Philadelphia Eagles star running back, DeMarco Murray’s 2015 was by far the most frustrating of his career. For the 2014 NFL rushing champion, and Offensive Player of The Year, 2015 was quite the drop off – but was Murray to blame?
Latest reports out of Philadelphia are that Eagles running back DeMarco Murray is still not happy with the organization and both sides are at a standoff despite new head coach, Doug Pederson. According to Ian Rapoport of NFL Network, Murray is “…still not happy in Philly. Trading him will be difficult, but Eagles will listen.”
The message teams are receiving this week: DeMarco Murray still not happy in Philly. Trading him will be difficult, but #Eagles will listen.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) February 26, 2016
Besides lobbying from former teammate Dez Bryant on twitter saying to “come on home” what other teams would take the chance on a 28 year old running back who is one-year removed from a season in which he posted 1,845 yards rushing and an Offensive Player of the Year in 2014?
Sounds like a no-brainer right?
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Some teams believe Murray has hit his prime and is on the decline, while others, including myself, believe that he was put in a daunting situation due to former Head Coach, Chip Kelly – who in no way utilized Murray’s talents correctly.
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In 2014, in Dallas, when utilized properly, he was the best running back in the NFL. His posted 1,845 rushing yards averaging 4.7 yards per carry on 392 attempts. This year in Philadelphia, Murray had 193 carries for 702 yards – lowest numbers since 2012 (only played in 10 games) and arguably the worst season of his career. The fact that Murray was not utilized correctly heeds a majority of the blame, not Murray himself.
So who might these trade partners be? Early indications of trade partners would be those of the Seattle Seahawks, Oakland Raiders, and yes, the boys from Dallas for a reunion. General Managers around the league are well aware of the unrest between Murray and the organization and may try to sneak in a good deal on their behalf just to get Murray off of Philadelphia’s hands.
Trading Murray back to Dallas – a division rival is not something that would come cheap, or even at all. Trading him to a team in the AFC however, would be much more beneficial to the Eagles and in teams that are in need of a running back, like the New York Jets or Oakland Raiders.
The other major problem with a trade is Murray’s salary and cap hit for the Eagles. Murray’s contract that he signed last off-season with the Eagles for five years $40 million. His cap hit over the next four years is $35 million and $7 million in 2016.
It would cost the Eagles $13 million to cut Murray before June 1st and cutting him just sounds ludicrous.
Murray is a downhill runner, not an east-west, and the latter is exactly what Chip Kelly used as his running style. Kelly featured fellow running backs Darren Sproles and Ryan Mathews more that Murray and twice as much in the last four weeks of the season.
Forcing a running back such as Murray to run against his strengths does not make sense, especially one who just came off winning Offensive Player of the Year in 2014 – but that is what Kelly insisted on doing. Making the offense (or lack thereof) go his way and forcing something that has not worked out all that well for Chip.
Kelly’s pride got in the way as he should have realized that his system was not working. The signing of quarterback, Sam Bradford was also somewhat of a disaster – and that word sums of the Philadelphia Eagles of 2015.
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New head coach, Doug Pederson, will most certainly formulate an offensive scheme and package for Murray allowing him to rack up the yardage he did so well in from his years in Dallas, and utilize him as a downhill runner – between the tackles, like he has done so well and effectively in his career thus far.
If Murray is not terribly unhappy, and the relationship between him and the organization is repairable, then 2016 with the Eagles could be a much happier and more successful season (that’s easy to say coming off of a 7-9 season in 2015)
…but is the damage already done?