Myles Murphy, the Bengals' athletically blessed former first-rounder looking to take the next step off the edge with more than his gifts, has re-shuffled his offseason agenda to get it done.
He switched defensive line trainers. He added an extra day to his work week and goes Monday through Saturday. He prioritized not only his hands, but also the hands of his opponents. He revamped his diet with his own research that included interviewing nutritionists. He bid a bitter farewell to breakfast.
"I haven't eaten cereal in three months," Murphy says. "I feel that in itself, has changed me … because there's a lot of dense, packed sugar in cereal … which a lot of people don't think about. Most mornings, I just do some black coffee and I call it a morning."
When Murphy returns to his locker this spring, he'll find he's not the only one who has changed it up.
The defensive line has flipped its row of lockers with the offensive line. So left tackle Orlando Brown Jr. is now in the corner stall once owned by retired defensive end Sam Hubbard, kitty corner from quarterback Joe Burrow and nearest to the equipment room. At the other end, Brown's corner locker nearest to the field now belongs to NFL sack champion Trey Hendrickson.
Murphy is next to Hendrickson, but he doesn't hear the noise as he begins his third season that he must have his break-out year at defensive end to give relief to his All-Pro neighbor and replace Hubbard while erasing his zero-sack season last year.
"I'm not really worried about all that, let's be honest," Murphy says. "It's me versus me right now. Just trying to be way better than last year, for sure.
"I know I've got everything that it takes to dominate in the league. It's just building up the confidence to know I can make those plays that are ahead of me … (Working on) Being great at stuff that doesn't take talent or athleticism."
Start with the body. The one that made him the 28th pick in the draft two years ago. He admits his knee injury that wiped out last season's first four games "set some things back." He had flashed in his second training camp, but by the time he started playing games, "when I did come back, I knew that I wasn't where I was and where I need to be."
Murphy says he's not a fan of how he handled his rehab, so he "left nothing to chance," this offseason in his hometown of Atlanta. With the Bengals' offseason program set to start in 11 days, the 6-6 Murphy says he's coming in with newfound confidence surging through his re-constituted body. It's not like he was a burlap bag to begin with, but his recent reading of 13.8 body fat has him fired up.
"I feel like I'm in one of the best bodies I've been in for years. Since sophomore year of college," Murphy says. "I ended the season at 282 and three weeks ago I was 265-267. Since then, I've been packing on muscle. Yesterday I weighed myself and I was 274. It's close to last year, but the body fat is different … I feel great … Losing that breakfast … I'm losing that sugar."
Murphy looks like he's partaking in the "Sweet Science," if you've caught some training clips on social media. But it only looks like he's boxing because his coach wears boxing gloves to simulate the offensive line using their hands.
"That's something a little new," Murphy says. "Most definitely working on the hands so I actually have my eyes in the right spot and swatting at hands and not just trying to time things up and sometimes just swiping on air. So just being more accurate with my hands.
"I knew if I started doing that earlier in the offseason it would be something that would come much more naturally once team stuff comes around."
But for Murphy, it's as much about the mind as it is his imposing matter. The idea is to finish. Finish the play. Finish at the quarterback.
"I had a move in mind and would do the move, but I wasn't necessarily confident the move was going to work or not," Murphy says. "Just pounding those reps now in the offseason so that when the season comes around, I know this move is going to work and really going into it.
"I was in my own head about some things. Now it's just knowing it's me versus me. I can only control things I can control. Once my number is called, just know that I'm in my best possible body and just give it my all."
He won that first one-on-one duel with himself when he banished his cherished Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal.
"That's undefeated, but I had to cut it off," says Murphy of a win not so sweet, but still in a good spot.
