In the wake of Philadelphia Eagles head coach/personnel czar/smiling potato Chip Kelly's surprising decision to send running back LeSean McCoy to the Buffalo Bills in exchange for linebacker Kiko Alonso, responses ranged from outraged anguish to complete speechlessness.
At first, the general consensus seemed to be something along the lines of "What the hell is Chip thinking?" After NFL pundits had a chance to digest the trade and all of its implications though - financial as well as on-the-field - it suddenly seemed to make much more sense, at least from Philly's end.
A mediocre Eagles defense with an aging, injury-prone field general in DeMeco Ryans acquired a young, Pro Bowl-caliber linebacker in Alonso for an aging, expensive, possibly over-worked running back in McCoy who is inching ever-closer to the 30-year-old mark.
Now though, that narrative may be set on its head as Bills head coach Rex Ryan and GM Doug Whaley revealed recently that when the Eagles originally called Buffalo about their potential interest in McCoy, what they were seeking in return wasn't Alonso at all.
"Philadelphia was looking for draft picks, and without a 2015 first-rounder the Bills didn't have much ammo to make an offer," reports Jenny Vrentas of MMQB.com. "But Whaley told the Eagles rep, 'Just do me a favor and look at our roster.' The Eagles called back and told him, 'Kiko Alonso.' The straight-up deal-Alonso, a promising young linebacker who missed '14 with an ACL tear, for McCoy, a two-time All-Pro running back-took 30 minutes, start to finish."
While it's not all that intriguing that the Eagles were initially calling and asking for draft compensation, it is interesting that they wound up completing a player-for-player trade without specifically having targeted the player they'd receive in return prior to suggesting a deal - a report also emerged late last month that Kelly and the Eagles had asked for Bills wide receiver Robert Woods in exchange for McCoy either in conjunction with or in place of, Alonso.
Either it means that Kelly and the Eagles simply didn't think Alonso - or Woods - would be available or the Eagles didn't really want Alonso - or Woods - and eventually settled on what they saw as the best offer available to them considering the circumstances, ie; McCoy's salary and advancing age.
There's also the Marcus Mariota angle - were the Eagles targeting draft pick compensation so that they could add to their cache of trade ammo to move up in the 2015 NFL Draft in order to nab Kelly's former Oregon pupil?
