Murray leaves a team with an offensive line that was considered one of the best units in the NFL last season. However, he joins a team with a head coach in Chip Kelly that does not shy away from running the football.
Kelly made that very clear this offseason by also adding running backs Ryan Mathews and Darren Sproles.
These backs should help in reducing Murray’s workload, which noticeably took a toll on him last season. Murray averaged just shy of 6 yards per carry through week 13 last season.
From that point on, he fell to just below four yards a carry in the Cowboys remaining five games, two of which were in the playoffs.
Murray’s new role will likely be that of a first down and goal line back.
The Cowboys offense had success running Murray on first down and putting Tony Romo ahead of the chains. However, he would stay on the field throughout the downs with Joseph Randle occasionally coming in on third down.
The Eagles will likely go to Mathews and pass-catching specialist Darren Sproles in these later downs.
Philadelphia does run the risk of becoming one-dimensional with the loss of WR Jeremy Maclin and inconsistent QB play.
They added Sam Bradford in place of Nick Foles, who has not shown the ability to stay healthy in his NFL career.
I expect Murray to be faced with plenty of eight-man fronts and take a beating as the season goes on. He nearly surpassed 1,000 yards after the point of first contact in 2014 and my guess is that he falls well short of that number in 2015.
The Cowboys will get a crack at him early on in week 2 when Dallas travels to Philly. The Eagles will come to Dallas in week 9 for a Sunday Night Football showdown. Here’s hoping a healthy Sean Lee can remind DeMarco what he’s missing out on!
How will Murray fare in a new uniform? Give your thoughts below or tweet @ShoreSportsNJ!
