After nine years with five NFL teams, Latavius Murray will finally be playing at home with the Buffalo Bills, and the veteran running back said this week his singular focus is to play a part in the Bills' journey to win the franchise's first Super Bowl in 2023.
"The only goal is to go out here and compete for a championship and do everything I can to make that happen," Murray said Friday, via The Buffalo News.
The Bills entered the 2022 season as most analysts' Super Bowl favorites, but fell short in the playoffs for the fourth year in a row under head coach Sean McDermott.
While five postseason appearances in six years still puts them among the top teams in recent years, Bills players have been open about their desire to break through and win a Super Bowl, a milestone that has eluded the franchise thus far.
2023 will mark another year where the team is expected to compete for an AFC East division crown and possibly make a deep playoff run, and Murray said that chance to join a Super Bowl-contending squad was the "first and foremost" reason for signing with the Bills.
"A team has just been there year in and year out, and I think it's just a long season," Murray said. "I think you want to be playing your best ball late in the season. I know we have that mentality and that's what we want to be doing this year."
For his part, Murray will hope to play a key role in Buffalo's revamped running back unit that will feature multiple new faces. The Bills' go-to rusher, Devin Singletary, joined the Texans in the offseason, meaning James Cook (507 yards) and Josh Allen (762) are the only returning players who had more than 100 total rushing yards for the team last year.
Murray had 703 rushing yards and five touchdowns in 12 games after being signed by the Broncos off the Saints' practice squad mid-season, and in the past once hit the 1,000-yard rushing mark in 2015, when he started all 16 games. And now, having signed a one-year deal in May to join the Bills, he's excited for the opportunity to play competitive football in the state where he grew up.
"I'm happy to be a part of this great organization, this great fan base," Murray said Friday. "Happy to be back in New York. I'll say that again. It means everything to me. As a kid, I grew up just down the road."
Along with Cook, Murray is expected to compete for snaps with Nyheim Hines and Damien Harris, who were both signed this offseason, and Murray said with the way the group has already been making each other better, he's feeling even more positive about the team's chances at a first Lombardi Trophy come the fall.
"We've got a great group of running backs," Murray said. "We have a great locker room, all in all. It's been great here to get to know everybody. (We've) been getting better, been working out, training (and) been on the field now some. Just growing and learning and continuing to improve, that's the goal."
