Kenneth Murray, Jr.

Three teams in three years: Chargers → Titans → Cowboys.

Murray was the 23rd overall pick of the 2020 NFL Draft by the Chargers out of Oklahoma. After four uneven seasons in LA, he played 2024 in Tennessee, and 2025 in Dallas — three different defenses in three years.

The career trajectory peaked in 2023 (68 solo, 7 TFL, 3 sacks) and again in 2024 (8 TFL, 3.5 sacks), when he was finally playing fully healthy and producing as a downhill thumper. 2025 has been a quieter role — fewer solo stops, more assists.

272 career solo tackles — and his career-best single game was 12 as a rookie.

Murray's 12-solo Week 13 of 2020 (vs NE) remains his single-game career high — set as a 22-year-old rookie. He has cleared 10 solo tackles in a game just that one time across 6 NFL seasons.

That profile is consistent with a 4-3 weakside LB who racks up tackles via volume and instincts rather than blowing up single plays.

2021 was lost: 28 total tackles in a season where he played 16 games.

Year 2 is when Murray's career nearly stalled. 28 total tackles, 0 sacks, 0 PDs, 2 TFL — a stat line indistinguishable from a backup. The Chargers benched him for stretches under Brandon Staley's new scheme, and the second-overall-LB-of-his-class label started slipping.

He bounced back partially in 2022 and fully in 2023 (career-best 68 solo, 3 sacks, 4 PDs), then signed with Tennessee in 2024 free agency.

316 total tackles in LAC, then 89 in TEN, then 81 in DAL — production scales with role.

Despite three teams in three years, Murray's production-per-season has held: ~85-110 total tackles in his last three seasons. The TFL drop in Dallas (4 in 2025 vs 8 in TEN 2024) is the cleanest sign that he's playing further off the ball in Mike Zimmer's defense.

At age 27, Murray's 405 career solo tackles outpace most 2020 first-round LBs.

Murray was the 3rd LB taken in 2020 (behind Isaiah Simmons and Patrick Queen). His career numbers — 272 solo tackles, 13 sacks, 33 TFL, 14 PDs across 6 seasons — sit comfortably above Simmons (~190 solo) and just behind Queen (~365 solo).

The profile is a steady volume run-defender — not a sack-rate LB or a coverage specialist — and he's quietly playing through the back end of his rookie deal across his third team without missing significant time.