DeMarco Murraysitting No. 4 on the Eagles' depth chart looks absolutely grim. But how bad is it, really, for the Eagles if they end up turning it around anyway?
On GameDay First on Sunday, NFL Media's Shaun O'Hara had something interesting to say about Kelly's signing of Murray, who is active for Sunday's game against the Bills.
"Everybody in the NFC East should be thanking Chip for taking him out of Dallas."
Let's imagine for a moment that Murray's problem is not being worn down, and that this really is a matter of a bad scheme fit. Kelly took the second-best player from the best team in the division and completely upended any chance the Cowboys had of winning games without Tony Romo. Did it cost $40 million over five years? In theory, yes, but Murray will never see all of that money. The Eagles still have roughly $8.5 million in cap space and simply having Murray is not precluding them from going out and making any moves.
So let's imagine Kelly thought of it this way: If we get something out of it, great. If we don't, the best team in our division doesn't have him anymore and I still have Ryan Mathews and Darren Sproles. Is that so bad?
It's probably not that simple, but as O'Hara noted, Kelly might not have forced Murray onto the field so much if Mathews didn't suffer that concussion almost a month ago.
"This could have happened a couple weeks ago," O'Hara said. "If Ryan Mathews wasn't out with a concussion, he might have benched Murray a couple weeks ago. If you're looking at this team, Chip Kelly is thinking, I can't lose my team. And the other running backs are playing better. You're going to sulk over there in first class and whine to my owner? I'm not going to have that. Good for Chip Kelly that he stood up."
Whether it was standing up, smartening up, or just inheriting more options, Sunday will be a window into Kelly and Murray's future in Philadelphia.
