Tag: Kenneth Murray Chargers

Why Chargers LB Kenneth Murray could benefit from change in role

Chargers HC Brandon Staley said LB Kenneth Murray’s role is “evolving.”

Expected to make a leap in Brandon Staley’s defense, which was viewed to cater to his strengths, Chargers linebacker Kenneth Murray’s play did not reflect that before being sent to the injured reserve.

Even though he was given more downhill responsibilities, Murray struggled with them. While opportunities were there, he often missed tackles, over-pursued ball carriers, and struggled to shed blocks and work off contact.

Set to return to the field as he will be designated to return from the IR this week after missing the last four games, Murray could be put in a position where he will have more success.

At Wednesday’s media availability, head coach Brandon Staley was asked about giving Murray snaps as an edge defender, and he replied that his role is “evolving.”

While Staley did not elaborate on his response, this could indicate that the second-year player might transition to the position moving forward.

The change might be sudden, but it could pay dividends for a group that has not had the most production as of late.

During his three years at Oklahoma, Murray handled the Mike linebacker role. Even though he primarily patrolled the middle of the field, Murray had his occasional reps along the line of scrimmage, where he showed promise.

Murray possesses the explosiveness, play speed, timing, and body control to thrive as a true pass rusher.

Given how well Kyzir White and Drue Tranquill have played as the starters, broadening Murray’s tasks would allow their playing time not to be cut into, either.

With Murray back at practice, the Chargers have 21 days to activate him off the IR.

It remains to be seen if he will play this weekend against the Eagles, but when Murray does get back on the field, look for him to have more duties at getting after the quarterback.

Chargers LB Kenneth Murray says new defense is perfect fit

Chargers linebacker Kenneth Murray should benefit immensely from Brandon Staley’s defense.

In his rookie season, Chargers linebacker Kenneth Murray showed glimpses of how dominant of a player he could really be in this league.

Heading into his sophomore season, which will feature a new defense under first-year head coach Brandon Staley, Murray is capable of coming into his own.

At Tuesday’s media availability, Murray said he is happy because Staley’s defense fits perfectly into how he plays the game. He said he will play more downhill, blitzing more, and playing more aggressive.

In former defensive coordinator Gus Bradley’s 4-3 system, Murray still managed to lead all first-year linebackers in snaps (902) and tackles (106).

While he wasn’t the most adept player in coverage, Murray was one of the better rookie run defenders last season, always aware and around the football and rarely missing tackles.

Looking ahead to this season, Staley’s 3-4 defense that is constantly showing different looks will play more to his strengths, which are as a run defender and a blitzer.

Murray is at his best when making plays in front of him, attacking alleys or shutting down perimeter plays. While he was not tasked with blitzing much in 2020, Murray showed in college that he is explosive between gaps or around the edge.

Just barely scratching the surface, Murray is confident that playing for Staley will take his game to the next level.

“He tries to take advantages of matchups and exploit weaknesses of the offense,” Murray said when asked about Staley’s defense.

Chargers legend says LB Kenneth Murray will be star in NFL

Kenneth Murray has high expectations set heading into Year 1.

Chargers rookie linebacker Kenneth Murray will be wearing No. 56, the same number that was once worn by the legendary Shawne Merriman.

“It’s cool, especially when you have a guy that can make some plays,” Merriman said about Murray.

“He’s explosive, man, and that’s the fun part. You look at these guys and I always evaluate, especially linebackers at his position, how their mental approach is and how they lay it all out on the field, right?”

Taken with the No. 23 overall selection after trading up with the Patriots, Murray is expected to add a dynamic element to the linebacker room and defense as a whole.

Murray is coveted for his ability to make consistent plays on the football, possessing the sideline-to-sideline speed, range and tenacious mentality against the run, in coverage and as a blitzer.

Merriman loves Murray’s style of play, citing how it will easily translate to the NFL. The Chargers legend even believes that he can become one of the best at his position in the league.

“You have some guys that just get to the ball and want to make a tackle. No, he’s running through guys, and that’s when you see this explosive movement come in and him finishing guys and swarming to tackles and being relentless.

This is what I see from him and without jumping the gun because the NFL is obviously much different from college, I can see right now he’s gonna be a player. He’s gonna be a star in the NFL,” Merriman said.

Murray needs to dial up his instincts, clean up some overaggressive tendencies and develop a better feel in coverage. However, he has the talent and skillset to be a really good linebacker and locker room presence for the next decade, especially playing alongside the ascending LB Drue Tranquill.

