Byron Maxwell doesn't have any doubts about why the Eagles traded him last offseason.
"It was obvious," Maxwell said on Monday afternoon. "[The Eagles] needed a quarterback."
Maxwell and Kiko Alonso are back in town at the NovaCare Complex this week for the first time since both were sent to Miami in a deal that moved the Eagles from the 13th to the eighth spot in the 2016 draft. The Eagles eventually packaged the No. 8 pick to move up to No. 2 to take Carson Wentz.
So, yeah, Maxwell is kind of right. The Eagles needed a franchise quarterback and trading him and Alonso was the first step in making that happen.
That hasn't changed the fact that Maxwell uses the trade as motivation.
"Yeah, I would be lying if I told you I don't want to do better than the Eagles do," he said. "I do. I want to win more games than them. I want to prove them wrong."
Philadelphia Eagles
Complete coverage of the Philadelphia Eagles and their NFL rivals from NBC Sports Philadelphia.
If he knows the Eagles traded him to get a franchise quarterback, how does he still use the trade as motivation?
"That's just what I do," he said. "You can call it petty -- I don't know what it is. But that's just what I do, how I feel. That's just realistic. I know what it is but I still want to do better than my old team. I don't think no player wants the team to get rid of you and then they do better, to be honest with you."
The Eagles gave up on Maxwell just one year into his six-year, $63 million contract and gave up on Alonso just one year after trading the franchise's leading rusher, LeSean McCoy, to get him.
Both went to Miami and ended up being big defensive pieces of a Dolphins team that went 10-6 and made the playoffs.
While Maxwell uses being traded as motivation, Alonso said he doesn't. The middle linebacker of few words and extended blank stares, just went with the flow when he was dealt to Miami.
How does Alonso look back at his year in Philly?
"Obviously, it wasn't the year we wanted," he said. "It is what it is."
For Alonso, his trade to Miami was the second time he was moved in two years, so he said the second trade wasn't very surprising. Maxwell said he was surprised by the move but thought something was up when he didn't hear from any of his coaches after the 2016 season ended.
Still, both probably should have seen getting moved as a possibility, especially after the man who brought them to town, Chip Kelly, was ousted before the end of the regular season, and in a plot twist worthy of a movie, his biggest nemesis, Howie Roseman, was given back his power.
"I didn't really get caught up in that," said Alonso, who still has a good relationship with Kelly, whom he also played for at Oregon. "I was just like, just go with the flow. They traded me, I was like 'alright, I'm going to Miami.'"
Both Maxwell and Alonso still have friends on the Eagles' roster, so they said it was good to catch up with them at Monday's joint practices. But Maxwell said he didn't really have any special feelings as he returned to Philadelphia. He spent just one season here and it wasn't really one to remember.
Both also got a chance to face Wentz -- the player the Eagles eventually parlayed their trade into getting -- on Monday morning. Maxwell admitted he does pay attention to Wentz's progress because, as he already admitted, he wants to have more success than the Eagles.
Of course, Alonso didn't see it the same way.
"Naahh," he said.
