Shurmur, meanwhile, kept dodging questions about Murray. After a few weeks of impressive production, he was tempered in the Eagles’ win over New England because the focus of the offense shifted to a finally-successful run game, which is what head coach Chip Kelly wants.
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As much as he tried to be guarded, Shurmur’s responses are fascinating and actually quite revealing.
A source close to Murray told ESPN last year’s AP Offensive Player of the Year “is obviously upset about what happened”. DeMarco Murray got the bulk of the carries and Ryan Mathews got his fair share, while Darren Sproles got the leftovers and Kenjon Barner was the fourth piggy on the depth chart – he got none. He’s averaging just 3.5 yards per carry and has hardly been part of the gameplan in certain matchups, which was the case against New England. He is averaging just 3.5 yards per carry.
The Philadelphia Eagles spent a whopping grand total of $51 million on the running back position during free agency this offseason. Each time, they both said the Eagles are confident in each of their running backs. And we used all three. Barner, who had been inactive for three games and didn’t play in three others, said he is grateful for the opportunity. “So, inside-out, it’s not that big a deal to us who is in there right now”.
Back in October, Murray expressed his frustration with his role. There’s no rules. People can write or tweet – I don’t know the rules. But he caught only 13 passes in 11 games and struggled to get in synch with quarterbacks Sam Bradford and Mark Sanchez. Do you as coaches need to pull him aside and explain his role to him? We watched time and time again as Chip ran the same failure of a play with his newly-signed $40 million running back.
Q: I understand all that, but at what point do you have to explain the situation to him?
The Philadelphia Eagles running game has been a disappointment for fantasy football owners. We felt like we were getting good production from the other guys. He replied: “We’re going to come out here and train and get ready to play Buffalo”. “We had a couple of game plans”. Beyond that evaluation, I don’t know what…
The Eagles’ pecking order at running back was well established most of this National Football League season.
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“Krause is another guy, which you’ve continued to see them improve over the course of the season”, continued Kelly. “And that’s not coach-speak or a cliché, that’s the reality”. The Eagles made a significant financial commitment bringing him to Philadelphia, and he still figures into their plans. “We feel good about the guys that we have in there”.
