Eagles' Chip Kelly smart to go slow with DeMarco Murray

THERE IS A strong argument to be made that the local press already has written more than enough about DeMarco Murray's practice usage, and as a member of said press, that makes it my sworn duty to write even more about it.

But I'm having a lot of trouble working myself up into a lather about the whole thing, which generally is not a difficult thing for me to do.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but there seems to be little dispute that . . .

1) Murray's 392 carries in 2014 are a near-unprecedented total;

2) Running backs have a finite number of miles in their powertrain;

3) The few cases in which Murray's 2014 season was precedented suggest there may be some effects that need to be mitigated;

4) The preseason is too damn long.

Assuming all of us - media, fans, coaches, the Council of Cardinals - are in agreement on these four things, wouldn't the bigger story be if the Eagles weren't taking some steps to reduce unnecessary mileage on Murray's legs?

Here is one thing we should remind ourselves: DeMarco Murray was not Chip Kelly's first choice. In a perfect world, Frank Gore would be slotted to start the season as the Eagles' No. 1 running back, and this would be a column about Gore not playing in Sunday's preseason opener at Lincoln Financial Field, which he didn't, except he was wearing a Colts uniform while not playing instead of an Eagles uniform. That's a significant factor to consider given that it almost certainly resulted in a noticeable change to the trajectory of the Eagles' offseason, due to the money it ended up costing them.

The Eagles are devoting $1 million more in cap space in 2015 and $4.5 million more in 2016 to their No. 1 running back position than they would have had they signed Gore to the same contract he inked with the Colts. This wasn't a case of Kelly identifying a running back he just had to have and then paying whatever price was necessary to lure him away from a division rival. The Eagles guaranteed Murray $10.5 million more than Gore because he was one of their few remaining options. You saw who the loser of the Murray derby ended up signing (actually, you probably didn't: Darren McFadden).

We don't know all the specifics of Kelly's Plan A, but we do know that Murray wasn't part of it. At some point, Kelly decided that Gore at $7.5 million guaranteed was a better value than Murray at whatever number the market would end up bearing ($18 million, it turned out).

At the same time, we also know this: Kelly always planned to have two running backs here. Ryan Mathews said as much when he told Sports Illustrated in June that he agreed to terms with the Eagles knowing that they were planning to add either Gore or Murray. The top half of the combination ended up being a lot more expensive than Kelly had hoped. But the Eagles still guaranteed Mathews $5 million.

Here's one number that jumps out at you when you look at the Eagles' running game last season: 3.1. That's how many yards per carry they averaged in the fourth quarter, which was over 1.5 yards less than they averaged on each carry in the first three quarters.

Consider also that . . .

1) Last year, Murray's average YPC dropped a full yard after his 17th carry of a game, from 5.0 YPC on carries 1-17 to 4.0 on carries 18+. On carries 25+, he averaged just 2.4 YPC.

2) Last year was the first time Murray did not miss at least two games in a season.

3) For all the talk about Murray being a hit-the-hole-hard kind of back, he has a much different running style than Gore, who is more of a low, forward-leaning bulldozer. Murray is not as much of a bruiser as his size suggests.

4) LeSean McCoy had 647 carries the last two years, compared with Murray's 653.

5) Out in Kansas City, the Chiefs are limiting Jamaal Charles' workload in practice, subbing in Knile Davis for 11-on-11s and limiting Charles' work to, in the words of offensive coordinator Doug Pederson, "anything where we're not going at the legs," according to the Kansas City Star. Marshawn Lynch did not play in Seattle's preseason opener. Matt Forte did not play in Chicago's. Along with McCoy, Murray and Alfred Morris, they represent the running backs with the most carries over the last three seasons.

Clearly, Kelly was concerned about depth and endurance at the running back position. He acknowledged earlier this summer that Murray "carried the ball more than anybody in the National Football League last year, so we are trying to integrate him into what we are doing," a point he reiterated to SI.com on Monday.

Kelly's limiting of Murray makes all the sense in the world, particularly when you consider the possibility that he envisions an offense that runs the ball 30 times a game with no running back getting more than 15-18 carries.

Murray might have been a workhorse in Dallas, but Kelly has given plenty of indication that he wasn't signed to be one here.

On Twitter: @ByDavidMurphy

Blog: ph.ly/HighCheese