With or without Murray.....

[Greg]

And they have the cap room, they need to spend frivolously it seems

I just see this as twitter rumor for now. Don't see any confirmed reports from my alerts of Jags making any serious push at him.


Charles Robinson ✔ @CharlesRobinson Follow


An opportunity has opened for #Jaguars with DeMarco Murray. They want a centerpiece back and could push hard to price #Cowboys way out.

3:40 PM - 8 Mar 2015

 

[scotsman1948]

And they have the cap room, they need to spend frivolously it seems

well if all it is for him is money then he should take it but the jaguars are going no where fast

 

[Bmurph]

well if all it is for him is money then he should take it but the jaguars are going no where fast

I wouldn't play for the Jags for 15 million, if i could sign anywhere else for 8-10

 

[Bmurph]

Reports: Jaguars chasing Julius Thomas, DeMarco Murray

Could Julius Thomas be plying his trade in Jacksonville next season? (Getty Images)




The Jacksonville Jaguars have money to burn, and according to various reports, they're looking to get in at the top of the free agent market. With only $99 million or so committed to their top-51 players and $21.768 million in rollover cap space from 2014, Jacksonville has approximately $68.8 million to work with while looking to fill various holes this offseason.

Speculation over the last few days had the Jags going hard after both Ndamukong Suh and Randall Cobb, but Suh reportedly will sign a record-setting deal with the Dolphins when free agency opens on Tuesday and Cobb re-signed with the Packers on a deal worth $10 million per year. Now, reports from Adam Caplan and Charles Robinson, respectively, have Jacksonville chasing Broncos tight end Julius Thomas and Cowboys running back DeMarco Murray. Thomas is the 12th-ranked player on our free agent big board while Murray checks in at No. 11, making them the two highest-ranked offensive skill players still available.

While neither player has agreed to a contract with the Jaguars just yet, it's interesting to think about what the team might look like with one or both on board. The Jags already have a trio of young, cheap wide receivers with plenty of room for growth on hand for last year's first-round pick Blake Bortles to throw to in Allen Robinson, Allen Hurns and Marqise Lee. All three were rookies last season, when they combined for 136 receptions, 1,647 yards and nine touchdowns. None of them is a target of as high a quality as Thomas, though, who has 108 catches and 24 touchdowns himself over the last two seasons.

People often refer to tight ends as "security blankets," particularly for young quarterbacks like Bortles, but Thomas is much more than that. He's an all-purpose weapon with a particular potency in the red zone, where "it's so easy" for him to find paydirt.









Jacksonville supposedly wants to use Thomas as the "move" tight end, which makes sense given his ability to succeed when lined up anywhere in the formation. In his breakout 2013 season, Thomas lined up in the slot for over 30 percent of his pass routes, catching 25 passes for 314 yards and four scores. It'll certainly be an adjustment going from catching passes thrown by Peyton Manning to Blake Bortles if he does wind up in Jacksonville, but it's likely Thomas would be the surefire No. 1 target with the Jags whereas he had to compete with Demaryius Thomas, Eric Decker, Wes Welker and Emmanuel Sanders for targets the last two years with the Broncos.

Murray, meanwhile, would be a massive upgrade for the Jaguars in the running game. Things were so desperate last offseason that they gave a multi-year deal to Adrian Peterson's former backup Toby Gerhart, but hindsight shows they'd have been better off just keeping Justin Forsett. Jacksonville likely still needs to find a bellcow runner this offseason and they have the money to do so, which is where Murray would come in. While running backs aren't valued as much these days as they used to be, the last week or so has seen both Marshawn Lynch and LeSean McCoy handed huge deals, and if the Jags want to steal Murray away from Dallas, they'll have to pony up. Adding him to the backfield would take a lot of pressure off Bortles to carry the load on offense, and the Jags could also use last year's surprise Denard Robinson as a fill-in and change-of-pace back to keep Murray fresh.

Murray ran behind the league's best offensive line last season, which played a big role in his leading the league in rushing and setting various Cowboys team records, but to ascribe all his success to the line would be a mistake. Football Outsiders has a stat called Adjusted Line Yards, which assigns the offensive line credit for runs at varying levels. They break down further into second-level yards and open-field yards as well, which is where the running backs themselves most often do their own work by breaking tackles and outrunning safeties for big gains.

Dallas led the league in Adjusted Line Yards last season, but they also finished second in both second-level yards and open-field yards. Considering Murray recorded 392 of the Cowboys' 508 carries, it seems reasonable to conclude he was responsible for a good deal of those second-level and open-field yards. He also averaged 2.54 yards after contact per attempt, according to Pro Football Focus, the 12th-best average in the NFL. He'd need both of those skills when running behind Jacksonville's considerably weaker offensive line.

It remains to be seen whether Jacksonville can actually land Thomas or Murray, but they're obviously making every effort to improvement the supporting cast around their young quarterback. Heading into Year 3 of the Gus Bradley regime, they clearly want to start winning some more games, and considering their residence in the AFC South, they might be only a couple big signings away from making some noise.

