Looking Back At The Career Of DeMarco Murray
Looking Back At The Career Of DeMarco Murray
The Dallas Cowboys are at their best when they can run the football down a teams throat, and DeMarco Murray played a huge part in that. Murray was a third round pick in 2011 from Oklahoma. As a Sooner, he set the following school records:
65 touchdowns, most in school history
6,718 yards, most all purpose yards in school history
1,571 receiving yards, most by a back in school history
27.6 kickoff return average, most in school history
Murray’s speed, power, and explosiveness got everybody’s attention. His feet moved so quick it looked like he was wearing roller skates. His vision and acceleration were elite. It seems like we tend to forget about him, so let’s give him his flower shall we?
Dallas Tenure
Murray did not step in and dominate right away. He started as the third string running back. Due to injuries, he was given a chance to play more and emerged as the top back. As a rookie versus Philly, he broke a record set by a guy named Emmett Smith, maybe you’ve heard of him. NFL all time leading rusher, Cowboys legend, the list goes on. Against the Eagles, Murray had 25 carries for 253 yards while finding the end zone once. That became the most rushing yards by a Cowboys back in a single game breaking Smith’s mark of 237 which also came against the Eagles. He also had a 91 yard run in that game which became the second longest rushing touchdown in club history - the first being Tony Dorsett’s 99 yard run. His rookie season ended with an ankle fracture and an ankle sprain but he became the alpha in the backfield.
Over the course of four seasons with the Cowboys, Murray made his mark. His best years came in 2013 and 2014 when he surpassed 1,000 yards. 2014 was a monster year when he led the league in rushing he totaled 1,845 yards on the ground and 13 touchdowns. You would think with a year like that capped with an offensive player of the year award he would stay in Dallas. Well, that didn’t happen.
New Threads
The Eagles went shopping for running backs in the 2015 offseason. They signed Murray to a five year contract as well as Ryan Matthews. Those two backs at that time added to a team with Darren Sproles had high expectations to get the run game going. The plan of making an all star trio in the backfield like the Hurricanes had in Frank Gore, Clinton Portis, and Willis McGahee in 2001 completely backfired. Murray couldn’t establish himself in Philly and did not get used nearly as much as he did with the Cowboys. Scheme wise, he felt out of place since it was mostly a shotgun system with a lateral run scheme, as opposed to the downhill ground attack in Dallas. Murray only had 2 games with more than 20 carries, which was his lowest in that department since 2012. His 702 rushing yards was one of the lowest totals in his time in the pros.
Everyone knew a divorce was coming, and he was traded to the Titans for a sixth round pick. For two seasons he split the load with Derrick Henry. Murray led the league and the AFC in rushing in 2016 with 1,287 yards. 2017 was the worst year of his career and was released after that, and eventually retired. He is now the running backs coach at Oklahoma.
Did He Under Achieve?
In a way it seems like he did, but it wasn’t completely his fault. The Eagles made a mistake by signing him and that threw everything off. They should have had a plan in mind in terms of back usage before signing two in free agency and then figuring it out as they went along. If Dallas kept him, who knows what kind of success there could have been for both sides. Maybe they needed each other. Murray just ran out of steam in 2017, it wasn’t his fault or the Titans fault. Regardless, he was a good player and it’s shame he wasn’t able to do more.
More NFL flashbacks are coming up!