Bengals Roster Breakdown: Myles Murphy has more on his plate entering critical second season

Throughout the summer leading up to the regular season, we will go through the entire 2024 Cincinnati Bengals roster. Every single day until the season opener against the New England Patriots, we will break down a player on the roster including his background, contract status, and path towards making the team.Today, we discuss one of […]

John Sheeran — Cincinnati Bengals News Writer
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Myles Murphy
© Katie Stratman-USA TODAY Sports

Throughout the summer leading up to the regular season, we will go through the entire 2024 Cincinnati Bengals roster. Every single day until the season opener against the New England Patriots, we will break down a player on the roster including his background, contract status, and path towards making the team.

Today, we discuss one of the youngest players on the Bengals' roster in edge defender Myles Murphy. Last year's first-round selection showed great promise during the second half of 2023. Cincinnati is banking on that growth carrying over into 2024.

Myles Murphy

  • Age: 22
  • Year: 2nd
  • Position: Edge defender
  • College: Clemson
  • Previous Teams: None
  • Jersey Number: 99

Murphy was drafted by the Bengals with the 28th overall pick in the first round of the 2023 NFL Draft. He spent three years at Clemson and enrolled early in 2020. He played in all 12 games as a freshman on his way to earning Freshman All-American honors. He led the defense in tackles for loss (12) and forced fumbles (3) despite only starting six games. He led the Tigers in both categories again in 2021 along with a career-high seven sacks as he became a full-time starter and earned Second-Team All-ACC honors. In 2022, he posted double-digit tackles for loss for a third consecutive season and was named First Team All-ACC. He was the only college player to have 10+ tackles for loss and at least one forced fumble in every season from 2020-22. 

Fresh off his 21st birthday, Murphy entered the draft as one of the youngest players in his class, but he nearly fell out of the first round. 17.5 career sacks on 911 career pass-rushing snaps sparked questions about his finishing ability around the quarterback. Sacks are what get edge defenders drafted high, but the Bengals saw Murphy as a high-end athlete who had more to offer with added development. Selecting him with the 28th pick was seen as a "best player available" decision, but the Bengals would need Murphy more than people expected out the gate. 

Murphy started low on the depth chart behind reserves Joseph Ossai and Cam Sample and starters Trey Hendrickson and Sam Hubbard, but a preseason injury to Ossai gave Murphy added reps in practice leading up to the regular season. He was rotated in for 32 snaps in the first two weeks with Ossai out, and only saw the field for 34 snaps the following four weeks heading into the bye week. He put up a quality game against the Buffalo Bills in Week 9 in which he registered two pressures on nine pass-rushing snaps. The following week saw Hendrickson suffer a hyperextended knee, which led to Murphy playing 27 snaps. This became the norm for the rookie going forward.

Murphy played 219 snaps in the final nine games of the season, recording 10 pressures and two sacks which gave him 15 and three, respectively, for the year. The coaching staff had him rushing off both the left and right edge, and that experience bodes well for his growth moving forward.

Contract details

Murphy is in the second year of his four-year, $12,587,256 rookie contract. He will earn a fully guaranteed base salary of $1,322,148 for the 2024 season.

When adding on his signing bonus of $6,154,368 that's prorated throughout the deal, Murphy's cap hit for the season will be $2,860,740.

Roster outlook

Murphy emerged as the Bengals' third edge as a rookie, and that role isn't going away despite Ossai still being his teammate. The two will be counted on more often this season in an effort to give the starters more rest throughout the regular season.

It's entirely possible Murphy was drafted to originally replace Hendrickson in 2025. That plan changed when Hendrickson went to the team for an extension last summer and was given an added year, but the closer Murphy's rookie deal gets to expiring the more incentive the Bengals will have to play him. This is something to note next year when both Hendrickson and Hubbard enter contract seasons.

For now, Murphy handle plenty of snaps behind both of them.

Projected role: First edge defender off the bench

Previous player breakdowns

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