Jaguars reaping the benefits of Eric Murray's late career ascension

Better late than never is an overused cliché. But in the case of Eric Murray it seems to fit. The veteran safety's best years in the NFL have come in recent times, and the Jacksonville Jaguars are reaping the benefits to start the 2025 season.

Back in free agency, general manager James Gladstone took a chance when he signed Murray, but early on, that risk is paying off.

Eric Murray’s humble beginnings before joining the Jaguars

We’ve seen draft picks in the later rounds go on to take the league by storm, but Eric Murray wasn’t one of them. The Minnesota Golden Gopher was chosen in the fourth round by the Kansas City Chiefs in 2016 but saw precious little action early on. He started just 11 games in three seasons under head coach Andy Reid, defending a combined seven passes.

What he showed, though, in his time with the Chiefs was a strong ability to wrap up opposing players, registering over tackles in his final two years there, including 43 solo efforts in 2018. Being in the secondary, though, that stat may not be as impressive as it suggests. One might look at that and think a player in pass coverage making that many tackles may have had a lot of balls thrown his way that were caught.

Following the 2018 season Murray was traded to the Cleveland Browns and struggled even more to get playing time. He failed to make an impression on their head coach, Freddie Kitchens, beginning the season as a backup safety. He started just four games for them and was hampered by a knee injury.

Eric Murray blossomed in Houston under DeMeco Ryans

When Eric Murray joined the Houston Texans on a three-year, $18 million contract in 2020, he wasn’t a guaranteed starter. He eventually worked his way into the good graces of his coaching staff and got his opportunity.

Murray's first few seasons in Houston, though, were rather uneventful as the Texans won no more than four games in those first three campaigns and were a running joke in the league. He had to deal with several new head coaches and personnel due to the poor results under Bill O’Brien, Romeo Crennel, David Culley, and Lovie Smith, who all took the job between the start of the 2020 season and the end of 2022, with each failing miserably.

When defensive guru DeMeco Ryans became the head coach ahead of the 2023 season, things began to change for Murray and the Texans. While it took some time for him to ingratiate himself with the former San Francisco 49ers defensive coordinator, Murray learned a lot from his intensity and knowledge at practices and scrimmages.

He only started four games in Ryans’ rookie season as head coach. He put all of those lessons to good use in 2024, starting 14 games, defending a career-high 10 passes, and making an interception.

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Eric Murray has been a standout for the Jaguars

While he had a solid campaign and put up some career numbers in his final year with the Texans, Eric Murray didn’t get a lot of respect from experts. Pro Football Focus (PFF) ranked him 101st among 171 qualifying safeties in 2024.

Despite his experience and improved play, his arrival in Duval County surely raised a few eyebrows among fans. James Gladstone signed him to a three-year, $19.5 million contract. Given his history with new coaches, though, perhaps Murray was well-suited to handle that environment in Jacksonville, with first-year head coach Liam Coen at the helm and Anthony Campanile serving as an NFL defensive coordinator for the first time.

After a season in which the Jags gave up a league-high 257.4 passing yards per game in 2024, this team needed to do something to bolster its secondary.

Murray was by no means a splash signing this offseason, but no one’s made more splash plays in pass coverage for this team after two weeks. In their opening victory over the Carolina Panthers, he made two crucial plays in the first half, tipping a Bryce Young pass that led to a Foye Oluokun interception with the score tied 3-3.

That play led to a Jaguars touchdown as they began to take control of the game after that. He then followed that up with a huge hit on Hunter Renfrow with his team up by just one score.

Last week in Cincinnati, he was at it again, intercepting Jake Browning in the late stages of the opening half with the Bengals driving and nearing scoring territory.

Amid the hype surrounding this team in the cover game with the likes of Travis Hunter and Jourdan Lewis arriving in the off-season, Murray is the one making an instant impact for the Jaguars’ secondary.

As a unit, this team have given up 222 passing yards per game this season, which is not super encouraging. What is encouraging, though, is the confidence, intelligence and awareness that Murray is showing.

This team may still be giving up plenty through the air, but they’ve grown a lot in the takeaways category. They are tied for second in the league, in terms of turnover differential, at +3. Meanwhile, they lead the league in interceptions with five, with Murray playing a big part in a couple of those.

There’s still plenty of room for improvement with the Jags in pass coverage, but Murray’s been one of their few bright lights in that department so far.

Coen will be expecting more big plays from him on Sunday when they face Murray’s former team, the Houston Texans.

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