More on Shady McCoy

Coming into this year’s draft, I really wanted the Eagles to draft one player – LeSean “Shady” McCoy. I had told everyone for the weeks leading up to the draft how much of a beast McCoy was, and how he was the best running back in this draft; better than Wells, Brown, and Moreno. When draft day came, even though I wanted McCoy, I really just wanted the Eagles to draft a much needed running back to spell Brian Westbrook for now, and eventually replace the oft-injured back. I was confident that we would take a RB, as most mock drafts and “experts” had the Eagles taking Moreno, or Brown, and I even saw one that had the Birds taking McCoy in the 1st round.

When the pick came, with Moreno off the board, the Eagles selected Maclin 19th overall. I was happy that we got a guy with that much talent with the 19th pick, but upset that we would have to take a running back in the later rounds that would need to step in immediately and back up Westbrook. Donald Brown, and then Beanie Wells were picked at the end of the first round. The Eagles held the 53rd overall pick, and there was no way everyone in the 2nd round before the Eagles would pass up on McCoy, who was now easily the best running back available... or so I thought. The 2nd round went by and McCoy was still there when the Eagles picked. The Eagles did the right thing, and picked McCoy with their 2nd round pick. I was ecstatic and amazed that he made it that far. McCoy will prove to be a huge steal with the Eagles at that pick.

In McCoy, I believe that the Eagles are getting the best actual running back in the draft. McCoy is shifty, and elusive. He doesn’t go down easily, and can run up the middle. He is also a very good receiver. According to McCoy, he is about 205, 206 pounds right now, and would like to be around 208-210 for the season. I watched McCoy play almost every one of his games in college, multiple times in person, and can tell you firsthand how good he will be. At Pitt, McCoy carried the Panthers the past two seasons. We had no passing game to speak of for two straight seasons, and McCoy would routinely get more rushing yards than we had passing yards. It would get to the point where we had a 3rd down and 5, and would run the ball…. and McCoy would usually get the first down. That not only speaks to how bad our passing game was at Pitt, but also how good McCoy was. In the two games Shady played against our rival West Virginia, which annually is our biggest game, he ran for 331 yards, and 2 TDs, averaging over 165 per game.

McCoy does a lot of same things that Westbrook can do. He should be able to contribute immediately, and get his touches even as a rookie, since we have no real backup for Westbrook, and no Buckhalter anymore. Assuming McCoy can stay healthy, he should have a very long, successful career here in Philadelphia, where we Eagles fans will be able to see the player that I have been watching for the past two years at Pitt.