The second half of that article is little more than a series of racial stereotypes. Apparently the point has to be made over and over again -- Murphy was an overachieving White safety who didn't belong on the field with "real" safeties but who overcame his many athletic limitations with smarts and grittiness:
There were faster and rangier safeties in the NFL than Murphy, but he was smart, tough, a model of consistency and a survivor. "You'd like to have 47 Mark Murphys and you could go out there and line up and you could play anybody," Lindy Infante, head coach of the Packers from 1988-91, once said. "You'd like to clone him.
He's maybe not the most gifted of all the safeties in the league, but I doubt seriously if there are any more professional about what they do. He's a leader. When you put Mark Murphy on the field, you don't worry about that position."
A physical force against the run, Murphy led the Packers in tackles in 1984 and 1990 and shared the lead in 1988.
While his speed might have been ordinary, he was snap-of-the-ball quick at diagnosing plays and reacting. As a result, Murphy was better in zone coverage than man-to-man, but he also grasped the details of the passing game and his own limitations well enough to be effective, no matter what the coverage.
"Murphy is as tough as any strong safety in the league," Hank Bullough said after the 1988 season, his first as Packers defensive coordinator.
"He's probably a little better athlete than people give him credit for." A year later, after Murphy had a career-high five interceptions at age 30, defensive backfield coach Dick Jauron said: "He had an outstanding year … has there ever been a year when he didn't? I think he's greatly underrated. I don't see many (strong safeties) I'd take over him."