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

[gimmesix]

There is no argument, Zeke is by far a better back than Murray. I think that is what you are saying. We are in agreement on that point.

There should have been a limit the Cowboys were willing to give Zeke that was far shy of what they ended up agreeing to give him. He'll never play up to the value of his contract.

I don't really fret over that because I think we have a limited understanding of value compared to the owners and general managers who have to make deals with these players. Fans here are always amazed what free agents get paid each year, and fuss about pretty much every contract we sign, saying it was too much. (Or fuss about the free agents we didn't sign or the cheap ones we did.)

I don't get into the money argument because I think generally teams do what they think is necessary, whether it's paying Elliott big money or not being willing to pay Murray big money. Sometimes it works out and sometimes it doesn't.

We get too caught up in the cap (which can be manipulated) and it really seems to taint some fans' view of the player. None of these players can really live up to the contract they are given. If they can help us win, though, I don't really care if they do. I just want to win, so if Dallas wants to throw millions at a player it thinks can help us do that, I'm OK with that.

That doesn't mean I agree with every decision, just that I don't sweat the money. It's not mine, and it's not going to put us in cap hell, which hasn't really existed since teams learned how to manage the cap.

 

[buybuydandavis]

We burned him out in the season he went 1800 yrs for us. We knew we would not realign him so they ran him in the ground. ... Now everybody is worried Zeke is breaking down and want to ditch him. Please...

We probably shortened his career in 2014. 449 touches in the regular season, 48 more in the playoffs. Almost 500 for a "dirty yards" player.

But he had another good season with TN in 2016. 7 year career, 3 with Pro Bowls. For a power back, that's a long career of productivity, The difference with Murray is that he didn't try to sign on to another team for an el cheapo deal to keep the party going.

https://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/M/MurrDe00.htm

Zeke is also a power back. With declining production. Going into his 6th year. With his 7th already guaranteed. He probably gets cuts going into his 8th year too. He's due a 10.9mil salary in 2023. He wasn't worth that last year.

But I bet Zeke moves on to another team. Will be 28, 2 years younger than when Murray retired.

 

[gimmesix]

He had one year where he was as good as Zeke was for several years. So to be blunt your opinion is worthless.

Not quite fair. Despite his injuries and a shared role, Murray had great averages for us (5.5, 4.7, 5.2) in all but one year (4.1). His YPC was on par or better than Elliott's.

That doesn't mean he would have averaged the same with Elliott's workload. The only year we have for comparison there is his final season, where he averaged 4.7 on 392 carries, which is more than Elliott has had in any season, averaging 5.1, 4.1, 4,7, 4.5 and 4.0.

The only area where he was not as good as Zeke IMO is durability. If we had tried to run Murray the first couple of years the way that we ran Elliott, he probably would have broke. In fact, he went to Philly after his 392-carry season and fell flat. Some of that was on how the Eagles tried to use him, since he did bounce back with a strong first season with the Titans before the wheels fell all the way off.

I'm not saying this to bad-mouth Elliott. He gets enough of that from those who want to pretend he hasn't been a top back in the league most of his seasons here. I just think you're underselling Murray.

 

[cowboy_ron]

He went Philly which started his decline.

 

[Aviano90]

Not quite fair. Despite his injuries and a shared role, Murray had great averages for us (5.5, 4.7, 5.2) in all but one year (4.1). His YPC was on par or better than Elliott's.

That doesn't mean he would have averaged the same with Elliott's workload. The only year we have for comparison there is his final season, where he averaged 4.7 on 392 carries, which is more than Elliott has had in any season, averaging 5.1, 4.1, 4,7, 4.5 and 4.0.

The only area where he was not as good as Zeke IMO is durability. If we had tried to run Murray the first couple of years the way that we ran Elliott, he probably would have broke. In fact, he went to Philly after his 392-carry season and fell flat. Some of that was on how the Eagles tried to use him, since he did bounce back with a strong first season with the Titans before the wheels fell all the way off.

I'm not saying this to bad-mouth Elliott. He gets enough of that from those who want to pretend he hasn't been a top back in the league most of his seasons here. I just think you're underselling Murray.

To me they are about the same player. They are best suited for bell cows, tough physical runners, good blockers, some fumble issues and both are pretty bad in the open field. Murray played on a pass happy offense that abandoned the running game and he generally has a worse offensive line than Zeke. Zeke is more durable than Murray like you said.

 

[Bobhaze]

The short answer to the original question- “What happened to Murray to retire only 3 years after leading the league in yards?” Answer- the same thing that is happening to Zeke- too many touches over a few straight years. It’s mileage on the body.

 

[Maverick84]

...I always like DeMarco. Had good instincts for holes.

this is a family forum.

