During the NFL offseason, many players found themselves with new teams. And so far, this has worked out splendidly for some players and quite disastrously for others.
While certain teams are benefiting from the moves, others may be wondering what in the world has gone wrong.
Here are 10 players who are all with new teams who either failing or thriving thus far.
Failing: DeMarco Murray, running back, Philadelphia Eagles
The Eagles are struggling to gain momentum on offense, and their expensive running back investment is also floundering about in Philly.
So far in two weeks, Murray has compiled 11 rushing yards at a ghastly average of 0.5 yards per attempt. The only saving grace is that Murray has managed 64 receiving yards and has two scores. To put into perspective about how truly bad he has been, at this same time last year, Murray had already registered 285 rushing yards and two touchdowns with the Dallas Cowboys.
Now, Murray is dealing with a hamstring injury and is questionable to suit up to play against the New York Jets on Sunday. But, perhaps this really doesn’t matter in Murray’s case, as bad as he’s been.
Thriving: Tyrod Taylor quarterback, Buffalo Bills
Just look at former Baltimore Ravens backup quarterback thrive with his new team. The 26 year old Taylor is taking the NFL by storm as the Bills starting quarterback despite the fact that he had zero starts before this season.
Taylor has helped lead the Bills to one win thus far and he put up a heck of a fight in a loss against the New England Patriots last weekend, passing for three touchdowns and running in a score of his own. Sure there were three interceptions along the way, however that is hardly surprising when a young quarterback attempts 30 passes in one game.
Everyone wondered what would come of Rex Ryan’s heated summertime quarterback competition, and so far it appears Taylor, or “T-Mobile” as his fans call him, is the real deal.
Failing: Jimmy Graham, tight end, Seattle Seahawks
Nobody, including Graham himself, seems too thrilled to see his talents wasting away so far in Seattle.
The Seahawks surprisingly lost their first two games, and Graham is not happy to have only been targeted twice in last week’s loss to the Green Bay Packers 17-27. So far this season, Graham has drawn only 10 targets for which he has seven receptions, 62 yards and one touchdown.
Last year while playing for the New Orleans Saints, during the first two weeks of the season, Graham had 23 targets for 18 catches, 200 yards plus two touchdowns. Why the Seahawks and Russell Wilson are not involving him more, especially when they are losing, is puzzling.
Perhaps the team will switch gears when they host the Chicago Bears in Week 3. However, Graham fuming around, disgruntled with a bruised ego, might just make matters worse for the Seahawks.
Thriving: DeAngelo Williams, running back, Pittsburgh Steelers
We know, Le’Veon Bell is back, which means Williams won’t be the featured back for the team any longer.
However, we simply cannot ignore how stunningly well the 32-year old running back has played over the past two weeks for Pittsburgh, tallying 204 rushing yards at an incredible average of 5.0 yards per carry. He has also pounded in three rushing touchdowns.
When Williams was playing for the Carolina Panthers last season, he managed a season total of only 219 rushing yards and zero touchdowns. Sure, he dealt with multiple injuries last season, but Williams’ electrifying performances this year show that as long as he is healthy, he can be a major contributor.
Bell returns this week but we can be sure that we haven’t seen the last of Williams hitting the field on occasion as a change of pace back in Pittsburgh’s offense.
Failing: Frank Gore, running back, Indianapolis Colts
The Colts are a hot mess, and blue must not be Gore’s color, because he has simply been dreadful in his first two weeks playing for Indianapolis.
Over the past two weeks, Gore has totaled only 88 rushing yards, which came at a painful 3.8 yards per attempt. In Gore’s entire 10-year career with the San Francisco 49ers, his average yards per carry never dipped lower than 4.1.
The sad highlight of Gore’s short tenure with the Colts came in Monday’s game against the New York Jets when he fumbled close to the goal line in what could have easily been a touchdown.
“That would have been a big touchdown,” Gore said, via The Indianapolis Star. “The game would have went differently if I would have just went in and ran into the end zone.”
