By Tim Kelly, Sports Talk Philly editor 
When the Philadelphia Eagles traded running-back DeMarco Murray to the Tennessee Titans on March 7, not too many tears were shed in Philadelphia. In one season with the team, the former NFL rushing champion had become a locker room distraction and went from averaging 4.6 yards-per-carry with the Dallas Cowboys in 2014 to 3.6 in what turned out to be his lone season with the Eagles in 2015.
While vice president of football operations Howie Roseman was commended for managing to move Murray — and moving up 13 spots in the fourth round in the process — Murray did his part to get a change of scenery by reworking his deal, a sign that parting ways was probably best for all parties involved.
However, after six weeks of the 2016 NFL season, it's fair to wonder if the Eagles wouldn't have been better off with Murray in 2016.
Murray is averaging 4.6 yards-per-carry in 2016, has 526 yards and four touchdowns. He has fumbled twice, but Ryan Mathews has fumbled once for the Eagles, which probably cost them a win in their Week 5 matchup with the Detroit Lions. Mathews is also only averaging 3.9 yards-per-carry and like clockwork, has been banged up already and probably won't make it through the entire season. If the team had kept Murray, Mathews likely would have been released. Kenjon Barner and Wendell Smallwood are nice supplementary pieces, but at least so far in 2016 aren't feature backs.
Murray's biggest problem in 2015 was Chip Kelly. Kelly's offense did not fit Murray's skill-set and Murray never seemed to be particularly fond of Kelly, which put him in a fairly long line of veterans on the team in 2015. However, many of those other veterans stayed with the team through a coaching change and seem to be much more content with Doug Pederson as head coach, something that may have also held true for Murray.
Financially, keeping Murray would have been feasible, though not necessarily smart. According to Over the Cap, the Eagles have just over $8.75 million in cap space currently, which alone would have been enough to squeeze in Murray for 2016. That doesn't take into account that the Eagles have $4 million in dead money this year for trading Murray so early in his contract. Murray signed a contract with $40 million guaranteed, which he later negotiated down to $12.5 million guaranteed with the Titans — though he probably wouldn't have redone his deal in Philadelphia, meaning even in 2017 the Eagles would owe Murray guaranteed money.
The one other point mentioning is that the pick that the Eagles acquired for Murray ultimately was shipped to the Cleveland Browns as part of the trade that landed them the No. 2 overall pick which they selected quarterback Carson Wentz with. While that trade appears to be something that you probably don't want to mess with, the Eagles only moved up 13 spots in the fourth round Murray trade, meaning if they had their original pick the trade with the Browns likely still would have taken place.
Given how disastrous 2015 was for Murray and the Eagles, hindsight is 20/20. It will never be fair to blast Roseman for making a deal that rid the team of a player with a bad contract that was obviously unhappy with the team. But Murray has benefited from a change of scenery in Tennessee, which makes you wonder if you put aside the financial gains of trading him if the same thing wouldn't have happened with a new coaching staff and culture (pun intended) in Philadelphia.
