The conventional wisdom is that the NFL is now a passing league.
Any conversation about the NFL usually comes back to that notion, that it’s a passing league. And I’m not disagreeing with that. But no matter how much it’s said that the NFL is a passing league, the Dallas Cowboys ran through DeMarco Murray last season.
The Cowboys were very good, too. They went from a string of .500 seasons to a 12-4 record, an NFC East championship and nearly a playoff win at Green Bay once the team started going through Murray. Murray allowed the Cowboys to control the tempo and to make sure the defense wasn’t on the field too much. He was their most important player, the foundation of their entire team.
But Murray is scheduled to become a free agent on March 10, and do you re-sign him if you're Dallas? That’s a difficult question. If you knew the unknowable, namely how Murray would hold up in seasons to come after a huge workload last season, then I think re-signing him is an easy choice. He was Dallas' most important player last season, and I don't buy the notion that running backs don't have value. But it's not that simple.
First it’s important to take a look at what kind of a back Murray is. Because he doesn’t have an Adrian Peterson-level skill set, or even a Le’Veon Bell-type skill set. We talk all the time about “system quarterbacks,” and you could say that Murray is a system runner.
Murray is at his best as a decisive downhill runner with short area burst. That’s why the outside zone run was a staple this season for Dallas. The Cowboys’ fantastic offensive line was consistent all season stretching the front side and sealing the back side, and Murray is an excellent one-cut downhill runner who is at his best when his options are limited. On inside zone, you have to find and create your own space, and Murray is not a creative, intuitive runner. He's a little too stiff and straight-line to be a great natural runner. But running downhill in the outside zone, or even in gap schemes like “power” and “counter”? He’s very good.
Here are two examples, on back-to-back plays against the St. Louis Rams in Week 3, of how good he is at pressing the hole, influencing second-level defenders, then making a sharp cut to the vacated area.
Here he impacts linebacker Alec Ogletree, makes a great cut and gains 14 yards.
And on this run he impacts linebacker Jo-Lonn Dunbar and gains 20.
Murray also improved dramatically this past season in his physicality. He developed a punishing element to his game, and there’s a mentality that goes along with that. There are guys that can do that for 10, 12 carries a game, but there are not a lot of players who can do it for 25 carries a game. Murray can. That’s a skill.
That’s why I feel like if you know you’d get Murray’s same production, or at least close to it, then it’s a no-brainer to re-sign him. As I said, I don’t buy into the notion you don’t need a great running back – if you want the run game to be the starting point for your offense, you need a great back. You can’t just plug one in. For example, I don’t think there are 10 backs in the league who can do what Marshawn Lynch does for the Seattle Seahawks. He’s their foundation on offense. Murray isn’t the level of back Lynch is, but you can’t just plug in a back and have him do what Murray did for the Cowboys over 392 carries last year.
But Murray's workload is an issue.
There aren’t many NFL backs who have carried at least 392 times in a season (just nine, counting Murray), but generally when backs have that many carries their play slips afterward. Eddie George, Larry Johnson, Terrell Davis and Jamal Anderson are examples. So the Cowboys have to wonder if Murray can replicate what he did in 2014 if they re-sign him. It would be rare among the backs who have experienced that type of workload in a season.
This is why the question of signing Murray is a tough one. Murray and the Cowboys are a perfect fit together: He is a great fit in their zone-based running game, and the Cowboys benefited from having a back who can sustain drives and control a game. The Cowboys’ success last season started with Murray, and Murray isn't the kind of back who can be plugged into any system and have a huge season. If the Cowboys don’t re-sign him (assuming they don’t replace him with a Peterson-level back), their offense has to be different next season. Their whole team would have to be different.
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NFL analyst and NFL Films senior producer Greg Cosell watches as much NFL game film as anyone. Throughout the season, Cosell will join Shutdown Corner to share his observations on the teams, schemes and personnel from around the league.
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