Trading Kiko Alonso for Shady McCoy makes sense on most fronts. The Buffalo Bills get a top NFL running back, one who has performed better than CJ Spiller who became a free agent.
Alonso missed an entire season, one that saw the Bills defense emerge as one of the best in league. So, not having Kiko Alonso in the lineup doesn’t appear to be a factor.
Yes, the trade makes perfect sense for improving on the field. How it goes over in the locker room may be a different story.
LeSean McCoy is coming to Buffalo with a huge contract and by all accounts an ego to match. He’ll be in the same back field with Bills’ captain Fred Jackson, the most popular player on the team roster.
Last season when the Bills traded for Bryce Brown, McCoy tweeted that Brown would become the Bills starter. Fred Jackson tweeted back that CJ Spiller and himself may have something to say about that. I’m sure Jackson will welcome Shady into the locker room because Fred is a leader and a class act, but I’ll guarantee he wasn’t thrilled when he heard the news McCoy was coming to town.
Kiko Alonso is also a well liked player in the Bills locker room. Alonso earned respect from his teammates through his performance on the field and his work ethic off it. CJ Spiller said on the NFL Network Tuesday night that he rehabbed his injury along side Alonso at the team’s facility this past season and was impressed with Kiko’s commitment to get back. The tweets from the Bills defensive side of the ball show that Alonso will be missed.
It’s great to be liked and respected, but at the end of the day in the NFL it’s about winning. Bringing McCoy to the team gives Buffalo a real threat on the ground. A player who was among the top two or three in the league the past two years.
Some in Philly claim McCoy is on his way down already because of his heavy workload. Plus, Eagles coach Chip Kelly was also not his biggest fan so his departure from Philadelphia seemed imminent. Yet, McCoy is better at his position than anyone else on the Bills offensive side of the ball. Players win games in the NFL and LeSean McCoy is a player.
The addition of McCoy meant CJ Spiller was not coming back to Buffalo. Spiller told the world Tuesday night that he was already called by Bills management thanking him for his time with the team. Spiller’s hopes to finish his career as a Bill are gone, which is too bad because he is a great guy and teammate.
Three season’s ago CJ Spiller was emerging as the most explosive running back in the entire league. Once Spiller cleared the line of scrimmage he was gone, but then Doug Marrone came to town. Spiller was a racehorse and Marrone wanted him to pull a plow.
I’ll miss CJ because he was such a positive man and great to be around. I don’t buy Leo Durocher’s quote, “nice guys finish last”, but in the NFL winning is first and everything else is second.
Filed under: Koshinski's Korner
Tagged with: Buffalo Bills, Chris Kelly, CJ Spiller, Kiko Alonso, LeSean McCoy, Philadelphia Eagles
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