Eagles coach Chip Kelly thinks he got a bargain in running back DeMarco Murray -- and it’s a bargain he’s surprised his team was able to bag.
“I thought he would be out of our price range,” Kelly said.
As it turned out, the Eagles were able to get Murray for what’s being described as a five-year, $40 million contract with $20 million guaranteed.
Kelly said that as the Eagles started free agency, they thought the three best running backs were Murray, Ryan Mathews and Frank Gore. At first it appeared that they had a deal in place with Gore, but as it turned out the Eagles were able to sign both Murray and Mathews after Gore spurned them. Kelly said he now likes what he has at running back after trading LeSean McCoy.
“We thought the three best guys were Frank, DeMarco and Ryan. We wanted to target two of them and we ended up with two of them. Did we have a master plan that was exactly going to work out like this? No, but we went into it with the idea that if we lose LeSean we better get two guys. You’ve got to have as many good players as you can,” Kelly said.
Kelly said he thinks Murray, Mathews and Darren Sproles will give the Eagles a great backfield. It’s also an expensive backfield, even if Murray came a little cheaper than Kelly expected.
