NFL Free Agency: Latavius Murray to sign with New Orleans Saints

Another member of last year’s Minnesota Vikings team is taking his talents elsewhere, and he’s going to a place that would appear to be a strange fit given his overtures about wanting to be a lead player in a team’s backfield.

According to Adam Schefter of ESPN, running back Latavius Murray is moving on, as he will be signing a deal with the New Orleans Saints when free agency officially begins on Wednesday.

Murray signed with the Vikings before the start of the 2017 season, and with the injury to Dalvin Cook quickly found himself in a prominent role in a tandem with Jerick McKinnon. He was the Vikings’ leading rusher in 2017 with 842 yards, and was second to Cook in 2018. He also found the end zone 14 times via the ground in those two seasons.

The Vikings restructured Murray’s contract last offseason, voiding the final year of his contract so that he would reach free agency this offseason. Given Murray’s expressed desire to be a leading man in a team’s backfield, it seems strange that he would go to a team that has one of the best backs in the NFL in Alvin Kamara. As Schefter states, however, this move likely means the Saints are moving on from Mark Ingram, and given his goal-line abilities, Murray could very easily slot into that role.

So, another member of the Vikings will be playing elsewhere in 2019. I don’t know if any of us expected Murray to be back, but the exodus continues.