DeMarco Murray did everything right in '15, so why is he on outs in Dallas?

Clay_Allison said:

All of the players who continued to have success after a near 400 carry mega-season were high first round picks. Also, a lot of those guys were good enough to run effectively in spite of a poor passing game. Murray doesn't have those traits.

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the round a player is picked in is not conclusive of anything. Look no further than guys like Romo to refute that premise. I would be interested to see who the poor passing QBs were that had the mega season running backs.

Cowboysrock55 said:

I don't think anyone is saying Murray sucks. No one is saying he is Olandis Gary. It's like there is no in between with people. He is either elite and it's nearly impossible to replace his production without first round picks and big free agent signing or he sucks. That's just not so. He is somewhere in between. He isn't a special back in the sense of an LT or an Adrian Peterson but he is still a very good back.

The problem is we live in an age of the NFL where there are a lot of good RBs are
constantly available.

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You are correct there are a lot of good RBs. That doesn't negate the accomplishment of Murray as some seem to conclude. I just don't get the beat down some are handing out to a guy like Murray.

L.T. Fan said:

the round a player is picked in is not conclusive of anything. Look no further than guys like Romo to refute that premise. I would be interested to see who the poor passing QBs were that had the mega season running backs.

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Where Romo was drafted has no bearing on the premise. The round a player is picked in, at RB, is indicative of what kind of physical specimen they are. You're comparing a heavily mental position to a mostly physical one. That's ridiculous.

As for bad or unproductive QBs: Christian Ponder, Gus Frerotte, Tavaris Jackson and Matt Cassell for Peterson. Dieter Brock, Jeff Kemp, washed up Steve Bartkowski/rookie Jim Everett for Eric Dickerson. Scott Mitchell for Barry Sanders. Dan Pastorini and horribly washed up Ken Stabler for Earl Campbell. Doug Flutie and pre-2004 Drew Brees for Tomlinson. Bob Avellini, Mike Phipps and Vince Evans for Walter Payton. Jay Fiedler for Ricky Williams.

All of those guys were able to have productive seasons in years where the passing game was way below average. I don't think it's unfair to say that Murray owes some of his success to the league leader in QB rating keeping the defense honest.

If Murray had gone to UNLV instead of Oklahoma, there wouldn't be much of a debate.

Deuce said:

If Murray had gone to UNLV instead of Oklahoma, there wouldn't be much of a debate.

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And who doesn't enjoy a debate more than the Duece.

Clay_Allison said:

Where Romo was drafted has no bearing on the premise. The round a player is picked in, at RB, is indicative of what kind of physical specijmen they are. You're comparing a heavily mental position to a mostly physical one. That's ridiculous.

As for bad or unproductive QBs: Christian Ponder, Gus Frerotte, Tavaris Jackson and Matt Cassell for Peterson. Dieter Brock, Jeff Kemp, washed up Steve Bartkowski/rookie Jim Everett for Eric Dickerson. Scott Mitchell for Barry Sanders. Dan Pastorini and horribly washed up Ken Stabler for Earl Campbell. Doug Flutie and pre-2004 Drew Brees for Tomlinson. Bob Avellini, Mike Phipps and Vince Evans for Walter Payton. Jay Fiedler for Ricky Williams.

All of those guys were able to have productive seasons in years where the passing game was way below average. I don't think it's unfair to say that Murray owes some of his success to the league leader in QB rating keeping the defense honest.

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Now the real question. How many 1800 yard plus years did those RBs have while suffering under those QBs tenure? By the way Romo wasnt even drafted. That's my point and he turned out pretty well. I already know the answer to the career rushing yardage of the players ypu listed. There are only two of those players who have more 1800 yard seasons than Murray.

First let's go back to the start of the thread and address ball security. Murray has 13 fumbles in 1153 career touches. That is a 1.127% fumble per touch percentage. Yes last year he had 3 in the first three games. But he had a total of 5 in the regular season for 2014 and didn't fumble after the 8th game until the playoffs.

