Byron Murphy Selected by Arizona Cardinals with 1st Pick in 2nd Round

Byron Murphy left Washington after his redshirt sophomore season to fulfill his dreams of being an NFL draft pick and those dreams have now come true as Murphy was selected 33rd overall by the Arizona Cardinals. The Arizona native will get to return home to start his professional career. He’ll also be reunited with a few other former Husky secondary players in Budda Baker and Ezekiel Turner. Byron Murphy and one of his best friends growing up N’Keal Harry ultimately went with consecutive picks in the NFL Draft albeit separated by a day.

Most draft analysts had Murphy listed as one of the top couple of cornerback prospects in the class and that’s exactly where he ended up being viewed by NFL teams as well although he didn’t end up as a 1st round pick as most predicted. Murphy had 3 interceptions and 10 passes defensed in an injury shortened redshirt freshman season. There was a mountain of hype for him coming into this year and he lived up to it with 4 INTs and 17 PDs including the game winning pick-6 in the Pac-12 Championship Game.

The Cardinals have a wide open spot opposite former all-pro Patrick Peterson at corner and Murphy will be expected to step in and start from day one.

Congrats to Byron and we look forward to seeing him represent the UW in the NFL for many years to come!