Demarco Murray

[Stelly]

What are your thoughts on Demarco Murray this season? Part of thinks he could be a stud based on the flashes he showed last season. But at the same time, aside from a couple big games, he also had a few stinkers. His ADP seems like a pretty high price to pay for an unproven back with (arguably) a history of injuries.

What's your outlook for Murray this season?

[murphysxm]

I have him penciled in as my PPR RB 10, but I think I probably have him higher than most. Felix Jones is no threat to him and he loosk legit to me.

[Cowboys 4 life]

I personally dont think he is any better then Felix. He got in the starting lineup because of injury and then put up 260 yards give or take against the Rams. That made the team feel they had a stud. Dont get me wrong he is good but im guessing he will be spelled alot more given he has not stayed healthy since high school.

Im not sure how this will play out but i would be cautious. Felix typically puts up 5 yards per carry and the Cowboys cannot let that go to waste.

[LS2throwed]

Im not sure how this will play out but i would be cautious. Felix typically puts up 5 yards per carry and the Cowboys cannot let that go to waste.

And yet they did. When both backs were healthy Felix was an after thought and treated like a practice squad player. He was hardly on the field at all and it showed basically how Dallas feels about both backs.


I'm sorry but the STL game didn't make them feel like they had a stud, it was that they just had a true feature back finally who could do everything. Murray has 10x the vision Felix does, and while people question Murrays' durability everybody is well aware that the moment you give Felix more then 20 touches a few games in a row he's going to break down. Felix won't get more then 8-10 touches this season, which is a typical back-up RB. Felix was a 1st round pick, Murray was a 3rd rounder, it's not a coincidence that Murray is the starter and considered a feature back while Felix is looked at like nothing more then a guy to spell Murray for a breather.


It's not like Murray had 1 good game vs STL. It was an amazing game sure, but his only "bad" game was vs Washington where in a ppr league he racked up 16 points. The Arizona game was a terrible game in general for the Cowboys and especially Jason Garrett where Murray got 12 carries, but even then I'll give you that as a bad game on his part. He's not Adrian Peterson, nobody thinks that. He's not going to rush for 150 yards and 3 TD's every week.


But he's in an explosive offense, that has weapons in the passing game to not put 8 in the box, they'll consistently be in the red zone, and he doesn't have any threat around to lose carries. He's going to get 20+ touches every week, and there just isn't that many backs you can say that about. It should say everything about these two backs that this isn't a RBBC, which it easily could be, but it's not.


Talent wise, Felix & Demarco are absolutely close no doubt. In fact Felix has a better burst, but other then that Murray is a far superior RB in every shape or form and it's not even close. It's not an accident that in that small stretch of Murray being the starter, he posted more career rushing yards then Felix ever has. I have no worries about Felix what so ever and neither does Dallas unless an injury happens.


And for what it's worth, Felix failed his conditioning test: http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/blog/eye-o ... oning-test

[murphysxm]

^^^ what he said

[Wood Chipper]

Demarco would be a solid RB if he wasn't injury prone. Makes me think of Mcfadden but less skill.

[moochman]

Agree with Chipper. Murray needs to stay healthy. There has to be some concern in Dallas over their backfield. Jones is aging fast, Murray is unproven. He will get every chance in the world to prove he can handle it, should he be up to the challenge a top 10 season isn't out of the question.

[murphysxm]

Murray missed 4 games in his college career and had a fluke injury last year. I'm not ready to call him an injury risk yet. Great offense and scout/expert opinions I put a lot of stock in (Silva and Cosell) are sold on his talent. I like him as a great #2 since others are down on him

[Dr. Duran Duran]

I'd be happy to take him as a #2, but there's no way in hell I'd want him as my #1 running back. He had 3 big games last year and a few meh games. Besides, he only reached paydirt twice. You can't convince me he's worth taking as the #1 back for a team.

His 3 big games:

25 carries, 253 yards, 1 TD vs. St. Louis
22 carries, 139 yards, 1 TD vs. Seattle
20 carries, 135 yards, 0 TD vs. Buffalo

Buffalo and St. Louis were either at or near the bottom last year in almost every important run defense category. In fact, in Murray's biggest game against St. Louis, an argument could be made that the inflated number had a lot more to do with the Rams' inept run defense. The Rams in 2011 gave up over 100 yards rushing in 13 of their 16 games. They gave up over 140 in 8 of those 13 games. Is the 253 still impressive? Sure it is. However, anyone else remember this guy...

JEROME HARRISON, CLE, RB - 2009

Harrison's output in 2009 was on par with Murray's in 2011. Harrison ran for 286 yards against the Chiefs in week 15 and then followed it up with 148 and 127 against Oakland and Jacksonville in weeks 16 and 17 respectively. The following year, Harrison ran for 330 yards and 1 TD in 12 games. Do I think Murray will have a catastrophic dropoff in production like Harrison did? Not exactly. But draft Murray as your #1 rusher in the late first or early second of a fantasy draft? Hell freaking no.

Guys taken as #1 fantasy RBs should have a much better track record than the 3 efforts Murray put up last year. No way can you convince me that taking a guy with 2 TDs and 3 great games against horrible run defenses should be enough to garner such a high pick, especially after what we learned following the 2009 season with Harrison.

[murphysxm]

I'd be happy to take him as a #2, but there's no way in hell I'd want him as my #1 running back. He had 3 big games last year and a few meh games. Besides, he only reached paydirt twice. You can't convince me he's worth taking as the #1 back for a team.

His 3 big games:

25 carries, 253 yards, 1 TD vs. St. Louis
22 carries, 139 yards, 1 TD vs. Seattle
20 carries, 135 yards, 0 TD vs. Buffalo

Buffalo and St. Louis were either at or near the bottom last year in almost every important run defense category. In fact, in Murray's biggest game against St. Louis, an argument could be made that the inflated number had a lot more to do with the Rams' inept run defense. The Rams in 2011 gave up over 100 yards rushing in 13 of their 16 games. They gave up over 140 in 8 of those 13 games. Is the 253 still impressive? Sure it is. However, anyone else remember this guy...

JEROME HARRISON, CLE, RB - 2009

Harrison's output in 2009 was on par with Murray's in 2011. Harrison ran for 286 yards against the Chiefs in week 15 and then followed it up with 148 and 127 against Oakland and Jacksonville in weeks 16 and 17 respectively. The following year, Harrison ran for 330 yards and 1 TD in 12 games. Do I think Murray will have a catastrophic dropoff in production like Harrison did? Not exactly. But draft Murray as your #1 rusher in the late first or early second of a fantasy draft? Hell freaking no.

Guys taken as #1 fantasy RBs should have a much better track record than the 3 efforts Murray put up last year. No way can you convince me that taking a guy with 2 TDs and 3 great games against horrible run defenses should be enough to garner such a high pick, especially after what we learned following the 2009 season with Harrison.

All excellent points, but Trent Richardson is going as a #1 without the same questions. I would rather have a guy that I saw dominate a couple games in the NFL, than I guy never to wear an NFL uni