 

[Tussinman]

What happened to Murray?

He played in a pass happy offense his first 3 years, was the best RB in the league in 2014 and it was time to get paid. Dallas low balled him despite his willingness to give a home team discount.

Oakland and Philly offered much more

This is a pretty slanted view of what happened. The cowboys offer was right in line with the 2 other bidders at the time (jacksonville and oakland) and this was with Murray having health issues in 3 out of his 4 seasons AND they actually offered him an extension after his first year of being a full time starter (2013)

Eagles front office and coach (who to absolutely no surprise both got fired) literally jumped in and offered double the money as the 3 other bidders for absolutely NO reason (wreckless decisions like this set the team back years and cost management there jobs).

Love how cowboys offered an early extension, offered market value after the 2014 season, never threatened him with franchise tag/trade and yet the narrative is always "cowboys low balled him" or "cowboys didn't even attempt to keep him"

 

[terra]

This is a pretty slanted view of what happened. The cowboys offer was right in line with the 2 other bidders at the time (jacksonville and oakland) and this was with Murray having health issues in 3 out of his 4 seasons AND they actually offered him an extension after his first year of being a full time starter (2013)

Eagles front office and coach (who to absolutely no surprise both got fired) literally jumped in and offered double the money as the 3 other bidders for absolutely NO reason (wreckless decisions like this set the team back years and cost management there jobs).

Love how cowboys offered an early extension, offered market value after the 2014 season, never threatened him with franchise tag/trade and yet the narrative is always "cowboys low balled him" or "cowboys didn't even attempt to keep him"

Murray absolutely made the right choice. Lot more money with the Eagles and he knew this was his one shot at the big paycheck.

 

[DandyDon52]

Weren’t they on their way to a Super Bowl in the Green Bay game when Murray fumbled after Peppers hit his arm ? He had a hole in front of him you could drive a Mack truck through I remember. I think it was in FG range too or close to it. maybe it was Murray who threw the SB chance out the window by fumbling and losing points when they were driving in such a close game.

That happened early in the 3rd I think, and murray got hit from behind, no one expects that.
and the guy who knocked the ball loose, was supposed to be blocked my martin, so is it martins fault??
Martin looked like a girl on that block lol.
And aikman went on about it like murray would have ran for a td, but the safety and 1 lb were coming to cut him off.

I also felt that with a broken hand, it would have been better to play randal that game, but cowboys didnt do that.
I would have used randall , and murray only in short yardage situations, or not at all.

And it was around the dallas 40-45 so not in fg range.
Peppers also knocked the ball out of romo's hands, but our guys recovered that one.
He played great that day.
Cowboys players and coaches did not have their best game that day. Romo was wrapped up like he was playing
in Siberia, I didnt care for that either.

 

[DandyDon52]

...I always like DeMarco. Had good instincts for holes. Even Romo said it. Such a shame he left, then went downhill after. Actually, he had one good year in TEN.

I liked him too, I think he had 2 good years left and that would have given dallas 2 years to contend for SB, and I think they
would have at least got to the SB had they kept murray.

2014 was the best offense dallas has had in this century lol, it was balanced, good run game,
and usually dominated TOP.

 

[Rockport]

The Jones boys had a limit they were going to give him. He wanted more, so he was allowed to go get it elsewhere. How is that such a mystery? The Jones boys should have conducted the negotiations with Zeke the same way. Good RBs can be had so much cheaper.

Zeke is heads above Murray IMO. More versatile and puts the fear of God in the defense.

 

[Aikmaniac]

I’ll be in the minority here but I enjoyed watching him run more than Zeke. That core was so strong with him Dez Romo and Witten.

So many wasted players.

 

[MarcusRock]

Let me try it this way. You have 4 kids and $100 for Christmas presents. You give one kid $40 and the other 3 kids are left with splitting $60 (say $20 each). To give one kid more you have to give some other kid less. You are only allowed to give $100 and you have to split it among the 4 kids. That is the NFL salary cap.

Your kids are free to go to another family the following year but will still be under the same rules.

Boils down to this: to give more to one, you must give less to another. That is the NFL salary cap. It is not a battle about Dak or any other player battling Jerry for Jerry's money. Jerry is paying the money no matter what. The proportion of the cap to each player is ultimately what the negotiations are about.

Again, you're acting as if each team is equally in cap hell while quoting a post of mine citing that all other teams won't simultaneously be in cap hell. It just doesn't happen your way. So if a player "can't" get paid because there's a cap hog management decided to create, they can try their case with other teams without cap hogs. And negotiations are about cap percentage for the team's side since it's their job to watch the cap. The player counters with, "well, these other teams make it work at this percentage of the cap; why can't you?" Then management decides if the asking price is too rich or not. If management allows it, why do players get crucified for what they come away with?

