Kyler Murray clears the 5-10 height marker at NFL Scouting Combine
Heisman Trophy winning quarterback Kyler Murray poses with the Davey O'Brien football award, in Fort Worth, Texas. Credit: AP/LM Otero
INDIANAPOLIS — Being 5-10 1⁄8 inches tall hardly qualifies anyone as being a giant. But is it enough to make someone a Giant?
For Kyler Murray, it might be.
The Oklahoma quarterback and Heisman Trophy winner stood in front of 32 teams for the most anticipated measurements at this year’s NFL Scouting Combine on Thursday. And while he hardly stretched the tape measure or tilted the scales — he weighed in at 207 pounds — he did clear an invisible barrier that many scouts have regarding quarterbacks who are under 5-10.
More important for his position, his hands measured 9 1⁄2 inches across.
With the Giants on the hunt for their next franchise quarterback, those numbers at least won’t preclude them from further investigating Murray. He may be the shortest quarterback at the combine since 2003, but he is heavier than Russell Wilson was in 2012 and has larger hands than Baker Mayfield had last year.
“Times have changed,” Giants coach Pat Shurmur said of the previous preconception that quarterbacks need to be at least 6 feet tall. “Quarterbacks come in all shapes and sizes . . . Russell Wilson won a Super Bowl. I think you’ve got to look at the total player, you’ve got to look at his productivity and you’ve got to look at whether he fits.”
The Wilson comparison works as far as height (the Seahawks quarterback was two-eighths of an inch taller at his combine), but Wilson also had 50 career games as a college quarterback at two schools (Murray has 29 and just one year as a starter). And Wilson was a third-round pick.
Murray reportedly will not throw as part of the on-field evaluations for quarterbacks on Saturday. But he’ll be in town to interview with teams this week.
Ohio State quarterback Dwayne Haskins, who many believe the Giants could select in the first round, came to the combine at a more traditional 6-3 3⁄8 and weighed 231 pounds.
Of course, the Giants said they are more concerned about immeasurables than measurables when it comes to their draft choice. “One of the things that I focus on, and my staff, we talk about all the time, is instincts,” GM Dave Gettleman said. “Does he have a feel for the game? Is he a step ahead of everybody else? Instincts and play smarts allow you to play bigger, stronger, faster. That’s a fact of life.”
Tom Rock began covering sports for Newsday in 1996 and became its NFL columnist in 2022. He previously was Newsday's Giants beat writer beginning in 2008.
