Marques Allen Murrell (born March 20, 1985) is a former

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wit ...

linebacker Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and the defensive linemen. They are the "middle ground" of defenders, pl ...

. He was signed by the

Philadelphia Eagles The Philadelphia Eagles are a professional American football team based in Philadelphia. The Eagles compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. The team play ...

as an

undrafted free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under contract at present but who is a ...

in 2007. He played college football at Appalachian State. Murrell also played for the New York Jets,

New England Patriots The New England Patriots are a professional American football team based in the Greater Boston area. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East divisio ...

, Virginia Destroyers and

Montreal Alouettes The Montreal Alouettes (Canadian French, French: Les Alouettes de Montréal) are a professional Canadian football team based in Montreal, Quebec. Founded in 1946, the team has folded and been revived twice. The Alouettes compete in the Canadian F ...

. He is the younger brother of former

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ma ...

running back A running back (RB) is a member of the offensive backfield in gridiron football. The primary roles of a running back are to receive handoffs from the quarterback to rush the ball, to line up as a receiver to catch the ball, and block. The ...

Adrian Murrell Adrian Byran Murrell (born October 16, 1970) is a former professional American football running back. He was drafted by the New York Jets in the fifth round of the 1993 NFL Draft after playing collegiately for the West Virginia Mountaineers. ...

, who played with the Jets from 1993 to 1997.

Early years

Murrell registered 21 sacks over his final two seasons at Jack Britt High School in

Fayetteville, North Carolina Fayetteville () is a city in and the county seat of Cumberland County, North Carolina, Cumberland County, North Carolina, United States. It is best known as the home of Fort Bragg, a major U.S. Army installation northwest of the city. Fayettev ...

, to earn All-Region honors.

College career

Murrell was a two-time first-team All-American performer at

Appalachian State University Appalachian State University (; Appalachian, App State, App, or ASU) is a public university in Boone, North Carolina. It was founded as a teachers college in 1899 by brothers B. B. and D. D. Dougherty and the latter's wife, Lillie Shull Dough ...

, finishing his career with 36 sacks and a school-record 18 forced fumbles. Murrell gained 13 sacks in both his junior and senior seasons, fueling his Appalachian State to two consecutive

Division I-AA The NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS), formerly known as Division I-AA, is the second-highest level of college football in the United States, after the Football Bowl Subdivision. Sponsored by the National Collegiate Athleti ...

National Championships in 2005 and 2006. In the 2005 title game he forced a fumble that was returned by Jason Hunter for the winning touchdown in a 21–16 victory over

University of Northern Iowa The University of Northern Iowa (UNI) is a public university in Cedar Falls, Iowa. UNI offers more than 90 majors across the colleges of Business Administration, Education, Humanities, Arts, and Sciences, Social and Behavioral Sciences and gr ...

Professional career

Philadelphia Eagles

Murrell was signed by the

as an

on May 14, 2007, following the 2007 NFL Draft. He was waived by the Eagles during final cuts on September 1, 2007, and was re-signed to the team's practice squad two days later.

New York Jets

Murrell was signed off the Eagles' practice squad by the New York Jets on November 7, 2007. Murrell played in four of the Jets' final seven games of the season, but did not record any stats. In

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing ...

, Murrell made the Jets' 53-man roster and played in 12 games as a reserve, recording nine tackles. In 16-13 overtime loss to the

Buffalo Bills The Buffalo Bills are a professional American football team based in the Buffalo metropolitan area. The Bills compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division ...

on October 18, 2009, Murrell and Jets safety James Ihedigbo threw punches at Bills tight end Derek Fine, prompting Murrell to be fined by the

NFL The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the maj ...

for $5,000 and be benched, along with Ihedigbo, by head coach

Rex Ryan Rex Ashley Ryan (born December 13, 1962) is an American former football coach and analyst. Ryan was formerly the head coach of the New York Jets and Buffalo Bills of the National Football League (NFL), and also held various coaching positions ...

for the following game against the

Oakland Raiders The Oakland Raiders were a professional American football team that played in Oakland from its founding in 1960 to 1981 and again from 1995 to 2019 before relocating to the Las Vegas metropolitan area where they now play as the Las Vegas Ra ...

on October 25, 2009. Murrell finished the

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...

season with 12 tackles in ten games played. He was not tendered by the Jets as a

restricted free agent A restricted free agent (RFA) is a type of free agent in the National Football League (NFL), National Hockey League (NHL), or National Basketball Association (NBA). Such players have special restrictions on the terms under which they can retain ...

following the season and became an unrestricted free agent.

New England Patriots

Murrell signed with the

on March 9, 2010. He was released on September 13 after playing in the Patriots' season opener against the

Cincinnati Bengals The Cincinnati Bengals are a professional American football team based in Cincinnati. The Bengals compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) North division. The club's home ...

. The Patriots re-signed Murrell on January 5, 2011, prior to their first

playoff The playoffs, play-offs, postseason or finals of a sports league are a competition played after the regular season by the top competitors to determine the league champion or a similar accolade. Depending on the league, the playoffs may be eithe ...

game. He was waived on August 30.

Montreal Alouettes

On May 7, 2012, Murrell signed a two-year contract with the

of the

Canadian Football League The Canadian Football League (CFL; french: Ligue canadienne de football—LCF) is a professional sports league in Canada. The CFL is the highest level of competition in Canadian football. The league consists of nine teams, each located in a ...

References

External links

Just Sports StatsNew England Patriots bioNew York Jets bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Murrell, Marques 1985 births Living people Players of American football from Fayetteville, North Carolina American football defensive ends American football linebackers Appalachian State Mountaineers football players Philadelphia Eagles players New York Jets players New England Patriots players Virginia Destroyers players