LeSean McCoy doesn’t seem very happy with Chip Kelly.
And Kelly understands why.
When asked by Buffalo media on Tuesday, Kelly said he would shake his former player’s hand, but Shady wasn’t having it. McCoy on a conference call with Philly reporters said he wouldn’t shake Kelly’s hand, that they “don’t have that type of relationship.”
Kelly was asked about the situation on Thursday. He gave a lengthy answer and apologized to McCoy to finish his nine-minute press conference.
“That's his choice and I understand,” Kelly said. “How he was traded wasn't handled right. And I've said that before. I did not get an opportunity to talk to him and it's a lesson that we should never do, to be honest with you. We were told that the trade wasn't initiated and wouldn't be initiated until the next morning so there were no phone calls to be made. And then all of a sudden, I'm driving to an event and he's been traded. I felt bad that I didn't get a chance to talk to him. I called him. He didn't answer my phone call. I know he was pissed. And he should be pissed. Rightfully so.
“And every player that's ever left this team, I've talked to personally, myself. Everyone that's in town, we talk to individually here in our office. I talk to them, a coordinator talks to them, the position coach talks to them. We have a way that we do it that I think is the right way to do it. And it wasn't exercised in that way. And I understand why he's bothered. He was the all-time leading running back here, he felt like he was disrespected. He was wronged and because I was part of it, then it's on me.
“When we traded for Sam (Bradford) and for Nick (Foles) with Jeff Fisher, it was a great situation. Jeff and me were both on the phone together and said 'OK, when are you going to make the call? Let's call now. When we're done our phone calls with our players, let's text each other.' He texted me he was done, I texted him I was done. I then called Sam, he then called Nick. That's the way it should have been done.
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“It wasn't handled the right way with LeSean and I understand why he's not happy about it. And he should not be happy about it. That's why I would apologize for that. Because it didn't happen the right way. But from our standpoint, we thought the trade wasn't going to be initiated until the next morning so there was no phone call to be made until the league approves the trade.
“I understand where he's coming from and if he doesn't want to shake my hand, I understand that. But I will always shake his hand. If he extends his hand, I will always shake his hand. I have great respect for him as a player. Everything we asked him to do, he did. He was an outstanding football player for two years here. The only reason he wasn't here was because the money was too high. He's still a really good football player. I don't know if I can say anything else besides that, but I do have great respect for LeSean. I think he's a heck of a football player. And I think we're going to have our hands full when we play him this week.”
During Thursday’s press conference, Kelly said the Eagles made the right move by trading McCoy at the time. Kelly has maintained the trade was made strictly for money purposes.
On Wednesday, McCoy said money was never an issue, that he was never approached to restructure his contract. According to Kelly, McCoy’s agent said McCoy’s wouldn’t restructure his contract.
“It was a tough decision,” Kelly said, “with all those guys we let go last year and in my first two years here. Those decisions were made by money. Those decisions weren't made because we don't think they were good football players or we don't think they're good people. I think people kind of forget that. We look at it. That's a lot of money.”
