The Cowboys have two key offensive free agents this offseason and it’s been a pretty widespread view that they should re-sign wide receiver Dez Bryant and let running back DeMarco Murray leave if they’re forced to choose one player over the other.
Reasoning for this view usually holds that the Cowboys’ strong offensive line and passing game made for a winning situation for Murray that other backs could also exploit for good production. On Thursday, tight end Jason Witten said that supporters of that theory were underrating what Murray brings to the table.
“We’ve got good running backs,” Witten said, via ESPNDallas.com. “Joe Randle took advantage of every opportunity he got. I think [Lance] Dunbar’s got a great future ahead of him. Obviously the O-line, but I think it would be silly to not give him the credit for what he did. It’s not easy to do that and I think Coach [Jason] Garrett said it a few weeks back that he created a mindset for our team and that’s not easy to do. He deserves a lot of that credit, DeMarco does, and so that’s why you want a guy like that back because he stands for everything you want in your football team.”
It’s a strong argument, but it doesn’t change the financial realities that the Cowboys fave while trying to retain both players. It also doesn’t change the fact that the drop from Bryant to any receiver who would replace him as Tony Romo’s top target is almost certainly going to be greater than the drop from Murray to another running back.
That keeps the needle pointing toward Murray’s departure, even if his teammates won’t just be shrugging their shoulders about his departure.
