Cowboys’ Genius Murray Plan Might Backfire

The DeMarco Murray saga is still a very fluid story, and about right now Murray is in the air in what I'm guessing is a private jet heading up to Philadelphia to meet with the Eagles with a reported "intent to sign with the Eagles," according to ESPN reports.

Nothing is official with Murray and the Eagles, but it seems pretty likely as of Thursday morning he's going to leave the Dallas Cowboys months after winning the NFL rushing title (by a lot) and bolt to the Cowboys' fiercest NFC East rival.

The Cowboys, in fact, have played the Murray free agency perfectly — something they aren't too famous for doing, often doling out ridiculous contracts to aging vets in recent years. But it could be backfiring in the 11th hour.

For weeks and weeks, there wasn't much interest being talked about a price Murray and his camp were asking for, as it pretty much had come down to Oakland and Jacksonville, who both have a ton of money to spend and both have a 3-13 season looming on the horizon. Murray has made it known he wants to win, and wouldn't be chasing the almighty dollar to go play for a losing organization.

The Cowboys have reportedly offered Murray $5 million a year, and stuck by that number consistently while watching guys like LeSean McCoy get $8 million per year. The Cowboys know the history of backs like Murray, who have a tremendous workload as Murray did in 2014 and are in their late 20s, and the history isn't good.

It seemed all along the Cowboys had played their hands just right and Murray would have to settle for what the Cowboys were willing to give if he truly wanted to play for a good team. Then, Sam Bradford was traded to the Eagles on Tuesday in a shocking move, and Bradford was Murray's teammate and roommate at Oklahoma in their college days.

Now, it looks pretty likely Murray is going to join forces with Bradford once again. If the Cowboys truly believe it's time to move on from Murray when his price tag reaches a certain level, bravo to them, but it's got to hurt if he moves on to not only a division rival they'll have to see twice a year, but their most competitive division rival.