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Bengals Film Breakdown: The Good and Bad From Myles Murphy's Preseason Performance

The 21-year-old showed flashes as a pass rusher, even if the numbers don't show it.

Mike Santagata

Bengals Film Breakdown: The Good and Bad From Myles Murphy's Preseason Performance
Bengals Film Breakdown: The Good and Bad From Myles Murphy's Preseason Performance /
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Myles Murphy has been and will be a popular topic of conversation among Bengals fans and analysts since they took him with the 28th pick in the 2023 NFL Draft.

He played in two preseason games, but that hasn't stopped some from groups from coming to premature conclusions about NFL future. 

Murphy was the 17th overall prospect in this year's draft class, but a majority of analysts believed that he would need time to develop because he’s young, inexperienced, and raw technically. 

Still, you would expect a first round pick to flash in his time on the field. Let’s take a look at Murphy’s limited action this preseason to see how he impressed, what needs work, and how he could develop:

Pass Rush Flashes

According to a majority of defensive line coaches, get off is the most important attribute in a pass rusher. Murphy’s elite get off contributed to his ranking in the draft. His 10-yard split of 1.59 seconds puts him into the 95th percentile for every EDGE draft prospect of the RAS era. And it's not like he's small. Murphy is 6-4 and 268 pounds.

If you’re just analyzing the result of this play, then this was not a successful rush for Murphy. It’s not a pressure, quarterback hit or sack. Jay Tufele is the one who gets the pressure on the play, however, let’s take a look at the process of this play.

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Murphy’s get off on this play is incredible. He is already a full step into his rush before any of the other members of the defensive line have even come out of their stances. Despite this, he does not win the corner, but he is able to convert the get off speed into power.

At this point, Murphy is in complete control of the rep and is winning as well by driving the offensive tackle backward. He’s doing this completely with his power as he missed his hand placement as his inside hand is on the shoulder of the tackle, rather than inside on the armpit or anywhere on the breastplate.

Because Murphy is winning, the guard comes over to give him some help and Murphy is unable to win through two players. This opens up an opportunity for Tufele because he's one-on-one with the center and he takes advantage of it. If the guard stayed on Tufele, there’s a high chance of probability that Murphy is the one that gets the pressure. This play shows what the rookie can do as a pass rusher, but it doesn't show up in the stat sheet if you’re just grading the result and not the process.

This play was common in the third preseason game, as the Commanders spent a majority of this game sliding to Murphy or chipping him with a tight end. Despite that, he still got pressure through the slide on one play.

Murphy clearly has the best get off on this play, but does not beat his man to the spot. He then converts speed to power once again, but the guard comes and gives him a shot to try to take him out of the play. Murphy takes that contact and rolls with it to beat the tackle around the outside. He then uses his length to affect the quarterback who drops his eyes and looks to escape the pocket.

Another example of Murphy’s get off and he is dominating this rep before the help arrives. He has pried open the inside shoulder of the tackle and is driving for a hit on the quarterback, but the left guard comes over and seals off the inside. If not for the double team, he would have been able to get to the quarterback as he had the tackle on his heels.

This play was one of the only opportunities Murphy had where he wasn't chipped. The slide moved away from him. He didn’t win with his initial move, but executed a very nice push-pull swim move to the inside to clear the tackle and move unabated to the quarterback.

Murphy flashed as a pass rusher in the preseason. It may not have been as consistent or as often as some fans would like to see, but when you consider the context of the slides and chips he dealt with, it’s more understandable. He also needs technical work, but he's oozing with potential as a pass rusher. If he somehow also was as technically efficient as a pass rusher like Will McDonald IV, then he would have gone in the top 5 of the 2023 Draft.

Areas For Improvement

Murphy has a few issues as a pass rusher. The most pronounced comes from his 2-point stance. You will see that every clip posted in the flashes section comes from a 3 or a 4-point stance. He’s clearly not used to rushing from a 2-point stance and wasn't asked to do so at Clemson.

His issue from the 2-point stance is that he has a false step when he rushes.

Watch as he picks up his inside foot on every rush in this video. That wastes time and movement which hurts one of his biggest advantages as a pass rusher.

