Following a TV tirade by Stephen A. Smith who used to regularly write for the Inquirer, people now wonder if the moves made by Eagles head coach Chip Kelly are driven by race. This could not be farther from the truth.
Kelly does make his personnel decisions based on color. The color he sees is green. DeSean Jackson was released based on his contract. It was ironic his release took place just after a NJ.com article about gang affiliation, but money was the motivating factor. In 2013 the base salary for Jackson was $6.75 million. That number was going up to $10.25 million in 2014. If Jackson played for the Eagles in 2014, the Eagles might not have been able to sign Malcolm Jenkins, trade for Darren Sproles, or re sign Jeremy Maclin.
The trade of LeSean McCoy is also being labeled as racist. The deal of McCoy is based solely on money. The cap hit for McCoy in 2014 was $9.7 million, that number was set to jump up to $12 million for 2015.
The trade should not shock people. There was talk all season about McCoy being gone at the end of the season. During the season there was no talk about color when it was mentioned about McCoy not being on the team. People said he will not be on the team because of his contract. There was also talk after the season that it looked as if the Eagles would only be able to keep McCoy or Maclin. The Eagles did not let Maclin walk, the Eagles made an offer but the Chiefs were able to offer more.
In the release of Jackson and the trade of McCoy the word ‘culture’ was used. The term does not refer to race. The culture is more the philosophy of Kelly. In a game against Minnesota in 2013 Jackson got into a heated sideling argument with coaches. While Jackson may have had a career season with Kelly as coach, you could tell he did not fully buy into the system.
If you go back and watch games from the last two seasons you can see that McCoy also did not buy into the culture. The Kelly culture is fast moving and running plays as quickly as possible. At least once or twice a game you could see McCoy jog back onto the field and grab the ball to hand it to the referee to keep the game moving quickly.
The basis of Smith’s argument centers around Riley Cooper still being on the team. Before the 2014 season a video was released showing Cooper using the N-word at a concert. Cooper was ‘suspended’ for a short time and the returned to a team following an apology.
Cooper would have been released if not for the fact that Maclin injured his knee and was out for the season. The Eagles needed Cooper and in turn Riley had a career season in Kelly’s system.
Cooper was given a contract at the end of the season after Jackson was released. He is on the roster because he fills the need for the Eagles at a cheaper rate than Jackson or Maclin.
The Eagles have given out big contracts to black players.
Earlier this evening the Eagles announced the signing of CB Byron Maxwell. Maxwell got a huge money deal and fills a need in the secondary which was the weak spot of the team last season.
Chip Kelly is not racist. He sees one color and that is green.
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