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Daily News Agenda: Would you have made the Brandon Boykin trade?

Eagles cornerback Brandon Boykin. (Clem Murray/Staff Photographer)
Eagles cornerback Brandon Boykin. (Clem Murray/Staff Photographer)Read more

Les Bowen: Yes, because this is really about 2016, not 2015

I sometimes wonder if we're seeing some sort of two-year plan from the coach who says he never looks past the current day, which he is trying to "win," maybe you've heard.

A fifth-round pick that can be a fourth if Brandon Boykin plays 60 percent of the Steelers' snaps is not a bad return for a 2012 fourth-rounder who was going to become a free agent next spring and almost certainly would not have signed here again.

But JaCorey Shepherd, Denzel Rice and company are going to have to be amazingly precocious for the Eagles to be a better team in 2015 without Boykin. So that's kinda where I'm at. Would I have made the trade? Depends on whether I think I really have a strong shot at winning the Super Bowl this year. If I really think that could happen, then no, I do not trade one of the league's top nickel corners for an asset that isn't going to help me at all this season.

But if I'm thinking that all the changes I've made will take time to shake out, that even if Sam Bradford is healthy, a QB who hasn't taken a regular season snap since the middle of 2013 might need a year to get acclimated, get his legs under him and his synapses firing quickly - if that's my perspective, then sure. Again, good chance it'll be a fourth-round pick in 2016 for a guy who won't be here in 2016.

I suspect that second scenario is somewhere close to the truth, so I guess my answer is yes, I would have made the trade.

It's possible I'm way overthinking this. Kelly has showed us again and again that he cares less about talent level than about everybody pulling together. Boykin wasn't a "me-first" guy, he worked hard, did what he was told. But he wanted to play outside and Kelly didn't think he was big enough, and Chip does not suffer unhappy players.

One thing I think we're going to find out this year is how much you can get away with discounting talent in favor of culture.

David Murphy: Trade makes sense because of roster crunch

Chip Kelly and Bill Davis have mentioned the words depth a lot when talking about their secondary and the decision to part ways with Brandon Boykin. Perhaps that sounds strange given the unit's putrid performance last season, but if we are operating under the assumption that Cary Williams and Bradley Fletcher were both replacement-level players, then the additions of Walter Thurmond and Byron Maxwell put them at +2, the drafting of Eric Rowe in the second round puts them at +3 and the drafting of JaCorey Shepherd in the sixth round puts them at +4.

Sure, Thurmond has been working at safety, but he still counts as depth at corner. Rowe looks like he might be a project for future seasons, but Shepherd looked tremendous in the first three days of practice after a very strong post-draft performance. If Kelly is correct and the Eagles only keep five corners, it's tough to keep two nickel guys, because that leaves you with one backup capable of playing outside, and that's a concern, especially if Rowe is that one, given how raw he is. Maxwell, Nolan Carroll, Rowe and Shepherd are all guaranteed spots.

In a perfect world, Boykin stays. But the Eagles were already facing a roster crunch, and the potential of adding a fourth-round pick added enough value to make Boykin the odd man out.

Sam Donnellon: Kelly deserves the chance to get his guys

Nick Foles was asked this week if he thought his old coach was a racist. He answered in that Forrest Gump speak that we grew accustomed to during his brief stint as Chip Kelly's starting quarterback, saying, "Well, you know, it's one of those things where Chip's got to do what he's got to do."

And then he said this: "He's got the power. I know this whole thing happened, but no, I don't see anything like that. It's tough when you're somewhere and a team lets you go; I get that part of it."

Yes he does. And so does Todd Herremans, cut by Kelly in March, who was asked by a Twitter follower after LeSean McCoy's accusations whether he thought his old coach was racist. "I feel he is equally racist to all races,'' Herremans wrote. "Which I guess would make him… not racist."

Yuks aside, the two men point out something often overlooked in this debate: Kelly is trying to build the team he imagined when he took the Eagles job three Januaries ago, and if that means jettisoning some players with impressive resumes that don't fit that vision, or are too old for it, he will do so.

So goodbye to Herremans and to the quarterback whose value and reputation skyrocketed under Kelly's stewardship. Goodbye to a speedy but smallish Pro Bowl receiver who was making a ton of money and looking to get even more, and to a running back who followed a record-making season and boasts about being the league's best with a so-so output.

Goodbye, too, to Evan Mathis, still in search of the contract the Kelly refused to give him. And to Tra Thomas, an assistant whose job was eliminated after a one-year trial.

And finally, goodbye to Brandon Boykin, a player who flourished in Kelly's first season as head coach, but was oddly left out at times last season even as the defensive backs struggled mightily.

Boykin is African-American, and his intimation that Kelly is "uncomfortable around grown men of our culture'' added to the list of intimations and accusations from players the coach has let go. He is also 5-9, the same height as his coach, who has repeatedly stated his preference for taller players at the position. (Kelly, by the way, was a defensive back at the University of New Hampshire.)

I can't sanely argue that swapping out an experienced veteran for a future fourth- or fifth-round draft pick strengthens the Eagles' chances to win a Super Bowl this year. But if you believe, as I do, that we've yet to see play the NFL team that reflects who Kelly is as a coach and as an innovator - then, well, OK, he gets even more leeway.

After all, what's one more head-scratcher in an off-season full of them?

Mike Kern: Talent today is more important than potential

If it were up to me, then no, I wouldn't have traded someone who seemed to be a decent piece to what's been an oft-maligned secondary, given the role he filled. Then again, neither would I have given up a second-round pick to aquire a potential franchise quarterback who's coming off a second knee injury.

My take on whatever Boykin would or wouldn't have brought to the equation this season or maybe even down the road obviously differs from an evaluator who's looking for certain attributes. Yo, it's not Boykin's fault that he only grew up to be 5-10 instead of, say, 6-1. In Chip Kelly's world, however, that appears to matter. Perhaps a great deal. And for all we know, he might be on to something relevant. But Boykin did contribute, albeit on a somewhat limited basis. And he wanted to do more, as a starting cornerback rather than just a nickelback. We'll see if he gets that window of opportunity with the Steelers, especially now that he's in the final year of his contract. And that's what these what-ifs are all about.

Chip the general manager obviously felt that getting a fifth-round draft pick which could turn into a fourth-rounder was worth moving Boykin, who admittedly wasn't likely to still be here next season if he even managed to stick around through this one. Since I don't happen to covet fifth-round picks nearly as much, I think I would've tried to find a way to get the most out of Boykin for however long he remained part of the roster and then dealt with his inevitable departure at that juncture. Particularly if you think this team has a legit chance to do something this season.

Sometimes, the difference between winning the division or making the playoffs comes down to a play or two. And Boykin might have given them one. A fourth-round pick can't do that for a while, if at all. Then again, Boykin was taken in the fourth round. And he did come up with the interception that clinched the season-ending win at Dallas in 2013 to get them into the postseason. Just saying.

Staff Poll

Ed Barkowitz...Yes

Les Bowen…Yes

Bob Cooney…No

Doug Darroch...No

Jim Destefano...Yes

Paul Domowitch…No

Sam Donnellon…Yes

Jori Epstein...Yes

Marcus Hayes...No

Rich Hofmann…No

Dick Jerardi…No

Mike Kern...No

Ryan Lawrence...Yes

Tom Mahon...No

Drew McQuade...No

David Murphy…Yes

Jeff Neiburg…Yes

Mark Perner…Yes

Leigh Primavera…No

Tom Reifsnyder...No

Christine Sherman...No

John Smallwood…No

Bob Vetrone Jr....No

Deb Woodell...No

9 voted Yes

15 voted No