Murray watch thread...

Jerry been laying in the weeds and can finally get McFadden. Run DMC! Run!
 
Thought y'all might be interested in this:

COWBOYS PRIVATE MEETING: DEMARCO + GARRETT
Mike FisherMike Fisher
CowboysHQ.com

DALLAS - I'm in Section 105 at Tuesday's Cavs-Mavs game and Twitter tells me DeMarco Murray is in Jacksonville being courted by the Jags. Odd, as seated six chairs to my left in Section 105 is none other than the target in this Wild, Wild West of NFL media, DeMarco himself. And not long after, DeMarco is in private consultation with a late arrival: Cowboys coach Jason Garrett. The inside scoop:


Welcome to the Wild, Wild West of NFL media, where, as evidenced by a Tuesday night with the DeMarco Murray, the territory is ruled by lawlessness. Once Upon A Time In The West it was about which man at the fastest and most accurate gun.

That's changed. Oh, it's still about the "fastest.'' But instead of a gun, it's a Twitter account. And instead of "accuracy,'' it's irresponsible scattershooting, just in case somehow, a target is hit.

I sat in Row 5, Section 105 at the AAC on Tuesday to watch Cavs and Mavs. A little basketball pleasure mixed with my football. I did a 7:30 p.m. call-in to 105.3 The Fan, talked to an agent to learn that Henry Melton was in Tampa, talked to a Valley Ranch source to slow Cowboys Nation's roll on the C.J. Spiller and Antonio Cromartie rumors, and was told by a friend of DeMarco Murray's to be "heads-up'' for the NFL rushing champ and Cowboys free agent.

Taking a moment to scan Twitter I discovered:

The Raiders were in the middle of their "hot-and-heavy'' DeMarco Murray courtship.

*The Eagles, having just rid themselves of a $9-million running back in McCoy, were willing to give DeMarco that same number to replace the "overpaid'' back.

*The Jags were so close to a deal with Murray that they were hosting him in Jacksonville for dinner.

And then I looked up from my phone and glanced to my left. And who did I see, seated six chairs away from me?

DeMarco Murray, enjoying the Mavs game alongside old buddy Miles Austin.

The usually taciturn Murray did not want to say much to me about free agency and the possibility he is leaving the Cowboys. He joked with friends about being hungry, joked with fans about Austin someday running for mayor of Dallas, and gave some OU fans a "Boomer Sooner'' as he posed generously for a bunch of fan photos.

And then, after the game, DeMarco didn't leave the AAC. Instead he found Dallas coach Jason Garrett -- who I swear was not at the game but must've shown up very late ... almost as if he'd heard Murray was there and decided to scoot on downtown. Sources tell me the two men, who are close friends, met for 10 minutes in a private room, one friend of Murray's telling me the session was "significant.''

And then, I'm told, the group discussed leaving the AAC to continue a social visit with a larger group of pals.

The Cowboys are not budging from their budget-minded approach in attempting to bring Murray back to Dallas. But as I write this, other teams aren't budging much either. Oh Bleacher Report wrote that the DeMarco is going to get $10 million a year. And Yahoo wrote that DeMarco-to-Dallas was a done deal on Saturday (and then un-wrote it a few hours later. And ESPN keeps breaking DeMarco tidbits that have been known to readers of this space for weeks, the latest being the "non-negotiation'' approach Dallas has taken here.

I don't know how much Philly will spend, but their first choice to replace McCoy was Frank Gore, and they were going to only guarantee him $7 million total. I don't know what the Raiders are going with Murray, but they just signed running back Roy Helu -- so maybe "sources'' misunderstood "Helu'' for "D-Mo.'' I don't know if Jacksonville is flying him in as I write this, only that he wasn't dining with the Jaguars because he was sitting next to me, asking Miles Austin to go get him a Dr Pepper.

Smile

The $9 mil is never happening in Dallas. I'm told Stephen would like to keep his "parameters'' at $1 mil less than Jerry is willing to go; read that as $6 mil a year being what Stephen might match and $7 mil at what Jerry might match. This is clearly about money, in part. But Garrett showing up at the AAC is "good-cop/bad-cop'' in these negotiations. The Joneses are playing rough; Garrett can soften the blow. He's sincerely a friend of Murray's (as are Romo and Witten; all these basketball outings aren't intended as photo-ops)

These conversations require smarts and reason and precision. Involving Jason Garrett in a "negotiation,'' if you will, with his friend DeMarco demonstrates an understanding of that.

Now if only the media irresponsibly waving its six-shooters around would aim for a little smarts and reason and precision, too.
 
6 mill a year is the most I 'd give him.

I like him a lot and really want him to come back, but we can't give him 7 a year when we have the defensive holes that we do. But if DFDC is right and we don't really go after anyone of note, then we might as well give him the 7.
 
I'd go to 8. I'm much more worried about the years amd especially the guarantee.
 
Genghis Khan said:
I'd go to 8. I'm much more worried about the years amd especially the guarantee.
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The way I look at it is if you've gone to 8 then you could easily have Greg Hardy instead. I think it would be retarded to pass up someone like Hardy in favor of Murray.

I really like Murray but I don't think it is wise at all to spend that type of money on a RB.
 
Unless Murray agrees to sign an extremely team friendly deal, I'm not going to be too bummed to see him walk. Don't get me wrong, I really like him and have been a supporter since the moment he was drafted. (f you, booze) I'm not one gnashing my teeth over his supposed fumbling problem. But the biggest thing about him that scares me is the high number of touches he had last year. History has shown a significant drop for RBs that have had that amount of touches in the past. I want no part of that.

