Dallas Cowboys’ DeMarco Murray is among the most underpaid players in the NFL this season, relative to his ranking in the fantasy leagues, according to a study by the financial news site 24/7 Wall St.

The running back was ranked No. 17 in the fantasy leagues but a low 330th in the real one, with a salary of $675,781 this season. He was fourth most underpaid player in the rankings.

“In the 13 games he played last season, Cowboys starting running back DeMarco Murray rushed for 897 yards, averaging an impressive 5.5 yards per carry. In his second year, fantasy experts expect he will do even greater things,” the report said.

Across the four major league hosting sites, Murray ranks an average of 17th among fantasy players, including a 10th overall rank by CBS, it added.

In order to identify the players paid the most and least relative to their fantasy league value, 24/7 Wall St. averaged each player’s overall fantasy rank based on the expert rankings from each of the four largest league-hosting sites – ESPN, Yahoo!, NFL.com and CBS. It then compared their rank in fantasy leagues to the rank their salary cap hit for 2012, which includes base salary as well as bonuses. The salary figures were provided by Sportrac.

For the most part, players’ salaries reflect their contribution to scoring but for a variety of reasons some football players are dramatically underpaid relative to their fantasy draft rank, the report said.

An estimated 33 million Americans will take part in the fantasy football season, as the NFL kicks off next Wednesday with a game between New York Giants and the Dallas Cowboys.

Read the original report here.