When Eagles head coach Chip Kelly and now-Bills tailback LeSean McCoy next have a conversation, they figure to have some things to discuss.
But to hear it from Kelly, that talk hasn’t happened yet.
At a press conference Thursday at the Eagles’ OTAs, Kelly indicated he had twice contacted McCoy, but the tailback “didn’t accept my call,” per John Gonzalez of CSNPhilly.com.
While most relationships between coaches and former players don’t draw much public attention, this one is different.
A lot different.
In an interview with ESPN The Magazine published in May, McCoy suggested race might have had a hand in some of Kelly’s roster decisions.
“The relationship was never really great,” McCoy said of Kelly, per ESPN. “I feel like I always respected him as a coach. I think that’s the way he runs his team. He wants the full control.
“You see how fast he got rid of all the good players. Especially all the good black players. He got rid of them the fastest. That’s the truth. There’s a reason.”
On Thursday, Kelly said he disagreed with McCoy’s contentions regarding race and personnel.
“I’ve got great respect for LeSean. However, in that situation, I think he’s wrong,” Kelly said, according to CSNPhilly.com. “We put a lot of time in looking at the characters and factors that go into selection and retention of players, and color’s never been one of them.”
The question now is whether the two men will get together to try and make this right.
