ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. - When running back LeSean McCoy was traded suddenly from the Eagles to the Bills, there were reports from sources close to him that he was more than disgruntled with his change of address.
A product of Harrisburg and the University of Pittsburgh, McCoy had spent his entire football career, and life, in Pennsylvania before being shipped to western New York.
The shock of the move, in the first offseason that finds head coach Chip Kelly in charge of the Eagles' roster moves, allowed McCoy to spin some theories surrounding his departure in his first meeting with Philadelphia reporters.
"I don't think he respects the stars," he said, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer. "I'm being honest. I think he likes the fact that it's Chip Kelly and the Eagles."
Kelly would say the move came because of money and team owner Jeffrey Lurie because he thought McCoy's shifty running style didn't fit into Kelly's scheme.
Lurie noted that Kelly preferred the north-to-south running game that new back DeMarco Murray, signed this year from Dallas, would provide, compared with McCoy's tendency to hop back and forth looking for the big hole that last season, more often than not, never came open.
Kelly's financial argument seemingly fails to hold water, though, as McCoy would have only taken $12 million off the books, and the team would later sign Murray to a five-year, $40 million deal.
McCoy, a three-time Pro Bowl selection, put his name to an identical deal with Buffalo after being told he was traded by his agent, Drew Rosenhaus, on March 10, something he didn't exactly expect.
"He called up and said, 'Hey, it's not a joke. Eagles are trading you to the Bills,'" McCoy said. "I'm like What?"
"Money wasn't the first reason that made me want to come here," he added. "Even when I knew [about the deal] I was like, 'I'm not going there. I don't give a freak what they give me, I'm not going.' And then I realized it was the best for me. This is a team that wants me. Coach [Rex] Ryan is a winner and he wants to run the ball."
McCoy tallied an Eagles season-best 1,607 yards and eleven touchdowns in 2013, and left Philadelphia as the club's all-time leading rusher with 6,792 yards.
"For so many years I gave you all what you wanted. You know?" he said. "And then for how it went down, it was like a surprise. I'm thinking, 'Does everybody look at it how I look at it?'"
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