Pursuing a first-round draft ceiling, Byron Murphy is set to enter the NFL draft.
Texas is losing a great one following the 2023 season. Longhorns defensive tackle Byron Murphy is heading to the NFL draft.
The move is the right decision for a number of reasons. Most notably, the productive player is given a first-round draft ceiling by ESPN’s Mel Kiper Jr. We don’t take that lightly given Kiper’s years of experience in projecting NFL players.
Murphy is a man among boys which usually signals a player has outgrown the college level. It was true when Vince Young manned the quarterback position for Texas and it’s true of Murphy at defensive tackle. It’s time.
The former Desoto (TX) player has the ability to make an immediate impact. Some view him more highly than fellow defensive tackle T’Vondre Sweat because of his lean, muscular build. We think highly of both players as impact players at the next level.
The loss of Murphy leaves a huge void for Texas, and while we believe the Longhorns can find strong alternatives it’s not a given they will be as productive. Murphy led college defensive tackles in quarterback pressures per snap according to Pete Thamel.
The skilled defensive lineman leaves a strong legacy at Texas in helping the team return to prominence and make its first College Football Playoff. He will look to make a similar impact at the professional level for the NFL team that drafts him.
Texas star defensive lineman Byron Murphy II tells ESPN that he’s leaving school for the NFL Draft. Murphy earned first-team All-Big 12 honors this year and led the country in quarterback pressures per snap by an interior lineman. pic.twitter.com/6ebGM5DSho
The Vikings tie pressure and coverage together like no other NFL team, and defensive coordinator/mad scientist Brian Flores is the reason.
In the case of the Minnesota Vikings’ defense under Brian Flores, there are some numbers you should know.
The Vikings under Flores in his first year with the team ranked 13th in Defensive DVOA through the first seven weeks of the season. Since then, they rank second in Defensive DVOA behind only the New York Jets.
For the season, the Vikings have by far rushed opposing quarterbacks with three defenders more often than any other defense — they’ve done it 113 times, and the Saints rank second at 59. They’ve also rushed six or more defenders by far the most in the NFL this season — 121 times, and the New England Patriots rank second with 44.
Especially after the relatively “vanilla” schemes put forth in the 2022 season by former defensive coordinator Ed Donatell, Flores’ schemes look like a crazy quilt, and it took a few weeks for everybody to get on the same page. But that’s happened of late, and now, Flores’ defenders are playing his concepts not only with the advantages given when you throw things at quarterbacks they don’t see anywhere else, but with a discipline that makes it all work.
Vikings defensive lineman Harrison Phillips spoke this week with Tom Pelissero of the NFL Network about how things have changed for the better.
How are the #Vikings quietly morphing into a top defense under Brian Flores?
Fascinating answer here from veteran lineman (and Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year nominee) Harrison Phillips on The Insiders.
“I’m glad you mentioned the discipline piece, because I said just after the game (Minnesota’s 3-0 win over the Las Vegas Raiders) when someone said, ‘This isn’t a typical 4-3 downhill attacking defense that you see some of these guys have,’ where it’s one man, one gap,” Phillips said. “Those defenses are really easy to understand. This one is a little more complex, because it’s not vanilla – Harrison, you have the A-gap. You could have the front-side A-gap, the front-side B-gap, the backside A-gap, maybe the backside B-gap. There are gap schemes within that, and oh, you might drop if we get this.
“We have so many different layers to the defense, I think what Coach Flores might have been shocked at himself when he came here… we have a veteran defense at a lot of the key positions. We’re able to get more complex and get two or three calls when the offense checks at the line of scrimmage, we can get into our second call. When they think we’re in a max look, we can go to another call. Being able to trust us and see the mental capabilities we have as a defense has allowed us to get deeper and deeper as we go on in the season and we get more reps. Guys are all getting on the same page, and there’s better communication. That’s another huge word when you talk about this defense.
“The success we’re having goes back to that discipline and that communication.”
The Vikings’ sack of Raiders quarterback Aidan O’Connell with 8:46 left in the first quarter was a great example of how Flores ties pressure to coverage, and how enemy quarterbacks can be placed out of their elements very quickly. Pre-snap, this looked like a seven-man pressure on second-and-18, but watch how the Vikings turn this into an effective four-man rush, accentuated by the subtle post-snap switches that took O’Connell’s options away. Pre-snap, it could have been a Cover-0 blitz (a Flores staple for years), but it turned into Cover-2, and that’s a lot for a young quarterback to take in.
Here’s another long-yardage situation that turned in the Vikings’ favor. In Week 7, the San Francisco 49ers had second-and-13 with 12:16 left in the third quarter, and Minnesota had a three-man rush with seven defensive backs. Again, the picture pre-snap and post-snap was very different. Linebacker Jordan Hicks and safety Theo Jackson could have blitzed, but they dropped into coverage along with safety Josh Martellus, muddying Brock Purdy’s underneath reads.
