LeSean McCoy stood his ground when questioned Wednesday about his comments accusing Philadelphia Eagles head coach Chip Kelly of racism. McCoy, speaking publicly for the first time since his fateful interview with ESPN, refused to address reporters about the issue.
"I don't have to explain myself to nobody," McCoy said, via ESPN. "Nobody. I don't. I said what I said, said what I felt at the time and I'm done with that."
McCoy was traded from the Eagles to the Buffalo Bills in exchange for linebacker Kiko Alonso this past March. Speaking with ESPN in May, McCoy accused Kelly of getting rid of "all the good black players" from the roster, specifically citing DeSean Jackson's release from the team in 2014.
Kelly and several Eagles players denounced McCoy's claims. Kelly called the accusation "wrong." Newly-acquired running back DeMarco Murray simply shrugged it off, via CSN Philly:
As he stood at the edge of the practice field, McCoy's replacement at running back, DeMarco Murray, said he was unaware of what McCoy said. When McCoy's remarks about Kelly cutting "all the good black players" were relayed to him, Murray surveyed the scene and chuckled a little bit.
"I'm looking around," Murray said with a smirk. "There are a lot of us out here. I'm not sure about that."
McCoy refused to change his story, however, reiterating that he does not regret his comments. Then he tried to change the subject:
"Did you just hear what I just said here?" McCoy asked one reporter. "Then why did you ... I just told you, I'm not talking no more about Chip Kelly or the Eagles. So I'm done with that. You can ask me about the Bills."
When another reporter asked about why he hasn't returned calls from Kelly, McCoy responded, "Yo? Are y'all listening to me? Can I say it any other way? I'm not talking about Chip Kelly or no Eagles. So I'll be done with this interview if nobody else has anything to say about the Bills."
McCoy still has some respect for his former head coach, however. He called Kelly a "genius," then compared him to newly minted Bills offensive coordinator Greg Roman.
"The type of guy, the coach that Greg is, he does a bunch of different things," McCoy said. "And that's sort of reminds you of Chip, with the whole just unique style of getting his backs in space. That genius type of thing. No matter what, I feel like he's a genius and Greg is similar."
McCoy added that he did not believe his comments were a distraction for the Bills, something Kelly also said in regard to the Eagles. Whether that's true, the issue isn't like to carry on much longer. McCoy made it clear he would like to talk about something else, and Kelly very likely agrees.