On that play, he had an open hole and free run to the end zone AND Julius Peppers (Thank you Carp) made a GREAT play to reach out Murray's blind side and make the only play he had. Get a hand on the ball and strip it since there was no way he was going to make a tackle. I don't fault Murray for a great player making a great play. That's football.

In my opinion, it's going to come down to whether one of the teams with a ton of cap just going overboard to get him. It's all in the first 3 years of the contract. Is some team going to structure the contract such that they can't cut him after year 3 without serious salary cap pain.

The Cowboys won't and shouldn't.

Jared Allen will always be a Packer great.

Carp said:

Jared Allen will always be a Packer great.

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That's a TIC statement right?

Cowboysrock55 said:

I don't think anyone is saying Murray sucks. No one is saying he is Olandis Gary. It's like there is no in between with people. He is either elite and it's nearly impossible to replace his production without first round picks and big free agent signing or he sucks. That's just not so. He is somewhere in between. He isn't a special back in the sense of an LT or an Adrian Peterson but he is still a very good back.

The problem is we live in an age of the NFL where there are a lot of good RBs are
constantly available.

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Yeah, I said that awhile back in this thread. I don't think LT wanted to hear it.

Deuce said:

If Murray had gone to UNLV instead of Oklahoma, there wouldn't be much of a debate.

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Exactly.

Deuce said:

If Murray had gone to UNLV instead of Oklahoma, there wouldn't be much of a debate.

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Let's go Rebs!

hstour said:

On that play, he had an open hole and free run to the end zone AND Julius Peppers (Thank you Carp) made a GREAT play to reach out Murray's blind side and make the only play he had. Get a hand on the ball and strip it since there was no way he was going to make a tackle. I don't fault Murray for a great player making a great play. That's football.

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It wasn't a great play in the sense that he did anything special to knock that ball out. He barely got a hand on the ball. To me that was way more a horrific play by Murray then a great play by Peppers.

Don Beebe for example may have made a "great play" causing Lett to fumble but make no mistake, it was a horrific play by Leon Lett. The Murray fumble is on Murray.

Iamtdg said:

Yeah, I said that awhile back in this thread. I don't think LT wanted to hear it.

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Yes i heard it. In fact i responded to this post and agreed. I know Murray can be replaced i just dont get the beat down of him by some.

Murray can be replaced as a runner, a big concern I have is picking up the blitz for whoever replaces Murray. Can Gordon, Gurley, Cobb, Johnson do that? I don’t know.

Iamtdg said:

Yeah, I said that awhile back in this thread. I don't think LT wanted to hear it.

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That's the thing. I think everyone on this board absolutely wants Murray back. It's just a question of at what price. You only get to spend the money on so many "franchise players."

L.T. Fan said:

Yes i heard it. In fact i responded to this post and agreed. I know Murray can be replaced i just dont get the beat down of him by some.

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I don't see anyone beating him down.

Iamtdg said:

Yeah, I said that awhile back in this thread. I don't think LT wanted to hear it.

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Or could not hear it.

Carp said:

Murray can be replaced as a runner, a big concern I have is picking up the blitz for whoever replaces Murray. Can Gordon, Gurley, Cobb, Johnson do that? I don’t know.

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Yeah that's my issue as well.

L.T. Fan said:

Now the real question. How many 1800 yard plus years did those RBs have while suffering under those QBs tenure? By the way Romo wasnt even drafted. That's my point and he turned out pretty well. I already know the answer to the career rushing yardage of the players ypu listed. There are only two of those players who have more 1800 yard seasons than Murray.

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The point is that all of those RBs continued to be productive. The less physically gifted backs fell apart after taking the beating of a 375+ carry season. That's what's affecting Murray's value, the question of whether he's permanently lost a step and will come in at the beginning of next season looking like the back we saw at the end of last year: worn out.