McCoy - "It was a Panic Move"

[deerpathdave]

McCoy On Eagles: 'I Thought It Was a Panic Move' - Birds 24/7

McCoy makes alot of sense here. Free Agency definitely did not go as planned here. I think originally, they are thinking trade McCoy for Alonso, use the money on Maxwell, Maclin and McCourty, get Gore for cheap. But then they lost out of Gore, Maclin and McCourty and the plan basically fell apart.

I don't know if I would call it a panic move, perhaps more optimistically, a nice quick adjustment. Rather than be left not spending the money, or going after second tier guys, Kelly opted to go after the one really good player still left on the board in Murray.

Matthews is a bit of strange signing. Not sure if they do that if they hadn't found themselves negotiating both deal simultaneously. At the end of the day, Matthews was not expensive, so why not load up and honor the deal they had made.

The Murray/McCoy deal actually worked out pretty good. They get essentially the same quality back and picked up Alonso in the deal. Not to mention weakening the Cowboys. The only downside is all the extra guaranteed money on the contract. But it clearly was not the original plan.

I am also intrigued by how Kelly the coach will adjust to what Kelly the GM did. You can argue that is top flight WRs are going to cost you $11M plus per year, and you can get the very best RBs for $8M, its just good business to do what they did and stock on the RB talent and re-design your offense around them. They have three backs with excellent receiving skills, so its simple enough to play a couple of them at a time and use them as pass receivers. It seems most obvious to essentially make Sproles your slot receiver and move Matthews outside.

 

[djm]

My take is he was tired of McCoy bouncing and got the type of running backs his offense needs. I am sure that Maclin's departure was probably expected towards the end. My guess is the feel pretty comfortable with Matthews and Huff stepping in. I liked McCoy but too many negative plays.

 

[old duke]

Chip is keeping Matthews in the slot. He's a mismatch for most CB's, except Maxwell, and now they're teammates. Shady's style isn't what chip wanted. Simple as that, plus the $$.

 

[deerpathdave]

My take is he was tired of McCoy bouncing and got the type of running backs his offense needs. I am sure that Maclin's departure was probably expected towards the end. My guess is the feel pretty comfortable with Matthews and Huff stepping in. I liked McCoy but too many negative plays.

No doubt they wanted to move Shady. That was always the plan. But the original plan was to move to Gore - A cheaper option. Murray was not the plan.

 

[SoShady]

I think the original plan they felt like Murray would command more money. When it became a option they jumped on it. Seems like they wanted two RB's all along. They were going to roll with Gore/Mathews. Gore did the Eagles a favor by getting cold feet imo.

I'm sure they didn't expect McCourty to just use them to up the Pats offer. Maclin it seemed like they had a set price they were comfortable with for him at 9 million. The walrus decided to overpay for a #2 WR and the Eagles let him walk.

 

[Caliskinsfan]

No doubt they wanted to move Shady. That was always the plan. But the original plan was to move to Gore - A cheaper option. Murray was not the plan.

 

[Taz]

Murray was not in the plan until Maclin went to KC. I think the Eagles felt they had Maclin and when he jump to KC, they turned their attention to Murray. Overall for McCoy the Eagles got Murray who is a better back for this offense, Alonzo and extra cash this year. Of course they went and wasted it on Sam Bradford but....

 

[Rey]

The Shady move was going to happen regardless ... Chip wants a Back who follows through on the play called while Shady likes to create his own thing. The money Shady was scheduled to make was just icing on the cake. From there I think the plan was Gore "or" Mathews while using some of the cash saved on Maxwell "and" McCourty while resigning Maclin.

Murray fell into our laps and we had money to spend that we had put away for Maclin/McCourty. We kept our deal with Mathews because we still had money available even after signing Murray and figured we may as well just go all in on running the ball as a fallback strategy. It will keep the pressure off of Bradford who can play more of a game manager roll as opposed to exposing himself to more hits when you have to throw it 45 times.

 

[soulxflare]

I still like Shady a lot, and wish nothing but the best for him. That being said, every time he's opened his mouth since the trade, he's sounded like a butthurt little bitch. He should just let it go and focus on the Bills, not the Eagles.

 

[deerpathdave]

I still like Shady a lot, and wish nothing but the best for him. That being said, every time he's opened his mouth since the trade, he's sounded like a butthurt little bitch. He should just let it go and focus on the Bills, not the Eagles.

He is hurt, because he just got traded to Buffalo. Face it, Buffalo stinks. No Free Agent wants to go there. Some people ask why Buffalo just didn't sign Murray rather than give up Alonso in this trade? The answer is that they couldn't sign Murray. He wouldn't have signed there as a Free Agent.

This is the power a team like the Eagles have when you are viewed as a good destination. You can actually sign the top tier Free Agents (some of the time). The only way for Buffalo to build is through trades and the draft.