Initially, I didn't want to use our first rounder on a RB. But if we are able to sign Hardy, I would be on board with taking one of the big two RBs. Especially considering the blue chip pass rushers will more than likely already be gone.
 
NoDak said:
Unless Murray agrees to sign an extremely team friendly deal, I'm not going to be too bummed to see him walk. Don't get me wrong, I really like him and have been a supporter since the moment he was drafted. (f you, booze) I'm not one gnashing my teeth over his supposed fumbling problem. But the biggest thing about him that scares me is the high number of touches he had last year. History has shown a significant drop for RBs that have had that amount of touches in the past. I want no part of that.

Initially, I didn't want to use our first rounder on a RB. But if we are able to sign Hardy, I would be on board with taking one of the big two RBs. Especially considering the blue chip pass rushers will more than likely already be gone.
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My thoughts exactly.

I really want the guy back, but if we're going to pay someone 7 or 8 mill a year, I'd rather it be Hardy at a position of much greater need.

I don't want any ol' chump RB back there which is why I'd be all for taking Gordon in the 1st round, which becomes a much more viable option when you have a pass rusher locked up.
 
But remember when you are saying 8mil a year, you are talking about contract average, not necessarily yearly cap hit.

We could give Murray, say, 4 years, 32 mil, with 12 mil signing bonus. 1 mil first year salary base. Year one cap hit, 4 mil.

Could still sign Hardy.

And there would be nothing wrong with any of that.
 
Genghis Khan said:
But remember when you are saying 8mil a year, you are talking about contract average, not necessarily yearly cap hit.

We could give Murray, say, 4 years, 32 mil, with 12 mil signing bonus. 1 mil first year salary base. Year one cap hit, 4 mil.

Could still sign Hardy.

And there would be nothing wrong with any of that.
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That would be outstanding, but I don't see it working out that way.

I doubt we chase Hardy if we sign Murray to that kind of a deal.
 
Genghis Khan said:
But remember when you are saying 8mil a year, you are talking about contract average, not necessarily yearly cap hit.

We could give Murray, say, 4 years, 32 mil, with 12 mil signing bonus. 1 mil first year salary base. Year one cap hit, 4 mil.

Could still sign Hardy.

And there would be nothing wrong with any of that.
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Well this is why the signing bonus amount becomes so important. I mean hypothetically if the base salary is 15 mil in the last year of the contract who cares? Murray will probably never see the last year of his contract.
 
Texas Ace said:
That would be outstanding, but I don't see it working out that way.

I doubt we chase Hardy if we sign Murray to that kind of a deal.
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I'm assuming Murray wants more signing bonus. I wouldn't want to see them go above 15 though.

Is there even a chase for Hardy? I haven't heard much.
 
Genghis Khan said:
I'm assuming Murray wants more signing bonus. I wouldn't want to see them go above 15 though.

Is there even a chase for Hardy? I haven't heard much.
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Just your typical twitter rumor about us joining the pursuit, but nothing substantial.
 
@MaxLuckan: #Jaguars and #Cowboys both unwilling to match DeMarco Murray’s asking price at this point.

So the Jags have money to burn and need a legit skill player and they won't even meet his price? Murray must be shooting for the moon.
 
Deuce said:
@MaxLuckan: #Jaguars and #Cowboys both unwilling to match DeMarco Murray’s asking price at this point.

So the Jags have money to burn and need a legit skill player and they won't even meet his price? Murray must be shooting for the moon.
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I would shoot for the moon too. Not sure if this is a good or bad sign for the Cowboys. One one hand, he is going to have to come down on his asking price. On the other, the Jags still may be willing to offer more than Dallas when that price starts to come down.

I'm good with whatever happens. He's a really good RB and it would be nice to keep him, but it sounds like the draft is loaded with solid but not spectacular RBs. Some decent veteran free agents without jobs right now too. Not too worried about replacing him if he walks.
 
Deuce said:
@MaxLuckan: #Jaguars and #Cowboys both unwilling to match DeMarco Murray’s asking price at this point.

So the Jags have money to burn and need a legit skill player and they won't even meet his price? Murray must be shooting for the moon.
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I think Murray probably wants to be paid like the best back in the NFL, which is what he was last year. The problem is prior to last year he couldn't even stay healthy for an entire season.

There are two big things working against Murray. The first is that we have the best offensive line in football. Teams are naturally going to question if it was Murray who earned all those yards or if a big part of it was the offensive line. Everyone else knows that if they sign Murray he will be running behind a worse offensive line. The second big problem he has is the sheer amount of touches last season. NFL coaches and GMs know the odds of a player touching the ball that many times and bouncing back with another great year is extremely unlikely.

So while Murray wants to be paid like an elite back that clearly isn't the market. I thought maybe a dumb NFL franchise would overlook the negatives I just mentioned and only see the NFL rushing leader but that doesn't look like the case.
 
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Cowboysrock55 said:
I think Murray probably wants to be paid like the best back in the NFL, which is what he was last year. The problem is prior to last year he couldn't even stay healthy for an entire season.

There are two big things working against Murray. The first is that we have the best offensive line in football. Teams are naturally going to question if it was Murray who earned all those yards or if a big part of it was the offensive line. Everyone else knows that if they sign Murray he will be running behind a worse offensive line. The second big problem he has is the sheer amount of touches last season. NFL coaches and GMs know the odds of a player touching the ball that many times and bouncing back with another great year is extremely unlikely.

So while Murray wants to be paid like an elite back that clearly isn't the market. I thought maybe a dumb NFL franchise would overlook the negatives I just mentioned and only see the NFL rushing leader but that doesn't look like the case.
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His fumbling isn't helping his cause, either.
 
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