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The marriage between DeMarco Murray and the Philadelphia Eagles was one that was destined to end badly from the very start. Murray had a career and a franchise record breaking year for the Dallas Cowboys last season, so naturally he was looking to cash in on his hard work and get paid once the free agency period officially got underway. After carrying the ball more than 400 times for over 1,800 yards, while also helping his team make it to the Divisional Round of the NFL Playoffs, he was looking to get rewarded for his efforts by the deep pocketed owner of the Cowboys in Jerry Jones.
However, Jones had other ideas. While he clearly wanted to keep Murray, he also had to find a way to pay the Cowboys’ other star on offense in Dez Bryant. He knows that an impact player like Bryant only comes around so often and that effective running backs can typically be found every year in the draft, so he took a calculated risk in letting Murray go to the team’s hated rival in Philadelphia with the hopes that he could replace him with a free agent or a possibly even a rookie this season.
Now Murray came out and said the main reasons he went to the Eagles was because he felt as though he could win a championship there and because his best friend in Sam Bradford had just been added to be their starting quarterback. But if you’re leaving a team that was only one bad call away from going to the NFC Championship game for a team that didn’t even make the playoffs last season, that statement doesn’t hold water. And in the age of social media, you have the ability to stay in touch with your best friend as often as you would like, so that reason does quite hold up either.
Murray is no idiot; he knows that part of the reason why he was so successful last year was because he was running behind such a dominant offensive line and because he had a Pro Bowl quarterback in Tony Romo on his side. Of course he was hoping to stay with the Cowboys so he could continue having success on the field and eventually end his career with a Super Bowl ring on his finger.
But the fact that the Eagles outbid the Cowboys by a significant margin left him with no other option but to leave town. Well, after 13 weeks of football, it appears that the only reason the Eagles signed him in the first place is so they wouldn’t have to face him twice a year while he was wearing a star on his helmet.
Anyone who has ever watched more than a quarter of Chip Kelly’s offense knows that he prefers a scat back who can run the ball laterally and catch screen passes out of the backfield. Murray is more of a downhill runner who needs a ton of carries to get going. Their two styles simply don’t go together. So after receiving a season-low 14 snaps this past week and Kelly coming out and letting the media know that he will determine snap distribution on a week-to-week basis, it’s just a matter of time before the decision is made to release the disappointed Murray this offseason.
And while Darren McFadden has had his moments in a Cowboys uniform, it is clear that they need to upgrade the running back position once the season ends. Owner Jones now knows that you cannot simply plug and play any running back behind his stout offensive line and expect them to be successful. So he will look to dig a bit deeper in his pockets this offseason to bring back the one player he knows will get him back on track to making yet another Super Bowl run.
