Late Round Gem Spotlight: Latavius Murray

I want to roster the next Alfred Morris. We all do. We’ll spend hours trying to figure out who the 2013 NFL Draft gem is. After watching some game clips (1& 2) and researching him a bit further, I think I found my guy in the Raiders’ sixth round pick Latavius Murray.

He’s not generating a terrible amount of dynasty buzz just yet, but Murray is a back who represents tremendous value being drafted in and around the late third to early fourth round in current rookie drafts (or roughly the 35th to 40th rookie pick range). He wasn’t invited to the Combine, but he put together a monster performance at his pro day. Had he been invited to the Combine and put up comparable numbers, it’s a good bet that football outlets would have gone nuts over him. At his pro day, the former University of Central Florida back posted the following numbers:

–        4.38 40-yard dash

–        22 bench press reps

–        36 inch vertical

–        10’4 inch broad jump

–        6.81 three cone

This is a solid performance for any running back, let alone a guy who is 6’3” and 224 pounds. That three-cone performance is particularly noteworthy given how quick he is for a big man. These overall workout numbers show just how athletic Murray is. In fact, of the metrics above, his 40-yard dash, vertical, broad jump, and three-cone all fall within the top five running back performances at the 2013 Combine. There’s obviously different surfaces at the Combine and his pro day which may impact results, but as a reference point, it shows how impressive Murray’s numbers are. It certainly caught the attention of a lot of NFL scouts back in early February when his name started surfacing and teams started bringing him in for visits prior to the draft. This performance actually boosted his stock from an undrafted free agent prospect to draftable.

So, Murray is yet another workout warrior who is probable to fizzle, right? Well, not exactly. There’s more to him than the workout. Take a look at Murray’s career numbers at UCF:

As you can see, his senior season was pretty solid and he was active in the passing game exhibited by his 27 receptions in 2012 and over 200 yards receiving in each of the last two seasons. Murray also rarely fumbles with only three over his 453 college carries.

While his 2012 stat line shows production, looking closer at his game logs, Murray struggled against some of the better run defense teams (such as Tulsa where he averaged less than four yards per carry). On the flipside, he also excelled against another strong run defense in Memphis when he racked up 192 yards and two touchdowns on 27 carries. So, not all of his performances were gushing, but the bottom line is that he put together a productive college season in 2012 with some stellar performances.

The above case makes it sound as if there was no reason for him to “fall” to a sixth round pick, but there are a few main reasons for that.  One is due to the fact he only had one season of college production. Another is that he has injury issues that date back to his Sophomore and High School Senior year. In fact, in 2009 (redshirted sophomore season) he suffered a major knee injury that almost ended his football career. He hasn’t had any recurring knee issues since, but he did have a shoulder injury in 2012 that resulted in a handful of games missed last season. Finally, you’ll see in the game clips that he runs a bit upright and needs to get his pad level down in certain situations. It’s not that there aren’t successful upright running backs (see Arian Foster), but Murray needs to lower his pads in close quarters. The positive thing is that should be able to be addressed with some solid coaching at the NFL level.

The beautiful thing about Murray needing to be coached up is that his UCF coach, George O’Leary, recently came out classifying Murray as coachable. So, that pad level issue should be one of the main focuses of his rookie camp and early offseason activities. O’Leary also further supported Murray calling him an “NFL-ready back.” He touted Murray’s versatility, pass protection knowledge/ability and hands. You’d expect praise from a former coach, but that’s pretty much universal across all aspects of his game. O’Leary is also a former NFL Defensive Coordinator who spent two years with the Minnesota Vikings, so comments from him suggesting that he’s an NFL ready back can be viewed as credible.

On to his current situation with the Raiders, which is perfect. He’s currently listed behind former Jaguar Rashad Jennings and Jeremy Stewart. It shouldn’t take long for Murray to beat out those two players. Other than experience, they don’t have anything by way of talent on Murray. Most importantly, he’ll ultimately back up the oft-injured Darren McFadden who, as we know, is known to miss a few games. That, combined with Oakland’s return a power blocking scheme, suggests that with Murray’s size, speed and versatility, that he’s in for some touches as a rookie. Given McFadden’s history, he may end up seeing a bit more than expected.

Ultimately, Murray is a back who was productive in college, appears NFL ready, possesses the necessary measurables, and has an opportunity with a team that needs a complementary back behind a running back who’s frequently injured. With these characteristics and his current average draft position, that’s a low cost given the potential upside he possesses.

Follow Steve on Twitter @SteveWyremski