Emmitt Smith Thinks Murray Could've Had 2,500 Yards Last Year

Back in May, Cowboys running back Joseph Randle made some headlines when he suggested DeMarco Murray “left a lot of meat on the bone” in 2014. The criticism seemed a little crazy, since Murray led the NFL in rushing last year and set a new franchise record for rushing yards in a season, with 1,845.

But apparently the man whose franchise record Murray broke, Emmitt Smith, doesn’t exactly disagree with Randle’s assessment. Smith told 1310-AM The Ticket in DFW this week that he believes Murray could have run for 2,500 yards last year--which would shatter the NFL record by nearly 400 yards.

The statement came in response to a question about running backs who run behind great offensive lines--like Smith did for many years, and Murray did last year--and whose accomplishments are therefore devalued to some degree in the minds of fans.  

"At some time it does become a little insulting,” Smith said, via the Dallas Morning News. “When I think about DeMarco Murray, he has his own talent but when I was watching him run last year, and this is just me evaluating, I saw some opportunities there that was left on the football field where he could've had 2,500 yards, but he maximized what he had and he did the best with what he had. He had tremendous opportunities and the Cowboys--here's the most important thing--the Cowboys gave him the opportunity to do it, which showed, truly what his ability was like and how good that offensive line was in terms of combination.

"At the end of the day, you've got to have something yourself individually that makes everything look better and click better and feel better. ... There are certain talents out there that turn sugar into wine. DeMarco did that on his own, and yes he did have a great line in front of him to make that happen too."