NFL Player News

With Darren McFadden and Rashad Jennings both expected to hit the free agent marketplace, this offseason should be huge for Raiders running back Latavius Murray. On injured reserve for his rookie season with an ankle injury, Murray might be in a position to land a big chunk of the Oakland run game workload. Coach Dennis Allen will be watching and evaluating. 

"I think Latavius is one of those guys that we're anxious to see be healthy and get out there and play," Allen said according to ESPN. "He's a big back that's got excellent speed and excellent size. He runs tough ... we'll find out a lot more about Latavius Murray as we go through the offseason program and into training camp."

Murray is 6-foot-3 and 230 pounds, a physical pounder who had 19 total touchdowns and over 1,300 total yards in 11 games as a senior at Central Florida in 2012. 

In what shouldn't be a surprise given their new offensive coordinator's tendencies, the Ravens will move to a zone-blocking scheme. Gary Kubiak has had much success working in such a format in his time in the NFL and will look to keep it going as the Ravens begin handing out their new playbooks to players in the near future, per the Baltimore Sun. 

The scheme could favor backup running back Bernard Pierce, who ran in a similar system in college. Veteran running back Ray Rice, currently embattled in an off-field issue, could adapt to it easily but struggled (along with Pierce) when the team tried to use zone blocking last year. 

The Ravens might need to add a couple of fresh linemen to make the transititon smooth. 

It remains unclear who will start at running back for the Colts, and the question could stay unanswered until Week 1, reports ESPN.com. Trent Richardson is coming back from a shoulder cleanup, Vick Ballard is returning from a torn ACL, and Donald Brown is headed to free agency.

General manager Ryan Grigson is in no rush to provide the answer.

“At any point in time you'll know how we do things with the Colts, it's the best players play,” he told the website. “Iron sharp as iron. We're going to try to have the most competition at each position group and whoever wins that spot is going to be the starter and it's who is going to get us to that next level, which is Super Bowl XLIX and that's the mindset. You're either all in or all out."

The Titans met with running back Chris Johnson's agent at the NFL Scouting Combine, but his status did not change, reports the Tennessean. Johnson won't accept a pay cut from the $8 million he's scheduled to make in 2014, and the team has not decided whether Johnson is worth keeping at that price, the report said.

Johnson is rehabbing from offseason arthroscopic knee surgery.

Cardinals coach Bruce Arians praised running back Ryan Williams' attitude last season when he was a healthy scratch for every game. But the coach conceded Williams' roster spot is not secure, saying "he could be gone."

“Ryan has a chance this year,” Arians told the team's website. “He went into training camp (last year) and missed the entire preseason. It’s very hard to become a player during the season when you miss the entire preseason. He did impressive things on the scout team. The big thing, he came to work every day. The consistency of showing up to work every day, that will be the big thing for him in training camp this year.”

Although their greatest needs are at wide receiver and tight end, the Jets are exploring free agent running backs Ben Tate (Texans) and Donald Brown (Colts), reports ESPN.com. The news could mean the Jets aren't totally satisfied with the backfield combo of Chris Ivory and Bilal Powell.

Seahawks coach Pete Carroll has high hopes for second-year running back Christine Michael. He said at the NFL Scouting Combine on Friday that Michael could be Seattle's breakout star in 2014.

"He's really talented and he's a really exciting guy in our program. Probably has the most breakout potential out of anybody because you haven't seen much of him yet," Carroll said via Pro Football Talk. "We've seen him, we know that he can do really special stuff. He played in a very competitive position. It was hard to get in there with Marshawn (Lynch) and Robert Turbin there. But he'll give those guys a real run when we come back to work. He'll grow a lot from Year 1 to Year 2. We all know in our program that he's going to be very explosive and a really exciting guy. He showed that in his chances that he had."

Part of the reason Michael could have a breakout season in 2014 is that Lynch could be headed for a downturn in production after 400-plus touches in 2013. That could open the door for Michael to play a bigger role next year.

The Colts remain high on running back Trent Richardson, reports CBSSports.com NFL Writer Josh Katzowitz.

Colts coach Chuck Pagano said Richardson, who underwent arthroscopic surgery on his shoulder following the season, should improve in 2014 after a down season in 2013.

"The sky's the limit for Trent," Pagano said. "This will be a very important offseason for him. Look for great things."

Colts general manager Ryan Grigson said there's room for improvement for Richardson, but he added the team would still make the trade that brought him from Cleveland to Indianapolis last season for a first-round pick.

While the Cardinals won't commit to making him their feature back, it sounds like Andre Ellington will have a shot at a big role in 2014. That's after coach Bruce Arians told the official team website Friday that the team wants "to build our offense around him."

Arians also disclosed that Ellington has already added 10 pounds of muscle to his frame; the team indicated that they wanted him to bulk up without losing any speed. 

Basically playing the smaller role in a tandem with Rashard Mendenhall last year, Ellington had 652 yards on 118 carries (5.5 avg.) with three touchdowns and eight runs for 20-plus yards. He also had 39 catches for 371 yards (9.5 avg.) with a score. 

The Cardinals sound like they plan to keep running back Ryan Williams for 2014 even though he didn't play at all in 2013, reports the team's official website.

Williams is a 2011 second-round pick whose first two seasons were all but a wash because of injuries, and he barely made the roster in 2013 but ended up inactive for all 16 games.

"Ryan is a tremendous talent," general manager Steve Keim said. "He's a guy who still, on the practice field, shows us the movement skills, the run ability, the change of direction is fantastic. Obviously he has had to battle injuries, which has probably been his biggest issue. And last year, bringing in Stepfan Taylor and Andre Ellington and the impact both of those players made instantly put Ryan on the backburner. "He's a guy we still have hopes for. He's still got the ability and I think Bruce (Arians) just wants him to put it all together."

The report says Williams is due a salary of about $1 million this season, with a cap hit of $1.5 million. Releasing him would save $1 million.