Myles Murphy says he's moving from one winning organization to another

Myles Murphy says he's going from one winner to another.

by David Hood - Senior Writer - Sat Apr 29 07:00:15 GMT-04:00 2023

Myles Murphy didn’t care who drafted him or where in the draft he was picked because he just wants to play football. To wind up playing for a playoff contender in the Cincinnati Bengals? That’s just a bonus.

The Bengals picked Murphy with the 28th overall pick in the first round of Thursday’s NFL Draft, the first defensive lineman taken by the Bengals in the first round since Justin Smith back in 2001.

Murphy was asked about his reaction to the call.

"I'm just blessed, man. I just want to play football," Murphy said. "That's really my initial reaction. I just want to play football and am blessed to be taken wherever. Wherever I'm taken, at whatever number, I just want to play football — that's all I want to do right now."

Murphy said he feels like he knows what the Bengals are looking for – he comes from a winning program at Clemson and now joins a Bengal organization that played in the Super Bowl in 2021 and lost in the AFC Championship Game last season.

"Coming from a winning organization and joining a winning organization that knows how to win, that knows the mentality that what it takes to win, that's important. It's great to join an organization like that," Murphy said. "They have all the pieces to be a consistent Super Bowl contender, AFC Championship contender. I just want to be that finishing piece, that piece that pushes them over and past that ledge of being a consistent Super Bowl contender to being a Super Bowl winner every year."

Murphy followed consensus Top 5 national status in the 2020 recruiting class with an all-conference career at Clemson from 2020-22. After earning Freshman All-America status in 2020, he earned a 2021 All-America selection from Phil Steele. He played 38 career games with 27 starts for Clemson and joined Gaines Adams, Vic Beasley and Clelin Ferrell as the only Clemson players since 2000 to post multiple seasons with multiple forced fumbles and at least four sacks.

What does he add to the Bengals’ defense? A playmaker.

"Making the plays that people don't think I'm going to make," Murphy said. "Even when I'm all the way off the screen, just making those plays, running them down the field, sideline to sideline, going to get to the quarterback, going to stop the run, and be an all-around dominant player.”

Murphy talked to several teams during the process leading up to the draft, but had an idea that the Bengals were interested.

"I had a good feeling that they liked me. When I was there, I really loved the city, loved the coaches. I already knew the defensive line coach there, so I felt comfortable the whole time I was there," Murphy said. "Man, they go and get after it. That's what I love. Having (Trey) Hendrickson there, really just watching him rush the edge, he's just a menace on the edge. They let him do what he wants to do and have the freedom to get to the quarterback — I love that about them."