DeMarco Murray is one of the more intriguing free agents on the market, and after LeSean McCoy signed a $40 million contract with the Bills following his trade from the Eagles, thoughts were that Murray was in for a big payday. Alas, the Cowboys have been slow to try and lock up their star running back, and Murray noticed.
In a passive aggressive move for the ages, Murray has scrubbed any reference to “Dallas” or “Cowboys” from his Twitter bio. It now reads “Proverbs 27:17” and nothing else. His location previously was written as “Las Vegas..Dallas!” and now says “Las Vegas…” And his header picture, which used to show Murray in a Cowboys jersey, is now just a solid black-colored bar.
This is sure to generate all kinds of chatter online and on sports talk radio, seeing as Murray had 1,845 rush yards, 57 receptions, 416 receiving yards and 13 touchdowns in 2014 and was a huge reason why Dallas went 12-4 and made it to the playoffs.
According to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, the Cowboys are either playing some real hardball or have already moved on from Murray in free agent targets. Schefter tweeted that Dallas hasn’t talked to Murray since last week. ESPN had previously reported that there was a good chance Murray re-signed with the Cowboys if they made a competitive offer.
The market for running backs in general isn’t as strong as it used to be with teams focusing more on passing. Running backs don’t get drafted in the first round anymore, there’s less guaranteed money being thrown around, and teams are more willing to take chances on UFAs or late-round guys than waste valuable free agency dollars on a position where players break down quickly.
Murray, heading into his fifth year in the NFL, is already 27 and just racked up 392 carries a season ago. While rewarding a player for going to work game in and game out for your team seems like conventional wisdom, it might not be sound business, and as we hear all the time, the NFL is a business.
Murray wants the money he feels he deserves, and the Cowboys just might want a cheaper option with fewer career carries.