While Gore’s stint in Indy isn’t going very dandy, he is hardly the one to saddle all the blame when we look at how horribly his quarterback is playing.
Thriving: Brandon Marshall, wide receiver, New York Jets
Marshall appears to be going with the flow and is looking quite comfortable in his new surroundings playing with Ryan Fitzpatrick under center.
So far this season, the Jets are 2-0 and Marshall has been an excellent contributor, tallying 13 catches for 163 yards and two touchdowns. And, as of this time, there doesn’t appear to be any discord on Marshall’s end, which is a refreshing change from his past bickers with former quarterback Jay Cutler.
Next up for the Jets is a home game against the Philadelphia Eagles, whose defense has surrendered 362 yards and two touchdowns to wide receivers in the past two weeks. Marshall should thrive, and it wouldn’t be surprising to see the Jets emerge 3-0 after Sunday’s game.
Failing: Sam Bradford, quarterback, Philadelphia Eagles
Let’s just say Chip Kelly’s treasured quarterback hasn’t exactly lived up to expectations yet this season.
The Eagles are 0-2 and will be facing a feisty New York Jets defense that completely picked Andrew Luck apart last Monday evening. Bradford, who has committed five turnovers so far this season compared to only two touchdowns, surely will be vulnerable to more screw-ups this week.
Bradford and the Eagles are struggling to gain offensive momentum, as demonstrated by the lowly 21 yards totaled in the first half of last Sunday’s game against the Dallas Cowboys.
Things really can’t get much worse for Bradford, who received a stare of death from DeMarco Murray and got booed by his own fans after he turned over the ball in last Sunday’s loss to Dallas.
Or, perhaps they could get worse if Bradford finds himself benched in favor of Mark Sanchez sometime in the near future.
Thriving: Michael Crabtree, wide receiver, Oakland Raiders
We have only witnessed two weeks of action between Crabtree and his new quarterback Derek Carr, however the sampling so far looks promising.
Carr seems to love Crabtree, as displayed by his 16 targets in last Sunday’s game versus the Baltimore Ravens when he managed nine catches for 111 yards and one touchdown. For comparison sake, Crabtree averaged only 6.75 targets per game last season with the 49ers. And, he never once crested 100 receiving yards in any game.
The fact that Crabtree totaled 111 yards and rookie Amari Cooper tallied 109 last week against a Ravens defense that only allowed 151 wide receiver yards to Denver in Week 1 is quite remarkable.
Crabtree appears to have found a comfort zone in Oakland, which is something he struggled with the past couple of seasons when playing with the 49ers.
Failing: LeSean McCoy, running back, Buffalo Bills
McCoy is off to a rocky start with his new team, and it is quite disturbing to see other running backs such as Dion Lewis, Matt Jones, Bishop Sankey and even his own Bills teammate Karlos Williams outranking him so far.
Let’s just say if you play fantasy football, Shady is not panning out as that overall No. 1 or No. 2 draft pick that was spent on him. After two games, McCoy has totaled 130 rushing yards, 73 receiving yards and zero touchdowns. That’s not horrible, but it’s not exactly wonderful either.
Hopefully McCoy can actually start scoring soon, which is something that might be difficult in Week 3 against a Miami Dolphins defense that has yet to allow any running backs to score to score against it.
Thriving: James Jones, wide receiver, Green Bay Packers
Jones, at 31 years old, is thriving so far with his “new” Packers team, as witnessed by three touchdowns in the first two games. He has averaged an incredible 16 yards per reception and is a major red-zone threat.
Who knew when the Packers resigned Jones, who played with the Oakland Raiders during 2014, that he would be tied for the lead in receiving touchdowns for receivers? Both Larry Fitzgerald and Travis Benjamin sit up top with Jones in this stat, though tight end Rob Gronkowski tops them all with four.
When the Packers lost No. 1 wide receiver Jordy Nelson for the season, it was thought that second-year wideout Davante Adams would step up to fill the void. Little did we know that Jones would have such an immediate impact.
The Packers are 2-0 and Jones looks to be a valuable asset to their offense moving forward.