Murray bonuses...

I said if he were healthy. What if a player has incentives, but a team purposely holds him out so he can't reach them? You think that would fly? In the NFL, many players play hurt to a certain extent, but if they are medically cleared, they can play. Do they play at 100%? Probably not, but they still play. I have it from a good source that DM will not be healed up completely until next year, when he gets the off season to let it get better. Mularkey still thinks he is the best choice to put on the field in lieu of a rookie in Henry.

 

A team wouldn't hold out a productive player to save a little money. Incentive bonuses are usually chump change compared to salaries. Could they? Sure... Ultimately, the coach/team has control over who plays and who doesn't. A player at no time has control over those decisions.

Yes, I think Mularkey is stubborn about Murray being the lead back even when visably hobbled... But obviously he thinks Murray is the better option at this point. For whatever reason.

 

I think he believes that DM is the better package overall, especially catching passes out of the backfield. I still believe there are incentives in contracts that can't be ignored, or addressed in some way. If DM is guaranteed a large amount for reaching 1000 yards, you can't just sit him when he gets close to that (assuming the other RB can do the same thing). I would assume he is guaranteed a certain number of touches to get to those, or portions would have to be paid. This is why they have agents (who many times are lawyers) to write these complicated contracts.