The Dallas Cowboys have officially remade their entire linebacker room on the fly in a matter of hours as trades continue to fly in. After coming to terms with former Matt Eberflus student and Chicago Bears starter Jack Sanborn, the Cowboys decided to pull off a few more trades for bust first-round picks.
After failing to become a high-end starter with the Buffalo Bills, Kaiir Elam was traded in a move that will see both Buffalo and Dallas swap a handful of late-round NFL Draft selections. The Cowboys had one more trade in them on Monday, and this one stands to be even more peculiar.
Linebacker Kenneth Murray, who spent last season with the Tennessee Titans after four years with the Los Angeles Chargers, was acquired in exchange for a swap of late-round picks. The Cowboys are cornering the market on former first-round picks who were straight-up bad in 2024.
Cowboys acquire LB Kenneth Murray in odd trade with Titans
Murray may be good at piling up tackles, and his ability to make plays in coverage is solid, but his 45.9 overall Pro Football Focus grade and 35.0 run defense grade ranked 169th and 185th in the NFL out of 189 linebackers. Plain and simple, this is a total reclamation project.
Murray has continued to land starting roles due to his pre-draft pedigree and speed that enables him to cover ground. However, as he has shown with both the Chargers (whose fans curse his name whenever he is brought up) and Titans, his play is not conducive to elite defensive performance.
This and the Elam trade seem like heat check moves by Eberflus. With Brian Schottenheimer's expertiese being offense, Eberflus has likely told both him and Jerry Jones that he can take these unfinishes balls of football clay and mold them into productive players in the right situation.
While Eberflus has been able to turn around defensive careers in the past, and his background as a linebackers could could help him in working with Murray specifically, fans may not like the fact that Dallas is parting with so many draft picks for players who consistently have underperformed despite some high expectations.
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