DeMeco Ryans: LeSean McCoy trade ‘shocking, and it hurt'

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Malcolm Jenkins recently said the offseason trade that sent his teammate, LeSean McCoy, to Buffalo wasn’t all that surprising.

It sure blew DeMeco Ryans away.

Ryans, appearing Thursday on Comcast SportsNet’s Quick Slants, said the separate deals that sent McCoy and quarterback Nick Foles out of town took him by surprise at first and weren’t easy to stomach.

“I was shocked,” Ryans said. “I was shocked to see Shady go. Shady was such a great teammate, such a fun guy in the locker room to be around. He kept the energy going in the locker room. He’s a really good guy, man, so to see him leave was definitely shocking — and it hurt.

“But things like that happen. So once the news hits, you’re like, ‘OK, it’s the NFL. Another move, another big-time player being moved to a different team. It’s happened year after year after year. After that initial shock, I just understood what we’re doing.”

McCoy accompanied Peyton Manning, DeSean Jackson, Darrelle Revis and most recently Mike Wallace as high-priced stars either released or traded over the past few years. By all accounts, Adrian Peterson could be the next to join the list.

Chip Kelly flipped the four-time Pro Bowl halfback to Buffalo for linebacker Kiko Alonso, who’s expected to start alongside Ryans at inside linebacker in the Eagles’ 3-4 scheme.

Shortly after, Kelly traded Foles to St. Louis in a deal that brought back Sam Bradford, the No. 1 overall pick of the 2010 draft. The oft-injured Bradford has a career 18-30-1 record.

“That was a very interesting one,” Ryans added. “I was really close with Nick Foles, so again it was tough seeing a good friend leave. But you look at a guy like Sam, he was the number one guy taken in the draft class, so that tells you a lot about Sam and a lot about his ability to quarterback a team, to lead a team. I’m excited to see Sam out there, see how he works under our offense.”

Ryans has been rehabbing an Achilles rupture he suffered midway through last season that ended his season prematurely. He stayed quiet and behind the scenes while Kelly, after inheriting total personnel power in a January front-office shakeup, turned over the roster en masse.

In addition to trading McCoy and Foles, Kelly also rid the roster of cornerbacks Bradley Fletcher and Cary Williams, safety Nate Allen, right guard Todd Herremans, outside linebacker Trent Cole and tight end James Casey.

Ryans, who recently received a contract extension through 2016, said he had wondered about his future until the Eagles extended his contract.

“I was just like everybody else,” he said. “You kind of don’t know as players what’s going on, what kind of moves are going to be made. I was of course surprised by some of the moves. You don’t really know where you stand.

“You’re just looking for some type of stability. You want that stability in your contract. Whatever you’re doing in your career, you want to have that stability. For the Eagles to step up, for Coach Kelly and those guys to extend me another year on my contract, that was awesome.”

Almost all of Kelly’s additions this offseason come with injury baggage. Alonso and Bradford missed the entire 2014 season to recover from torn knee ligaments. For Bradford, it was the second tear in as many seasons.

New running backs DeMarco Murray and Ryan Mathews have battled through injuries throughout the careers. Free-agent cornerback Walter Thurmond missed all but one game last season after tearing his pectoral muscle in the opener. Free-agent wide receiver Miles Austin, who’s been dogged by hamstring injuries, went on injured reserve last year after lacerating his kidney.

Ryans, who tore his Achilles on Nov. 2 and missed the final eight games of the year, is attempting his second career comeback from an Achilles rupture.

“I was thinking about that the other day,” Ryans said. “What came to my mind was at one point in these guys’ career everybody was a standout player and they got it done in the league. Once the guys are healthy, I feel like we have a big group of really talented players. That’s how I look at it.

“Even though they were hurt, guys do bounce back from injuries and guys do play well. I feel like if everybody comes off and everybody is feeling good, I feel like we will have a really good arsenal of guys.”

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