Philadelphia Eagles fans haven't seen much of Pro Bowler, last season's leading rusher in the NFL and major offseason acquisition, running back DeMarco Murray yet this preseason. While the Eagles faithful are likely getting a bit impatient to see the wrapping paper ripped off their brand new toy, head coach Chip Kelly has been mostly mum on Murray's limited workload. Until now, that is. Kelly, speaking with Peter King of MMQB.com, admitted that there is concern on his and the rest of the Eagles brass' part where Murray's league-leading 392 carries, 497 touches including the playoffs, last year as a member of the rival Dallas Cowboys, are concerned.
"I think there is a lot of validity to it," Kelly said, via 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."
With Murray and Mathews - the former San Diego Chargers first-round pick - combined, the Eagles shouldn't have a problem this season, assuming both backs aren't injured simultaneously. Then again, the history of running backs who lead the league in carries is not a good one.
As Reuben Frank of CSNPhilly.com revealed in July, Murray's 497 touches are the sixth-most in NFL history and the most in the last eight seasons. Frank, using Pro-Football-Reference's play index, gathered a list of the top-20 seasons of touches in NFL history. That list comprised 17 names. Of those 17 names, nine of the players were "never the same" afterward. Those players include; Jamal Anderson, James Wilder, Eddie George, Thurman Thomas, Larry Johnson, Marcus Allen, Dorsey Levens, Ahman Green and Roger Craig.
While there are some success stories and some, like Houston Texans running back Arian Foster, who have remained productive but face or faced a bevy of other health-related issues; Foster is missing Texans preseason work after undergoing sports hernia surgery and has now, since leading the league in rushing in 2012, missed 11 games over the last two seasons.
While Kelly would, no doubt, point to the Eagles' use of "sports science" as a means by which the team will keep Murray healthy, it seems the best and simplest way to go about ensuring he doesn't get injured after such a prodigious season, is to limit his touches early and often and, hopefully, rely on the franchise's improved depth.
