Titans running back DeMarco Murray isn’t worried about second-round draft pick Derrick Henry taking carries away from him.
Murray told the Titans’ coaches he’s looking forward to playing with Henry and helping the Heisman Trophy winner develop into an NFL player. Titans coach Mike Mularkey said he called Murray to make sure he understood that Henry wasn’t coming to take the starting job away from Murray, and Mularkey said he and Murray are on the same page.
“You don’t do it for everybody, but there’s certain circumstances that you feel like it is necessary to make sure you are clear on the motive and why you are doing things,’’ Mularkey said of calling Murray. “Out of respect [for DeMarco] I wanted to do that.”
Mularkey said he was pleased with how eager Murray sounded to work with Henry.
“First of all, he loved the pick,’’ Mularkey said of Murray. “And he said, ‘He’s going to make me better and I am going to do the same for him.’ He said, ‘I’m going to do whatever I can to make him a great player‘.”
According to Mularkey, Henry’s job will be to back Murray up.
“I told DeMarco, ‘Nothing has changed since we made the trade for you. You’re still going to be the guy who is going to carry the load for us and I know when you need to take a break and come off the field there will be no letdown when the next running back comes in, whoever that is’,’’ Mularkey said. “That is our mindset and I told him that directly not long after we made that pick, that he was clear with the direction we were going to go with it.”
With Henry joining Murray in the backfield, running behind a line featuring first-round offensive tackle Jack Conklin, Mularkey’s promised “exotic smash mouth” offense is coming together. And Murray is glad to be a part of it.