Getty Images

Titans linebacker Brian Orakpo has seen a lot of running back DeMarco Murray over the years.

Orakpo played at Texas while Murray was running the ball for Oklahoma and the two men squared off several times in the NFL when Orakpo was with the Redskins and Murray was playing for the Cowboys. Now the two men are teammates in Tennessee and Orakpo says that he’s seeing the tough-running Murray of the past rather than the ineffective one from Philly last season.

“Obviously, people look at last year being a down year, but that’s what makes it more fuel to the fire for him,” Orakpo said, via the Tennessean. “I think he’s going to come back even hungrier, even readier to prove everybody wrong, to prove all his doubters out there, and like I said, I’m just glad he’s on our side, especially the way he’s running the ball now.”

With Derrick Henry joining the Titans in the second round and other recent draft picks David Cobb and Bishop Sankey on hand, the Titans have options in the event optimism about Murray proves unfounded. If they have their choice, however, they’d surely opt for a resurgent Murray balancing out the offense in Marcus Mariota’s second season.