TheFinisher
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It's the final year of his rookie deal, and this may be one of the tougher decisions the organization has had to make in a while. Murray is 26 years old, coming off his 1st Pro Bowl season, and was one of the most efficient RBs in the NFL last year with a YPC over 5. He seems to be a perfect fit for our zone run scheme and with the addition of Martin to an already impressive young OL, we should expect that trend to only be on the upswing.
A lot of people like to say RBs have become devalued in this league, as there hasn't been one selected in the 1st Round in the last two drafts (although the counter argument, which is probably just as valid, is there wasn't a stud RB in either of those drafts). The other argument is you can find good RBs later in the draft (although we seem to be one of the only teams that has trouble with that philosphy, as Murray become only the 2nd RB to top 1000 yards since E. Smith last did it for us, Julius Jones in 2006 was the other.)
I'd be happy to give Murray a 4-year/16-20mil type of contract, with incentives sprinkled in to make sure we protect ourselves. He's probably one of the top 5 players on this team and is still very young... when we use him effectively this is a different offense and we play our best football. I just don't think it's very easy to replace that type of talent if you let him walk, especially since we have nothing in-house that would be his successor... it would put pressure on the FO to draft for need fairly high in 2015.
I say pay him, he's still young, plays hungry and is a tempo setter.
A lot of people like to say RBs have become devalued in this league, as there hasn't been one selected in the 1st Round in the last two drafts (although the counter argument, which is probably just as valid, is there wasn't a stud RB in either of those drafts). The other argument is you can find good RBs later in the draft (although we seem to be one of the only teams that has trouble with that philosphy, as Murray become only the 2nd RB to top 1000 yards since E. Smith last did it for us, Julius Jones in 2006 was the other.)
I'd be happy to give Murray a 4-year/16-20mil type of contract, with incentives sprinkled in to make sure we protect ourselves. He's probably one of the top 5 players on this team and is still very young... when we use him effectively this is a different offense and we play our best football. I just don't think it's very easy to replace that type of talent if you let him walk, especially since we have nothing in-house that would be his successor... it would put pressure on the FO to draft for need fairly high in 2015.
I say pay him, he's still young, plays hungry and is a tempo setter.