Philadelphia Eagles: Please give LA a call about Kenneth Murray

If Daniel Jeremiah had his way, the Philadelphia Eagles would have selected Kenneth Murray 21st overall in the 2020 NFL Draft.

Jeremiah, who served as a West Coast scout for the Eagles from 2010-12, figured that his former boss would finally break with his longstanding tradition of neglecting the middle of the defense and that Murray, even more so than LSU standout Patrick Queen, would be an ideal middle linebacker from which to further fortify then-defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz’s scheme.

Personally, I didn’t see it. Schwartz notoriously underplayed Mychal Kendricks during the team’s Super Bowl run, and landing a big-bodied bruiser like Murray seemed antithetical to the sort of Nigel Bradham types the Eagles employed over the Doug Pederson-era. Even if he had success with linebackers like Brandon Spikes and Preston Brown during his time in Buffalo, landing a player like Murray felt like an unnecessary luxury for a defensive coordinator who notoriously didn’t rush more than four.

Jonathan Gannon’s defense, by contrast, could be built around a player with Murray’s supreme talents and near-singlehandedly force the team to abandon their Tampa 2 ways.

So why don’t the Philadelphia Eagles give the Los Angeles Chargers a call and see if they can make a deal to right that wrong?

Kenneth Murray could be a foundational player for the Philadelphia Eagles.

Kenneth Murray was the Jalen Hurts of Oklahoma’s defense.

He played the ever-important middle linebacker position, got guys settled pre-snap, and even relayed plays to the field from three different defensive coordinators over the three years he called Norman home.

Murray also, ya know, literally played opposite Hurts every day at practice during Oklahoma’s very productive 2019 NCAA season, where the duo both elevated their draft stock considerably under Lincoln Riley.

So naturally, if the Philadelphia Eagles can just get those two back together once more, it could be enough to

get Lincoln Riley to leave Oklahoma

help establish an identity under first-year head coach Nick Sirianni, right?

Through the first eight games of the 2021 NFL season, the Eagles defense has been bad. They’ve allowed opposing quarterbacks to have their way with their secondary, allowed the 11th-most rushing yards of any team in the league, and sacked opposing quarterbacks at one of the lowest clips in the league

Why is that? Well, for one, Jonathan Gannon got way too comfortable running a predictable Cover 2 look that savvy signal-callers could pick apart with relative ease.

This wouldn’t be the end of the world if the team kept said quarterbacks guessing with a steady diet of exotic zone blitzes, but in a development that very few fans saw coming, that hasn’t been the case. Genard Avery leads the team’s linebacking corps in blitzing attempts at 17, and only one sack has been attributed to the position grouping all season despite having seven different players see the field through the first two months of the season.

Murray could help fix a lot of those issues.

First and foremost, he’s fast. Despite measuring in at 6-foot-2, 241 pounds, Murray ran a 4.51 40 coming out of college and showed impressive burst with elite performances at both the broad and virtual jumps. Murray is also a tough cookie between the tackles, as he recorded 36.5 tackles for loss and 9.5 sacks over 39 games of action with the Sooners.

Really, the only aspect lacking from Murray’s overall game is an ability to be an elite man coverage player in space, as he was seldom asked to match up with slot receiver or man up in space back in Norman. But do you know what? That why teams employ weakside linebackers and why the Eagles specifically drafted Davion Taylor in the third round.

If you’re looking for a legit middle linebacker who can blow up the run and limit YAC between the tackles, Murray has the potential to be your guy moving forward.

So, if Murray really is that good, or at least has the potential to be, why would the Los Angeles Changers potentially be interested in moving him?

Two words: Brandon Staley.

You see, Murray was initially drafted to play inside linebacker in Gus Bradley’s Seahawks-style 4-3 defense. After having Bobby Wagner in Seattle, and Myles Jack in Jacksonville, Murray looked like the next great linebacker to learn under the tutelage of Bradley, even if, as in Daniel Jeremiah’s mock draft, Patrick Queen was still on the board.

And to be fair, the results were encouraging.

Murray started all 16 games for the Chargers and finished out the season with three passes defensed, a QB hit, and, oh yeah, 107 total tackles as one of the bright performers in a strong rookie class.

Staley’s defense with Los Angeles’ other team, however, didn’t rely on linebackers like Murray with extensive experience contributing to the run game. No, the 2020 Rams played their linebackers more like the 2020 Eagles, dropped back into coverage in an attempt to take away the middle of the field.

Though Murray did start all three of the games he’s appeared in so far this season – he’s currently on IR with an ankle injury – he was only on the field for 74 percent of the team’s defensive snaps, with is rather atypical for a middle linebacker used to being the quarterback of a defense.

With players like Kyzir White and Drue Tranquill performing well as the Chargers’ nickel linebackers – which is effectively LA’s base defensive package – one has to wonder what sort of role will be available for Murray when he returns the field in the not too distant future.

This, understandably, is why Murry has become a fixture of many a pre-trade deadline primer and why he’s been linked to teams like the New York Giants, who could both use some immediate help on the inside and have no real answer at the position long-term.

Assuming Murray is, in fact, available for the right price, can you think of another team in the NFL who could both use immediate help on the inside and have no real answer at the position long-term more than the Philadelphia Eagles?

Yeah, me neither.

Call me naive, but I’d give up a Day 2 pick for Kenneth Murray. I think he would be a fantastic foundation piece for Jonathan Gannon’s defense and truly believe that he could near-singlehandedly help to solve the team’s woes against the run between the tackles. I also believe that having a player as big/fast/strong as Murray would force Gannon to blitz more often with his linebackers and maybe even play more matchup defense to hide the Big-12’s co-Rookie of the Year from being exposed in man coverage looks.

Could a player’s coverage limitations actually make the Eagles defense better? Considering how confident Gannon has been watching Eric Wilson get burnt to a crisp in coverage, I’d like to think that the defensive coordinator would take more of a Week 8 approach if Murray and Taylor were his starting linebackers.

Will the Philadelphia Eagles ultimately trade for Kenneth Murray? No, probably not. While I do think there’s a chance Howie Roseman takes a swing at making a deal still high off of his team’s Week 8 win, it would all but surely he for a more flashy position like running back or even a wild move to further fortify the #quarterbackfactory, considering his track record. But for my money, the Eagles should look to use some of their 2022 draft assets on relatively young players who have already found success at the NFL level and are fits in the team’s scheme. Kenneth Murray fits that bill today even more so than he did when Daniel Jeremiah mocked him to the team last March and thus fits that bill to the T.