Former Chiefs QB Aaron Murray protected in AAF ‘Protect or Pick’ draft

Former Chiefs draft pick and Georgia Bulldogs great, Aaron Murray, has football in his future, but it’s not in the NFL (yet).

The Alliance of American Football (AAF) is a new league that plays for 10 weeks from February through April. On Tuesday they had a quarterback draft that was kind of unique. Teams had options to select a protected player that teams already had claim to based on geographic proximity or they could pick from a pool of quarterbacks that hadn’t yet been claimed.

Murray was protected with the No. 2 overall selection in the first round by the Atlanta Legends.

The Chiefs aren’t only connected to the Legends via their quarterback either. Former Chiefs assistant coach Brad Childress is the head coach for the Atlanta team. In fact, Childress worked with Murray from 2014 through 2016 and certainly has some familiarity with him. Also former NFL quarterback Michael Vick is the offensive coordinator. He of course was an Andy Reid quarterback with the Eagles and briefly joined the Chiefs’ coaching staff as a coaching intern ahead of the 2017 season.

Could Childress help resurrect the career of the Chiefs’ former quarterback? Murray once had a bright future in Kansas City and many were convinced that he’d be the quarterback of the future. He of course holds the all-time passing touchdown record in the SEC with 121 TD passes. It didn’t work out for Murray in the NFL and he quickly found himself out of the league and falling back on a broadcasting career.

This isn’t only an opportunity to play football again, but it could be an opportunity for Murray to find his way back into the NFL and onto a team. Still Murray will have to battle it out with the other quarterbacks selected by the Legends in Tuesday’s draft. Matt Simms, Peter Pujals, and Justin Holman also are vying for the same opportunity that Murray has ahead of him.

Atlanta opens the AAF’s inaugural season at Orlando on February 9th. Find out more about the AAF here.