I know what you mean. The loss of Perine, Bates, Hurst, and Bell was huge, and we need to hit on some of these draft picks to deal with it. Having said that, late first rounders are far from guaranteed starters anywhere. But we need guys on their first contracts to step up and contribute. We aren’t getting much out of that running back from Illinois. I’d love to see him get healthy and become a contributor because I think he could be really good. Maybe not Perine level but not many are.
I actually have faith in Murphy. He’ll develop into a starter, based on what he’s doing so far. Essentially, I like the fact that he’s not straight up falling on his face out there. In a dream world he walks in here and is Hubbard level, but reality usually is it takes D Ends time to develop. It seems like running backs and corners can show up year one and play well.