To start off what will be an exciting NFL offseason, the Philadelphia Eagles wrapped up a deal to send their star RB LeSean McCoy to the Buffalo Bills straight up for Kiko Alonso. This deal, according to Bills sources, went from “first contact” to “agreed upon” inside of a half hour. At first blush, pundits declared this a total win for the Bills in getting one of the best RBs in the NFL in exchange for a young quality LB.

These days, a RB isn’t worth as much to a team as he was five years ago. This decay started in 2004 with the change of rules for illegal contact and has continued with the increasing wear and tear on RBs’ bodies due to faster and bigger defenders. While there have been RBs who have had monster seasons since 2004 (DeMarco Murray in 2014, for example), these are less trends and more statistical boomlets. The Eagles know this, and Chip Kelly knows that his offense is more about his QB’s abilities and strength of his offensive line.  

The Eagles also needed a quality LB more than they needed a RB that they could replace. They had the second-worst pass defense in 2014 and a middle-of-the-pack run defense. After they cut DeMeco Ryans for salary reasons, they were left with Mychal Kendricks and not much else. They could bid on AJ Hawk, Brandon Spikes or Mason Harris, but the team’s desperation makes these options pointless. The draft could be an option also, but Kelly saw Alonso up close and personal at Oregon, and they have Alonso locked up for 2015 and 2016 for a total of $1.7 million. LeSean McCoy is counting $9.3 million against the cap for 2015 alone.

The Eagles also got a head start on replacing McCoy by working in Sproles and Chris Polk more and more as the season ended. This is not to say that either was the prime back over McCoy, but McCoy saw his responsibilities in certain situations shuffled off to both players. So for the Eagles, it is not so much a question of “How do we replace a primary RB?” but more a question of “At the minimum, how do we replace 65% of McCoy’s production in 2015?”

From just a dollars-and-cents perspective, signing Murray for $6 million in cap space in 2015 or Frank Gore for $3.5 million in cap space or even Darren McFadden for $3 million in cap space with Sproles and Polk getting touches and Alonso at ILB makes more sense to Kelly than paying McCoy now and going after a free agent ILB -- and it should to every other team.

The Bills needed a RB to replace CJ Spiller, who was a unrestricted free agent and completely out of the Bills’ plans under their new regime. However, the Eagles also realized something about McCoy: he was a system RB. He had an amazing 2013 and a great 2011 season with them. The common factor was not the offense -- they ran two completely different systems in those years -- but it was their offensive line.

Jason Peters and Evan Mathis were spectacular in both seasons (both were AP All-Pros in 2013; Peters was in 2011 as well), and this clearly was not the case in 2012 or 2014. In both of those years, the Eagles dealt with a lot of offensive line issues and McCoy’s production suffered (Peters missed all of 2012 with a leg injury).

The Bills have taken strides to improve their line and have the opportunity to do so again this offseason, but it is doubtful that they could produce a lineman as good of a run blocker as Peters, who, curiously enough, was a Bills player until he was traded to the Eagles in 2005. In addition, they are going to platoon McCoy with Fred Jackson at RB as well. If the Bills are expecting the 2013 McCoy to show, they are probably mistaken.

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About the author
Jon Fox
Just listen to Radiohead when you read my pieces and we will get along just fine.