The Vikings beat San Francisco’s five-man protection with some cool pass-rush ideas, from Patrick Jones II’s pre-snap shuttle to either side of 49ers center Jake Brendel to Jones’ stunt with edge-rusher Danielle Hunter. Purdy didn’t have time to diagnose what the Vikings were doing to him before he hit the turf.
The Vikings also have an unusual situation in that Ivan Pace Jr. — an undrafted rookie from Cincinnati — is running Flores’ defense on the field. That’s a lot to keep in your head, but Pace was the closer in that Raiders game, flying across the field to jump O’Connell’s quick slant to Davante Adams.
“I think that’s what’s making them play at the level they are right now – it’s just consistent [with] the mix and match between keeping people off balance, using our playmakers at different positions to allow them to thrive in multiple roles,” Vikings head coach Kevin O’Connell said this week of his defense. “Using a guy like Byron Murphy to maybe match in coverage sometimes; other times, maybe just play his standard stop. Josh Metellus, Harrison Smith, Cam Bynum at the safety position. A guy like Mekhi Blackmon steps in and gives us some really good snaps.
“And then I.P. [Pace], you know, running the show as the green dot. His ability to just continue to improve. I think [inside linebackers coach] Mike Siravo deserves a ton of credit for the development of an undrafted, free agent rookie that we’re really lucky to have and, quite honestly, don’t know where we would be without him. But once again, just a credit to Flo, his staff, our players for the consistency at which they’ve been able to continue to communicate, execute and ultimately finish.”
LAS VEGAS, NEVADA – DECEMBER 10: Ivan Pace Jr. #40 of the Minnesota Vikings celebrates with teammates after making an interception during the fourth quarter against the Las Vegas Raiders at Allegiant Stadium on December 10, 2023 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Steve Marcus/Getty Images)
On Saturday, the Cincinnati Bengals and quarterback Jake Browning will be the nest to try and solve all of Flores’ puzzles. Right now, no defense is tying pressure and coverage together better in most interesting ways. In this week’s “Xs and Os with Greg Cosell and Doug Farrar,” the guys got deeper into it.
T’Vondre Sweat, Byron Murphy, and Xavier Worthy earned AP All-America honors.
On Monday, the Associated Press announced its All-America team selections for the best college football players in the country. Among the honorees were three standout players from the Texas Longhorns.
T’Vondre Sweat, a senior interior defensive lineman, was named to the first team for his exceptional performance this season. Sweat recorded two sacks and eight tackles for loss. The senior didn’t fill the stat sheet because his game was to be a force to opposing offensive linemen in the run game and to pressure the quarterback. Sweat was named the 2023 Outland Trophy winner, solidifying himself as the nation’s best interior lineman.
Byron Murphy, a junior defensive lineman, was named to the second team for his impressive ability to be all over the field alongside Sweat. Murphy recorded eight tackles for loss and five sacks. Murphy helped the Longhorns’ defense to be one of the best in the country.
Xavier Worthy, a junior wide receiver, was named to the third team for his explosive playmaking ability. Worthy recorded 969 receiving yards and five touchdowns in his third year of college football in Steve Sarkisian’s offense, showcasing his potential to be a star player for any NFL team if he chooses to enter the 2024 draft.
These three Longhorns have proven to be some of the best players in the country and are well deserving of this recognition.
The Texas defense has improved significantly throughout Steve Sarkisian’s tenure in Austin.
Under the guidance of defensive coordinator Pete Kwiatkowski and defensive line coach Bo Davis, the Texas Longhorns have improved their run defense significantly this season.
The team has allowed an average of 80.8 rushing yards per game, the lowest since 2011. This impressive feat can be attributed to the hard work and dedication of Kwiatkowski and Davis, as well as a few stars along the defensive line led by T’Vondre Sweat and Byron Murphy. Overall, their efforts have been instrumental in helping Texas achieve success on the defensive side of the ball this season.
In 2022, the Texas defense allowed 125.7 rushing yards per game, significantly higher than this year’s 80.8 yards per game. The improvement on defense cannot be understated. Texas’ defense is what has put the Longhorns in the College Football Playoff.
On Jan. 1, Texas will travel to take on the Washington Huskies in the CFP. The Huskies aren’t known for their run game, but their passing game is led by Heisman candidate Michael Penix.
Washington averages 125.2 rushing yards per game, but Texas will have to find a way to stop Penix in order to have a chance at victory.
#Texas is now 3rd in the country in rush defense, allowing just 80.8 yards per game on the ground.
The Vikings’ defense is one of the NFL’s most effective and predictable, and Brian Flores’ multiple pressure looks have made the difference.
