Video: Murray led the NFL in yards, then retired after only 3 more seasons. What happened?

[gimmesix]

Letting Murray walk was 100% the right football decision. Arguing that just seems insane to me.

I think one 1,000-yard season over the next three years proves that. I may disagree with some of the decisions the Joneses make, but they seemed to have a pretty good understanding that Murray wasn't long for the league.

They made a different decision with Elliott for various reasons. We'll see how it turns out. Last year wasn't so good for a variety of reasons. It wasn't terrible, but not worth what he's being paid. This year, he needs to be among the rushing leaders. Depending on how he does, a restructure might be the option next year, but even with that, they may not want to move more than $8 million out of next year's base, so they would still be able to cut him the following year with a slight cap savings.

 

[Diehardblues]

Chiefs have a feature back. GB has a feature back. That's 2 of the 4 in the champ games last year.

Basically, most teams either have a feature back or are looking for one. It's not as dead as you think. TENN(of course), NO, MINN, Rams, LV, CLEV, JAX, INDY, DALL, CINCY, CHI, CAR, BALT, ARI, SF, PITT, PHILLY, NYG: All have feature backs.

I'm curious. Where did you get the idea teams no longer use feature backs? Most do. And most that don't are looking for one. It's called a starter, and having a quality starter at any position is desirable.

Basically, the formula is to have a feature back, a decent backup to give your feature back a break, and a scatback. That's the desirable formula.

Yep

Feature RB is still a desired commodity. The issue comes in when it’s time for their second contracts.

The solution might be to churn your feature back every 4 or 5 years thru the draft.

 

[Diehardblues]

I think one 1,000-yard season over the next three years proves that. I may disagree with some of the decisions the Joneses make, but they seemed to have a pretty good understanding that Murray wasn't long for the league.

They made a different decision with Elliott for various reasons. We'll see how it turns out. Last year wasn't so good for a variety of reasons. It wasn't terrible, but not worth what he's being paid. This year, he needs to be among the rushing leaders. Depending on how he does, a restructure might be the option next year, but even with that, they may not want to move more than $8 million out of next year's base, so they would still be able to cut him the following year with a slight cap savings.

Right

The decisions to let Murray go was based on the hype that basically anyone could have success behind that OL and his injury history.

The decision to resign Elliott was they thought Daks effectiveness and success was reliant on.

 

[Doomsday101]

Murray had a long history of knee injuries dating back to his days at OU and those knee injuries persisted on the NFL level.

 

[Diehardblues]

This "any RB will do" garbage is fan spew, completely idiotic that Jerry bought into it.

Jethro signed off on it but I think it was Cheapskate Son who believed the hype that practically anyone could have success behind that OL. He was the one who inserted himself even against Garrett.

And Jethro once he saw it wasn’t the case reacted with our top draft pick in 2016. And he probably over reacted again caving into his contract as he didn’t want to relive 2015 nor didn’t want to see Dak without him.

 

[Diehardblues]

Murray had a long history of knee injuries dating back to his days at OU and those knee injuries persisted on the NFL level.

Yep

And it’s ultimately what ended his career in 2017.

He was damaged goods when we drafted him and why he fell to a 3rd round pick or he arguably would have been a 1st rounder.

He had 1st round talent which we saw when was healthy.

 

[Diehardblues]

If we recall Murray wanted to stay in Dallas. He even paid for a billboard locally to show his appreciation.

What we should have done is offered him a shorter extension and placed injury clauses in it. And I don’t think we would have had to match Egirls offer. He would have played for less in Dallas. But not half as much.

 

[BigDPlayer]

What a magical season it was 2014. Murray was a beast I remember it fondly. All except the last play of the year for us... (in corner sucking thumb)

 

[Big_D]

Yep

Feature RB is still a desired commodity. The issue comes in when it’s time for their second contracts.

The solution might be to churn your feature back every 4 or 5 years thru the draft.

If they were a desired commodity more would be getting paid, not churned through every 3 or 4 years. That is the cycle. You blame Jerry and that's absolutely true and on this team under these circumstances paying your #1 RB flat out isn't working. Gurley and now Zeke have become the benchmarks for what not to do. Over paying hasn't worked yet? It's actually ridiculous. Just the typical case of Jerry thinking he has more than he actually got.

