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Eagles' trade a good thing for Cowboys, right?
March, 4, 2015
By Todd Archer | ESPNDallas.com
IRVING, Texas – Thankfully my kids weren’t near me when I saw Adam Schefter’s tweet that the Philadelphia Eagles will trade LeSean McCoy to the Buffalo Bills for linebacker Kiko Alonso.
It was a much more adult version of "Whooaaaa."
The immediate reaction was: What is Chip Kelly thinking?
The second reaction was: The Dallas Cowboys don’t have to see McCoy twice a year anymore.
The third reaction was: But they will see him up in Buffalo this season.
The fourth reaction was: This is good for the Cowboys.
The fifth reaction was: What does this mean for DeMarco Murray?
It’s easy to say another running back has been devalued. In 2012, McCoy signed a five-year deal with nearly $21 million guaranteed. He’s scheduled to make $9.75 million this year. He ran for 2,926 yards under Kelly. He wasn’t as good last season as he was in 2013, but the Eagles weren’t as good as a team either.
So if this can happen to McCoy, what does that mean for Murray? Does it help the Cowboys in their quest to keep Murray but at their price? Maybe it does show that the market will not be as bountiful as the NFL’s rushing leader hopes it will be.
Reactions 6-50 went back to my first reaction.
Kelly has been given guru status by some prominent media members because he can be glib and he doesn’t follow the group-think that envelopes a lot of the NFL.
This trade is definitely out of the box. Kelly loves him some Oregon players, so I can see his affinity for Alonso, but the linebacker is coming back from a torn anterior cruciate ligament. It’s his second torn ACL in the last four years.
He had a terrific rookie season and made plays at all different levels. Evidently Rex Ryan didn’t think he would be a good fit for his defense. Kelly thinks otherwise, obviously, but Alonso is not as good a linebacker as McCoy is a running back.
So the 51st reaction was: Maybe Kelly knows something we all don’t, either about McCoy, Alonso, or what the Eagles are about to do this offseason.
What the Eagles have done lately is create a ton of cap space by agreeing to trade McCoy and cut Todd Herremans, Trent Cole, Cary Williams and James Casey. They can go after anybody they want in free agency, plus keep Jeremy Maclin, Brandon Graham, and anybody else they desire.
Jimmy Johnson’s big advantage early on in his tenure with the Cowboys was his knowledge of college football players. He recruited the best players at Miami and was in position to know the very best of the best as they entered the NFL.
But Kelly took Marcus Smith in the first round last year, who made no impact. Some wonder if he will ever make an impact.
So maybe Kelly is about to make a ton of free-agent moves as his way of overtaking the Cowboys in the NFC East.
But I still don’t understand what Kelly is thinking. Another AFC personnel chief I spoke with Tuesday night wasn’t so sure either.
Perhaps that’s Kelly’s genius?
March, 4, 2015
By Todd Archer | ESPNDallas.com
IRVING, Texas – Thankfully my kids weren’t near me when I saw Adam Schefter’s tweet that the Philadelphia Eagles will trade LeSean McCoy to the Buffalo Bills for linebacker Kiko Alonso.
It was a much more adult version of "Whooaaaa."
The immediate reaction was: What is Chip Kelly thinking?
The second reaction was: The Dallas Cowboys don’t have to see McCoy twice a year anymore.
The third reaction was: But they will see him up in Buffalo this season.
The fourth reaction was: This is good for the Cowboys.
The fifth reaction was: What does this mean for DeMarco Murray?
It’s easy to say another running back has been devalued. In 2012, McCoy signed a five-year deal with nearly $21 million guaranteed. He’s scheduled to make $9.75 million this year. He ran for 2,926 yards under Kelly. He wasn’t as good last season as he was in 2013, but the Eagles weren’t as good as a team either.
So if this can happen to McCoy, what does that mean for Murray? Does it help the Cowboys in their quest to keep Murray but at their price? Maybe it does show that the market will not be as bountiful as the NFL’s rushing leader hopes it will be.
Reactions 6-50 went back to my first reaction.
Kelly has been given guru status by some prominent media members because he can be glib and he doesn’t follow the group-think that envelopes a lot of the NFL.
This trade is definitely out of the box. Kelly loves him some Oregon players, so I can see his affinity for Alonso, but the linebacker is coming back from a torn anterior cruciate ligament. It’s his second torn ACL in the last four years.
He had a terrific rookie season and made plays at all different levels. Evidently Rex Ryan didn’t think he would be a good fit for his defense. Kelly thinks otherwise, obviously, but Alonso is not as good a linebacker as McCoy is a running back.
So the 51st reaction was: Maybe Kelly knows something we all don’t, either about McCoy, Alonso, or what the Eagles are about to do this offseason.
What the Eagles have done lately is create a ton of cap space by agreeing to trade McCoy and cut Todd Herremans, Trent Cole, Cary Williams and James Casey. They can go after anybody they want in free agency, plus keep Jeremy Maclin, Brandon Graham, and anybody else they desire.
Jimmy Johnson’s big advantage early on in his tenure with the Cowboys was his knowledge of college football players. He recruited the best players at Miami and was in position to know the very best of the best as they entered the NFL.
But Kelly took Marcus Smith in the first round last year, who made no impact. Some wonder if he will ever make an impact.
So maybe Kelly is about to make a ton of free-agent moves as his way of overtaking the Cowboys in the NFC East.
But I still don’t understand what Kelly is thinking. Another AFC personnel chief I spoke with Tuesday night wasn’t so sure either.
Perhaps that’s Kelly’s genius?