Murray is already ~ 1000 at bats behind where he should be for a baseball player his age. If he can get a 1st round guarantee, he should declare for the NFL Draft. As pointed out in the story, a last pick of the 1st round got 12.5 million guaranteed for 4 years. The higher he goes, it goes up from there.
He isn't going to come close to that in baseball. If he doesn't make the majors (and how many years is it going to take him to rise through the minors?), he won't make that in his career. After he goes through the minors, he is going to get paid whatever the teams wants for 3 years, then he becomes eligible for arbitration. Then another 3 years before he can hit free agency and really come out ahead, ~ 10 years down the road.
He is already 21 1/2 years old, starting at the beginning of the minors. He missed a season and a half of college baseball. By the time he makes the majors, he is going to be an "old" rookie. I think it would be different if he had played his full 3 years of college baseball and was ready to start up the minor league chain and get to the majors quickly. It boils down to what he can get up front. If he can triple what the A's are offering him by just getting drafted, he should take the guaranteed NFL money.
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