 

[Tussinman]

Murray absolutely made the right choice. Lot more money with the Eagles and he knew this was his one shot at the big paycheck.

Tough for me to say with 100% certainty that it was the right choice because it was a trade-off. Made more money but if he had stayed with the cowboys (especially with there o-line) he probably makes the all-decade team

 

[DandyDon52]

So players get accused of being greedy, non-team players and then you want to advocate a system that makes them prioritize personal achievements rather than the team's? Managing the cap is the team's responsibility, not the player's. If you think Dak would take up too much cap, don't pay it. It's not rocket science. How is it the players' fault for wanting to get as much as other teams have given? No one holds a gun to the front office folks' heads and say, "pay market rate." If that's too expensive when you shop, you put it back on the shelf, right?

If that's too expensive when you shop, you put it back on the shelf, right?......yes and I would have put dak back on the shelf,
elliot too, and maybe lawrence, and for sure jaylon.
you want to advocate a system that makes them prioritize personal achievements rather than the team's?.....yes and for
what they do in the now as opposed to what they did in the past. Share the wealth, it takes 22+ players to play and win games, they all should be paid fairly, not just a few stars.

As for the current insane system, your right it isnt the players fault, it is the owners who keep paying enormous amounts
for FA and their own players.
So often it turns out to be big mistake. Very few players earn those big contracts.

and I will say again, if a player like dak, is willing to take less, he should be the one spending that extra money on player
or players he thinks can get them to SB.
That is the only way I myself would take less money.

 

[MarcusRock]

In most cases the resentment from fans is towards the players not the Mgmt. As they feel the player is unreasonable in their demands or inflexibility.

The thing is no one knows what goes on in negotiations. We only know the basics of negotiation where the player asks higher that what he actually wants and management offers less than they're willing to give and the two sides meet in the middle somewhere. Why is the player overwhelmingly assumed to be unreasonable one if they can't reach a deal? And this is with "market rate" as a guide. You saw it with Dak where everyone knew where the market was but hated Dak for not accepting a deal that was clearly less than market before last season. There was even an article that stated what Dak should expect given the market (which was more than the rumored offer by the team) and I posted it over and over again in the threads about Dak's unsettled contract and it got constantly ignored for the lazy "greedy" narrative. It's clear bias for which the salary cap makes a good cover but this is more than about the salary cap, clearly.

 

[JoeKing]

I don't really fret over that because I think we have a limited understanding of value compared to the owners and general managers who have to make deals with these players. Fans here are always amazed what free agents get paid each year, and fuss about pretty much every contract we sign, saying it was too much. (Or fuss about the free agents we didn't sign or the cheap ones we did.)

I don't get into the money argument because I think generally teams do what they think is necessary, whether it's paying Elliott big money or not being willing to pay Murray big money. Sometimes it works out and sometimes it doesn't.

We get too caught up in the cap (which can be manipulated) and it really seems to taint some fans' view of the player. None of these players can really live up to the contract they are given. If they can help us win, though, I don't really care if they do. I just want to win, so if Dallas wants to throw millions at a player it thinks can help us do that, I'm OK with that.

That doesn't mean I agree with every decision, just that I don't sweat the money. It's not mine, and it's not going to put us in cap hell, which hasn't really existed since teams learned how to manage the cap.

I'm glad you don't get into the money argument because you're not good at it. The fact it's not your money shouldn't inhibit you from valuing it as you would your own money. I think my understanding of value is every bit as good as the owner/GM. I'm not amazed what FAs get paid. I don't fuss about almost any contract we sign. But Zeke's contract is an exception because of how ridiculous it is. He was never going to play up to the value of that contract. He would have to be on pace with Emmitt Smith to be worthy of the contract he signed. It's money just thrown away because the Jones boys decided they could work around it. The way you dismiss how the Jones boys misappropriate money is common and I think is shameful. It's why they get away with it. They should be audited and duly removed as the owners of this franchise because of the ridiculous contracts they have given in recent years. Jaylon Smith, Demarcus Lawrence, and Zeke Elliott all received contracts they will never play up to. The exception is Dak Prescott because I think he can lead us to multiple Super Bowls. His leadership is worth the contract he signed. That may change but at this time he has that ability.

 

[JoeKing]

Zeke is heads above Murray IMO. More versatile and puts the fear of God in the defense.

No doubt about it, that was never an argument in my mind. But that doesn't mean he is worthy of the contract he signed.

 

[Rockport]

No doubt about it, that was never an argument in my mind. But that doesn't mean he is worthy of the contract he signed.

Good point.