 

[Rey]

That's the thing with free agency ... you can have the most money and offer the best contracts, but that doesn't mean anything as players don't always go for the top offer. In the grand scheme of things we should be pretty happy as we got the top Corner available and the NFL's leading rusher. I think Maclin will prove replaceable ... he's a very good, not "great" receiver who benefited from the system.

 

[Los Eagles]

It was more of a plan B move if you ask me. McCourty was a priority and when that didn't work out, the Eagles had money to spend elsewhere and they did.

 

[PhillyGreen]

Signing the NFL's leading rushing is a panic move? What kind of moron believes that nonsense? Shady sounds like the bitter ex-girlfriend every time he opens his mouth. I think Shady is a very good RB but his style of running does not fit with what Kelly wants to do. He wants his running backs to run the play and hit the hole as designed. I remember reading an article a while back where CK and Shady got into it on the sideline after CK yelled at him to hit the hold and Shady yelled back there was no hole. CK admitted to the team that Shady was right and there was no hole it was one of those moments where player come to respect the coach. But after two years and leading the NFL in rushes for zero or loss yardage CK decided a change was in order.

Murray may not have been in the plan because we have to be realistic. Who though that the Cowboys would let Murray walk? I never saw it coming. I though the only way he leaves Dallas is if some team like the Raiders or Jags threw ridiculous money at him.

CK has never hid from the fact that his offense requires more than one running back. Based on the speed of his offense no one single back is going to be able to do it all. CK spent a couple years with players he did not choose. He now get to shop for his own groceries (parcells saying that cracked me up when he coached the Cowboys)

 

[old duke]

Who cares what Shady says? Fact is... we got a downhill runner, and not a dancer.

 

[deerpathdave]

CK spent a couple years with players he did not choose. He now get to shop for his own groceries (parcells saying that cracked me up when he coached the Cowboys)

Parcells actually said that when he left the Patriots. Still, a great line, and a big reason why the best coaches are almost all in college now. In college, the Head Coach is the CEO of his organization with full responsibility for recruiting, signing and coaching the players. How can you really expect to recruit these guys to the pros if you are not going to give them that same authority? And if you could, why would you want to? these guys were successful not only for their coaching skills, but their talent assessment and recruitment. You would really be selling a guy like Kelly short if you didn't give him that authority.

It really makes no sense to hire a Kelly, and then have him over ruled by somewhat like Roseman on issues of which player to pick. Don't get me wrong, I think Roseman is terrific and beings alot to the table. But at the end of the day, after all the numbers are analyzed, the base question is can the player play football? And you really want your head football guy to make that final call. Kelly is a bit of a geek himself, so I think he appreciates the analytical inputs as well.

 

[Northern Eagle]

Of course you would expect Shady to say something like that - this was his home state, the only pro team he has played for, you would be a bit vociferous too if your employer discarded you for someone else.

Plan A's don't always work out, so you better be prepared to make Plan B and Plan C work just in case. I don't think there's anyone here that is feeling bad that we ended up with Murray instead of Gore, and knowing that what Chip wants to do, we have Murray instead of McCoy. I'm still a Shady fan, and hope he kicks ass in Buffalo - just not against us

 

[Birds4life81]

Who cares what Shady says? Fact is... we got a downhill runner, and not a dancer.

Ding ding ding!! We got a winner!

 

[EagleUpNorth]

These kind of statements, and running style, are why he's no longer on this team.

It was definitely an opportunistic move to acquire the rushing leader, a stud linebacker on a rookie contract and weaken a division opponent. Oh, and we will have a lower 2015 cap number allocated to a better group of running backs.

 

[I miss Dawkins]

I still contend... that the PLAN was to get Gore as the replacement for McCoy, with Murray as plan B.

The Matthews pickup was desperation when Gore didn't work out. They didn't want to be left with nothing, as Murray was not going fast enough after having already let McCoy go. CK could feel things going south fast, after Gore reneged on the agreement.

After getting Matthews, they then turned to Murray, which I think was plan B and the better option.


It was a bit frantic, and the REAL mistake was letting McCoy go "BEFORE" you had the other deal truly in place.

But I give the man credit for moving fast and actually HAVING a plan B, something Reid rarely ever did.

It was risky, rash, and some of what McCoy says was likely true. But in the end, it worked out for us, and we are in a better place now than we were before.

That said, it's still better to have the replacement deal done BEFORE letting go of a starter.

 

[Rey]

You have to remember McCoy was traded, not let go. The Eagles had different avenues they could have gone at RB ... aside from free agency, this is one of the best RB draft classes we've seen come along with while. With Murray and Mathews we are set, but if Gore would have been they guy, I have very little doubt the Eagles would have drafted a RB fairly early. Gore is no spring chicken ... he would have only been a band aid type move.