DMN Blog: Could Michael Turner have been a Cowboy?

[MrMom]

9:59 AM Fri, Oct 23, 2009 | Permalink | Yahoo! Buzz
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When Wade Phillips was named the Cowboys' head coach in 2007, he attempted to sell the idea of a trade for running back Michael Turner in San Diego to owner and GM Jerry Jones.

Even with Julius Jones and Marion Barber, Phillips thought Turner, whom he saw every day in practice as the Chargers' defensive coordinator, would be a top-flight back. Alas, San Diego was not in the mood to trade Turner.

"When I was at San Diego, the offices look out on the field," Phillips said. "One day, they had a match race between our fastest receiver and Michael Turner, and MIchael Turner beat him. I knew he was fast, but I didn't know he was that fast. He can go all the way at any time. He's got great speed in addition to being a powerful runner. At San Diego, he had a lot of big games for us. You knew he was a star in waiting."

In 2008, Turner had 1,699 yards in his first year in Atlanta, but he has not had the same type of success through five games this year with 353 yards on 100 carries. He does, however, have six touchdowns

 

[DEZBRYANT x88x]

Then we proboblay wouldnt have Felix or TC.

 

[joseephuss]

Turner is suffering from the old 375 curse. He ran the ball 376 times last season with very good success. Backs that have that many carries in one season rarely come back the next year and do well unless they are named Eric Dickerson or Emmitt Smith.

 

[superpunk]

Then we proboblay wouldnt have Felix or TC.

Yeah I'm way happier with our trio. Turner's a one-cut guy, like Larry Johnson. If he finds a crease he'll make you pay, but I don't think he can create. I like the shiftiness of our backs more.

 

[AdamJT13]

San Diego's failure to get anything more than a fourth-round comp pick out of Turner is a cautionary tale for teams around the league.

 

[joseephuss]

San Diego's failure to get anything more than a fourth-round comp pick out of Turner is a cautionary tale for teams around the league.

Good point. Dallas will probably try to get something for Choice at some point down the line.

Had Darren Sproles not missed the entire 2006 season due to injury the Chargers may have been willing to trade Turner prior to the 2007 season. Instead they went into 2007 with both Turner and Sproles as the back ups.

 

[Idgit]

Looks like San Diego didn't have the same problem with the risk of footraces causing injuries to skill players that we do here in Dallas. Or maybe Wade was just taking it easy on our DBs for getting beat by our kicker, after all.

I bet Bueller beats Turner head-to-head.

 

[Chocolate Lab]

Then we proboblay wouldnt have Felix or TC.

Or maybe it's more likely we wouldn't have given Barber that huge deal.

So maybe it would be Turner and Felix and Choice.

Barber or Turner?

 

[dbair1967]

Or maybe it's more likely we wouldn't have given Barber that huge deal.

So maybe it would be Turner and Felix and Choice.

Barber or Turner?

Too early to say probably, Turner's had one huge yr but looked pretty ordinary this yr...Barber, when healthy is pretty good.

I like what we have, and in no way, shape or form did I want us to go out and spend huge $$$ on Turner. I would have preferred they didnt give that big contract to Barber either, but I prefer our trio to Turner.

 

[Vinnie2u]

I had Deangelo Williams and Michael Turner on my fantasy team last year ... They made me some good money ..

 

[TellerMorrow34]

Turner is a really good running back so I likely wouldn't see any reason to complain if he'd been a Cowboy.

I really like our three we've got though so I see no reason to complain about what we've got either.

 

[TheMarathonContinues]

Cowboys would've made out alright. I prefer the situation we have right now though. Turner has not had a good season. All three of our backs have higher ypg's.