The Kansas City Chiefs are quite familiar with the Houston Texans, facing the team twice last season. This year they’ll be especially familiar with two players on the defensive side of the ball and one on the offensive side.
Eric Murray, a former fourth-round draft pick in the 2016 NFL Draft by the Chiefs, is slated to be a starter in the Texans defense. The Chiefs sent Murray to the Cleveland Browns in 2019 in a player-for-player exchange acquiring Emmanuel Ogbah.
Zach Fulton, a former sixth-round draft pick by the Chiefs in the 2014 NFL Draft, was once a starter on the offensive line in Kansas City. He started 46 total games in four years with the team, playing left guard, center and right guard.
Philip Gaines, a former third-round draft pick by the Chiefs in the 2014 NFL Draft, is also poised to have a prominent role in the Houston secondary and on special teams. Gaines popped up on the injury report as a limited participant this week, but Murray is someone that the Chiefs defense should expect to see a lot.
Texans HC Bill O’Brien recently highlighted Murray as a do-it-all player for Houston.
“We try — when we think about our secondary, it’s rare that we have guys that can only do one thing,” O’Brien said on Monday. “If they’re excellent at one thing, like say they’re just an absolutely fantastic outside corner, then obviously that’s what they do really well. That’s what we see and that’s what we go with. But most of the time we want guys that can do different things.
“You’ve got a guy like Eric Murray. Eric Murray in his career has played safety; he’s played nickel, he’s played corner, he’s been a fullback, the personal protector on the punt team, he’s been on the kickoff team. He’s done it all. So, when you have a guy that is versatile and can do different things and he’s lined up in different places and he’s really smart, which it requires a level of intelligence to be able to do those things, and we have other guys that do that, that really helps you where you can plug and play. Hey, I know this role, I also know this role and I can be this in different packages. I think that’s part of what we try to do in the secondary every year and that’s part of what we’re doing this year.”
It sounds like the Texans plan to use Murray in a similar way that the Chiefs have used players like Tyrann Mathieu and Kendall Fuller. He can move around in the secondary in different personnel packages. He can also help disguise certain coverages because of his versatility. If there’s an injury, he can fill in without breaking a sweat.
The Chiefs offense should circle Murray ahead of Week 1 because this could be a revenge game for Murray. Being shipped off to Cleveland ahead of a championship-winning season — he could have something that he wants to prove to the Chiefs’ front office.
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