What scouts said about Chargers LB Kenneth Murray ahead of draft

NFL evaluators were very high on linebacker Kenneth Murray coming out of college.

The Chargers traded up 14 spots with the Patriots to draft former Oklahoma linebacker Kenneth Murray.

Los Angeles saw the high production throughout the past three seasons for the Sooners, and they were able to witness the great character that he possesses up close and personal when they interviewed him at the combine.

Rated highly by the media, Murray was arguably one of the best players at his position in this year’s class. But how did NFL evaluations feel about him?

The Athletic’s Bob McGinn reached out to three scouts to get a better idea what those in the league thought of him ahead of the draft.

The first scout had high praise for Murray, saying that he believes he was better than Bears’ Roquan Smith coming out of college and that he should have no issue making the Pro Bowl.

One of my favorite players. When you plug in the player and the person you love him even more. He does everything you want. He runs the defense. I thought he was better than Roquan Smith. I don’t think he’s quite as good as a Luke Kuechly. He’ll be a Pro Bowl-type player. He didn’t cover there. They didn’t ask him to, but I think he can. He’s an explosive athlete but he’s not a physical tackler. That’s one of the only knocks I have on him.

The second scout had nothing but good things to say, too, despite pointing out some of his weaknesses with his game.

He can run the show. Just a little bit lacking on instincts and angles. But he’s big, fast and a hell of a kid. He loves football. Great locker-room guy.

Here is what the third scout said:

He’s sideline-to-sideline. Inside, he tries to take on. He’s just not the strongest. He’s more of a slip-and-dip type, which is what you’re playing with now. As far as a modern-day linebacker, he has those traits. Covers well.

Overall, Murray is a quick-twitch athlete who possesses the speed and physicality against the run and pass with blitz ability, projecting as three-down starting linebacker for the Chargers.

Murray does need to dial up his instincts, clean up some overaggressive tendencies as he’s been caught over-pursuing ball carriers at times and develop a better feel in coverage. However, he has the talent and skillset to be a really good linebacker and locker room presence for the next decade.

Chargers LB Kenneth Murray saved woman’s life

Chargers linebacker Kenneth Murray is a heck of a football player and individual.

The Chargers traded up 14 spots to draft former Oklahoma linebacker Kenneth Murray with the No. 23 overall selection. Not only were they getting an outstanding player, they were also getting a phenomenal individual with a unique life story.

The son of a pastor and a retired cop, Murray’s life changed in the fifth-grade, when his parents, Kenneth Sr. and Dianna, adopted three special-needs kids through his father’s church.

Nyia, who was 8 at the time, Leonard, who was 3, and James, a toddler, have the same disorder in which part of a chromosome is missing genetic material.

Today, Nyia is 18, Lennie is 14 and James is almost 10. Nyia knows the alphabet and can read at a second-grade level. Lennie and James can’t even talk.

“My siblings, they are my blood,” Murray said. “Even though they were adopted, they’re my blood and I’d do anything for them.

Life took a major turn in July of 2019. Murray was driving home from church only to discover a deaf woman collapsed on the sidewalk. The CPR training Murray learned as a counselor at the church community center would end up saving a life.

“Just happened to be in the right place at the right time. Coming home from church with my girlfriend, happened to just come by a situation that somebody just needed my help,” Murray said.

“Driving home from church, a car flashed, pretty much ran the red light in front of me and they stopped in the middle of the road and a lady gets out of the car and just runs immediately over to like the sidewalk area. So as I pull up a little bit more I could see on the sidewalk there was another lady, female laid out on the ground.

So I immediately parked my car in the middle of the street, get out and immediately rush over to the lady and see what was going on. And when I arrived on the scene she was bleeding from the head, completely unconscious, just laying on the ground. The other lady was her friend, she was screaming and yelling at her, trying to get her to wake back up.

So that’s when I just immediately started CPR. Started CPR, got between 70-80 pumps in and that’s when I finally got her revived, got her back to breathing. Then shortly after that the paramedics arrived.”

For anyone that was in that situation, they might’ve wanted the spotlight, but that wasn’t the case for Murray. He was going to keep it a secret and might have been able to if it wasn’t for a reporter from the Oklahoma student newspaper driving by.

“Two days later I happened to be chilling in the locker room and our media director, Mike Houck, comes up to me and he’s like, ‘hey, did you give a woman CPR a couple days ago?’

And I was like, ‘uuh, yeah.’ and so he was like, well, the kid with the school newspaper was driving by and happened to see a big human being that looked like you that was giving CPR to a woman.

