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Philadelphia Eagles Are Big Winners In LeSean McCoy For Kiko Alonso Deal

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The Philadelphia Eagles and Buffalo Bills pulled off a giant trade with the Bills receiving running back LeSean McCoy and the Eagles receiving inside linebacker Kiko Alonso. If you’re looking at this trade on name value alone, it’s easy to think that the Bills just fleeced Chip Kelly for a premier playmaker.

But take a look at Alonso, a second-round pick of the Bills in 2013. In that year Alonso was a flat-out stud linebacker who almost won himself Defensive Rookie of the Year honors. His rookie contract locks him up until 2017 at under $ 1 million per year both years. Provided his knee comes back healthy after his ACL injury last year — which I’m sure it will be if the Eagles are making this move — Alonso has the potential to be a top five linebacker in this league for the foreseeable future. All the Eagles need now is a dependable pass rusher on the outside and their linebacking corps could be set for years.

Don’t get me wrong; McCoy is still a beast of a running back, and I think he was in for a big year this year in Kelly’s offense with a healthy offensive line. He was easily the best rusher the Eagles had on the team and he’ll definitely need to be replaced. The reason I think the Eagles could win out in this trade isn’t because of McCoy, but because of the offense he’s going to. The Bills are a ground-and-pound type of rushing attack. A good running back for the Bills is one who is a one-cut, decisive kind of runner — see the hole, hit the hole, no questions asked — and McCoy isn’t that kind of rusher.  He’s an east-west runner who will dance around looking to take the ball outside the tackles. A space runner isn’t designed to pound the ball right up the gut. The Bills are going to have to cater exclusively to McCoy’s skill set, which I think is going to go against their tendencies more than they realize.

But I think the Bills want as many playmakers as they can get, and they saw how well their defense could play even without Alonso in the lineup. So they rolled the dice and traded for a player who could be a strong offensive boost. McCoy will definitely make them a more dangerous offense, but I don’t think they’re understanding the risk of trading for a guy who doesn’t fit their ideal mold of a running back.

Ultimately, I thought the Eagles would re-structure McCoy and keep him around. Now the Eagles are going to have to find another running back — that much is just a given. But if they can find a suitable replacement for McCoy, then they may have taken a small step backwards now to be five steps ahead in the future.

Doug Green is a Featured Writer for www.RantSports.com covering the Philadelphia Eagles and the NFL.  Follow him on Twitter @DGreenNFL

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