NFL Trade Analysis: LeSean McCoy To The Bills Helps The Patriots
By Cyrus Geller
The Philadelphia Eagles and Buffalo Bills made the first big splash of the offseason, as yesterday the Eagles shipped running back LeSean McCoy to Buffalo in exchange for linebacker Kiko Alonso. Now, I hate both the Eagles and Bills, so I’m not going to dwell too long on them. However it would be rude to not even acknowledge the two squads involved in the deal, so bare with me here for a second.
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Philly won this trade, and it wasn’t even close. McCoy is a very good running back, but at times he was being outplayed by Darren Sproles last year, and on top of that, he has a huge cap hit in 2015 (nearly $12 million I believe). So the Eagles clear a ton of cap space, and acquire one of the best young linebackers in the league, and the Bills get stuck with an overpaid back, and still no quarterback.
Advantage: Eagles.
Now let’s look at the important stuff, and see how this trade affected our very own New England Patriots. Obviously assuming Brady and Belichick are still there, the Patriots are not in danger of losing the crown of the AFC East to the Bills, or any team for that matter next year. They have the advantage at pretty much every level, including the two most important position: quarterback and coach.
However with this trade, Buffalo distanced themselves even further from New England, in the direction of the AFC basement. Sexy Rexy inherited an elite defense, and what they needed to overtake the Pats was a quarterback. Instead, they replaced C.J. Spiller with a slightly better back, and are now paying that back a ridiculous amount of money. Now, money that could have been thrown at a quarterback, or weapons on the outside, is being used to pay a running back that is only marginally better than the back that he replaced.
Buffalo will win some games next year because of that defense. But ultimately, the lack of a quarterback, or weapons outside of Sammy Watkins will do them in once again.
8, maybe 9 wins. Tops.