Chip Kelly Reveals LeSean McCoy Trade Helped Eagles Land Sam Bradford

The Philadelphia Eagles trading running back LeSean McCoy to the Buffalo Bills back on March 4 was one of the most shocking moments in the NFL's offseason. 

As it turns out, head coach Chip Kelly's reasoning for trading the three-time Pro Bowl running back was so the Eagles could afford the salary of quarterback Sam Bradford, who has never made it to a Pro Bowl.

“We had to free up money to get Sam,” Kelly said, per Phil Sheridan of ESPN.com. “It was a tough decision.”

McCoy faces his former team for the first time since Philadelphia sent the former rushing champion to Buffalo for linebacker Kiko Alonso, a former player of Kelly's at Oregon who has only accumulated 14 total tackles this year.

Another 1,000-yard season is on the horizon for McCoy, despite missing two games this year. He's only scored three touchdowns this year, but he's averaging 4.6 yards per carry. McCoy ran for 112 yards in the win over the Houston Texans on Sunday.

Bradford, who is in the last year of his rookie deal that pays him $11 million this year, has only played two full seasons in the NFL since being the No. 1 pick by the St. Louis Rams in 2010. He's thrown 13 touchdowns to 10 interceptions in 10 games for the Eagles in his first year in Philly.

“Those decisions are made by money,” Kelly said.

While it was smart for Kelly to be cost conservative going forward, it's been a disaster of a plan on the field. The Eagles signed DeMarco Murray ($8 million) to replace McCoy, to only $3 million less per year than McCoy ($11.95 million) was making in Philly, and Murray has only averaged 3.5 yards per carry this year.

Bradford was traded to Philadelphia for Nick Foles, who was just two years removed from throwing 27 touchdowns to only two interceptions. While the experiment hasn't even worked in St. Louis in regards to Foles, the case can be made that the Eagles were better with Foles taking snaps and with McCoy running the ball.