'FF Ninja said:
Sure, we could look at the production of other RBs, but what will we compare it against? Murray's body of work does not span enough to make a fair comparison. You can't act like he's an established talent in this league when he's only had 5 games with 10 carries or more in which he has broken a 4.0 ypc average.
I know you only referenced college to talk about injury but why ignore those stats? They represent a pretty large sample size. The Big 12 was a decent conference and Murray was on one of the best teams in the conference. It was, however, an offensive conference. To be the starting RB as a JR and SR on a team that was favored heavily most weeks against soft defenses designed to defend the pass and to end up with 4.2 ypc can't be ignored. That's much more of a body of work than his 5 good NFL games. We can gloss over this fact, but it should at least give an objective observer some pause.
How you can see a guy with only 12 games with 10 carries or more and only 5 of them being good games and say he's clearly a top 10-15 talent is just crazy. I mean, maybe if he tore it up in college and won a Heisman or something, but how do you justify such a bold statement in this case?
And to write me off as having an agenda is pretty funny, too. What agenda could I possibly have? Am an embittered manager who just couldn't quite land him on my squad and now I want him to suck? I really don't know where you were going with that angle. I'm just a guy with no dog in this race trying to bring an objective opinion here.
Let's not be petty and do away with the trigger words. My apologies for using agenda improperly. Let's keep it to a productive conversation about Murray's value. If we don't change our opinions, maybe we can help someone else develop theirs. Again, my apologies for my contribution, I just don't like the tone of the last few posts (mine included) and don't want to derail a potentially productive conversation. His freshman years his YPC (which is flawed) was 6 and 5.6. Why did it drop? Why do we value his last two years, more than his first?
And if we can't use his sample size to suggest he is a good RB - why do you get to use it to suggest he is not?
Just to be clear, and to clarify if I am missing something: His Jr and Sr YPC aren't enough for you - so he is not starting material? That's all there is to it?
As a fan of the team, I have watched every snap of Murray's NFL career, and am very confident in his abilities. He passes the eye test, and his production matches it. He is well rounded, powerful, and hits homeruns. That is a nice mix, and what more can you ask for from a starting RB?
I think this is spot on. Murray is a guy, imo, that you can count on to make good reads and take full advantage of what's blocked for him. But when the blocking isn't there or the hole closes before he can hit it, he's just not going to create much on his own. He's a servicable NFL back that could thrive on a good or great blocking team, but will put up pedestrian numbers on a poor blocking team.
