The Cincinnati Bengals might not have had to endure a contract dispute with rookie first-round pick Shemar Stewart — or even Trey Hendrickson's ongoing hold-in — if Myles Murphy had hit the ground running in the NFL.
Murphy was a 5-star recruit who flashed well enough in three seasons at Clemson for the Bengals to select him 28th overall in the 2023 NFL Draft. Unfortunately, the 23-year-old's youth and naïveté were exposed once he hit the pros. After logging three sacks as a rookie, he posted a big fat bagel in that statistical category this past season.
A new feature by The Athletic's Paul Dehner Jr. dives deep into Murphy's development (or lack thereof), and the player himself took admirable accountability for his shortcomings to date.
Myles Murphy reflects on lackluster work ethic costing him in the NFL
If you look back at my real-time analysis on Barstool Sports' NFL Draft show — very proud of it, but be warned, it contains profanity — you can see that I was tempered in my enthusiasm for the Bengals' decision to draft Myles Murphy.
I remember seeing him hyped as a top-10 pick and never understood why. His collegiate production was decent but not spectacular (17.5 sacks, 37 TFL in three seasons), and he struck me as a pure speed-to-power pass-rusher with no counter moves.
Among all the interesting revelations in Dehner's piece, this quote from Murphy stands out above everything else, as he acknowledges that he could've and should've done more to polish his game:
"High school and college, I’ve been able to out-athlete people...Now I’ve noticed you have to be technical in your game 24/7. I wasn’t taking that as serious as I should."
Even the reasonable expectation that Murphy could replace Sam Hubbard as a passable pass-rusher/replacement-level starter with strong edge-setting versus the run hasn't come to pass. It's a big reason why Stewart was the pick at No. 17 overall this year.
Had Murphy shown more promise through his first two seasons, Cincinnati could've somewhat justified moving off Hendrickson, or could've bolstered the roster elsewhere with its premium 2025 first-round selection.
Optimism still exists for Myles Murphy in Cincinnati
The good news is, Hendrickson's hold-in and Stewart's belated report to the team has created valuable opportunities for Murphy to log more first-team reps this offseason than he likely would have otherwise. And the coaching staff, led by new defensive coordinator Al Golden, isn't giving up on him.
Here's what Golden had to say about Murphy to The Athletic:
"I’m really excited about him, but it is time...He knows that it’s time to go. And we’re really counting on him. We really are. We really are."
I would contend that the Bengals are holding out hope for Murphy more so due to a lack of viable in-house alternatives than anything else. It's not a defensive end depth chart full of world-beaters in my humble opinion. Joseph Ossai, Cam Sample, and Cedric Johnson aren't exactly household names.
A telling stat from the article: Murphy has logged 64 pass rush snaps on 3rd and 4th down and long. He's generated a pressure rate of just 3.1% with zero QB hits. That's just not good enough, especially for a Day 1 draft pick.
To echo Golden's sentiments, it's more of a "put up or shut up" situation than anything else for Murphy at this point. Give the player some credit for self-awareness, though. Murphy recognizes the sense of urgency, based on more of what he said in Dehner's piece, which included contributions from Tashan Reed:
"I am going into the season like it is now or nothing. Why not? Try everything. Don’t leave anything to questions. [...] Say f— it. Get to the quarterback."
Who Dey Nation isn't asking for much, Myles. Just be a decent rotation piece, and give us something when you're on the field in 2025. I'll keep the faith in the meantime. Thank you in advance! PS, that get-off is looking pretty, pretty good!
myles murphy is 6’5 280 moving like this… pic.twitter.com/xHN9qQjiFC
— 🎠 (@PlutoCooked) August 4, 2025