Rizzla takes a look at the Latavius Murray to the New Orleans Saints move, and discusses the fantasy context.
With Mark Ingram desiring to wait until Le’Veon Bell signed to pick a destination, the Saints were pressed into action with Latavius Murray receiving interest from other teams. According to NFL.com Latavius Murray signed a four year, $14.4 million dollar deal with the New Orleans Saints.
Signing Murray will effectively end their relationship with talented running back Mark Ingram. Murray has shown flashes in his career but does not possess the same level as talent as someone like Ingram. Murray will play a hammer role for a Saints team that desired to have a big back behind Alvin Kamara. Murray will be able to carry the load if needed, and that was likely one of their focuses here.
Fantasy Context:
This move does not affect most of the Saints skill players. Drew Brees and Michael Thomas are totally unaffected.
Alvin Kamara sees a nice value bump with this news. He now has a much higher weekly floor, and also sees an increase in his fantasy ceiling. Murray is not really all that close to Ingram talent level wise, and Sean Payton knows this. This means that Kamara will likely see all the work he can handle as a feature back with Murray acting as more of a change of pace, or breather back as opposed to the full blown co-starter or committee member Mark Ingram functioned as. Kamara remains an elite top five option at running back who now boasts significantly more upside in both redraft and dynasty.
Latavius Murray did well to get a decent amount of cash, but the location of the guaranteed money will be key here. Murray is 29 years old and highly unlikely to last on the Saints roster for more than a season or two, especially if the Saints draft a back this year as expected. Murray is a handcuff that is worth an end of the bench stash in deeper leagues. He could be used as a bye week filler in a pinch, but owners should be aware: he will not have a Mark Ingram level impact in fantasy.
