While Texas benefits from returning many starters on both sides of the ball, the handful of players they did lose were crucial in multiple aspects.
Running backs Bijan Robinson and Roschon Johnson were both vocal leaders for the offense and team last season, while also being two of the best players on the entire roster. Same with linebacker DeMarvion Overshown who is also off the NFL, and to a lesser degree in terms of impact defensive linemen Moro Ojomo and Keondre Coburn.
While linebacker will be locked down by Jaylan Ford, the defensive line will be relying on Byron Murphy in a major way in 2023. Something he discussed in a recent interview with On3 when asked about players who have stepped up as leaders.
“Me, of course,” Murphy said. “I’m trying to be more vocal. Last year, I wasn’t. But this year, I’m trying to be more vocal. I’ve got a bigger role obviously this year.”
Murphy, along with T’Vondre Sweat and Minnesota transfer Trill Carter, will be in charge of clogging the rushing lanes and collapsing the pocket on the quarterbacks. Last season, Murphy recorded 26 tackles with three tackles for loss and one sack.
He is confident that he and the team are aware of what it takes to win now, which is something Texas fans have been dying to see.
“I feel like we, as a team, all understand Sark’s philosophy,” Murphy said. “We get it now. We know what it takes. We know what it takes to win. The past few seasons, we’ve been through a lot of stuff. We know what it takes. We know what he wants from us. Now we’ve got to deliver it.”
The Longhorns are the favorites to win the Big 12 this season and also are viewed as a potential College Football Playoff contender.
After the Minnesota Vikings selected Jay Ward in the 4th round, there were questions on how he would be used. @TheKevinFielder explains.
When the Minnesota Vikings hired Brian Flores as their defensive coordinator, he was expected to have a heavy say in how the team approached the off-season.
Not only is Flores a former head coach, but the former Miami Dolphins headman reportedly rejected head coaching offers to become the Vikings defensive coordinator.
In free agency, the Vikings signed cornerback Byron Murphy Jr., an inside-out defensive back who offers positional flexibility in Flores’ defense, to a two-year contract. Murphy was ultimately one of two marquee free-agent signings for the Vikings, joining edge rusher Marcus Davenport.
During the 2023 NFL Draft, the Vikings continued to stock Flores’ armory, drafting three defensive players with their six selections.
USC cornerback Mekhi Blackmon was the team’s third-round selection and should give the Vikings another versatile cornerback for Flores’ scheme.
While teams don’t follow consensus big boards when making their selections, the Vikings obviously saw something that prompted them to make him the pick ahead of some other talented defensive backs.
A deeper dive into Ward’s film explains why Flores likely signed off on the pick, but his incomplete skillset paints a murky picture of his ability to impact the Vikings’ defense in his first season.
Here is a look at five Longhorns who could play their way into a first-round selection in 2024.
The 2023 NFL Draft wrapped up on Saturday after seven rounds and 259 selections.
Texas football is well-represented in this year’s draft class as five Longhorns heard their names called by NFL teams. A great bounce back for a Texas program that did not have a single player picked in 2022.
Running back Bijan Robinson (Atlanta), linebacker DeMarvion Overshown (Dallas), running back Roschon Johnson (Chicago), defensive tackle Keondre Coburn (Kansas City) and defensive lineman Moro Ojomo (Philadelphia).
Robinson snapped an eight-year first-round drought for the Horns. He became the first Longhorn taken on day one of the draft since Malcom Brown back in 2015.
Steve Sarkisian wants to see the trend of Texas Longhorns in the NFL continue going forward.
While the 2024 NFL Draft is a long way away, Texas has the potential to send a few more players to the league next season. Here is a look at five Longhorns who could play their way into a first-round selection in 2024.
The Bengals need to get depth at the edge positions, and in Myles Murphy, they have a multi-gap guy with potential and a few rough spots.
(Winslow Townson-USA TODAY Sports)
The Bengals have a need for edge-rushing depth behind Trey Hendrickson and Sam Hubbard, and Murphy can fill that need from multiple gaps. You’d like to see a bit more of a finished picture, but as Cincinnati defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo is one of the best in the business, Murphy’s upside should be sufficiently realized in the Queen City.
Wingspan: N/A Arm Length: 33¾” (57th) Hand Size: 8½” (0)
Bio: Murphy came out of Hillgrove High School in Marietta, Georgia as ESPN’s No. 3 player in the nation, the No. 2 defensive end, and the No. 1 player in the state of Georgia. He was a consensus Freshman All-American, and kept the pace throughout his collegiate career. Over three seasons with the Tigers, Murphy totaled 20 sacks, 10 quarterback hits, 66 quarterback hurries, five batted passes, 63 tackles, 64 stops, and six forced fumbles. He had 1,244 snaps outside the tackles, 180 over the tackles, 117 in the B-gaps, and five in the A-gaps.
Stat to Know: Murphy’s Broken and Missed Tackles Percentage Rate of 5% last season was the lowest among all edge-rushers in the 2023 class.
Strengths: Murphy has excellent speed to the pocket for a player his size; there’s nothing “hybrid” about how well he accelerates when he’s working the arc, and he has the strength and technique to go through multiple blockers to get home.
