Eagles need to acquire LeSean McCoy from Bills
The Philadelphia Eagles need a running back badly, and a reunion with LeSean McCoy has to be on the radar.
The Philadelphia Eagles’ Super Bowl defense is not going well right now, with a 2-3 record and a two-game losing streak heading into a short week. They continue to be hit by injuries at running back, and the latest was a season-ender on Monday with Jay Ajayi going on injured reserve with a torn ACL. Now, according to Josh Reed of WIVB, the Eagles have reached out to the Buffalo Bills about the availability of LeSean McCoy.
McCoy has 170 yards on 45 carries so far this season, his fourth with the Bills. In the midst of a rebuild, keeping a 30-year old running back around doesn’t quite fit that plan. And coming off his best game of the year, with 108 total yards against the Tennessee Titans, Buffalo might be at a sell-high point with McCoy.
McCoy was of course drafted by the Eagles in 2009, and spent his first six NFL seasons there. A falling out with then-head coach Chip Kelly brought a trade to Buffalo, but Howie Roseman has been back in a prominent personnel role and a different head coach should eliminate any lingering ill will from McCoy.
The #Eagles have reached out to the #Bills about a possible trade for LeSean McCoy, per source. Philly just lost RB Jay Ajayi for the season due to a torn ACL. McCoy spent the first 6 seasons of his career with the Eagles and is the franchise all-time leading rusher.
— Josh Reed (@4JoshReed) October 9, 2018
The Eagles have restructured defensive tackle Fletcher Cox’s contract, which created more cap space for this year ($6.5 million) and next ($11.7 million). That automatically fueled rumors of a trade for Le’Veon Bell, but ESPN’s Adam Schefter and Chris Mortensen reported that is not Philadelphia’s plan.
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Plans can change, so a trade for Bell shouldn’t be ruled out. But McCoy would be less expensive, both in trade price and in salary over the next two years despite having a contract for 2019. So if he’s not the primary trade target for the Eagles now, he’s a solid fallback option if Bell is genuinely available but is deemed to be more risky overall.