"Slap in the face of all African-American quarterbacks" - Hall of Fame QB disgusted by criticism towards Kyler Murray
Hall of Fame quarterback Warren Moon has sided with Kyler Murray in the ongoing debate over the 'homework clause' in his contract. He is Team Kyler through and through.
The 2022 NFL offseason has been quite an eventful time for Kyler Murray. After featuring in a public holdout with his franchise Arizona Cardinals, the quarterback signed a five-year, $230.5 million contract extension.
Contracts are about give-and-take. One example from #AZCardinals QB Kyler Murray’s $230.5M contract: There is an addendum that requires 4 hours of “independent study” per game week. It was important to the team making a commitment at that level, thus it was important to Murray. https://t.co/VqrkvoBQLJ
The Arizona Cardinals added a peculiar clause to Kyler Murray's contract that required him to independently study film for four hours a week. This, in turn, would see him receive 'credit'.
The addendum also stated that the Cardinals star could not indulge in watching TV, browsing the internet, or playing video games while studying game tape. If the quarterback failed to meet the criteria, he was at risk of being in "default" of his contract.
As expected, there was a strong backlash to the clause from various quarters, not limited to supporters and fans of Murray. The Cardinals were quick to remove the clause saying that it created distraction:
"After seeing the distraction it created, we removed the addendum from the contract. It was clearly perceived in ways that were never intended."
Speaking to TMZ about the recent criticism meted out to Murray following the now-redacted clause, Moon said that the whole fiasco hints at systemic racism.
"It shows a lack of trust in the player that you have to put something in the contract like this. It's also a slap in the face of all African-American quarterbacks because that's something we were always accused of back in the day when they didn't let us (Black QBs) play... That we were lazy, that we didn't study, that we couldn't be leaders, that we weren't smart."
@Brady_Quinn disputes Warren Moon’s recent comments regarding the controversial ‘homework clause’ in Kyler Murray’s contract extension with the Arizona Cardinals:📺@Brady_Quinn disputes Warren Moon’s recent comments regarding the controversial ‘homework clause’ in Kyler Murray’s contract extension with the Arizona Cardinals: https://t.co/J4nIfmfEJd
Moon further went on to say that the criticism the quarterback received for the mandatory independent study clause could leave a permanent scar.
"Yeah, very embarrassing... The damage has been done. He'll have this riding on him every time he does something wrong in a football game. They're going to say, 'See, that's the reason why that happened is because he didn't study enough film last week', or whatever it might be. It's a very unfortunate situation for him."
The support of a Hall of Famer would boost the morale of Kyler Murray. However, the larger question Moon raised about systemic racism needs to be studied more closely.
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