 

[Greg]

Sorry Bmurph, just sounds like too many "ifs" and "could" here to me, and no confirmed reports of any teams making a serious run at Murray. Just twitter rumor now.

"They want a centerpiece back and could push hard to price #Cowboys way out."

 

[DJ]

I'm hearing Gore to the Eagles for $5Mil per.

He's 31 so it won't make up for losing McCoy.....but if they platoon him, Sproles and Polk.....that could be a decent pickup.

 

[Greg]

He's 31 so it won't make up for losing McCoy.....but if they platoon him, Sproles and Polk.....that could be a decent pickup.

They just committed to Maxwell also for $25Mil guaranteed.

 

[Greg]

Sources: Cowboys haven't begun talks with DeMarco Murray yet.

"Talks involving DeMarco Murray. While outlets are reporting "several league sources (say) Murray is returning to the Cowboys.

This would be news to Cowboys executives, who have no intention of being the market-setters on Murray.

Nor are they at all influenced by the huge-money deals being given LeSean McCoy and others. McCoy and the Bills have agreed on a five-year deal featuring $26.5 mil total guaranteed ... or somewhere in the ballpark of the Jamaal Charles-level that Murray was already seeking in Dallas. Murray is, according to sources, involved in those level of talks with Jacksonville. Meanwhile, our sources tell FOX Sports Southwest not only are the Cowboys and Murray not negotiating a "done deal'' ... but that as of Sunday morning they hadn't even visited at all on the matter"

Sources: Cowboys haven't begun talks with DeMarco Murray yet | FOX Sports

I don't really see Murray coming back to Dallas and playing for peanuts...too much pride. Team doesn't seem too interested in him getting away either. Remember what I said here about reading between the lines before? What a team says publicly to either drive up or down a player's real value, and what they are actually planning on doing, are two completely different animals in professional sports.

 

[jarntt]

I agree getting Dez signed very well could make signing Murray easier. Problem is Murray could walk before that happens.

If Romo makes it through 2016 yes he save money. If 2015 is his final season how much does that save us?

Here's another problem with pushing money back with contract restructures. I read the other day that even though Dallas has been at the cap ceiling for a long while now they have to spend money over the next couple of years of be in violation of not spending enough. The way I understood it is the dead money doesn't count as team salary it just counts against the cap.

I wouldn't worry about that. It's an easy accounting fix. Dez and if signed Murray will help that. and if we don't sign Murray we'll sign a defender with that money.

 

[jarntt]

I agree getting Dez signed very well could make signing Murray easier. Problem is Murray could walk before that happens.

If Romo makes it through 2016 yes he save money. If 2015 is his final season how much does that save us?

Here's another problem with pushing money back with contract restructures. I read the other day that even though Dallas has been at the cap ceiling for a long while now they have to spend money over the next couple of years of be in violation of not spending enough. The way I understood it is the dead money doesn't count as team salary it just counts against the cap.

​

Need to worry about Jax. If they want Murray they'll give him more than we can match. I hope they sign J Thomas to a huge contract and maybe that will make them less likely to pursue Murray

 

[Godstree]

I don't really see Murray coming back to Dallas and playing for peanuts...too much pride. Team doesn't seem too interested in him getting away either. Remember what I said here about reading between the lines before? What a team says publicly to either drive up or down a player's real value, and what they are actually planning on doing, are two completely different animals in professional sports.

Two times I have seen you say this. Maybe I missed it somewhere as I don't visit everyday and follow every thread here, but what are you alluding to? That the Jones' are dancing around Murray and really going after someone else via FA or the draft?

 

[Manster7588]

Two times I have seen you say this. Maybe I missed it somewhere as I don't visit everyday and follow every thread here, but what are you alluding to? That the Jones' are dancing around Murray and really going after someone else via FA or the draft?

I'm beginning to think AP will sign with Dallas for $3.00 and a box of switches.

 

[UK Cowboy]

I'm beginning to think AP will sign with Dallas for $3.00 and a box of switches.

There's that small matter of being under contract with the Vikings....

 

[R.J. MacReady]

Todd Archer today:

"Perhaps all of this changes tomorrow when the shopping begins for real, but there is a real sense that if Murray's agent had a top-of-the-line deal in the neighborhood of what McCoy got from Buffalo and Marshawn Lynch got from the Seattle Seahawks, then we would have heard about it already"

 

[R.J. MacReady]

Sometimes you just get the feeling guys like Adam Schefter just make shit up to keep busy.
Look at the article he wrote. But yet the picture I posted is from Murray's twitter account, you just have to scroll down a bit. It's from this past Xmas.




The Dallas Cowboys have not called free agent running back DeMarco Murray since last week, a source told ESPN NFL Insider Adam Schefter.

Dallas' lack of contact with Murray could be the reason why the NFL's leading rusher has deleted all references to the Cowboys from his official Twitter account.

DeMarco Murray hasn't received call from Dallas Cowboys since last week - ESPN Dallas

 

[UK Cowboy]

The Cowboys don't need to call Murray...he's at the Duke game with half the team

 

[Mrhappi06]

Just read an article that Murray wants 10 a year, but could easily be a Cowboys for 7-8. All speculation though.