We got absolutely demolished in a playoff game by 2 RBs??? Who the hell were they and where are they now? How do you pay #1 RB money to a guy with zero home run ability and not think this isn't a problem? It's a huge problem. And Pollards 3 carries won't make up for it. lol It's mind blowing stuff that people still buy into this when the rest of the team is in shambles pretty much. Then when that RB fumbles incessantly you actually have something to go to? RBBC at a solid cap rate. That's if you want to fix the Defense and the Oline, and keep other guys, and go get FAs. You have to find cheaper production at the RB position. There really is no debate. Very few are making it work other wise. Which Super Bowl winner in the past 10 years have paid their RBs top tier contracts? Find me a couple..

 

[Diehardblues]

If they were a desired commodity more would be getting paid, not churned through every 3 or 4 years. That is the cycle. You blame Jerry and that's absolutely true and on this team under these circumstances paying your #1 RB flat out isn't working. Gurley and now Zeke have become the benchmarks for what not to do. Over paying hasn't worked yet? It's actually ridiculous. Just the typical case of Jerry thinking he has more than he actually got.

We got absolutely demolished in a playoff game by 2 RBs??? Who the hell were they and where are they now? How do you pay #1 RB money to a guy with zero home run ability and not think this isn't a problem? It's a huge problem. And Pollards 3 carries won't make up for it. lol It's mind blowing stuff that people still buy into this when the rest of the team is in shambles pretty much. Then when that RB fumbles incessantly you actually have something to go to? RBBC at a solid cap rate. That's if you want to fix the Defense and the Oline, and keep other guys, and go get FAs. You have to find cheaper production at the RB position. There really is no debate. Very few are making it work other wise. Which Super Bowl winner in the past 10 years have paid their RBs top tier contracts? Find me a couple..

I think the bigger problem is “ over paying”.

These top paid RB aren’t the model for success. But it doesn’t mean the position shouldn’t have value.

 

[kskboys]

It just worked for TB last year.

Only because they have two starter quality backs.

 

[kskboys]

If they were a desired commodity more would be getting paid, not churned through every 3 or 4 years. That is the cycle. You blame Jerry and that's absolutely true and on this team under these circumstances paying your #1 RB flat out isn't working. Gurley and now Zeke have become the benchmarks for what not to do. Over paying hasn't worked yet? It's actually ridiculous. Just the typical case of Jerry thinking he has more than he actually got.

We got absolutely demolished in a playoff game by 2 RBs??? Who the hell were they and where are they now? How do you pay #1 RB money to a guy with zero home run ability and not think this isn't a problem? It's a huge problem. And Pollards 3 carries won't make up for it. lol It's mind blowing stuff that people still buy into this when the rest of the team is in shambles pretty much. Then when that RB fumbles incessantly you actually have something to go to? RBBC at a solid cap rate. That's if you want to fix the Defense and the Oline, and keep other guys, and go get FAs. You have to find cheaper production at the RB position. There really is no debate. Very few are making it work other wise. Which Super Bowl winner in the past 10 years have paid their RBs top tier contracts? Find me a couple..

I agree that you can only pay the RB position so much. Same w/ most positions.

 

[kskboys]

2 guys Cook and Henry got more than 300 carries. 8 backs hovering around 240 and the rest under 200. Kareem Hunt 198 attempts, Chubb, 190. Where's the lead back there. Hot hand. Jones had 201 carries last year. A guy in that 300+ is not needed. CEH 180. These are not feature back numbers. Cook and Henry are the only 2 everyone else is divvying up the workload. That's 2 teams in the 300 club and if the offense wasn't decimated it would be 3 with Elliott. Then we'll see how often he pulls himself out of games afterwords. It's really been working great!

Chiefs. 2018 Kerrem Hunt, 2019 Damian Williams then rookie Clyde Edwards Helaire in 2020. Lead back with a rookie salary who will be shown the door when the time comes. That's 3 seasons of Chiefs football. 3 different backs and now they hand it to the lowest paid and build other areas. Not draft a guy, think they have the greatest RB in history, then pay him as such when the time comes.

Yes, those are feature back numbers. Not sure why you think they aren't. Aenda stuff?

 

[JD_KaPow]

I've never seen a team signal its intentions as clearly as Dallas did with Murray, and yet still people refuse to see it.

They ran Murray into the ground in 2014, to the tune of 392 carries, the 7th-most in history. What happened to the guys ahead of him (or tied) on that list?
Larry Johnson: hurt and done after that season.
Jamal Anderson: hurt and done after that season.
James Wilder: one more full season.
Eddie George: never effective again.
Gerald Riggs: one more full season.
Terrell Davis: Immediately fell of a cliff.
Ricky Williams: retired, unretired, never a lead back again.
Okay okay, I skipped Eric Dickerson: truly a freak of nature.

