When the NFL's legal tampering period of free agency began last March, the Dallas Cowboys struck immediately. Not with a signing, but rather by striking a trade with the Tennessee Titans that involved the team acquiring linebacker Kenneth Murray.
As a former first-round pick with some fairly impressive career stats, on paper, this seemed like a great move for the Cowboys. Of course, they picked up his nearly $6 million base salary and $7.4 milllion cap hit, but Dallas felt like they found a starter alongside DeMarvion Overshown.
Well, that good feeling didn't last long. Murray struggled right off the bat for Matt Eberflus' defense, and he hasn't been able to corral his disastrous season. Somehow, the only good thing that has come of his putrid campaign is... saving Jerry Jones $1 million.
Kenneth Murray didn't come close to reaching his Cowboys incentives
Yes, that's right. See, the league's salary cap is agreed upon in the NFL's Collective Bargaining Agreement, and the league pays out players' contracts through portions of their revenue. Incentives, however, are paid out by the team's individual owner.
For the Cowboys, that is obviously Jerry Jones, and Kenneth Murray had $1 million of incentives built into his contract for the 2025 NFL season. By not even sniffing them, Murray has accidentally saved Jones $1 million, and probably cost himself even more than that with free agency looming.
Murray's contract states that if he got three interceptions or 4.0 sacks, he would get $250,000. If he got either five interceptions or 5.5 sacks, he would get another $250,000. 8.0 sacks would mean another $500,000 for a grant total of $1 million.
How close was he?
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Well, Murray has recorded zero interceptions and 1.0 sack during the 2025 campaign. Yes, he still has three contests remaining to snag a handful of interceptions and get after the quarterback, but with his role dwindling by the game, that feels highly unlikely.
Plus, something tells me that, if he hasn't already, Eberflus would be sealing his fate as the defensive coordinator if he played Murray so much in the waning phase of the season that it cost Jones $1 million.
It has been difficult for Cowboys fans to watch Murray's catastrophic season unfold, and they have been counting down the days until he is an unrestricted free agen anywayt. But this bit of added info puts into perspective just how far off his expectations were from his actual production.
At least he saved poor Jerry some pocket change in the process.