Youth Movement Should Preclude McCoy Reunion
It wasn’t quite a Chip Kelly nightmare but DeSean Jackson and LeSean McCoy teamed up again recently, this time on social media to kickstart the whispers of a potential reunion in Philadelphia.
There isn’t much heft to two friends having a back-and-forth on Instagram but that’s what happened here with McCoy posting a few highlights of his in an Eagles’ uniform captioned “PHILADELPHIA = home.” Jackson, who returned from his Kelly-inspired exile last season jumped into the comments with “It’s a reunion” and “homecoming.”
Jackson isn’t general manager Howie Roseman and doesn’t have the power to force anything from a personnel standpoint so about the only thing propping this up is the fact that Doug Pederson needs another back for his preferred committee approach after Jordan Howard left for Miami in free agency and McCoy is currently unemployed after finally getting a Super Bowl ring as an afterthought with Andy Reid in Kansas City.
Jackson and McCoy were the biggest playmakers on the Philadelphia offense from 2009 to 2013 before Kelly deemed their personalities “too big” for his culture. Roseman had long wanted Jackson back and things worked out for one game last season before a core-muscle injury shut down the speedy receiver.'
McCoy, meanwhile, was traded to Buffalo for Kiko Alonso before the 2015 season. He had two 1,000-yard seasons with the Bills but McCoy's production waned when he hit 30. He signed a one-year deal to reunite with Reid in K.C. last season and was used as a rotational back behind Damien Williams, often being a healthy scratch due to load-management concerns.
The numbers weren’t bad with McCoy piling up 465 yards and four touchdowns on just 101 carries but he played just only one offensive snap during the Chiefs’ postseason run en route to the Super Bowl LIV championship.
McCoy, the Eagles’ all-time leading rusher, will turn 32 in July and doesn’t exactly fit in the youth movement that Roseman has consistently alluded to this offseason. On the other hand, Philadelphia does need another back and Roseman has at least flirted with the idea of bringing back McCoy in the past.
“Going forward we need to infuse youth in this team,” said Roseman in January.
Currently, the only backs on the roster are Miles Sanders, Boston Scott and Elijah Holyfield, who was brought in late last season. Gone, along with Howard, are Darren Sproles, who retired and is now helping Philadelphia’s personnel department, and Corey Clement, the Super Bowl LII hero, and South Jersey native who wasn’t tendered.
“We need to continue to add to that position,” said Roseman. “We only have three on the roster right now and in the past few years we've never kept less than five. So certainly we got to continue to add to that position.”
From a fit standpoint, McCoy is likely a little too similar in playing style to Sanders and Pederson would prefer a bigger, more physical back to complement his exciting second-year RB1 in the template of Howard.
John McMullen covers the Eagles for SI.com. You can listen to John every day at 4 ET on ESPN 97.3 in South Jersey and reach him at jmcmullen44@gmail.com or on Twitter @JFMcMullen
