10 things to know about the LeSean McCoy-Kiko Alonso trade

The blockbuster trade that sent Eagles running back LeSean McCoy to Buffalo in exchange for Bills linebacker Kiko Alonso is the most shocking development of the offseason so far, and this player-for-player transaction is a relative NFL rarity. Scanning judgments on the Twitterverse right after the trade happened, it was easy to find declarations on which club “won” the trade, and there were ample arguments for both sides. I guess that means it was a good trade?

Ultimately, Chip Kelly and the Eagles traded away a 26-year-old running back who is apparently still at, or near, the top of his game. He was the NFL rushing champion in 2013 and finished third in the league in 2014 with 1,319 yards. He’s known to be one of the shiftiest runners in the NFL and was obviously a major component to Philly’s offense the last two years. On the surface, this shocking.

In return, Philly gets up-and-coming middle linebacker Kiko Alonso, an Oregon alum who played under Kelly when they were both in Eugene. Alonso, the PFWA Defensive Rookie of the Year in 2013, is a tackling machine, is proficient in coverage and may have emerged as one of the league’s defensive stars in 2014 if not for an offseason ACL tear. The fact that Buffalo would part ways with a potential future star is equally as shocking, if not more shocking.

Bottom line though: Both teams obviously feel like what they’re getting out of this swap is of greater value than what they’re giving up.

So let’s take a look at their respective logic, and the trade’s implications.

First and foremost, this is a flashy move for a new regime headed up by Rex Ryan, and while fans in Buffalo may lament losing Alonso so early in his career, acquiring one of the game’s most exciting offensive stars has the potential to pump up fans. Ryan and his new offensive coordinator, Greg Roman, will surely want to run the ball, and seeing what Roman has been able to do with Frank Gore in San Francisco’s multiple power-O run game over the past several years makes it an enticing fit.

McCoy turns 27 this summer, is a two-time All-Pro running back, has 54 touchdowns in his seven-year career and has consistently been a headache for opposing defenses. This trade is likely to pay dividends for Buffalo early on as Roman pairs McCoy with Fred Jackson. Additionally, with major uncertainty at the quarterback position, it gives the Bills’ soon-to-be run-heavy offense some much-needed potency.

The reason that the Bills felt comfortable making this trade was, in part, due to the emergence of Preston Brown and Nigel Bradham in the middle of the Buffalo defense last year. Even without Alonso, the Bills were among the elite defensive groups last season. It had been speculated that Alonso would have been making a move to outside linebacker once his knee was good to go for game action.

There are reports of late saying that Ryan and Buffalo will go after veteran linebacker David Harris in free agency, so the team has options at that particular position. Alonso had become, in their eyes, an expendable and valuable trade chip.

SB Nation presents: How LeSean McCoy reached NFL stardom

Chip Kelly won a power struggle with GM Howie Roseman during the offseason and wasted no time putting his power over personnel to use. With the former Duck in Alonso coming to Philly, there are now nine former Oregon players on his roster, and we haven’t even reached free agency. This move makes it crystal clear -- if it wasn’t already -- that his is Kelly’s team and he’s going to do it his way.

Kelly apparently believes he can either replace McCoy with a free agent or draft pick, or simply lean on his current group of backs to carry the load going forward. There had been speculation that McCoy and Kelly didn’t see eye to eye, and McCoy’s huge cap hits over the next couple of seasons didn’t help his cause.

When recently released offensive lineman Todd Herremans was asked last week if he could see McCoy back next year, his first question in reply was, “For how much money?”

“For his contract?” he replied, “Hooof. I hope so for his sake. I don’t know.”

Turns out, no.

When Herremans was asked about the potential for a restructure for McCoy, he shed some light on just how Kelly sees the running back position in general.

“I think they could find something to work out like that,” said Herremans. “I guess it all just depends on how bad Chip wants him, and if he thinks he’s that instrumental in his offense. If he feels he can get somebody cheaper and just plug him and still get production, then -- we’ll see.”

“I think he values the quarterback position in his offense the most. Quarterback and offensive line. I think other than that, I think that he feels like he can kind of, you know, the system will take care of it.”

When Spiller was informed about the Bills-Eagles trade, he quickly quipped, “I’m pretty sure that Chip (Kelly) has my agent’s phone number so I’m pretty sure we might have to make a call over there.”

As far as fit? “I’ve never been in that type of system before,” Spiller said, “but I don’t think I’d have any problem adjusting to it.”

It’s also worth noting that the Eagles reportedly reached out to Buffalo last season to inquire about Spiller, so if you connect the dots, Philly may be replacing Shady McCoy with another dynamic and explosive back in Spiller next year, at a significant discount from the $10.25 million cap hit McCoy would have incurred.

With the trade, the Eagles now have a fast-flying, exciting pair of inside linebackers in Mychal Kendricks and Kiko Alonso. Kelly obviously wants the team to improve on defense and getting an extremely instinctive player and prolific tackler will not hurt, assuming Alonso’s knee is back to full health.

The release of cornerback CB Cary Williams, OL Todd Herremans and TE James Casey added $13.3 million to the Eagles’ 2015 cap space number and this trade nets them about $9 million more. DeMeco Ryans and his $6.9 million cap hit is probably next. As the Eagles stack chips by cutting and trading some of their higher-earning veteran players, they set themselves up to be very active in big-money and mid-level free agency. This freed-up money gives them plenty of options to upgrade their secondary and other spots of need.

These recent moves, particularly the cap-saving trade of McCoy, point to an idea that’s been floated around that Kelly is clearing up cap space so he can add a handful of depth players in free agency in order to go all in for Marcus Mariota in the draft. If Kelly’s going to be giving up heavy capital to move up to grab Mariota, he’ll need to sign players at depth positions in order to make up for those lost draft picks. This is, of course, just speculation.

Chip Kelly is nothing if not exciting.

For full coverage of the trade, head over to Bleeding Green Nation and Buffalo Rumblings.