The Tigers didn’t have Murphy inside the tackles a lot, but I think he can be a credible inside/outside guy at the next level. He presents a nice bull-rush to displace interior offensive linemen, with a good finishing kick to the quarterback.
And as a run defender, Murphy’s speed and strength are pretty much NFL-transferable right now. Just plug him in and go.
Weaknesses: Power is the base of Murphy’s game, but he’ll need to get lower more frequently to maximize it — he loses leverage too often when he shouldn’t because he comes off the snap high.
Murphy is also limited in his technical repertoire — if he can’t get you with the bull-rush or the long-arm, there aren’t a lot of counters and adaptive strategies to use for him to recover if he doesn’t get home on the first try.
Conclusion: Murphy’s instant NFL success will be dependent on which set of schemes he’s in. I think he’ll have a rough go of it for a while as a four-down edge defender. But in the NFL’s increasing use of five-man fronts, he could be beneficial right away as both a big end and a strong-side pass-rusher in sub-fronts. He has enough on the ball to be somewhat productive early on, with the potential for far more if he can get his arms around the refinements that make people at his position truly great.
NFL Comparison: Rashan Gary. The Packers took Gary with the 12th pick in the 2019 draft out of Michigan despite the fact that his pass-rush repertoire was pretty basic at the time (bull-rush and long-arm). They bet on his upside as a bigger guy who could do damage from multiple gaps, and that took hold in Gary’s second, third, and fourth seasons. Murphy presents a similar set of rewards for a patient NFL coaching staff ready to give him the tools he needs to take his basic speed/power profile to the proverbial next level.
The #Vikings freed up more than $2 million in cap space by adding three void years to Byron Murphy’s contract on Tuesday
Finances have played a huge role in the Minnesota Vikings’ ability to construct a competitive roster ahead of the 2023 season, and with an adjustment to newly acquired cornerback Byron Murphy’s contract, the team managed to save over $2 million against their salary cap.
The #Vikings added three void years to Byron Murphy’s deal, saving $2.1 million of cap space for both 2023 and 2024.
He’ll have $4.2 million of dead money in 2025, but that move should put them just under the cap for this year (h/t @Andrew_Krammer for pointing this out!).
This shrewd maneuver involved adding three void years to Murphy’s signed contract, which will incur a dead-money hit for the 2025 season, but free up $2.1 million for them this season. It is worth noting that this move got Minnesota under the salary cap limit, which should enable the Vikings to continue pursuing free agents as the offseason wears on.
The merits of these void-year arrangements are debatable, but for a team that sees itself as being in a championship window, they could prove themselves to be necessary if the Vikings truly think they can compete for a Super Bowl in 2023. While borrowing money from future seasons seems like a desperate move now, the risk would surely be worth the reward if Minnesota manages to bring home a Lombardi trophy next season.
The #Vikings got a high grade from PFF after their work in the first week of free agency despite coming out with a negative mark in PFF WAR
The quants at Pro Football Focus gave the Minnesota Vikings an A- grade for their fast-paced start to the 2023 free agency period despite the team’s negative PFF War mark following their additions and subtractions.
Minnesota has focused mostly on upgrading their defense to this point in the offseason, signing defensive linemen Marcus Davenport and Dean Lowry as well as cornerback Byron Murphy. All three of these proven playmakers should serve the Vikings well as they look to push for playoff contention beyond the divisional round.
On offense, Minnesota’s intentions have been clear; they intend to re-sign as many members of their 2022 roster as possible. Three of the five players that they have retained were members of their prolific offense last season, and the only addition they’ve made on that side of the ball has been tight end Josh Oliver, who will play mostly as a blocker on running downs. The only attrition to their offense came when the team released wide receiver Adam Thielen due to salary cap constraints.
All in all, despite their favorable grade, PFF estimates that the Vikings have come out with a net PFF WAR of -1.206 following their moves in the first week of free agency, which puts Minnesota squarely on the wrong side of the equation in that category. The raw numbers mean that, by PFF’s metrics, the Vikings have lost more talent than they’ve gained, though a multitude of factors could make this number irrelevant when play resumes in the regular season.
For now, fans in the North Star State will have to wait to see who the team might target in the second week of free agency, and consider which prospects in the upcoming draft might help the team immediately in 2023.
Everybody wants to talk about the big-name signings, but here are the best bargains of the 2023 free agent class so far.
There are people in the NFL — especially people who have endured one or more instances of top-heavy free-agency spending — who will tell you that if you want to contend for a Super Bowl, the bottom third of your roster will be just as important as the top third at some point in time. Yes, you want optimal performances from the best and brightest, and if you get it, that’s great. But one of your star players will probably miss time with an injury. Another star might be involved in a contract dispute. And it’s entirely possible that the big-ticket free agent your team brought in for the gross national product of Estonia is actually a bad fit for what his new coaches would like him to do.
It happens all the time. To counter all of these little nightmares, it’s wise to find the best bargains in any free-agent cycle — those players who may not be marquee names, but whose performances on the field makes them important to you.
Especially when things go wrong up top.
There are still quite a few talented players on the open market, so we’ll be adding to this list as we go… but for now, here are the free agents either re-signing in their old homes or going to new locations who will impact their rosters much more than you may think.
