, and a big one is getting the messaging wrong and turning the target audience against you. Murray’s statement here may have done just that.