McCoy: I Won’t Be Shaking Chip’s Hand


Photo by: Jeff Fusco.

Photo by: Jeff Fusco.

LeSean McCoy made it perfectly clear during his conference call with the Philly media Wednesday afternoon that he has no interest in olive branches when it comes to Chip Kelly.

The head coach told Buffalo reporters that he’d “love to shake LeSean’s hand” before the Eagles and Bills play Sunday at the Linc. McCoy was asked if that is something that he’d be open to.

“Nah. Now he knows that ain’t going to happen, you all know that’s not going to happen. We’re not shaking no hands.”

Why not?

“I mean what for? What are we shaking hands for? We don’t have nothing to shake hands for.  And there’s some dudes, some players, I’m going to shake their hands. [Jeffrey] Lurie. I’m probably going to talk to Lurie a little bit. A couple different coaches. A lot of players over there that I’m still tight with. I’m going to go give Duce [Staley] a big hug. But yeah, that’s pretty much it.

“What are we shaking hands for? We don’t have that type of relationship. But I have nothing against him. I have nothing negative to say about him. I’m not going to get into an argument with him or fight with him. I just don’t think we need to be shaking hands. I don’t see why we would be doing that.”

McCoy said that Kelly “showed me a lot. He’s really smart and he’s taught me different things,” and said it was “a blast to play in his offense.”

But that’s about as warm and fuzzy as it got. Asked about the differences between Rex Ryan and Kelly, McCoy’s response seemed to have a biting undertone.

“They’re way different. Way, way different,” said McCoy. “It’s the small things. Rex is more worried about playing football. The way you wear your hat, or the way you wear your jeans or the different socks you wear, he don’t care about that. The type of car you drive, he don’t care about that type of stuff. He wants to win games. Always respectful when you play  within the rules of the team. Play with respect, and also play for the logo on your helmet, that’s all he cares about.

“Chip’s more, a lot of things matter to him than playing ball. Every coach is different. Some coaches are like that.”

McCoy, who became the franchise’s all-time leading rusher during his six seasons in Philly, was asked if he deserved to be treated better.

“Whatever I do say, it doesn’t matter. I look at all of that, if I was treated better or if I wasn’t, right now it doesn’t matter. It is what it is,” he said. “I just thought that maybe [there could have been] better communication. Because I was really tight with the owner so I thought that may have been ran a little better. But other than that, it doesn’t matter if I got treated better or not. I mean it happened. It is what it is. And I’m not the only player that’s going to get traded that was a good player. It happens all the time.”

The 27-year-old was asked to reflect on his time with the Eagles.

“I had a blast. The fans, they’re excellent. My teammates. played with some great players. Laughed with some great players. Coach Reid, he was the man. And even Chip. He showed me a lot. He’s smart, he’s really smart. He’s taught me different things. It was a blast to play in his offense. And then just the city. Being in that city of Philadelphia, the fans are cool and then there’s so much to do there. So I had a blast in Philadelphia, I really did.”

When a reporter harped on the notion that McCoy says he has no issues with Kelly but then makes comments that suggest otherwise, the back decided that he had enough.

“I just told you I have no issues against him. Did you listen to anything I’ve been saying? I have no issue with him at all. Man, look…I gotta go man. I’ll see y’all Sunday.”