As the great DJ Khaled would say, “Another one.” It’s been an eventful few hours for the Ravens, who are working quickly to revamp their backfield in the wake of another devastating injury, this one to power back Gus Edwards. In the span of only a couple weeks, the Ravens have lost a trio of running backs to season-ending injuries with Edwards joining J.K. Dobbins (ACL) and Justice Hill (Achilles) among Baltimore’s walking wounded after tearing his ACL at Thursday’s practice.
With their running-back depth chart in shambles, the Ravens have called on veterans Le’Veon Bell (added to the team’s practice squad earlier this week), Devonta Freeman and now Latavius Murray as reinforcements. Murray’s deal isn’t yet official, but when the ink dries, the former Pro Bowler should quickly vault to the top of Baltimore’s backfield pecking order, wrestling lead ball-carrier duties away from undrafted 25-year-old Ty’Son Williams, who spent much of last season on the Ravens’ taxi squad. Regarded as one of the league’s better backups throughout his Saints tenure (which ended earlier this week when he refused a pay cut), Murray has contributed 6,285 yards from scrimmage (4,991 rushing, 1,294 receiving) with 45 touchdowns since debuting in 2013.
No team in football relied more heavily on their ground game than Baltimore last season with the Ravens running on a league-high 55 percent of their plays while leading the NFL in rushing yards (3,071), carries (555) and yards per attempt (5.5). At this point, the injury-plagued Ravens are just trying to find enough healthy bodies to get them through Monday night’s opener in Las Vegas.
There’s a certain irony in the Ravens pursuing Murray, most recently of the Saints, months after parting ways with Mark Ingram, who had also played for New Orleans before coming to Baltimore. Murray underwhelmed in his two preseason games this summer (1.22 yards per carry) but nine carries is much too small a sample size to judge. His departure from the Big Easy leaves Notre Dame alum Tony Jones next in line to backfield pillar Alvin Kamara, who paced the NFL with 21 combined touchdowns (16 rushing, five receiving) a season ago.
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