Philadelphia Eagles: LeSean McCoy Trade Was Horrendous
By Jeremy Klump
Dec 13, 2015; Philadelphia, PA, USA;
running back
reacts to the fans during pregame warmups before the start of the game against the
at Lincoln Financial Field. Mandatory Credit: James Lang-USA TODAY Sports
The Philadelphia Eagles traded running back LeSean McCoy to the Buffalo Bills for middle linebacker Kiko Alonso before the start of the 2015 season and it turned out to be horrendous.
The Philadelphia Eagles all-time leading rusher has 6,792 yards. The Eagles single game rushing record stands at 217 yards. An Eagles player once rushed for 17 touchdowns in 2011, which led the NFL. In 2013, an Eagles running back ran 1,607 yards, which led the NFL and is also the Eagles single-season record for rushing yards in a season.
Why are these numbers important? They actually no longer are.
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Why?
Kelly, who took full control of the Eagles before the 2015 season, decided that all of these numbers were not enough for a player to stay on the team.
That player was running back LeSean McCoy.
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McCoy, who is the holder of the statistics listed above, came into the 2015 season off of a down year in 2014, which still consisted of 1,319 yards and five touchdowns.
Kelly felt that it was time to move on from their franchise running back and then it led to him making a move that would forever impact the Eagles.
Adam Schefter of ESPN reported that the Eagles traded McCoy to the Buffalo Bills for Kiko Alonso.
It was a move that sent shockwaves in the NFL, as it happened days before free agency started, and no one saw it coming. It was also a move that was hard to understand.
McCoy was the Eagles offense.
They had no franchise quarterback, no number one receiver, and no true identity other than their all-time great running back.
It seemed to be terrible on paper, but looking at how it has played out so far this season, the trade was horrendous.
In trading McCoy, Kelly started a domino effect of problems for the Eagles.
Click along to find out why the McCoy trade was horrendous.
Next: Kiko Alonso