Key Vikings Defender Has Taken His Game to a New Level
Byron Murphy has been a key Vikings defender since he signed back in 2023, but his recent play only underscores the reality of his status within the Brian Flores defense.
The team’s versatile CB1 is an underrated component to what’s making it all work. Football, quite often, comes down to being able to matchup well with an opponent. Murphy’s capacity to operate along the outside and inside was evident last Sunday when he allowed 6 targets to go for just a pair of catches for 26 scoreless yards. Murphy lined up along the outside (23 snaps), in the slot (34 snaps), at free safety (4 snaps), and in the box (1 snap). Would it be an exaggeration to insist that Minnesota doesn’t walk away with the 27-25 victory without Murphy’s play?
Byron Murphy Jr. as the Key Vikings Defender
Already, Murphy is sitting on several statistical career highs.
Playing in sixteen games matches the most he has played in his career. The 74 tackles are just 4 behind the output from his rookie season in 2019, but he’s likely to surpass the number in Week 18. And then there are the interceptions (6), passes defended (14), and tackles for a loss (5) that are now new benchmarks in his career.
Even better, Murphy is coming in as the 17th-best corner on PFF among the 117 who are considered. Stephon Gilmore comes in at 69th and Shaq Griffin at 65th. The latter-two players have been solid, but it’s Murphy who has really emerged as the season has progressed.
Part of what makes Murphy’s game so impressive is that he’s a versatile chess piece, putting up 595 snaps along the outside, 298 snaps in the slot, 71 snaps in the box, 15 snaps along the d-line, and 12 snaps at free safety.
Keep in mind, as well, that we’re talking about a defender who is on the cusp of his 27th birthday (January 18th). The suggestion is that he still has a lot of football left in his lungs and legs. Seeing Minnesota re-sign the defender for a three- or four-year deal won’t be surprising, not after he has proven to be such an integral part of allowing Flores’ defense to thrive.
Originally, Murphy entered the NFL as the No. 33 selection in the 2019 NFL Draft. So, just a hair outside of the opening round. The 5’11” corner who comes in at 190 pounds won’t overwhelm opponents with his size and nor does his 4.55 speed jump off the page.
What he does offer, though, is competitively sticky coverage from all over the secondary. Flores looks to his safeties to soak up a lot of snaps in the slot, and then there’s the occasional times when someone like Andrew Van Ginkel gets sent over in that direction.
Murphy, though, is the key Vikings defender in this facet of defensive football.
Once the offseason arrives, Kwesi Adofo-Mensah seems likely to make it a priority to retain Byron Murphy. Doing so would ensure that the secondary keeps its top corner, someone who has proven to be indispensable over the course of 2024. Murphy is going to see a large raise over his two-year, $17.5 million deal.
Before then, though, simply keep an eye on #7. The Week 18 matchup is a major one (to say the least), so Murphy will need to put together an excellent game.
Editor’s Note: Information from Pro Football Reference, PFF, and Over the Cap helped with this piece.
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, as a co-host for Notes from the North, and as the proprietor at The Vikings Gazette, a humble Vikings Substack.
