DeMarco Murray - Pro Football Rumors

Breer’s Latest: Fitzpatrick, Cowboys, L.A.

December 18th, 2015 at 3:58pm CST by Luke Adams

Within his latest Inside the NFL Notebook piece, Albert Breer of the NFL Network takes a deep dive into Washington‘s season, examining the type of player the team has targeted under head coach Jay Gruden and new GM Scot McCloughan. Washington’s first major draft pick (No. 5 overall selection Brandon Scherff) and long-term signee (Ryan Kerrigan) in 2015 checked all the boxes the club was looking for in terms of intangibles.

“If you’re gonna spend some money, you want talent, but you also want strong leadership, guys you don’t have to worry about Friday night or Thursday night,” Gruden said. “Guys that are gonna be here, and be in the weight room and lead the way for younger guys. Sometimes, to have these guys in here for a number of years, they pave the way for younger players, and that’s just as important as production.”

Here are a few other topics covered by Breer in his latest column:

There’s no rush for the Jets and Ryan Fitzpatrick to finalize a deal that keeps the quarterback in New York beyond 2015, since the team has other players it may need to focus on first. But Breer suggests that each side knows where the other stands, and there’s a good chance they can work something out between the end of the season and the start of the 2016 league year.
With DeMarco Murray leaving in the offseason, the Cowboys targeted T.J. Yeldon as a potential second-round pick, and would’ve had a hard time deciding between him and Randy Gregory in the second round, says Breer. However, it turned out to be a moot point, since Yeldon came off the board early in the second round to the Jaguars. Dallas also liked Todd Gurley in the first round, but as his stock increased leading up to the draft, it became clear there would be no chance for the club to land him with the 27th overall pick.
According to Breer, despite the turnover at the running back position in Dallas this season, the Cowboys aren’t expressing any regrets about letting Murray go. One team source offered the following comment on the Eagles running back: “The guy is a pro in his preparation and toughness and competitiveness. But he’s also entitled, selfish and condescending. He’s a great ‘team’ guy when he’s the guy.”
Citing team sources, Breer says that Rams owner Stan Kroenke views St. Louis’s stadium proposal as falling short of what he’d want to keep the franchise in the city, so it will be interesting to see how he reacts if his Inglewood plan doesn’t get approved. As Breer observes, all parties involved in potential Los Angeles relocation had hoped that the league would have found “an elegant solution” and would be nearing some sort of agreement with the Rams, Chargers, and Raiders at this point. Instead, the January owners’ meeting is drawing closer without a clear sense of what will happen regarding L.A.

Sunday Roundup: Murray, Tomsula, Spiller

December 13th, 2015 at 12:50pm CST by Rory Parks

Let’s take a look at some links from around the league, starting with more news on the Eagles‘ running back drama:

During DeMarco Murray‘s recent and much-ballyhooed conversation with Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie, Ian Rapoport of NFL.com tweets that the embattled running back told Lurie that head coach Chip Kelly was “unapproachable.” When speaking with the owner, Murray openly questioned the abilities of Kelly and running backs coach Duce Staley.
According to ESPN’s Adam Caplan (Twitter links), Murray did have a lengthy meeting with Kelly earlier this week, but Kelly made no assurances to Murray regarding his role for the remainder of the season. In fact, Murray is listed as the fourth back on the Eagles‘ depth chart today.
As Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk writes, the message that the Eagles have sent to the rest of the league is clear: Murray is available. On a related note, Jason Fitzgerald of OverTheCap.com explores the Eagles‘ options with regards to Murray’s contract, ultimately concluding that trading Murray in 2016 is the strategy that would work best for Philadelphia.
The 49ers‘ improved play over the last few weeks has lightened the mood in the locker room and has likely bought head coach Jim Tomsula another year with the club, per Eric Branch of The San Francisco Chronicle. The team has appeared more engaged and has given the front office tangible signs of hope, which means Tomsula will probably be back in 2016.
La Canfora writes that many league owners are concerned about the strength of the Raiders‘ ownership group and would prefer that the Chargers either move to Los Angeles by themselves or partnered with the Rams. Although that seems unlikely at this point, the overall “trepidation” surrounding the Raiders and the prevailing belief that Oakland remains a viable NFL market could mean that the Carson project–which would see the Raiders and Chargers move to LA together–may not get the requisite 24 votes at the league meetings in January to move forward.
Tim Hightower has stepped in for the injured Mark Ingram in the Saints‘ backfield today, which represents yet another blow to free agent addition C.J. Spiller. Per Katherine Terrell of The Times-Picayune (citing The NFL Network), Spiller is a “long shot” to return to New Orleans next season.
Although the Seahawks of course have been delighted with Thomas Rawls‘ performance thus far, Jason La Canfora of CBS Sports tweets that Marshawn Lynch is progressing and the team is very open to Beastmode’s return.
Mark Potash of The Chicago Sun-Times writes that Bears GM Ryan Pace will have a tough decision to make with Matt Forte this offseason, and Potash examines Pace’s options in that regard.

