Since Troy Aikman, Emmitt Smith, and Michael Irvin dominated the NFL in 1990s, every young team has been trying to replicate the great triplets of Dallas. The Buffalo Bills of that era had Jim Kelly, Thurman Thomas, and Andre Reed, and they won four straight AFC Championships. The Indianapolis Colts of the early 2000s had Peyton Manning, Edgerrin James, and Marvin Harrison, and they helped usher in the passing era of football. Over in Pittsburgh, the Steelers of today are expected to be serious Super Bowl contenders, but they won’t be able to succeed without Ben Roethlisberger, Le’Veon Bell, and Antonio Brown. Spreading talent around the offense has produced results in the past, and it does so today.
At a glance, it would appear that the young Oakland Raiders have also found a trio of talented offensive playmakers. Derek Carr is one of the best young quarterbacks in football, and could be the face of the Oakland (or Las Vegas) offense for decades to come. But he’ll need help from the explosive and dynamic wide receiver Amari Cooper. In 2015, Cooper became the first Raider receiver with 1,000 yards receiving in a season since Randy Moss, a decade earlier. Completing the trio is Latavius Murray, a young back that was sixth in rushing yards with 1,066 last season while also scoring six rushing touchdowns. With three young players fueling the offense, the sky appears to be the limit.
The Latavius Murray Problem
Despite being sixth in rushing, Murray’s success is a little underwhelming. Only Adrian Peterson and Doug Martin received more carries than Murray in 2015, and yet he had as much as 400 fewer yards. In games where the Raiders really needed to run out the clock, Murray simply wasn’t reliable. Despite being 6’3 and weighing 230 pounds, Murray isn’t a very physical rusher. He relies on his 4.3 speed to get past defenders, but he doesn’t shed contact very well. Ultimately, Murray’s strength is that he has home run potential. Last season, Murray broke off a rush of 20 yards or longer nine times, tied for fourth best in the league. While Carr and Cooper hope to terrorize secondaries for years to come, the Raiders offense needs balance. The Raiders want to play smash-mouth football, and for that they need a reliable workhorse back that is guaranteed to pick up a few yards every time he gets the ball. Latavius Murray is not that guy.
The Raiders front office agree. Originally, general manager Reggie McKenzie was hesitant to even give Murray the job. Players like Darren McFadden, Maurice Jones-Drew, and even fullback Marcel Reece were given the starting nod before Murray was given the chance to run. Admittedly, that’s exactly what he did, having a fantastic game against the Kansas City Chiefs. When Murray finally got his chance to be the feature back, he did produce decent results.
But they were only decent. Being in the top ten in rushing during a season where Bell, Marshawn Lynch, and Jamaal Charles were sidelined with injuries, in a passing era, isn’t particularly impressive. Those same numbers would’ve made him the 12th best back in 2014 and 2013. The year before that, he would’ve been 14th. Only seven rushers broke 1,000 yards in 2015. It’s worth noting that his former teammate, Darren McFadden, who was sharing carries in Dallas, had 23 more yards.
Murray ranked in the top ten, and while breaking 1,000 yards is still nothing to sneeze at, his positioning was less praise for his performance and more an indictment of the state of rushing in the NFL. While Murray’s individual stats were among the best in the league, the Raiders were ranked 28th in rushing. They only ran the ball 359 times, and Murray took 266 of them. Murray averaged exactly four yards per carry, and the team rushed for 3.9 yards per carry as a whole.
If the Raiders ever really want to break into the upper echelon of the AFC’s elite while sticking with smash-mouth football, they’ll need to do so with another back. The Raiders have already made a move in this direction, drafting the 5’7″, 198 pound bowling ball DeAndre Washington from Texas Tech in the fifth round. Washington should make an immediate impact, sharing carries with Murray from week one moving forward. Beyond that, Pro Football Focus has already shared their mock draft for next season, and they predict that the Raiders will select Stanford stud Christian McCaffrey. Murray will be the starter when the Raiders travel to New Orleans in September, but for how long he’ll remain there, nobody is certain.
