On Friday’s “First Take” on ESPN2, co-host and network regular Stephen A. Smith responded to the recent news of the Philadelphia Eagles signing free agent and former Dallas Cowboys running back DeMarco Murray after coming off of a 392-carry season.
According to Smith, the Cowboys chose to wear down Murray in the final year of his contract in order to justify offering him a low contract.
“To have two quality backups and to still elect to run DeMarco Murray into the ground in the midst of knowing that he is entering a contract year I don’t think that’s a miracle incidence. I think the Dallas Cowboys purposefully did that. And It wasn’t just to win football games, Skip Bayless, it was to make sure they could make justification in the off season during contract negotiations that ‘We can’t justify giving you this amount of money because you know what, it – ‘You are probably worn down.’”
He continued, saying, “I think it was a calculated maneuver on their part that worked adroitly because they got people like you on national television looking at those carries, looking at those touches, looking at that workload that DeMarco Murray was subjected to and being able to say ‘Hey, I don’t think they should give him this amount of money because we don’t know how much he has left based on the workload that he has.’ I hope players throughout the NFL are watching how duplicitous and conniving the Cowboys were in this matter.”
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