The DeMarco Murray hit pieces have arrived, courtesy of Marcus Hayes and the Philadelphia Daily News.
We have officially entered the local media bashing phase of Murray’s current big-free-agent-dissapoints-after-one-season-then-bolts-for-greener-pastures narrative, and Philadelphia is already living up to its unforgiving reputation.
It is certainly easy to write a scathing take on an athlete after they have already left town, but the piece also helps show just how messy the Murray-Chip Kelly era was in Philadelphia.
Hayes started by outlining how the relationship seemed doomed from the start, casting heaping amounts of shade at Kelly along the way.
To begin with, Murray never would have even been an Eagle had Chip Kelly not so detested LeSean McCoy, the most productive back in team history, whom Kelly traded in his prime for Kiko Alonso, who made Casey Matthews look like Dick Butkus.
Murray arrived, you recall, of his own request. He personally called Kelly – an unusual gambit for the top free agent on the market. Kelly was poised to sign Ryan Mathews, who was supposed to complement Frank Gore, who balked at joining the Eagles after a discussion with McCoy, who detests Kelly.
As the column continues its clear Murray’s slide against the Dolphins on a short-yardage play has left a particularly sour taste in many Philadelphians’ mouths.
After that you didn’t hear much from Murray until mid-November against the Dolphins, when his actions spoke loudest. Murray slid, feet-first, to avoid contact during a short-yardage play. Several Dolphins were in pursuit, but a defensive back Murray outweighed by 30 pounds was the only one with a clear shot. Murray demurred. Surreal.
In 2014, Murray led the league in Yards after Contact.
Murray didn’t do so well in Yards after Contract.
Three weeks later, when he finally, begrudgingly addressed the matter – after a teammate called him out for cowardice – he mumbled something about wanting to keep the clock ticking.
Nonsense. There were 10 seconds left in the first quarter.
Hayes finishes out by calling Murray a “compulsive complainer,” and suggests the guy who was born in Las Vegas and starred in stops at Oklahoma and Dallas could not handle the blue collar pressure of the Northeast. Regardless of the heat of this take, the message from Philly is clear: the locals viewed the Eagles and Murray as every bit the mess the rest of country though it to be.
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