NFC Notes: Saints, McCoy, Ryan, Shanahan

December 12th, 2015 at 10:06am CST by Rob DiRe

As teams prepare for a December playoff push, a few of the more important NFC teams are dealing with disappointing seasons that have gone off the rails. The Saints and Falcons have both fallen squarely out of the postseason picture, while the Eagles are hanging on due to a terrible NFC East division.

Here are some notes from the Saints, Falcons, and Eagles:

Saints defensive end Cameron Jordan is playing for pride down the stretch in 2015, but most of his teammates are playing for something more important–their jobs, writes Larry Holder of NOLA.com. Holder notes that the team will have to make major decisions on some key players this offseason, including Drew Brees, Marques Colston, Zach Strief, Jahri Evans, and even Sean Payton.
During the Falcons hot start, both Matt Ryan and offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan looked like absolute superstars in Atlanta. Since then, both have really struggled to produce anything significant offensively. Despite those struggles and who is to blame, Jeff Schultz of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution writes that neither is on the chopping block this season.
Much has been made of the feud between LeSean McCoy and Chip Kelly, especially since part of the reason for trading McCoy to the Bills was because of “fit” and “culture.” DeMarco Murray is averaging 3.5 yards per carry and has a reduced role in the Eagles’ offense, and has become a distraction, while McCoy is thriving in Buffalo, contradicting both reasons for the trade, writes Jeff McLane of the Philadelphia Inquirer. It’s worth the read if only for the small note about McCoy getting a call from an unknown number this past Tuesday, and hanging up once he realized it was Kelly calling.

DeMarco Murray Wants Cowboys Return?

December 10th, 2015 at 10:14pm CST by Zachary Links

When asked this week if he regrets signing with the Eagles in the offseason, star running back DeMarco Murray denied having second thoughts. As it turns out, Murray might not be telling the truth. A source with knowledge of the situation tells Mike Florio of PFT there’s “a lot of truth” to the notion that he would like to play for the Cowboys again. That jives with a previous report from Jason Cole of Bleacher Report, who spoke with NFL execs that heard rumblings of Murray wanting to go back to Dallas.

Murray had a remarkable season in 2014, setting a franchise single-season rushing record with 1,845 yards. After running up his odometer, however, the Cowboys made only a so-so effort to retain him. In the offseason, Murray went on to ink a five-year, $40MM deal with the rival Eagles. The deal gave Murray the perfect platform to make Jerry Jones regret his decision, but Philly’s offense has sputtered in 2015.

It might be a little bit early for Cowboys fans to dust off their Murray jerseys, however, as there are a couple of major roadblocks to a trade. First, it’d be fairly surprising to see the Cowboys and Eagles come together to pull the trigger on a trade of this magnitude. Secondly, Murray’s onerous contract will make any trade difficult. As a part of his $40MM pact, Murray is owed a fully guaranteed $7MM in 2016. It’s even harder to see the Eagles saddling themselves with all of the dead money which would come from releasing Murray outright.

