If your Twitter hasn’t blown up with this, your phone is probably dead. The Philadelphia Eagles and Buffalo Bills have agreed to swap two of their best players. Running back LeSean McCoy heads to Buffalo and in return the Eagles receive linebacker Kiko Alonso.
The trade will not be effective until March 10. No other details of the trade have been released.
The move is completely salary-related for the Eagles, who shed McCoy’s $11.95 million cap number. McCoy has been one of the best and most productive running backs in the league since 2010, his second year in the league. Last season McCoy carried the ball 312 times for 1,319 yards and five touchdowns, adding 28 catches and 155 yards through the air.
A year before McCoy gained more than 2,000 yards in total offense, 2,145 to be exact and 11 combined TDs.
It’s not that Alonzo is a bum. As a rookie he had 159 tackles, two sacks, four passes defended and four interceptions. Incredible numbers for a middle linebacker, but Alonso missed all last season, just his second in the league, with a knee injury. Alonso, of course, played for Eagles head coach Chip Kelly at Oregon.
[related_post_one]
The deal makes tons of sense from Buffalo’s end. The Bills don’t have a first round pick this season, so they’ll need to add impact players other ways and McCoy is better than anybody they could have drafted in the first round anyway. Alonso is a potential star, but Buffalo is converting to a 3-4 scheme and had one of the best defenses in the NFL without him last season, so he wasn’t a need.
With Fred Jackson and Bryce Brown still under contract at running back, the Bills now are completely loaded at the position. Alonso will be an upgrade for the Eagles at linebacker, but the loss of McCoy is going to be felt, especially with the unsettled quarterback position.