When the Denver Broncos face off against the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday night, one thing’s for sure — Denver’s offense will not know what it gets from play to play. That’s because Minnesota defensive coordinator Brian Flores is an expert in skirting the edges in quarterback pressure to either end of the spectrum.
What does that mean?
The Vikings lead the NFL in three-man rushes on 79 attempts, allowing 50 completions for 409 yards, two touchdowns, three interceptions, and an opponent passer rating of 69.8.
The Vikings also lead the NFL in pass plays with six or more rushers on 103 attempts, allowing 74 completions for 843 yards, nine touchdowns, three interceptions, and an opponent passer rating of 113.0.
To put that blitz frequency in perspective, the New England Patriots rank second in attempts against with six or more pass-rushers… with 38. The Saints rank second in three-man rushes with 50. So, Flores has carved out the two things he wants to do, and damn the torpedoes.
Minnesota’s blitz looks are generally pretty clear. There are a lot of four-man base fronts with a linebacker and an extra edge player (usually a defensive back) going after the quarterback. Flores will also send two linebackers in addition to his base rushers, mugged up over one offensive lineman. When Flores was the Miami Dolphins’ head coach, he was notorious for Cover-0 blitzes in which there was no deep safety and it was man coverage across, and he’ll still do that to a degree, as was the case against the Chicago Bears in Week 6 – the result here was an interception by cornerback Byron Murphy on a throw from quarterback Tyson Bagent to receiver D.J. Moore.
These days, though, Flores is just as likely to call zone coverage behind his blitzes. Against the Atlanta Falcons in Week 9, this sack of quarterback Taylor Heinicke was facilitated in part because Cover-4 complicated the picture just long enough for linebackers Ivan Pace Jr. and Jordan Hicks to get home.
But when discussing Flores’ overall approach, remember those three-man pressure numbers. Especially recently, Flores is throwing more of those rush-three/drop eight looks at opponents, and it’s working. This approach was more evident against the Falcons in Week 9, when the Vikings rushed three on 17 snaps, by far the most in the league for that week.
That approach continued against the Saints last Sunday.
The Vikings had their lowest blitz rate of the season today (21.3%) as Brian Flores continues to oscillate between various approaches. When rushing 4 (or fewer), they sacked Derek Carr twice and intercepted Jameis Winston twice, per @ESPNStatsInfo.
This Byron Murphy interception of a Jameis Winston throw to receiver Rashid Shaheed was a combination of a couple things — a pre-snap blitz look with an eight-man drop post-snap, and Winston fixating on Shaheed when A.T. Perry was open from the inside slot. Jameis gonna Jameis, but it was still a good look into Cover-2, and Flores has been great at disguising coverages and making quarterbacks pay when they guess wrong.
The Broncos’ offense with Russell Wilson under Sean Payton has been surprisingly scrappy this season, but they’ll have to watch out for a defensive mind in Flores who will throw things at you that you can never really predict.
Payton alluded to that when asked on Friday about the Vikings’ blitz predilections.
“I chuckled here for a second because for the last 48 hours, we have looked at all the tape. Clearly, from a pressure standpoint, if you just look at any analytical study, there’s more six-man pressure. A four man would be a normal rush, and a single pressure would be five. There are more six, seven and max blitzes. They come out of them. They really force your hand a little bit. We talked about communication being important. I mentioned that in this type of game, I’m glad we are playing it at home because communication becomes harder on the road with the silent snap count in the gun. What you’re seeing, what you saw, and what you’re discussing is absolutely true.
“At first blush, let’s call it the first six hours, you go get another coffee and you start again. Here we are on Day 2, and it gets clearer and clearer and clearer. Certainly, when we go through keys to victory, one of them on offense is understanding, communication and knowing what we are getting out of their ‘penny’ front, what we are getting out of their ‘nickel’ front, and identifying what kind of pressure it is. It can be busy and noisy when you first look at it.”
In this week’s “Xs and Os with Greg Cosell and Doug Farrar,” the guys get into why Flores’ calls have been so effective. You can watch the entire video, previewing all of Week 11’s biggest matchups, right here.
The Vikings held off the Saints for a big NFC victory. Saivion Mixson looks at who’s stocks rose and whose stocks fell in the pivotal win.
The Minnesota Vikings held off the New Orleans Saints for a crucial 27-19 victory at U.S. Bank Stadium.
The Vikings ended up holding off a fiery comeback attempt after starting quarterback Derek Carr went down and backup Jameis Winston lit a spark under the Saints offense.
While he also helped extinguish the flame with two late turnovers, the Vikings showed some issues that may have seen some stocks drop.
On the flip side of the coin, the explosive first half that allowed the Vikings to jump out to a 24-3 halftime lead helped some stocks rise.
In this exercise, we outline both sides of this proverbial coin, as we see whose stocks fell and whose stocks rose after this vital victory.
