Chip Kelly came clean when he told MMQB's Peter King that there is "a lot of validity" to the concerns surrounding DeMarco Murray's 2014 workload with the Dallas Cowboys.
“I think there is a lot of validity to it,” Kelly told King. “But how do you manage him going into a season? Our plan all along was to get another running back with him. I wanted to have two running backs, and that’s why we got Ryan [Mathews]. I don’t think you can have a guy carry it 370 to 400 times per season and be successful. We’re going to run it a lot—we always do—but we’ll have more than one guy doing it.”
The Cowboys fed the running back the ball a league-high 392 times in 2014, not including the playoffs. He also caught 57 passes, bringing his total touches to 449—the most in the league by far.
Historically, there is a legitimate reason to be worried about Murray's 2015 production following such a strenuous season. Running backs that have carried the ball 380 times or more, historically, have followed with disappointing encore seasons. The most recent example is Larry Johnson, who in 2006 rushed the ball an NFL-record 416 times for 1,789 yards. Consequently, Johnson would fall quite short of his 2006 mark in 2007, finishing with just 559 yards on 158 carries. A foot injury suffered during a week nine game against the Green Bay Packers would cut his season short.
Other examples include Eddie George, who followed his 2000 season of 1,509 yards on 403 carries with 939 yards on 315 carries in 2001, and Ricky Williams, who despite receiving nine more carries following his fantastic 2002 season, finished with 481 fewer yards.
With history providing a sufficient amount of precedent, Kelly's concerns are, indeed, valid. Murray's workload last season was a factor in keeping the 27-year-old out of last Sunday's preseason opener against the Colts, despite not being on the official inactive list, and the reason why he was a non-participant in practices last week, which began to cause concern.
Which is why Mathews is here. While LeSean McCoy was in Philadelphia, he was the lone featured back with former Eagle Chris Polk and Darren Sproles being mixed in here and there. Kelly doesn't want to put all the strain on a single running back this season, and with Mathews, he won't have to.
Obviously, injuries are another concern. Both Murray and Mathews have checkered injury pasts, especially Mathews, who has played a full 16-game season only once in his career.
Via NFL.com: "Since 1990, 22 running backs have carried the ball 400 times in a season (playoffs included). Only four of the previous 21 played a full 16 games in their next season. Only eight of the previous 21 managed 1,000 rushing yards in their next season."
Injuries are another valid concern with either running back. Once again though, neither should take the punishment that even McCoy took as the lone, featured back. As Kelly said, "when you have a physical. downhill runner, you better have two of them." That's the exact situation the Eagles find themselves in. Also, the Eagles' use of sports science, which Kelly has emphasized since arriving to the NFL, is used to help keep his players in tip-top shape. Those methods could go a long way towards keeping the running backs healthy.
Don't forget about Sproles, who shares the same downhill style of running that Kelly desires, even at 5'6, 190 pounds. The Eagles have a three-headed monster in the backfield, although the two primary guys will be Murray and Mathews, with Sproles playing more of a role in the passing game. They may be allocating a lot of money to the running back position, but they're paying two guys instead of one.
"We already had money [allotted at running back] – it's the same situation," Kelly said after signing both Murray and Mathews. "We just got two players."
Will it work out perfectly? History suggests no. But at the very least, it gives the Eagles a nice safety net if Murray or Mathews do go down, and the likelihood that either goes down is largely diminished with the shared workload between the two.
According to Kelly, the plan was always to have two running backs to share carries.
"Obviously we thought the three best guys were Frank [Gore] and DeMarco and Ryan. And we wanted to target two of them. And we ended up with two of them,"Kelly told Birds 24/7 back in March. "Did we have a master plan that it was always gonna work out like this? No, but we went into it with an idea that if we lose LeSean, we better get two guys."
The Eagles missed out on Frank Gore, who jumped ship last minute to sign with the Indianapolis Colts. Many people believe that the signing of Murray was a "panic move," but according to Kelly, Murray was always in their plans. Gore was targeted first because of his cheap price tag, especially at age 32. Gore fell through, which left Murray and Mathews.
So, as history says, the Eagles likely made a mistake when they handed Murray $42 million to play running back for their team. However, Kelly has put himself in a favorable position by signing not just one, but two running backs with similar running styles for the purpose of using them interchangeably and keeping them fresh. Murray won't be expected to carry the same weight on his shoulders as Johnson or George did with the Chiefs and Titans thanks to Mathews.
"Part of also having Ryan here, I would hope that DeMarco does not have to carry the ball 392 times this year," Kelly said in March. "If he does, then we’re running it 692 times."
Kelly might not be a "genius," but he has sure put himself in the best position at running back to look like one when the season ends, and re-write history.
