The Arizona Cardinals’ 2018 number one overall pick Kyler Murray now being paid 230 million over the next five years after what has been a very tumultuous contract dispute this off-season. The payoff now ranks Murray as one of the high-paid elite status players in the league, and it just seems the question of, is he worth it continues to loom over this decision.

Especially after the leaking of a clause to study was found in the contract.

This should not come as a surprise to anyone that this clause is in the contract, after all the signs of a young entitled kid were right in front of our faces, and most chose to ignore it.

Kyler Murray has been a winner on every level leading up to his NFL career and was always the best player talent-wise on the fields he played on.

Coaches, teammates, and fans have always told him how good he was and praised him constantly as a result.

Awards and accolades galore in his path along the way, and usually the golden child has a bunch of praise from men that will continue to tell him how good he is.

When Kyler arrive after being drafted all he heard from coach Kingsbury and company was more of how dynamic of a player he is, and kept reminding him of all of his success through high school and college.

Now the question is, did anyone along the way through his career ever tell him he can only rely on his pure talent for so long?

The NFL game is the top-of-the-line league, and every player in it was probably very good in high school and college.

Talent will allow you to make plays but talent alone will not sustain a star player in a league full of alpha dogs.

The NFL throwing lanes are smaller, its players stronger and faster and intellect is the only parameter that can separate the greats from the pack.

Kyler Murray may have been humbled after the embarrassing loss in his first playoff game against the Rams last year, as he found himself trying to go through the same motions his talent usually got him through to perform great in big games.

Even at pre-game interviews, we heard how prepared and ready he was, he found out his definition of prepared and ready are not the criteria for a NFL-level quarterback.

Again, this study clause should not come as a surprise to anyone, after seeing the results of how the team’s offense sputtered down the stretch of the last two seasons.

That is not done by coincidence, there was an underlining problem that was being ignored because the player was worshiped as so very talented.

There is a vast difference between confident and cocky. 

Murray comes off as very confident with a heaping helping of cocky on the side, and his attitude and demeanor on the sideline after the offense struggles to move the ball gives off the vibe that it’s not he and his talent the problem.

The Cardinals and owner Micheal Bidwell had to have seen these red flags during the draft, as analysts had given Murray bad reviews concerning his work and study habits.

It’s evident the team may have just chalked it up as a young immature kid that will eventually get it and figure things out.

Then Murray’s response to a reporter saying he was not that type of guy that watches a lot of tape. Translation, “I’m way to talented and my ability and game are superior enough that I don’t need to study film”

That is Murray’s way of agreeing with Allen Iverson when he went on the “we talking about practice” rant.

Murray’s actions were saying the same thing, he thought his talent alone was good enough to reinvent the wheel of NFL football.

Social media can be fun and also can be your worse enemy, as it’s a world of documented evidence that can indict you on your lifestyle.

Tweet after tweet of video game comments and countless hours wasted that could have been in learning the tendencies of a defender like Aaron Donald.

The cocky and arrogant are always the last to see a problem in themselves, in fact, they act as though the issue is with someone else and could never be them.

Well, Kyler, the issue was on you.

This embarrassing contract clause can very well be the wake-up call this young man needs to set him on the right path to playing up to the level of elite starting quarterbacks in the league.

Perfection can not come without study, and leadership comes at a heavy cost in anything in life.

The NFL is a very technical league when it comes to figuring out the other team’s strategy and tendencies, it’s the difference between winning and losing. It’s the difference between maintaining your edge and losing confidence down the stretch of a long season.

It’s also the difference in a long prosperous career and being a bust and out of the league shortly before or after a rookie contract. It’s the difference between being worth a multi-million dollar contract and just making the average position salary.

The point is, that without study, how can any leader lead his team into battle?

The study equates to being prepared for battle, meaning you see the position’s attack and you know how to counteract that attack.

Clearly, a lack of preparation was the problem going into the stretch run of the season leading up to the worse pick-six ever thrown in a playoff game from a player Kyler’s caliber.

How you lead will determine how you are followed, and the team followed its unprepared franchise quarterback into a massacre. They watched his cocky body language in interviews all week long giving off the impression his talent was enough to lead them to victory. 

Then reality struck and the Cardinals never showed up to a playoff game against the same team they had beaten soundly during the regular season because their leader didn’t prepare them for the battle.

There is only one way this embarrassing situation will go completely away from Kyler and this organization, and of course, that’s with winning when it matters in big games.

The clause in the contract assures the team that their investment will have protection, and forces Murray to grow up and mature.

Being prepared will make him a better leader of men, as he earns his respect in the locker room.

This just goes to show that no one is above doing what it takes to get better at your craft and that countless hours of preparation in any and every situation.

Hopefully, this will elevate Kyler Murray to the elite level as Josh Allen and Joe Burrow, and those greats who through blood, sweat, and tears of preparation combined with their talent and ability lead their teams into battle the right way and live with the results.