This may appear to be a minute detail, but every fraction of a second is critical for pass rushers. Especially someone like Murphy, who is going to use his explosiveness to beat most tackles. By lifting that inside foot and setting it back down, he allows the offensive tackle to easily beat him to the spot. This is a common issue that plagues young draft picks because they are not used to rushing from a 2-point stance. 

It might seem like something that’s easy to fix, but it usually takes a little while because the natural movement from the 2-point stance is to lift that inside foot first. Murphy should mostly be used from a 3 or a 4-point stance this season to maximize his effectiveness.

Another area Murphy can improve is his hand placement and timing.

Murphy’s get off from his 4-point stance here wins him the outside. The Commanders are chipping him with the running back so Murphy’s path of least resistance is if he can win to the inside. The tackle actually does commit one step too many and Murphy could take advantage of this with an inside move. He attempts to club the tackle with his inside hand, but he misses the club as it grazes the inside shoulder of the tackle. If he can lower that placement and put the club on the tackle then this turns into a good rep for Murphy.

Even with the false step and the issues with his hand placement and timing, he still won a rep from a 2-point stance around the outside for a quarterback hit.

Murphy explodes on his get off on this play to threaten the corner and then wins by beating the outside hand of the offensive tackle with good placement to knock it away. He finishes by running the hoop and hitting the quarterback. Being able to win the corner at his size despite a false step in the 2-point stance is fantastic. While he needs to clean this up, this play shows what Murphy could bring to the team this year while he’s still working to get better.

Another way he could effectively be used this season is on stunts and twists.

This is a great way to use Murphy’s raw athleticism. He does a great job of selling his rush here so that the offensive tackle does not suspect that a stunt is coming. Once the defensive tackle crashes into the offensive tackle, Murphy loops around and puts pressure on the quarterback. Murphy should be able to do this in the regular season while he works on his ability to rush the passer to win one on one against offensive tackles. Stunts will maximize Murphy’s raw athleticism while hiding some of the technical deficiencies that he currently has.

Run Defense

When it comes to run defense, Murphy looked NFL ready in the preseason. He routinely won at the point of attack and did a better job of quickly processing the blocks in front of him than he did in college. If he can play run defense at an NFL level, then he should be able to give Trey Hendrickson and Sam Hubbard some more much needed breathers in the regular season so that they are more fresh for the playoffs.

In this example we see Murphy squeezing down on the kick out block as part of the Commanders’ GT counter concept. His feet are all out of whack because of that false step but he eventually slows himself down and sets his base so that he can take on this block. 

Murphy literally doesn't move from the block, which ruins the entire play for Washington. The unblocked man is now able to make the tackle because it is so close to him and the back has nowhere to go. Another example of great defense that does not get charted in the stat sheet because football is a team game.

This is great effort from Murphy as the unblocked man but an example of a rookie adjusting to the speed of the NFL. He has to recognize that the quarterback gave the ball to the back quicker. If he is able to squeeze down and quickly diagnose what happens here, then he may be able to make the stop despite the entire front getting caved in by the Commanders’ offensive line. 

He's able to stop a good gain from becoming an explosive gain, but this was an issue that Murphy also had in college. Learning how to quicken his ability to diagnose what happens in front of him is something that should come with experience. Still, he needs to improve this because he can’t be picked on as the read defender for the Ravens run scheme.

Concluding Thoughts

Murphy didn't play above or below my expectations this preseason. While I [and most analysts] agreed that he was a solid first round pick, it also appeared that he needed time. 

He's more in the mold of Jason Pierre-Paul or Rashan Gary than someone like T.J. Watt or the Bosa brothers. He needs time to reach his potential. Right now he flashes some of the upside but until he is able to clean up his technical issues, it won't be consistent. 

That's acceptable for this season. 

He’s only expected to be a role player this year and it looks like he'll be able to do that. He’s still only 21 years old and won’t turn 22 until January. Murphy fell in a perfect situation where he won't be relied on too much as a pass rusher early in his career. 

Exercise patience with the young prospect. Players from his archetype typically do not make a large impact until their second or third season. All we need to see from him this year is improvement as the year progresses.

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Mike Santagata
MIKE SANTAGATA

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