Murray, 28 in February, elevated himself into the upper echelon of tailbacks last season when showed that he can stay healthy, produce (4.7 YPC), and work at a nearly unprecedented rate. The advanced numbers also showed that Murray was also at the top of the heap last season. Pro Football Focus‘ numbers (subscription required) resulted in an overall score of 15.2, placing him fifth amongst all tailbacks in 2014. His lack of meaningful production in the passing game, fumbles, and below average blocking were his only real demerits. This season, Murray has run for just 3.5 YPC, a career low.

Eagles Notes: McCoy, Bradford, Murray

December 10th, 2015 at 2:11pm CST by Luke Adams

It was one of the most fascinating trades of the NFL offseason, and now it’s the story that just won’t go away: with the Eagles preparing to face the Bills this weekend, Philadelphia’s decision to send LeSean McCoy to Buffalo back in March is a hot topic once again, with McCoy and Chip Kelly among those that have discussed the deal this week.

Continuing to get questions about the trade, Kelly told reporters today that the move was designed to free up cap space, and allowed the team to go after Sam Bradford, as Michael David Smith of Pro Football Talk details.

“We traded an outstanding running back for a linebacker, but we also traded $700K for $11.9MM,” Kelly said. “In this league, sometimes a guy signs a four-year, $45 million contract, but it’s two years at $16 million guaranteed, the rest of it isn’t, and the back end is really high. So you have to make decisions when guys aren’t in guaranteed years about what you’re going to do.

“So however you look at it, whether it gave us an opportunity to get somebody defensively with that extra money, or it gave us an opportunity because we had to free up money to get Sam,” Kelly continued. “It was a tough decision, but with all those guys we let go this year who were integral to my first two years here, those decisions were made by money. Those decisions weren’t made because we don’t think they’re good football players or we don’t think they’re good people.”

Here’s more on the Eagles:

Per Zach Berman of the Philadelphia Inquirer (Twitter link), McCoy and the Eagles have a difference of opinion on whether it would’ve been possible to restructure his contract before the trade — according to Kelly, McCoy’s agent suggested reworking the contract wasn’t an option, but the running back says that possibility was never brought up.
As Jeff McLane of the Philadelphia Inquirer tweets, it’s a case of he-said, he-said at this point, but McLane’s sources dispute Kelly’s claim that agent Drew Rosenhaus was unwilling to restructure McCoy’s deal.
While the Eagles’ old running back is one subject of conversation leading up to this week’s game, their current running back is in the news as well. According to Jason Cole of Bleacher Report (video link), there are some NFL executives who believe DeMarco Murray has recognized he’s not a great fit for Kelly’s offense, and would like to return to Dallas. A trade is extremely unlikely though, so Murray would have to be cut for that scenario to be in play.
For his part, Murray confirmed today to reporters that he spoke to owner Jeffrey Lurie about his role in Philadelphia, but he said he doesn’t regret signing with the Eagles, and definitely wants to be back next season (all Twitter links via Albert Breer of the NFL Network).

East Notes: Kelly, Bills, McCoy, Murray

December 9th, 2015 at 3:03pm CST by Luke Adams

We touched on some Eagles and Bills news items this morning, with a focus on the two teams’ highly-paid running backs. Since then though, those clubs – and running backs – have continued to be hot topics, creating a few headlines throughout the day. So let’s round up the latest out of Philadelphia and Buffalo, as the two East clubs prepare for a big Week 14 matchup.

