During the 2024 season, the Hamilton Tiger-Cats had an outstanding performance after struggling to find consistency during the 2023 season. Unfortunately, the Tiger-Cats offensive success did not translate into a winning record for Hamilton, primarily due to the poor performance of the Tiger-Cats defense. The lack of performance on the defensive side of the ball led to the firing of defensive coordinator Mark Washington mid-season, the addition of Chris Jones to run the Tiger-Cats defence, and then the Tiger-Cats moving on from Jones and hiring another new defensive coordinator Brent Monson.
The most significant contributor to the Tiger-Cat’s defensive struggles was the lack of production of a young defensive front seven. If Hamilton wants a bounce-back season in 2025, the Tiger-Cats must find a way to fix their defensive line and linebacking units. Earlier this week, the Tiger-Cats re-signed defensive lineman Mario Kendricks to give him another chance to make an impact for the Tiger-Cats, and the CFL Transactions list shows that the Tiger-Cats have also signed an American linebacker, Tyler Murray.
The 6’1″, 225-pound linebacker Murray, a native of Jacksonville, Florida, came to the CFL after chasing a couple of NFL opportunities. In 2023, Murray was signed by the Cincinnati Bengals as an undrafted free agent, and he was released by the Bengals before being signed back to the Bengals practice squad. The Bengals released Murray once again, and the Pittsburgh Steelers signed Murray. Pittsburgh released Murray before the start of the 2024 NFL season.
Before signing with the Bengals, Murray played five college football seasons at Troy University, Charlotte, and the University of Memphis. Murray started his college football journey at Troy, where he played in 26 games from 2018 until 2019 and recorded 64 tackles, eight tackles for loss, three quarterback sacks, four interceptions, three forced fumbles, three fumble recoveries, five pass breakups, and one quarterback hurry. After the 2019 season, Murray transferred to Charlotte, North Carolina.
Murray played in 18 games for the 49ers from 2020 until 2021. During his time in Charlotte, Murray made 128 tackles, 7.5 tackles for loss, 1.5 quarterback sacks, intercepted two passes, forced three fumbles, recovered two fumbles, and hurried the quarterback five times. In 2021, Murray was a team captain for the 49ers.
Murray transferred to the University of Memphis for the 2022 season and played in 13 games for the Tigers. While playing for Memphis, Murray posted 67 tackles, six tackles for loss, two interceptions, three quarterback hurries, and two pass deflections. Murray’s success in college shows that he could have the potential to be a “diamond in the rough” for the Tiger-Cats.
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