Red Murdock’s path to the Denver Broncos: From no offers to ‘Mr. Irrelevant’

Red Murdock watched from the sideline for much of the 2019 season at Hopewell High in Virginia, as a squad loaded with talent marched toward an undefeated season. The junior linebacker was dealing with a torn labrum in his hip that kept him off the field for nearly two months. He rehabbed in anonymity, postponing surgery in pursuit of one mission: to return to the field to help Hopewell win the school’s fifth state championship game.

The wait was agonizing.

“This is a kid,” said Joe Bowen, who would later become Murdock’s position coach at the University at Buffalo, “that eats, sleeps and breathes football.”

Murdock had slowly worked himself back into action by the time the state championship game against Lord Botetourt arrived. Then, in the biggest game of his life to that point, he made the kind of play that would become his calling card as he marched from an overlooked, no-offer recruit to an All-American at Buffalo to the final pick of the 2026 NFL Draft — a selection that landed him with the Denver Broncos.

“One of my vivid memories of Red is in that state championship game with (Lord Botetourt) driving,” said Ricky Irby, the head coach at Hopewell, whose roster also included current Patriots running back TreVeyon Henderson. “They have a really good runner, and Red chases him down from behind and catches him with his left hand and then takes his right hand and just rips the ball away from the kid and creates a big turnover for us in the state championship game. … He just kept perfecting that craft.”

Murdock forced an FBS record 17 fumbles during his career at Buffalo. He broke the record set by another Buffalo linebacker and eventual first-round draft pick, Khalil Mack. Coincidentally, Murdock’s real first name is also Khalil; he was nicknamed Red by his mother because he had red hair and freckles when he was born, and the name stuck. Murdock’s ability to dislodge the ball became a constant the Broncos couldn’t ignore as they prepared to make the final two picks of the draft last month.

“Everyone talked about the Texas Tech guy (Dolphins second-round pick Jacob Rodriguez), and he was amazing,” Broncos general manager George Paton said, “But this guy (Murdock), oh my gosh, if you look at his career and all the forced fumbles he had. Just a nose for the ball — relentless motor.”

On Friday, Jan. 3, 2025, the night before Buffalo faced Liberty in the Bahamas Bowl, Bowen gathered his group of three inside linebackers and issued a challenge. He wanted them to produce a combined three takeaways in the game the next day. It was a lofty goal, but Bowen believed the group had a real opportunity to force Liberty into a few tide-turning mistakes.

“And then Red just went out,” Bowen said, “and got three on his own.”

Murdock forced two fumbles in the bowl game and also returned an interception for a touchdown in a 26-7 victory that gave Buffalo its first nine-win season since 2018. To those who have followed Murdock’s path to the Broncos — he’ll practice with the team for the first time this weekend during the Broncos’ rookie minicamp — his record-setting ball production is a byproduct of a relentlessness that translates to everything he does. It is a trait that helped him forge a sterling football career that began with zero FBS or FCS offers coming out of Hopewell.

“He’s a kid that has battled a lot of adversity in his life,” Irby said.

The injury in 2019 limited Murdock’s exposure. Then, during his senior year in 2020, the high school football season was wiped out by the COVID-19 pandemic. An abbreviated schedule was played the following spring and Murdock stood out, but by then, most schools had already pieced together their recruiting classes for the 2021 season. Plus, in-person recruiting was limited — or altogether prohibited — in many areas of the country.

Irby filmed private workouts with Murdock, photographing his wingspan and 10-inch hands, and peppering college recruiting and coaching staffs with that data. Murdock, a no-star recruit ignored by scouting services, sent out hundreds of messages of his own to coaches across the country, pleading for a chance he promised to maximize.

The only nibbles came from a handful of Division II or Division III programs. So, Murdock instead spent the fall of 2021 at Fork Union Military Academy in Virginia, a postgraduate program attended by a handful of former NFL players, including Plaxico Burress and Michael Thomas.

It was while at Fork Union, which Murdock helped propel to an 8-0 record, that the linebacker caught the eye of Ron Whitcomb, who had recently joined the Buffalo program as a scouting coordinator after more than a decade coaching at Old Dominion in Virginia. In late November, Whitcomb had decided at the last minute to attend a Fork Union road game against Delaware Valley in Pennsylvania.

“I had four schools to hit … and I said, ‘Can I make this game and still get my flight?’” Whitcomb said. “I was kind of going back and forth in my mind and said, ‘I’m going to do it.’ So I bust my ass to get there. I was there to see this D-end, who committed to East Carolina. Red just tore the game up. … I get back to Buffalo and say, ‘This freaking linebacker is sideline-to-sideline. This is the guy.’”

Buffalo became Murdock’s first and only FBS offer — he jumped at the chance. He joined a linebacker room that came to include Shaun Dolac and Joe Andreessen, both of whom have reached the NFL as former undrafted free agents. Murdock played sparingly as a freshman, finishing the season with only six tackles.

“He didn’t play a lick his first season and a half,” Whitcomb said. “It wasn’t like it was like, ‘This kid came in and tore the roof off.’ … It’s kudos to him. He came in and figured it out and was self-made.”

