Eagles

Here’s What You Get with DeMarco Murray

By Jim Adair

Published: Mar 12th, 2015 · 9:51 AM EDT

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Today, all signs are pointing towards DeMarco Murray flying to Philadelphia becoming an Eagle. Murray was drafted by the Cowboys in the third round of the 2011 draft and signed a four-year contract worth $2.97 million. He was apparently unimpressed with the Cowboys’ offer earlier this week to keep him at $5 million per year.

Murray has been relatively free of injury problems in his career. His rookie year ended early due to a fractured right ankle and high ankle sprain, and then he missed a few games in 2012 with a sprained foot and two games in 2013 with a sprained MCL. But injury history isn’t what concerns people when talking about Murray. It’s workload.

Last season, Murray was handed the ball 392 times — a full 80 times more than the next highest worked back, LeSean McCoy — and his total touches came just one shy of 450. But with all of those opportunities, he led the NFL in rushing yards, yards per game, all-purpose yards, rushing touchdowns, and yards from scrimmage. The 449 touches was the sixth most all-time, and of the four recent backs in front of him – Larry Johnson, Eddie George, LaDanian Tomlinson and Edgerrin James – only LaDanian Tomlinson didn’t have a down year (or injury) the year after. And Murray did lose some steam by the end of the season. Here are his per-game yards and averages:

He’s actually older than McCoy, whom, if you’ll recall, Kyle predicted was about to hit a wall. The difference, however, is that McCoy has played two more seasons than Murray and has a full 500 more carries. So while Murray carried the ball more last season, he’s taken a lot less hits (in the NFL) overall.

With the addition of DeMarco Murray in 2015, you get a talented back with some workload concerns.