Dallas Cowboys

The Cowboys reportedly discussed bringing back DeMarco Murray

Published Mar. 25, 2016 7:55 a.m. ET

Dan Graf

A lot of Dallas Cowboys fans probably wondered why their team didn’t bring back running back DeMarco Murray when the Philadelphia Eagles made him available for a bargain price on the trade market earlier this month.

Well, it turns out that – before Murray ended up with the Titans – the Cowboys at least talked about trying to reacquire the player who led the NFL in rushing for them just two seasons ago. Dallas coach Jason Garrett told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram that his team did its due diligence on the player who dropped from 1,845 rushing yards in 2014 to just 702 in his one season in Philadelphia.

“You are always looking at opportunities,” Garrett said. “We have a lot of discussions about a lot of players on teams throughout the league. You are always looking to try to bring guys in who can help your football team. In some cases you are more familiar with guys than others because they have been with you. So you look at those opportunities and see if they are realistic. We do that with a lot of different guys.”

Garrett believes the Titans, who landed Murray for the simple cost of swapping fourth-round picks with the Eagles, got a special player.

“He was a really good player for us during his four years with the Cowboys,” Garrett said. “Great respect for him as a player, great respect for him as a man.

“He is going to do a great job in Tennessee. He is going to fit in that system really well. Mike Mularkey is a great coach. It’s a good fit for both the player and the team. We were around him for four years. He was a helluva player and helluva person. He always went about it the right way. I think Tennessee is fortunate to have him.”

All that said, Murray’s contract hasn’t changed, and the Cowboys didn’t want to pay him the money he got with the Eagles last offseason. Even though both Dallas, which went 4-12 in 2015, and Murray suffered without each other, it’s hard to believe that bringing him back would have seemed like a better idea financially than keeping him did a year ago.