I was just like, ‘yeah, that was me.’ It’s a unique situation, just a blessing to be in the right place at the right time,” Murray said.

Being in the right place at the right time describes Murray to-a-tee, whether it’s on the football field to stop a running back behind the line of scrimmage or being there to save a woman’s life.

“But this man’s intangibles, his presence when he walks into a room – he’s just a natural-born leader and I love that he’s passionate about this game. It just comes through in the interview process that I had with him,” coach Anthony Lynn said about Murray.

Scouting report, film notes of Chargers first-round pick LB Kenneth Murray

The Los Angeles Chargers had to make a sacrifice by giving up some picks, but they struck gold with linebacker Kenneth Murray.

The Los Angeles Chargers traded back up into the first-round to select former Oklahoma linebacker Kenneth Murray with the No. 23 overall pick.

To get familiar with the physical linebacker, here is my scouting report on Murray followed with film notes from a few of his games:

Kenneth Murray | Oklahoma | #9 | Junior | Missouri City, TX | 6024 | 241

40-Yard Dash: 4.52 seconds
Bench Press: 21 reps
Vertical Jump: 38 inches
Broad Jump: 129 inches
3-Cone Drill: N/A
20-Yard Shuttle: N/A

Career: Semifinalist for the Butkus and Bednarik awards. Racked up 325 tackles, 36.5 tackles for loss and 9.5 sacks in 42 games.

Red Flags: N/A

Strengths: Outstanding speed, acceleration and range. Fast in all directions, and is able to drive extremely well to the ball carrier. Able to anticipate and get to the spot faster than blockers to make the play. Covers significant ground when dropping back in coverage. Terrific blitzer, who attacks with a purpose and does a great job of shrinking space between him and the quarterback. An explosive tackler, runs through the ball-carrier and brings heat with him.

Weaknesses: Average instincts and route recognition in zone coverage. Can rely on speed to get him to the ball in space and could stand to take cleaner angles with straighter lines to the ball-carrier. Makes wrong reads between the tackles at times. Struggles to disengage from climbing blockers. Can come in too high when attempting to tackle.

Final Word: Murray is a quick-twitch athlete who possesses the speed against the run and pass, physicality and blitz ability, but he needs to improve his play recognition and play under control on a more consistent basis, projecting as three-down starting Mike or Will linebacker.

Fit Likelihood: High

Grade: 1st-2nd Round

Film Study – vs Baylor (Big-12 Championship Game)

In this game, Murray finished with 10 tackles, three tackles for loss, one sack and a pass deflected. This game exemplified how his closing speed quickness and his ability to cover a lot of ground even when dropping back in coverage, making it look effortless. Along with that, we saw his explosiveness to acquire a sack in this contest. But we saw on a couple of plays him coming in too high when tackling, which was an issue.

Film Study – vs LSU (College Football Playoffs)

In arguably the biggest stage of his collegiate career against the 2020 National Champions, Murray amassed seven tackles and one tackle for loss. Murray, again, showed his elite speed and range when coming downhill, but his overaggressive tendencies got the best of him and he was late to diagnose on a couple of instances.

Highlights

POLL: Grade the Chargers pick of LB Kenneth Murray

What do you think of the Los Angeles Chargers’ selection of linebacker Kenneth Murray?

The Chargers traded back up into the first-round and selected former Oklahoma linebacker Kenneth Murray with the No. 23 overall pick.

We liked the selection, but because they were forced to give up both Day 2 picks, it had some effect on the grade.

With that being said, Los Angeles receives a B for the selection of Murray.

What grade do you give the pick? Check out the poll below and let us know what you think.

[polldaddy poll=10542409]

Twitter reacts to Chargers’ selection of LB Kenneth Murray

Twitter had mixed feelings of the Los Angeles Chargers’ selection of linebacker Kenneth Murray.

After trading up with the Patriots, with the No. 23 overall selection, the Chargers picked former Oklahoma linebacker Kenneth Murray.

It was between quarterback Justin Herbert and linebacker Isaiah Simmons with the No. 6 overall selection and they elected to take their future franchise signal-caller.

L.A. didn’t want to wait until the second-round to see if a linebacker could fall to them, which is why they moved up to secure him.

Known for his play speed and physicality against the run, pass and the blitz, Murray fills a hole at the linebacker position after the departure of Thomas Davis, Jatavis Brown and the durability concerns with Kyzir White.

Here’s the reaction social media had to the selection of Murray to join the NFL ranks.