C.J. Spiller Is Ideal LeSean McCoy Replacement for Philadelphia Eagles

C.J. Spiller, the odd man out after a blockbuster trade that will send LeSean McCoy to the Buffalo Bills, has an obvious next destination—Philadelphia. 

Sometimes even the most shocking trades have obvious repercussions.

Tuesday, Adam Schefter of ESPN reported the Philadelphia Eagles will ship Shady to Buffalo in exchange for linebacker Kiko Alonso:

The surprise trade is quite rare, as player-for-player maneuvers involving high-profile names don't come around often.

It's polarizing, too—Bills coach and defensive guru Rex Ryan surrenders an inside linebacker who ranked No. 9 overall in the league as a rookie in 2013 at Pro Football Focus, while offensive innovator Chip Kelly gives up a running back in his prime who could challenge for the MVP award.

Perhaps most importantly, it speaks to the value of the running back position when one of the league's best at 26 years old is discarded for a young linebacker (albeit a very good one) coming off ACL surgery.

For Spiller, who heads to free agency soon while dwarfed by bigger names such as DeMarco Murray, this all equates to pretty bad news.

Except that Philadelphia figures to show him plenty of attention right out of the gates and Spiller is aware of the too-good-for-Hollywood storyline that seems inevitable at this point, as captured by Manish Mehta of the New York Daily News:

In reality, this has been years in the making.

While a footnote as something that never came to fruition, the Eagles-Spiller talk is not exactly new, as CSNPhilly's Geoff Mosher points out:

There's a number of reasons for that.

First is finances. Shady is one of the league's best, but Philadelphia is clearly not a fan of McCoy's cap hit of $10.25 million in 2015 and more than $7 million in each of the two years after that, per Spotrac.

The Eagles are free of that contract and wouldn't have to shell out a ton of money to bring Spiller on board, not after he's spent the past five years as part of a committee and each of the past two seasons hurt, two factors that prevent him from asking for exorbitant cash.

More important is simple schematics. As MMQB's Peter King reports, Kelly wants his feature back to get upfield more consistently:

Spiller is no bulldozing, Marshawn Lynch-esque rusher who gets strictly north-south and punishes defenses, but his production when acting as the starter is staggering.

Look at 2012, when Spiller ran a career-high 207 times for 1,244 yards and six scores, good for six yards a pop on average. He also caught 43 passes for 459 yards and two touchdowns.

There's no reason to believe Spiller couldn't match or improve upon those numbers in 2015 with the Eagles, as Bleacher Report's Alessandro Miglio muses:

Spiller's career-best 2012 numbers came behind an offensive line that ranked 23rd (22.0) in run blocking at PFF while complement Fred Jackson soaked up 115 totes.

For comparison's sake, the Eagles ranked No. 1 (85.7) at PFF in that regard last season and McCoy's complement, Darren Sproles (presumably a consolation prize after failing to obtain Spiller), carried the ball all of 57 times.

There may be other suitors for Spiller's services, sure. ESPN's Josina Anderson lists a few:

But none of those teams can offer Spiller what Philadelphia could—a promise of featured workload in the league's most prolific offense. He'd immediately go from PFF's worst-rated run-blocking team last season to the best.

Philadelphia has plenty of other options, too. Names such as Justin Forsett, Ahmad Bradshaw and Mark Ingram may be cost-effective. Rookies such as Melvin Gordon, Ameer Abdullah, Duke Johnson and more are cheap and come with upside.

None of those pros is as explosive as Spiller, though, and none of those rookies is proven at the NFL level—where Spiller still manages a ridiculous five yards per carry despite playing in one of the worst situations a running back could find himself in over the course of the past five seasons.

Gary Wiepert/Associated Press

Replacing McCoy is no easy task, but Spiller could be just as big of a home run threat on each snap, whether it's through the air or on the ground—not to mention his productivity on special teams, should the Eagles choose to use him in that manner. 

Free of a major contract and surely with more big moves inbound, Kelly heads to the open market with an option in Spiller who is every bit as explosive at a fraction of McCoy's cost. There's a certain risk given Spiller's injury history, but the less abusive approach in Philadelphia would subject him to fewer hits than he's accustomed.

If the McCoy trade (and DeSean Jackson before that) is any indication, Kelly won't be intimidated by a gamble on Spiller.

All things considered, he shouldn't be. Not everything in the NFL is a smoke screen—Spiller fits.

Note: Stats courtesy of NFL.com as of March 4 at 9 a.m. ET. All advanced metrics via Pro Football Focus.