By Tim Kelly, Sports Talk Philly editor 
Philadelphia Eagles fans remain bothered by the 2015 trade of LeSean McCoy, the franchise's all-time leading rusher. The man who executed that trade, Chip Kelly, wouldn't go as far as saying that the results of the trade bothered him, but in a recent media appearance, Kelly did say that how McCoy was informed about the deal does still bother him.
Kelly, who now works at ESPN, joined ESPN's Adam Schefter on his podcast to discuss a variety of topics. Perhaps the most interesting point of the interview for Eagles fans was when Kelly revisted the night that the team sent LeSean McCoy to the Buffalo Bills:
Schefter: What do you remember about that night?
Kelly: It was one of those deals where a trade had been initiated, but it had to be approved by the league. So, before anything ever got approved, we weren't going to say or comment or do anything in that situation. And then obviously the story got out before we ever got a chance to communicate specifically with the guys that were being traded. And that's the most important thing. I never got a chance to talk to LeSean before he found out he was getting traded. I've always said that's on us and it wasn't handled the right way.
That a trade came together wasn't shocking. How quickly a trade came together was shocking, as were the exact parameters of the deal.
McCoy admitted after the team's Week 17 win over the New York Giants that he wasn't entirely sure that he would be back with the team for the next season. Fast forward to March 2, 2015 — with speculation about the team potentially "mortgaging" the future to trade up for Oregon quarterback Marcus Mariota dominating Philadelphia's airwaves — and NJ Advance Media's Mark Eckel reported that while the team wouldn't release LeSean McCoy, using him to move up in the draft was a possibility. A day later, the Eagles traded McCoy to the Bills for linebacker Kiko Alonso, straight up.
While shocking to the public, rumblings of the impending trade started to leak out to about anyone with connections 30 minutes or so before it was reported. To say that the Eagles and Bills did a poor job of keeping the deal from reaching the media would be a drastic understatement. Kelly seems to think that someone on the Bills end may have initially leaked the trade, although with all the moving parts in the Eagles' front-office at that time, it's hard to believe that was the case.
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There was some initial speculation that McCoy may consider not reporting to Buffalo, but in the end, the team reworked his contract and he joined the Bills. While Eagles fans tried to convince themselves at the time that McCoy was probably close to declining, he ran for 1,267 yards and 13 touchdowns, while posting a career-high 5.4 yards-per-carry average in 2016. McCoy, as he's spent much of the offseason pointing out on Instagam, will probably eclipse the 10,000 career rushing yards mark in 2017.
Meanwhile, Alonso spent one injury-riddled season in Philadelphia before being moved to the Miami Dolphins as the Eagles plotted their way up to draft Carson Wentz. DeMarco Murray, who was McCoy's replacement, was a disastrous fit both in Kelly's offense and with Kelly personally. As early as Week 4 of the 2015 season, a source close to the team told SportsTalkPhilly.com that Murray wasn't buying into Kelly's 'culture,' and that the team had "big locker room problems." Those proved to be bad omens for the 2016 season, as Kelly was fired after the team's Week 16 loss to the Redskins, leaving a locker room that generally didn't have a positive opinion of him.
Because the McCoy trade indirectly helped the Eagles to get Wentz, there's still hope that a trade that by itself was a disaster, will end up paying dividends for the team. But while Kelly is bothered by how McCoy found out about the trade, most Eagles fans are bothered by the idea that McCoy could have remained with the Eagles and would now be part of a pretty talented offense.