It didn’t take too long for Murdock’s aggressive play style to stand out amid a talented room. As a sophomore in 2023, he made 60 tackles (9.5 for loss) and forced four fumbles while starting six of the 12 games in which he played, taking advantage of an injury to Dolac. When Murdock did make mistakes, he made them at Mach speed.

“He’s got violent intentions when he comes to the ball carrier,” said Bowen, who coached Murdock during his final two seasons at Buffalo. “I told multiple scouts throughout this (pre-draft) process, ‘When he tackles you, you’re going to feel it.’ Shaun Dolac (now with the Rams), the guy I coached the year before, he’s going to get the ball carrier on the ground, no matter what. He’s kind of an eraser. But he’s not going to tackle with the same level of intent a guy like Red will. He’s got above 10-inch hands, so when he gets his hands on you, you’re going to go down. He has a strong grip, violent hands and he’s the greatest teammate (to other players) I’ve been around in 15 years.”

There is a juxtaposition in that last sentence that helps explain Murdock’s total program impact — and illustrates the intentional way in which the Broncos are adding to a culture that has been firmly established across the past two seasons. Murdock helped create a nonprofit program called Homework Helpers, which supports at-risk students through tutoring and other educational services.  Every week during the season, he used some of the limited NIL money available to him at Buffalo to cater meals for the linebacker unit and other members of the defense on Thursday nights. That was typically one night of the week at Buffalo when coaches headed home early, so Murdock would feed his teammates and run his own unit meeting to help teammates prepare for the upcoming game.

“I’d pop in and give my tidbits or whatever,” Bowen said, “but he’d be galvanizing and bringing the entire defense in and go through the game plan. He’d also sit in and go through film with the defensive staff. He was up in the building more than the graduate assistants.”

To Murdock, it was simply part of his job.

“As a linebacker, I prepare as a quarterback on the defense, getting everyone on the same page, making sure our defense performs as one,” he said. “That is what I’m looking forward to bringing to the Broncos’ team as a player that is going to put the team’s success before all else, in any instance.”

After a junior season in which he made 156 tackles, forced seven fumbles, tallied two sacks and intercepted the pass that turned into a touchdown in the bowl game, Murdock was hotly pursued by several Power 4 schools that offered more NIL funds and a bigger stage than he had at Buffalo. It was the kind of opportunity Murdock had longed for only a few years earlier.

He turned them down.

“I did have opportunities, but I’m big on being a team-first guy,” he said. “That is all that matters to me.”

Murdock didn’t just stay at Buffalo. He took another leap as an NFL-caliber player. While forcing 11 fumbles during his first two years as a key figure in Buffalo’s defense, he was relentlessly searching for the ball, taking any opportunity to take a swipe at it. Bowen challenged him ahead of his final season to pick his spots in an effort to further boost his efficiency as a tackler.

“He was going for a punch out or a strip or a rake to force a fumble on every play,” Bowen said. “I think that created some missed tackles in space. You fast forward the film to 2025, and I think he really cleaned up his game and learned, ‘OK, what are the right situations to be going for those takeaways. Maybe a one-on-one check down with a running back in space, I’ve got to get this guy on the ground, versus going for an aggressive punch. He really understood situations better and when to take the ball away.”

Murdock opened the 2025 season by making 16 tackles and a sack in a game against Minnesota, the first of seven games in which he produced at least 12 tackles. The takeaways kept coming. He forced six more fumbles as a senior, recovering two on his own. He was named a second-team All-American.

“He is a very meticulous young man and he is very intentional,” said Bowen, now the linebackers coach at Pittsburgh. “If you tell that kid to get better at something, he’s going to get better at it.”

The tape, the size, the endless production, it made Murdock the No. 12 inside linebacker heading into the draft on The Athletic draft analyst Dane Brugler’s list. Like other evaluators, Brugler graded Murdock as a fourth- or fifth-round prospect. Still, Murdock fell. The rounds came and went, one linebacker after another plucked off the board in front of him.

Murdock’s fall came largely because of injuries. Even while playing every snap last season, he dealt with torn ligaments in his ankle and a fracture in his heel. The injuries kept Murdock out of the Shrine Bowl scouting showcase and prevented him from participating in testing drills at the NFL combine.

“He was just so competitive, such a dog, that we had to beg for him to come off punt team,” Bowen said.

It has all led Murdock into another prove-it scenario. He was Mr. Anonymous as he pleaded for his chance coming out of an interrupted high school career in Virginia. Now, he’s joining the Broncos while carrying a tag given to the draft’s final pick, Mr. Irrelevant, eager to prove he is anything but. He’ll arrive in a linebacker room in Denver that will feature open competition for depth spots behind starters Alex Singleton and Justin Strnad. Nothing is guaranteed for a seventh-round pick, much less the draft’s final selection.

But Murdock has a chance. He’s proven time and again that is all he needs.

“The main thing is I have to make the most of it,” Murdock said, “and help us win.”