The Eagles signed DeMarco Murray today. And Ryan Mathews.

I think I predicted that a few weeks back. Or maybe not. Okay, no man or machine in the known universe had any idea this was coming.

Chip Kelly continues to surprise us. He now has Sam Bradford handing the ball to a 2-headed monster of Murray and Mathews, while throwing to Darren Sproles on 3rd down.

Crazy.

I have mixed feelings on Murray. Love the player, unsure about the deal. I am excited because he is the most physical runner in Philly in a long time. You’d have to go back to Ricky Watters of 1995 or maybe even Heath Sherman of 1992. Those were punishing runners. Tackling them was no fun.

A lot of people are trying to use numbers to compare Shady McCoy and Murray. That is missing the point in a huge way. I love Shady to death. You can still make a strong argument that he’s the #2 RB in the NFL (to Adrian Peterson). But there is value in having a N-S runner who gets behind his pads and attacks up the field.

Shady was a bit like a baseball player that heavily mixed strikeouts and home runs. Murray is the guy who rarely strikes out and is a doubles machine. You lose the spectacular, but gain consistency. I think there is real value in that at the RB position.

It is a lot easier for coaches and QBs to deal with 2nd/7 than 2nd/10. Those 3 yards don’t sound like much, but they add up. They keep the chains moving in the right direction.

Shady made great strides in the last 3 years and cut down on moving laterally in the backfield. He used to almost do it by default. He became more judicious about it, but still did it more than Chip Kelly liked. Murray is going to hit the hole or make one cut and attack an opening. He understands the value in going forward. You can’t always look for space. Sometimes you just have to go where the play is designed.

I’m as curious as everyone else on how Kelly is going to get maximum production from M&M. Both guys have had some injuries, but both have also been workhorse backs. The Saints used to do a great job at maximizing the talents of various RBs. It can be done very effectively. You need a creative coach. You need an offense committed to running the ball. That sounds like Chip.

I need to look into the deal before really talking about value and how this does or doesn’t make sense. For now, I’m enjoying the thought of having a physical runner in this offense. I think Murray is a great fit and can be a big help to the offense becoming more consistent.

* * * * *

One development I’m not so keen on is this.

The #Eagles are working to trade G Evan Mathis, source said. More craziness. — Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) March 12, 2015

Source close to situation confirms that @EvanMathis69 trade is indeed close. — Les Bowen (@LesBowen) March 12, 2015

Barf.

Evan is a terrific player, but also a player you love to have on your team. He isn’t cheap and he’s a bit older, but I’m not real keen on this move. The Eagles aren’t going to get great return because of his age and price.

There was a report that the Patriots might be interested.

What do you do at LG? Matt Tobin showed real promise there in the summer of 2013 and parts of last year. He played RG during the season, but is much more natural on the left side. Tobin is young and cheap so there is some logic to giving him a shot at that job.

The Eagles need to get OL help in the draft. Initially that was thought to be for depth, but now could be for a starter as well. There is a hole at RG and very possibly at LG as well.

I would love for Evan to stick around, but unfortunately it doesn’t sound like that will be happening.

Just get him out of the NFC East so I can cheer for him.

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