Former Philadelphia Eagles stars LeSean McCoy and DeSean Jackson have remained close in their post-playing career, sharing a new podcast together called the 25/1o Show. But unfortunately, it seems like neither has remained close with former coach Chip Kelly.
The two released an episode of their podcast on Thursday called “The Truth About Chip Kelly”. As you would perhaps expect by the name of the podcast, the two did not speak all that highly about Kelly, who is currently coaching at the collegiate level as the offensive coordinator for the Ohio State Buckeyes.
Just about every part of Kelly’s tenure was discussed on the podcast. And right away, it was clear that neither McCoy nor Jackson had anything positive to say whatsoever.
Plenty of stories were shared by the two that detailed how they knew early on it would be a rocky relationship with Kelly. Jackson even alluded to Kelly being “scared of him”, which is obviously a bit of a weird dynamic when you initially think of a player-coach relationship.
“He never really approached me and was never a disciplinarian,” said Jackson. “He would talk to me, and it was like he was scared of me. I respect certain coaches, and when you get my respect, I will run through a brick wall for you… that’s the love that you build with a coach. With Chip Kelly, I never felt that love, because he always was scared of me. How can I respect you if I feel like you’re scared of me? You never voice your opinion with me, you always ran around it.”
McCoy took things a step further, saying that he noticed this trend from Kelly with some of the other black players on the Eagles at the time.
“I never had a coach who was scared – not even scared – I’ll say uncomfortable around black players,” McCoy said about Kelly. “Let’s not hide it, right? Most of the players are black. The NFL is dominated by black players.”
Obviously, there are two sides to every story. But McCoy did also reveal a pretty nasty bit of context to his claim, telling a story about Kelly allegedly telling his former teammate Roc Carmichael, who happened to have long hair, to “be more presentable”.
It would be interesting to hear the perspective of some other Eagles players after this revelation from McCoy and Jackson. Particularly because it makes total sense for both McCoy and Jackson to dislike Kelly considering he famously cut Jackson and traded McCoy not too long after getting the head coaching gig.
That being said, if McCoy and Jackson are accurate in their assessment of Kelly, it is obviously an incredibly bad look for him. It should also be a concern for Ohio State as Kelly prepares to start his first year as offensive coordinator at the program.
About Reice Shipley
Reice Shipley is a staff writer for Comeback Media that graduated from Ithaca College with a degree in Sports Media. He previously worked at Barrett Sports Media and is a fan of all things Syracuse sports.