Eagles to trade DeMarco Murray to Titans
One year after the Eagles acquired DeMarco Murray, Byron Maxwell, and Kiko Alonso as part of a high-profile offseason overhaul, the team agreed to trade them all on the same day.
Murray will be dealt to the Tennessee Titans, his agency confirmed. Maxwell and Alonso will be sent to the Miami Dolphins for draft picks, according to league sources. The specific return of either trade was not known. The deals were reached on Monday, but they will not be made official until the new league year begins on Wednesday.
The Eagles will open nearly $10 million in salary-cap space by making these trades, bringing their total to about $26 million. The NFL's legal tampering period started on Monday, with teams allowed to talk with representatives of free agents. Players can begin signing with other teams - and trades can be consummated - at 4 p.m. on Wednesday.
At that time, the Eagles will no longer have three key players brought in by Chip Kelly during his year in charge of personnel. None of the players performed to expectations during their only seasons in Philadelphia, and now they're out during an offseason when Howie Roseman is back in charge.
The Eagles are not permitted to comment on deals until they become official.
It was considered a boon when the Eagles signed Murray to a five-year, $40 million deal last March after Murray led the NFL in rushing with 1,845 rushing yards and won offensive player of the year honors with the Dallas Cowboys in 2014.
He never neared that production in his first season with the Eagles, rushing for only 702 yards and a career-low 3.6 yards per carry. Kelly demoted Murray in the final month of the season and the highly paid running back reportedly was unhappy in Philadelphia. When asked last week about Murray's unhappiness, new Eagles coach Doug Pederson said he had not spoken to him.
"I can't tell you one way or the other," Pederson said. "We'd love to have him. He's a member of the Philadelphia Eagles. We'll just go from there."
It seemed as if Murray was going to return to the Eagles unless he was willing to adjust his contract with a new team. His agency, SportsTrust Advisors, said he reached a new deal with the Titans. The Eagles will save $4 million in salary-cap space with the trade, but they also will take a $4 million hit. They will not be responsible for the remaining years on Murray's contract.
The depth chart still has options at running back. Ryan Mathews, Darren Sproles, and Kenjon Barner are all under contract for next season.
Murray came to the Eagles because the team had an opening after the trade of LeSean McCoy to Buffalo for Alonso. The Eagles were excited about acquiring Alonso, a dynamic rookie for the Bills in 2013 who played for the Kelly at Oregon. But Alonso was returning from a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee that sidelined him in 2014, and he required arthroscopic surgery in that same knee during the 2015 season that kept him out five games.
When he played, Alonso seldom resembled the player the team thought it was acquiring. Defensive coordinator Bill Davis admitted last year that Alonso was not playing at his pre-injury form, and Alonso finished with only 43 tackles. The Eagles never gave the 25-year-old a chance to see how he would do with a healthy offseason in defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz's scheme, instead jettisoning him in a deal that will save the Eagles nearly $1 million.
The Eagles have Mychal Kendricks and Jordan Hicks as linebackers in their new 4-3 scheme, although there's uncertainty about the third starting linebacker. Connor Barwin and Brandon Graham are expected to move to defensive end. Marcus Smith was a 3-4 outside linebacker who might also be an end in the scheme. Najee Goode re-signed with the Eagles last month, but the rest of the linebackers are special-teams contributors or end-of-roster players competing for spots this offseason.
The Eagles could try to sign a linebacker in free agency. The Lions' Tahir Whitehead, a Temple product, is set to hit the market after starting 23 games over the last two seasons. Whitehead was drafted to play in Schwartz's scheme in Detroit. Buffalo's Nigel Bradham is another linebacker who fits the new scheme, serving as a three-down linebacker during Schwartz's year as Buffalo's defensive coordinator. The top-free agent linebackers are Seattle's Bruce Irvin and Denver's Danny Trevathan.
The most expensive acquisition last offseason was Maxwell, whom the Eagles made one of the five highest-paid cornerbacks on the first day of free agency last March with a six-year, $63 million contract.
The former Seattle Seahawk was inconsistent in his lone season here, finishing with 64 tackles and two interceptions in 14 games as the team's top cornerback. Maxwell was an upgrade over what the Eagles had at the position before he arrived and played well at times, but his contract made him a target for criticism.
The Eagles will save $4.9 million in cap space by trading him, but they will absorb a hit of $4.8 million in dead money. However, they get out of the final four years of his contract, when Maxwell will count $11.2 million against the salary cap.
The Eagles need to find a replacement at cornerback. They return Eric Rowe, a 2015 second-round pick who started the final five games last season. The starter for the first 11 games was Nolan Carroll, who is a free agent and has interest in returning to the Eagles. Carroll is recovering from a broken leg.
The other cornerbacks on the Eagles' roster are Jaylen Watkins, JaCorey Shepherd, Denzel Rice, Randall Evans, and Aaron Grymes - none of whom has started a game in the NFL.
The top available free agents include the Rams' Janoris Jenkins, the Chiefs' Sean Smith, the Giants' Prince Amukamara, and the Packers' Casey Heyward. Former first-round picks Patrick Robinson and Morris Claiborne are on the market. Philadelphia native Brent Grimes is expected to be released by the Dolphins with Maxwell coming in. And because Roseman connections cannot be ignored, former Eagles slot cornerback Brandon Boykin is a free agent one year after Kelly traded him to Pittsburgh.
All new acquisitions will run through Roseman, who opened cap space and created position needs with the two pending trades. When Roseman was asked at the scouting combine what role he had in the contracts for Murray and Maxwell, he deflected the question with an answer that seemed more appropriate after Monday's events.
"I think the best thing we can do is just move forward this year," Roseman said, "and talk about what's going on this offseason."
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Staff writer Jeff McLane contributed to this article