Cleveland Browns: 3 unheralded players who will make an impact
By Randy Gurzi
1. Eric Murray, Safety
After the Browns traded for Olivier Vernon from the New York Giants, they decided that their primary starter opposite Myles Garrett in 2018 had become expendable. Emmanuel Ogbah was linked to trade rumors immediately upon Vernon’s arrival and eventually found himself headed to John Dorsey’s old team, the Kansas City Chiefs.
In exchange for the former second-round pick, the Browns received safety Eric Murray. Like the previously mentioned Demetrius Harris, Murray began his career in Kansas City with Dorsey. A fourth-round pick out of Minnesota, Murray was a cornerback in college but moved to safety in the NFL.
A primary backup for his first two seasons, Murray ended up starting nine games as injuries were a major problem for Kansas City in the secondary. He finished with a career-high 55 tackles and had his first career interception.
However, Murray also was becoming expendable as the Chiefs were making changes to their secondary, which included signing free agent Tyrann Mathieu. This made it a nice exchange between the two teams as they each can use the player they landed.
For the Browns, Murray serves two roles which will both be important. His main job is going to be on special teams, which is an area he shines in. Cleveland struggled in this facet in 2018, which is one of the reasons they went after Murray as they planned to shore this problem up.
His secondary job will be as the primary backup to Damarious Randall and Morgan Burnett. This is still important because Randall has never played a full 16 game schedule and Burnett hasn’t done so since 2012.
Next. 3 Players needing to bounce back in 2019. dark
With their track record, it’s a safe bet the Murray will be relied upon this coming season to do more than just star on special teams.