A Vikings UDFA Defender is Turning Heads at Training Camp
Consider Kevin O’Connell a fan. Or, at least, someone who has been impressed by what Gabriel Murphy has been doing so far.
The UDFA defender is battling for one of Minnesota’s final roster spots after slipping out of the draft. Helping his case has been his ability to get some work with the 1st team. Even better, Murphy has actually been making plays before earning a shout out from Coach O’Connell.
Vikings UDFA Defender Gabriel Murphy is Impressing O’Connell
The top cluster of talent at edge rusher is Jonathan Greenard, Andrew Van Ginkel, and Dallas Turner. Getting an unprompted mention alongside those players should be considered a positive sign.
The conversation had been focusing on Turner for a little while before things took a turn to the edge rushers more broadly: “Those 3rd down rushes are really what defines those edge guys. You saw JG make a really nice rush on BO yesterday. Gabe Murphy is showing up time and time again early on here as a guy that’s versatile in the rush game.”
“And then as Van Ginkel works his way back in,” O’Connell continued, “you’re talking names and numbers of guys that can truly line up in any particular spot.”
Folks, that’s quite the statement. The bit about JG and BO — Jonathan Greenard and Brian O’Neill — is an instance of two monsters squaring off. Immediately moving into praise for Murphy, someone who didn’t even get drafted, is both jarring and exciting, especially since Andrew Van Ginkel is the name that gets looped in at the end.
Essentially, O’Connell builds off of his answer about No. 17 pick Dallas Turner by turning to the EDGE1 and EDGE2. In between those two names — Greenard and Van Ginkel — is Gabriel Murphy, the UDFA who “time and time again” made positive plays.
Per Sean Borman of Vikings Territory, Murphy even got a bit of work with the 1s.
Darren Wolfson shared this thought on the young pass rusher: “After watching #Vikings OLB No. 59 Gabriel Murphy in the spring and summer, even more surprised he didn’t go 4th or 5th round, heck somewhere. Looks like a solid post-draft signing by Vikes.”
As for the man himself, Gabriel Murphy thinks that he can do different things: “From a pass rush standpoint, get on the edge, a little bit inside, [Brian Flores has] moved me all over. I played a little bit of inside linebacker, outside linebacker, so kind of all over the defense.”
Ah, yes, the versatility that Brian Flores is so well known for. No surprise that Flores wants to use his players in different ways. The impressive part is simply that Murphy is capable of doing all of those things so early.
While at UCLA in 2023, the pass rusher was productive. He had 8 sacks and 16 tackles for a loss last season, some tremendous stats that speak to an ability to play behind the line of scrimmage. Rounding out the stats were 38 tackles and 2 passes defended.
As part of the three-year deal he signed, Gabriel Murphy picked up $245,000 in guarantees. The hefty total suggests that other teams were in the mix for him (something that the Wolfson interview gets into a bit).
For whatever it’s worth, PFF placed Murphy at 149th on their board — a Day 3 selection — while offering this thought: “Murphy is lacking in physical gifts, but he mitigates that with fantastic hand usage and a wisdom of what works as a pass-rusher. He can find a rotational contributing role as an on-ball outside linebacker in the NFL.”
Right now, the praise from PFF is looking prescient. Gabriel Murphy is wearing the #59 jersey, so keep an eye on the 23-year-old on August 10th when the opening preseason game gets played.
Editor’s Note: Information from Sports Reference CFB and Over the Cap helped with this piece.
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K. Joudry is the Senior Editor for Vikings Territory and PurplePTSD. He has been covering the Vikings full time since the summer of 2021. He can be found on Twitter and as a co-host for Notes from the North, a humble Vikings podcast.
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