{"id":40357,"date":"2025-12-24T12:13:43","date_gmt":"2025-12-24T12:13:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=40357"},"modified":"2025-12-24T12:13:43","modified_gmt":"2025-12-24T12:13:43","slug":"embattled-28-million-cowboys-lb-responds-to-widespread-criticism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=40357","title":{"rendered":"Embattled $28 Million Cowboys LB Responds to Widespread Criticism"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"post-featured-container-id\">\n<div id=\"post-featured\">\n<figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/GettyImages-2249662498-e1766550894151.jpg?quality=65&amp;strip=all&amp;w=780\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 820px) 95vw, 780px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/GettyImages-2249662498-e1766550894151.jpg?quality=65&amp;strip=all&amp;w=780 780w, https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/GettyImages-2249662498-e1766550894151.jpg?quality=15&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1100 1100w, https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/GettyImages-2249662498-e1766550894151.jpg?quality=35&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1350 1350w\" alt=\"Embattled $28 Million Cowboys LB Responds to Widespread Criticism\" width=\"780\" height=\"438\" \/><\/figure>\n<div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>The drum beat to get rid of Dallas Cowboys inside linebacker Kenneth Murray began before the 2025 regular season did, and it\u2019s seemingly going to continue until the bitter end as the franchise stumbles into its last 2 regular season games with a 6-8-1 record and eliminated from playoff contention.<\/p>\n<p>Murray has been a constant target of criticism throughout the season as his poor play has been a touchpoint for how bad the Cowboys have been on that side of the ball.<\/p>\n<p>Pro Football Focus has Murray with a bottom-feeding, 39.8 overall grade through 15 games, placing him 83nd out of 86 eligible players at his position. So, when people say Murray is the worst defensive starter in the NFL, there\u2019s actually some evidence to back that up.<\/p>\n<p>Not that Murray is listening. He gave a sharp response when asked if he\u2019d been privy to any criticism of his game this year.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI live under a rock, so could give two (expletives) about what somebody says, \u201d Murray told reporters on Tuesday, December 23.<\/p>\n<p>Playing in the final season of a 2-year, $15.5 million contract, there\u2019s a good chance Murray won\u2019t have to worry what anyone says about his game next year \u2014 because there\u2019s a good chance he\u2019ll be unemployed.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h2>Cowboys Traded for Multiple Inside Linebackers<\/h2>\n<p>With the uncertainty over the return of inside linebacker DeMarvion Overshown from a catastrophic knee injury \u2014 and what kind of player he might be when he got back \u2014 the Cowboys made 2 separate trades to acquire inside linebackers since the end of last season.<\/p>\n<p>First, they sent the Tennessee Titans a 2025 sixth round pick in exchange for Murray in March. Then, they traded for Cincinnati Bengals inside linebacker Logan Wilson right at the NFL trade deadline<\/p>\n<p>Murray, a 2020 first round pick (No. 23 overall) by the Los Angeles Chargers, will have approximately $28.6 million in career earnings following this season and has 77 tackles on the season with 14 starts.<\/p>\n<p>\u201c(Cowboys) traded for Kenneth Murray Jr., who, I\u2019m just not a fan of his game, to be honest,\u201d ESPN\u2019s Mina Kimes said on June 4. \u201cAnd I don\u2019t think he solves any of their problem \u2026 that\u2019s a very, very weak linebacker group. That\u2019s been the Achilles heel of their defense, of course.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>According to Spotrac, Murray\u2019s value in the 2026 free agent cycle equates to a 1-year, $5.1 million contract.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h2>Cowboys Fans Totally Turned Against Murray<\/h2>\n<p>While the Cowboys finally benched Murray late in the season \u2014 after some public comments from owner Jerry Jones seemed to indicate as much \u2014 it was more of a case of too little, too late.<\/p>\n<p>Cowboys fans turned against Murray a long time ago, and in the era of instant clips\/lowlights able to go directly up on X, it was a weekly ritual to dice up the worst of Murray\u2019s time on the field \u2014 most recently a head-scratching run read in a Week 15 loss to the Minnesota Vikings.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cGET KENNETH MURRAY OFF THE DAMN TEAM,\u201d Cowboys fan The Middler 11 wrote on X with a clip of the play.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI still don\u2019t understand why Kenneth Murray is allowed to take the field on defense when you have\u00a0Logan Wilson,\u201d\u00a0Cowboys fan Honest Gabe\u00a0wrote on X. \u201cThe math isn\u2019t mathing.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Dallas Cowboys LB Kenneth Murray angrily answered critics after a season in which he&#8217;s been arguably the NFL&#8217;s worst full time player.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":40358,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-40357","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-dallas-cowboys"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.7 - 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