LeSean McCoy will now be the focal point of the Bills’ rushing attack while Kiko Alonso will reunite with his college coach Chip Kelly. This trade was obviously motivated by McCoy’s $11.95 million cap number and growing strain on the relationship between McCoy and Chip Kelly. The Eagles front office, more specifically Chip Kelly, was not interested in paying the NFL’s leading rusher in 2013 nearly $12 million dollars and opted to get something in return for the running back as opposed to releasing McCoy and suffering the ramifications of dead money. The trade won’t be official until the start of the new league year (3/10/2015) and according to the NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport this will be a player-for-player deal, no draft picks included.
Alonso, had a stellar rookie season in 2013 but had his sophomore campaign cut short due to an ACL Injury. Reports suggests Alonso is in the final stages of his recovery and should be available no later than Week 1 of the 2015 regular season. The expectation is to pair Kiko with Mychal Kendricks in the middle of the Eagles’ 3-4 defense and on paper that combination would form an impressive, young and athletic duo of inside linebackers.
As the 2014 season progressed McCoy was utilized less and less particularly in the red-zone. This move furthers the trend that Chip Kelly is in FULL control of this team and locker room. The ousting of DeSean Jackson last off-season, the release of Cary Williams and now the trade of LeSean McCoy marks the eviction of some of the more opinionated and polarizing former Philadelphia Eagles players.
