Kenneth Murray excited to play in Chargers new defensive scheme

Bolt

Well-known member
Mar 19, 2019
1,581
0
NFL: OCT 04 Chargers at Buccaneers

Getty Images

As the Rams’ defensive coordinator in 2020, Brandon Staley helped implement a scheme that had that team finish atop the league in points allowed and yards allowed.

Now as the Chargers head coach, Staley is bringing that system to a training facility an hour or two south — depending on traffic. And that’s been good news for linebacker Kenneth Murray.

Selected with the 23rd pick in 2020, Murray started all 16 games as a rookie in former coordinator Gus Bradley’s system. But under Staley and coordinator Renaldo Hill, Murray feels like he’ll get back to a style of play that better fits him.

“A lot of the things in the scheme last year didn’t allow for me to play as downhill as I wanted to play,” Murray said Tuesday, via Gilbert Manzano of the Los Angeles Daily News. “In college, that’s pretty much what I did every down is play downhill, so to hear somebody come in and say they want me to play downhill, that’s kinda like music to my ears.

“Playing downhill, blitzing a lot more, being aggressive, so that’s what I’m excited about.”

Murray had 107 total tackles with a sack, three passes defensed, and five tackles for loss as a rookie. If he does get to blitz more, those sack numbers should come up. He recorded 8.5 in his last two seasons at Oklahoma.
 
Top