Former Florida Gators wide receiver Louis Murphy has been traded from the Oakland Raiders to the Carolina Panthers for a conditional seventh-round pick, according to Jason Cole of Yahoo! Sports and Adam Schefter of ESPN.
Murphy, who performed well during his first two seasons with Oakland after being selected in the fourth round of the 2009 NFL Draft, ran into some health issues in 2011 and caught just 15 passes for 241 yards in 11 games as a reserve last year.
He hauled in 34 balls for 521 yards and four touchdowns as a rookie in 2009 and had 41 receptions for 609 yards with two scores in 2010.
Murphy was not guaranteed to earn a roster spot this season as the Raiders have steadily been upgrading their receivers. He is set to earn $1.26 million in the final year of his contract, which made him an attractive trade piece.
With the Panthers, Murphy will catch passes from former Florida teammate quarterback Cam Newton and has the opportunity to compete for a spot as one of the team’s top receivers behind veteran Steve Smith.
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Nice i think he will do great with carolina. Good luck murph!
Yeah, that opens up a lot for them with a deep threat and the potential for Cam to run on defensive breakdowns.
What’s that boy? Timmy fell down the well again? To hell with him… Wait, Panthers might finally have a WR not named Steve Smith to throw to? Now THAT’s news.
As a Raiders fan, I’m going to miss Murphy. Aside from last year, when he was injured, he was a solid receiver and a great blocker when the ball didn’t go his direction. I hope Carolina treats him well.
Well, he went from JaMarcus Russel to Jason Campbell but then on to Carson Palmer. Obviously the answer to his success is to go back to having SEC QB’s throw to him, so Carolina is the right fit.