The Dallas Cowboys are lucky they traded for George Pickens and signed Javonte Williams, because the 2025 offseason would go down as the worst of the Jerry Jones era if not.
Between trading away Micah Parsons, the most talented pass rusher in franchise history, trading for two different first-round busts in Kaiir Elam and Kenneth Murray, and letting key pieces like Jourdan Lewis and DeMarcus Lawrence go while expecting recent draft picks to fill their shoes, it's not hard to piece together why this season is seemingly hanging on by a thread.
The Murray trade was moronic at the time, and it has aged like milk that's been left out in the Arizona sun. The Cowboys need to bench Murray once and for all after one of his handful of lowlights from the Week 8 loss to the Broncos went viral.
Cowboys need to come to their senses on Kenneth Murray before it's too late
Took out three defenders on the way to a touchdown 🫢 pic.twitter.com/WBPklICZ4z
— NFL (@NFL) October 27, 2025
Murray was not pancaked on the play. That was rookie linebacker Shemar James. However, Murray's contribution was arguably worse, as he got blocked 15 yards downfield. By the time the Broncos' offensive lineman let him loose, running back R.J. Harvey was off to the races.
It's one thing for James to get steamrolled by a 340-pound locomotive that's running downhill. That's going to happen to a rookie linebacker from time to time.
Murray, a sixth-year veteran, ran right into the path of the Broncos' lineman, which speaks to his biggest flaw as a player. He didn't fill his gap with any conviction, and by the time he realized what was happening in front of him, the OL was already at the second level. If you want a better angle of Murray's sorry attempt to shed that block, check out this link.
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Being a slow processor is a death knell for an NFL linebacker. That’s who Murray has been since he was drafted, but failing to attack blocks with any conviction on top of that makes him flat-out unplayable
Murray had another rep against the run where he confronted a Broncos lineman and retreated on contact. It's easy to say behind a keyboard, but that is a Cardinal sin of block shedding. It's asking to get carried 10 yards downfield, and that's exactly what happened.
The former first-round pick is far from Dallas' only problem. Outside of a game or two, Osa Odighizuwa and Kenny Clark have been big disappointments in the trenches. Murray also isn't getting much help from the Cowboys' other linebackers. The return of DeMarvion Overshown will help smooth things over, but he isn't going to be able to hide Murray's deficiencies.
The Chargers and Titans weren't able to, and they had much more talent on their respective defenses than Dallas does right now.
The linebacker room is too thin right now to outright bench Murray, but it's long overdue for the Cowboys to reduce his snap share. The occasional highs are not worth the squeeze.