In a conference call today with Buffalo reporters, including Mike Rodak of ESPN.com, Eagles head coach Chip Kelly said it’s a “false assumption” to call him the team’s general manager. “I just have final say over the roster,” Kelly said. While he may not officially hold the GM title, Kelly is clearly the one making personnel decisions in Philadelphia, so his objections seem to be over a matter of semantics.
Kelly also said earlier today that he regretted not getting a chance to talk to LeSean McCoy before word of the trade that sent to the running back to Buffalo broke, adding that he’d like to shake McCoy’s hand. Shady wasn’t having any of that though, telling Bills reporters, including Mike Rodak of ESPN.com, that Kelly “can’t shake s—.” McCoy continued: “We’re not enemies. I won’t say anything wrong to him. But there’s nothing for us to talk about, at all.”
The Bills‘ offseason acquisition of McCoy was a factor in Tyrod Taylor‘s decision to sign with Buffalo, the quarterback said today, noting that he wanted to be around playmakers (Twitter link via Tyler Dunne of the Buffalo News). For his part, Bills head coach Rex Ryan said his team “couldn’t be happier” with the McCoy/Kiko Alonso swap, as Dunne details.
While McCoy was making headlines with his comments today, it was Eagles running back DeMarco Murray that was in the news yesterday, following a report that he spoke to team owner Jeffrey Lurie about his unhappiness with his role. According to Jeff McLane of the Philadelphia Inquirer (Twitter link), Kelly said that Murray has expressed those frustrations to him as well. The head coach also suggested that Murray’s conversation with Lurie was happenstance, though he couldn’t explain how it leaked to ESPN (Twitter link via Les Bowen of the Philadelphia Daily News).

East Notes: McCoy, Murray, Tannehill, Pats

December 9th, 2015 at 8:54am CST by Luke Adams

With the Bills and Eagles set to square off this weekend, with both teams fighting to keep their playoff hopes alive, the offseason trade that sent Kiko Alonso to Philadelphia and LeSean McCoy to Buffalo has become a popular topic of discussion once again.

In a conversation with Jeff McLane of the Philadelphia Inquirer, McCoy said this week that he’s no longer upset about the fact that the Eagles unexpectedly dealt him, adding that he doesn’t hold a grudge against head coach Chip Kelly. As for Alonso, he’s downplaying the storyline involving him and McCoy, telling reporters this week that “the fact that I got traded for him has no relevance at all” (link via Zach Berman of the Philadelphia Inquirer).

As we wait to see how McCoy and Alonso fare against their old teams, let’s check in on a few more items from around the NFL’s East divisions….

After a report surfaced suggesting he spoke to team owner Jeffrey Lurie about his role with the Eagles, running back DeMarco Murray had no interest in talking to reporters on Tuesday about the subject, as Les Bowen of the Philadelphia Daily News details.
Ryan Tannehill hasn’t exactly been lighting it up since signing his lucrative, long-term contract extension, but the Dolphins remain committed to him for now. However, as Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald observes, Tannehill’s base salaries beyond 2016 are non-guaranteed, so the club could have an out after next season if the quarterback doesn’t show signs of progress.
Former Buccaneers cornerback Leonard Johnson, who worked out for the Patriots on Monday, has stuck around the area and looks like the favorite to fill the team’s open roster spot, tweets Mike Reiss of ESPN.com. After appearing in all 48 of the Bucs’ regular season games from 2012 to 2014 starting 17 of them, Johnson was cut from the injured reserve list by Tampa Bay last week.

NFC Notes: Murray, Lacy, Falcons, Bears

December 8th, 2015 at 5:41pm CST by Connor J. Byrne

Eagles running back DeMarco Murray and owner Jeffrey Lurie had a lengthy conversation Sunday about Murray’s role in head coach Chip Kelly‘s offense, ESPN’s Ed Werder reports. Though the Eagles pulled a 35-28 upset in New England, Murray was barely a factor – taking the field for just 14 plays and totaling 24 yards on eight carries – and he voiced his frustrations to Lurie afterward as a result. Their conversation happened on the team’s flight home, according to Werder, who adds that it’s unknown who initiated the talk.

“He’s obviously upset about what happened,” a source close to Murray told Werder.

Murray, who led the NFL in rushing last year with Dallas and then signed a big-money deal with the Eagles in the offseason, has struggled mightily under Kelly. The two-time thousand-yard rusher has just 569 this season on a paltry 3.5 per-carry average, and has been outproduced by teammate Ryan Mathews – who signed a much less valuable contract with Philly in the offseason. Mathews missed the Patriots game because of a concussion, but Murray still had to take a backseat to Darren Sproles, who accrued 90 yards on 19 touches.

