Chip Kelly doesn't regret the LeSean McCoy trade. He explained again why the Philadelphia Eagles shipped the running back to the Buffalo Bills in a trade.
But he regrets how the trade was handled. He explained and apologized.
McCoy was bothered by how the trade went down, and said, emphatically, he would not shake Kelly's hand on Sunday when the Bills and Eagles play. Kelly gets it.
"That's his choice, I understand that," Kelly said in his news conference Thursday. "How he was traded, it wasn't handled right."
Kelly said when the trade went down, he thought it wouldn't be official until the next morning. He explained that he has talked to every player that has left the team. He planned to do that with McCoy when the league approved the trade the next morning. Kelly used the example of the Sam Bradford-Nick Foles trade — he was on the phone with St. Louis Rams coach Jeff Fisher, and said they'd talk to their respective players, then text each other when that was done and make the trade official.
With McCoy, the trade was suddenly reported in the media and done that afternoon and he hadn't talked to McCoy.
"Then all of a sudden I'm driving to an event and he's been traded," Kelly said. "And I felt bad that I didn't get a chance to talk to him. I called him. He didn't answer my phone call. I know he was [upset] and he should be [upset]. Rightly so.
"It's a lesson [of what] we should never do, to be honest with you."
Kelly said when other players get traded, he talks to them, the position coach and coordinator talks to them too before they leave. That didn't happen in the McCoy deal. It's a tough lesson for Kelly, who was in his first offseason having total control of personnel moves.
"We have a way that we do it that I think is the right way to do it, and it wasn't exercised in that case," Kelly said. "I understand why he was bothered. He was an all-time leading running back here, thought he was disrespected and was wronged. Because I was part of it, that's on me.
"I would apologize for that. It didn't happen the right way."
Kelly said he'd shake McCoy's hand because he respects his former running back.
"I understand where he's coming from," Kelly said. "If he doesn't want to shake my hand, I understand that. But I'll always shake his hand. If he extends his hand, I'll always shake his hand. I have great respect for him as a player.
"Everything we asked him to do here, he did. He was an outstanding football player for two years here. The only reason he wasn't here the money was too high. He's still a really good football player in this league. I don't know if I can say anything else besides that. I have great respect for LeSean, I think he's a heck of a football player, and we're going to have our hands full with him this week."
As for the trade itself, Kelly doesn't have the same regrets. He explained why he sent McCoy for linebacker Kiko Alonso. He said it wasn't because of McCoy's ability. It was just financial. The Eagles went from having McCoy taking up $11.9 million of the salary cap to all of their running backs combined taking $11.1 million of the cap this year. Alonso's salary this year is a little more than $745,000. The Eagles used the extra money to sign free agents like Byron Maxwell and trade for Bradford.
"I think we did the right thing at the time," Kelly said. "We traded an outstanding running back for a linebacker, but we also traded $700,000 for $11.9 million. With all those situations, there's money involved.
"It was a tough decision. With all those guys we let go last year who were integral to my first two years here, those decisions are made by money. Those decisions aren't made because we don't think they're good football players or we don't think they're good people."
All of Kelly's words might not mean much to McCoy. He seems too upset at how everything went down to forgive and forget. But if he wants to shake hands on Sunday, Kelly is still willing.
No comments:
Post a Comment