Latavius Murray is a popular mid round draft pick for many fantasy owners due to his tantalizing physical attributes and a huge game on national television against the Kansas City Chiefs. However, his main risks are his lack of usage last year and inexperience. If the only thing stopping you from pulling the trigger on Murray is if the coaching staff will limit his opportunities to excel, then hopefully this article can change your mind.

Musgrave is a bit of a polarizing figure as an offensive coordinator.  He's struggled to maintain a job at one city, having his longest tenure be part of the Minnesota Vikings as the offensive coordinator, with one of those seasons being AP’s legendary 2000 yard season. He’s excelled in the past at getting the most out of some unique “gadget” type players, such as Percy Harvin. However, his play calling has been questioned on multiple occasions.

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Offensive Line Scheme

Latavius Murray should benefit from Bill Musgrave’s innovative and highly regarded run schemes that have been adopted throughout the league the past few years. What makes them so hard to gameplan against is that Musgrave excels at using multiple formations to create both mismatches and looks that weren’t shown previously in the season, making them near impossible to gameplan against.

These formations require a lot of movement from the offensive line, and thankfully Oakland has very above average athletes in 4 of the 5 line positions (Gabe Jackson is more of a mauler). Having Rodney Hudson in the center position is going to be especially beneficial for Murray, who was very above average in both run blocking and screen blocking (the best at screen blocking per PFF). Musgrave has also made it a priority to get his most physically gifted athletes onto the field at all times.

These schemes have led to some seriously productive seasons for running backs, and have led to success for other NFL teams, such as the Packers utilizing the “Full House” and having Randall Cobb in the backfield.

Player Utilization

Musgrave has made it a point in his career to utilize players with the most unique and versatile abilities. Percy Harvin had his best season under Musgrave, where he was utilized as an outside receiver, running back and gadget player. He also consistently used multiple tight end formations, using players like Rhett Ellison and Kyle Rudolph as H-backs on multiple occasions.

The idea of Musgrave’s scheme was to completely mask any indication of what play was going to be run from each specific formation, and it proved to be massively successful in the running game. This bodes well for an athletic Murray who can be utilized in multiple formations.  He has shown to be a capable pass catcher and can be moved to create some interesting mismatches.

Musgrave also isn’t afraid to work running backs heavily.  Look at the usage for his starting RBs when he was a coordinator:

2003 - Fred Taylor - 345 carries
2004 - Fred Taylor - 260 carries - 14 games
2011 - Adrian Peterson - 208 carries - 11 games
2012 - Adrian Peterson - 348 carries - 2000+ yards
2013 - Adrian Peterson - 279 carries - 14 games

These numbers are extremely inspiring for two reasons: Each running back was on pace for AT least 290 carries, and twice the number was almost 350. Second, Fred Taylor and Peterson were used as lead backs and there was never a committee. Latavius Murray is obviously not on the same level as either Fred or Adrian, but previous history indicates that Murray will be given a full workload if he excels in his opportunities.

PPR owners should look close in the preseason to see how the Raiders work their running backs on 3rd down.  Roy Helu has excelled as a 3rd down back in the past, and Musgrave has consistently used his backup running backs and fullbacks as pass catchers each season.  Both Jackson and Peterson still caught at least 25 balls a year if not much more, but backups such as Toby Gerhart, LaBrandon Toefield, and Marc Edwards all nearly matched or exceeded the targets and catches of Jackson and Peterson.

Conclusion

History shows that Bill Musgrave is a benefit to Murray’s opportunity here.  If Murray is able to excel, it’s a virtual guarantee that he becomes one of the most heavily used running backs in the league this year, which will mean wonders to his fantasy value.

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