Only 12 games into his big-money contract with the Philadelphia Eagles, running back DeMarco Murray appears to be set up to be the team's fourth-string running back Sunday when the Eagles take on the Buffalo Bills. Darren Sproles is expected to be the starter.
DeMarco Murray down to fourth-string; fantasy owners can ignore the Eagles
The running back signed with Philadelphia in the offseason, but hasn’t been able to recreate the success he had in Dallas. We break down the fantasy implications.
Murray has 569 rushing yards this season on 163 carries, good for 3.5 yards per carry. He's added 295 receiving yards on 39 catches, and has five total touchdowns. His touches have fallen for four straight games (from 28 to 17 to 14 to eight), and there have been soap-opera-esque rumors about him going around head coach Chip Kelly to team owner Jeffrey Lurie to complain about playing time. Sproles and Kenjon Barner have seen their workloads increase in recent weeks, and fellow free-agent signee Ryan Mathews is expected to return from injury for Sunday's game.
Fantasy impact: At this point, there isn’t any player on the Eagles who is a definite fantasy start. The passing game has struggled much of the season, and now the running game is in so much question that it’s hard to imagine trusting any of them. Sproles appears likely to get the start Sunday, but Mathews’ return could lead to him getting the lion’s share of the carries. Best bet is to bench all of them for this week and hope one guy (Mathews is most likely) shines and becomes the No. 1 for Week 15.
Murray and the Eagles have been a bad mix since their union. It would cost the team more to cut him than to roster him for 2016, and his high salary makes even a trade difficult to pull off. Murray’s keeper value right now is muted, though if the team can pull off a trade for next season he becomes much more interesting again.