It's not like they didn't have an effective backup they could use. Yeah, I know what happened to Randle later, but he was really good backing up Murray that season.

The Cowboys very clearly made a choice. We're not going to sign Murray. Therefore, we will happily run him into the ground this year without worrying about his future. Sure, we'll make a lowball offer so maybe the fans will blame him instead of us when he leaves, but we'll make no serious attempt to sign him.

What happened to Murray is what happens to virtually every RB not named Dickerson, and especially those that got overworked: the magic is gone when they get past their mid-20s. It should be surprising to nobody.

 

[dfense]

Great back, better than Zeke in my opinion, but had a history even in college of being injury prone. That's why he fell a round or two in the draft. Cowboys were smart.

 

[kskboys]

If they were a desired commodity more would be getting paid, not churned through every 3 or 4 years. That is the cycle. You blame Jerry and that's absolutely true and on this team under these circumstances paying your #1 RB flat out isn't working. Gurley and now Zeke have become the benchmarks for what not to do. Over paying hasn't worked yet? It's actually ridiculous. Just the typical case of Jerry thinking he has more than he actually got.

We got absolutely demolished in a playoff game by 2 RBs??? Who the hell were they and where are they now? How do you pay #1 RB money to a guy with zero home run ability and not think this isn't a problem? It's a huge problem. And Pollards 3 carries won't make up for it. lol It's mind blowing stuff that people still buy into this when the rest of the team is in shambles pretty much. Then when that RB fumbles incessantly you actually have something to go to? RBBC at a solid cap rate. That's if you want to fix the Defense and the Oline, and keep other guys, and go get FAs. You have to find cheaper production at the RB position. There really is no debate. Very few are making it work other wise. Which Super Bowl winner in the past 10 years have paid their RBs top tier contracts? Find me a couple..

How did you come to that conclusion? RB's are a desired commodity that only last 5-7 years. A short shelf life does not indicate at all that they are not desired.

 

[INCowboysFan]

Part of the reason she made so much money is she married Tom, who was a star player , SB champ,and nice looking.
It made her more famous , hence she got bigger contracts. What was her net worth back when they got married?
I would say nothing close to what it is today.
Tom married a smart business woman, where other players marry women who just want to help them spend that money lol.

Tom is a smart guy, so the team friendly deals he might have done even if he wasnt married to her, because he
wanted to win more SB's.

QB's today could live very good on 25 mil a year, they dont need that extra 10-15 mil.
They could do a team friendly deal for 25, but if they did they should be the one to spend that extra money
on players THEY want. If they leave to the gm's that money could be wasted or just not spent lol.

Tom got to pick some players he wanted like gronk and brown, and another one I forget, so it was like he got
to buy the players he wanted.

wrong. Per her wikipedia page, She was named 53rd most powerful celebrity by Forbes in 2007, two years before she married Brady. She was one of Time's 100 most influential people in the world in 2007. She made $35M in 2008, a year before she married Brady. She was rolling in it when they got together. Could you say that their marriage benefitted each of them financially, absolutely. But marring tom Brady did not make her more famous.

 

[Doomsday101]

wrong. Per her wikipedia page, She was named 53rd most powerful celebrity by Forbes in 2007, two years before she married Brady. She was one of Time's 100 most influential people in the world in 2007. She made $35M in 2008, a year before she married Brady. She was rolling in it when they got together. Could you say that their marriage benefitted each of them financially, absolutely. But marring tom Brady did not make her more famous.

True, I admit in my world I would not have known who she was until she married Brady but then I don't keep up with fashion models but in her industry she was very well know and successful.

 

[charron]

Murray achieved greatness once but it wasn't just because he was a great back.

1. We had a all the things in place for a good back to take the next step and be great.
a. a great OL
b. a really good QB
c. good receivers
2. Murray was never consistently good here, but it all came together in his contract year where he could actually stay healthy to take advantage of all of our talent offensively.

After that the same issues he had the 1st 3 years rose up and the eagles quickly regretted out paying the cowboys for his service.

 

[jrumann59]

The eagles foolish sign an one cut N-S runner to be a shifty E-W back.

When he went to the titans he reverted back to a good back the first year. Injuries and wear caught up to him shortly after. Not to mention the titans had a good back behind him.

injuries and wear re-appeared. He wasnt made of glass in Dallas but he always missed a couple of games a year due to hammy or groin or something.