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Murray throws at his pro day, meets with Giants

NORMAN, Okla. -- Kyler Murray's rise up draft boards culminated Wednesday with Oklahoma's pro day, during which he threw in front of roughly 75 NFL executives, coaches and scouts.

Through an array of routes to multiple receivers, Murray was crisp, completing 61 of his 67 workout passes, which included one drop.

"Thought it went well," Murray said. "It was fun to finally actually do something."

Despite doing little at the combine, and virtually nothing other than throwing on Wednesday, Murray's draft stock has rocketed since he won the Heisman Trophy on the way to leading the Sooners to the College Football Playoff last season.

The first day of free agency didn't prevent several notable NFL names from traveling to Norman to watch Murray throw. That included Carolina Panthers general manager Marty Hurney, Cincinnati Bengals coach Zac Taylor, Oakland Raiders offensive coordinator Greg Olson, Los Angeles Chargers offensive coordinator Ken Whisenhunt and a noticeable contingent from the New York Giants that included senior vice president of player personnel Chris Mara, coach Pat Shurmur and offensive coordinator Mike Shula.

Murray confirmed that he met with the Giants immediately following the pro day. New York will be taking a hard look at quarterback this draft, with Eli Manning being 38 years old and in the final year of his contract. New York owns the No. 6 and No. 17 overall picks after trading wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. to the Cleveland Browns, but would likely have to trade up to take Murray.

ESPN Insider Todd McShay has Murray going No. 1 overall to the Arizona Cardinals in his latest mock draft.

"Every kid wants to go No. 1 -- our dream is to go No. 1 draft," said Murray, who admitted to getting a text from new Cardinals coach Kliff Kingsbury "the other day."

Concerns going into the draft about Murray's height were largely put to rest at the combine, where he was measured at 5-foot-10⅛ and weighed in at 207 pounds. Murray declined to be measured again Wednesday, but weighed in at 205 pounds.

"I felt amazing leaving the combine, every meeting I had went well," he said. "At least to my face, no one was negative. I had a great experience."

NFL Network analyst Charley Casserly recently characterized Murray's combine showing in a completely different light, controversially calling Murray's leadership, study habits and board work "not good."

In his first interview since those remarks, Murray declined to address Casserly's comments directly, before saying, "I don't think I would've done what I did [last season] if I didn't understand what defense were doing."

Murray deferred to his former Oklahoma teammates to discuss his leadership, which offensive lineman Cody Ford did.

"He's one of those leaders that leads by example," said Ford, who also projects out as a first-round pick. "I can recall against Texas he's getting hit a lot. I've never seen a guy get hit that like that and never complain to his O-line. But we knew we needed to get the job done as far as protecting him better, which I feel like we did. But for him not to say a word to us besides, 'Let's get it, let's go' -- no complaining -- showed what kind of leader he is and will be for a long time."

Despite speculation to the contrary, Murray noted that he's known "for a while" that he wasn't going to run the 40-yard dash Wednesday or test any of the agility drills, all of which he also skipped at the combine.

"He's athletically so far beyond anything in this game, and that league either, at that position, there's really honestly not any point," Oklahoma coach Lincoln Riley said of doing the drills.

Though Riley and others in the program have noted Murray boasts sub-4.4 speed, Murray added he didn't want to risk injury before throwing.

"I'd like to get out there to run, but I don't think it's that necessary for me," said Murray, who joined Clemson's Deshaun Watson (2015) as the only FBS quarterback ever to record 4,000 passing and 1,000 rushing yards in the same season. "I didn't want to pull anything before I got the chance to throw. ... I think the film kinda speaks for itself."

That is the biggest reason why Murray could give Oklahoma the No. 1 overall pick for the second straight year, following Cleveland quarterback Baker Mayfield, who also won the Heisman with the Sooners.

Mayfield solidified his spot at No. 1 following Oklahoma's pro day last year. Murray is hoping he just did the same.

"It was my job to come here and make throws," he said. "I think I showed everybody I can do that."