DeMarco Murray missed practice for the Philadelphia Eagles once again on Wednesday, leading to murmurs an illness and hydration levels aren’t the only issues limiting the reigning NFL rushing champion at training camp. The good news is, whatever is bothering Murray must not be too serious, or Malcolm Jenkins probably wouldn’t be joking about it.
Just as the Eagles’ training session was getting underway this morning, Jenkins was seen offering Murray a folding chair, presumably so that the star running back would be comfortable from his vantage point on the sideline while the rest of his teammates went to work under the hot, August sun. As it turned out, though, Jenkins wasn’t only teasing Murray—the safety was giving all of the excused players a hard time.
Here was the exchange after practice.
Reporter: What were you doing with the folding chair at the beginning of practice?
Jenkins: We had a lot of guys that, for whatever reason, took a little day off. I just wanted to make sure they had a nice little seat and a place in the shade while we were all working out here.
Reporter: It looked like you were targeting DeMarco.
Jenkins: Oh no, I got all those guys, DeMarco was the last one. Just a little joke. When you see guys, all of them obviously have reason they’re sitting out, but when you’re warming up and they have their visors on… you have to laugh when you get upset.
NFL
Jenkins was merely trying to keep things light at practice, but there have been serious concerns over Murray’s mounting absences at practice. While the two-time Pro Bowler was a participant at Tuesday’s session, he spent a good portion of the time working off to side, away from the rest of the team, in addition to missing several other days this summer.
Then again, it’s far too early to worry about Murray’s availability. The Eagles already know what they’re getting, so it’s not like he has anything to prove in camp, and coming off a near-historic workload in 2014, there’s a feeling it may be best to take it easy on him in August, anyway. After all, September 14—opening day for the Eagles—is still a month away, which is when the offense will be counting on him to suit up.