“We are not trying to win a rushing championship or a passing championship or a receiving championship or anything from that stretch of the imagination,” Kelly said Monday. “We are just trying to win football games.”

NFC Rumors: Murray, Vikings, Lewis, White

December 7th, 2015 at 9:25pm CST by Sam Robinson

With the Eagles potentially set to be tied for the NFC East lead if the Cowboys win tonight, let’s take a look at some news coming out of Philadelphia, as well as several other NFC cities.

As the Eagles gave DeMarco Murray only eight carries against the Patriots, Chip Kelly denied a demotion took place, Zach Berman of the Philadelphia Inquirer writes. The eight carries matched a season low for the defending rushing champion, who is averaging 3.5 yards per carry after gaining 4.7 per tote last season. Kelly attributed Murray’s reduced usage (14 snaps) to the game’s strange flow that featured three Eagles non-offensive touchdowns. The obvious counter to that was Darren Sproles and Kenjon Barner both out-touching Murray and each averaging north of four yards per rush. Berman writes Ryan Mathews‘ return could further siphon Murray’s workloads, which have been much smaller than 2014. Murray has just 163 carries.
None of the four safeties on the Vikings‘ active roster practiced Monday, and Antone Exum could miss multiple games with a fractured rib and a sprained AC joint, Matt Vensel of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune reports. Exum’s started the past two games in Andrew Sendejo‘s stead.
After Adrian Peterson characterized the Vikings as being “outplayed and outcoached” in Sunday’s blowout loss to the Seahawks, Mike Zimmer took a hard-headed stance when addressing media. “I don’t really worry about other people’s opinions. I only worry about what I think,” the Vikings’ second-year coach told media (including Chris Tomasson of the St. Paul Pioneer Press). Zimmer did say Peterson should have received more than eight carries, however.
John Fox said rookie wideout Kevin White‘s shin has sufficiently healed, and the team will now look to get him in football shape, Adam Jahns of the Chicago Sun-Times reports (on Twitter). The Bears‘ first-rounder has yet to be cleared to play, however.
Shelved on the PUP list due to a torn ACL he sustained last November while at Georgia Tech, 49ers rookie wide receiver DeAndre Smelter will not play this season, Matt Barrows of the Sacramento Bee reports. Smelter reverts to the non-football injury/reserve list. The fourth-round pick will not practice with the team during the season’s remainder.
On injured reserve after an injury-restricted campaign, Keenan Lewis underwent hip surgery today, according to Ian Rapoport of NFL.com (on Twitter). The Saints‘ top corner is under contract through the 2017 season.

Eagles Notes: Kelly, Murray, Rowe

November 26th, 2015 at 2:30pm CST by Zachary Links

Well, this hasn’t been the best Thanksgiving for the Eagles. As they wrap up their worst performance of the year against the Lions, let’s take a look at some items out of Philly:

An anonymous agent for a starting Eagles player told Matt Lombardo of NJ.com that Chip Kelly has lost the loyalty of his players. “Chip Kelly has lost the team,” said the agent, who requested anonymity because of fear of retribution against his client. “Between the losses and his bull[bleep] methods that aren’t working, I can tell you that the players have tuned him out.” The agent also raised the possibility that at least one player was using an injury to stay off the field, because “he won’t play hurt for Chip.”
That agent wasn’t the only anonymous voice to speak out against the Eagles. Recently, running back DeMarco Murray raised questions when he slid for a first down rather than powering his way further down the field. One player took exception. “Well, when you see DeMarco sliding before getting hit, you tell me – was that giving full effort?” an anonymous Eagle told Bob Brookover of The Inquirer. “You see that [stuff] and it makes you wonder.”
With cornerback Nolan Carroll in the final year of his contract, Jeff McLane of the Philadelphia Inquirer writes that the Eagles will have to get Eric Rowe up to speed quickly if he is to take over as a primary starter next year. Of course, Rowe didn’t have his best day on Thursday thanks to his matchup with Calvin Johnson.